Joe Enos - Blog

Whats with the bad grammer!

blog@jtenos.com (Joe Enos) — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 14:49:17 GMT

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Its truely amazing how bad peoples' spelling and puncutation has become over the last 10 or 15 years. Since the invention of the world wide web, the written word have been butchered, to the point where it seems nobody, can correctly write a single complete sentence to save their life. Because of sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Twitters big draw is the fact that messages are small, allowing people to really convey they're thoughts in a condensed format, which excuses some of the grammatical errors. But simple things, like choosing between they're and their simply elude some people, causing them to mispell every other word on there updates.

Here are some of my pet peeves, make sure you follow them in all of you're writing.

Improper punctuation
Nothing irrirtates me more than someone who doesn't understand the difference between a colon and a semi-colon: its really not that difficult. Also, why can't people understand that questions should end in a question mark. It drives me nut's when people use an explanation point or a period to end a question with.

Homographs
Word's that are spelled differently but have the same pronounciation tend to confuse people. They just don't know weather to use one or the other. Its very frustrating and difficult to reed, and shows a lack of intelligence in sum people. Choosing the write word is something we learned back in grade school. Every time I read something with the wrong word, I want too send the person back too school.

Apostraphe's
Its really not that difficult. When your dealing with contractions, use an apostraphe. For example, when you want to combine the words do and not, you remove a letter and put in an apostraphe, to end up with do'nt. Add an apostraphe and s to make a singular noun possesive, such as "The last piece of pie is your's".

Spelling
Spell-check is very common these days, and many prorgams, including most web browsers, come with it built-in whenever you type in text boxes. People these days mispell even the simplest words, somthing that is just inexcuseable and a sign of lazyness.

Capitolization
I don't understand people that use upper-case letters when they don't need to. Capitolized words should only be used at the start of sentences and for proper nouns; Using them anywhere else is improper. Title's also can start with upper-case letters, such as Mister and Doctor, so "Mister Smith went to the Doctor" is ok. Make sure you follow these rules whenever your writing, you don't want to look unintelligent.

I vs. me
This one gets alot of people. Instead of "Me and Becky went to the store", you should always list yourself last, so the sentence should read "Becky and me went to the store". My English teachers would of flunked us if they heard the other students and I screw this up.

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Weird Al Yankovic in concert

blog@jtenos.com (Joe Enos) — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 00:09:38 GMT

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Tonight "Weird Al" Yankovic was in concert at the Celebrity Theatre. I got my tickets immediately when they went on sale last month, and got seats in the 2nd row right next to the artist ramp - some of the best seats in the house.

It was an excellent show. He performed a huge selection of songs, some new ones and a lot of old favorites. Several of the songs were grouped together in a single medley, only about one verse each, to squeeze more into the show. I might be missing one or two, but here's what I remember:

Polka Face
Dare to be Stupid
Eat It
Confessions Part 3
White & Nerdy
Beverly Hillbillies
Another One Rides the Bus
CNR
You Make Me
Gump
Smells Like Nirvana
Amish Paradise
Bedrock Anthem
Canadian Idiot
Craigslist
eBay
Good Old Days
Let Me Be Your Hog
Ode to a Superhero
Trapped in the Drive Thru
Wanna B Ur Lovr
Skipper Dan
I'm In Love With The Skipper
Fat

Encore:
The Saga Begins
We All Have Cell Phones
Yoda

There were quite a few short breaks for wardrobe change, so they filled the time with various videos - lots of quick clips from TV shows and movies, a few fake-dubbed old videos, and a few fake celebrity interviews. Plenty of entertainment during the down time.

He's definitely a spitter - spittle was flying from his mouth the entire show, often into the first row.

I got some pictures, but flash photography was not allowed, he was constantly moving and shaking, and combined with the fact that I can't take a decent picture to save my life, the pictures aren't all that great. They'll be up shortly on Facebook, or they're available at http://jturl.us/weirdalpix.

Overall, an awesome show. Full of energy, lots of funny stuff, and the crowd really got into it.

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Quote Of The Day: Lightning

blog@jtenos.com (Joe Enos) — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 23:13:06 GMT

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"A dog can't get struck by lightning. you know why? 'Cause he's too close to the ground. See, lightning strikes tall things. Now if they were giraffes out there in the field, now then we'd have trouble."

- Barney Fife (The Andy Griffith Show: Dogs, Dogs, Dogs)

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Quote Of The Day: Friendship

blog@jtenos.com (Joe Enos) — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 19:04:58 GMT

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"Dave, there comes a time in every friendship when you have to say, 'I never liked you, get lost.'"

- Bill McNeal (NewsRadio: Chock)

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Yelp - Babbo Italian Eatery

blog@jtenos.com (Joe Enos) — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 21:55:31 GMT

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New review on Yelp: Babbo Italian Eatery

http://jturl.us/yelpbabbo

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Quote Of The Day: Human Civilization

blog@jtenos.com (Joe Enos) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 19:10:48 GMT

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"We must meet this threat with our courage, our valor, indeed with our very lives to ensure that human civilization, not insect, dominates this galaxy now and always!"

- Sky Marshal Dienes (Starship Troopers)

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San Diego Vacation

blog@jtenos.com (Joe Enos) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 10:00:34 GMT

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This year's vacation led me to San Diego, CA, for Comic-Con International 2010, the biggest geek-fest in the universe. After watching the highlights last year, it looked like it would be pretty fun, so I decided to give it a try. I bought the tickets and booked the tickets back in October, and even that was late enough that I missed out on Wednesday "preview night".

Here's a breakdown of the weekend - way more information than you care about or ever wanted to know...

Day 0: Wednesday

I took the day off of work on Wednesday to prepare. My plan was to go to sleep early on Tuesday night, wake up early, sleep 5 or 6 hours on Wednesday afternoon, then leave the house around 11pm to get to San Diego with plenty of time to spare on Thursday morning. Unfortunately, my stupid brain doesn't let me sleep on my schedule, so I ended up sleeping only about 2 hours on Wednesday evening.

Day 1: Thursday

I made the drive on schedule, and got to San Diego around 7am, after a couple of quick stops on the way (IHOP for a 3am breakfast, and a casino to stretch my legs and throw away 25 bucks). Knowing that parking at the convention center is not a good idea, I parked at the trolley station and took the train downtown. Unfortunately, an employee at the station misinformed me about the special "red-line" schedule, so I ended up waiting about 30 minutes longer than I needed before finding out that the red-line didn't come this early, so I'd have to take two trains. Of course, the wait at the next station was another 20 minutes or so, so I ended up getting to the convention center a little before 8.

Once there, I saw the line to get in - pretty long, but bearable. It wrapped around the back of the building, so I followed it back there. From there, it ducked around a corner, no big deal. But then it kept going and going and going - this had to be the longest line I've ever seen. The longest Disneyland lines were nothing compared to this line. But after about a half mile of walking just to get to the back, and another half mile to get back, I was finally in. Pre-registration/badge pickup moved surprisingly well considering the number of people there.

First stop, another line. The three USA shows (Burn Notice, White Collar, and Psych) were scheduled back-to-back-to-back in Ballroom 20, starting at 1pm. At 8:30, I saw the line was already growing, so I got in place. Three and a half hours in line in the hallway, alternating between standing and sitting in an uncomfortable position on the floor, while I was sleep-deprived, kind of sucked. For about an hour, there was a fairly steady stream of costumed attendees walking by, which was fun to watch. As big a TV nerd as I consider myself, I really had nothing in common with the people around me, so I didn't have much conversation, just a book to read (Dave Barry's History of the Millenium).

After another hour of waiting inside the auditorium, the panels began. I was in about the 8th row, so decent seats in a room of more than 4,000. The Burn Notice panel came first, and was pretty entertaining. Bruce Campbell was very funny, and the rest of the panel provided some fun and interesting answers to the prepared and audience questions. There was even an announcement of an upcoming Burn Notice prequel movie centering on Campbell's character. There was also a video describing how to do spy stuff to pitch your ideas to a Comic-Con executive, done in the style of the show. White Collar was next, a fun show starting its second season. The main cast was all there, including my favorite actress, Tiffani Thiessen, who of course looked great. The panel started with a funny video showing the planning of a caper to steal the new Tron footage, and moved on to some fun Q&A. Psych, probably the funniest show on TV right now, also had a very entertaining panel, including some singing and dancing.

The panels were fun, but honestly there wasn't much there that I would have gotten from watching the clips that will inevitably be on YouTube shortly if they're not already there. With such a large audience, there wasn't much of a chance to interact with the panelists. Also, both of the cameras I brought weren't able to take decent pictures of the panel - all of them had a horrible glare that made it impossible to see anything.

On the way back to the hotel at around 6:00, I realized the only thing I'd eaten since about 3am was a couple Oatmeal Creme Pies that I packed, so I decided to stop for dinner. I took the advice of a co-worker and stopped at Phil's BBQ, which also had great reviews on Yelp. The place has a line that wraps around the building, but since I was just going to eat at the bar, I could skip the 30 minute line and walk right in. The dinner menu is pretty much just beef ribs, pork ribs, and chicken - kind of limited for a BBQ place, but I tried the beef ribs and chicken combination, with fries. The dish came out, with tons of food. There were three giant beef ribs with lots of meat, and probably at least a half pound of chicken, along with a ton of fries. The sauce was excellent, thick and just a little spicy. Both the beef and chicken were great, and the fries were pretty good as well. Definitely the kind of place I'd frequent if I lived nearby.

Day 2: Friday

After 36 straight hours with only about 2 hours of sleep, my brain needed to be recharged. I decided to sleep in and skip day 2, which included Stargate: Universe, The Big Bang Theory, Bones, and The Joss Whedon Experience. I heard the Big Bang Theory panel was great, but somehow I doubt it was worth another day of 6 hours standing in line. So I played hooky instead.

With all day to kill, my first stop was lunch. I was in the mood for Philly cheesesteaks, so after a quick Yelp search, I ended up at Gaglione Brothers Famous Steaks & Subs for a Cheez Whiz steak sandwich with onions, with garlic fries. The sandwich was pretty good, but not as good as Corleone's back home. The garlic fries were a little weird, not something I'd have again.

I spent most of the day just kind of checking out the city. I checked out a few beaches and played some pool, and then it was time for dinner. I felt like Italian, and found one that looked kind of appealing, Paesano. I had the minestrone soup followed by baked lasagne and garlic bread. I really wasn't impressed.

Day 3: Saturday

Today was the Chuck panel, my favorite show on TV right now, and really the whole reason for attending the convention. The panel started late, and being scheduled for only 45 minutes, it ran pretty short. However, we did get a video and performance from Jeffster, and some insight into next season. Linda Hamilton will be making some appearances as Chuck's mother, and there will be several other guest stars as always, like the Old Spice guy. Unfortunately, with the time constraints, there was no time for audience Q&A, leaving the crowd a little disappointed.

I wanted to see one more panel later in the afternoon, so I stuck around and toughed out the next several panels. Family Guy was first - I'm not a fan of the show, but Seth MacFarlane is a funny guy, so the panel was bearable. The Cleveland Show was next, and that was horrible. Don't know how this show is on the air. Somehow Futurama is back on, and that panel was next - this show gave it a good effort when it started, but never really was funny, but it has a new home on Comedy Central, so Groening and crew were out there talking about it. The Simpsons was next, wrapping up the block of panels I didn't want to watch. Every time I watch the show anymore, I'm lucky to find one funny thing in the whole episode. It's another one of those shows that was great for awhile, but should have been ended about 5 or 6 years ago. But there was one funny moment in the panel; while answering a silly question about a Simpsons spinoff, someone brought up the fact that Seth MacFarlane has three shows, to which producer Matt Selman responded "Seth MacFarlane has one show three times", getting mixed reactions from the crowd.

The other panel I wanted to see was V, the remake of the old sci-fi miniseries, which will be entering its second season soon. The show is good, but the panel really didn't accomplish anything. The moron who was moderating it kept asking the actors questions about how the show is unfolding, and pretty much every answer was "Umm...well...I hope that...". The types of questions he was asking should have been directed at the show's creators and writers, and the actors should have been asked questions that they could actually answer.

After the panels, I was thinking about food, and I can't come all the way to Southern California without stopping at Shakey's. They currently have a special for a $9.99 large with BBQ sauce, bacon, ham, pineapples, and jalapeno sausage. It wasn't bad, but next time I'll stick with normal pepperoni pizza.

Day 4: Sunday:

There was nothing of interest in the Comic-Con schedule, so I took another day to relax. I figured I'd take this opportunity to find a day spa to get a fancy massage (and I mean a real massage, not a "massage"). I found one that looked promising, but never was able to contact them. The next place I found with good reviews was Suki Day Spa. Unfortunately, I didn't pay attention to the location - it was downtown, just a couple blocks from the convention center, which meant parking was impossible. I ended up parking about a mile away in some hotel garage's "guest only" parking, and luckily the car was there when I got back. I went with the 4-handed massage, something I've never tried before. Totally worth it - a little expensive, but having two parts worked on at the same time is a different experience, very relaxing.

Dinner was at Hunter Steakhouse. I started with a caesar salad and a chunk of a pretty good oat bread and sweet butter. The main course was a filet mignon served medium rare, small but very flavorful and perfectly cooked. Sides were excellent au gratin potatoes and ordinary onion rings. For dessert, a good sized turtle cheesecake. Overall, an excellent meal.

General Notes:

This was the first time I've done serious driving in San Diego, and it's as bad or worse than Los Angeles. There are lanes merging with no notice, through lanes turning into turn lanes forcing you to change lanes to go straight, ambiguous stop signs, interstate freeways dropping to one lane (not construction, just the way it's built), freeway entrances inside neighborhoods, random onramp locations, endless business districts, unmarked freeway exits, unmarked intersections, 45-degree drops, and the same old California drivers.

My cats were happy to see me when I got home - they've been extra friendly since I've been home. I've never left them alone for more than about 2 days before, so I was worried that they'd be mad at me, or that they would have torn up the house while I was gone. But aside from a few things knocked over, the house was fine, nothing broken or damaged.

Comic-Con really isn't for me. Sitting on the floor or standing for 5 or 6 hours at a time just to be in the same room as my favorite TV actors isn't worth it to me. I'm not interested in the other pieces: comics, video games, or buying crap, and I really don't get a thrill from seeing a big movie star from across the room. It was fun seeing a bunch of people in costume, and the panels were generally entertaining, but not enough to get me back next year.

Yelp reviews

Phil's BBQ
Gaglione Bros.
Hunter Steakhouse
Paesano

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Yelp - Los Reyes de la Torta

blog@jtenos.com (Joe Enos) — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:07:03 GMT

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New review on Yelp: Los Reyes de la Torta

http://jturl.us/yelptorta

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Quote Of The Day: Strike A Blow

blog@jtenos.com (Joe Enos) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 22:07:26 GMT

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"I challenge you... Strike a blow for motherhood! Strike a blow for the American justice system! Put the 'can' back in American! Put the 'ju' back in jurisprudence! Put the 'con' back in the constitution! And put the 'dom' back in freedom!"

- Ned Ravine (Fatal Instinct)

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Insurance Discounts

blog@jtenos.com (Joe Enos) — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 15:06:56 GMT

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Just wanted to take a quick minute to rant about something that bugs me. Every commercial break on TV, there's some insurance company talking about how great their product is, based on how many discounts they offer. No mention of what the original price is, or how it compares to other companies.

Attaching discounts to an arbitrary price is basically meaningless. In my mind, it's the same as ridiculous advertisements featuring "up to 30% or more" off of the regular price - in other words, it could be absolutely any price whatsoever, from zero up to and including the regular price which is never stated.

Discounting your own unstated rates means nothing. Let me demonstrate: I will gladly insure your vehicle, and I'll offer discounts for having a job, owning OR renting your home, having children, owning a television set, being left-handed, knowing how to play poker, liking polka music, being taller than 6 feet, being shorter than 5 feet, having seen all 11 Star Trek movies, knowing how to say "Hello" in at least three languages, preferring paper instead of plastic bags at the supermarket, drinking 1% milk, knowing the difference between Bill Pullman and Bill Paxton, actually liking the new Star Wars trilogy better than the original trilogy, being a lacrosse fan, knowing how to integrate a polynomial, playing the trombone, memorizing all of the state capitals, preferring Jessica Biel over Jessica Alba (warning: NSFW, PG-13 link), owning an original Nintendo Entertainment System, being able to understand Ozzy Osbourne, admitting you like Miley Cyrus's music, owning the complete works of William Shakespeare in Pag Latin, and having a pet iguana. I could go on, but I don't want to get long winded.

Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yeah, I could make that offer, complete with a hundred various discounts, but it costs you $75,000 per month, and each discount only knocks 50 bucks off of the price. Would that be a good deal? (That's a rhetorical question, but for those of you who haven't been following along, the answer is 'no'). So when Allstate, Progressive, and every other insurance company talks about their "discounts", make sure you don't fall for their little game - there's no substitute for shopping around for the best deal.

And if anyone is interested in my insurance offer, give me a call. I'll just need your first 12 payments as a non-refundable deposit in cash or gold bullion.

Video: Progressive Commercial Spoof - Discount!

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