Tag: video camera

PS4 for Christmas

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, Gift, Holidays, Products I Like, PSP, Tech, TVLeave a comment

ps4

My partner saw a commercial for Xbox One and asked if that’s what I want for Christmas. I told him I don’t want you to buy me an Xbox because they are way too expensive. He asked if I would play it and I said hell yes, but I don’t want you to buy it for me.

Up until that point it never even occurred to me that I might want a video game system for my TV. I mean, I’ve thought about it every now and then, but when I saw how expensive they were, the thoughts faded away. But now I can’t stop thinking about it.

This weekend is Black Friday and Cyber Monday. They are at least 23% off, but even still, they are way too expensive for me. The regular price of a PS4 is $520 and right now they are on sale for $400. That’s a lot of money to save, but $400 is also a lot of money to spend.

And I settled on PlayStation 4 because I already have PSP and they have much different selection than Xbox. For example Xbox doesn’t have Little Big Planet. I have some games that I love for my PSP that they don’t have anywhere else, like Jak and Daxter & Ratchet and Clank. It’s a brand, like Nintendo has Mario and Zelda and you can’t play those anywhere else. This particular game system has the Little Big Planet and Lego Batman 3. I mean don’t get me wrong, I would LOVE either Xbox One or PS4. I would be more than happy with either one of them.

Another reason I settled on the PS4 rather than Xbox One is because of the camera. I checked and the Xbox Kinect is $100 to $200. The PS4 camera is only $40. Huge difference in price. The only reason I would want the camera is so that I could use it for the dance games, which burn calories because it is cardio exercise. The Xbox One Kinect is more than just for exercise, in fact you can control your TV from what I understand, but I would probably never use that. In fact, if I did have that, every time I talked, Chip would ask me who I was talking to, so it’s better that I don’t have a game to talk to lol.

It’s a nice thing to think about, and I even created a Amazon wishlist for PS4, but I highly doubt I will ever be able to buy anything from that wishlist. Maybe one day, but probably not this day, or any time soon. If Santa “made” one for me, and it happened to be under the tree on Christmas morning, then I would be the happiest 44 year-old child the world has ever seen, but I highly doubt that would happen.

I am finally not in any pain

On By Michel McDonaldIn Doctor, Exercise, Health, PainLeave a comment

pain

I have been going to Jacobo Physical Therapy 3 days a week for a few weeks and I can’t believe it but, I am not in any pain.  I can’t say that this is a permanent thing, because I do occasionally feel pain, but it’s not a constant nagging in my spine like it normally is 24 hours a day.

A few years ago I was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease, but recently in the last month I found out from x-rays that I also have scoliosis.  I was wondering why I was in constant agony, now I know why.  My doctor sent me to physical therapy and I go there three days a week.  They give me certain exercises I can do for 30 minutes, then someone comes in and gives me a soft tissue massage.

Dr. Jacobo told me that my insurance will only cover so many visits per year, so once I’m done with physical therapy, I’m on my own.  She said they will see me three days next week, but after that I can come once a week.  I am not sure if my insurance will pay for once a week, but I hope they do.

weider total body works 5000She told me that they can give me a printout of all of my exercises in case I forget what they are so that I can do them at home.  I have a Weider Total Body Works 5000 which I can use to help me.  Some of the exercises I do use weights, so that’s where my home gym will come in.  Not all of the exercises will require using the gym, so I will have to remember them and try to make it a daily ritual to keep my back pain down to an absolute minimum, if that is possible.

I’m wondering if I should set up my video camera so I can do all of the exercises so if I ever forget how to do them, I can always refer to the tape, or well, DVD since it’s a DVD Camcorder.  I think that would be a good idea because I know I will forget if I don’t make it a habit.

I bought that Weider Total Body Works 5000 in 2005 from Wal-mart’s website for $99.  Now they are $149 at Wal-Mart and $159 at Target.  It’s $400 and $1000 on Amazon, which is amazing that they would sell it for that much money since you can buy it much cheaper at Wally World and Target.

My gym is outside in our patio which makes it a miserable experience because it’s way too hot out there to use it, but there isn’t any room for it inside the house.  I’m pretty sure I can deal with using it out there for half an hour per day if it will help me with my pain levels.  Although I can’t say that I will get my massages, but I guess I will just have to deal without those lol.

The good thing about these exercises is that they taught me how to stretch my legs while laying down when I start and when I finish, so I can use that knowledge for when I ride my bike.  It’s always a good idea to stretch before and after a bike ride.

I really hope my pain levels aren’t as high as they used to be without going to physical therapy 3 days a week.  If you have ever suffered from back pain, then you know what that constant nagging pain feels like, so you understand.  Most people who don’t have any back pain never understand.  In fact, some people feel that because they don’t have that same or any pain that they don’t think we are in any pain at all.  It’s a “if I’m not in pain, then you aren’t in any pain either” type of thing I guess.

Pain meds don’t always help me.  I’ve taken Ibuprofen, Vicodin, muscle relaxers, Tylenol, Advil etc.  Nothing works.  Although when I broke my arm I was constantly medicating myself with Vicodin which took ALL my pain away.  I think that was the best vacation from pain I’ve been on in a long time.  When my arm healed and I stopped taking the Vicodin, the back pain returned.  I have taken more Vicodin since then, but it doesn’t do any good.

I think I spoke too soon because I’m getting shooting pain in the middle of my spine.  YIKES!  Well, let’s hope that it doesn’t get worse.  I think I will take something for it now.  I bought some generic “Pain Relief PM” from Dollar General for $1 to help with the pain and to help me sleep.  I really hope that doing those exercises at home will help because I don’t think I can take being in as much pain as I was before going to Jacobo Physical Therapy.  That really is no way to live.

Shafter Police Officer Video Tapes Attack

On By Michel McDonaldIn NewsLeave a comment

I just saw this on the Bakersfield Californian website via Facebook.

Caught on tape: Shafter officer inadvertently videotapes himself beating suspect

This cop in Shafter turned off the safety on his taser which turned the video camera on and he inadvertently video taped himself beating a suspect who was not resisting arrest.  He had his taser in 1 hand and his baton in the other hand which is what he beat him with.

Q: Do you think the city and county ought to buy cameras for all their police tasers, like Shafter has done?

A: They have the dashboard cameras for chases, they should be video taped the entire time, not just when they pull people over but also when they have to run after a suspect and they are far from the vehicle. It protects them but it also protects us from them.

Britain has head-mounted video cameras for their police officers and I think that America needs that too.  Although, this article says that it cost $6 million dollars for 2,000 cameras and that’s probably more than our countries budget can afford, especially since the deficit is much higher now.  But perhaps this will be put in place some time in the future.  Maybe certain cities can buy 1 for each of their officers that go out on the streets only.  Maybe this will force them to be peace officers instead of dickhead officers.

Bike Video

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, ExerciseLeave a comment

I brought the video camera today on my ride and when I got to the bike trail I hooked it up and started recording.  My starting point was Truxton and Mohawk and my ending point was Manor St.  The whole video was 20 minutes and 25 seconds.

I turned the video camera off and put the camcorder back in the camera bag inside the grocery bag on the side of the rack.  I get home and watched it on the dvd player (which is actually a dvd recorder, I deleted a scene with me talking because my head was cut off) then I put the dvd back in the camcorder and hook it up to the computer to upload it.  Failed import. I don’t know why or what happened.  I put the dvd into the dvd drive and it also failed.

So what this means is I gotta do it again lol.  I was hoping to be able to take the mount off and put it in the camera bag for future use if I ever wanted to use it again somewhere else but I guess it will have to stay on the handlebar until I get it right.

I formated the mini dvd-ram (that’s what my camcorder takes, mini dvd’s, a dvd-ram is better though) so that tomorrow when I go back out there won’t be any reason for it to do that to me again.

Worst Fears Realized

On By Michel McDonaldIn DreamsLeave a comment

I just woke up out of the worst dream a nerd could ever have in his ENTIRE life!  Have you ever had a dream where you worst fears have been realized?  I just did.

Darrin and I were traveling… somewhere which I still am not clear with.  I was leaving my Aunt Louise’s house in Texas and for some reason Darrin was with me.  So we were going to go on another trip but the only way to get to the airport was by city bus.  So we had all of our things on the bus with us, he pretty much just had clothes.  He’s not real into nerdy things like me.  I on the other hand had some clothes but for the most part all my electronics.

List: I had my laptop, psp, cell phone, video camera (dvd cam), bi-pap machine and my Dell DJ which doesn’t work right now lol.  I also had some books in my suitcase.  If I had a Kindle I would’ve been totally screwed but my bags would’ve been lighter lol.

The bus runs a red light and we get pulled over.  All the passengers are taken off the bus and put onto another bus for a few minutes.  Then the police come to the bus we were taken to and says we can get on our bus now.  The bus pretty much empties and I’m the last one off.  I get off the bus and look around and the bus I was originally on was nowhere to be seen.  It was totally gone… with ALL of my stuff.  Darrin was gone too.

I had to think… real hard… maybe Darrin will keep an eye on my stuff and when he gets to our destination he will bring it with him.  Although, I finally catch the next bus and get to our destination which for some odd reason is another bus but it’s a totally different kind of bus which I would so love to explain except that I can’t because it was so strange I literally have to draw you a picture to describe it.  And since I can’t draw let me just say it was strange.

I get on that bus and say please tell me you have all my stuff and Darrin says “what stuff?”  AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!  What do you mean what stuff?  OMG I cannot believe it.  So I pick up a cell phone which by the way makes no sense.  It wasn’t my cell phone but I look at it and it has “property of….” and it says a name that I can’t recall and I realize that the person who took all my things have already assimilated it all.  But how could I know that by looking at “a” cell phone?  Hey, it’s a dream sequence, what do you want?

We end up at someones house and Darrin is sleeping in a bed and I’m trying to use the phone to call my cell phone and my cousin Brandi is on the other line and she won’t get off the phone.  And so I keep picking up the phone and instead of a dial tone I can hear her talking and she tells me to get off the phone.

Ok, I realize that all these things can be replaced.  My cell phone is actually just a pre-paid cell phone.  I’ve had it since 2002 and pre-paid gives you a crappy amount of minutes.  I think for $25 I get 2.5 hours to talk.  I think that the newer pre-paid are different.

Anyway, I can always get a new everything else but come on, all my pictures are on the SD card in my camcorder, all my saved games are in the memory stick in my PSP and my simm card in my cell phone with all my phone numbers.  It’s a hassle to have to get it all back and it costs way more money than I have to spend.  It took me years to get all of those electronics and all by pure luck too.  Some were gifts and some were things that took me years to save up for.