So I found this site motivated photes.com, and just cannot get enough of the hilarious posters they've collected. Its things you know you want to say, but just didn't come up with the witty comment quick enough.

Ah, internet humor.

August is coming to a close and it's been another summer that just seems to fly by. Am I getting older that I forget what happens between weekends, months, now years!? Man, I seriously cannot remember what I did last summer.

Oh wait, I know. I was laid off from ASI and took a summer break. Went to Ocean City, MD with the Devlins, NYC for a bit to see some old friends, and a Boston trip, not know what was to be instore the following year with Boston. haha

It's been a good summer I guess. Besides the trip to Sea Isle City, NJ last weekend, things we're pretty calm. DC was a riot, but it always is with Clay, Mike, and Keita. Oh! We had Chloe's grad weekend, which was fun. Bum f*** NJ is a) a treat to drive through, b) confusing as crap with the lack of major road signs, and c) scary with the people you meet.

Only thing left is Yankee stadium on the 30th, and hopefully Fenway.

As for the attached picture? Save your ones, you'll need it to take her to McDonalds.

~Philly

What does life mean to you?

"...When I was a young man, I thought life was all about me - how do I make my way in the world, and how do I become successful and how do I get the things that I want. But now, my life revolves around my two little girls. And what I think about is what kind of world I'm leaving them..." [Obama Father's Day Speech]

I haven't been on for awhile; part life, part work, part just being me. I still will finish my top 10 soon. I have the notes, just need to put them up here.

I wanted to say Happy Father's Day to my dad. I woke his butt up this morning at 7:00 AM his time, but I knew they were going to drag his behind around all day. I love you Dad.

I heard this speech today, and thought about the last question Obama reference, and thought of you and me. Thought about how when I was younger I thought of what the world could and would do for me. Now, I'm beginning to think what I can do for the world and as I prepare to start a family, what I can leave for my family.

That has always been your goal Dad, and I have always seen it. It's when others see it also, that our Dads all just want a better world for us, and that they work so hard to make one for us, it makes me even more proud (if that's possible) to say that you are my father.

We as a family went through some amazing days and incredible experiences. I don't think most families could even come close as to what we went through. And through all that, I always had my rock. My strength, my morals, my energy.

My Dad IS the greatest man on this Earth.

Love you

Philly

So I decided to liven up my blog a bit with something I truly love; music. I'm going to write a top 10 of my most favorite and memorable eletronica tracks and why/where I fell in love with the song.

The best place to start would be #10. Robert Miles - Children. Dream trance, progressive trance, dreamhouse those were categories I had never heard of until this song came out. Blasting into the rave scene in 1995, people were enthralled at the climatic build ups, haunting vocals and incredile melody from the piano. I swear there were times we'd forget that we're driving home from 9 hours of dancing in Seattle on many occasions.

I first hears this song in 1996 in London. I was on a month long History of Arts tour and the first stop was London (actually it was Edinburgh). We all wanted to go out and explore the nightlife and a local told us to check out Cream.

I digress. In 1994 my boss at the time was a DJ in the Portland scene and invited us out to see him spin. It was during the early days of the Portland rave scene, so the groups were small, everyone knew each other, and the music was minimal. Oh yeah, and we all parties pretty hard. It was that night listening to Adam spin that I realized I love Trance and all music electronica. I danced until 4:00 AM and only stopped to realized that my legs were completely gone. That night ingrained in my mind that this is how a perfect night could happen. Ever since, I've partied in 13 states and 4 countries looking for the next great experience.

Back to Cream. I, by that time, had seen some BIG venues but Cream blew those ideas of magnitude out the door! Once a warehouse for tractor trailers, it was converted to a 3 storied open-air club. It fit +3000 people and had no neighbors to complain about the noise level. Our collective jaws dropped as we approached. It was like walking up to the Kingdome in Seattle and THAT was the club.

We partied, we danced, we met people from all over Europe; we even got carded, only to be of age! It was amazing! I can remember every lighting feature, every area of the the dance floor, what the crowds looked like from the many catwalks. I could not think of anything getting better until I can hear the haunting piano from Robert Mile's - Children. I lost it at the point. My best friend Rick knew the song too and we went ballistic and start screaming like mad.

It's like those many scenes you see in movies, when everything is slow motion, the music's still playing, everyone is smiling at each other, everyone's dancing. You see that scene and you can only think of happiness. That was me, that was us. We soaked in one of the coolest moments in our lives, with strangers from various countries, on a whole new continent, with the most incredile song playing.

It's moments like that, which will always make me love electronica. I've built some of the greatest memories from songs at that moment in time. I hope you will be able to live through those moments as I count down the rest.

~Philly

This just makes me smile and miss Portland a bit. My parents, niece, sister and brother-in-law (and many friends) got the chance to see and hear Obama speak. I got a message from my mom on Friday that they were going to see him speak and I told them that it's a treat and don't come late. Just from my pass experiences in seeing him in Philly and DC. So they venture out 5 hours before the schedule time and still had to wait in a line that stretched 15-20 blocks in to downtown Portland.

This has to be the longest 36 hours I've had to wait in a long time. It's like Christmas Eve and you will do anything to stay up, only until your parents let you open a present or fall asleep next to the presents in sheer exhaustion.

During my hiatus from the full time working world, I used to write for a friend of mine doing PlayStation 3 game reviews for an online gaming website. It was out of convenience for him, since we've know each other for 4 years and both addicts of games. I also was only a handful of people who used to do QA for game developers and was a fanboy of the PS3, so it was a good match for us. I would get early release copies for review and even an occasional paycheck. As a part time working geek, this was perfect for me.

Free lance reviewers get no love or acclaim, most just do it because it gives us a chance to play a game all the way through and write about it. Some do it for lofty goals of journalism and writing experience. I was the former, since I had time on hand and liked to write.

Grand Theft Auto IV comes out this Tuesday, it's a game 4 years in the waiting for most of us. After Grand Theft Auto 3 - San Andreas, most gamers were completely overwhelm with what RockStar (the developers) could continue to accomplish. From the size of the sandbox world they dropped you in, to the multitude of people, vehicles, missions, and plotlines most of us in the gaming world were taken back at their accomplishment. We all had grand ideas for the 4th installment, and could not wait to see what RockStar would do. I think I beat San Andreas three times just to re-experience some of the amazing details and technology which was introduced in the game. I've gotten a chance to play a few minutes and some multi player of GTA4 during a game convention in New York, so my hunger has been growing ever since.

For a great review and some in-game action, you can see Gametrailer's latest review: Grand Theft Auto IV

The true geek in me will come out in the next few days, as I anxiously wait for Tuesday night.

I've definitely cut back on interaction with the gaming world. Mainly out of personal time constraint, or because most of my friends have moved away from the community also. We still get together for a fragtastic session. I also get the occasional reviewer's copy of a game I know nothing about, and I have to be honest to the company and tell them I no longer review games. Some games I open out of interest and play a few minutes and realize that I shouldn't continue or my review will be U-G-L-Y. Out of +20 reviews, I've given 6 negative reviews (that I remember). I don't want to be on that list among developers. haha.

Next weekends plans have all been put on hold. I love my friends' response to my reasoning, "Nerd."

In my time of gaming mediation, please send pizza and Jolt.

~Philly

March Madness has come and gone. Again, I am the big loser. For a guy that loves most college sports and follows my Alma mater religiously, I never seem to get it right. The closest I've ever come was 4th place, with of course good ole Gonzaga lost it for me.

Oh the woes of PAC-10 and WCC. This year I got sucked into the West Coast hype. We had one of the toughest schedules in the nation. With 6 of the PAC-10 teams rank nationally for 3 week straight, how could followers be wrong. Well, we didn't look to the fact that the ACC and Best East were monsters again. We saw the speed of Stanford and USC, but not the talent of North Carolina and Memphis. I thought the power and raw skills of UCLA's Kevin Love was enough, until he met the precision of Andre Allen and Joey Dorsey.

Another year that I land in the bottom.

And next year, I'll make my homer picks again. Oregon had the 6th best recruiting class (Scout.com) in the nation for basketball. There goes another $20.

~Philly