Robert Vrabel

Last night Emily and I were woken up by our door bell ringing. At first I had no idea what the heck It was because I was in a deep sleep. Once we were up, we heard it ring again and we started to freak out. Who rings your doorbell at 2am? I peeked through our guest room window, but couldn’t see any cars, nor could I see the porch.

My first instinct was to call 911, because this was a very strange situation. I didn’t have my phone in the bedroom, so I had to go out to the living room to get it. Whoever was at the door was shining a flashlight in for whatever reason as well as ringing the door bell. At this point I knew they WANTED me to open it, which my instinct was the opposite.

I ended up pulling some James Bond moves and slide across the floors to get my phone, avoiding the flash light and front door, then I proceeded back to my bedroom where I called 911. I told them my address (obviously in a panic), and they said they sent Police officers out because someone called on suspicious activity because our garage door was open. So I went and opened the door and told them everything was ok, then closed the garage door.

(Side note: I just read a article recently that someone got arrested for swearing to a 911 officer, well I did just that as well while I was on the phone. I was in a panic, and panic = swearing for me… so that is bull crap to be told you must keep your language down while on a 911 call.)

Granted I’m happy someone was looking out for us, but this was one crazy ass situation. I really thought we were getting robbed or someone was going to kill us. Maybe my thoughts were a little far fetched, but getting woken up at 2am suddenly, I didn’t have a clear mind.

It took us forever to fall back asleep, my heart was racing, and all I could think about was what was the best way to handle a situation like this? Did I do the right thing? Thinking now, it makes sense the police were randomly ringing the door bell and shining a light in to get our attention. But that also could have been anyone! Oh well… its all over now. Guess we need to check our house every night before we go to bed!

I ate at California Pizza Kitchen today and I believe they have come up with something very unique.  When we got our bill they handed us a “Thank You” envolope which contains a prize.  Anywhere from 10% off to $50,000 in cash. The thing is though, you can’t open it on your own.  You must bring it in with you on your next visit (until the end of June) and the store manager will open it at your table for you to claim your prize.

So lets see here… if you open it on your own you lose your chance at whatever the prize was.  So they are basically forcing me to come back in to see what it is.  Could you imagine opening it on your own and it being a huge amount of $, but its invalid?  Or even waiting until after June when it expires, and it being a huge amount of money that you could of won?

Damn them and there genious marketing.  I will be coming back to claim my prize, don’t you worry.

For the longest time I’ve had problems with Growl not notifying me if a message filters through a “Rule” inside Mail and goes directly to a folder.  I’m not sure if its simply not a feature Growl supports or what, but I’ve finally found a way to notify me in a different way.  Looking at the rule options I noticed you can add multiple lines for what to do when this message fits this rule.  Adding the “Bounce Icon In Dock” option now bounces the Mail icon when a message hits a my rule.

Finally I can be notified instantly!

Emily and I went  to dinner at Andiamo in downtown Royal Oak awhile back. We ordered some Rose wine that we have never had before and It turned out to be the best Rose wine I’ve had in America. We ordered a bottle to take home which ran us $12.00. Fast forward a month or so, we went back to purchase another bottle but were going to be charged $40.00! The guy who sold it to us before must have messed up. I was pretty upset about it since I thought I’d always get it for $12.00. I of course didn’t buy it.

I searched all around at random wine shops and couldn’t find it anywhere. I figured I’d never get a chance to drink this sweet nectar again. Doing a lot of research online I ran into a website called Winerz. I searched for my wine, Santa Digna 2007 Rose and finally found it! You have to purchase in bulk by the case (12) and shipping is pretty expensive since the package is very heavy (40lbs). It turned out to be only $11.00 per bottle. I was shocked at the price considering it was $40.00 at the store! So lo-and-behold my shipment came yesterday and it was perfect!

Ahh… a trip down memory lane. Lately i have had the urge to play some classic video games (from the 80s/90s).  I looked online for videos of old games I used to play and it brought back so many great memories from my childhood.  I figured I would compile a list of games that I used to play over and over again that I have vivid memories of.  This is obviously not a complete list of games I have played, rather ones I have the most memories from.

Computer:

• Kings Quest I
• Kings Quest II
• Kings Quest V
• Quest For Glory I
• Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade
• Indiana Jones and The Fate of Atlantis
• Lands of Lore: Throne to Chaos
• Stonekeep
• Leisure Suit Larry I (Shhh… wasn’t supposed to be playing this one that young!)
• Wolfenstein 3D
• Doom
• Doom 2
• Rise of the Tride
• Heretic
• Duke Nukem
• Duke Nukem 3D
• Warcraft
• Warcraft 2
• Command and Conquer
• Starcraft (I still can’t believe this came out when I was only 13)
• Diablo
• Quake
• Alone In The Dark
• Ultima Online (Best MMORPG to date. Sold my account for $900! This is probably my most missed game since it can’t be re-played today exactly how it was released.)
• Jack Nicklaus Golf
• Lemmings
• Sam & Max Hit The Road
• Commander Keen
• Gazillionaire
• Federation (On AOL)

Nintendo (NES)

• Mario Brothers
• Mario Brothers 2
• Mario Brothers 3
• Dragon Warrior I
• Contra
• Megaman 2
• Super Off Road
• RC Pro am
• Legend of Zelda
• The Adventures of Link (Zelda 2)
• Castlevania
• Gauntlet
• Adventure Island
• Mike Tyson’s Punch Out
• Ducktales
• Golf
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade
• Caesar’s Palace
• Roger Rabbit
• Excite Bike
• Ghosts ‘n Goblins
• Double Dragon I
• Double Dragon II
• Techmo Super Bowl
• Marble Madness
• Spy vs Spy
• Lifeforce
• Gradius

Super Nintendo (SNES)

• Final Fantasy III
• Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
• Secret of Mana
• Mario RPG
• The Legend of Zelda: A link to the past
• Mortal Kombat
• Disney’s Goof Troop
• Super Mario World

Gameboy

• The Legend of Zelda: Links Awaking
• Tetris
• Mario Brothers
• Golf
• Kirby’s Dreamland
• Joe and Mac

Wow, this list became really long, really fast.  Its crazy think how much all these games impacted my life.  Its some of the best memories I have as a child, some of the only ones I remember.  I’m sure I’m missing some games but I will add to it as I remember.  I really need to find all my old game cartridges and floppy disks to see what I missed.

So what games from your childhood do you remember best?

If you haven’t heard already, today Apple will announce its plans to release the iPhone SDK. The kick-off starts at 1:00 EST time. Macroumors will report updates via Twitter or Engadget. Lets hope for some really good news : )