Dec 16 : Home Brewed! Brews from Coast to Coast. from New Brew Thursday on Vimeo.

I've been really into video editing and photography lately since being involved with New Brew Thursday. It seems to be a hobby that I'm pretty good at and would even say I have a natural, er, talent for. I guess it's been that way with everything I throw myself into in life. I started playing guitar at 14 and I've done many things and gone very far with it. I was an excellent student. I got good grades and totally could have gone to college, but decided not to. I had no idea what to study in college and figured it wasn't for me. So, I got into elevators because it paid well and wouldn't you know it, I excelled there too. So, all in all, I am happy with where I am right now and the decisions I've made in my life.

I really don't know what the point of writing this was. Boredom, perhaps. It's a lazy Sunday. Maybe it's a short recap of my life to remind myself how lucky I am to be where I am today.

I'm happy.

I decided to post this video because we thought it was somewhat entertaining and a bit embarrasing. But, we had fun.

Enjoy.

All in all, Monster Energy, a billion dollar company, is throwing their weight and money around. 

Check out this video: 

I wrote Monster Energy earlier this afternoon. Feel free to use my letter to complain to Monster Energy about this ridiculous claim, or just be creative and let them know how YOU feel. 

 My name is John Holzer. I am writing in support of the Vermont beer company known as Rock Art Brewery. I am asking that you consider dropping the lawsuit against this small, independent brewer and entrepreneur. To even consider that any confusion could be made between Monster Energy products and a beer known as The Vermonster is absurd. 

 I have been a customer of Monster Energy for the last seven years. I am now officially boycotting ALL Monster Energy and Hansen products until this is resolved. Please stop trying to squash small business with your billion dollar feet and realize what you are doing is straight up bullying.

 I will tell everyone I known through personal conversation, text message, Twitter, Facebook, email and blogging that Monster Energy is wrong and needs to back down from this issue.

 

Thanks for your time.

 

John Holzer

You can contact Monster Energy here: http://www.monsterenergy.com/web/guest/contact

Rock Art Brewery: http://rockartbrewery.com

Uncle Ronnie, You'll be missed.

STOKED!

[via MSNBC]

When I found out that Dell was to discontinue the Mini 9, I quickly scoured the internet to find a white Mini 9 that was brand new, or in newer condition. Reason being is because I love this computer so much that I wanted another, just in case this one goes kaput. So what better place to look than eBay, right? Wrong. 

I purchased a white Dell Mini 9 from a seller on eBay who sold both new and refurbished Dell mini 9s at reasonable prices. The unit that I purchased was advertised as new, so I snatched it up for $300 and change. Awesome.

The day arrived when I received the Dell Mini in the mail. Shipping from the seller was fast. Awesome. The first thing I noticed was that the box was not a box from Dell. That's OK. I opened it up. I found a white Dell mini 9 wrapped in what appeared to be a used plastic bag. OK, whatever. I opened the bag to look at my new, beautiful Mini 9.

"Hmm..." I thought, "it looks like there are a bunch of swirl marks on the outer white plastic lid, as if it was used and someone had constantly wiped it down to clean it." Whatever, I was excited.

I opened the laptop to find a fingerprinted screen and two chips in the paint of the silver palm rests. "AAAAHHHH!" the perfectionist in me says, "wait, what's that?! That's not cool! What the fuck?!" This was not going to fly. This laptop was CLEARLY used. I felt bamboozled. 

So what does one do? Email the seller, that's what. I notice that the seller has a 100% positive feedback rating, which is one of the main reasons I bought the computer from this person to begin with. I send an email stating that this laptop is NOT new and I'm pissed. 

The thing is, I don't want to send it back. The reason I ordered a white Dell Mini 9 was because it was, in fact, white. I already own a black Dell Mini 9, but I wanted a white one. The first thing I did when I saw the chips in the palm rests was to do what anyone would do--swap the palm rest with the other Dell Mini 9 to make the white Dell Mini 9 perfect. So that's what I did. A little digging on Google was all it took to figure out how to rip the laptop apart. So I did it. And I must say, the process was quite easy and went perfectly. Now I have a PERFECT white Dell Mini 9, and a slightly flawed black [sheep] Dell Mini 9. Cool.

Back to the story. After ranting to the seller about how dissatisfied I was with my purchase, the seller wrote back, apologized, and offered a refund if I would send the laptop back. 

I couldn't send it back! I already made it a perfect little white Mini 9! I told the seller I was going to keep it, but that he or she shouldn't be so quick to offer items up for sale as new when they clearly are not. There was a lesson to be taught here, after all.

The email that followed from the seller was very apologetic. In exchange for my dissatisfaction, I was offered three things: a 1GB MP3 player, a voice recorder, and a "novelty item". I wasn't looking for a handout, so I declined the offer and said that since the sale was smooth, shipping was fast, the communication and willingness to fix the problem were all awesome, I would leave positive feedback. The email back was very thankful and stated that the said items would be sent anyway as a token of thanks. 

OK, fine. 

A week went by. I had all but forgotten about the items the seller was sending.

I came home from work today to find a box from UPS on my doorstep. Can you guess what was in it? Yep. The apology gifts...

A.K.A. junk. Great. More junk.

I am offering this junk up for free to anyone who wants it.

Moral of the story: Don't lie on eBay and then send me junk you need to get rid of otherwise in an attempt to apologize for lying. It makes me dislike you even more.

I should have, at the very most, left "Neutral" feedback. Pssh.

But hey, I've got a white Dell Mini 9 Hackintosh, and I love it. How cute.

The video was for Taintstick's song "Monkeys of War" and in this shot, a monkey is supposed to be throwing poop at me. Let's hope this scene doesn't get edited.

I had a lot of fun with Jason, Rawdog, Cowfucker, Mayhem and everyone else that was there for the shoot. Here's a clip of the "pooing". Thanks also to Josh Eldridge [twitter.com/fmjosh] for recording this clip for me. Enjoy.

»Keywords of the day: Dell Mini 9, Macheist

Twitter a Day: Friday, March 27, 2009.

»Keywords of the day: Bookstore, Taco Bell

Twitter a Day: Saturday, March 28, 2009.

»Keywords of the day: BLNT, Green

Twitter a Day: Sunday, March 29, 2009.

»Keywords of the day: Birds, Sopranos

Twitter a Day: Monday, March 30, 2009.

»Keywords of the day: BLNT, Skype

Twitter a Day: Tuesday, March 31, 2009.

»Keywords of the day: Howard Stern, iPhone 3.0

Twitter a Day: Wednesday, April 1, 2009.

»Keywords of the day: BLNT, Photoshop

»Keywords of the day: Sopranos, Work

Twitter a Day: Friday, March 20, 2009.

»Keywords of the day: Chinchillas, Xcode

Twitter a Day: Saturday, March 21, 2009.

»Keywords of the day: Grass, Obama

Twitter a Day: Sunday, March 22, 2009.

»Keywords of the day: iPhone, ngmoco

Twitter a Day: Monday, March 23, 2009.

»Keywords of the day: Practice, Tired

Twitter a Day: Tuesday, March 24, 2009.

»Keywords of the day: Sopranos, Tired

Twitter a Day: Wednesday, March 25, 2009.

»Keywords of the day: Dell Mini 9, Lou Bellera