Thursday, August 31, 2006

Airline Meal

Picture351_30Aug06.jpg
Peanuts, crackers, cookies, and Diet Coke. I believe that none of the four food groups are represented...

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Back to my home in Atlanta

That seems like an odd subject. My home is in Atlanta, but I just haven't been living there. The reason for my return is that I have an interview tomorrow at 10AM. I really feel like I have to nail this job, so wish me luck!

Slow Motion Home Depot

I first linked to the guys at Improv Everywhere well over a year ago. This time they altered time at a Home Depot store. The employees took it all in stride, unlike when they pulled a similar stunt at Best Buy and the employees freaked out.

Monday, August 28, 2006

KnowYourStuff.Org

The Insurance Information Institute (III), has made available Know Your Stuff Home Inventory, a program to keep track of your home inventory. This is great for insurance purposes and provides a place for serial numbers, replacement cost, pictures and other information. It's freely available and requires Windows 2000 or XP.
Welcome to KnowYourStuff.org, where you can download the I.I.I.'s new home inventory software for free! This software makes creating a home inventory fun and easy. Once you have completed your inventory, it is easy to keep your information up to date.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

New 'Survivor' to group players by ethnicity

CNN.com - New 'Survivor' to group players by��ethnicity - Aug 23, 2006: "New 'Survivor' to group players by ethnicity"

I went to the above link and voted in the poll, "New "Survivor" twist: Is it offensive to divide teams by race?". Please vote if you have a strong opinion one way or the other.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Are your windows up ?

Almost every time, it starts raining, somebody runs through the building saying "It's raining. Are your windows up ?". It's almost always someone who keeps their windows down asking. It seems like one of the only mistakes one can make that they like to advertise. So I always want to ask "What kind of idiot leaves their windows down ?"

Best fortune cookie ever ?

You possess exceptional commanding and leadership ability.(sic)

My new favorite reality show



KISS YOUR EXPECTATIONS GOODBYE. Dad is Gene Simmons – the legendary, tongue wagging demon of KISS. Mom is Shannon Tweed -- former Playmate of the Year, actress and model. And their kids, Nick and Sophie, are, well...surprisingly charming, well-behaved teenagers dealing with the trials and tribulations of adolescence, even though Mom and Dad are truly like no one else’s parents. A&E Network presents the original series GENE SIMMONS FAMILY JEWELS Mondays at 10 PM/9 PM C.

Monday, August 21, 2006

New Blogger Beta / New Template...

Blogger has a new beta version which integrates with Google (Google owns Blogger). You may now use your Google login to access Blogger. There are a couple new templates and many a few new features. I am now part of the beta.

The new template looks great in Firefox on my PC and I hope it looks OK on your computer & browser. Please leave a comment either way, so I'll know.

Blogger finally supports labels! This is the one feature that has made me think about upgrading to a different blogging platform for a long time. This means I can tag a post with TREO (for example) and you can use the keyword feature to show only TREO labeled posts. This will take a while to implement fully, as I have to go back and tag 659 previous posts...

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Windows Live Writer

Windows Live Writer

This is a test of the Windows Live Writer, a blog post editor from Microsoft.  It works (obviously) with Blogger, as well as Windows Live Spaces (and others).  If this posts to the blog correctly, then I'm gonna give it at least a thumbs up.

Friday, August 18, 2006

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Adam Fresco is an idiot

Before:
He's certainly not the only idiot involved in this fiasco (fiasco/fresco - interesting...). The following items he reported he later recanted.
  • Passenger had a screwdriver
  • Passenger had matches
  • Passenger had a note that referenced al-Qaeda
  • Passenger had "vaseline on her"

Enough bashing of Adam. Let's look closely at the rest of the story. The woman in question was 60 years old, unarmed and tied up. The plane was diverted to Boston and was intercepted by two F15 fighter jets.

Wow.
After:

Not bad...

You are a 66% True Southerner

You are trainable and in time, you would probably like it here. Your options would be living in a suburb of a larger city.

Are You a Real Southerner
Take More Quizzes

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Philip K Dick...

I bought a book of short stories by Philip K Dick, called The Philip K Dick Reader. This book has the stories which became the movies Paycheck, Scanners, Minority Report and Total Recall. I read the first two stories and they're good. I'm hopeful that this will make me want to read more.

Traffic stinks...

Thursday, my plan was to go see Jabarvy with a friend. I got off work at 5:00pm and headed home. There were multiple problems on the freeways and side streets and it took me 90 minutes to get home (normally 30 without traffic, 45-60 minutes with traffic). I got home and planned to leave about 8:50 to meet a friend at the bar at 9:20 or so (it's about a 30 minute drive at that time of night). I finally arrived at the bar at 10:20.

Within just over 5 hours, I spent 3 hours in the truck and went no more than 25 miles. I could have driven to Houston or Dallas in the same amount of time.

Duh...

I talked to a woman yesterday on the phone and I asked her what her name is. She said "Sue. S-U-E".

Possible punch lines:
  1. Thanks so much for spelling it out, I never would have thought of putting the "S" first.
  2. You lost me at "U". Could repeat that more slowly ?
  3. So, you're not an Indian tribe ?

Sunday, August 13, 2006

Another New Blog...

I learned about VOX on the Inside the Net podcast. It sounded like fun, so I signed up for an invitation last week on their site and received it this morning. I'm not sure what I'm going to use it for yet. In the short term, if I post something to my VOX blog, I will also post it to my Blogger blog"

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Fortune Cookies from Tuesday


  • You will receive an unexpected gift from an aquaintence

  • If given a penny for every kind act, you'd be a millionaire

The second is really an affirmation, rather than a fortune. The first one is a fortune and did come true on Thursday night. When I went to see tee Jabarvy, I was one of the first 100 people and they gave me a cool discgear CD case with the band's logo.

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

This test might be broken...

You are 77% REAL Texan!!

You're way more Texan than average. You're parents were probably from here too. We're glad to have you. You probably go to the border for Christmas shopping and are well versed in BBQ, Mexican Food and .. well thats pretty much it.

How Texan Are You?

Actors say the darndest things...

Often, we hear about actors who put their foot in mouth. Tom Cruise's opions on post partum depression and Mel Gibson's alleged racist comments are just two examples.

What I don't understand is why anybody cares. These are people (in this case, men) who get paid to look pretty and pretend to be someone else. Why would I get my information on post partum depression from the star of Top Gun? Why would I expect the star of Mad Max to not have human flaws like the rest of us? I have (on more than one occassion) had too much to drink and had to apologize to someone I offended.

Thank goodness that each of us doesn't have to live their life so publicly. Who hasn't said things they wish they hadn't? Who hasn't said things that could be taken out of context? Who hasn't told a joke they wish they hadn't?

The unreasonable people here are not the actors (and other celebrities), but a society that hangs on their every word.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Jabarvy CD Release Party

I guess I know where I'm gonna be on Thursday night. It's a late show, so I may have to sneak in a nap at some point.
Jabarvy: "AUSTIN, Texas, August 10, 2006 - Following a number of live recordings, Austin-based jam/funk band Jabarvy is set to release their self-titled, debut studio album in Austin, Texas, on August 10, 2006, 10 p.m. at The Parish.

The doors to this highly-anticipated CD-release party open at 9 p.m. Cover is $5, or guests may pay $10 for entry and the new CD. The first 100 people in the door receive a free gift, and there will be free food and drink specials all night long. At 10 p.m. jazz/funk band About:Blank plays the opening set. Jabarvy takes the stage at 11 p.m. to debut the new album."

Sunday, August 06, 2006

How to shut up a homophobe...

Homophobe: Are y'all blessed in your church with not so many gays ?
Me: Our church is one of the most gay-friendly churches in Austin and on any given week, "the gays" might outnumber the rest of us.
Homophobe
: Oh.

How to shut up a beggar...

This happened yesterday at a convenience store in Richmond.

Beggar: Hey, can you give me a couple of bucks? I'm out of gas and I'm trying to get back home to Pasadena with my wife and kid.
Me: Here's two bucks. That's all I can spare.
Beggar: Come on. Can't you do better than that ?
Me: I can take those two bucks away from you if you don't need 'em.

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

MTV turned 25

The Stage | News | World's first music channel MTV turns 25. I missed this yesterday. I started watching MTV in its second year and stopped about the time they stopped playing videos.

It's Official: "Batman 2" Gets A Title

It's Official: "Batman 2" Gets A Title (August 1st 2006)
The title will be The Dark Knight. Oddly, they've chosen Heath Ledger as The Joker. The movie will begin production next year.

No longer homeowners....

Yesterday was the closing on our house. We got our check and are glad to have one less thing tying us to Austin. I'm sure we'll miss the house, I lived there for almost 9 years. I got married while living there. I hope the new owners nothing but the best and hope that the house is as perfect for them as it was for us.