Sunday, September 24, 2006

Hyundai ad

I just saw a new ad on TV for the Hyundai Santa-Fe. In this commercial, they sprayed water on a giant yellow piece of plastic that they put on the road making a very long slip-n-slide. At the end of the commercial they were talking about how sure footed the Santa-Fe is because it stayed on the wet road like it was dry.

Um, I don't know a TON about cars, but isn't staying on a wet road like that more a function of the tires than the car itself? If the car can grip the wet road, that's all in the tires. So this ad was very misleading. At least to my limited understand of cars.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

New Diet!

Have a special event coming up - class reunion, company party, hot date - and you need to lose 10+ pounds in two days? Think it's impossible to do it? I've got the diet for you!

Don't waste time trying to eat zero carbs. No exercise needed. No grapefruit. No diet pills. This is 100% natural and guaranteed to work!

What can this wonderous thing be? How is this possible? Have I found some alternate dimension where two days here is two months there? How much does this cost? And is it from Ronco?

First the price. It's FREE! That's right! No cost, no shipping, you pay nothing. Are you interested? Want to know what this is? Ok, I'll tell you. It's called...

The Stomach Flu!

That's right, nature's own little bug that grabs your stomach, twists it inside out, upside down, in a zillion knots, then makes you empty everything that was in there. But that's not all! After you have emptied your stomach, this wonderous bug won't let you eat anything else! It'll make you want to sleep for at least one day, maybe two. During that time this bug is still going strong and won't let you eat a thing.

Yes, you'll feel a little weak, won't be able to go dancing all night without passing out, but isn't that a small price to pay for dropping that weight quickly so you can look good for that special event?

How do you catch this fantastic bug? That's the tough part. You can't just go to your local pharmacy and buy it. There are several ways you can get it though. Find someone who has it and let them breath on you. Find an area where this bug is spreading and visit a doctors office or a school, preferably with kids in 2nd grade or less who's resistance is low but bug carrying ability is high. Wander around shopping malls looking for people coughing and follow them trying to get some of their cough to land on you.

So remember, the next time you need to drop some weight really fast, go looking for The Stomach Flu!


Seriously, our family caught this thing and it was nasty. I RARELY throw up. I mean I'll roll around on the floor fighting it for hours until I don't have to throw up. This time I started feeling a little bad around 4pm, and by 6pm I was seriously puking! An hour and a half later, puked again. I could NOT hold it back! Finally I slept. Felt like I was going to throw up again at 10:30pm, but didn't HAVE to. So I fought it and won this time! Ate a tiny bit of a cracker and that settled my tummy. I slept through the night, got up, checked my email, 15 minutes later was out again, woke up at lunch for an hour this time, and crashed again. I didn't eat anything that day except a few crackers, drink some Fresca. Finally ate a burger at night and slept all night, and was able to go to work Thursday. This was bad, but I did drop 10 pounds. Of course I don't have any energy and am ready to sleep for two days, but it was nice that my pants were a little looser. LOL!

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

From the silly but fun department.  I found this on someone elses Flickr page and decided to try it myself.  Some I can agree with, but I think my face broke the software for some of the others.  LOL!  Go ahead, try it yourself!



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Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Interesting Scott Adams (Dilbert) Blog Posting

I was catching up on my rss feeds with Google Reader (3 days worth) and came across the post below from Scott Adams on his Dilbert Blog about Steve Irwin being killed by a stingray. Now I like Scott Adams and his sense of humor, and I like on his blog he has no problem calling people stupid and foolish when they are being stupid and foolish.

However, this post was out of line. Now while it is probably true that everyone figured Steve Irwin would eventually be killed by some animal - I mean how many of us have seen him or one of these other guys do things we consider insane - the post seemed rude to me because Scott Adams was rubbing Steve Irwin's face in it, like "Told you so!" Just poor taste and bad judgement on Scott Adams part to post this.

So I was curious to see what comments people were leaving about this post. Guess what? It's gone! I'm guessing someone with a few more brains, like his new wife or his publicist, smacked him upside the head telling him to delete it unless he wanted to commit professional suicide. Some things are ok to make fun of, some aren't. This is one where he should have kept his comments to himself. And a good reminder to all of us - in cyberspace, there is no delete, so be careful what you say. So here's his post for you to judge.



What? No Way!

Scott_Adams Sep 04, 2006 - Show original item

I was shocked when I heard the news that the Crocodile Hunter died in a “freak stingray accident.” I had ten dollars bet on “misjudged the speed of a crocodile.” Something tells me that the media already had his obituary written with a fill-in-the-blank for the specific creature that killed him.

Readers of the Dilbert Blog know that I believe death is not a laughing matter, unless the guy who gets killed is in the process of bothering dangerous animals. And by “animals” I include all manner of aquatic, flying, stinging, clawing, bitey things. When someone gets killed doing that sort of thing, it’s a good lesson for the kids. I think it lends credibility when you tell them not to pet strange dogs that are foaming at the mouth. “Don’t pet that dog, Timmy. If you do, you might be killed by an entirely different animal that is not normally considered dangerous. Remember the Crocodile Hunter.”

I remind you that the Crocodile Hunter is the same guy who in 2004 famously fed wild crocodiles with one hand while holding his infant son in the other. Just be glad the Croc Hunter didn’t have triplets because you know he would have tried juggling them.

It seems weird to me that the stingray that got him is now the world’s most famous aquatic creature and doesn’t even know it. He’s probably floating around eating kelp or whatever-the-hell stingrays eat, oblivious to the fact that he’s as famous as O.J. I hope he gets a book deal because I’d like to hear his side of the story. I realize that stingrays have brains the size of a dried raisin, but that doesn’t stop athletes from writing books. All you need is a good co-author.

STINGRAY: “Well, I was minding my own business, eating kelp or whatever-the-hell I eat, when this guy jumps in the water and yells ‘Crikey!’ like a crazy seal. So I killed him and then hired a co-author who is both handsome and talented. You will find his contact information in the back of this well-written book.”

Monday, September 04, 2006

Steve Irwin, the "Crocodile Hunter" dies...

I was in total shock when I heard he had died!  I loved his shows, they were fun, silly, and educational.  I've been reading about it on the web this morning just tragic, such a loss.  I have never understood why great people like Steve Irwin have to die so young when there are so many other horrible people in the world who deserve it more.  My prayers and thoughts go out to his family.

Monday, August 28, 2006

Feeling my age...

This last weekend we went to the beach. Had a great time, played in the sand, let the waves wash up on our feet, and it was Maddie's first trip to the beach. The weather was really nice, not too hot or cold, just about perfect.

There's a little river that runs by where we stayed to the ocean that's extremely shallow right now, I don't think it got even up to my knees. Riley and I made a little sand fortress by dumping sand into the river about 6 feet to close off an area. Then we bailed all of the water out. After that was done, we had fun digging a big deep hole. Great father son bonding stuff.

Normally I don't feel my 43 years of age, but today my body is reminding me of them - all of them. I'm fine sitting here, but when I have to get up it takes about 3x as long! Walking is also an interesting experience. As much as I hate to admit it, I guess I really am getting older. LOL!!

Say this tongue twister, or else...

This is just crazy.

http://www.glumbert.com/media/tonguetwister.html

Is this one of those crazy Japanese game shows? Or maybe a new way to interrogate customers? Who in their right mind would do this? And if it is a game show, what do you win if you get it right - other than the ability to have children?

Would love to know more about this clip.


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Friday, July 28, 2006

Tree Farm Trip

On Wednesday 7/26 I took a trip to visit one of my companies tree farms. It was VERY beautiful and wonderful! I had a fantastic time! It was more like hiking on a weekend than work. I posted some of the photos I took on Flickr.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Winternals & Sysinternals bought by Microsoft

I just heard about this from Mark Russinovich's blog.

First I want to say Congrats to both Mark and Bryce Cogswell.  If Microsoft chooses to listen to these two, they are getting some first class people who will help make Windows a better more stable product, and give us better tools to work with and administrate it.  So I'm quite happy for them - again, if Microsoft chooses to listen to them.

Second, I want to say NOOOOOO!!!!  WHY?  WHY?  WHY?!   There are a TON of great utilities available for FREE on the Sysinternals website that I have used a lot.  I now think they will either go away or at a minimum no longer be free.  And I doubt Mark and Bryce will be available to create other free utilities either.  We have lost one of the most valuable resources around for Windows administration and troubleshooting.  You can read what others are saying on the Slashdot article.

So it is a mixed blessing for me, I'm happy for them, sad to lose all the tools.  Once again Microsoft as assimilated and shown "Resistance is futile".



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Monday, July 17, 2006

The Voice of GOD

It's funny how when you're surfing the web for one thing, you can find links that take you somewhere totally different.  That's how I found the Religious Freaks blog.  On there he has a post about Samuel L. Jackson doing an audio book of the New and Old Testement where he will be the voice of God.  (Personally I would rather have it be James Earl Jones.)  I then listened to the audio clip and couldn't believe it was real.  Did some quick Googling and while I couldn't verify the clip as real, it appears the audio book is.

Some have said they thought the clip was from Pulp Fiction.  Could be, it's been awhile since I've seen that movie.  But I remember there being a LOT more swearing when he did that.

Anyhow, it's a funny clip to listen to and could be a good audio book.


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Monday, July 10, 2006

Why we have kids

This weekend I finally learned the real reason we have kids.  Here are some reasons I have heard before:
  • To further the family line.
  • The joy of being a parent.
  • Nurturing young minds to make the world a better place.
  • Living vicariously through your kids, seeing them do things you never could.
These are nice, but not the real reason.  This weekend I was steam cleaning the carpets upstairs and drinking a beer.  My 4 year old son came in to see how I was doing.  As he left I asked if he could do something for me.  When he came back, he had a fresh beer for me.  That's when I realized why we have kids - to bring us beer so we can continue what we're doing, be that cleaning carpets or watching tv.  ;)


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Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Non-Carbonated Water??

Ok, so what's up with this?  You grab a bottle of "water", you know, that expensive stuff that you can get out of your faucet.  It says, "100% Natural", "Non-carbonated", etc.  But when you unscrew the cap, it makes that "fssst" sound, the same you get from a plastic bottle of soda.  If it's non-carbonated and supposed to be just simply water, then why does it make that sound?  I'm sure there's a good reason - and if so, please tell me in the comments!  I just don't get it...

Friday, June 16, 2006

Google Calendar is COOL!!!

I've been using Google Calendar for awhile now.  It's great for my wife and I, we have a calendar that both of us see and can update so when either one of us has something come up, we can update the calendar and we always know what we're doing.  It's a clean, simple, and easy to use interface.

AND I just found out you can publish a tiny calendar on a web page.  Look my ORPUG blog to see the calendar on the right.  Very cool!  Man, I LOVE Google!!



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Monday, May 22, 2006

Very Cool Pearl Jam!

I'll admit Pearl Jam isn't one of my favorite bands.  However, I love what they have done with their new music video "Life Wasted".  Here's the Google Blog article:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/05/attention-all-pearl-jam-fans.html

Attention all Pearl Jam fans






Pearl Jam's new music video "Life Wasted"
is now on Google Video for free! Be sure to check it out now, as free
streaming and download is available only until next Wednesday.

And in line with the band's experimental personality, Pearl Jam released the "Life Wasted" video under a Creative Commons "some rights reserved" copyright license.
What does all that legal gibberish mean to you? It means that you can
download the video for free, share it with your friends, and even post
it on your own site--provided you give the band credit and don't use it
for commercial purposes. It's yet another example of Pearl Jam putting
its fans first.

I think this is great for everyone!  Now if we can just get more bands doing stuff like this.



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Tuesday, May 16, 2006

The Da Vinci Code Movie/book

I'm looking at the news online and just see tons of items about people protesting the movie, trying to block it from being shown, planning boycott's, etc. 

Hello?  Is anyone home?  The movie/book is FICTION!  That means it isn't real!  Even on Dan Brown's website he says,
"The Da Vinci Code is a novel and therefore a work of fiction."
I guess some people could read the book or watch the movie and think it's true, but that's their problem.  It's made up.  Fake.  Not true.  And it's a darn good story too!  Dan Brown even states
"Even so, a small but vocal group of individuals has proclaimed the story dangerous, heretical, and anti-Christian. While I regret having offended those individuals, I should mention that
priests, nuns, and clergy contact me all the time to thank me for
writing the novel. Many church officials are celebrating The Da Vinci
Code because it has sparked renewed interest in important topics of
faith and Christian history."

I read the book, loved it and am now looking forward to watching the movie.  Get real people, it isn't fact, and it's actually a really good story.


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Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Illegal Immigrants...

So we've got all these people who are in this country illegally and they aren't working right now to show how much we depend on them, how much we need them.  Ya, right.

Well of course if they aren't going to be at their jobs those companies will suffer some, and people might not get what they want.  It would be that way with any group walking off the job.  What if all white males 25-30 walked off their jobs for a day or two?

They are trying to say we need them.  Um, WRONG!  If they weren't here, we would simply be employing others who are here LEGALLY!  Maybe some kids would have afterschool jobs again.  Maybe some people who don't go on to college would have an easier time finding jobs.

It doesn't help with companies employ these people.  Those employeers KNOW they are here illegally yet they hire them anyhow.  It's probably because they can pay them less than legal people and they're wanting to save a buck - more money for their pockets.

It's simple.  If you want to live and work in this country, come here legally.  Or at least work at becoming a legal citizen.  Why should I feel sympathy towards someone who is breaking the law?

Oh, and one more thing.  LEARN TO SPEAK ENGLISH!!  I shouldn't have to repeat myself over and over at some fast food restaurant because you can't understand what I'm saying.  And employeers, if they can't speak english, don't let them talk to customers!  I'm not saying forget your culture.  If I were to go to Germany, I would need to speak German to get around.  Sure, plenty probably speak a little english, but if I want to live there, I need to speak the language.  Trying to make them change just for me is wrong.

Sorry, no sympathy here for your Boycott.  You are taking jobs away from LEGAL people who could be working.  WE have to follow the laws, you should too.


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Sunday, April 30, 2006

Hellboy the movie

I just watched Hellboy the movie. This got slammed by critics, it was ok, but not as good as the comic. Well, I've never seen the comic. I enjoyed them ovie a lot! I thought it was fun, enjoyable, overall an enjoyable movie. One thing I didn't know was who played Hellboy. It was Ron Perlman, someone I have seen a lot and enjoyed a lot. Maye it was the fact I've had several beers, but I enjoyed this movie a lot. And maybe if I'd read the comic I would have hated it. But I did enjoy it a lot. I see there's a second movie coming out in 2007. I'm sure I'll enjoy that one too.

Monday, April 24, 2006

Tom Cruise and baby - who cares!

Why are people making such a big deal about Tom Cruise and his new baby?  I mean I see an article saying how he didn't want to leave his new born baby to go promote Mission Impossible 3.  Then I see another that says he would rather be home changing diapers.

Um, what father of a brand new baby WOULD want to leave?

But more importantly, WHO CARES?!  Big freaking deal!  Is this so earth-shatteringly important that we need to report on it?  Must be a slow news day or more likely, our news media has lost it.  There are all kinds of things going on his this world - both good and bad - that are WAY more important than this.

To the people who really care about this junk, get a life already!



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Monday, April 17, 2006

Easter Church Service

Since we had plans for Sunday, we decided to go to Easter Church service on Saturday night. The message was about Hope. This minister is a funny guy and the services are quite enjoyable. In talking about Hope and to help get his message across he decided to tell a joke.

A blonde joke!

Not that I was offended or anything, just found it funny and odd that a minister in a church was telling a blonde joke. For those curious, here is the joke. Remember, his message was of having Hope.


Four blondes come runing down the sidewalk yelling, "41 days! 41 days!" A man stops them and asks what they are talking about. One says, while pointing at a box, "We just finished this puzzle! It says 2-4 years on it but we finished it in 41 Days!"

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Family Guy

Tonight they had a great joke on Happy Days! If you didn't see it.... well, I have a sleeping baby on my right arm and will have to type more tomorrow... stay tuned...

Ok, I've got time to type now. The joke was Peter was saying how the Fonz could make the jukebox work just by hitting it with his hand. Cut away to Mrs. C in bed, Mr. C standing in his pj's saying some stuff about not being good in bed because he has erectile dysfunction. Fonzie gives his crotch a whack with his hand and Mr. C says, "Oh my, that's MUCH better! Thanks Fonzie!"

Made me laugh cause I couldn't believe they got away with that on TV!

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Idea to correct American Idol Voting

Last year and this year the voting seems to be a popularity contest, not about singing.  People who suck are staying while people who are good are leaving.  I have an idea on how to fix this.  Read my blog on the Americal Idol website for details.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Ewww! Now I'm not hungry...

Have you ever noticed how rice - you know the white/brown/etc stuff you eat - look like maggots? Don't know why I noticed that, I haven't had any beer this morning. Hmmm.... maybe that's the problem....

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Yelp.com

Yelp.com is a kind of social networking website but for restaurant reviews. It's kinda fun and I've used it a few times to search for good restaurants to eat at. Below on the right side I've added their blogging feature to show the restaurants I've reviewed. Check it out, it's fun!

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Ah, car salesmen...

I was looking at Parker Johnstone's Wilsonville Honda website at their Internet Specials. The wording for some of these cars just cracked me up. Here's one for a 2005 Accord Coupe:

This new San Marino Red 2005 Accord Coupe is stunning! Parker had it displayed at Portland International Raceway -- the racers said "WOW!" Parker's daughter saw this car when he brought it back to the dealership and said, "Please Daddy!" Parker said, "Sell this car... NOW!"

Ya, right, like I REALLY believe his daughter said that. Here's another one for a 2005 Accord Hybrid:

Fuel prices got you down? Squeamish about being "seen" in one of those funny looking hybrids? Have we got the ride for you! This 2005 Accord Hybrid is elegantly draped in graphite pearl which blends perfectly with the gray leather interior. All the bells and whistles... power this, power that, lots of CDs fit in the player... Only 12,640 miles on the odometer means that you'll enjoy thousands and thousands of miles of reliable, environmentally friendly motoring. Renee thought the $33,695.00 market price was justified, but she knows that our customers deserve "the friends and family" Internet Special price of $28,162.00. Don't tell Parker. He'll have a cow...

LOL!! Remember, don't tell Parker, we don't want him to have a cow! Do people really read these and say, "Wow, I'd better go get that right now!"? They are good prices, but I sure hope these were meant to be funny and not serious. Then again, being a computer geek and being rather logically minded, maybe these tactics really do work on others.

Stopping at a light, then inching up?

Ok, this is something I've just never figured out. Someone comes to a stop light and they stop like a car length behind the car in front of them. Then, little by little, they move forward until they are like 4 feet way from the car in front of them.

I've also seen people do this when they are at the front of the line. They'll stop again like a full car length behind the line then slowly move up until they are at the line. This can be a problem sometimes when they are in a turn lane and don't start moving up soon enough because they aren't close enough to the signal trip and miss the light. ARGH!!

What's with that?! Why not just stop close to the car in front or the line to begin with?



I just don't get it....

Sunday, March 19, 2006

Genius is born!


I got this on a joke list I'm on. The caption read, "Every now and then a genius is born." I thought it was funny and this guy has a great idea, something I may have to try sometime. haha

Friday, March 17, 2006

Bridgeport Brewery's Renovation sucks!

Last night I went to Bridgeport Brewery to hang out with some friends. They have finally finished their 14+ month renovation and we were all excited to see what they did.

What a letdown! They made it more upscale and fancy. Their food was freaking expensive for little portions. No game room anymore. Gone was that cool pub feel. And you could no longer see the brewery behind the taps and kitchen, they walled it all off. It's just a fancy looking place now. The only good thing was the beer, and the people were friendly and nice.

Don't get me wrong, it's a nice place, and if you never saw it before the renovation, you wouldn't think anything. It's a nice restaurant, just not a cool pub anymore, and the food is too expensive. I was quite disappointed and won't be going back anytime soon.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

American Idol Top 12

Tonight starts the Top 12, where we vote for both men AND women together. I'm looking forward to it!

I noticed on the official American Idol website that they setup their own blogging capabilities. Anyone can signup for an account then create a blog. Not a ton of features, but still cool and fun. So from here forward, you can check out my thoughts on my Amercian Idol Blog.

Seems like I remember Ryan saying something about Stevie Wonder at the end of the results show last week. I wonder if that means they'll all be doing Stevie's tunes?

Thursday, March 09, 2006

American Idol before the cuts

It's been a crazy week so I didn't get a chance to post my thoughts on the ladies yesterday. So here's both.

First, no one this week really stood out big for me like last week. They all seemed to just be so-so with a few that were pretty good, and a few that were pretty bad, but no extremes.

It's been two days now since I saw the ladies and don't remember much, which isn't a good sign. I do remember Lisa Tucker singing something that while good, didn't seem like her. Last year I remember that guy Anwar who had a really good voice and started off singing amazingly - remember when he did Moon River? Then it was like he felt he had to do something different than be himself and suddenly you could see he wasn't comfortable, wasn't singing well, wasn't having fun, and started to suck. I think if he would have stuck to being himself and doing what he loves, he would have done much better. Lisa's in danger of this. She needs to be herself, sing stuff she likes. Sure, take the chance now and then, but mostly have fun and do what she likes, she'll go farther that way.

Take Taylor Hicks. I don't think it was his BEST song or the BEST he could do, but he was being himself and having fun. When you're having fun, the audience can tell and they have fun too - and they will forget slight imperfections in the song. He did very well. Everyone needs to take his lead and do what they love. It might not be what the voting public wants, but I think they will go farther by doing that - but also remember to take chances too, pick songs that show off you and your voice. I thought Taylor picked the right song and does sound like Michael McDonald.

Ok, trying to focus on the ladies first. Mandisa was good and had fun. Kellie Pickler was ok but still has that "look" and personality that work great for her. I didn't care for Paris that much this week, thought she was boring. Kinnik didn't do anything for me - heck, I barely remember her singing just that I didn't like it. Ayla I liked, thought she did a good job, but not great. She is better than this, just needs to pick the right song. Don't rmember Katharine McPhee at all and barely remember Melissa McGhee. I think Kinnik is going home, and possibly Katharine, Melissa or Lisa - though I still hope Lisa sticks around.

For the guys, as I said, I liked Taylor. Kevin I didn't care for even though Randy and Paula thought he did great. I'm just not a fan of that really fast vibrato. Will was boring. Gedeon was just ok, nothing special. Bucky I'm getting to like mainly because he's genuine, though he's not my favorite singer. Ace was good, but he spent too much time singing way up there in his falsetto. It was like he couldn't decide if he wanted to sing the song really high or low, it was weird fo me, but he can sing. Last week I really liked Elliott, but this week didn't care for him that much. Once again that fast vibrato and a boring song. And Chris who really rocked the place last week was just ok this week. His voice was good, but his song choice was not. I think Will is going home, and possibly Gedeon or Kevin. But everyone seems to think Kevin's good, and quite often when Simon says bad stuff about someone, they get voted through. If it were my vote, he'd be gone this week, I think Gedeon is a better singer. Then again, neither of them will win this.

Overall, a boring week, no one really making me go, "WOW!!" Hopefully next week will be better.

Friday, March 03, 2006

American Idol Results - 3/2

Marci didn't watch the girls and I still had it on DVR, so we watched them before the results show. After watching it, we both agreed Brenna needed to go - don't like the attitude and honestly, she didn't do a good job. It was a little harder to pick who else would go, but we thought Heather might be one of them, and we were right.

The guys were easier to pick, and we were right on with David and Sway leaving.

I hope the others learn a few lessons from this week, mainly SONG SELECTION! Pick something that will show YOU off. And don't pick something where you will be compared to the original, like songs by Mariah Carey. Can't wait to see what they do next week!

Thursday, March 02, 2006

American Idol - 10 Guys

Last night the guys were TONS better than the girls! I think this year a guy will win. There were a few so-so performances, but overall they were very good! So here's what I remember after sleeping on it.

The guy who went last - Chris Daughtry - was VERY good. While I don't like the type of music he sang, he did an amazing job and had a great stage performance! He shocked me.

Elliot Yamin was also very good. I enjoyed his song a lot. Very different from what Chris sang, so I'm not sure which guy I like better. But I'm sure both will be around long enough for me to figure that out.

Gedeon McKinney was the other big standout for me. Don't remember what he sang, just that I enjoyed it a lot and thought he did very good.

I thought Ace Young did not do well at all, but the judges really liked it. To me a lot of notes sounded out of tune, sharp. But there have been plenty of times I thought the person sucked and everyone (even Simon) loved it, so maybe my ears just heard wrong. ;) Ace wasn't THAT bad, just so-so for me.

The two worst were David Radford (sang the Sinatra song) and Sway. Both just missed the mark. I'm sure David is going home tonight and Sway might. But right on their heals was Kevin Covais. He can sing well, but this was a bad performance, and he's not going to with the competition. Since he's only 16, if he can stick around long enough, he might learn a lot to help him in the future - maybe come back another year? He might also go home tonight.

Will Maker was better than I thought he would be, but still nothing special. Same with Bucky Covington.

Then there's Taylor Hicks. The dude looks like he's 40, not 29. But he can sing well and has a fantastic personality. I think he'll stick around for a few weeks, but won't win this.

I still am not sure which girls will go home tonight, but I think David, Sway and Kevin are in the bottom, with at least one of them going home. Guess we'll see tonight!

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

American Idol - 10 Ladies

I decided to wait until this morning to write my review of the ladies last night because I wanted to see what I remembered, what stood out. The first thing that I remember is the judges. After watching American Idol since the beginning, I'm convinced the producers WANT them to take jabs at each other like they do, especially Randy and Paula at Simon. While Simon may be a bit harsh at times, I find I agree with him 98% of the time. And I'm sick of Ryan. Since he started hosting this show his fame and everything has taken off big time. Now he has a big head. Ryan, get a grip, come back down to earth and be a normal person again - and quit jabbing at Simon every chance you get, it's gotten old.

The lady I remember the most is Lisa Tucker. She's only 16 but WOW!! What a voice! As Paula said, I listen to her sing and I have a hard time remembering she's only 16. I thought she did great. I don't remember the song she sang, but I remember it was really amazing, especially how she ended it. I'm not sure if she can win this, but she should go far and have a future in the industry.

The 2nd lady is Mandisa. She really has quite a voice and personality. I can see how she could easily win this. But as the judges said all night - and have said every since this show began - song selection, song selection, song selection. This was not a good song selection for her.

The other lady I remember is Brenna Gethers. Not because she sang well, but because of her attitude. Actually, I didn't like song she sang or her performance, it was rather blah. But her attitude just sucked. She thinks she's awesome but really, she wasn't all that great. Then again, I DID remember her, so maybe that counts for something.

I did like a few others, like Kellie Pickler mainly for the same reasons Simon said, she's just a likeable person, which isn't a bad thing, though her song choice didn't do much for me. The gal who did the Donna Summer tune was very boring, looked like she was just going through the moves, The gal who did the cowboy thing was also rather bland. But the jock gal was good. I liked what Simon said, "If we said next week you have to juggle, you'd go out and learn how to juggle and do it quite well by next week." She's got promise, she just needs to learn to relax a little and have fun.

I said it above but I'll say it again. Each year the judges say the same thing, so you'd think by now the people in this years competition would know better. Song selection, song selection, song selection. Pick something that will show you off, not something because you like the song. It's good that you do like it, but it can also be very boring to watch and won't show you off. At least towards the end the judges were all in agreement about stuff and not jabbing too much.

After sleeping on it, very few of them I remember well, some I don't remember at all. Not sure who will get voted off, and I won't be voting - I don't vote until like the final six or so, just depends on the contestants and who I like. Tonight we'll see what the guys can do and I'll write about it tomorrow.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Why Do Men Have Nipples

This is the title of a really great book by Mark Leyner Billy Goldberg, M.D. I was given this for Christmas and have really enjoyed it. What is this about? As the book cover says, "Hundreds of Questions You'd Only Ask a Doctor After your Third Martini." Some really interesting questions with real factual medical answers, as well as a lot of humor. Some examples are "Why do beans give you gas?", "Is sperm nutritious?", and "Can you get high from licking a toad?"

Here's a link to the official website, and an interview with the authors from the Today show. They also have a follow-up book coming out in July 2006, which I will be buying. Go get it, you'll laugh a lot and I'm sure say, "I always wanted to know that."

Monday, February 13, 2006

Butterface

I kinda watch the tv show The War at Home, mainly because it's on after The Simpsons and before Family Guy - it's usually just background noise while I get ready for bed. Last night was a repeat with a great classification of person that just cracks me up.

Dad: "I've dated my share of butterfaces."
Mom: "Butterface?"
Dad: "Everything on her looks great - but-her-face."

Silly, yes. Stupid, yes. Made me laugh? Most definitely!

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

1983 College Pep Band


Here's a photo of me in the OSU Pep Band from 1983. Ah, what fun it was back then....

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Too bad Seahawks

Just as I thought, the Steelers wanted it more. Looked like it was going to be closer, and I thought for a moment the Seahawks had a chance. But then the interception blew it all. Oh, well, they did quite well for their first Superbowl and there's always next year. Here's to a great year for them, they have nothing to be ashamed of!

Superbowl Prediction

The game is just starting and as much as I'd like to see the Seahawks win, I think the Steelers will win. I've been thinking this all week. I think the Seahawks have just too much hype going on, too much press, and sometimes that can cause problems. I've always thought the first quarter is more about feeling each other out. There have been times when one team has blown away the other at the end of the 1st quarter and they went on to win a lopsided game. But mostly it's both teams getting the jitters out, figuring out what each other is about and what they are doing. I think this will be an excellent game and come down to the final quarter and minutes, but in the end, the Steelers will win, though I would like to see Seattle win. That's my prediction, now let's see what happens.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

How will I die?

According to this website, The Death Psychic, here's how I will die:

As the unfortunate target of a serial killer, you are stripped and chained to the ground spread-eagle. Your torso is slit open with a razor blade, and you are covered with dozens of large rats, which proceed to feed their way into your body.

Well, at least now I know. LOL!!

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

American Idol's Back!!

I'm not a big reality show fan, hate most of them. But I LOVE American Idol! Maybe it's because I'm a musician. Anyhow, last night was great fun! Loved the guy who came in dressed like the Statue of Liberty, sang about 2 notes and Simon told him to leave. LOL! He was probably one of those guys who only wants to get on TV or something, not someone who's serious about wanting to win this. Most of the time I do agree with Simon. He may be rude, but he's usually right on. When they get to the final 10, Paula is just too sicky sweet and nice. If it were me on stage, while I'd love to hear they can't think of anything bad to say, I would appreciate constructive criticism and some feedback on what I did wrong so I can fix it. Paula doesn't do that at all, just says, "You tried your best and you should be proud of that." Randy is in the middle, sometimes rude, sometimes too nice. My one wish for this show is that the sophomoric bickering between Ryan and Simon would stop. Actually, Simon has gotten better each year, with fewer and fewer jabs at Ryan. Ryan on the other hand was out of control last year! There were so many times I was fed up and just wanted to have a special Ryan mute. I think he's getting a big head. Before Idol, he was just a DJ. Now he's taken over for Casey Kasem doing America's Top 40, is now slated to take over for Dick Clarke doing the New Years thing, had a tv show (I actually liked it), and tons of other things. Ryan, you're not all that special. Grow up already! I'll be posting more about this show in the coming months, especially when they get down to the final 10.

Friday, January 13, 2006

More 3D Photos

Just added more 3D photos on Flickr. The ones from Boston turned out really well.

Monday, January 09, 2006

Flying to Boston

I've flown a lot, which is a good thing because now when the plane hits those bumps it doesn't bother me - I don't worry until the pilot tells the flight attendants to sit down. I flew to Boston in a 737-900, and I've flown this particular plane many times before. But I must have never sat this far back, 2nd to last row. When we took off, the engine noise was freakishly loud! It almost actually hurt. I was sooooo glad when we hit 10,000 feet and I could put my Bose noise canceling headphones on. These things are so amazing, I can't imaging flying ever again without them.

But my joy was short-lived. Went to turn on my iPod and found I must have left it on - no battery. ARGH!!! I decided to start-up my laptop and listen to it, which worked well. I turned it off after about an hour and a have because I wanted some battery left when I got to the hotel - I took it down to the restaurant with me and did some work getting the old BBB website to work without a webserver. I was tired anyhow and slept for almost two hours. I was feeling good when I woke, until I heard them announce, "1 hour and 40 minutes left." I must make sure my iPod is charged for the flight home.

Landed and I thought the pilot was trying to see if he could pop all of the tires at the same time. The weather was nice coming in, didn't seem like a lot of wind or anything. Even the flight attendants commented.


Then came my favorite part - hurry up and wait. It happens on every plane. We pull up to the gate, they turn off the seatbelt sign, and everyone stands up ready to go. And of course the people in the back start getting impatient and mad. From the time they turned off the seatbelt sign to when we were able to get off took a total of 10 minutes. Of course it seemed like 30, but it really wasn't that long. At least people stayed seated like they were supposed to until the sign was turned off.
All in all, a good flight, no problems.

Looking forward to the return flight - I was able to upgrade to 1st class! WOOHOO!!!

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Cool Google Maps

A lot of people are creating websites using Google Maps. Some are ok, and some are way cool. I read this blog every day to see what new maps are out there. One of the best uses I've seen so far is PropSmart.com. This is a real estate website showing homes that are for sale in your area. An awesome interface and very well designed website! Very cool!!

Atkins Works!

I have lost 40 pounds and feel GREAT! 2 years ago I didn't have any time to exercise and just kept gaining weight even though I thought I was eating healthy. My dad has diabetes type 2 and I could see I was heading that way if I didn't do something. So I called a friend and asked him to tell me about Atkins. I was VERY skeptical and figured at least it would get my weight off and I could go from there, I just had to get the weight off.

I've been doing Atkins for almost 2 years now. It DOES work! I don't feel like I'm missing foods I enjoy like you do on some diets. His book is excellent and explains how things work in your body, especially how sugar and carbs turn into fat. He does have a lot of success stories that I could have done without - I mean by the 10th one I get it that this works.

One thing is Atkins is not a NO carb diet, it is LOW carb. Basically he says people today eat way too many carbs. After starting this, I added up the carbs I was eating and it was almost 10 times what he says to eat. Things like eating a whole bag of chips instead of a few with a good meal. As he says, this is not a diet but a different way to eat for life. I wasn't exactly eating healthy, but I am now - not just lower carbs, but as I mentioned, not eating a whole bag of chips for a meal.

It's not just about eating tons of meat or protein, it's about eating healthy and eating less - only what your body needs, not until you can't move.

There are three phases.
  1. Very little or no carbs for the first two weeks. He wants you to do this to prove to you that you can lose weight doing this.
  2. 20-30 carbs a day while you are losing weight. When you are within 10 pounds of your target weight, you start upping the carbs to find your breaking point, if you eat more than X carbs you'll gain weight, less you'll lose weight. These last 10 pounds can take several months to come off. Oh, and set your weight loss goal to something you want. If you're 100 pounds overweight, don't set your goal for 10 pounds, set it for 80-100.
  3. Lifetime eating. Now you are at the weight you want to be at. Your carbs/day have gone up from 20-30 to whatever your breakeven point is - for me it's about 120. If you have a party coming up, you can eat less carbs a few days before or after so you can pig out that day.
Microbrewed beer (actually pretty much all beer, but real beer has more carbs) is a no-no on Atkins. Sorry, I like beer and when I drink beer, I'm going to drink good beer. I don't drink it as often as I did, but I still enjoy going out with friends and having several beers and good greasy food like pizza or burgers. I don't take the bun off the burger or scrape the toppings off the pizza, I like that part. But I don't have burgers or pizza every day.

In his book he also says to not have sugar in the house, or if you're at a birthday party and someone hands you a piece of cake to either say, "No thanks" or to set it down somewhere. Sorry, I like cake A LOT! I have a HUGE sweet tooth and I'm going to eat a piece, I might even have two. But I'm not doing that every day. Once in awhile is ok. And that's one of the big things I've discovered, indulging yourself now and then is ok, I was doing it WAY too often. I LOVE chocolate chip cookies and was eating several a day - like 4-8. Once again, not only was I eating too many carbs, but I wasn't eating that healthy.

There is one big secret to making Atkins work, and it's something I find many people who try Atkins and fail aren't doing - EXERCISE!!! He says this all over the place in his book! 60 minutes a day, even just something as simple as walking. If you can't do 60 minutes in one shot, do two 30 minute sessions. I run 5 miles ever other day. I'm not fast, doing 9-10 minute miles, but it's a good consistent pace, I'm not out of breath (which is important - if you're out of breath you are burning muscle not fat, you should be able to carry on a conversation while exercising). Many people I talked with who've done Atkins said they weren't exercising. So they lost the weight, but their metabolism was still in the couch-potato state, they eat extra carbs and their body just stores it instead of burning it.

I stopped running for about 6 months for all kinds of stupid reasons. After 6 months I found if I ate more than 60 carbs a day I was gaining weight. Started running again and quickly I was back to being able to eat 120+ carbs a day without gaining weight. AND there are all kinds of other great things about exercising, like all the good endorphins you release which make you feel better. If you've had a bad day, doing some exercise can help you relax and feel better. You might still be upset, but won't be a volcano ready to blow.

As I said, I was EXTREMELY skeptical of Atkins, there have been tons of diets with each having people showing they lost 200+ pounds and feel great, yet most people fail on them. My wife and I looked into LA Weight Loss and they wanted us to eat a lot of fish, no meat. We both HATE fish and they wouldn't change our diet, they just kept saying, "Tough, eat fish," so we didn't do that.

I am now a big believer in Atkins, not only because it has worked for me for almost 2 years, but also from reading his book and learning how the body handles food - and that sugar is sugar, meaning fruit has sugar in it called fructose, which to your body is the same as the sugar in candy and cookies.

Oh and the other big complaint I hear is, "I don't want to look at labels on products all the time." or, "I don't want to count carbs." Believe me, I didn't want to either. But I did and very quickly it was easy to know how many were in things. Most candy bars have about 30-40 carbs. Oh, and speaking of candy bars, the important thing on all carbs is SERVING SIZE. A Hershey's chocolate bar has about 33 carbs and the serving size is 1 bar. But each bar comes in 4 sections. So you can have one little section to get your chocolate fix (yes, I know how tough that is!) and you've only had 8.2 carbs. Starting wasn't easy for me because I LOVE candy, and cutting that out took about a month. But I did because I didn't want diabetes and wanted this to succeed. Now that I'm at my target weight, I do have candy now and then, just not as much as I used to, like 1-4 bags of peanut M&M's a day. ;)

ANYHOW, sorry for the long post, I just like to get the word out that Atkins works if you do it right, meaning it's LOW carb, and EXERCISE! If you've tried other diets and nothing has ever worked, go get his book and do it, you won't be sorry. Just remember to exercise or you'll be complaining this was another thing that didn't work.