Holy crap Thursday was an awesome day!

First, the Heller decision came down as a huge win for anyone with a third grade reading level of history and the Constitution.  (My only surprise was that the decision was 5-4 and not 9-0.)  I read through the decision and they tear the gun-control freaks a new one. Some highlights…

Did you know that the famous 1930’s Miller decision that is the last time the Supreme Court heard a case relating to the 2nd Amendment involved a bootlegger and mobster who was charged with violating the National Firearms Act; which imposed a tax on his shotgun?  Yes, it was a tax dispute!  And when the court heard the case neither Mr. Miller (the criminal bootlegger/mobster) nor his attorney (court appointed and not getting paid a dime, thus couldn’t make the trip to D.C.) were present.  So the last time the high court heard a gun case it was only argued by the government!  Would the Roe vs. Wade outcome have been different is Roe or her lawyers not been in attendance?  Well for years this has been overlooked, until the Heller decision.

I won’t bore you with more, but it does make for some very interesting reading.  The majority opinion is about 60 pages and this comment sums it up nicely:

Scalia’s opinion was classic. He spends 40 pages citing Webster’s in an effort to give the dissenters a vocab and grammar lesson, then he spends 10 pages calling Justice Stevens a douche bag (politely), and 10 pages doing the same to Justice Breyer.

60 pages total of what basically amounts to: “It’s plainly written, right there… can’t you read?”

In other great news on Thursday I got a new motorcycle!  I am the proud owner of a 1996 Yamaha YZF600R sport bike!  I saw an ad on Craigslist that morning and sent the guy an email as he lived the the same town I do.  I have been thinking its time to ‘upgrade’ the bike and have always wanted a sport bike.  HE called me back just before I was going to play some xBox, about 9:00pm so I arranged to meet him at the local mall parking lot for a test ride.  He had already gotten like ten calls on it and got two more while I was riding around the mall, so I decided to go for it. I had the money so we made the deal right there.

Friday I had to wait until I got home to take it for a real test drive and actually get it out of third gear.  Man does that thing fly!  I had a stupid grin plastered to my face the whole time.  It needs a little work and the paint job is thrashed, but for the money I am not complaining one bit.  Here is a pic of what the bike ’should’ look like new:

I also got a call about the new house.  They are nearing completion so we should close sometime this week.  Maybe Tuesday.

Still no word on the Heller case from the Supreme court.  From what I hear the decision is expected tomorrow.  This is the D.C. gun ban case, and will go down in history along with Roe vs. Wade and the Dredd Scott decisions. I am expecting a BIG win for 2nd Amendment supporters.

I found out what the hold-up is on the house.  Apparently the previous owner had an IRS lean on the house he never paid.  The title search company missed it, and only found it just before we were going to settlement.  Looks like they have to pay the lean.  (No idea how much it is for.)  But this could drag settlement out for several weeks since the IRS doesn’t do anything fast.  We may just make a deal to move in and do settlement when they get all that sorted out.

BitzBox.com is getting steadily more hits.  Our first banner ad over at DakkaDakka.com is live.  I have inquirys at a couple of other sties to do banner ads as well.  No one is really posting ads yet, though.  (Except me!) Well, its only been a couple of days; give it time.  I found some info on creating animated Gifs to make some cool banner ads.  (Thanks for the info Louis!)

I spoke with Louis Porter Jr. last night.  I called to ask him about making banner ads/animated gifs.  So naturally that turned into a discussion of all kinds of things from 4E to our future publishing plans.  Look for some exciting things from both our companies in the coming months.

Skortched Urf’ Studios has taken the next step in its publishing venture!  As of today, I now own a block of ISBN numbers.  I plan on putting them to good use with various “Dead Tree” products in the coming months.

Still no word on the house.  I am pretty frustrated about it.  I have over twenty grand just waiting to give to someone and they can’t get their act together so I can hand the check over.  Sheesh!

More later.

BitzBox.com is officially live.  I put a press release on ENWorld and have contacted several sites about doing banner ads to promote it.  Please take a moment to go and post some ads.  Thanks!

I had lunch with my Realtor today.  I signed a form related to the delayed closing.  No word on when it will be re-scheduled.  I hope to hear something tomorrow.

I picked up Grand Theft Auto today.  Blockbuster sent me a coupon for ten bucks off; so I got it for fifty instead if sixty bucks!  I haven’t played it yet, but I heard good things about free-roam mode with your friends.

I am also in the middle of transferring all the songs from my wifes old iPod to her new one.  Or, more accurately, transferring the data to our new home PC so we can do all the syncing there instead of my laptop.

BitzBox.com is kind-of-sorta live!  I deleted all the test ads and updated the store list last night.  Today I’ll be taking photos of items I will be posting and putting up the first ads.  I’ll be emailing various others to give them the “Go Ahead” to begin posting.  If you are reading this, feel free to head over there and post ads!

I am also doing several banner ads, and will be updating my sig on various forums to include Skortched Urf’ Studios newest venture.

We didn’t close on the house, the seller didn’t have all his ducks in a row so it got pushed back.  I anticipate it will be this week some time; possibly Monday or Tuesday.  We had the family over to our current place yesterday for a final shin-dig.  Pizza, crab-cakes and watermelon!

I’ve been reading over the GSL and related threads.  I am going to tread with caution on 4E releases; but at this point I will certainly not be converting my lines over to 4E.  I may start a few new ones to support it, but with WOTC able to pull the plug at any time I can’t see putting many eggs in that basket.

I took today off to close on the new house, only to have them say they were missing some documents and it would need to be postponed a few days.  Bummer.  So I looked at some furniture and saw Get Smart with my family and in-laws.  Two thumbs up for Get Smart!  Great movie.

Ran my first 4E game last night.  I thought it went well.  Still getting used to the new mechanics but so far I like what I am seeing.  One of the players did a short write up of the experience HERE.

Just about ready for BitzBox.com to go live. A few minor tweaks.

I have gotten some good feedback so far on the BitzBox.com site, and have implemented several of the suggestions already. I added and changed a few category listings, updated some code for the navigation bar and put anchors in the very entertaining F.A.Q. page to make it easier to read through. Seriously, go check out the Privacy Policy.

In other news today is my 3rd wedding anniversary! It was three years ago today that I married “Pookey” near the banks of the Potomac River in Mt. Vernon, VA. Tonight she is getting a new iPod for putting up with me for all that time. (I’m saving my gift for the big gun show in July which falls on my birthday!) If I can talk her into it, I’d like to go see the Hulk as well.

I read through the new 4E module Keep on the Shadowfell last night, since I will be running it tomorrow. I’ll go through it some more tonight before bed time.

A quick glance at the GSL and the new SRD leaves me somewhat underwhelmed. The OGL and Pathfinder are looking better all the time. I have pretty much decided that the Omens of Armageddon adventure arc will be released under the OGL using the D20 Modern rules rather than wait for the 4E version.

Well, I finally got the rest of the money from my retirement account. I cut a certified check for over twenty-four thousand bucks this morning to bring with me to settlement on Friday. Looks like I actually bought a house!

But who cares about that? I am also pleased to reveal (to the six people that read this blog) the [Secret Project] I have been working on for some time. Announcing…

BitzBox.com is a trading site for gamers, which will allow them to buy, sell or trade their gaming related stuff easily with anyone. Weather across the country or in your very own neighborhood, using BitzBox.com lets you facilitate trades with ease.

So that is the quick over-view. What I want are a few pairs of “new eyes” to take a look at the site and let me know what you like, what you don’t like and any general advice. Would you use this site? If not, why not? Please go to the site, poke around, post a few test ads (please no ‘real’ ads until the site goes live) and give me some feedback. Just email me with your comments and let me know what you think.

As a ‘Thank You’ for anyone providing feedback, I will be happy to hand out some free PDF’s from our catalog or give you some free banner ads on the site. Once I have beta tested the site for a week or two, I’ll go “live” with it.

Thanks!

Almost there!  I did some final work last night, and will finish up a few things when I get home from work.  After that I think it will be ready for a good Beta trial for a week or so and then the new site will go live.  Look for an announcement here within 24 hours.

I’ve been going through the 4E rules to get a feel for the new system.  Thus far I like what I am seeing.  I’ll be running new module next week with my local church group so that will be my first actual playing experience with the new system.  Still no word on the GSL and the SRD for 4E.  Hopefully soon.

I am one week away from closing on my new house!  I still need to get the funds from my retirement program; still waiting on that.  I’ll feel much better after I actually have the money for the house in my account.

Work on [SECRET PROJECT] is progressing well.  I have some minor code tweaking to make it Beta-test worthy, as well as to put the final touches on the overall look of the project.  (Nothing fancy, just presentable.)  I will get some work done on it tonight/this weekend and hopefully get it out for a Beta Test next week.  Next week is shaping up to be a very busy week, but one I am looking forward to!