Jeep

Painted the hard top black. Repaired some fiberglass on the front corners, but didn't sand them down good enough. Have to do that, wash it, and then put another coat or two of paint on it. Hard work, but it's fun.

Also can't wait to get the new fender flares on.

My Dream Home Theater System

So I completed my dream home theater system. I've been saving for awhile now, and my best buy employee discount and accommodation really helped out. I probably saved about 60% or more in the end.

Anyway, here's my set-up.

Klipsch XL-23 LCR Speakers























These babies are absolutely beautiful, and they sound amazing! I have three of these; left, center, and right (LCR). The cabinet is titanium, and the new XT Tactrix horn loaded technology directs the sound in a very efficient way. The gorgeous mothers put out enough bass that a subwoofer isn't even required (but that didn't stop me from getting one of those too ;))

Klipsch XL-12 LCR Speakers























These LCR speakers are designed to be mounted beside a flat screen TV on the wall, just like the XL-23s, but are also good for rear speakers. That where I have these located. They're pretty much just a smaller version of the XL-23s.

Klipsch Sub-12 12" Subwoofer....aka Big Papa























This is the most important thing in my opinion. I like to FEEL the movie, and watching Transformers on blu-ray is nothing without this badass mo fo. This downward blasting 12" subwoofer makes my movies and games 10x more enjoyable.

Denon AVR-790 Receiver























This is the brain of the home theater system. I have Monster 1000HDX HDMI cables from my Xbox 360 and PS3 and out to my 32" Samsung 720p HDTV. Maybe soon I can save up for a 40" LED, which would be the perfect size for my room and setup :) With 0.08% Total harmonic distoration (the lower the better), this receiver gives me clean, crisp sound for my games, movies, and music listening.

Playstation 3 Slim (120GB)




















This is mostly used for my blu-ray player. It upconverts the 300+ DVDs I own, and since I don't plan on restarting my collection, I only plan on buying movies that really use the surround sound that blu-ray has...Transformers, Rambo, Saving Private Ryan, Star Wars, etc. Playing Killzone 2 and SOCOM is also enjoyable.


Monster MP HDP 1800 Power Center





This is my system's bodyguard. Hooking all my equipment to this protects it from power spikes and dips, electrical interference, etc. Cleaning the electrical interference is key in picture and sound quality, and with Stage 2 cleaning it'll clean interference from introduced components such as my Xbox 360 and PS3.

Theory About 48 People

I heard a "statistic" that throughout someone's lifetime, a person will meet and be directly influenced by 48 people before they die. I thought it would be kind of cool if I started writing about all the people who have influenced me in my life. Of course I won't have 48 right now; I'm only almost 18.

NUMBER ONE: Barry Seal

My dad. I'll be honest (and he would agree), he hasn't always been the greatest father. He's even admitted that when my brother and I were younger he was more of a friend than a father-figure. Despite this fact, he has probably made the greatest impact on my life as of just recently. A few years ago I was apathetic when it came to believing whether God existed or not. I didn't care about believing in Him and Jesus; I was agnostic. With my dad's preaching and talking about God and Jesus, he was able to build me a foundation that later grew through my own willingness to go to church and get involved. Without him I don't think I would be baptized or even want to go on mission trips as much as I do now.

So my dad brought Jesus into my life...and that makes up for everything he didn't do.

Thank you, Dad.

Long Time No Whatever

It's been forever since I've written anything. You conclude one thing from this; life is boring. I wake up, go to school, come home, eat, go to work, come home, sleep. Rinse and repeat. I even usually eat the same foods.

Well today I get my braces off. Hooray hooray. It'll probably make me late to work and cancel out any joy I had for today.

Chuck Norris can't act.

Seal

Happy Easter!

Well, today was Easter! This is that time of the year where the stores sell those giant Reese's bunnies; oh! there's so much peanut butter in those. Anyway, we all know what Easter is about...it's when Jesus comes out and if he sees his shadow we have 6 more weeks of winter.

Ha! Just kidding...but seriously Easter is more important than many think. It's not just about the kids going easter egg hunting and eating tons of candy, but it's about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Without this holiday Christianity is a fraud...which is why I think it's just as important as any other holiday.

Today I went down to Opolis, KS...pretty much right on the Missouri/Kansas state line. The Seal family lives down there, and we had dinner. First, I went to church with my dad and Lori. After that I was planning on driving to Grove, Oklahoma to see my grandma on my mother's side, however not only was I low on oil and gas, but one of my tires went flat while I was at church.

It's been awhile since I've blogged anything, and the only real reason I'm doing this is because I'm really bored. My job at Best Buy is going pretty good, although I'm still in the stupid white pollo instead of the blue Best Buy pollo; now people know that I'm a trainee. Oh well...I'm getting paid. Only problem is that I can't work Sunday...and they keep scheduling me for Sunday. The jerks.

As far as school goes...not bad. I have a few low grades in some AP (advanced placement) classes, but other than that I have all A's. About a month or so ago I went to the US Marines Corpse recruiting station. Actually it was right before Valentine's Day. Anyway, I talked to one of the Marines in there; asked a few questions. I found some good stuff out, but still need to get the acute details...

...Most likely I'll go ahead and enlist and do my basic training right after I graduate in May '09. That'll take up my whole summer, but it'll get it out of the way. When I come back from basic I'll go to college in Springfield at MSU while I do the reserves. Now, I've always thought the reserves were for wusses, but yo, if I can do that AND college at the same time then that'll just be putting me ahead. After I graduate college I'll get promoted to 2nd Lieutenant and be in charge of a platoon. I'll have to re-enlist, which is when I'll go full-time. Then, I'm going to do my recon/scout sniper training which would include S.E.R.E. (survival, evasion, resistance, escape) training.

My brother left for his Marine basic training last Sunday...so we should get a letter from him in a week or so. Other than that....life has been boring. I'm thinking of creating a new blog, but I'm not sure what it'll be about. I have a few ideas....I guess you'll see it when/if I make it.

That's pretty much it, so have a good day,

Seal