Last Six Years (in a few minutes)

Last Four Years... in a couple of minutes.

GoPro HD Test.

2009 Suzuki V-Strom DL1000 from Tim K. on Vimeo.

Morning ride into work. Never exceeded half throttle. And yes, I blew my first shift. :P

Pine Valley Road.

Tim's First Ride from Tim Kinnaird on Vimeo.

Usman's M50 from Tim Kinnaird on Vimeo.

The last three years... in only a few minutes.

Oh Roy, you inspire.

Here is my first attempt at a Roy Lichtenstein-esque pop-art style portrait of my lovely wife. The hair looks terrible, but I think I'm getting the basic concepts of tracing in Photoshop!

Castle Rock Border Patrol

So the kitty cats in the neighborhood have been trespassing on Moo Moo's territory. Her favorite look-out spot is high up on the back of our couch. From this vantage point she can spot unwelcome backyard intruders from a mile away. Marina indicated that she now works for Castle Rock Border Patrol. That awesome comment inspired this little desktop... I know, we're off in our own little world. So much fun!

The Procedure

I've been searching for this for about eight years now. I found it.

Month End/Quarter End at Work

When the sales teams and marketing teams hit their number we get beer! Not so bad when I've got to stay late tonight!

Mid-Summer BBQ!

Colitis Sucks.

The last two weeks I've been dealing with a stomach parasite. Avoiding the doctor has always been a policy of mine, it will usually takes quite a bit of pain for me to breakdown and go in for a check-up. Recently I've been having a lot of pressure in my stomach and thinking this pain would subside I let it linger, bad idea. It got to the point where I couldn't eat anything outside of yogurt without feeling my insides were going to explode. Two nights ago where I was completely grounded- lying on the floor, not moving. Well after three visits to the doctor I was finally diagnosed with Colitis, and they've got me on all sorts of meds.

So yeah- I'm a total wuss... let me use this forum to issue a public service announcement. Don't ever eat at the Santiago's in Castle Rock... I made the mistake of consuming the burrito from hell a few weeks back (when the pain started).

So the above picture is from Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. I decided to use this picture because I think my face reads "Colitis is SO much fun..." My mother-in-law is in from Europe so we've been driving all over this wonderful state.

Brett Anderson - Wilderness

My favorite singer ever has a new album coming out on July 27th. The ex-Suede front man has provided the soundtrack for me as I make my ascent into thirty-something.

Damn we're old. Good stuff for your ears here.

Exit Light.

Oh man- my news years resolution to blog more has had a rough two weeks. Oh well, I’m here tonight providing a small update. I’ve been wrapped up in the NBA Finals and playing Company of Heroes with Shane and Ricky. The wife is watching “So You Think You Can Dance” and I think I’m going to vomit. I love how we buy a laptop, putting two computers in the house, yet now its always a race to use the new toy.

As of yesterday it was the four year anniversary of my life starting over. I was dumped, unemployed, alone, and in a bad place. With the help of friends and family that was the day my life rebooted, and the reason why I’m here now with an incredible job, living in our own house, with an amazing puppy and the best wife a man could ask for.


E.Monsma - Enter Sandman from Tim Kinnaird on Vimeo

Anyways- I leave you with this- quite possibly the single greatest Rock Band vocal performance that has ever occurred in my house. The instruments are all over the place (you can thank Anthony, Sang, and Ricky for that) but the vocals are spot on. Yep, that’s E.Monsma performing Metallica’s epic “Enter Sandman.” I love the middle part he really kicks it up!

M1530 You Are Awesome.

So I ended up getting a Dell M1530 laptop for work. This is the first laptop I've ever owned and I'm pretty blown away with it thus far. I debated going with a Macbook but they have known issues connecting to our Citrix network at work. Here's a little picture (thanks to the built in webcam) of me and Moo Moo hanging out tonight. The wife has got summer classes so plenty of Tim time to go around.

Our Backyard.

I finished building the deck about a month ago. I built some stairs, added patio furniture, and a grill. Everything is blooming now and very green, and I dig how the neighbors bushes spill over the fence giving us additional privacy. The aspen trees also do an excellent job blocking out other houses. This little sanctuary is without a doubt my most favorite part of our house. I think Moo Moo loves it too!

Rock Park!

Grand Theft Auto 4 Thoughts.

Enough time has elapsed that I can freely talk about Grand Theft Auto 4 without being too spoilerific. I’m certain you’ve seen the reviews, heard the press reaction, the late night sketches (Conan had me in tears), and probably even played it for yourself. I finished story mode to completion about a week ago and I’ve had a lot of time to analyze what I liked and what needed work.

Niko is without a doubt one of the most interesting and compelling characters we’ve been introduced to in gaming for quite a while. What’s not to like, he’s charismatic, intelligent, witty, impulsive, and quite primal (when it comes down to it). Niko teeters on the edge reason, struggling to hold on to his humanity... yet at times more human than some of the people I know in real life. In an era where the reluctant hero dominates the market, Niko is a nice “anti-hero” change of pace.

The friends Niko encounters are important components that make GTA4 a memorable experience. Little Jacob and Brucie are my personal favorites. I especially like how much personality each character is given. The noticeable little touches while hanging out with friends are worth noting. Example, after a series of missions I decided to take Niko out for a drink with Packie, afterwards the pair stumbled out of the bar completely hammered. Packie was singing old irish drinking songs, and Niko was muttering mindless drivel. This makes me wonder if the actors actually got smashed to record that dialog, because they perform it so well.

The characters and environments are so well developed I also find myself adhering to the rules and laws of Liberty City. I act as if I were Niko, and play it as straight as possible. Previous Grand Theft Auto games I found myself plowing through pedestrians without hesitation. In GTA4 I find that sort of chaotic recklessness completely takes me out of the story and the experience. I find that I’m afraid of attracting unwanted police attention which puts me in danger of failing a mission.

Overall I feel like the tone of this iteration was certainly darker. The humor is still there, but it isn’t as upfront and in your face as San Andreas and Vice City. The radio stations are still hilarious, but there is something just a little off about the rest of it. I’ve also noticed the way I play the game has drastically changed since Rockstar introduced the cab system in this game. While this is a stupid thing to gripe about, I find that using cabs was an easy way to blow right through the game and complete missions quickly. I didn’t learn the city like I did in previous games, because I wasn’t forced to learn it, once I used the cab system I found there was no going back. I was tainted from that point on.

Summer is almost here.

Moo Moo straight up chilling. No one can kick it quite like her. Natch.

I've got two days off starting tomorrow. :)

I’ve started playing through Grand Theft Auto 4 and at this point I’m pretty much blown away. In fact this iteration has taken everything that the franchise has done well and turned up the dial a few notches. I’ve only scratched the surface in the single player mode and already I feel this game will undoubtedly be my game of the year, and I haven’t even touched the multiplayer mode yet. The release of GTA4 has transcended any other game release ever, as of right now it is the most highly reviewed game across the vast internets. If you can believe it, all of the best gaming websites all scored the game a perfect ten.

It’s the little things I’ve been noticing that make the experience so unique. The main character is Eastern European, and interacts with various Russians in the beginning of the game. During these sequences many people actually speak Russian and their behavior nearly identical to people I’ve met in Russia and my family over there. There are instances where I can pick up basic Russian words and phrases, and the Russian pop radio channel is spot on. Rockstar nailed it- no question.

At work, co-workers are all sharing their experiences with the game. No matter whom I’m talking with they already have some crazy story even after one night since release. I should take a picture of my Xbox Live friends list, its unreal how many people already have the game. Now I fully understand why Electronic Arts was so aggressive to acquire Take Two before the release of GTA, it will probably go down as the greatest console video game of all time.

Wednesday Thoughts.

I’m going to see Kraftwerk (or Kroft-verk if you’re German) tonight with Shane. We saw these guys back at Coachella a few years back. That show was excellent, I can distinctly remember hearing the buzz at the festival because they rarely played live shows, let alone in the US. Their set started during the middle of the Radiohead show, much of that crowd migrated over to this small tent to watch the Germans do their thing. At the time I only knew one Kraftwerk song, visually and musically I was completely impressed. So yeah… I now know more Kraftwerk songs these days… I’m very excited for tonight.

My Wii is getting up in price, thanks to Josh and Nico for bidding it up for me. It’s got about three days and 70 more bucks to go before it hits my reserve and I can confidently part ways with that piece. I’ve also completed an application for a Sony credit card, which I will use to buy my new PS3/Blu-ray player. More importantly, this Sony credit card gives you a one-time $100 credit when you purchase a Sony item of $299.99 or more. Don’t you just love when Sony hands out free money? So the epic Wii into PS3 plan is nearing completion.

I’ve completed my deck, it turned out well, and more importantly I think I’ve avoided any harassment from the HOA. I went completely rogue and went above the law to build this deck. If I would have submitted plans to the HOA the have the ability to jerk with you- tell you no, put completion time on your project, etc... I’m just glad it’s done, although I have noticed that Maya (my dog) is very hesitant to jump off the deck or even use the stairs. I think I’ll need to add some pavers so she doesn’t have to walk in the rocks. Hrmm…