Rotten Tomatoes

I don't know how many times I have to realize that I should research how good a movie is before seeing it. I've seen and bought several "duds" based on hype. Never again. I told the kids we would go see to "The Tale Of Desperaux". Mostly because that was Austin's first significant book report that he did in third or fourth grade. I've not read the book, but just remember Austin really enjoyed it.

Well I found a site that will give reviews and allow viewers to rate the movie called rottentomatoes.com. The idea is that each movie is either ripe or green. Looks like a neat site. Apparently Tale of Deseperaux is just OK, not fantastic, or really bad, but just OK. Maybe I'll hold off going to the theater for that one then and rent it when it comes out. Will have to find another kid movie that is worthy of seeing in the theater instead.

2008 US National Table Tennis Tournament

This last week our family went to Las Vegas to participate in the US National Tournament. We stayed in the Marriott Wyndham hotel. We had a suite with three rooms. We had Austin's Table Tennis Coach, Glenn Brown stay in one of the rooms with us. We had a fun time. The days were long as we spent the entire day at the Convention Center.


Austin played in 4 events, Jacob in 2 events, and I played in 3 events. I hadn't been practicing very much leading up to this tournament and bombed pretty bad last month in the Utah Open so I was pretty sure I was going to lose points. Currently I'm rated at 1447. I played in the 1800 & U, 1600 & U, 1500 & U events. I played very well and my final results were 7 wins - 4 losses. I advanced in the 1500 & Under and made it into quarterfinals, but lost to a cute Indian kid. He won the first game, I won the second and he got two more to kick me out of the division. All in all a very fun tournament for me.

Austin did well to, although he was emotionally disappointed when he did lose. He still needs to work on his attitude. I was watching Ethan Chua play. That kid is the full package. He's very talented and when he makes a mistake he blows it off and doesn't let it affect his next point.

Jacob played well. We need to get him some special training with Glenn as well. Up until now he hasn't shown any real interest in the sport, which has changed.

Cathi stayed at the hotel with the kids the second day. The first and third days were very long for her and the kids. They had fun running around, but its a long day. Next year they'll stay home.

We gave a fellow Utah Table Tennis player, Meg Tsedenbal, a ride home to Salt Lake from Vegas. She was pleasant to ride with and we enjoyed her company. When we got to St. George we all went to Golden Corral. Oliver, who is 18 months was eating and in his delight would often yell out. Not scream, but just yell out in joy. An old couple who were eating there (probably for their 50th wedding anniversary) and I heard the old man say not too quietly, "We picked the wrong side of this restaurant". I laughed out loud when I heard that.

Click here for a video highlight:


Results:

Gordon - Increased rating from 1447 to 1484
Austin - Increased rating from 723 to 1041 (7th best rating increase at the entire tournmanent (Of 604 participants))
Jacob - Remained the same at 449

Setting a JTableHeader's height

WARNING: BORING POST, but possibly helpful to Mr. G in the future.....

The following code doesn't resize the height of a JTableHeader as I would suspect:

qtyTable.getTableHeader().setSize(qtyTable.getTableHeader().getWidth(),30));

instead the following is what worked:

qtyTable.getTableHeader().setPreferredSize(new Dimension(qtyTable.getTableHeader().getWidth(),30));

It's uglier, but at least it works. Tried finding a solution online, and after finding several others that didn't work, this is the one that did.

Software HQ - ripping people off

I wanted to look into getting Nero Burning ROM for Vista 64 Home Premium. I already bought a license for my old machine, but want to burn on my new desktop. So I went online to get download an updated version. I went to Software HQ.net and signed up for the one year subscription since they showed as having Nero.

Come to find out that the service they provide is only a link to the trialware version of Nero. You still have to pay for the Full version of Nero. OK - so the Software HQ people provided me with what? It's not like you need a third party to download trialware.

What a rip off! I complained and they sent me a crappy response back basically saying "Aha! We got you! And the lengthy disclaimer that you put a checkbox into says you can't get your money back. Ha ha!" I'm a doofus and Software HQ is lame.

Another modern String Quartet

I just learned today that I have an alternative to great quartet music besides Apocolyptica. There are String Quartet tributes full of covers from various modern artists. Some of my favorites! (System of a Down, Tool, Disturbed) Good stuff. Only thing is a quartet just isn't enough. It would be better if an entire symphony did these covers. The music just isn't very rich, although its fine in simplicity.

Only thing is, they should now try to come out with more original stuff. The three albums I got only came with two original compositions, which are very good! Apocolyptica's best music is what they wrote, not the covers. I'll keep an eye on VSQ for any other good albums.


"My tapeworm tells me what to do" - System of a down

Although I bet its alot like watching a sequel movie or reading a second series book without partaking of the first one. How do these songs sound to those who've never tasted of the original? Comments...

Girls that last aren't found filling up a glass

I had to comment on Michael Phelps. The guy can swim fast, but he's no hero. He's had trouble in the past with driving while drunk, and now he's heading into real trouble gambling and getting serious with a cocktail waitress/stripper. He's lightning fast in the water, but he's a pretty slow upstairs.


Michael - here's a song I edited just for you....