Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions

Hey there. First off, I'd like to say thanks to everyone who reads this blog. I've been blessed to have made many new friends and have even made a couple bucks on the side. With those couple of bucks, I bought our son a PSP with all kinds of goodies. My wife and I promised him a PSP if he brought home the honor roll trophy that his school was handing out to hard working students. He didn't disappoint and brought it home. I was able to get a bad ass deal on one at Ebay and the package came with Fight Night 3 and some Spongebob game, as well as the original packaging of the PSP (receipt included) and a 1 Gig memory card. Not bad for a little over $100.

I bought it for him but it looks like I'll be using it more now that I've came across this. Final Fantasy Tactics. What a bad ass game. I had this game back in the day during my PS One days. I used to spend hours playing this thing and on some occasions, well past midnight trying to navigate my way through the world of Ivalice and get the bottom of all the corruption. I never finished the game, since it got rather difficult and I think my game was scratched, so when I walked into a Target store a few days ago and saw this game on clearance, YES CLEARANCE, I just had to buy it.

The PSP version has more features than the original PS version and right off, you notice the revamped intro scene is redone using CG graphics compared to the blocked looked that was present in the PS One version. It also has voice overs so that was definitely a nice addition.


From what people have told me, there are a few hidden job classes that were not present in the original game and that it's a challenge to be able to unlock them. I've only just started the game not too long ago and already all the job classes, story, and characters have come back to me.

Speaking of characters, even the sky pirate, Balthier, makes an appearance in the PSP game. Considering that Ivalice is the same setting as Final Fantasy XII, it fits right in that Ramza and crew would bump into the famous sky pirate of Ivalice. I can't wait to finally get through the game. I'm determined to find out how this game ends and what part the antagonist, Delita, plays in all of it. His character is a bit of a mystery after chapter one and I need to know what that bastard did to start a war! Later!

Hooked on Phonics. You Gotta Love it.

Some five-year old students are learning to read.

Yesterday one of them pointed at a picture in a zoo book and said,

'Look at this! It's a frickin' elephant!'

I took a deep breath, then asked...

'What did you call it?'

'It's a frickin' elephant! It says so on the picture!'


And so it does...

' African Elephant '

Veteran's Day Sale at Sears

Hey there friends. As you can see from my previous post, Autumn has finally decided to bless us with it's presence here in southern California. The winds have picked up and clouds started to hover and chilly temps are beginning to be the norm. Luckily for us, Sears plans to keep our bodies warm with their annual Sears Veterans Day Sale .

The scenery during Autumn is beautiful. Leaves of red, green, and yellow flutter in the sky as they tumble to the ground, grey clouds fill the sky while golden sunbeams create their silver lining. It is just stunningly beautiful. But if you're not properly dressed, then you can't go out and see it. That's where Sears comes in. They have the Sears Veterans Day Sale going on right now so now's the perfect time to pick up a sweater for you and your loves one. Especially since you can get up to 60% off his and hers sweaters and outerwear. That way you're ready to go for that afternoon walk with your loved one to enjoy the scenery. Check out this David Taylor sweater I found for me.


And this cool Classic Elements hoodie for my wife. She can never have too many of these.


The sale runs from November 9th - November 11th. Autumn will be here for a few more months but the Sears Veterans Day Sale won't. Better hurry and catch the sale while you still can. Later.

Strong Winds Are Blowing in Southern Cali

Hey there friends. This weekend was just full of howling winds outside our home. So much so, that the wind destroyed a canopy tarp that I had outside. The wind literally cut it in half Saturday night. It woke my wife and I up several times too, since it seemed to come out of nowhere and surprised us in the middle of the night. I got up, and looked outside and the trees were swaying and leaves were falling. My wife said to me, check on the bunny, he's probably cold. I checked and he looked fine, but I figured,you better go out there and cover him up. I sleep in boxers, people. I don't sleep covered up for some reason. Maybe it's cause I don't feel comfortable.

Anyways, I walk out there, half asleep, and cover the rabbit cage with three towels. It was freakin' cold. I didn't realize how cold it was until I was walking back in the house, in boxer shorts and still half zombiefied. I got up two more times that night, once to check on the rabbit, and second time because this loud snap woke me. I look outside and this is what I see...



I was also worried about our new avocado tree. My wife's aunt gave us a tree that she nurtured from a seed (or pit) and it's a good 7 feet tall now. She definitely has a green thumb. The tree is still young though, and the trunk is awfully thin so I was afraid that maybe the wind might snap it in half. Luckily, it's still in the pot so I was able to place it against the wall of the house to avoid it getting heavily blasted by the wind. I checked it yesterday and it seemed fine. Now I'm a little reluctant to plant it since I don't know if the winds are going to continue. I don't want our new tree to freeze to death, let alone be snapped in half. That'll suck be big time.



The winds continued through Sunday. I brought the rabbit (which still does not have a name. It's interim name is "Fluffly". We took it to PetCo when it was little but their "rabbit expert" said it was too young to be able to tell the sex) inside the house and he chilled in there all day. Better than a cage with wind blowing in your face. Odin stayed outside. I should have brought him inside. If the winds are still bad tonight, I'll let him come inside for a bit. He never got the concept of being house broken so I dare not let him spend the night inside. lmao At least he has his dog house to protect him.

Now, I need to look into getting a new tarp to replace the ripped one. Looks like I'll have to measure it to see what size I'm going to need. I've been complaining that it doesn't feel or look like Autumn yet. It's been extremely hot and sunny here in California, even though we're in November. Looks like mother nature decided to give me a good dose of what I asked for. lol Later.

Lay-Away Program Only at K-Mart

Hey there friends. Times are tough. The economy is not booming and cash is on a short leash. Thanksgiving is coming up and the mother of all holidays, Christmas, is fast approaching. You don't want to disappoint the family on Christmas day because cash was short. What's a family on a budget to do? Luckily for us, K-Mart has the solution.

K-Mart is the only retailer that has our backs. They understand the trying situation of our economy as many of us consumers are having cash flow issues. However, they are the only national discount department store that offers a lay-away program to help in tough times. They are the only ones that are willing to work with us instead of turning us away. The Kmart Lay-Away program is extremely easy to use. Click on the link above, enter your zip code and the web site will search your area for a local K-Mart store that offers the service. You then visit your the store and shop. It's that easy. Whether you need help in obtaining that one hot item, such as the Playstation 3, or various smaller gifts for family and friends, your local K-Mart store is there to help.


This could not have come at a better time. I mention the Playstation 3 because my son has been asking for one for well over a year, but I just can't spend over $400 without causing a huge dent in our monthly budget. However, with the Kmart Lay-Away , obtaining one is a lot more manageable. The lay-away program allows you to simply take the item or items to the lay-away desk, leave a small deposit and make payments on it every two weeks until you pay them off. You can pay it sooner, on weeks where you have a little extra cash, or you can extend it the full 8 weeks that the program allows. When all is said and done, your items will be waiting for you at a K-Mart desk while other shoppers are scrambling to find and pay for their gifts.

You got to give it up for K-Mart. For going against the grain and offering such a holiday saving program while other retailers removed their programs. Check it out friends. This is definitely a program that you want to take advantage of. Assure yourself, your wallet, and your family that Christmas will be great because you took advantage of the Kmart Lay-Away program. Later.

Another Great Reason to Love Guitar Hero/Rockband

Hey there friends. I'm a music lover. Can't get enough of the stuff. So when Guitar Hero first came out, I thought it was great. You're simulating playing a guitar and it does a pretty damn good job at having you strum when you're supposed to. But that's not the point of this post. I'm here to write about the effect that the music in Rockband and Guitar Hero has had on my kids.

Nothing beats hearing your three year old walking down the hall singing, "Slow ride, dun dun, take it easy, dun dun, slow ride". lmao How great is that? My wife even has her as a ring tone. I don't want to instill my, or our style for that matter, of music into the kids. They listen to what they like and we let it be. Case in point, The Offspring's latest single... I can't stand the damn song. They play it over and over but the kids love it. So I let it play so that they can enjoy it.



Anyways, I love the music selection in both of these games. It exposes the kids to wide array of music. The Donnas, Metallica, Pantera, Jimi Hendrix, KISS, Guns N Roses, Queens of the Stone Age, Slayer, Soundgarden... The list goes on and on... And the kids ask for their favorites to be played. "I want to hear Black Hole Sun.", "Oh that's Black Magic Woman! Leave it there", "I love One!" These are just some of the phrases that I hear at home or in the car. Just last night, my daughter walks up to me says, "My friend at school can play Jordan on Expert and get 5 stars!!!!" Of course my son and her start debating about her friend being a liar cause Jordan is a pretty hard song to play. She then mentioned Buckethead.

Buckethead. I haven't seen that guy since forever and look what resurfaced him. My kids arguing over a game. He's been around since like the late 80's and for my kids to be mentioning Buckethead, and saying that he's cool, astounds me. This is music before their time. Santana, Buckethead, Iron Maiden, Ozzy, Queen, these are all great artists that my kids would not be exposed to as much as they are because of the music on these games. Yeah, they would hear Iron Maiden when I played it, but they wouldn't know who it is or the name of the song. They would know of Iron Maiden as "a band my dad likes". Now, Number of the Beast is one their favorite songs. Because of that, they venture off to listen to the rest of the album and enjoy other songs that otherwise they would not be interested in. I can now say that my kids are Iron Maiden fans, as well as Metallica fans, and Santana fans and Buckethead fans.

I love it. Anything that will expose music to the youths of our nation is great. And even though the games are a challenge to complete, the bright spots are definitely in the music. Just for the hell of it, because I'm feeling a little nostalgic here, here's Buckethead's Jordan as it's played in Guitar Hero II. I chose this version because even the mighty Buckethead created a solo just for this song. From what I hear, it's the only studio version of the song. You only hear live versions of this song so for him to do a studio version for a game says something. So without further delay... Here's Jordan. By the way, this is not an actual person playing the game. He's got a computer trying to do it cause it's so damn hard. lmao Later!