10 Years of Urgo

As discussed previously here, today, June 23, 2005 is the 10th birthday/anniversary of Urgo! To celebrate Knoxville, TN threw a huge party for me last night. Okay so it probably wasn't for ME, infact I'm sure it wasn't, but it was cool. =]

I've been in Knoxville the past few days on business, and last night I decided I'd check out the movie theater near by. There aren't many movies playing that I had wanted to see, but I figured Sandler's latest would be a decent one. Anyway, so I leave my hotel room and get into my car. The radio comes on and I'm about to back out of my parking spot when I hear what sounds like pounding on my roof, or running over a curb. Knowing there was no curb next to the car and knowing something banging on the roof would not be very likely I keep backing up.... but the noise keeps going on! I turn off the radio and open the windows and then I see it. Not far east (the direction of the movies) is a huge firework show! They went all out too. Very impressive sparkling fireworks and what not. Wow I think, I get to see Knoxville's 4th of July show... a few weeks early.

So since the movie I wanted to see was supposed to start in about 15 minutes I head to the highway watching the fireworks from the car as well. I get on the highway getting closer and closer and CLOSER. I go right under them! It turns out they are firing them right beside the highway, next to the movie theater! To get to the theater I have to drive past it to get to the next exit and wrap around... When I get close to the theatre the traffic becomes heavy so I pull off and park, ready to walk the rest of the way, admiring the fireworks as I go. Once I get very close to the movies I finally hear music going along with them. I catch the last two songs before they end, the theme from 2001, and Star Wars. Very impressive how the music is linked!

So thank you again Knoxville for the great firework display!

After the fireworks some people start leaving but I make my way over towards the box office. There’s a huge crowd I figure was here to see the fireworks but I manage to reach the ticket desk finally, and much to my surprise The Longest Yard is not on the board at all! They are playing all sorts of classic movies. Top Gun, LOTR:FOTR, Shrek2, Titanic, Meet The Fockers, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and much more! I end up getting a ticket (only $1!) for the Indiana Jones movie, a much better choice then what I had planned on seeing.

Inside the theater I'm impressed with the size (18 screens I believe). The seats are all stadium, and very clean. The movie comes on eventually (about 10 minutes late) with no previews or commercials and everyone is happy.

When I got back to the hotel I found out that they weren't actually celebrating 10 years of Urgo, nor were they celebrating the 4th of July, but instead it was actually the grand opening of the brand new Regal theater! They must have spent a years worth of profits on the firework display though. I was thinking when watching it "so that’s why they charge 9.2% in tax, for this. Oh well I'm impressed" but for the theater company to put it on I'm even more impressed.

So yeah, that’s how my 10th birthday began. Good times =]

PS: I really wanted to have new pictures up of my car for today. I ordered a custom plate with Urgo as the text, but the DMV is dragging their feet. :(

My own Amityville Horror

I've been meaning to post here sooner. Several times I've had things I wanted to say but have just been too lazy to actually say it. Anyway here's a short little story. Oh just to clarify too. The car in the previous post is a 2005 Toyota Prius which I picked up about a month ago. =] I'll post more pictures and details soon. Really.

So this past week I was up on Long Island, NY for more training for my job. This time I was traveling with the rest of the StarGate team so each night we went out and did things. Wednesday after coming back from a mets game the topic came up of The Amityville Horror. The true story that this movie was based off of actually took place in a house very close to where we were staying so a trip to the house was a must!

It's now about 11:30pm and after checking directions myself and two of my co-workers head off south on 110 towards 112 ocean ave to see the famous house. About 15 minutes later we are on ocean ave looking for 112. This is a really nice street with a lot of nice houses, but it is really hard to read house numbers. After a little bit of difficulty we find the house and get out of the car to examine it. Not really too much to say about it other then yep, it was the house. :)

This is where the "fun" begins though. We almost got arrested!

After looking at the house a little we notice some of the neighbors who are driving by are starting to look at us. It's 11:45pm at night.. we are being quiet, but its almost midnight none-the-less. After I snap a few pictures (see the best one below) we decide its time to leave, and leave we did not a minute too soon. As we pull off of Ocean Ave onto Merrick then 110 a cop car whizzes by and heads in to Ocean Ave. We were that close to getting arrested, or at least hassled by the cops. We didn't do anything wrong and were very quiet so they couldn't get us on anything. I guess this neighborhood must get lots of people doing the same thing though since the two movies came out and just have gotten sick of it. Oh well. We saw the house and got away without incident. =]