Merry Christmas!

So far it's been a good Christmas. Last night Shayna, Matt and myself went to see the Festival of Lights. Not quite the same as driving around to homes, and nothing nearly as good as this guy, but it was still a lot of fun. I think the best one they has was a fireworks display of lights setup on a hillside.

In other news, the Broncos have clinched the #2 seed. So they get 2 weeks off and then a home game in the playoffs. They will most likely play either the Bengals or the Patriots. I would prefer the Bengals. The Patriots really like cold weather...

And as always here are some links..

Is there a hidden message inside of Jingle Bells?

Face Recognition machine. Upload a picture and the computer will tell you who you look like. It came up with a lot of matches for me. Billy Bob Thornton, Gene Kelly, Kjell Magne Bondevik, Dennis Quaid, Alec Baldwin, Matt Leblanc, Jens Stoltenberg, Elton John, Leonardio DiCaprio, and Charlton Heston. Ok, so it doesn't work very well..

Where have you been?

Shout out to Anne for finding this. I think I'd like to have the entire thing red someday..



create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

Ok, so I lied

I know I promised my schedule for my busiest weekend of the year, but I think all 3 people who read this blog, besides my wife, really don't care.

It's ok, it doesn't hurt my feelings. In fact it frees me up to offer you stuff like...

A special winter edition of Grow.

Update!!

I forgot to add the White Chamber. Makers of the Crimson Room..

Weekend Hits

So I was supposed to do a post on this past weekend, but then I look up and all of a sudden it's Wednesday and I shouldn't be talking about this past weekend. I should instead talk about the weekend coming up.

This past weekend was the second busiest weekend of the year, at least for Shayna and myself. The busiest weekend, will of course, be this weekend coming up. A recap of this past weekend:

Got up at 8 to get ready to see my family. Had a turkey sub. The turkey was laced with whey (which is more common than you would think) Spent the day with them until 2. Swung by my mom's work to see her before we went back to Northern VA and helped throw a Christmas party for inner DC kids.

Most people wonder what exactly are my symptoms when I have dairy. The exact symptom varies mostly by how much I have but also by what form of dairy I have it in. Milk acts much faster than whey. Creme is probably the worst. Typically I get a slight swelling in my lips, tongue, and throat (wouldn't be noticeable unless I pointed it out). If I have enough, it will progress down into my chest where I will get chest pains as well as a plegmy cough. The only way I've found to get through it, is to just sleep it off. This is actually very helpful because I get very drowsy. Unfortunately after I wake up I feel like I've been in a fight with Nikolai Valuev (Niko as people who like to get beat up call him, really is that friggin big. He is the current heavyweight champ. I say he can keep it.).

So, to make a short story long, I had chest pains going home and through a little part of the party. After the party Dave, Tig(g)er, Shayna, and myself went to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. After dinner, Shayna and I drive home. When we get on 495 from 66, it's a parking lot. An accident had 6 lanes merging into 1. Shayna is telling me where to go, but I'm get irritated because I don't want to cut off the person moving .005 MPH. So we switch spots and she drives perpendicular to everyone else to get back onto 66.

I'd tell you about Sunday but this post is already to long and I haven't even started on the busiest weekend yet. Tomorrow will have our plans for this weekend..

Chronic what?

I'll be posting more later re: the weekend, Christmas, football etc. I just saw this and had to get it out there.

Funny SNL rap about some guys going to see Chronicles of Narnia.

Chronic what? cles of Narnia!

Mr. Pubb + Red Vines = Crazy Delicious

Chess

http://www.turbulence.org/spotlight/thinking/chess.html - Chess that shows you how it's going to beat you down before it does it. Just found it interesting.

The Chronicles of Carl: The Review, the trailor, and well, be happy you got that much.

A review of Chronicles of Narnia.

For those of you who have read the book (and really there are just two kinds of people in the world. Those who have read the book as a child and those who haven't), but it was a long time ago. Go back and read it. It's amazing how much the book leaves to the imagination. It's almost like video games when you think about it. Harry Potter books are growing in size. I hear the next volume will actually be 3 books because the binding is so complex. Don't get me wrong. I'm sure the details and imagery create a marvelous world (I do enjoy the movies). That's the HD type of book though. Everything is pointed out, and in great detail (which is awesome).

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe though, is like the Atari 2600. Your character is a square and he's fighting some circles and you have to watch out for lines that pass by. This is not to say that the book isn't good. It's great. Just like the Atari was great, and it's still fun.

I bring this analogy up though, because the movie is a person's vision of the book. The book relies on your mind to create the world (which is why it's so great for kids I think). The movie stays very faithful to the book though. I don't think any parts were left out. The HP movies were Rowling's vision of her world put on film. In Narnia it is the directors vision of what CS Lewis created.

A good example of this is the final battle. The book spends maybe 3 pages on this battle. You make the entire battle in your mind. But in the movie everything is visualized and layed out for you.

At any rate, the movie is really good and it will be one I get on DVD. Probably the best thing I liked about it was that it visualized a lot of allegories I had missed while reading it.

---

A trailer: X-men 3. I know it's not going to be as good. I'm excited to see it anyway.

---

mid week goodness

Supposed to go out yesterday..

Something to add to the Christmas list. It says that it's easy to fly..but is it easy to land??

How to Kill a Porsche 911

Medivoid...don't touch the sides.

Lookout: For those of you who use outlook 2000 or higher and have a billion messages (like me)

recap

• I hate the Chiefs in December. Almost as much as I hate that guy Carl.
• Brad Johnson is the man. I can only hope that when next season rolls around, the bum Culpepper will be riding the pine as Johnson leads the Minnesota team to respectability. (You like that one Jeff?)
• Following the lead of Sam & Shayna: Perfect Gift #1 would go to Brent Bigham. An evening with Peter Jackson and George Lucas at the Skywalker Ranch. You would of course be able to bring guests to share in the light saber duels.
• Perfect Gift #2 would be to Hannah. After reading your post it seems like the perfect gift would be a snowday..in fact 10 snowdays all in a row..and you get paid for the time off.
• I of course need to give a gift back to Shayna (aka love of my life). You get to know what's really going on in the Lost Island.
• Honorable mention goes to Sam for an evening with Michael Jackson at the Neverland Vally Ranch. But I don't think they offer that anymore.

Hit the Links

Because I haven't posted links in a while I thought I'd post some now. Just some funny vid clips this time. Haven't found any new addicting games yet.

• SNL Bit. Kevin Spacey plays Chris Walken as Han Solo. Darrell Hammond plays Richard Dryfus as C-3PO and Spacey plays Walter Mattheau as Obi-Wan
• A Christmas Story in 30 seconds by Bunnies.
• Blue Man Group talking about global warming.
• I originally saw these in Popular Science. I guess clear bubbles just aern't enough anymore. However, the dye ideas the inventor has are pretty amazing. How about trying out a color of paint for 30 min to see if you like it...

It is Done

That's it. Finito Lance Ito. It's done. Vacation over and done with. It was nice while it lasted, but now I'm back to the grind stone. Like Sugar Ray Leonard, here are the quick hits:

• Turducken is mighty tasty. The white meat on the turkey turned out dryer than a fried turkey (which is still my favorite), but the sheer fact that you can eat 3 animals at once and not have it be all ground up (a la hot dogs/sausage/etc) is definitely nice. We will be partaking in the Christmas Turducken. If only they had a way to fit Goose in there. Turgoosen is what it would be called. I don't really like eating Geese. I just don't like the animal.
• Congrats to Daisha and JR on being pregnant. After June I guess I'll never get to see JR at basketball again. Just as well really... I'm tired of him blocking my shots.
• Some people are having problems getting the WhoAmI program. If you are one of those and you still want it, send me an email and I'll email it to you. It's really big..like 100K. As an aside, I remember when I had this program on diskette. The thought of having anything on diskette now is absurd. I have word documents that eat 100k as a light snack. Those word documents aern't nearly as fun as that program though. Heck, this blog post is probably going to border 100k.
• Shout out to my brother in-law as well as my brother for getting cell phones within the past week. Welcome to the late 90s boys.
• Shout out to our Beta for still being alive. Although I kind of wish he would just kick the bucket. He's very sick. He got pop-eye and the eye popped out. It's just a socket now. He's gasping for air even though the water has plenty. He's been this way for weeks. I don't see how he survives. Those fighting fish sure are fighters.
• Played Madden 06 on the xbox 360 the other night. I still don't like Madden, but I have to admit that it looks nice. When is that first price drop again?
• Shout out to Brad Johnson. You've played very average ball but let your team, the Minnesota Vikings, to a 4 game winning streak and are back in playoff contention. I really couldn't care less about the Vikings or Brad Johnson. The only reason I give a shoutout is to irritate Jeff.
• Shoutout to Jeff for stealing my profile picture. That made me laugh.

Alrighty, that's it for now.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm thankful for so many things. My wife, my job, my apartment, my family, my savior, short basketball courts (really thankful after being sore from football), the list goes on and on.

Have a good Thanksgiving!

[edit at 10pm] I'm also very thankful for Ron Dayne and that 55 yard scamper in OT. You made my turkey digest so much easier.

Who am I

So a long time ago I found this program called Who Am I. It was a character analysis program that worked shockingly well by having you create a picture. Thanks to the wonders of the internet I found the program and have decided to share my results. If you would like to try the program, you can. The hosting place will only have it for a month or so.

* WHOAMI analysis *

{C}opyright : Maurice Smith MOLCOL SOFTWARE (UK) 1992

Character Analysis of: CARL

You can be a bit of a dreamer sometimes, cherishing quiet and reflective moments alone: long baths, and good books are your happiest indulgences. When you do socialise, it will be with one of your few close friends (normally at their place) rather than with a crowd of acquaintances out on the town. (This is actually pretty true. I like quiet/cave time and I have a core group that a hang out with.)

The word 'Teaser' may well sum up your relationship with other people because you tend to lead them on, creating an image to control and influence how others see you. You like to be liked and can be very sensitive to criticism. Before letting anyone get really close, you must know them for a long time and trust completely that they would like the 'real' you. (Again, surprisingly true)

Although you recognise that spiritual happiness is as important as financial or material security, you may often find it hard to balance the two. This can lead to going full speed in one direction -(material goals) - and then a sudden change to the opposite -(spiritual goals) - when happiness is not achieved. (This would explain the big screen HDTV that suddenly appeared in my living room. THAT's how it happened..)

In general, others find you easy to approach. However, you can be shy of new people in unfamiliar situations. This trait can lead to people that don't know you well mis-understanding your attitude, and seeing you as unfriendly. As you are affected strongly by people you're with, you tend to try and project an image of yourself which best suits their expectations of you. (Shayna thought I was a jerk the first year she knew me...she was right the first time)

Much of what we become is formed in the early years of our life by our parents and family. When you were young your mother was loving and helpful. You don't feel she failed you in any way. Surprisingly, this has not been a major factor in shaping your character and the person you are today. Other major factors in your childhood or adult life have been more influential on you!
(No comment)
You do/did not know your father deeply, but perceive him as an uncomplicated person. He was (or still is?) a lovable, jolly dad. He was normally there when you needed him most. This has had some affect in the past on forming your character. Parental traits, affecting how you like to deal with life, come from your father (a little) but more from other factors.
Your mother and father were often close to each other, although they may not have always demonstrated this fact. (Ok, the program is a little off here. My parents divorced when I was 13. They were never really "lovey dovey" kind of people. The only time I saw affection was then dad came home from work and they had a kiss hello. I do percieve my dad as uncomplicated and lovable. He was there while I was a child, but after the divorce I definitely feel that he wasn't there)

You can be deep-thinking about subjects that arouse your curiosity. People with your high degree of reflective ability enjoy games, and puzzles in their spare time. (I bet you enjoy doing crosswords) and are attracted to tales of mystery. (I hate crosswords. I like the wording though. I can be deep thinking. I'm typically not except in few inspired instances.)

In astrology one of the most passionate star-sign types is the Scorpion. You possess many of the Scorpion traits: passionate, hot and exciting in love and sensual pursuits. In life you willpursue anything which fires your imagination for as long as it captures you. This type of dynamic obsession can overcome unbelievable odds and obstacles and enables you to achieve great things. But this same power can lead to great pain and and extensive self-damage especially in matters of the heart. (Passionate? Nope. I'm very loyal and don't pursue things for as long as it captures me. Great pain..like the dark side?? Noooooooooooooooo)

This has happened to you: your picture is showing repression of all these things - the fire is not burning as bright as it once did.

Summary of other traits and personal tastes:-
----------------------------------------------
Decision making : Plays safe - avoids taking chances.
Day-dreams most of : Travel or escapism.
Worst Nightmares of: Various - rarely has recurrent nightmares.
General Outlook : Balanced - between pessimism & optimism.
(highly accurate actually. )

** REPORT ENDS **

If you are going to post results, please do so on your own blog. It actually took me a while to format the text. Posting results in the comment field would be very difficult I would think.

So what do you guys think?

No time

Not a whole lot of time at the moment but I saw this and had to pay it forward.

 

Be sure your speakers are turned up.

 

A)This is how Christmas lights should be

B)This rocks my face off

 

http://pihb.movezig.com/source/1095759873/lights.wmv

Quick Hits..with turkey, stuffing, and gravy mmmmm...gravy

• The Broncos beat the Jets 27-0. That's bad. In the 2nd quarter, the Jets ran 2 plays. That's it. 2 plays. The Broncos had the ball for 14:05 out of 15:00. That's humilliation.
• Played football for the first time in I can't remember yesterday. The team I was on came out victorious by a huge 48-28 margain. Shoutouts to Sammie for leading us to victory, Andy for doing his best Peyton Manning impression, and Laurie for icing the win. She had 1 TD pass as well as another TD reception.
• I am so sore but not as bad as it could be. Shout out to my lovely and beautiful wife for rubbing me down with Aspercreme last night. It really helped.
• This was our last "official" week at Fairfax. Starting in December (next Sunday we'll be in Pitt) we'll be attending The Church at Clarendon. Shayna and I are going to be working on the outreach ministry for the church there. Helping those less fortunate and spreading the word. We're looking forward to getting our hands dirty in the Lord's work.
• XBox 360 launches tomorrow. I was thinking about waiting in line at walmart and try to get one and then immediately sell it on Ebay afterwards for a tidy profit. The money isn't worth the effort to me though...unless it's like $1000 for the xbox. It won't be because it will definitly have to be sold as used.. ;-)
• Thanksgiving is this week. I'm really looking forward to spending time with my family (including in-laws which I don't even really think of them that way...well most of them). This year we are doing Turducken up in Pittsburgh. boneless chicken (stuffed with stuffing) put inside of a boneless duck put inside of a boneless turkey. never had one before, but how can you go wrong??
• Tivo announces today that they are going to be offering Tivo2Go to video Ipod as well as PSP. Will have to be connected to your computer and go through a conversion process (2 hours conversion to 1 hour of video). So now you can pay Steve Jobs $2 for that episode of Lost or you can just do it yourself. Still doesn't make me want to buy an Ipod.

Sorry, no links this time. Nothing good on the internet at the moment.

Dynamic Duo

One of the great things about staying home from work sick is that you get to do nothing but look at blogs all day.

I tried looking for some good links to post, but I think the well that is known as the internet is drying up. That reminds me of a tagline I saw on some persons AIM profile: I beat the internet, the end guy is hard. How true..how true.

Without further adieu, Sam's 2 list:
Two Names You Go By: Carl, Crazy
Two Parts of Your Heritage: Willis, Smith
Two Things That Scare You: spiders, Sneaky
Two of Your Everyday Essentials: email, kiss goodnight
Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now: basketball shorts, underoos (Thundercats if you must know)
Two of Your Favorite Bands or Musical Artists: Weird Al, Billy Joel
Two Things You Want in a Relationship: laughter, smiles
Two Truths: Some days your the dog, some days your the hydrant; For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief. (Eccl 1:18)
Two Things You Hate (or rather dislike with a passion): Carl (I HATE that guy), dairy products
Two Physical Things that Appeal to You: breasts, smile
Two of Your Favorite Hobbies: Video games, sleeping
Two Things You Want Really Badly: Peach Pie, To not be sick.
Two Places You Want to go on Vacation: Colorado, Hawaii
Two Things You Want to Do Before You Die: go to Colorado, make Shayna happy
Two Ways that you are stereotypically a Chick/Guy: I like video games and sports.
Two Things You Normally Wouldn't Admit: my feelings, how much I like sneaky
Two people I would like to see take this quiz: Gordon, Jesus

Mike "Odgie" Miller

So the web blog of love continues on. Taking a nice little rest here and moving on to the man known as Odgie. This is actually going to be difficult because I have a self imposed limit of 300 words per post and I've already wasted a good 30 just explaining that. I'll make up for it later though.

Odgie is many things to me. A friend who helped me come out of my shell. A person to laugh with. A spiritual guru. A person that can go toe to toe with Shayna..and that says a lot.

Odgie spends his life helping people. He started as a minister and now he does social work. He enjoys spending 40 hours a week helping people who are less fortunate, either economically or mentally.

He is able to speak his mind and pose very good discussion/debate with almost anyone he meets. He's smart, intuitive, and loves God.

Odgie is also a big reason why I'm married. He was able to answer questions that I wasn't able to for Shayna. He also showed her that being a Christian doesn't mean not having fun. He stood at my wedding as I got married. Even though he had to drive through a snowstorm in the mountains of PA to do it.

If you have to choose a person to have your back, you should make sure it's Odgie.

And now, a Haiku:
Mike Miller is the man
O D to the G I E
thanks for everything

Your turn Odgie.

It has arrived

I was wondering if it would ever get to me. I had a feeling it would when it started with Shayna. But after long last it has finally been passed to me.

I am sick.

I hate being sick. It's totally the worst feeling of all time. At the moment it's not to bad. It's just a sore throat. But it will get worse. I'm going to be on a strict liquid diet until it's gone. I just hope that it doesn't take to long...

I'll get to the web log of love sometime. Thanks Leann for passing it to me!

another puzzle game

http://www.funflashgames.com/resources/games/swfs/33338.swf


click, drag, type, and listen your way past the puzzles.

This morning

Some people ask what the best thing about marraige is. There are a lot of things. Not having to drive home, inside jokes (BABE!!), constant sounding board, the list goes on.

I think I have a new favorite though. Last night Shayna and I left a fan on and the window open in our bedroom as we went to bed. It sure got cold last night. When her alarm went off at to(o) early o'clock we snuggled up together until it was actually time for her to get up.

Sure, it's not very manly. But it sure does feel good.

something that is worth it

http://www.google.com/sms/

Never use 411 again. If you have text messaging already on your cell phone plan this is definitely the way to go.

Was it worth it?

nope, not really.

Good day so far

So far it's been a good day. I haven't thrown up. Eonline is reporting that Scrubs will be back on the air soon. Arrested Development returns on Monday. Powerhouse starts tonight. I'm going to upgrade my cell phone (going with the LG 6100. Shayna and I will evaluate. Then she will have the option of having the new phone or my current phone) The grandfather clock is assembled and not next to my head (although if it were I wouldn't notice. It's not really that loud), my wife told me that she loved me today.

Last but certainly not least, Al has completed the first 6 songs of his next album.

Can't wait to see what God brings tonight at powerhouse. I think it might rock my face off.

oo-ra

I like the quick hits type posts. Let me know if you like them as well or if you prefer the slightly deeper but longer 1 topic type of posts..

Shayna and I received our 1st Christmas present of 2k5 yesterday. It's from my mom in law. She calls to tell us that she is sending our Christmas gift. We say it's not even Halloween yet. Wait until we get up there for thanksgiving. She says that won't work, it won't fit in our car. We say what the heck are you giving us?!!? She says it weighs 91 lbs.

So it arrives. It's a grandfather clock. Very cool, very nice of her to give it to us. Shayna suggested we put it in the bedroom..right next to my head. I think I'm going to suggest it go right next to her head. It will sound like her alarm clock anyway. I would hate to be sleeping and then have my alarm clock on my chest because she got confused during the night. :-)

In other news, our cell phone plan expires this month. 2 years with Verizon. They are giving us a $100 credit towards 1 phone if we reup with them. I'm torn on this. I could have sworn that when we initially signed up that we would get $100 per phone. We could go to Cingular and get free phones, but I don't know how well the reception would work in our apartment. Our current phones don't work very well. Decisions decisions.

Last night I took Shayna out to dinner at Chipotle. It was nice to go out and laugh and have fun (not that we don't do that anyway, but it was just nice in general). One of Shayna's coworkers has been married for 3 months and says it's "Hard". Don't know if I would catagorize marraige as hard. There are difficult times, yes. On the whole though, marraige is fun. Maybe that's just who I'm married to.

Ben Roethlisburger is out this week. Had surgery on his knee today. Charlie Batch replaces him this week. Cower doesn't trust Maddox to hold a clipboard much less a football. I've been telling my brother-in-law (shout out to Matt) for years that Maddox wasn't any good. Maddox finally came through for me earlier this season when he individually lost the game (which is hard to do in a team atmosphere)

To make up to my wife for the bad steeler news, here is panda bounce.

Weekend fun

What a weekend!
It starts off with a hike through Great Falls for my close personal friend Dave's birthday. I've never been to Great Falls before but I gotta say, I am going to be going back. The camera phone does it no justice!

After our jaunt through the woods, we headed over to Famous Dave's and had some BBQ. There was much rejoicing.

On Sunday I was able to watch the Broncos game. The final score came out to 49-21 Broncos but it was a whole lot closer. The Broncos took a 28-0 lead early but then the Eagles came back 28-21. They were on the Broncos 24 yard line and McNabb fires a shot into the endzone. Interception. Momentum swung back to the Broncos and they never looked back. They got lucky though. Sitting in the flat all by himself was Lamont Jordan. Would have had the first down and they probably would have tied the game.

Kudos to Foxworth who had the pick, but bigger kudos to Champ Bailey. Champ reinjured the hammy and rather than stay in the game and possibly cause problems he took himself out.

Fantasy football wise, I got hosed because Tory Holt was inactive. In 2 league's I've definitely lost. 1 I've won. 1 it all comes down to MNF. He has Willie Parker, I have Chester Taylor. I'm hoping the Bus takes all the carries. I'm going into the game with a .3 point lead.

I leave with a Best Headline

PS: I win!

The Soul Still Burns

Soul Caliber III has come out for the PS2. So far this is the only reason I can see to actually getting a PS2..

Wanna try a sing-a-long?

C is for cookie that's good enough for me
C is for cookie that's good enough for me
C is for cookie that's good enough for me
OH!
cookie Cookie COOKIE starts with C!

Now that song is stuck in your head instead of mine.

Your welcome.

Quick Hits

Don't have enough at the moment to make a complete update on one topic so I thought I'd offer some quick hits..
Links:
Treasure Box - All you have to do is click in the right place at the right time..
London Symphony - Playing the Super Mario Bros Theme.
Free the Balloon - Just like Hapland

Thoughts:
Hurricanes - Another month another big storm plowing through the south. I feel bad for the people down there. Makes me glad I don't live down there anymore though. Highlight is definitly Al Roker standing outside with the 130 MPH wind. He's got a stage hand holding on to his leg so he doesn't fly away.

Broncos - I give props to the Giants for pulling out the win. The Denver D at the end of a game just isn't getting it done. Although there is one play out of the highlights that I have a problem with. Deep pass to Plaxico. A Denver end is rushing Eli. The tackle is behind the end holding on to the guy's shoulder pads for Eli's life. How is that not a holding call? Everyday..

Bighams - Brent & Kelli have made the formal announcement of their new daughter's name. Shout out to Rachel Joyce Bigham. You'll be fine kid..just don't play with daddy's transformers/action figures/toy cars. Except if it's in the box. That means it wants to come out and play. :-)

Dave Roland - This weekend we are celebrating Dave's birthday by going camping. Been a loooong time since I've been camping and even then it wasn't in the woods. Low of 33 in Front Royal Friday night. Anyone know if Under Armour is supposed to keep you warm as well as cool? It's going to be a lot of fun though. I'm looking forward to the time with the bears and the hike on Sat.

This image is really cool. Follow the pink dots and they disappear. Focus in the middle and the missing dot turns green. Focus harder and the pink dots disappear and it's just a green dot that goes around. I don't know why the eyes do that but it's awesome.

Monkey Slide

For those of you who enjoyed A Dog for all Seasons, here is Monkey Slide. This ones a little bit more edgy. Dodge the bombs from hitting the monkeys who are sliding down the pole.

Lost Rhapsody

This rocked my face off (shout out to Jessica Mosely aka J.Mo)

If your a fan of the show Lost..this will make you laugh.

Lost Rhapsody

(no spoilers or anything like that)

The light at the end of the tunnel

For those of you that know me, you know that I'm a pretty laid back kind of guy.  I don't let to much bother me and for the most part stuff just rolls off my back.  The past week or so has been pretty difficult on me.  I've been feeling stressed out.  The year has flown by.  Things at work are hectic and it's looking like it's just going to get more so over the next couple of months.

 

What's great for me is that at the end of my day there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.  I get to go home and see my best friend.  The one person that I share my frustrations, anger, and other general feelings with.  The one person who always knows my name and is always glad I came. 

 

I don't know what I'd do with out my wife.  It's pretty common to make jokes about marriage.  Ball & Chain etc.  I don't see it that way at all.  I see it as coming home to be whole.  Thank you for being a rock dear.

A dog for all seasons

That previous link, being the doozy that it was, I have decided to share another game with you. An action game where you don't kill anything, shoot anything, or have cleavage overflowing. Just 4 puppies running... trying to turn some dots into cupcakes. So maybe you do kill something...the dots.

Anyway, here's A Dog For All Seasons

Frustrating

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Week 5

Raven @ Lions - Lions got one stole form them last week but they are on the edge of when they start winning.  Ravens just look plain bad.  Lions by 3.

 

da Bears @ da Browns - Tough Bears D is keeping them in games.  Browns not getting it done.  Toilet bowl of the week.  Bears in an upset special.

 

Fish @ Buffs - Ricky Williams is back.  Bills run D is ready.  Takes holcomb 3 quarters to get the rust off but comes through in the end.  Bills by 7.

 

Patsies @ Falconis - Patsies are mad that they got embarrased.  Falcons are playing well. Can't pick 3 road teams in a row.  Falcons win.

 

Saints @ Pack - At some point Brett just has to throw it in.  The pack aern't bad..they just play that way.  They find a way to lose again this week.  Saints by 7.

 

Seaducks @ Rams - I have a feeling Bulger's arm is going to fall off.  He just throws the ball to much.  It works this week but Martz will have to start rotating QB's soon...

 

Bucs @ Jets - Vinny T comes back, against his former team no less.  I'm sure nobody on the bucs is on the team when he played though..that was at least 10 years ago.  Jets play the Dangerfield card..no respect no respect at all.  Bucs by 14.

 

Thumbtacks @ Cowheads - Houston is in disarray.  They keep benching people and firing coaches I may have a chance to play on an NFL team. Thumbtacks take the easy win.

 

colts @ 9ers - wow, how much will the colts win by this week?

 

panthers @ cards - No matter what Dennis Green does, the cards are the cards and that's all there is to say.  Panthers roll.

 

Beagles @ Boys - Tough game to call. Going to be a good one.  I'll give it to the home team..I've got to many away boys picked as it is.

 

Skins @ Bronx - Game of the week for me.  Need the bronx to win otherwise I will be taking grief from every redskins fan I know.  Elam comes through in the end. Bronx by 3.

 

Bungles @ Jags - Bungles playing hard. I like them this week.

 

Stillers @ Bolts - Bolts are putting up video game type points.  Stillers have a D that stops almost everyone.  In this type of situation you always go for D.  Stillers for the win.

Latest update

Ok, so apparently my wife is addicted to the fries and getting the game piece is just a bonus.

Most of the board is filled, I just need a key piece to finish the property.

Boardwalk
Pennsylvania Ave
Vetnor Ave
Kentucky
Mediterranean Ave
I have no Orange or Purple and I have 2 out of 4 railroads.

This update is mainly just for Sammie.

I'm off the McOpoly kick..I think

Well not really. I just figured out that if you get a chicken select sandwich you get more properties as well as another best buy buck. This is by far the most cost efficient way to go. The difference between a large value meal of say a big mac or a royale with cheese and the chicken select is less than a dollar. Since you will be getting at least a dollars worth out of the best buy buck you might as well spend the 70 some cents and make a profit of 30 cents.

The only downside to this plan is that instead of eating a greasy unhealthy burger, you end up eating a greasy unhealthy chicken sandwich. The wheat bread is a nice touch, but really who are we fooling?

They say that 1 out of 3 best buy bucks are worth 3 dollars. Well, I must happen to have the worst luck in the world as I got 2 $1 best buy bucks.

Another thing I noticied, which is why I think I'm off the kick, is that if you collect all the pieces to a property, you have a chance of winning that prize. So after you purchase all that food to collect the properties you still have to enter a drawing. It's just not worth it. Starting tomorrow, I'm back on Chinese Buffets.

As if my blog wasn't cluttered enough

I now sport a tag board. The tag board is a little bit different than comments. It's basically like an IM that sits right on the main page. Anyone can read what you say. Try it out!

Oh, you can't help it. That's just what you believe.

So in one of my fantasy leagues James drops this little nugget of information. I haven't fully digested it but I thought I'd throw it out there and see what everyone else thought.

The nugget is: You can't choose your beliefs.

This statement can be proven with a simple test. Take something you believe and then choose to believe opposite. So I believe that my friend Cris is in California. I can say that Cris is in Virginia but I can't believe it.

Try it out and let me know if you can choose to believe something else. How does this impact us? Will it allow us to work better with "unbelievers" because they can't choose to believe?

It's late..my head hurts.

Darn you McDonalds

Ok, so officially the McOpoly game has been going for one day. I have accumulated 3 best buy bucks, a free small mcflurry, a free medium fries, and 6 property pieces.

I feel my heart congesting already.

Should the Supreme Court Hear This??

Green Bay, Wisconsin(AP) - A seven-year-old boy was at the center of a Green Bay,WI. courtroom drama yesterday when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of
him.

The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with child custody law and regulations requiring that family unity be maintained to the best degree possible.

The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her.

When the judge then suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy cried out that they also beat him.

After considering the remainder of the immediate family and learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of life among them, the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him.


After two recesses to check legal references and confer with ch!ld welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to the Green Bay Packers, whom the boy firmly believes are not capable of beating anyone.

To My Wife

I don't always do my best

at making myself clear,

And what I really mean to say

you might not always hear.

 

For example, when I burp,

that means you're one great cook!

And when I make a vulgar sound,

I love the way you look.

 

When I (rarely) pass some gas

it means that I'm content.

And when I answer with a grunt

you've got my full consent.

 

When I snore in bed at night,

It's you I'm dreaming of.

And when I don't say anything

I'm overcome with love.

 

Happy Birthday dear!  Pumpkin picking was great, pig racing was great, you are great.

 

(credits to the American Greetings card poem person.  This is exactly me.)

Week 4

Ok, so I busy last week and completely missed doing week 3.  Time to make up for it..

Bills @ Ain'ts (via Antonio) - Ain'ts have a chip on their shoulder but the Bills have a strong D.  What Choo Talkin Bout McGahee starting to put up the yards.  Would give it to the home team but it's not really their home.  Bills take it.

 

Bronx @ Jags - Nice to see the Bronx provide the league a workshop on how to demoralize an opponent.  Jags won't roll over like the Chiefs did.  Plummer rollout is money.  Taking the visiting team

 

Lions @ Bucs - Harrington's days are numbered.  Bucs are on a roll with the caddy.  Griese gets another win.

 

Texan @ Bungles - Might have to change their name. They are no longer the bungles.  Palmer getting things done, Johnson finally showing the world the kind of receiver he needs to be.  Bungles take this one easy.

 

Colts @ Thumbtacks - Colts D is providing the wins.  Titans D providing to many yards.  Colts take it.

 

Bolts @ Patsies - Patsies are the little team that could.  You could plug in some pee-wee players and Belichick would make them into pro bowlers.  Bolts go down and all of a sudden their season is over.

 

Seaducks @ Potato Skins - Brilliant idea on the scheduling commitee. Have the skins play Dallas and then give them a bye so they have 2 weeks to celebrate.  The only problem with a vacation is coming back to work.  Seaducks roast the skins. mmmm...roasted potatoes...

 

Rams @ Giants - Giants were embarrased last week. Rams got away with one. Gonna be tight.  Field goal in the end for the home team.

 

Jets @ Ravens - Jets have crashed and burned.  Down to their # 3 QB.  Only saving grace for the jets is that he's to young to know when to stay on the ground.  Ray Lewis licking his chops.  Ravens in a easy win.

 

Boys  @ Raiders - I took a risk, fantasy wise, on Bledsoe and it's paying huge dividends.  Raiders still have a week o-line.  Boys d comes though.  Boys take it.

 

Vikes @ Falcs - Atlanta did really well when they told Vick to rein it in.  Culpepper finally getting his groove.  Shootout.  Vikes in the surprise.

 

Phili @ KC - KC was embarrased and they are looking to take it out.  McNabb has a sports hernia (abdominal strain).  Probably won't make it though the 1st half but it's a  valient effort.  KC with an easy W.

 

9ers @ Zona via Mexico city - (Take me down to mexico city where the grass is green and so is the water).  Toilet bowl of the week.  Only reason to watch is to see signs of John 3:16 and ESPN in spanish.  I guess I have to pick someone.  I'll take the 9ers.

 

Pack @ Panthers - Pack still have yet to get the engine going.  Doubt things will change against the panthers.  Panthers for a big win.

 

 

Well, maybe Theisman isn't so bad

So as I was going through my workday, enjoying at how I've let people know my disdane for Theisman and how commentators screw up calling games, I all of a sudden remembered my first year of college.

During my first year, in the spring semester, my close personal friend Cris and I decide that we are going to call a football game. I had that year's super bowl taped, so we were just going to strip out the audio and put in our own. We got headphones with mics hopped on an editing deck (I was working at the video lab) and began.

Now you would think that 2 football savvy people would be able to ace calling a game that they had already seen. I had seen it multiple times (Broncos over Packers). Cris was play by play and I was color.

We were horrible. I didn't really say anything dumb..I just didn't say anything. It's difficult to fill dead air...especially when the play by play man is quick. The best part of the whole thing is when I adjusted my mic and it sounds like I had a..ahem..flatulence problem. So we spent a whole drive talking about how much it stank in the broadcast booth.

So here's to you Joe Theisman. You're a real man of genius (real man of geeeeniuuus). You don't talk about farting..but it probably would be better if you did.

PS: Anyone watching the broncos/chiefs MNF game, did you notice how on the broncos first drive they actually ran a reverse but Al Michaels called it an end around? Did you say Shut Up Al? I'm proud of you, I did too. :-)

You are now warned

Dave mentioned how much he enjoyed Grow Cube. If you like that sort of stuff (click the things in the right order to solve the puzzle) then this will be right up your ally.

Hapland

and after you've torn your hair out you can try the sequel Hapland2

Shut up Theisman

Whenever I watch a football game, especially if it's on ESPN, I always find myself telling the commentators (common tators?) to shut up. The things they say aggrivate me. The play by play man is usually cool. Down and Distance. Easy stuff. The color man though..aargh. I realize it's his job to fill dead air. But at least fill it with something that isn't stupid. Here are some examples:

During the Patsies - Stillers game Brady had about 6 seconds to find the receiver and throw the ball. 4 stillers rushing. Color man gives tons of praise to the Patriots offensive line for picking up the blitz. But there wasn't a blitz. 4 rushers vs. 5 blockers. Pittsburgh is known as a "blitz" defense, but it really doesn't blitz that much. The way they work is that you don't know which 4 will rush and that's how they generate pressure. It could be 3 linebackers and a lineman rushing but if everyone else is dropping back, it's not a blitz. Don't get me wrong, they do blitz and when they do it's effective. But when it's just 4 people rushing, don't call it a blitz.

Second most irritating thing (and I promise I won't go any further after this one) is when they falsly call reverse. Typically you'll see the QB fake a hand off to a RB (although this part is completely optional) and then hand the ball off to a WR running behind the line. 95% of the time the commentators will say Team X runs the reverse. This is incorrect. It's actually an end around. A reverse would be if they actually handed the ball off one direction and then handed it off running the reverse direction. By definition you need 2 handoffs to have a reverse. I'll let you figure out double reverse and triple reverse.

You don't see the reverse run a lot in the NFL because defenses are so fast and the time to get the second hand off takes so long that it would fail.

That's all the gripes I'm going to share, but next time your watching football (especially if it's ESPN) join me...Shut Up Theisman.

Carl's Blog: Now with more link action

What Wouldn't Jesus Do?

Want to go smaller than the Nano? Try the iPod flea

It's about time we see innovation in the Pizza Fork world.

Nintendo Revolution controller trailer. Looks...interesting.

Grow Cube. Put the items in order to win.

A game as innocently named as "Ball Bounce" is bound to be maddening

Something to do before I die. View the Aurora Borealis(sp?)

Week 2

The picks the picks what what the picks.

Ravens @ Titans - Both got beat bad last week. Ravens have Wright and Stewart heading the offense. Toilet bowl of the week. Home boys by 3.

Bills @ Bucs - Cadillac "Beep Beep" Williams rumbled for 150 yards vs. the vikes last week. Bills D should be a bit more solid. Griese keeps the wheels turning. Bucs by 7.

Lions @ Da Bears - Harrington still has to prove he's the leader. Bears have to prove that they can score more than a freak TD. Lions roll to a win.

Jags @ Colts - Manning on a good start, just not as good as last year. Colts win.

Vikes @ Bungles - Anyone else find it interesting how last year's vikings offensive coordinator is now in Miami. Now the Vikes can't do anything and the dolphins can? Future head coach in the making down there. As to this game, everyone chants RUDI RUDI..and so it shall be. Rudi with the go ahead TD. Bengals by 14.

Patsies @ Panthers - Panthers lost on a last second field goal to the feel good team of the season. I warned last week of the conspiracy. My brother in law has a conspiracy with the patriots. Since 9/11 the patsies have been surprisingly good despite all the losses to personnel. War on terror is still happening so I guess it's the patsies with the win.

9ers @ Beagles - McNabb is all sore after the chest injury. Not going to be the same all season. Taking the upset special. 9ers going 2-0.

Falcons @ Seaducks - Close game. Coin toss says heads. Don't know what that means. Take the home boys..its safer.

Rams @ Cards - Warner back to the dome where it all began. The Fitz had a big week last week. Think he'll have a big one again. Cards will try to run up the score, but the rams play ball control. Last play of the game it's a screen pass to holt who drop kicks for the winning 3.

Browns @ Pack - Favre has run out of magic. Human mind can only take some many woes before you have to stop working. Browns stink though so the pack get off easy. Pack by 3.

Fish @ Jet Blue - Pennington had 6 fumbles. He needs to use some stickem in pregame. Just don't let him toss the coin. Fish have an O-coordinator who knows how to get things done. Jets outlook grim. Fishies swim to the win.

Bolts @ Bronx - Bronx had a horrific game last week. Don't know if the season is over already. Good news is that they have one top 10 pick from the skins next draft. They might make it 2. If the Bronx lose, the season is over. Bronx by 7...I hope.

Chiefs @ Haters - Haters O-Line looked surprisingly week last week. Chiefs D is either for real or the jets just stink. I'm going with the real deal. Chiefs by 17.

Giants @ Saints but really it's @ Giants - Giants get a huge break with an additional home game. They make the most of it. Win by 7.

Skins @ boys - Boys own the skins. Field goals won't cut it. Easy game, no one watches. Boys by 21.

Webmail wars

This is a tech blog entry in case you couldn't tell by the title. If technology bores you, move on..

A little while ago, Google started offering their own email application called Gmail. Gmail was revolutionary in that they offered 2 GB of mail space. Every other free webmail offered at most 5 MB. All of a sudden the fight for webmail was on. In addition to the added space, they also had a different way of organizing email. No longer did you have individual message but conversations with people.

I have never been a big fan of yahoo, but they seem to have taken webmail to the next level. The beta version of the program shows it completely redesigned. It looks a lot like outlook. You'll be able to preview messages, have multiple messages open (by use of tabs) and a couple other bells and whistles. For screen shots of the beta version you can visit this blog.

Hotmail has been falling behind in this race. It makes me wonder what billy boy has up his sleeve..

Random Mumblings

Hard to believe it's been almost a week since my last post. Lots of random things to write..

Broncos - Well, I think this could be the first time in about 15 years the broncos will have a top 15 draft pick. They looked really bad. I don't want to write off the season just yet, but last season only one team who lost the opening game made it to the playoffs. That was the colts who got beat by the patriots.

Slovakian food - Shayna, Dave, and myself went to a Slovak festival. They had potato pancakes, kielbasa (with kraut), perogies, and something that has meet and rice wrapped in a cabbage leaf with tomato sauce on top. It was all delicious. I ate myself stupid on Sunday.

9/11 - Most of the country don't really feel 9/11 I think. Places out west remember it but it didn't impact their lives. Being in DC is different (just like I'm sure it's different to people from NYC). I remember walking to class when Shayna stopped me and told me what was happening. I don't think people here even thought of this being a target for attack. Sure, it was a threat, but I don't think people really took it seriously. Shayna and I saw The Flight that Fought Back last night. Tivo it. Don't know when it comes on again, but it's inspiring. Also check out Dave's blog. He has some thoughts posted..

That's all for now I think.

[more thoughts after the original posting]

Shayna - I don't really talk about how great my wife is. Shayna writes these posts about me that make me wish I actually knew the person she was talking about. It's hard for me to express my feelings. Maybe it's because I'm a guy. Maybe I'm just emotionally retarded. The only way I can really put it is that I don't need anyone else in my life (exception of Jesus of course). I enjoy being with my friends but I don't need them. She's the only one I need.

Banana Bread - Shayna made banana bread for me last night because I asked her to. Even though she was butt tired. What a woman. Fresh Banana bread for breakfast is so money.

Peter Pan Buffet - best thing since sliced banana bread.

Week 1..in a nutshell

Since my freshman year of college my dad and I have a tradition of calling who is going to win the games. I thought I'd share my picks. If you want to share as well..feel free:

Raiders @ Patsies - Going for the upset. Collins -> Moss = Easy Money. Raiders by 7
Da Bears @ Da Skins - Still not a believer in Ramsey. Really not a believer in the tomato can the bears have sitting back there. D wins it. Skins by 10.
Bungles @ Brownies - Brownies are sweet but bungles are better. Chad Johnson in the back of the endzone for the winner winner chicken dinner.
Bronx @ Fish - Denver D looks to be a bit more solid. We'll see after this week. Easy win for the boys in blue.
Texans @ Bills - JP Losman gets the start. Not as much experience as Carr. Bills are at home..going with them. Bills by 10
Ain'ts @ Panthers - Ain'ts have a lot on their mind. Conspiracy theory says they win the superbowl. I don't like conspiracys. Panthers with the win.
Jets @ Chiefs - Chiefs still have tons of O and no D. Jets don't really have the O to keep up with the Chiefs. Chiefs roll to the win off the good Priest.
Seaducks @ Jags - Seattle coming off the tough playoff loss. That wish doesn't kill you, hurts a heck of a lot. Close one..take the duckies
Bucs @ Vikes - Bucs starting Griese. Good enough to keep it close and then fold at the end. Maybe I'm still bitter from all the heartbreaks. Have a cold one Griese. Your a real man of genius. Vikes win.
Flaming Thumbtacks @ Stillers - (shout out to Greg Easterbrook for the thumbtack reference) Hoping dad takes the thumbtacks because I'm taking the steelers (he always has problems with the old AFC central)
Zona @ Tall Peeps - Master vs. Protege. Warner vs Manning. will be good. Will be close. Cards fall short on a long field goal. Giants with the win.
Boys @ Bolts - If Gates plays chargers. If not, Boys.
Pack @ Lions - Favre loves to tear into the lions. Harrington really has to prove he's the man. Don't think he's got it in him. Pack wins
Rams @ 9ers - 9ers in disarray. Long time before the glory years return. Rams with the win.
Colts @ Ravens - Freight Train vs. Boulder. Freight Train wins (it's a really fast train with lots of options)
Beagles @ falcons - TO is talking to McNabb? Not good for Vick. Lots of highlights but in the end the Beagles win.

I've come to a conclusion..it's probably wrong

Some thoughts on this whole New Orleans thing. Usually when there is a natural disaster, or any disaster really, the first fingers point to God. This is difficult because it comes back to the age old question, why do bad things happen to people, Why does God allow bad things happen to people?, or Why does God allow bad things to innocent/good people? Pick one any one they are all the same really.

I don't have an answer. I suspect there will be comments offering answers, but really to a person who has just lost someone and doesn't know God, I doubt those answers will be of any value. Timing is very critical when dealing with a person who has just lost someone. I read and responded to earlier blogs on this which probably wasn't a very good idea on my part. I need lots of time to process things and determine how I feel about them. For me to express feelings right after an event will usually result in me expressing incorrect feelings. Can't really explain it..just know that I'm emotionally handicapped. :-)

So...did God cause the whole New Orleans debacle? Was it modern day Sodom and Gemorrah? That's difficult to answer. I guess it all depends on how you think God interacts in our lives. If God is a hands off kind of fellow and just makes subtle touches in our lives, then I think the answer would be no. People who live in the mid-west are at higher risk for tornadoes, people in California are at higher risk for earthquakes, and people in the gulf are at higher risk for hurricanes. That's just the way it is. Everyone has risk of something. I live 15 miles from, for all intensive purposes, the capital of the world. I'm at higher risk of terrorist attack than people in Boise Idaho. But I choose to live here and that's the way it is.

Now lets suppose that God is a micromanager of sorts. He is very active but we may not actively see it (so no hand coming out of the clouds and other such things). If this is how you feel, then yes I suppose God did cause/allow the hurricane and had a purpose for it hitting the spot it did. Did he do it to punish because he was angry at New Orleans for having a bad football team year after year (I kid, I kid)? No, I don't think so. If this is your view though, all disasters are caused/allowed by God. This includes things like 9/11 (Israelites were captured many times by other invading countries. Assyrians, Babylonians, etc. )

The tragedy of New Orleans is not in the hurricane. There are 'canes every year. Just as their are tornadoes every year. The tragedy of New Orleans is that the levy broke. If the levy didn't break this wouldn't have been a big deal. The ironic thing is that the part of the levy that broke first (and thus making it the weakest part) was the part that they had just "fixed". Because of this, New Orleans isn't a natural disaster. This was a man-made one. A structural engineer made a mistake by underestimating the stress, or politicians made a mistake by cutting back on the project to save money. It doesn't matter who's fault it was, it cost human lives. It stinks, but it's true..and it happens. People screw up all the time.

No matter which way you fall on how God interacts with us the outcome is the same. People give time, money, and convenience to help people they don't know. God blesses those who mourn (Matt 5). People go the second, third and even fourth mile to show Jesus.

I honestly don't know which way is the correct way to think of God. At times I like to think he actively put me in a specific spot at a specific time. I also have trouble with that though because of free will. If he puts me in a spot, how do I have free will to do my own thoughts and actions?

A man goes swimming in a river. He gets his leg caught in a tree branch and drowns. Did God cause the storm and the rain to have the branch fall, float down the water and wait for the man? Or was the man just not careful enough and got his leg caught? I don't think it matters. Either way the man is missed by his friends and family. They turn to God for answers/comfort and find his Son waiting for them with open arms.

Stats

My brother took stats class last semester and didn't get into it.  Stats for me was difficult but I find it very interesting..especially when it deals with this blog.  Here is some info regarding my blog that you might find interesting as well..

 

• Most people visit on a weekday between 6 am - 2 pm.
• Everyone who visits is from the US
• 87% use Internet Explorer, 7% use firefox, 5% use Safari
• 70% of my visitors have their monitor resolution set to 1024x768
• 18% have it set to 800x600
• 1 person has their monitor set to 1400 x 1050.  You have some wicked good eyesite..and probably a widescreen flat panel monitor.
• Some places that visit me are: knowledgekiosk.com, usaid.gov, senate.gov (pass some laws on that alcohol car thing...and give me royalties),
• Most people who visit me are on the east coast.  There are a couple in central time, and 1 or 2 people on the west coast.  Nobody from Mountain time though..still need to get market penetration in the Denver area..

 

 

Giving technology a whirl

One of the pains about having a blog is actually updating it.  Last night I found a setting that allowed you to post to your blog by (get this) emailing it in.  Now I no longer have to deal with the pain of having to open a web browser, going to blogger.com, logging in, create a new post, and then write out what I want to say.  I instead can just email an address and it goes to where it is supposed to go.

 

On to other things:

 

It's been tough looking at images of New Orleans.  I heard on the radio this morning that a man was sleeping on the roof of his house and he was attacked by an alligator.  As if those people don't have enough to worry about.

 

The president urged people to conserve energy (particularly gasoline) because of this.  Some refineries were located out that way and now they aern't.  I think now is a good time to start having people evaluate gasoline consumption. 

 

1st) SUV's are fun.  They really are especially when you go off roading.  But if the biggest incline you have is 7 degrees and that's from the parking deck at work, you shouldn't have one.  They don't help in the ice (we hardly have snow here). Honestly, most major US cities don't need them. I saw tons of them in LA.  LA is a desert!  Why do they need them?   There should be a minimum requirement that cars in general get a minimum of 20 mpg..and that's low.  If you drive some lincoln town car that get 17 mpg highway, you need to get a different car.  There is no reason for you to be in that thing.  You are probably some old person in a hat driving 20 mph to slow anyway.  Don't get me wrong. I like SUVs.  I don't want to preach. If you like spending $100 each time at the pump, fine you do that.  But honestly, there is no need for it.  You people in the hybrid SUVs, good for you, you get the same fuel economy as my Escort, but I still have a smaller tank than you AND I get around fine in the ice/snow.

2nd) Brazil has a great idea and I have no idea why this hasn't taken off.  They have cars that run on alcohol/gasoline.  You can put either in the tank.  The alcohol gets half the fuel economy but costs half the price (if that).  We could use corn (they use sugercane), soy, or any other crop really to produce the fuel.  That would send a big "Up Yours" (shout out to Cris) to OPEC.  All the big motor companies make engines for these cars.  They have been wary of doing it here because at the moment, you can't fill up anywhere and they don't know how the US market will react.  It burns clean which is nice and all but really I'm not concerned with that.  I just want to take the hit off my wallet.

 

I don't know if this is true or not (it probably isn't), but I remember hearing once that if we were to put all our farming resources to full use our country alone would be able to feed most of the world's hungry.  Let's for the moment assume this is true.  Let's put them to full use and create our own fuel supply.  If we have a famine or dought (or even a hurricane) we can switch to gas (because remember the cars can take either one). 

 

I really hope this email thing worked. I really don't want to type this stuff out again.

 

 

Who are you?

All the world's a stage and we are but mearly players.
-William Shakespere

I think Willy might be on to something. If all the world were a stage who would you play? The Hero? Comedic relief? Perhaps you'd be person #2 in restaurant.

I think my role would be set builder. Not because I like to build stuff but because it's integral to the play and no one sees who does it. No one really cares (with the exception of the director). The academy awards presented set designers their awards right next to their seat so that they wouldn't have to take the cameras off the beautiful people for more than 15 seconds and spend time waiting for them to get to the stage.

So, how about it? If all the world were a stage..who are you? who who; who who I REALLY WANNA KNOW! (dang CSI and the Who for that song)

Excuse me, while I kiss this guy..err, kiss the sky!

So yesterday I got back from California. As some people refer to it "The land that flows with Fruits and Nuts". My trip was very enlightening and over the next couple of blogs I'll be sharing some of the nuggets that I've come across.

When I first got to LA, I had to wait about 20 minutes for my close personal friend Cris to pick me up. Cris had timed himself perfectly to pick me up with one small exception. The pilot flying put the peddal to the metal and arrived 30 minutes early. I honestly didn't mind the wait, it allowed me to view something very peculiar at the airport..

Before I start, you should know that I like to watch people. I don't know why that is, I just find it interesting how people do things when they think they aern't being watched. Shayna is a little bit different, she likes to eavesdrop on other's conversations.

So anyway, while I was waiting I saw 4 people waiting for someone(s). 2 were an enderly couple, 2 were a younger (mid to late 30s) couple. They were obviously waiting for the same people. The younger lady visibly worried. Tears were in her eyes as passenger after passenger walked past her. Other people who were waiting though would have big smiles and get hugs and kisses as they met up with their family.

It's amazing to me how such strong emotions can occur within a few feet of eath other. On one side you have a lady who thinks maybe something happened to her daughter and st worried sick. On the other you have people rejoicing for seeing family again.

Down the hall you have people holding each other tight not wanting to let go as they leave for their plane. Right next to them people with a blank stare as they just try to get through the TSA security system.

The worried lady's family did finally come out the doorway. The look of relief showed in her whole body as she hugged either her daughter or neice and her sister. The only problem I guess with people watching is that you don't have the full story.

I don't know if anyone got to see Shayna and I reunite after our plane rides. Don't know if anyone even bothered to look. Everyone else was to busy looking for their own loved ones. It's just as well. A little privacy for a welcome home kiss is just what the doctor ordered after a long flight.

Excuse me, but your fox is on fire

At the request of my friend Chandler (whose name isn't really Chandler but he looks like the character from Friends) I tried the Firefox browser. I had tried it before when it was firebird or somelike that like that and wasn't too impressed.

I have tried it again and I have to admit it's pretty slick now. I'm a big fan of the Wizz RSS feed reader.

For the longest time I tried to get Shayna to use an RSS feed reader to handle her daily blogs. She doesn't like to change though. She's a creature of habit and that suits her fine. Once it was setup though, and she saw how easy it was to check all billion of the blogs she reads, she finally came around. I love my creature of habit..especially when that habit is to kiss me when I walk in the door.

No more details on that (which I'm sure you are all thankful for).

Next post will be something profound..like a link to a videogame or something. :-)

First Worms now fleas

Not nearly as difficult as worms, but certainly a lot of fun.. I bring you fleas

I love the 8 bit music too. Classic.

Wind of Change

I got an email from Alan Merton today regarding upcoming changes at the GMU campus. All I can say is..wow.

For those of you who know/attended Mason this will be interesting. For everyone else this will be mind numbingly boring so check out the links in the previous post.

When I left in 2k2 they were just about to begin on a new building for meeting spaces/tv station as well as more dorms. The dorms can easily be seen while driving on Braddock road at the corner of Braddock and Roberts Road.

The new development is called the Northeast Sector development and runs from SUB II, past Fenwick, past commonwealth & Dominion and ending at Patriot Circle where Lot G & F meet. Here is a picture (it's large so be patient):

As you can see this is going to go right in front of Essex (my old dorm), through the woods and end at the parking lot. I don't know how I feel about this. Part of me wishes that I would be a student in 2k7/2k8 when it's finished. It looks like it would be fun! Part of me is sad because I know that area and it seems like every place where you can stick a building in this county..they stick one.

The proposed buildings are a new dining hall, a fitness center (yes another one. This will make 4 buildings that deal with fitness), and 4 dorms that will have a total of 1000 beds. For more info you can go here.

I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more links!

My Mother-in-law could use this

Space worms..because no one should be able to get past level 2.

What a difference airbrushing makes

FlashEarth. Google Earth/MSN Earth, all in Flash format. Pretty nifty

sorry about the HTML and boy is my wife great

Sorry about the poorly formated HTML. Apparently if you have a word long enough in the title of your post, it will move all the stuff in the navigation pane to the very bottom of your blog. Such is life.

Last night we had our combined small group. It was a lot of fun having others there with us. After our bible study (shout out to Mike) we went over to Whitlows. (shout out to Andy for the suggestion) Nice little restaurant. I wouldn't mind going back.

Yesterday was also a day that made me take a look back at why my wife is so awesome. While at Whitlows, Rachel (shout outs to Rachel AND Christine for making the initial appearances at small group) asked about how Shayna and I met. We told the whole story about how Shayna quasi stalked me, how I made sure she was "worthy" of me, and how God has interacted throughout our relationship. I knew all this stuff before of course, but it's always nice to go back and revisit every once in a while. If you haven't heard the story and don't feel like waiting for us to tell it to you, you can go here.

Yesterday I also had a disturbing dream. I had always heard that when you die in your dreams you die in real life. Well, that isn't really the case, but dieing in your dreams is not fun. I've forgotten most of it, but basically I was with this gang and we were going to kill some others. I backed out at the last minute and waited in the car. My gang got slaughtered and then they came after me. I looked out the car and saw a man with a rocket launcher pointed right at me. I resigned myself to the fact that I was going to die and just sat there and waited for the missle to land. After that I wondered around, but there was no one anywhere. I found sneaky (our cat) but he was afraid of me and kept hissing at me (I think because I was a ghost). Throughout the dream I wasn't really sad or anything except at the very end. I found Shayna and it was her birthday. Everyone was there for her party giving her gifts and such but she was sitting by her self looking lonely. I walk up to her and tell her that I lost my ATM card and that she should take out some money to get herself something for me (Ghosts don't carry ATM cards). She started to cry and said that she couldn't because there wasn't anything left. She had to take off so much work off because of my death.

It's a stupid dream, but it shook me up Sunday morning. The thought of hurting Shayna in any ways pains me so much. I can't imagine my life without her and it made me sad to see how she was without me. I guess we'll either have to life forever, or die together in our sleep.

Alrighty, enough mushy talk. Next post will be on fantasy football or how much I love spaghetti (shout out to Pop-Pop for the secret family recipie)

I hate Mondays

Last week I had a Hard Drive go down. This week a hard drive at the DNS goes down so we lose our site.

Normally Monday's aern't like this..must be August I hate.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh Fuuuudddggggggggeeeee

Ever seen the movie Christmas Story? Remember the part where the kid says ohhhhh fuuuuuudddgggeeeee when his dad knocks the lugnuts out of his hand? Ever have one of those moments? I had one today.

I walk into the office today, oblivious to how my future is going to turn out. I reach my office and the CEO (a very nice lady) says "Is that Carl?"
I answer yes.
"Zeus is down"

Ah well, such thing in life happen. I'll just go to the server closet and restart. Everything will be fine. I reach the closet and see the machine. A poor sickly machine. The hard drive light is solid. The screen is blank. The computer Gods laugh as they see what I start to realize. Hard Drive problems.

I restart the server. The windows splash screen comes up then goes blank. Somewhere, someone just got struck by lightning. I wish it was me. I quickly take the server out of the rack and take it to my desk. A haven for fixing computers. I can more easily diaganose the problem there..

The server is now sitting on my workbench. I start it up. The windows splash screen comes up once more. It disappears and I listen to the hard drive. No horrible clacking..although it is running loud. After a minute or two the login screen appears. I log in and while it is slow it does work. I go to the event viewer to see what has happened between 7:30 am and 4 pm last night. Lots of red Xs. All of them say device/harddisk1/ has a bad sector. This bad..very bad.

Nothing horrid though. Just run checkdisk and have it mark off the bad sectors. I'll call dell and get a new drive. Everything will be fine. It goes through the first diagnostic fine. The diagnostic where it actually checks the surface of the drive is a different story. It stays on the first part for 30 minutes. The percentage is still at 0. The outlook is gloomy.

Ok, I'll run the operating CD and use the recovery console. Perhaps the windows version doesn't work, but the DOS version must! I put in the CD and boot. It goes through the normal screens. Hit F6 if you need to install a 3rd party RAID device. drivers loading..drivers loading. F2 for automated system recovery. This is not normal, but I don't want to recover the system so I just sit and wait. I'll be given some options soon.

Now it starts to check for previous versions of windows. Normally it does this when I'm about to install. Oh well, I've never used this disc before. Perhaps it's a little different.

Copying files to system installation folder. Now THAT'S a screen I know I see when I'm installing. But it couldn't possibly be installing. I didn't hit F2. There's no automated recovery.

System reboots on it's own.

OOOOOOhhhhhhhhh Fuuuuuuuudddddddgggggggeeeeee

I have just formatted (aka erased) and installed a fresh copy of the operating system. My heart sinks, my hands tremble I scream NOOOO! It's to late though..it's starting configuration screens (all by itself I might add).

I reset again and find 2 different installations. One incomplete and one my original. Thankfully nothing is overwritten. I call Frank to help me out. I'm going to need to put the data on a different server.

Fast forward to 1:30 pm. Everything is setup on the backup server. Called dell..they agree it's the drive..one will be here tomorrow. It's been a long day. I want to go home and snuggle up next to my wife.

Why Politics Suck(s)

It stinks to live in the DC Metro area. Everyone here has an opinion on pretty much everything. Right disagrees with left, left disagrees with right. Honestly, if it were possible I would register as a DC (that's Don't Care). As it stands I'm a registered republican because my grandfather registered for me, and the only reason why I vote is because my wife wants me to (but I'm slowly working her towards my way of thinking)

One of the things that irritates me the most is people who dislike the electoral college. They want a pure populare vote which to me is incredible stupid. Here's why:
MTV and tons of other media outlets try and get everyone to vote. More people vote and then more of the people's voice is heard. Here's the problem. People are retarded! Do you really want an 18 year old boy voting for president? He'll probably vote for Bush to see more pics of his drunk daughters at a college frat. He might vote democrat to see what further sex scandel can take place in the white house. Should his vote matter as much as the person who really cares? Of course not! I honestly voted for John Elway to be president. You want THAT to be equal with everyone else's vote?? (shout out to Elise..how many times have you visited people's blogs today?)

I couldn't care less who wins the elections. Politicians all promise that they will change things for the better. How do they know that they can do that? The president has no impact on how the economy is doing. Congress has no impact on it. So who does? The federal reserve..you know, the people who make the money!!

To all the people who are pro-life/pro-choice. You have it all wrong. Your body, your choice? That's total bunk. The Gov't chooses what's best for you. That's what it's there for. Don't believe me? Try driving 80 in a 65 and see what that gets you. While you are at it, carry some crack. Your body right? Some people say Jesus would be pro-life. Jesus wouldn't be pro-life. He's be pro-don't have premarital sex and get pregnant dummy!

For those of you who live in the DC area. Join me in my crusade. When people start to talk politics..just zone out and play Mario Brothers in your head (Sam, this doesn't apply to you..you might never come back).

I fought the law, and the law took me over it's knee, spanked me and screamed "WHO'S YOUR DADDY!"

On Thursday and Friday Shayna and were in VA Beach. We decided to take a two day mini vacation and it was a lot of fun. We spent a couple hours at the beach, ate at Sonic, went to the VA aquarium and overall just had a relaxing time.

We found over the two weekdays that traffic is pretty horrid in VA Beach. A lot of times you will be cruising along and suddenly have to slam your brakes. As we were exiting the tunnel, someone from the right lane decided to stop to try and make a u-turn. I thought for sure we were gonners.

On the way home traffic was pretty bad as well. It was slow for no discernable reason (commonplace in Northern VA). As it opened up, I got into the HOV-2 lane and started cruising. I start to space out a little and didn't pay attention to my speed. Next thing I know I pass a cop, I look down and I see I'm cruising at 80. Naturally the cop pulls me over. (shout out to the cop..if your reading this)

So I get a ticket. 79 in a 65. Most people, when they receive a ticket, are upset at the officer. They feel that the officer should be out getting criminals or real law breakers. It's just a speeding ticket. There are rapists, murders, and politicians to catch. I don't feel that way though. The way I see it, I'm just as much a law breaker as those other people. Sure my penalty is not as stiff, but that doesn't change the fact that I endangered not only myself, but my wife and other drivers as I sped along the highway.

Perhaps I'm a goody goody, or maybe I read James to much. People have been rationalizing laws since the begining of time. That if you lie and have to pay 1 pigion it's not as bad as killing which is worth a goat. James makes it clear though that to God, there are no different penalties. If your guilty, the fine is that you don't get to be with him. I think it's important to remember that whenever we tell "little white lies" or take a pen from the bank.

I'm now a "bad boy" as Bryant would put it. All the girls will be after me. Sorry ladies, I already got a great one.

Good thing I have a good getaway car.

If you keep that up, one day your teeth will fall out!

Shayna and I went to the dentist yesterday. It was an interesting trip. Dr. Kenneth Gregory is a good dentist. He's funny, explains things well, and overall a nice guy. He's going to keep my teeth in my head which is an added plus.

I won't go into to much detail on Shayna's visit other than she had more cavities than me (I had none) which is funny because if you know Shayna you know that she takes extremely good care of her teeth. She brushes every day and flosses if not everyday then every other day. I just recently started flossing more than twice a month. The doc says I have some of the strongest teeth he's seen. However, my visit wasn't completely rosey. I have periodontal disease.

Apparently it's a problem with my gums. The plaque has gotten into them and if I don't have it taken care of, it will eat away at the bone holding my massivly strong teeth in place. While he's poking and prodding around it makes me realize how this relates to God (I'm sure this will make sense to none of you) (shout out to H.Dixon by the way if you've gotten this far). Satan can tempt you and cause you to sin. When he succeeds these would be the cavaties that need to be fixed by the dentist. But if he doesn't succeed, he'll keep attacking..only this time he'll try and shake you from God (I guess the bone).

You know looking back this post isn't very good. I had a point yesterday morning when I started it but then tons of work came in and I didn't get back to it until this morning. At least it's an update (shout out to my wife, she's so great!)!

In football news, the first preseason games are this weekend. Hall of Fame game first and then a monday night game. 2 more days..tick tock tick tock.

How to Fix Pro Sports

I just read on ESPN.com that Maurice Clarett signed his contract with the Broncos. For those of you who don't keep up with football, Clarett tried to sue his way into the NFL last year. The NFL has a labor agreement which states that you need to be 2 years removed from HS before you are eligible to play in the NFL. Clarett didn't agree with this and tried to come in after one year. The courts sided with the NFL and because he had hired an agent and declared for the draft the NCAA wouldn't let him play college. So for a year he sat out, waiting to come to the NFL.

Fast forward to this past spring. In the late 3rd round the Denver Broncos selected him. The broncos have a history of taking running backs and making them great. It's not really the back that does well but the system. It just plain works for RB's. So this is a dream come true for a person like clarett. He's probably last on the totem poll for RBs but he will probably get a shot because of the system.

He signs the contract yesterday. Contracts are decided on where you were drafted. For his spot, he would have gotten between 400-500 k signing bonus (guaranteed) and 4 years at around 300 k per year. Chump change in the NFL really. Clarett really feels that he is a first round talent and that he was shafted by the NFL. So the contract he signs is different. He signs an incentive laden contract upwards of 7 million. So his salary will probably be the league minimum. If he rushes for 1000 yards he gets 1 million extra. X number of touchdowns, another million..you get the idea.

Here is why I think this is great: In sports (as well as society), we reward for past accomplishments. The whole point of a resume is to show what you've done in the past and to justify why you should be hired at X rate. But if employers were to hire people not on a salary or hourly but by how well they do their job, things would be a lot better. The people who work harder and are more efficient will reap the benefits immediately, and the employer will have a solid employee. The people who are lazy and doing things like reading/posting blogs at work will get paid less.

wait..maybe this isn't such a good idea..


Shout-outs to: Shayna, Sam, Jill, Leanne, Jeff, Ashley, Bruce, CB and Odgie if you read this far.

A football Post

In the past 2 days I've had 2 people talk to me about my thoughts on Football. This sounds like a job for (da da da dummm!!) Blogger!

Madden 06 - I havn't been a fan of the Madden football games for quite sometime. I always felt that it moved to slowly. I push forever on the stick and I only get 2 yards. Maybe I just don't play it right, I dunno.

I am really bummed about the EA deal with the NFL though. (EA, the maker of Madden, signed an exclusive contract with the NFL. So EA is the only company allowed to make an actual NFL game. Everyone else will have to make football games with their own teams/players) I think Sega will have this year as the last year to produce a football game. I'll probably end up getting it, but I don't know what I'll do for next year.

NFL - Training camps are right around the corner. Pretty soon we'll be at the hall of fame game and then it's just a jump, skip, and juke to the regular season. I don't know what to expect out of the broncos. They drafted 3 corners in the draft to help shore up the secondary. They will all probably stink though. (Shanahan has a problem with drafting corners).

ESPN FF - I switched the FF league I do to ESPN. They decided to offer FF for free and I am a happy camper. The options they offer is like going from fisher price to snap on tools. It's just no contest.

Think that's it. Shout outs to Shayna who always writes great posts about me. Don't know what I'd do without her.

I'll be attacking with Nightsoil Kami

On our recent trip to Deep Creek (over 4th of July weekend) I created yet another compulsion. This one doesn't seem to be as strong as the others (like fantasy football or banana bread (which by the way my loving/beautiful/sexy wife is making some right now) but it is disconcerting.

Before we left for deep creek Shayna's brother Matt calls and asks her to bring her Magic the Gathering cards. Magic is a card game that mixes dungeons and dragons with sports card collecting. This company releases thousands of cards and people create decks of 60 to play against each other (kind of like war only more complicated). I've never played magic, nor had I ever really had any desire to learn how to play. So shayna and Matt start to play and I just watch.

It looks complicated so while I'm watching I'm reading the 30 page rule book that Shayna has with her deck. It becomes interesting so Shayna makes a deck for me out of her spare cards. IT was fun playing over deep creek. At the end of the trip Shayna tells Matt that he can have her cards as she never plays. I have no problem with this..I'll never play again.

I'm thinking about that stupid game 3 days later. Can't get my mind off it. So I break down and buy two "theme" decks (pre-made decks so you don't have to make your own) so that Shayna and I can play together. I even downloaded the magic online game.

Hopefully this obsession will pass soon. Just one more game..

I hate becoming a better person

I'm not a big fan of becoming a better person. I kind of like who I am. Fortunately, when I asked God to send me someone I included making me a better person as one of my criteria.

I think one of the reasons why God has put Shayna and I together is because we are so totally different. By being different, we help account for each other's short comings. For example, I guess I would be more of a conscious for Shayna in public situations. If I think she is bordering on talking about something inappropriate or confidential I let her know (me being the quiet one I don't have to worry about this as much)

Shayna makes me more assertive (or at least she tries) by helping me say what I feel or want. Typically I won't say things that I want or feel because I'm a people pleaser and the thought of conflict is horrible. For example, this morning Shayna and I had a disagreement about something stupid. I won't go into details but I'm pretty sure every couple has a disagreement that really won't change anything no matter who is "right". Typically I wouldn't have even bothered disagreeing and just said ok, whatever and moved on with life. But this morning I made my feelings known and I stood my ground.

I don't like doing that. But I guess it's like flossing your teeth and eating vegetables..you just have to do it. Being a better person isn't easy..I'm glad I have a good teacher though.

I hate flossing my teeth and eating my vegetables too.

Found a new obsession..it's called Orbox..

Every GUy should be as lucky as me

As many of you know I love football. I also really love Fantasy Football (and banana nut bread). In one of my leagues they just changed the draft date to August 5th which is when Shayna and I were scheduled to come back from a beach trip. I asked Shayna if we could make sure we were back in time for the draft and without missing a beat she says yes (even though we will have to rush home on Friday traffic). I love that about her. She's always willing to sacrifice things for herself to make me happy.

If the situation had been reversed I probably would have had to think about it for a little while and then tried to work some other way of getting things to work out..but not her, she just said yes dear.

I truly am a blessed man. I decided to find a proxy for the draft. No sense in trying to hurry home for it. I'll be off having to much fun with my little lady.

I'm lazy

As most everyone who knows me knows (and for those of you that don't, you don't but you will soon) I'm a pretty lazy guy. Case in point seems to be this blog. The best I can do is post some links that I find entertaining. Everyone else has something interesting going on in their lives that they are writing about. Either I lead a very dull life (a distinct possibility) or I lead an extraordinarily interesting life and I just think that other people would find it incredibly dull (who am I kidding).

So I'm going to post some thoughts on current events..most of them will probably not be worth the time to read (now I'm sounding like Marvin the robot):

Karl Rove - Apparently exposed a CIA operative. I don't think it's a good idea to have a guy bad at keeping secrets the President's advisor. Whether he did it or not isn't the question. The fact that he's even involved is bad because that means someone has a reason to even think he's involved.

London Bombings - I was really sad to hear about this. I don't get why terroists want to attack us. How about we make a deal. We'll get out of your country if you get out of ours.

Frieda Sorce - If you listen to the Don & Mike show you know that Don's wife passed away from a car accident this past weekend. Shayna and I promise to drive safe whenever we leave for work and such. How do we make everyone else promise the same thing?

Live 8 - Concert to end poverty in Africa. Great idea, but it won't work. There will always be poor people. We can however try to end people being hungry.

Banana Nut Bread - Shayna made a loaf earlier this week. There are a few things in this world that I can eat until it hurts and then eat some more..that nut bread is one of them.

Just the Links Ma'am

Can sculptures to end hunger - I saw some of of these things at the Ballston Mall. They are amazing. My favorite for the 2005 competition is "Clearing a Path to Demolish Hunger"

Wish you had made it to a live 8 concert? - Here's your chance to be there.

This hut is amazing! - I need to make me one of those

Time to make some music - Highly addictive..you are warned.

The links, the links what what the links

Ipod Flea - Ad spoof

The King - How to make a mural of Elvis with post it notes.

Now this is a belt buckle