More Pointless Nonsense

Posting Problems

2006-09-27T23:33:00.000-04:00

Amazingly, in the past day, I was able to get Jeff to write a new post for our blog (which, as some of you know, is a remarkable accomplishment). But alas, Blogger is not posting it. Never fear, though, we are working on the problem.

Special Delivery

2006-09-26T23:26:00.000-04:00

So last weekend I was supposed to go play Halo at the church building for Tim's last deathmatch in VA. I was running a little behind, and as I walked out the door I realized my keys weren't in my pocket. Doh. So I use a neighbor's cell phone to call Javaboy, The Cole, and Clay/Angie. None of them are available.

Instead of waiting around while my wife was out with the gals, I decided to walk about 1.5 miles to the shopping center up the road. At the very least I could watch a movie if I couldn't get to the church building. And then it hit me...pizza. I strolled into an Armand's Pizzeria and asked how far they delivered. It ended up that the church was just within their range. So I asked if I ordered two pizzas for delivery to the building, could I tag along and be "delivered" too. The supervisor said that if the driver was ok with it, so was he. Interesting...

However, while I was waiting for the return of the driver, I tried calling Javaboy again. He answered and ended up being about a mile up the road, which as most of you know is a little out of the way for him and his wife. They swung by and gave me a ride to the building for an evening of Halo. So I didn't get delivered with the pizza, but I could have.

True story.

Happy Birthday Jeff

2006-09-11T21:21:00.000-04:00

Today is Jeff's birthday—Yeah!

And to learn more about this day, here is some interesting facts (from Wikipedia)....

Events
1297—Battle of Stirling Bridge: Scots led by William Wallace defeat the English.
1789—Alexander Hamilton is appointed as first Secretary of the Treasury.
1941—Ground broken for the construction of The Pentagon.
1962—The Beatles record their debut single, Love Me Do.
2001—The September 11 attacks destroy the World Trade Center in New York City, part of The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and crash a passenger airliner in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. In total, almost 3,000 are killed.

Births
1182—Minamoto no Yoriie, Japanese shogun
1913—Paul "Bear" Bryant, American football coach
1958—Roxann Dawson, American actress
1967—Harry Connick Jr. American singer
1979—Ariana Richards, American actress

Swiped from Dave's Blog via Elise's Live Journal

2006-08-28T19:30:00.000-04:00

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Don’t you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.

I just finished reading this book, and I am hopefully going to be starting the third one in the series soon, once Jeff finishes reading it. Hmmm ... might be a while.

"The surface of the mountain had been made too steep and smooth for a dragon to land upon it, and the very top of the fortress—the only level place—was too small and too well-defended to be accessible by Dark-tainted dragons. The only access to the fortress was up a long narrow causeway that led to the outer gates. The causeway was so narrow that only one cart could travel up it at one time, and at need, the defenders had a hundred ways of rendering it completely impassable."

Zits and Blogging

2006-08-28T19:20:00.000-04:00

Jeff's dad sent the above Zits comic strip to Jeff a couple of weeks ago, I believe to encourage Jeff to update his blog. I thought that some of you might enjoy reading it, especially since Jeff hasn't updated in a really long time. Instead, Jeff is now allowing me to make posts.

Captain Picard's Blog

2006-05-23T14:56:00.000-04:00

I just found Captain Picard's blog! In it he and several other Star Trek universe characters post journal entries...fairly amusing. I suggest starting with the following post and browsing to the main site if you're interested:

Laundry Breakdown on the Enterprise

Impossible Sculptures

2006-05-17T11:58:00.000-04:00

This is one metal sculpture from two different angles...

So you may have heard of 3D printing in plastic, but have you ever heard of 3D printing in metal? Bathsheba Grossman designs 3D models that would be impossible to create using traditional metal casting techniques and has them printed in a combination stainless steel and bronze. Pretty cool.

Here's the sculpture page. Make sure to check out the Math Models as well.

Here's the link to a video where she describes the process and shows off a few models.

Val gave me "S"

2006-04-28T13:23:00.000-04:00

The Deal: Comment on this post and I'll give you a letter. Then you take that letter and write ten words that start with that letter and what they mean to you. Easy.

Small Group: We are now SGC, sub of SGL, sub of The Bigham group. I lead, no one listens to me, and they all make fun of me. I don't deserve any of it. But I keep a stiff upper lip and continue on... Actually, small group is a very important part of my week, allowing for discussion and socializing time with my brethren.

Scott/Sammie: My brother and The Cole. Both very cool people. As for Sammie, need I say more?

Simmons: My mother's maiden name and subsequently the name of the largest side of my extended family. The reunions are always great (cuz we're a family that actually likes getting together...)

Sweet Pea: My wife's handle in games and the name of her old Corolla.

Shadow: My handle in games and began when I started playing Halo. Also the main character in an old radio show. Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows...

Sugar: What's not to like? It's sweet goodness in crystallized form. Sucrolose isn't a bad substitute in diet drinks either...

Sea, Great Big: Alright, I'm stretching this one, but Great Big Sea is one of my favorite groups. I usually say I don't know what my favorite group is, but if I can listen to them all day, I guess that makes them my overall favorite group.

Strongbad: The best character with the best e-mails on Homestarrunner.com. Created by the brothers Chaps, whose father apparently died recently from, I believe, liver cancer at the age of 66.

Surfing: As in "the net," of which I do a fair amount.

Savior/Salvation/Saved: All things that I have or am because of Jesus Christ.

Illegals and Iraq

2006-04-28T13:12:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure exactly how I feel about the illegal immigrant stuff that's going on, but this Cartoon is an interesting way for people to look at it. Especially people who support the illegals and at the same time think the U.S. should get out of Iraq.

Microsoft

2006-04-19T10:22:00.000-04:00

This is my second post of the day, but I just read an article from a Microsoft employee that some people (geeks, nerds, etc) may find interesting. It's about working at Microsoft from a person who uses Apple computers...

Working at Microsoft

Octopi tricks

2006-04-19T09:55:00.000-04:00

Octopi (I'm assuming that's the plural of octopus) are weird and impressive creatures. The following short clips are absolutely incredible and apparently factual. I found the camouflage clip from the Popular Science blog, so it must be true, right?

Camouflaging Octopus

Walking Octopus

Stereotypes and more...

2006-04-12T10:55:00.000-04:00

BEGIN RANT:

Let me begin with stereotypes. Stereotypes, by definition, are applied to an entire group (often people) unfairly. However, they became stereotypes for a reason...usually that there is some grain of truth in them. That doesn't mean they should be applied to everyone, but I've personally seen people acting out stereotypes without even realizing it while accusing other people of stereotyping. I'm just as guilty as the next person about knee jerk thoughts based on stereotypes, though I try to look through them and see the person in front of me instead of the stereotype.

The reason I bring this up is that there many stereotypes about Christians, and the media tends to highlight people that support these stereotypes. Not only that, but, in my opinion, several of the most outspoken "Christians" tend to play into stereotypes. God didn't call for us to make fools of ourselves and accuse others in hateful ways, yet often those are the kinds of people I see in the media. I don't often see the people who do things and don't ask for recognition. You know, the ones that are embarrassed to receive recognition when it finds them. Take televanglists...I'm sure there are good televanglists out there somewhere, but I can't stand the lot because there have been so many bad eggs. Of course, televanglists are stereotyped too...

The world views us through the outspoken (a.k.a. "Extreme") Christians that take the stage. Just as in politics, the media focuses on the divisive issues and candidates. The far-left or right share opinions that are inflammatory, and that's good for business.

Sam Harris apparently has a new book (which I haven't read) about the End of Faith. More specifically, how faith based religion should be stamped out because of it's divisive influence on the world. Below is a link to a talk Sam gave about his book and some of his ideas. There are a few things I agree need to be thought about, but predominately his comments express an ignorance of what Christians are called to do as compared to other religions. And while I wouldn't call myself an extremist on any level, I also wouldn't call myself a moderate as per his definition. And I feel like he twists parts of the Bible to support his views (but then again, many others do this too). If you listen, be prepared to take offense not because he is offensive, but because he is an extremist in his own right and just as guilty as looking at the issue from one side. Or at least presenting only one side.

I feel like Sam Harris is playing to some Christian (and general religion) stereotypes...applying his comments to Christianity/religion as a whole but using examples that represent a small section of believers. The problem is that there are people listening (the Amazon rating on his book averages 4 stars).

If you listen to the talk, let me know what you think. I didn't really go into what he talks about, and it's a LONG talk, but I think some ideas are presented that we should know about and defend against. Go here for Sam Harris' talk:

End of Faith talk

END RANT

Bacon

2006-04-12T10:50:00.000-04:00

How would you like to feel like a piece of bacon?

Like Butta (On a Hot Skillet)

Live-action Still-Frame?

2006-04-05T10:03:00.000-04:00

Check out this video. A person suggested you think Gumby crossed with the Matrix.

Art of Motion

Pretty cool.

Fruit Animals

2006-04-04T12:39:00.000-04:00

I love me some Kiwi Mice. Or Orange Frog...

http://bleargh.net/wordpress/?p=125

Enjoy.

Toilet Lid Sink and SmartTrips

2006-04-04T10:35:00.000-04:00

Am I the only one that thinks this would be over kill? (or even a little odd to use)

Toilet Lid Sink

In other news, in the last month I have broken not one, but TWO SmartTrip cards. For those of not familiar with them, they are the plastic cards that are replacing the paper fare cards on the D.C. metro system. They use an RFID strip (or something similar) in the plastic, and apparently the smallest crack, anywhere on the card, will render it entirely useless.

On the first one, one corner snapped off entirely. I had to send it in and hope I get a new card back with the ~ $25 that was left on it. This morning another one I was using cracked. It doesn't even look like that bad a crack, but apparently it's enough since it won't work at all (for me OR the station manager, who made fun of me because he remembers helping me with the first broken card). So now I have to send in THIS one too...and hope I get back the $20 still on it. And these are not cheap cards - just getting a SmartTrip card is $5, which means I'm out $10 just from getting the new replacement cards they send me.

Argh.

An Update? Really?

2006-03-31T12:18:00.000-05:00

No excuses for my absence. Nuff said.

Of course, with my new job I'm commuting about an hour and 15 minutes one way. At least it's on a train this time. Actually, I find that the hour ride is nice in the afternoons (less so in the morning, except that recently I've been able to ride with Javaboy, which gives us time to catch up). I have time to read/listen to music (snooze in the mornings), I don't have to deal with traffic, and I really like my new company.

Now, when I say I like my new company, that does not directly imply that I like my new job. I mean, I do like what I'm going to be doing...it's just that I entered the group during a down time while we wait for another division to give us data. Ah well...I have time to catch up on all the technical specs now. The cool thing about my company is that while the main offices are in CT and I'm basically a loner in DC, I have the opportunity to find work I want to do. I'm good on a contract right now, but how cool would it be to start a new usability group, in a company I like, in DC? Very, that's how cool. Of course, now I just need to defend the idea, find some paying clients, and set it up. It might be a little while before it takes off...

In other news, some of you may have heard about the The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Ends up there's going to be a book. Fairly amusing satire on Intelligent Design. It's too bad not everyone can laugh at themselves.

The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

Until later...R'amen.

Long Time Gone

2006-03-08T11:14:00.000-05:00

Well, I don't have time to write a whole just this minute, but I'll give you a preview of a couple future posts related to what's happened in the past 3 weeks:

1. Changed jobs. A big reason the posts have dried up recently.
2. Went backpacking in sub-freezing temps. Not quite a "brokeback" story...but close.
3. Got a fever...and not the "needs more cowbell" kind.

Number 1 is the biggie, but the other two are somewhat amusing stories. And I'm still alive, so that's something. Now all you gentle readers know. And knowing is half the battle.

Looking to buy (or sell)?

2006-02-14T12:37:00.000-05:00

If you're looking to buy or sell a house, townhouse, condo, whatever...then you need to know what it's worth. I mean, do you have any idea how annoying it is to check the relative cost of the housing in an area? How do you know, quickly, what is a good price to list your unit at?

Interestingly enough, there is now a quick and non-intrusive (they don't ask for any personal information - unlike some other sites) way to check the price of a location within a certain range. I checked out our townhouse and it matched pretty much exactly what I expected and offered me some interesting graphs to look at too. Check it out.

Goto Zillow.com and enter an address, or a street name, or a neighborhood and the city or state or zip code. Once the map shows up with prices on it you can zoom in to select a specific home. Or, if you already have a home specified, you can click the "See more home details" link in the pop-up window. You'll get a value range based on certain criteria and you'll see a graph. Click on the graph to check out several different comparisons, including value of the home in the last 1, 5, or 10 years or even the value increase/decrease from the last purchase (sale) date.

Very cool if you want to check out your house or parents house or whatever. It doesn't have the entire US yet (it's still in beta), but it looks like it has all the major metro areas plus some.

Further evidence

2006-02-13T16:56:00.000-05:00

The following comic is from Ok/Cancel, a comic strip about HCI and usability. The fact that I find it fairly amusing is just further evidence of my geekdom...or professional humor. Either one. Maybe you'll find it funny too.

Interfacing...

2006-02-10T10:30:00.000-05:00

I have seen an interface that is awesome. In fact, it is probably one of the coolest new-tech interfaces I've seen that has potential practical value. This is my job, people...to get geeked out about interesting new interaction technologies. And then figure out how to use them in practical and efficient ways.

Go to the following site and watch the video on the righthand side. Tell me it's not intriguing...especially after the tech/fun demos at the beginning. This is not your typical touch-screen technology. This is much faster and can handle multiple touch points at a time. In fact, multiple people can use the same interface at once, like with the game being played at the end of the video.

http://mrl.nyu.edu/~jhan/ftirtouch/

Enjoy.

A whole new blog...

2006-02-03T12:26:00.000-05:00

Are you lost? Is confusion your constant companion? Do you need advise?

Then you need to visit a new blog, The Wisdom of Jeffucious. A collaborative effort between Jeffs, this depository of knowledge is now available free to the public. Visit today for your personal piece of enlightenment.

Share and Enjoy.

Sabbatical and RSS

2006-01-25T10:38:00.000-05:00

Alright, apparently I've taken [another] two week sabbatical from blog posting. This is not entirely my fault as I've been very distracted at work by a situation I'm unable to post about...at least not yet (hopefully soon). But be that as I may, I feel I owe my roughly 7 readers an updated entry. Plus a Lady called me on it in the last post's comments :-) But before I get into my monologue, this Thumb Thing is interesting. As though reading a book weren't "high-tech" enough...it's cheap, but I think I'd feel a little lazy using it.

Today I'll be introducing RSS readers to all you that have asked about it (Java, I know that at least you should be interested). I know my twin wrote about it a while back, but I'll detail it out a little more. RSS is basically a way for websites to broadcast, very simply, when they have updated content on the site. It's a stripped down web document that doesn't look like much if you just visit it, but if you have an RSS reader you will be alerted to the updates, making it so you don't have to visit everyday and physically check the site yourself. This is good for various websites, news sites, and particularly blogs. I actually have a large number of blogs that I visit *only* when they update, and I know that because my RSS reader checks them all in a about 10 seconds and lets me know who has new posts.

If you'd like to try an RSS reader, you can download a stand alone one or, if you use Firefox (and I hope you do), you can download an extension that allows you to check RSS feeds directly from the browser. Very easy, very useful, and very free. I will be covering the Firefox extension I use and how to get it, but there are several other extensions worth looking at. I use a Firefox extension called Sage, which is a lightweight RSS reader.

First, open Firefox and goto "Tools -> Extensions" using the menu bar at top. A smaller window will pop up detailing your current installed extensions. Goto the lower right corner and click on the link that says "Get more extensions." This will send you to the Mozilla/Firefox extensions webpage. On the upper right side type "Sage RSS" into the search box --- make sure you're searching only the "Extensions" and not the "Entire Site" by changing the dropdown box beside the search box. Sage should be your second result, so click on it. Feel free to read the description and user comments, but at some point click the "Install Now" link, at which point Firefox will download and install Sage for you. Close and restart Firefox.

Once back in Firefox hit ALT+S and a side bar should appear on your lefthand side (hit ALT+S again to make it disappear - or just click the X) . Goto a blog you read and hit the magnifying glass. If there is an RSS feed in the new window, select it and click "Add Feed." It'll appear in the list. Click it and you're browser window will show a quick text version of the content on the site/blog. Click the title of the blog or the actual post to go to the site. I have 24 websites/blogs I currently keep track of, and it takes me no time at all to check only the updated ones. To check if any thing on your list has updated you'll have to click the refresh icon beside the magnifying glass. The sites that go bold have new content.

Hope that helps someone out there. It's useful. Keep in mind that Sage only updates blog posts or new articles and does *not* indicate new comments to blog posts. But if you know which posts you're watching comments on, then it's still easy to get there.

Free Personal Radio Station

2006-01-10T16:13:00.000-05:00

So you like music? You'd like to listen to similar songs and groups and perhaps hear something new?

You need to try out Pandora.com. Basically you enter an artist or song title and Pandora first plays you what you entered. The next song is a song that shares "similar qualities" to what you initially selected, on a song by song basis. So creating a "Metallica" station will first bring up a Metallica song, but the next song might be a Nirvana song. Nirvana the group may not be the same style or genre as Metallica, but the two SONGS that are picked will share similar features. It is important to remember that the songs will be similar, not necessarily the genres.

It sounds odd, but just try it out. It's free, and you may find some bands you didn't know exist. Read about Pandora's Music Genome Project and see why and how they do what they do.

Also, if you don't like a song that's playing on your created "station," you can click on it and say so (or click the "Guide Us" button while a song is playing). Feel free to skip songs too. If you have a free account with them, that song won't show up on that station again. And you can create as many types of stations as you want, as well as combine different types of music on a single station.

If you like a song, click it to get a link to the album or purchase it on iTunes. Very cool idea...

Let me know what you think about it.

Help with Sinuses

2006-01-05T11:07:00.000-05:00

So it's been what, two weeks since my last post? Of course, that's to be expected over the holidays. Ash and I had a good vacation visiting HER parents and being visited by MY parents. All in all things went very well and, in addition to hanging out with family, we received/gave some cool gifts (I got THIS multifunction, water-powered clock for my dad - very neat and works surprising well).

Ash's brother also introduced me to a nice, tremendously helpful device called a "neti pot." I just know you're wondering what this is. Basically it's a nasal irrigation product that flushes your sinuses of all the pollution, allergens, pollen, dust, etc. that builds up and helps cause illnesses. By flushing your sinuses you allow your nose to do it's secondary job more effectively - keep the bad stuff out. It also has the added benefit of relieving sinus headaches and congestion. The interesting thing is, it's been around for a LONG time (several thousand years) and is used by many yoga enthusiasts.

Ash's brother swears by this product, and after about a week of using one, so do I. He has had chronic sinus infections twice a year (spring and fall) for the last several years. This year he didn't have the fall infection. He's been using the neti pot for about 6 months and gives it all the credit. I can personally testify that the neti pot allows me to breathe easier and has relieved the need for nasal decongestants. Plus my sinuses aren't drying up and causing a bloody nose during this dry winter period.

I HIGHLY recommend trying out a neti pot. You just pour in some warm water and 1/4 teaspoon of salt (non-iodized, no caking-agent sea salt) and you're good to go. They even sell them at Whole Foods in the medicine section (at least they did in Dallas). The salt you can pick up in just about any grocery store (I suggest "Bob's Red Mill Sea Salt" that I picked up at Shoppers) for less than any over-the-counter drug (about $2.50 for a 2 pound bag - which should last for several months of daily use). I also suggest initially using the neti pot in the shower for two reasons: an abundant supply of warm water, and it may be a little messy the first couple of times. But you'll feel better.

For more information here are a few links to read about the process. For a laugh, watch the instructional video, but FIRST READ the other material. It doesn't look pleasant, but I assure it's not bad at all. Just try it once or twice and you'll agree your sinuses have never felt better or clearer.

Material on why it's just good sinus health. As well as some backgound information to the neti pot.

Here is the Amazon listing. Read the comments and reviews.

A blog that talks about it in an amusing way. (though I disagree with his ending "head cold" comment - I think the neti pot would help a lot with a head cold and congestion)

The instructional video. It's really not anywhere NEAR as bad as it looks or the person posting implies. And it actually feels very good to get the bad stuff out. I promise. I'm sure the video will turn some people off, but you've got to know how it works. How else did you expect to irrigate your nasal passages?

Geek Nostalgia

2005-12-21T11:14:00.000-05:00

Oh my goodness. Ash has a working classic model, but I still feel the pull of buying this (some of the games still take a little time to get working with the spring-load design). $2 games at a flea market or pawn shop or just using the cartridges that you kept around for "old-times" sake. This is from the golden era of gaming, when anyone could pick up a controller and play a fun game without having to know how to use 17 buttons. I'm such a Nintendo fanboy...

Click here to read about the NES reincarnated. And click here to consider buying it.

Confession

2005-12-19T13:32:00.001-05:00

This past Friday morning there were several accidents around the area due to icy roads. One such accident was actually just down the road from where Ash and I live and resulted in two people's deaths. While listening to the radio at 8am to learn more about the weather and driving situation, it became apparent that one of the accidents involved a FedEx truck and that the driver had died. Also, the "packages [were] everywhere."

Now for my confession: upon hearing about the FedEx accident, I thought it was the accident near us. My first thought was not "it's too bad the driver died" or "I hope he knew God" or "I'm glad no one else was hurt." No...my first thought was "I hope I didn't have a package coming." Of course, I immediately felt bad after thinking that and told Ash as much, at which point she confessed to having the same thought. How lame is that? Two normally caring adults, upon hearing of a tragic accident first think of themselves. And, to add to the inappropriateness, the FedEx accident wasn't even the one near us. It happened on the beltway around D.C. (it was at this point we learned it was an 18-wheeler that had tumbled off an overpass while trying to avoid a pickup truck that had cut it off).

I don't think this is an uncommon occurrence. When something bad happens to someone else, often our first response is to wonder how it affects us. Think about it...how many times have you been annoyed about an accident ahead of you because traffic slows to a crawl? How often does a tragedy happen to someone else that inconveniences you and makes you mad? Weird Al actually wrote a song about it on his album Poodle Hat titled "Why Does This Always Happen To Me?" It's an amusing song until you realize how often little, tiny things annoy us and that we often don't see the big tragedies as anything other than getting in the way of our own lives.

And I am as susceptible to this form of thinking as anyone. Is it enough to realize what we're thinking and feel bad about it? Is there a way to change our first, selfish response?

Does anyone else have a confession?

Late, but hopefully interesting

2005-12-14T12:27:00.000-05:00

So this post is a little later than I'd hoped. Friday was a snow day for me, which should have given me plenty of extra time to post, but I didn't really get on the computer much. And basically I've just let it slide until today. Today's post will be me commenting on some interesting things I've found in the last few days, and the embedded links will allow you to read the the articles or visit the website. So in no particular order, here goes...

Have you been stuck on a gift idea for a certain someone? Pretty much anyone, actually, even yourself. Then maybe you should consider not buying material possessions and instead buy them an experience! At the website Excitations.com you can purchase, for yourself or as a gift, experiences in the DC metro area (and currently ONLY in the DC metro area) ranging from riding in a stockcar, skydiving, captaining a sailboat for a day (or year), hotair ballooning, flying in a vintage biplane, survival training, hang gliding...and so on for individuals and couples. There are also other, more relaxing options available. And the cool thing is you can purchase various gift packages that allow the receiver to choose what they want to do. Most of the packages offer about 6 to 8 choices. Check it out, it's very cool.

From a technology geek stand point, the new NEC flat battery is very neat. 30 second charge time? Check. Flexible? Check. Environmentally friendly? Check. 3mm thick? Check. For more info just Google News it. Just think, we now have a power source for that digital paper that people keep talking about...

The iPod Mini was, as some of you know, discontinued and its place taken by the iPod Nano. However, apparently some people are buying iPod Minis on EBay for above the old retail price. In fact some of them are buying Minis for more than a new Nano would cost them. Craziness.

And finally, for those with little children, here is an interesting toy...the LikeABike. It's for children 2 to 5 years old, is essentially a petal-less bike, and is suppose to help confidence and balance. It also apparently gets rid of the necessity for training wheels once the child moves up to a pedaled bike. Read about the LikeABike here and view the official website here.

2005-12-08T16:31:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted in a while, but I promise more tomorrow. However, the link for today is not a Christmas Wish. Read the responses too...fairly amusing. I can't believe some company Exec thought this would sell well.

Until tomorrow...

Despair.com

2005-12-01T17:28:00.000-05:00

I love Despair.com. If you've never checked it out, do so HERE. Despair.com basically mocks all those motivational posters that companies put up for their employees.

Either way, you need to check out the new Despair videos. The first is highly amusing...

My Buddy or "Why I hate the 80's"

2005-12-01T14:52:00.000-05:00

"My buddy (my buddy), My buddy (my buddy)...Wherever I go, heeee's gonna go, My buddy (my buddy), My buddy (my buddy)...My buddy and me"

Don't tell me you don't know what I'm talking about. Anyone mid-twenties or older should remember this little ditty. Don't lie...you're singing it right now in your head and smiling. Stupid 80's jingle. Not only is it annoying to get stuck in the head, but my wife and I had a silly argument over the exact wording last night. I said the above was correct, she said the middle line went "Wherever I go, heeee goes..." See what I mean by silly argument. We were laughing, but I KNEW I was right, so we Googled to find the words. Apparently no one else remembers the words exactly either as we found supporting evidence for both our versions. And don't think I forgot about the identically themed "Kid Sister."

Another thing, do you ever find yourself making references to older shows/commercials during the day? I'm not talking about last week's Lost episode, I'm talking about when, in the right circumstances, someone says "Hello" and you follow up with "I'm mister Ed." I actually do this somewhat regularly, just ask Ashley. Of course, I do it in a lower voice like they did at the beginning of the show. Odd thing is, I never even watched the show, I just remember the commercials and the opening credits.

Or when someone say's "I don't want to get up" and I feel the need to say "Cuz you're a Toys R Us kid?" (Ashley can support this too) I know that the line is "I don't want to grow up," but my brain still makes the connection. I actually have to catch myself so I don't say similar things sometimes. Stupid 80's.

Does anyone else have this type of problem? Am I alone in my madness?

Pointless

2005-11-29T15:56:00.000-05:00

Even though I haven't posted in a few days, this will be short. To the left (now) is a link to a website that provides promo codes and online coupons for online retailers. Very handy and you shouldn't shop at an online retailer without first checking there. Money off purchases, free or reduced shipping, etc. Nice. The name of the site will cause some concern for a few guys, but you'll get over it when you're saving money. Search by item type or specific retailer for available promo/coupon codes.

Just above that link is a link to the Craig's List for Washington, D.C. I'd heard about Craig's List before but never visited it until recently. Basically it's a huge, online classified ad page. You can find just about anything (jobs, housing, for-sale items, etc). And there is a cool section called "Gigs" where people post jobs they need done. If you want to find a specific type of gig, click on the main Gigs heading and conduct a search. Pretty cool if you're looking to pick up a couple of odd jobs here and there for cash or to fill out a resume.

Hope you like the new color scheme. It's definitely not Alabama colors.

Working...

2005-11-23T15:28:00.000-05:00

I'm working on the layout. Actually it was fairly easy to move the navigation bar to the lefthand side, so I'm pleased about that. Hope you all like my profile picture. It was taken at some point after I won something to do with football...

Have a happy Thanksgiving.

PS - Apparently the picture isn't coming up correctly. To actually see it (if you can't) view my profile, click on the picture to see full size, click in the address bar and hit enter (or just reload the page). You should see it. I'm not sure why it isn't coming up all the time.

Links...

2005-11-22T15:30:00.000-05:00

So, I'm still figuring out what I want to do with this blog. There are already blogs for heavy topics and blogs for random life stuff, both of which will probably enter this blog at one point or another. Maybe I'll just write about stuff I like and why. Of course, the techno babble that ensues will probably cause half my meager fan base to defect, but it'd still be fun for me.

In response to a couple of comments about the last post, I know I can customize the template, and I will in the upcoming weeks. I also plan to change the color scheme from Alabama colors ASAP. Trust Leann to point that out...

But today I'm going to talk, briefly, about the links I've added to the right of this post (see the previous post for why this is annoying). First is Google News. It's there by default and may go away later, but for now it's a good news site. If you like your top headlines quickly, try it.

Second and third are links to Sherman's Lagoon and Day by Day. Sherman's Lagoon is an amusing comic strip. It actually lands in my top 2 comics to follow on a regular basis along with Foxtrot (hilarious). Day by Day is a political strip with some interesting observations. Not always great, but interesting.

Delivr Digital Postcards is easily the best web postcard site I've found. It allows you to search Flickr.com's public photos (around 600,000 of them) and create a postcard to send. There are no lame/cheesy animations with a punch line (not that those aren't occasionally funny), but there are some interesting and amusing pictures to use. Just add your own words and send. Definitely worth checking out if you've browsed multiple sites looking for *just* the right card.

And finally, SideStep.com. SideStep is a travel search site not entirely unlike Travelocity and Orbitz. SideStep goes one step further, though, and actually searches other search sites. So SideStep will search Travelocity and Orbitz (among others) as well as search the airlines' main websites like AA.com (American Airlines), jetblue.com, united.com, etc. SideStep then ranks your options by price or time or airline. Just give it a minute or two to fully search all the sites (there's an progress bar on the lefthand side while it's searching) and you'll have your best options. Very useful and I highly suggest it. It's how Ash and I found tickets to Dallas this Christmas - and it ended up being cheaper to buy through AA.com directly than through Travelocity.

Minor annoyance

2005-11-18T15:51:00.000-05:00

I've already found something to be annoyed at with this blogging thing. I don't really like any of the templates much. Some of you will notice that I changed templates between my first post and this one, and I'm sure I'll do it again sometime soon. I'm going to try and tweak the HTML, so we'll see how that works out.

The reason I chose the first template was that it was the only template that stuck the menu/navigation options along the left side of the screen (of course, the standard text size was huge, and that annoyed too). From a usability standpoint this makes sense and is a common feature/rule followed by most Western-based websites (Why? Western cultures read left to right - so when we're looking for navigation options we naturally tend to look left). However, the Blog templates predominately have the menu and navigation on the right side of the screen, which is a little counter intuitive. It's a little thing but as a person who deals with usability it's frustrating. Maybe it's just a Blog thing.

I believe the term "argh" is in order...

First such nonsense...

2005-11-18T11:09:00.000-05:00

And I mean it. This isn't my first created blog, but it is the first one I've posted to (and the only one still in existence). My main reason, initially, for this blog is to:

A. Post Sammie's question thingy - just cuz I want to
B. Receive the adoration and attention from my adoring fans

Now, I'm expecting a lot more from reason A, but I've been told that I should start a blog for a long time which has done nothing for my ego and was a driving force behind reason B. My reasoning for not starting a blog before now was/is simple: I'm lazy and may not update on a regular basis. But I figure I'll give it a shot and try to update once or twice a week. Maybe. And probably more often here at the beginning. Maybe. So without further ado, I'll hit reason A.

Two Names You Go By: Babe (wife), Carl (everyone else)

Two Parts of Your Heritage: a small bit of Dutch and a larger bit of Texan (although I personally claim North Dakota as my home state)

Two Things That Scare You: I'm not a big fan of cockroaches and Virginia drivers in the winter are scary

Two of Your Everyday Essentials: e-mail, wife (probably not in that order)

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now: my "computer" glasses, the watch I misplaced for a month

Two of Your Favorite Bands or Musical Artists: Great Big Sea (if you haven't heard them, you should), Acapella (the group)

Two Things You Want in a Relationship: Trust, laughter (both of which I have)

Two Truths: God makes his existence obvious for those that look, Mentos are not the freshmaker

Two Things You Hate (or rather dislike with a passion): I "strongly dislike" most Country music, and habitually stupid people irritate me (I may occasionally do stupid things, but it's come and go - not continuous)

Two Physical Things that Appeal to You: my wife, new technology

Two of Your Favorite Hobbies: reading, watching movies

Two Things You Want Really Badly: 60 inch flat panel LCD TV, to procrastinate less (but I have time to fix that :-)

Two Places You Want to go on Vacation: New Zealand, Europe/the Netherlands

Two Things You Want to Do Before You Die: start my own usability company, be indepentently wealthy

Two Ways that you are stereotypically a Chick/Guy: I'm not moody, illogical arguments annoy me

Two Things You Normally Wouldn't Admit: I tend toward introversion, I actually do know that I'm right and you're wrong... :-)