Monday, December 26, 2005

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..

Friday, December 23, 2005

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.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

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..

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

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..

Monday, December 19, 2005

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

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

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.

Monday, December 12, 2005

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.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

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)

Monday, December 05, 2005

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.

Sunday, December 04, 2005

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...