kapgar

I'm a joker, I'm a smoker, I'm a midnight toker...

One of the biggest difficulties with me doing top ten lists is that sometimes, as in the case of last year's top albums list, I feel the need to list more than 10. On the flip side of the coin, there are times when I cannot even come up with a full list of ten things for a list.

Such is the case with this year's Top Movies of the Year list. Should be 10, but it will wind up being a top six.

Huh? Why six?

Simply put, because we can't find 10 and we couldn't cut it down to five. And it's not as though we didn't see a lot of movies. After sifting through the list on Wikipedia, I discovered that we've seen 37 movies either in theaters or on DVD. Actually, I've seen 37, Katie has seen 34 (I saw 10,000 BC, In Bruges, and The Strangers on DVD, which Katie did not watch with me). And, despite this whopper of a list, I still can't come up with 10. Weirdness.

But, first, as usual, I'm going to list out the movies we still want to watch that could have the potential of making this list had they either come out on DVD in time or if we'd gotten off our butts to see them in theaters:

• Bottle Shock
• Flash of Genius
• Pineapple Express
• The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
• Slumdog Millionaire
• Milk
• Frost/Nixon
• Doubt
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Revolutionary Road
• Last Chance Harvey

Okay, now on to my Top Six in reverse order:

• Nothing Like the Holidays - my earlier review (down in the TUA)
• Forgetting Sarah Marshall - I guess I never reviewed it, but I love this movie and have watched it about a half dozen times with absolutely no drop off in my enjoyment of it whatsoever. Jason Segel? Great. Mila Kunis? Shockingly fantastic. If you haven't seen it, rent it, now. No, check that, buy it!
• WALL*E - Admittedly, I'm a sucker for Pixar films. And one about a robot in love that basically tells the whole story through visuals with little to no actual speech at all? Wow.
• La Misma Luna (Under the Same Moon) - my earlier review
• The Dark Knight - looks like the extent of my review is in the TUA, so I'll add that while I LOVED Heath Ledger as Joker (I still think he deserves an Oscar), the reason this wasn't my top film was because I got a bit annoyed by Christian Bale's raspy Batman voice. I know he's trying to hide his identity, but damn.
• Iron Man - even moreso than my sucker factor for Pixar is my sucker factor for Robert Downey, Jr. He's one of those guys that, even though he's a lifelong screw up, you just pull for because he's got this likable quality to him. Oh, and he's a fantastic actor regardless of what he's snorting at a given time. Well, he's a few years clean now and his career is so decidedly on track it's ridiculous. And Iron Man is simply one of the greatest superhero flicks I've ever seen.

If you're interested in a fellow blogger's top movie list, check out Avitable's list.

Totally Unrelated Aside (TUA): After being burned twice now, you'd think Oprah might drop her book club entirely. Oh and that the book industry would either start to actually fact check their authors' writings or drop the "memoir" genre in favor of one called "good stories that you'd like to believe could be true."

Oh tidings of comfort and joy...

We interrupt this week-long 5Q Extravaganza to bring you... SNIPPET WEDNESDAY!!

FreeLee
I am an unabashed fan of Amos Lee. Have been since Katie and I first saw him perform live as the opening act for Norah Jones some years back. And I'm doing my part to promote his fantastic music by blogging when he releases new music or material. Well, he now has a five-track Live Session EP available on iTunes. While I would highly recommend just going over there and buying it outright for yourself (it's only $4.49 and it's iTunes Plus, meaning that it's higher bitrate and DRM free), I'm going to give away a copy here. The deal? Leave a comment saying you want to be entered in the contest. The catch? You have to be an iTunes user as this is an iTunes-exclusive album. Come next Monday at whatever time I decide to write my post, I'll close the contest, assign numbers to the entrants, and use some number randomizer to pick one of you to receive a copy. That simple. And, no, this is not limited to just people who have commented here before. Maybe this will serve as a bit of a delurker carrot-on-a-stick if you will. C'mon out and play!

Blogrolling
The third-party Blogrolling service has now been down for more than two months. Apparently they were hacked and are both fixing their security holes and upgrading to what they're calling Blogrolling 2.0 all in one fell swoop. And it's pissing those of us who still use the service (because we're too damned lazy to just handcode our rolls) off severely. I have a ton of people I need to add and some I just discovered desperately need to be updated. My blogroll still has Hilly's old Typepad URL for chrissake! So any of you more recent reads, don't think I'm dissing you. I'm not. I just can't make an update. If it's not fixed soon, I may have no choice but to handcode. I'll give them until the New Year or until I'm so inclined to do it myself, whichever comes first.

Faced
Just when you thought Facebook and other social media services were our friends comes this little bit out of Australia about a couple who were in default on their mortgage. After months of trying to find them and serve them with legal documents about their situation, lawyers convinced a judge to allow them to serve these docs, legally binding, via their Facebook accounts. The one condition was that they couldn't be posted in a publically visible area of their profile. Wow, if ever there was support for Miss Britt's belief that Facebook and MySpace were evil and used for stalking (listen to the episode dated 12/03/2008), this is it. Tip for anyone hiding from authorities of any sort... don't keep using social media accounts while on the lam, 'tay?

Cube'd
I found my ideal Christmas gift. It has to be one of the coolest things ever... the Cube Clock. Basically, it's a cube-shaped clock made to look like a Rubik's Cube. No, it doesn't have the full twistability (is that a word?) of its inspiration, but it does twist in at least the top layer. If you look at the top right cubit, you'll see a sticker indicating time (facing), alarm (right cubit), calendar (not visible), and temperature (also not showing). Simply, whichever of these panels is aligned above the clock face controls which mode the clock is in. And the three cubits underneath the display help with settings. I wonder if you just smack the top of the cube for snooze.

Blago
Okay, I'm sure you're all sick to death of me ranting and raving about busted Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, but I have one more thing I need to share with you. And I'm sure when you hear that it was sent to me by everyone's fave Sheila over at Charm School Reject, you'll likely read attentively. And it's also sort of a holiday song. Sort of.

"Blagojevich" by John McHugh
(to the tune of "God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen")

Get packin', Rod Blagojevich
The state's in disarray

The Tribune wants you unemployed
At least by Christmas Day.
The TV pundits want your head
Could there by pay to play?
Oh tidings of comfort and joy
Save Illinois!
Oh tidings of comfort and joy

Good riddance Rod Blagojevich
Your Elvis look's inane,
The Senate's mad, so's Lisa's dad
You drive us all insane.
Our transit's broke, the state's a joke,
The Tollway's one big pain.
Oh tidings of comfort and joy
Save Illinois!
Oh tidings of comfort and joy

Good luck old Rod Blagojevich
The feds have quite a place
Fitzegerald's poked his nose around
And if he has a case,
George Ryan's moving stuff around
Creating extra space.
Oh tidings of comfort and joy
Save Illinois!
Oh tidings of comfort and joy

Until next week, I bid thee adieu!

Ode to Joy...

Well, more accurately, An Ode to Pat and Lisa...

It was a quiet morning, the ninth of December,
A day the state will forever remember.

The Feds pulled up and knocked on the door,
Of our governor whose jaw dropped to the floor.

Is this a prank, a joke, a really bad gag?
No sir, you're under arrest, tell your hag.

Word spread like wildfire, news crews deploy,
to cover the fourth busted gov in Illinois.

A Senate seat they claim he tried to sell,
"Golden" he called it. For free? Like hell.

Mr. Fitzgerald, our shining white knight,
Explained to the press the extent of our plight.

Seventy-six pages, the charges did span,
Read it all through? I doubt any [bleep]er can.

The crimes were varied and truly quite stunning,
Were Blago and company really that cunning?

What kind of idiot would be such a yutz,
And effectively kick his state in the nuts?

If we're lucky, Lisa Madigan will succeed,
At reclaiming the power on which Blago does feed.

If Roddie is allowed to continue his reign,
The people of Illinois will keel over in pain.

Appoint friends and family? Flush our taxes down the loo?
Or maybe just give Obama's seat to some yahoo.

The hellish possibilities cause uncomfortable laughter,
So please Patrick and Lisa, end this sad chapter!

I never said I was a good poet.

Hey, and if you're reading this on any site or feed that doesn't have "kapgar" in there somewhere, it's stolen! Come on over to www.kapgar.com to read the real deal!

Chicago is...

I love Chicago.

It's the greatest city in the whole damn world.

Fantastic people. Delicious food. Beautiful skyline. Great shopping. Exciting (albeit ultimately unsuccessful of late) sports teams.

I love the state of Illinois and many other cities as well including Geneva, where I currently live, and many other suburbs.

This is, simply put, a great goddamn state.

And, yet, today marks the first time I'm ashamed to admit I am an Illinoisan.

• Reuters
• Chicago Tribune/ ChicagoBreakingNews.com
• Chicago Sun-Times
• Daily Herald

Fuckin' Blago.

'nuff said.

Rollin', rollin', rollin', keep them doggies rollin'...

Facebook
Even though Katie and I no longer work at the gym (we still work out, just not work at), we still talk regularly with many of our former coworkers and we've become friends with some of the newer employees by extension through our continued relationships. Since I'm a guy who doesn't often think of himself as actually being 33, it's cool to have these "friendships" because they help continue my delusion of youth. The other day, though, this came crashing down when, during a discussion of a picture on my Facebook account of me with my BiL, Scott, that one of these gym girls thought made us look like twins (poor me), the other said, quite bluntly and clearly as an age jab (I hope unintentionally), "you have a Facebook account???" Um yeah. Thanks.

Rustling
Ha! Times are so tough that people are digressing back... way back... like 1800s Old West back. A cattle rancher in Maple Park, IL (two towns west of where I live), reported that six of his bull Holstein calves were stolen over the weekend. One has since been recovered. If one of them was named Norman, we could pin blame to Billy Crystal. Or, I guess it could be PETA reps since his plan was to ween them to full size and then sell them for meat. But, regardless, this is only the second case of cattle rustling in Illinois in the last 15 years. Giddyup!

Apple
Apparently, the apple on the cover of the book Twilight bears a bit more significance than it may seem. Robert Pattinson, who plays vampire Edward Cullen in the movie version due on November 21, was caught shopping in the Manhattan Apple Store. See? Vampires have taste... and for more than just blood. Suck on that, y'all! Get it... "suck on that"... vampires? Of course, don't pay any attention to the freaky seven-year-old's request to be bitten that is actually the substance of that IMDb post.

Obamac
Oh yeah, speaking of Macs, according to Famecrawler, President-Elect Obama is a Mac user, too. My officemate said, "just when I thought my love for Obama couldn't get any greater." Yeah, she's a Machead too.

Ankles
I finished my second yoga session several hours ago and my teacher (Yogi? Berra?) is impressed with what I'm able to do as a beginner. It's kinda funny, but several moves are ones that I used to do in pre-practice stretches for football in high school and they've stuck with me through the years. Who knew football would prepare me for yoga. Today, as I was sitting with my feet pulled in and the bottoms of them together, she expressed how impressed she was with the flexibility in my ankles and insteps. And to prove it, she asked if she could stand on them... on the bottoms... as they faced upward. That was, er, weird. Thank God she weighs only like 95 pounds soaking wet.

And thus we wrap Snippet Wednesday #24.

When I'm gone...

It's pretty old news by now, but famed author Michael Crichton has died. He succumbed to an extended, and very private, battle with cancer.

Reading through a few articles about him, it amazed me how much he's done in his 66 years. The man was what you could legitimately call "accomplished." Let's see, according to The Wik, he has been published 25 times with #26 on the way, he's a doctor, he was a visiting lecturer in anthropology, he co-created one of the longest running medical dramas in the history of television (ER), he co-wrote some screenplays, he developed a few video games, he saw several of his novels turned into movies, he even directed one of them. There's more.

I was aware of most of these facts in some form over the years. But, as a lot of knowledge tends to do, things slip out of your mind when you have little to no need for it. So reading it all again was a bit overwhelming and made me feel like I had accomplished very little in life. Many people make me feel that way, in fact.

That's when I started trying to think about how I'd want to be remembered if I were to die right now. If my life ended, what do I want everyone to remember?

That is definitely not an easy question to answer.

Perhaps as a loyal and loving husband with a penchant for entertaining on the Web? Can my drivel even be considered "entertaining"? Damn, maybe I should just stick to "loyal and loving husband."

What about you?

Totally Unrelated Aside (TUA): Because sometimes I get cravings. And I'm not even pregnant.

No, not necessarily all at the same time. That would just be weird.

Yeah, she's a promise in the year of election...

Well, y'know, today being the day after election day, howsabout an election-themed Snippet Wednesday for numero 23?

No? Oh well. Sorry. I got nuthin' else.

Obama
Congratulations, President Obama. I know I've expressed my concerns about you here, but I sincerely hope you are the real deal and that all those people who have elevated you to near messiah-like stature are right. We need someone who can lead right now. You have been given the relay baton. Our hope for the future is in you.

[Image heisted from WWDN:iX who heisted it from The Daily Kos]

Landslide
As I tweeted last night, I've pretty much known all along Obama would win. It just seemed to me like a foregone conclusion. But I had no clue that it would be by such a large margin. As the numbers began pouring in, I was floored how one sided it turned out to be.

Chicago
I have to say I'm 100% impressed by my fellow Chicagoans who, by the accounts I've heard and read so far, behaved themselves rather fantastically at the Obama rally in Grant Park (photo gallery) last night. I'd also like to point out, as I did on Twitter, that the first time you heard Obama say the name "McCain" during his speech, there was respectful applause from the audience. A far cry from the booing and catcalling that emanated from the crowd when McCain first mentioned "Obama" during his concession speech. Just sayin'.

8
I was just checking headlines... Proposition 8 was passed (or is close to passing?) in California? Seriously? Wow. I'm shocked, offended, and just downright disappointed. Please tell me I'm misreading this. Or tell me there was a late surge in votes that defeated it and it just hasn't been reported yet. Gay marriage is (close to) banned?

I think my biggest problem with this whole thing is the insistence by pro-8ers that marriage is an institution between one man and one woman. Yeah, our country's 51% divorce rate proves that we've got that one nailed, doesn't it? Even worse are quotes like this idiot...

“It’ll keep the country from getting further into this tolerance thing,” said Brandon Maddox, 16, of Canyon Country.

God knows we wouldn't want people to be tolerant of each other, would we? No wonder we're viewed as a nation of idiots. We've got people like Maddox representing our future. What kills me is that he was interviewed in this article and he's not even old enough to vote. How can we possibly respect his opinion?

I'm off to bang my head against a wall.

I'm half the man I used to be...

I did it. I voted.

I know I was leaning toward voting on the actual day, but I was starting to worry about just how late I would be to work and how frustrated I would feel sitting in that line for so damn long.

Funny thing, though... you remember how I was talking about how I hate when people stop up the line ahead of me and I can't do anything about it? Well, I was that person last night at early voting.

The woman at the desk was trying to check me in and print my registration verification sticker when she discovered a bit of an abnormality... I was registered twice! Both registrations had the same first and last name, home address, phone number, and birthday. The only difference was that one used my middle initial, while the other used my full middle name.

I didn't have my registration card on me. I've never carried it. Never needed it. Until now, apparently. So one of the only two people verifying registrations had to stop and call into the clerk's office to find out which one was the real me. That took another 10 minutes.

I'm just thankful that nobody in line behind me was as overtly pissy about what I was doing to them as I likely would've been to anyone doing that to me. Irony, eh?

I guess I take "vote early, vote often" to a whole new level.

Oh, and, no, I did not get an "I Voted" sticker. They'd been out of them for two days at that point. Good sign for overall voter turnout considering they never usually run out of those things over the course of the entire election. But I've got friends on the inside who might be able to score me a couple of them.

Totally Unrelated Aside (TUA): This is one of those things you never think you'd have to ask a realtor, but I suppose it's better to be safe than sorry.

Branson West, Missouri, has a problem. A not-so-tiny, eight-legged problem that comes in the form of tarantulas. Some of these beasts can get as big as a dinner plate and can often be found in swarms crossing neighborhood streets. Apparently, they're everywhere in the town and officials have asked residents to hold back on killing them as they eat the scorpions that are also a town pest.

Tarantulas? Scorpions? Am I in the Suburban Twilight Zone here?

Um... screw that. I'm never going anywhere near western Missouri again. Unless it's St. Louis, I want nothing to do with it. And even then... (just joshin' you, ajooja).

She says she talks to angels, call her out by her name...

Last week, an Air Angels helicopter crashed in Aurora, a few towns south of where we live, en route from Sandwich, IL, to Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago. All four on board were killed including pilot Del Waugh, paramedic Ronald Battiato, nurse William Mann, Jr., and their 14-month old patient Kirstin Blockinger.

The crash site is a mere few miles from my high school and a block or two from a pub that Katie and I love dearly, so we know the area well.

First and foremost, I'd like to express my condolences to the families of all those who lost their lives. The three crew were doing something they love and something that was a positive contribution to society and, for that, I thank them.

But, this is not the point of this post. I found a follow-up article written about the funeral of young Kirstin in which they make mention of something her older brother said. When she was loaded on the helicopter and her parents waved good-bye, young Collin said to his mom, "Sissy is not coming home."

I've always felt that kids were more attuned to the more spiritual and supernaturl sorts of things that float around us all day, every day. Maybe it's because of their innocence, they have a more trusting nature that is willing and open to being influenced by spirits. Heck, wasn't Haley Joel Osment's character in The Sixth Sense enough to convince you of this?

Whatever the explanation may be, don't you think it's time we start to listen to what kids have to say? And, no, I don't mean this in a Whitney Houston "I believe the children are our future" sort of way. God I hate that song.

But, when Katie and I have kids, if one of them says something that even remotely resembles a premonition, my ears are perking up. If they say, "don't get on that plane," you can bet your sweet bippie my ass is sitting on the tarmac. If they see a car crash in their mind's eye, I'm walking.

Why won't everybody listen?

Totally Unrelated Aside (TUA): Dear Rolling Stone,

Three prObama covers in the last six months? Really? Not a bit of overkill on your part, is it? I'm so oversaturated by political coverage right now that I could scream. And you, one of my few bastions of pure musical lust just have to get right in there and hammer home why I'm so freakin' tired of the American political machine.

Here's how bad it is, I'd rather see the cast of High School Musical 3 on your cover than any more political crap. You like Obama, we get it. We got it six months ago.

Sincerely,

Dead Horse Voter

P.S. The reduction in size of your publication to that of a normal mag... not cool. Sure, it's a cost savings, but it no longer feels like Rolling Stone if you get my meaning. You could always find RS on the racks, you could always tell when someone was reading it. Now, you just blend in and get lost with everyone else.

Just sayin'.

Out cold...

Guess what! Snippet Wednesday can now legally drink! #21, y'all!

Plurk'd
In the midst of my frustration over being frozen out of Twitter (which has allowed me back to play in their sandbox, BTW), I went ahead and signed up with sue on Plurk. It's a far different experience than Twitter although both are marketed as microblogging social network sites. Instead of being message on top of message, like Twitter, the messages you post are listed in a timeline and you can continue a conversation based on a single Plurk (?) in a threaded box as opposed to having to dig around to find a reply if your respondent forgets to throw the @ to make it a Twitter direct reply. I also like that it's all Ajax based and dynamically updates itself. It's pretty nice. The only downside is that there aren't nearly as many people in Plurk as there are in Twitter. So I'll use both. For now anyway. Gotta up my karma rating. ;-)

Griping
A friend forwarded this to me and, as a Web designer, I gotta admit that I love it. Thank you to vilain.com.

[click on image to increase size]

STD
It blows my mind to think that a Web site actually exists that allows a person to send an e-card to people that they may have infected with some STD. Yeah, you read that right. If you have contracted an STD, you can enter all the information you have about former lovers and have an e-card delivered to them informing them that they should get tested. While it's better than no notice at all, I'd really think that there must be a better, and less anonymous, way.

Single
I think I can now consider myself at least a tangential San Francisco 49ers fan. Why? Because my man, "Samurai" Mike Singletary has been named head coach of the team after the sacking of former head coach Mike Nolan. Need a reminder of my love of Singletary? Here you go...

Nokia
About a week and a half ago, I got a killer invite. Some site asked if I would be willing to trial a smartphone and write about it on my blog. It's a Nokia E71-NAM and it's a gorgeous phone, here's hoping the functionality equals the form factor. I began talking with the rep at this site and she seemed pretty gung ho about sending it to me. Then the ball was dropped. I could only have it for two weeks and I was required to pay for the service on the phone. First, two weeks is not nearly enough time to really get a feel for the phone. Second, it's a load of crap that if you are solicited to review something that they are not paying for it. You're using your time and your resources for it, right? It's one thing if I could take the SIM card out of my AT&T Razr and put it in this phone to try it, but this phone is locked to T-mobile. A week ago I asked them how much the service would cost for the two weeks and they have yet to get back to me. It could've been so much fun to play with this phone. Dammit.

Punched
If I never buy another game for my Nintendo Wii, let it be this one... a revised version of the classic Punch-Out! with all the same characters and even the same music, but updated and looking FINE! The only problem is that I have to wait until 2009 to get my grubby mitts on it.

I get so weary...

People ask me why I'm so cynical of human nature. Why do I, who otherwise seems like such a nice and easygoing guy, mistrust my fellow man so horribly.

It's because of stories like this.

Basically, two people in Villa Park, IL, who have prObama signs in their yards received notes in their mailboxes from an unidentified future Darwinism victim that read:

Get the Obama signs off your property -- now. Failure to obey this order will result in the immediate death of all family members.

I realize this is the minority... the bottom of the barrel... the shallow end of the gene pool. Yes, there are many really great people in the world doing fantastic things to make life better for the rest of us. And yet these lowlifes are the ones who dominate the news. Not only do they give the Republican party and American politics in general a bad name, but they cast a pallor on all those people who try to be all that they can be (no Army Reserve comments, okay?).

So you'll forgive my dour outlook on humanity.

Sorry if that bugs you out.

Totally Unrelated Aside (TUA): I just received a couple e-mails that have made me very happy this morning.

The first came from Ginger Snaps and her friend Dave Delaney. You see Dave had the same thing happen to him that happened to me on Twitter. He got satisfaction through a site called, well, simply, getsatisfaction.com. On this particular thread, several people griped about how their Twitter accounts were nixed for the same non-reasons as me and their cases were summarily resolved. Considering my Twitter Support e-mails still remain unanswered, I'm giving it a shot. Let's hope for the best as I would hate to have to try to remember all the people I had on my friend list. Thanks to both Ginger and Dave!

The second came from my local library and they now have copies of B.B. King's One Kind Favor, Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins' Rabbit Fur Coat, and Darius Rucker's Learn to Live awaiting my pick up.

I love the blues and B.B. is literally the king of them so how can you go wrong?

Jenny Lewis (right) is the lead singer of Rilo Kiley, the former actress who starred in The Wizard with Fred Savage (the movie that introduced the world to Super Mario Bros 3), and is currently my favorite female vocalist. She has a killer voice.

And Darius Rucker... yes, Hootie and the Blowfish Darius Rucker and his turn as a country singer. I've heard a few songs off this album and actually kinda dig it. I'm strangely looking forward to hearing the rest of it.

What the world needs now...

Snippet Wednesday #19 is here. RUN!

Thanks
I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for your comments on yesterday's post. Even though we may not have all seen eye to eye on the topic (nor should we), you were all very respectful and nice in how you worded things. I was terrified to post that because of how hot topic politics are in the blogosphere. But I feel better about what I wrote and how it was received. So thanks again!

Senate
I think Iron Fist had the best idea, though, in that a blogger needs to petition Illinois Governor Blagojevich for what will (if recent polls hold) be the upcoming open Senate seat in Illinois. And, since I live here, why not me? So that's it. Let's make it official. I'm pushing to receive Blago's nomination to the Senate under the PRB party banner. Anyone want in on the campaign?

Lilly
Guess who's our houseguest again until about Sunday? Yep, the Lilly Monster. Woo hoo. Fun times will ensue. Oh, and for those of you wondering and did not get the note in Twitter, she is fine. It was an abscess in her gums caused by gingivitis, not cancer.

Silverman
Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! I hate when I accidentally hit the wrong button in iTunes and buy a whole something or other instead of just downloading the freebie that is being offered. Did it once a couple years ago and it worked out in that the album I got was pretty decent. This time, though, I subscribed to the entire second season of The Sarah Silverman Show. D'oh! Nothing against Silverman. I've heard the show is great. But that's $18.99! GAH!!!!!

Mob
I've been pretty addicted to an application in Facebook called Mob Wars. Fun game kinda like a really watered down SIMS about mob life. However, to really do anything good or to survive fights, you need a big mob consisting of all your friends. Yeah, I have a lot of Facebook friends, but only a small number are interested and have signed up to join my mob. However, MadIrishMan tipped me off to a Firefox plug in and a script that will invite people to join your mob even if they're not your Facebook friend. In a few days time, I jumped from 18 to about 140. I feel dirty; but I like it!

XRT
One of the only reasons I still buy the occasional physical compact disc has come a month early... the OnXRT: Live From the Archives collection. Annually, WXRT 93.1 FM Chicago puts out a collection of live performances they have recorded in studio or at local clubs on a single disc and sells it with all the net proceeds going to charity. And this one -- volume 11 -- is pretty good. Check out the playlist...

• "Mr. Jones" - Counting Crows
• "Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now)" - Cracker
• "Bubble Toes" - Jack Johnson
• "Polyester Bride" - Liz Phair
• "Rain on the Scarecrow" - John Mellencamp
• "Touch of Grey" - Grateful Dead
• "Love My Way" - Richard Butler
• "Ecstasy" - Rusted Root
• "Waiting on the World to Change" - John Mayer
• "Turpentine" - Brandi Carlile
• "Time Zones" - Widespread Panic
• "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes" - Elvis Costello
• "See A Little Light" - Bob Mould
• "Come Home" - Back Door Slam
• "Big Love" - Lindsey Buckingham

Wouldn't you love somebody to love...

I hesitate to post this simply because I know what I'm doing is akin to tasering a bear and sticking around to laugh, but fuck it. For the record, this is the post I referred to last Tuesday.

Please note, what lies beneath is not an endorsement of McCain in any way whatsoever. I have my issues with him as well, but so many people have been so wont to point them out in their own blogs that I just don't see the need. This post is simply my take on the Obama campaign.

As a warning, much like Dave's well-crafted post about McCain's "support" (HA! I made a funny) of veterans, any comment that is too vitriolic or just plain inconsiderate will be deleted right off the bat. It's my blog and y'all are working under my rules here. Sign the release at the door and deal with it, okay?

Why I Don't Know If I'm Ready to Vote For Obama:
A Study in Voter Indecisiveness
by Kevin Apgar

Most of you know that I'm not decided when it comes to the Great Presidential Election of 2008. I've made no bones about it whatsoever... I don't know who I want to vote for. Obama/Biden? McCain/Palin? Hell if I know. I have no prObama icons adorning my site nor do I admin a blog all about my right wing leanings. Sure, it seems as though Sarah Palin should really be making the decision easier for me, but, still I have an unease about Barack Obama that I've had difficulty putting into words.

But I'm going to try anyway.

I'm no political expert. I don't know everything there is to know. In fact, my knowledge probably borders closer to "nothing" than to "everything." I tend to vote more with my heart or my gut rather than my brain. That's the way it's always been. I get a feeling about somebody and that feeling turns into my drive to vote one way or the other. It's not always the issues that sway me as no one candidate has ever fully represented my diverse beliefs. I am the ultimate fence rider and damn if it isn't uncomfortable. I've been asking for years to have that rusty old chain-link jobber replaced with a nicer rounded-top picket fence, but no. I'm forced to sit astride this nasty ass pokey fence as my beliefs get split between two parties.

Hence my Heart-Gut Voting Technique (tm). And I've got a relatively large gut whose instincts should never be questioned (I did vote against Bush both times, dammit; now you tell me who's right).

Most of you should know that I live in Illinois. If you didn't, I'm not sure how you missed it. But here I am settling any question of that whatsoever. I live in the far western suburbs of Chicago about dead center between the city and Rockford. Barack Obama is our Senator. We voted for him a few years ago to represent us in Washington.

And I think many of us are still waiting for him to represent us.

You see, I, like some other Illinoisans feel like we've gotten the shaft by Obama. Maybe "shaft" is the wrong word to use here. But consider this... he came tearing through our state making promises of cleaning up the years of problems that we've had. He would be Our Guy in D.C. We bought into it lock, stock, and barrel. And some of us are still hoping for that change. It almost seems as though he won that election and has since been on a whirlwind tour of the world in preparation for what was the inevitable... running for president of our fair country.

Right about now I feel like a kid who's been bullied in the schoolyard for years. The bullies have taken my lunch money, beat me to a bloody pulp, and left me crying in a mud puddle. The principal isn't doing shit about it either. Now, here comes the new kid in school. He comes rushing in, pushes the bullies down, and takes my hand to help me up. I'm starstruck. This new kid is the epitome of cool. You know how the saying goes, "all the girls want him, all the guys want to be him." However, as soon as I start to get up, he spies the head cheerleader on the side smiling and lets go of my hand. He walks away and I fall back down in the mud as the bullies start to walk back my way smiling menacingly.

It's the truth. Illinois has had nothing but bad Governor after bad Governor for years. Our political offices have been embroiled in scandal after scandal. Three former governors were convicted of white collar crimes including Otto Kerner, Jr., Dan Walker, and George Ryan. Currently, we're saddled with the joy that is Rod "Blago" Blagojevich.

Then along comes Obama and we finally start to see a light at the end of this otherwise dark and infinite tunnel. No, not in the Governor's seat, but just a shining knight of a politician who was making promises to change how business is done. I feel, though, that I have yet to emerge from the proverbial tunnel. As I approach its terminus, it stretches out another hundred or so feet. Enough to keep it in sight, but also enough to keep it out of reach.

I realize I should be thinking of the bigger picture. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. The "many" being the country and the "few" being my state. Yeah, I get it.

Right now, though, it's hard not to think about my state. Why? Because Obama made promises to us. Promises I feel he has yet to live up to. And this colors my view of his ability to run our country. Will he keep those promises? I hope so. He'll certainly have time this go round since it's not like there's a bigger ship for him to jump to once he's President. If he makes it, he's hopefully in it for the long haul.

Another negative lies in the knowledge that if/when Obama wins his White House bid, his replacement in the Senate will be chosen by Blago. It could be anyone, including Blagojevich himself. And, considering the fact that popular opinion is currently weighing heavily against him (a mere 37% approval rating as of 9/22/08), there is a strong possibility that in order to maintain some semblance of power, he could nominate himself for the position. That scares me even more than saying "President Hillary Clinton."

Before I get lambasted here, I'm not against a woman in the White House, nor am I against an African American. What I am against is the campaign process; a time during which it seems candidates do nothing but say what they think you want to hear. And we, as voters, must decide whose cup of Kool Aid we want to sip from. I'm a cynic by nature. I am very mistrusting of human nature. I lock my office door at work when I'm not there. Instead of admiring decorations around our house, I take mental bets on what's going to be stolen first. I'm not sure I've been given enough reason to pick Obama's cherry Kool Aid over McCain's tropical punch. Both are mighty fine in their own right and damn tasty; and, considering the last eight years, I'm pretty damn parched.

I guess what I'm saying is that I'm still waiting for my ideal candidate. I have no idea who it could possibly be. But the two parties (the fact that it's still just two parties that dominate our political frontier makes my blood boil), I think, need to work harder at finding the best candidate for the position. Given another four or eight years and a chance to prove himself as a Senator, Obama might be that guy. Right now, I just don't know.

But I guess I'd better freakin' decide soon.

Nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah, BATMAN...

Welcome to another exciting installment of Snippet Wednesday!

Sox
While I'm happy for Chicago White Sox fans everywhere that they beat the Twins and won the AL Central title, I stand by my earlier statement that I have no desire to see a Cubs-Sox World Series simply because the people in this city and its suburbs are too immature to handle it. So, since I'm a Cubs fan, LOSE SOX!!

Lullaby
This alternately fascinates and terrifies me. It is called Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of Nirvana. I got it through my library because there is no way in the name of all that is holy that I would ever spend money on something like this. But that doesn't stop me from wanting to give it a listen. Should be interesting. Pray for me.

Older
So the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) has determined that the Chinese female gymnasts were all of age for the 2008 Olympic Games thus negating the possibility that they might have to cede their team gold medal. Hmm, sorry, but I'm still not buying it. I'm throwing down right now... BULLSHIT!

Rooster
I feel after sharing my dad's joke yesterday that I should give equal blog time to a classic my wife forwarded this morning. For anybody asking, yes, it is a blonde joke, but we feel okay telling it because Katie is blonde and I used to be blonde once... long ago... when I was very young and had hair (as I aged, it turned brown)... *sigh*

A blonde calls her boyfriend and says, "Please come over here and help me. I have a killer jigsaw puzzle, and I can't figure out how to get started."

Her boyfriend asks, "What is it supposed to be when it's finished?"

The blonde says, "According to the picture on the box, it's a rooster."

Her boyfriend decides to go over and help with the puzzle. She lets him in and shows him where she has the puzzle spread all over the table. He studies the pieces for a moment, then looks at the box, then turns to her and says, "First of all, no matter what we do, we're not going to be able to assemble these pieces into anything resembling a rooster."

He takes her hand and says, "Second, I want you to relax. Let's have a nice cup of tea, and then..." he said with a deep sigh, "Let's put all the Corn Flakes back in the box."

Robin
The CW network is cashing in on the current popularity of the Batman series with a series dedicated to his sidekick, Robin. Sorry, there is a reason why Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale have said they do not intend to ever re-introduce the character to the new movies. It's because he's just not that great a character.

Fossett
Just got a news alert that a hiker may have found items belonging to missing adventurer Steve Fossett. I realize that there is a lot of space in this country, many areas that remain unexplored to some degree. But I gotta say that it amazes me to no end that despite all the technology we have and the gadget geek that I believe Fossett was, that we have not been able to locate his body or his stuff until now, like a year or so later.

Your own personal Jesus...

Welcome to Snippet Wednesday #17!

Authentic
Katie was driving this morning when she passed by a church with "Authentic Jesus" on its front sign. Can anyone tell us what constitutes an authentic Jesus as opposed to a fake Jesus and what studies have been done to validate these findings? Can I take them on their word on this? If they're lying, who would I file a complaint with?

Domobacca
I'm starting to wonder if these two little beasts were separated at birth. At left is one of the Target Domokun Halloween plushes and at right is the Mighty Mugg Chewbacca. Eerily similar, aren't they? And, yes, that's a candy corn in Chewie's mitt.

Henson
Speaking of little creatures, happy birthday to Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets and so much other great stuff that has entertained me throughout my life. You are a true artist.

Mattingly
My BiL Scott sent this bad boy my way. It's an oversized (5" x 7") 1985 Topps Don Mattingly card. Back in the day, I was a diehard Yankees fan (I was born in New York and raised a bit in Connecticut, so I'm excused) and "Donnie Baseball" was m'man. I collected all kinds of Mattingly baseball cards until I stopped collecting sometime in the very early 90s. Scott, who got back into card collecting recently, has been sending me the occasional Mattingly card for kicks. Two of them are in magnetic frames on our fridge while this one is now displayed on my overhead cabinet at work. Thanks Scott (and Becca).

Dairy
Winter twatted this morning about a report that PETA is asking Ben & Jerry's ice cream company to start using human breast milk as opposed to cow's milk. Seriously? Well, as she said, that would be one dairy I'd like to see.

Dew
When the first thing you do upon entering your place of employment in the morning is to head to the breakroom and buy a Mountain Dew, you know something is wrong.

I've got my spine, I've got my Orange Crush...

Snippet Wednesday #16 is upon us. Tremble! Or not. As the kids say, "whatevs."

Wally
I had to go shopping at Wal-Mart yesterday during my lunch break. I know, I know, I feel dirty enough as it is. No need to rub it in. Especially since I was stuck in the line of the slowest cashier in the history of man. Holy crap was she slow. She was planning out her bagging strategy as she scanned. So instead of grabbing the next item and running it across the scanner, she'd rummage through the items on the conveyor and pick what she thought would go best in the bag with something else already in there. While that's nice for the person who will be carrying the bags, it's AGONIZING AS HELL for the rest of us. Combine her with the fact that I had a woman two ahead of me in line that was contesting every item's price as it's scanned and I was ready to go Wally on the place (that's what I'm going to now call "going postal" in a Wal-Mart... I'm goin' Wally on yo ass!).

Bleeked
But I did make it out of Wal-Mart with one item that I'd be wanting for some time but kept forgetting to buy... orange Tic-Tacs! Yeah, I'm rockin' it Paulie Bleeker style!

TRL
Well, I guess it was just a matter of time before MTV killed one of the few remaining shows that had anything even remotely to do with music. After 10 years, Total Request Live, also known as TRL, a semi-music related show that made Carson Daly "famous" (and I use that word very loosely) was axed. I wonder what poorly acted series this move is making room for?

Microsoft
Not that it's any big surprise, but the second Microsoft/Jerry Seinfeld ad is meeting with criticism much like the first. Admittedly, I can see Avitable's point with the ads. The more I think about it, the more I can understand what he suggested. But the point of advertising is that it should hit you right away assuming that you may only ever see the ad once. Advertising should not be like watching an Orson Welles film where you have to go back and watch it again to see how all the clues fit together to reach the ending. You should be moved to take action immediately and these ads just don't. Well, they do move me to want to buy this t-shirt if only they were available in more than just small and medium. You've seen pictures of me. I could fit my arm (singular) in a small or medium.

Audiophiles
Speaking of kick-ass t-shirts, this one is right up my alley and available in a size that could reasonably fit my generously sized upper torso. But I'm curious why it goes up in price by $2 from large to XL and then back down by $1 in the XXL and XXXL ranges. Strange.

Fey
Not that you haven't seen already, but it's just so damn cool we should all watch it AGAIN...

The old man is snoring...

From what I've read, "remnants" of Hurricane Ike hit us here in Geneva yesterday. I'm having trouble believing it was from Ike. Seems far too soon since the 'cane only made landfall early Saturday morning (like 1 a.m., wasn't it?). But, if they say it, I guess it's true. Anyway, got some photos and video of all that happened in our neighborhood. We actually had to cancel plans because all the routes out of our neighborhood were flooded beyond driveability. But it certainly made for good camera stuffs.

Here are some photos...

And here are a few different videos for your viewing enjoyment...

Ike in Geneva, part 1 from Kevin Apgar on Vimeo.

Ike in Geneva, part 2 from Kevin Apgar on Vimeo.

Ike in Geneva, part 3 from Kevin Apgar on Vimeo.

Totally Unrelated Aside (TUA): Congratulations to Kristy Brown for correctly guessing the order slip challenge from yesterday. The pizzas we ordered were a medium stuffed with cheese and spinach and a medium thin crust with sausage and pepperoni.

The sausage and pepperoni was pretty obvious. But the other... "POPY"... was not poppy seeds or poopie or anything like it. According to the guy at Giordano's, they were going to use SP for spinach but they already used that abbreviation for their special pizza. So they came up with "POPY" meaning Popeye who eats spinach. And it has stuck. Cool.

Every sperm is sacred...

Time for some snippets! It is Snippet Wednesday #15 if I recall.

Zazzle
I don't get it. The night before last, I created four items at Zazzle to tie into my declaration that I shall heretofore be known as "kapgar ocho cinco" (a declaration that true believer *lynne* reflects in her blogroll... y'all take notice!). Three of those four items were linked to in the post because they were approved immediately. They were the mug, sticker, and keychain. The fourth item, a pair of women's Keds sneakers were on hold pending approval by the "Zazzle Content Review Team." And they were sweet shoes. The kind even I would've worn if they made Keds for men. Yesterday, I receive an e-mail stating that my shoes were declined due to me violating their "No names or images of celebrities" policy. Well, okay, I guess on the extreme fringe I can possibly understand this. I am using, verrrryyyy loosely, a derivative of the name of a celebrity on my product; unless, of course, they're referring to moi as a celebrity (but I think I'd give me permission, wouldn't you?). So I go check, expecting that my other items were pulled, ex post facto. And they're all still up for sale. Now that's what I call consistency in policy enforcement.

Fringe
Speaking of fringe, I'm on the fringe regarding Fringe, FOX's new supernatural, paranormal, extra-terrestrial, semi-believable, über-weirdo, X-Files-channeling series that debuted last night. It was something that I had no desire to watch whatsoever, but, for whatever reason, actually tuned into. It was slow going. Not terrible, but far from great. If this was still summer and if my regular season shows weren't going to start within the next month, I'd likely keep watching it. But with all these other shows to take up my time, I'm not entirely sure. What did all of you -- if any of you watched it -- think about it?

Palin
I know exactly who I'm voting for in November! Thanks to occasional fish, via edenza's Google Reader account.

Seizure
I know this has been talked about before, but I thought it had been voted down. Apparently not. I ask, is anyone else terrified of the fact that the U.S. government can just up and take your electronic devices after international flights terminating in the U.S.? No rhyme or reason and no guarantee on when it will be returned. Sorry, but this scares me to no end. I know it says that this is only for people coming to the U.S. from foreign countries, but that doesn't necessarily mean it cannot happen to U.S. travelers returning home from overseas, does it? I can see the envelope being pushed to include that. Sometimes, the country I love scares the ever-loving bejeebus out of me.

Hey, I got some new shoes...

I just saw one of those "highly touted," "gonna save our asses" ads for Microsoft featuring Jerry Seinfeld. It aired during the Monday Night Football game between the Packers and the Vikings just a few minutes ago.

In it, Jerry Seinfeld was shopping in a mall (already unbelievable) and eating a churro (which might make Dustin switch back) when he sees Bill Gates shopping in a Shoe Circus and automatically assumes that Gates is poor and needs his guidance about everything from churros to showering with your clothes on.

W. T. F. ????

This had to be one of the stupidest commercials I've ever seen. It was just pointless. Aside from the final exchange between the two, it had nothing to do with computers. Oh, wait, it had Gates in it, so I guess that makes it all better.

And they paid Seinfeld how much for this campaign?

I wonder if Steve Ballmer kept the receipt.

Totally Unrelated Aside (TUA): I'm making a change around here and I'm hoping that you'll respect the decision that I'm making. What I'm going to do is change my name. From here on out, I am going by the name Kapgar Ocho Cinco. You may not understand why I'm doing this but it's not your place to. This is my life and I will live it the way I want to. But note that I will no longer respond to "Kevin Apgar." That name is dead to me.

I am, now and forever, Kapgar Ocho Cinco.

I think I may put it on a mug. Or a sticker. Ohhh, better yet, a keychain!

Didn't we almost have it all...

It's truly sad sometimes how we, as human beings, fight.

We can find the smallest, most insignificant thing out there and turn it into something blown completely out of proportion and use that to justify holding a grudge against our fellow man for longer than it deserves.

Take, for example, a couple people I know... they fall on opposite sides of a long-standing rivalry. And lately, with news that has been coming out, it has become even more bitter. Information has leaked in the press that has made one side feel more, shall we say, righteous than the other. This side thinks that this information ensures that they will win while the other will suffer a crushing defeat.

I found these two friends fighting today. Slinging barbs and arrows back and forth while many of their shared friends just watched. They were stunned into silence; afraid to say anything at all.

I came in on the middle of it and I only wish I hadn't appeared at all.

I have a take on the whole issue. I have a side that I ally myself with. But sometimes, especially in instances such as this, I keep that affiliation to myself. I don't want to alienate friends I have that fall on one side or the other.

So, being the self-appointed peacemaker, I took it upon myself to do what none of our other friends were daring enough to do, I attempted to separate them. My hope was that by forcing some space between them, I could calm them down and maybe make them see each other's side and come to some sort of understanding.

In the midst of my negotiations, I slipped. I said something that revealed my true colors and made one side realize that I couldn't possibly see their viewpoint. That I would never understand why they believed the way they do and why they support who they do.

I guess, if nothing else, the heat was taken off my one friend while I became the target of the verbal onslaught. I tried to calm this person down, but nothing I said seemed to penetrate their skull and lodge itself in their brain.

Finally, I walked away. What else could I do? When people get this heated, the best thing to do is remove yourself immediately and definitively.

But it still hurts. The words sting. The looks burn.

Fuckin' White Sox fans.

Go Cubs.

Totally Unrelated Aside (TUA): I think I'm going to brutally hurt the owner of the next gas station I visit that advertises one price on their street-side sign only to discover, after I pull in and shut down my engine, that this is the post-carwash-purchase price.

SHOULD BE FREAKIN' ILLEGAL!!! Isn't that a form of bait and switch?

Who are you, who, who...

I have a question for you, why, in the modern age of information "acquisition" via the Web, would anyone want to be a celebrity of any kind?

Five days ago, I'd venture a guess that 90-95% of Americans had never heard of Sarah Palin, the two-year governor of our northernmost and largest state, Alaska. This would qualify her as pretty much a "nobody," wouldn't you say?

Now, ever since she was chosen as John McCain's running mate on the Republican ticket, we likely know more about her than she does. Let's recap what we've learned, shall we? I do not vouch for the accuracy of these statements; they are just what I've heard. And I also leave it up to you to decide if they are good or bad; I'm not passing judgment in my recapping of them.

• She's a MILF
• She's a former beauty pageant contestant
• She's a hunter
• She's a supporter of the NRA
• She can certainly handle an assault rifle and look good doing it
• She has interesting taste in clothing from time to time
• She's married to an Eskimo
• She has five children
• Her eldest son is shipping out to Iraq
• Her youngest daughter has Down's syndrome
• Her youngest daughter may actually be the daughter of her eldest daughter
• Her eldest daughter is pregnant and it may or may not be her second child
• She's embroiled in "Troopergate" which involved her brother in law (I think), abuse at the barrel of his gun, pressure applied to have him fired, and the ousting from office of the guy who refused to fire him (sound correct?)

The Modern Muckraking Machine (tm) is clearly set on lethally efficient, isn't it? I mean DAYAMN! I've seen people in the limelight torn asunder, but never this quickly.

No, this does not mean she's getting some sort of sympathy vote from me come November. She is a Republican, after all, and I think that means she's born with slightly thicker skin than many. But it doesn't mean I feel any less badly for her.

Totally Unrelated Aside (TUA): Oh if only you could've been a fly on the wall for Katie's and my games of Uno last night. You would've been privy to such gems as:

• Fucker
• Sonuvabitch
• Kiss my ass
• I hate you
• Can I just win one fucking game?
• I'd like to be able to say "Uno" just once, dammit
• Someone doesn't want sex ever again

Yeah, "fun for the entire family," my ass.

Wake me up inside...

*BZZZT*

*BZZZT*

From: 62262
Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee.
Watch the first Obama-Biden rally live at 3pm ET on www.BarackObama.com.
Spread the word!
2:43am 8/23/08

2:43?? Seriously, Barack? You couldn't have told us this at a HUMAN hour??

I signed up to receive updates via text message so I could know "first." In my mind, "first" shouldn't have to be at 2:43 a.m.

*DELETE*

[For the record, this does not mean I'm voting for Obama. I just want to keep up on the news... even at ungodly fuckin' hours.]

Ready or not...

Güten Snippet Wednesday, meine Freunden (ick, so how bad was my German?).

Twittedog
Lilly's surgery is tomorrow and we're all worried, as you might expect. I want to thank you all again for the well wishes you were sending. All of us appreciate it. Katie, Brian, and Jen were all a bit weepy about the outpouring of love (I wasn't weepy because I already am well versed in how fantastic all of you in the blogosphere are). And yet, despite the impending surgery, you'd swear nothing was wrong with Lilly as she still leaps around with nary a care in the world. Nothing's holding her back. She was even at our softball game last night as my brother and I and our team got bumped in the first round of the playoffs (hey, we were the wildcard playing the team that hasn't lost a game in two years and we held them to only five runs). Okay, back on topic... if anybody is interested in hearing how things go with Lilly tomorrow, I set up a Twitter page for her. Jen (the SiL) is supposed to update it regularly via her cellphone. So go follow a dog's twats. Wow, that sounded a bit, erm, off.

Rights
I would just like to say that San Francisco would likely be my favorite city in the world if it weren't for my illicit love affair with Chicago. Not only is it a fantastic city with a ton to do and gorgeous as well, but the steps that this city has taken towards universal gay rights is amazing. As Jester said in his radio show last week, SFCA is the moral compass of the world, or something akin to that. And I love how they just recently ruled that doctors cannot deny care to homosexuals because their religious beliefs don't gel with the "lifestyle." Thank you, San Francisco legal system! Suffice it to say, if I found out that my doctor felt this way, I'd leave his practice out of principle. I don't think it's right to impose your beliefs on somebody and especially not where medical care is concerned. Sure, the case in question was fertility related and not a life threatening medical scenario, but still. It's called the Hippocratic Oath, people.

Boom
I'm kinda stoked that a Sonic Drive-In is opening near us. Not only is it near us, it's on my commute route to and from work. I've never been to a Sonic before, but I've always heard cool things about them. Combine that with the fact that I've seen commercials for them on TV for a couple years now and you got yourself some yearnin' goin' on. Any recommendations from you Sonic lovers out there? Oh, and I dug how their exterior signboard read "Sonic Boom Coming Soon!"

Fished
Laurence Fishburne of The Matrix fame is joining the cast of C.S.I. in the ninth episode of this season as a replacement for William Petersen's Gil Grissom character. Okay, I have nothing against Fishburne. He's done some fine acting. But isn't C.S.I. dry enough as it is without adding Mr. No Nonsense-No Emotion? Not that Petersen was the most emotive actor out there, but the quirkiness he gave to his character made it acceptable. I haven't seen "quirk" from Fishburne since his Cowboy Curtis days.

Gimme money...

I swear to God, every time I now think the words "Snippet Wednesday" in my head, I wind up singing a strangely bastardized version of The Bangles' "Manic Monday." That can't be right, can it?

Anyway, we're on to Snippet Wednesday #11! And there was much rejoicing!

Begging
While in Chicago for Davecago, Katie and I saw our fair share of beggars asking for money. I don't know why I thought this, but for some reason, the concept of these guys as actually having a lot of money hit me. What if they'd had such fantastic luck panhandling that they had tons of money and continued to play the role of poor just because it was so lucrative? Is this really such a stretch? We only see a little bit in their buckets, guitar cases, hats, etc., at any one time, but this doesn't mean that they hadn't removed big chunks of cash and put it in a pocket to make it look like they had nothing. What if they do return home at night to really nice houses and families and the like? Do you think this could be possible? Remember Orlando Jones in Office Space? He said he made more selling magazine subscriptions than he did in his software design job. Why not for panhandlers, too?

Van
On the way home from Chicago, we were driving near one of those big Ford conversion vans with all the windows blacked out and heavy duty, aftermarket locks welded on the back and side doors. Katie's response, "yeah, somebody is tied up and drugged in the back of that van." I think I agree. But I also think we may be watching too much CSI and Criminal Minds.

Homero
I think I'm going to find a quarter and etch Homer on it then return it to general circulation kinda like what happened here. How cool!

Gymnastics
I have always loved Olympic gymnastics. I really have no idea why. It's not something I ever wanted to try, it's nothing I'd ever be capable of doing, and the kids are so freakishly young and small that I actually said about one Chinese gymnast last night, "She's so tiny I could fold her up and put her in my pocket," so it's certainly not sex appeal (well, except Alicia Sacramone who I think is the first gymnast I've ever seen who actually has a body and doesn't look 12 years old and, yes, I feel horrible for her after what happened last night). I think I may have finally figured out the real reason, though, while listening to a commentator during the women's gymnastics routines last night. I think it might be because it's the one time you can say something akin to "she's got great spread in her legs!" and not be arrested for indecent public behavior.

Pryor-itized
Thank you, Cinematical!

Scraps
Are any of you scrapbookers or stampers? If so, and if you live in the Chicago area or are willing to pay for shipping, my mom is having a big scrapbook and stamping supply sale this weekend. Here are some of the details...

Rubber Stamp/Scrapbook Supplies Closeout Sale

Many Thousands of New Items

Everything Must Go!!!

Rubber stamps, card stock, envelopes, ribbons, embellishments, punches, stamp pads/re-inkers, storage units, handmade cards, embossing powders, adhesives, markers, specialty papers, handmade cards and much, much more!

Friday - Saturday, August 15-16, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

I know my mom said it's okay to post her address and phone number, but I still feel weird about it. You never know what kinds of freaky people are crawling for that information. So, if you're seriously interested, e-mail me at kapgar5@gmail.com and I'll give you her information. Sound good?

Do you believe in magic...

I think I have officially found the strangest word ever included in a spell check dictionary. Or it could be a sign that the world truly is ruled by J.K. Rowling. Take your pick.

In an homage to an episode of Ace of Cakes when Mary Alice calls Duff "Dumbledork," I called a friend by the same name in an e-mail. The spell checker flagged the word and offered "Dumbledore," the character in the Harry Potter books and movies from which Mary Alice's comment was taken, as a viable alternative.

Now, unless "Dumbledore" has some other valid reason to be included in a Microsoft dictionary (I was using Outlook for the e-mail), I think I can say I've seen it all.

Totally Unrelated Aside (TUA): Mark David Chapman, the man who shot John Lennon four times in the back outside the latter's NYC apartment in 1980, has been denied parole for a fifth time. The question remains whether it was for the safety of society or for his own safety.

I say let him out and see what happens. It can be a Running Man of sorts to see who gets to him first. Muahahahahahahahahahahahaha. ha.

Are you diggin' on me...

Are you ready for Snippet Wednesday #10??

Yeah, I'm not either. Just thought I'd ask in case. But, yanno, I have now broken into the double digits. That's a big accomplishment considering we bloggers usually have the attention span of gnats and give up on regular things like this way too quickly.

Oh well.

Tube-Tied
As you all know from my paltry post yesterday, YouTube decided not to play nice. Well, I can't really fault them as it is their policy to not accept videos longer than 10 minutes in length and I was openly defying that. But it sucks no less. However, thanks to Marie and Hilly, I've now discovered Vimeo and am in the process of uploading videos there. Much nicer user interface and so far it's playing well with what I'm giving it. One video done and processed and another one in the works. I'll try posting the new video tomorrow. Wish me luck... I'm cooking yet again!

Wal-phone
Katie and I have pretty much ruled out getting iPhones again. Even though they've dropped in price and whatnot, they're still comparatively expensive and we just don't have that kind of a budget for a phone and don't plan to anytime soon. However, I'd still like a smart phone and have discovered the Palm Centro. What I like about it is that it works just like the Palm Pilots that I've been using for years now, just with a phone in it, so I know it will work on Mac and PC and sync with my Outlook account at work. Plus it has threaded SMS messaging so you can maintain a conversation with someone kinda like using Gmail and not have to search all over God's green acres for past messages. That's pretty sweet. The biggest bonus, though, is that they're currently available at Wal-Mart of all places for a mere $18.88 each. And that's taking into consideration that we're not new AT&T users. The free Centro deal at Best Buy this week is for rookies only. I hate that. I'm still having trouble wrapping my mind around the idea that we're thinking about buying cell phones from Wal-Mart. That's just strange.

Knighted
The Dark Knight has broken $400 million... in a mere three weekends. That's just insanely cool. We all know it's repeat business that is driving this one and Katie and I have seen it twice. How many times have you seen it?

Homely
I take issue with this headline... Joss Stone playing homely wife in "Tudors." Sure, the character she will be portraying was not known for being good looking. But this is Joss Stone. You do not make her play "homely." No no. Never.

Scooter
In celebration of Marty's birthday, I am going to celebrate Scooter Wednesday (yes, all this happened this past Saturday, not today, deal with it). More photos are available at Flickr.

Take a walk on the wild side...

In an age where portable devices are becoming more and more prevalent, you knew that legislation would follow. Some states are banning the use of cellphones without headsets while driving. Some are banning text messaging while driving. Some are just passing legislation for younger drivers.

In all, I agree with all of them. Anything to make these hellish roads safer.

But this one is a little odd. Some politicos in Chicago are pushing to make the use of wireless devices while walking illegal.

Upon first read, this sounds ridiculous. Then you hear that it's actually only for those people in crosswalks. That's when it starts to make more sense. People don't pay attention anymore, period. Now we have the attention paid to handheld devices making it even worse.

However, I have to ask, exactly what will be banned? It sounds like it's just texting, but I've seen enough idiots talking on the phone and strolling out into traffic as though all cars should stop for them. Will they ban talking on the phone as well? Must you then use a hands-free headset to talk? Will my fear of a world full of cyborgs with machinery sticking out the sides of the skulls be realized? What about Web browsing or scrolling through a playlist on an iPod? Sure an iPod isn't "wireless" in the same sense that a cell phone is, but it can be just as distracting.

Well, one thing's for sure... the Chicago Police Department will finally have legitimate justification for their fleet of Segways.

Hey, got a meme for you in the extended post. Enjoy.

I don't feel like dancin', no sir, no dancin' for me...

Grab your scissors, it's time for Snippet Wednesday #9!

Waiting
I've always read the stories about how Netflix supposedly flags your account when you rent too many movies in too short a period of time. The theory is that this is them thinking that you're ripping movies and making your own copies. I was what I liked to think of as a Netflix Preferred Customer... not renting too many, not renting too few. Therefore, I was not being penalized and I was always sent the "long wait" or "very long wait" DVDs immediately. Not anymore apparently. I've been waiting for Mad Men, s1 d1, ever since its release. I'm getting tired of it. I know it's popular, but damn Netflix. Give it up already.

Cuil'd
Some of the developers that worked on Google have splintered off and launched their own Web search engine, which they tout searches three times as many pages as the king. The engine is called Cuil (Irish for "knowledge" and it is pronounced "cool") and to be honest, I'm not impressed. Okay, so some bugs may need to be worked out of the system, but why the hell would you launch it if it weren't at least close to ready. I played with it on the first day and none of the links off the main page worked at all and I'm not too keen on how the results are presented on the page either. Seriously, when the search engine doesn't even find your own site when you enter its name into the search, there's something wrong. Hell, Google already registers Cuil as the top result when you search for the name. Cuil, not so much. I don't see this happening. Sorry. And I'm not the only one.

TEAL
This is my kinda street team. TEAL stands for Typo Eradication Advancement League and they are four people who traveled the U.S. this year trying to correct typos that are out there for the public to see. It's funny as hell. Click on any of the points on the map and you can go through to their blog where they detail what they did in each locale. Great stuff.

Hero
I have a new hero. His name is Daniel Morey and he is a carpenter from nearby Naperville. He also recently won a Lego building competition and has been added to the Lego payroll so he can build all day long every day at the new Legoland Discovery Center that is opening tomorrow at the Streets of Woodfield outside Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, IL. Lucky bastard.

Quaked
I think everyone I know was in the LA area for the quake that hit yesterday. My brother, Karl, Whit, Erin. I can safely assume Hilly and Neil as well. And I am so so jealous. I miss the New Madrid earthquake, I miss all tornadoes. Eventually karma's just gonna hit my ass with the perfect storm, isn't it?

Fifth
According to a recent study, one fifth of Americans are watching TV online instead of on their TV. Really? That many? I know a handful at most. And I'm not one of them. I'm sorry, but I can't stand sitting in front of my computer to watch a TV show. That's what my TV and DVD player are for. And I'm not about to trade my 42" plasma for a 19" computer monitor... a couch for a card table chair. Now if this study includes watching on an iPod, okay. I do that when I'm away from my beloved plasma, but not otherwise. Do you?

Rollin'
I've been meeting a bunch of new bloggers lately via teh Intarwebs and I have my guestposting stint on Karl's site to thank for many of them. So last night I started adding a bunch to my blogroll. In recent weeks, my roll has jumped from the mid 60s to about 81. And I'm not even sure I got them all. I was half asleep as I made the updates, so please do me a favor and check for your site on there. If it's not posted, please don't think I overlooked you intentionally. I just glazed over. Seriously. Just tell me and I'll add you in. That's really all it takes.

The Addams Family started...

Just another Snippet Wednesday... wo-o-oah.
Wish it were a Sunday... wo-o-oah
Cause that's my fun day... wo-o-oah
I don't have to write day...

Just another Snippet Wednesday.

Pillows
We always miss the cool stuff. The Kane County Cougars, our local single-A minor league baseball team, hosted what might end up being the largest pillow fight in the world with 3,872 people this past weekend. It bested the previous world record by about 200 people.

Pyramid
I think Katie and I have a new beer to love. Upon recommendation from a friend, we tried Pyramid Apricot Ale. I never would've thought to throw apricot into a beer, but damn, it was good.

As always, enjoy in moderation!

That would be my PSA for the day.

Handy
As a result of all the dogs we've had around lately, I've had to kick my allergy meds into high gear to ensure I'm okay. I'm only borderline allergic and nothing bad happens, but I really don't want to take any chances. So I called in a refill to a Walgreen's near where I work yesterday. This is an old Walgreen's. I think it even predates me moving to Illinois in 1987, so the drive thru was pretty dated. As a result of this ancient configuration, I was able to watch as the drawer opened for the car in front of me in line and a human hand reached out to take their money. It was all quite surreal watching this seemingly disembodied, yet fully animated, hand reach out from a drug drawer built into a brick wall (at the angle from which I was viewing, I couldn't see the person on the other side of the window due to glare). I was actually a bit freaked out. When I got up to the window, it was all I could do to not grab the hand and try to drive away with it.

Gas
Holy cow! Katie and I found gas here in the Chicago suburbs for $3.94 today! You can bet we were all over that like white on rice. We both refueled. You have to when it's that cheap!

Sad that we're getting that excited about $3.94, isn't it? Well, considering I paid $4.29 a week ago, I guess I should be happy.

TiVommercial
This is kinda cool... TiVo and Amazon have inked a deal in which viewers, who see something they like in the course of a TV show (not a commercial), can actually press a button and order it automatically from Amazon. This is the ultimate in product placement and, so long as the ordering options are not highly intrusive, I think it has the potential to be pretty cool. Of course, it will be intrusive as hell, I'm sure.

Have a good rest of your Wednesday.

Uh-oh, let's go...

Intellectual Property Rights (regarding music; from Wikipedia):
Intellectual property rights are a bundle of exclusive rights over creations of the mind, both artistic and commercial. The former is covered by copyright laws, which protect creative works such as books, movies, music, paintings, photographs, and software and gives the copyright holder exclusive right to control reproduction or adaptation of such works for a certain period of time.

I studied Intellectual Property Rights (also known as "IPR") back in grad school because it was a big deal regarding my field of study, which was communication and media. We talked constantly about IPR, copyright, trademarks, copylefts (yes, that's a real term), and what constituted a violation of each of these.

Basically, what we learned is that when someone else tries to use an artist's IPR for personal gain or to deny said artist from their right to gain material wealth through illegal acquisition or distribution of material, the artist has the right to recoup losses (read "sue your pants off").

And now, knowing what I do, I have to ask... why is Prince being such a prick?

Yes, I'm referring to the artist formerly known as Prince Rogers Nelson, the Artist Formerly Known as Prince, and TAFKAP. The guy who sings classics like "Little Red Corvette," "1999," and "Nothing Compares 2 U."

Now, Prince is claiming all kinds of IPR and copyright infringement is happening to his property over on YouTube (I apologize if this is old news to many of you. I only recently realized this is affecting someone I know).

At this year's Coachella festival, Prince performed the song "Creep." Some fans, who had never heard him play the song before, captured it using the video modes of their cellphones and/or digital cameras and posted it to YouTube. Prince, in an effort to protect himself and his performance, claimed copyright/IPR infringement and had YouTube pull the video.

The catch here? The reason that nobody had ever heard him perform the song before and why they were so excited and wanted to capture it is because IT'S NOT HIS SONG! The song "Creep" was written by and rights to it owned by the band Radiohead. Thom Yorke, lead singer of Radiohead, found out that Prince had performed the song and, when guitarist Ed O'Brien tried to watch the video on YouTube, he was denied access to it. Yorke was none too happy claiming that rights to the song belong to the band and not to Prince and, therefore, TAFKAP has no right to block the song.

I'm not entirely sure how this one panned out as yet.

In another case, mother, blogger, two-time GBBMC participant, and all-around LOLcat lover Stephanie Lenz, also known as Edenza of So Anyway..., is going to court this Friday to defend herself and her toddler son, Holden, against charges of copyright infringement being brought by, as p2pnet is calling him, "his Purpleness" and Vivendi Universal.

Wanna know what she did? She took a 29-second video of her son bopping along in the family kitchen to Prince's "Let's Go Crazy." 29 FRIGGING SECONDS of which the audio quality is so bad, you cannot even tell it's the Prince song for the first five to eight seconds. Now she has to defend her "illegal" actions, with the help of the Electronic Frontiers Foundation (EFF) thankfully, in court.

If anybody were making money off that rightfully belonged to Prince in either case, then I might be able to see Prince's side of the argument. However, he is neither the copyright holder of Radiohead's song, nor is Edenza trying to make money off the video she posted. She thought it was funny. It is. I've seen the video. P2Pnet has it on the linked page above.

If it was the full version of the song at an audio level such that people could capture it and save it to their computers or iPods in lieu of buying the real song themselves, Prince would have a case. Here he does not. Why not sue me for using three or four words of lyrics from his songs in the title of this post? That's about all the validity this case has.

I want to know what crawled up Prince's ass sideways and is now permanently roosting there. To paraphrase Ferris Bueller (please don't sue me, Matthew Broderick), "If you were to shove a lump of coal up Prince's ass, in two weeks you'd have diamonds (and pearls)."

HA! See what I did there? Oh never mind.

Good luck, Edenza. We're pulling for you.

[Correction thanks to Avitable... This Friday, Edenza, along with help from the EFF, is taking Universal Vivendi to court saying that they violated her legally protected fair use of the song with claims of copyright infringement.]

Totally Unrelated Aside (TUA): This was supposed to be part of yesterday's Snippet Wednesday, but I forgot. Now I've found an article to go with it.

Nestle's Spinach Artichoke Chicken Lean Pockets are being recalled because something went wonky at the processing plant and some of them wound up with bits of plastic in them. Oh yay!

Somewhere, a falsetto'd Jim Gaffigan is chiming in, "Recalled Pockets."

Hey now, you're an all star...

Hey all! Welcome to Snippet Wednesday #7. Buckle up!

Ninja
Just as I was clearing out the junk mail in my Gmail account, I caught a subject line that actually might've made me read had I not already known that the sender was a notorious spammer. It said "Ninja attacks in NYC's Times Square." How cool! Hey, I've got tons of NYC friends. Anybody witness or been victim of ninja attacks?? Any pictures??

Yeah, that's what I thought. Bummer. No cool stuff ever happens.

Stars
For the first time in my life, I actually watched (and listened to) the MLB All-Star Game. I have no idea why I committed myself to that whole damn thing. It was 15 freakin' innings after all. I started it with a friend after work, then continued it on the radio while I drove home, and then Katie flipped it on as we were trying to fall asleep. I can't imagine having been a fan watching it in person in NYC where it didn't end until 1:30 or so in the morning. Time to call in dead to work.

Poehlerized
So Amy Poehler is being considered for a leading role in the new spinoff of The Office set to debut after the Super Bowl in February, eh? Could be interesting. I'm not a huge Poehler fan, but she could be good. Personally, I'd love to see her real-life husband, Will Arnett, in the show. Maybe just in wildly inappropriate cameos like David Koechner currently does in the primary version of the show as Todd Packer.

Desnudo
Apparently, Megan Fox wants to star in a movie in which she's naked 100% of the time. I don't see any problems with this. Do you?

Windmill
This is the coolest thing in the world (well, until the next coolest thing comes along)... a Lego windmill! Two feet tall and it actually works on battery power. Sadly, I doubt we'll see any of these dotting the sides of the highways. That would be a lot of Legos. But I want one!

Knighted
For those of you following me on Twitter, you already know, but Katie and I got our tickets to see The Dark Knight at 9:15 a.m. on Friday on our local IMAX screen. I can't remember how long it has been since I've geeked out this much. Well, probably last night, but still.

Watch me...

One of the wonderful things about the television off-season is that Katie and I really start to hunker down and tear into our Netflix queue. At one point in time during our five-year Netflix membership, we had about 140+ movies listed. Now, due to a combination of actually watching some and deleting a bunch of others that hold no interest with me whatsoever, our queue is down to 35 DVDs.

We are also quite prone to using Netflix to watch TV. Of the 35 I mentioned above, four are Burn Notice season 1 (we want to watch it again), four are Mad Men season 1, four are Monk season 1, and two are Extras season 1. Yeah, that's a lot of TV, but this is how Katie and I watch some shows. It's actually more fun. We can watch them back to back and with no commercials. We recently wrapped up all three seasons of The Closer in time for last night's season 4 premiere. And we've also watched Dexter, Kitchen Confidential, Criminal Minds, 30 Rock, Dead Zone, Entourage, Nip/Tuck, Northern Exposure, and Band of Brothers.

We've also got 11 movies and TV series in our Saved section simply meaning that they are either too far from being released or no release date has been announced yet.

But it's just a matter of time before the 35 in our queue are waxed completely and, to be honest, I can't think of much I want to watch and Katie's notoriously bad at telling me what to include in there. So guess what? I'm pulling a Miss Britt and asking all of you for recommendations on what to add. Be they TV shows or movies, I want your opinions. Please give me some insight into what interests you that you think may pique my interest as well.

Also, since I've got my 160GB iPod, I'd also like some suggestions as to what might make for good iPod-ready video. I'm not a big fan of watching highly visually detailed programs or movies on it since it has such a small screen, but this only applies to the first viewing of something really. If I've already watched it once on the big(ger) screen, then watching it small ain't so bad. So gimme some suggestions what you think could play well on the micro screen. Right now, I have stuff like The Simpsons Movie, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, several random episodes of South Park, Kitchen Confidential, Two and a Half Men, and The Office. What else would work?

Ooohhh, I might have to put the Star Wars movies on there.

Totally Unrelated Aside (TUA): Hmmm... I wonder if I should start pricing GM cars. I also wonder if Michael Moore will suddenly feel compelled to do Roger & Me, part deux.

Countin' dogs, funky dogs, nasty dogs, atomic dog...

Today's Snippet Wednesday (#6, I do believe) is brought to you by special guest blogger, Lilly Monster. No she doesn't have her own blog. She's the dog that Katie and I are dogsitting for the next week for my brother and SiL. This is our first dogsitting episode and actually one of the few times we've even had an animal in this house... aside from me, of course.

So take it away, Lilly...

*woof*

That's right, you're all pads. How about I type?

Conflict
As I was heading into downtown Chicago on the train to meet up with Kim and Beth for CBSC, I was sitting and waiting for the train and happened to look at my ankle. Seeing how much branding was down there in that short amount of space made me wonder if I'm a walking, talking conflict of interest. Check this out...

We have Nike vs. New Balance for athletic wear dominance. Plus we also have a religious conflict going with Nike, Greek God of Victory, vs. Horus, Egyptian God of the Sky.

Whose hell will I burn in?

Jacobson
Almost a year ago to the day, I talked about how NBC 5 Chicago reporter Amy Jacobson was fired when she was caught on camera at the home of Craig Stebic who was a person of interest in the disappearance of his wife, Lisa. The kicker was that she was there in her bikini. Yeah, nothing going on there, right?

Well, to celebrate the one year anniversary of her sacking and her subsequent inability to land a job, she's now suing CBS 2, the channel that aired the footage of her at Stebic's house. Oh yeah, also named in the suit are the owners of the house from which the footage was shot amongst a few others. Jacobson claims that anytime her son hears the word "unemployed," he cries uncontrollably. Well, move away and get a job in some other field if it's that bad for the kid. Jeebus.

Oh, better be careful or she'll add me to the list of defendants.

Lotto
Lottery aficionados in Florida are now being given a new option, well, for a little while anyway. They can either walk away with the $250,000 prize in the Summer Cash promotion or win gasoline for life. It's actually not unlimited, though. They get a $100 gas card 26 times a year for life. That's $50 in gas a week, which, for many, might barely fuel a single car for that span of time. Of course, you cannot take a lump-sum payment like with the cash and, say you live for the next 44 years, you'll only wind up making $114,400. And lord only knows how they'd go about taxing this one for ya. Plus, if you keep taking payments each year until you die, what's to stop the Lotto Mafia from sending out hitmen after you? I always wondered what would stop a lotto commission from trying to have you offed so they could stop payments because your next of kin cannot inherit lottery payout schedules.

I think I'll take the cash. Thanks.

Solar
Speaking of cars and gas, looks like Toyota is at it again. There is talk about a launch next year of a new solar-powered Prius. The article is very brief and very vague. All they say the solar will help with is the A/C system. I can't see that being the case. That's a lot of potential additional money to run a fan. But it's still kind of a cool idea.

CBSC
Last night was fun with the inaugural class of the Chicago Blogger Social Club. Nilsa, unfortunately, could not make it. But we had a blast at Hard Rock Cafe anyway. Here's a picture of us all...

From left to right: Steven, Kim, Ansleigh (in a Monkey Peace hat), Kate, Beth,
and me (in my Bad Monkey shirt)!

Oh yeah, and Beth? I've added you back into my blogroll. Sorry about that. My bad.

Babe, I'm gonna leave you...

I'm curious... what do all of you do with certificates, diplomas, and the like that you've received throughout your life?

I ask because Katie and I were talking about sorting through the attic this weekend because it's supposed to be nice and cool in the mid 70s. While we do this, she's hoping we find our diplomas from college.

I haven't seen my diploma since graduation. Well, actually, a few weeks afterward as they didn't give us our real diploma at commencement, just the holder. They wait to make sure our grades clear, payments clear, and we return our cap and gown before giving it to us. Greedy bastards.

But then, after receiving it, I threw it in a box and forgot about it. It just never mattered much to me. It's a piece of paper. I know I have my degree. My resume shows it. The school's records indicate it. So what good is an "official" piece of paper that could've easily been doctored up in Photoshop? Hey, I've seen Mumford. It's not that tough.

So, even if we do find them, I'm not sure what I'd want to do with them. It sounds like Katie is interested in having them framed. But what's the purpose? Where would we hang them? Not to discount her own attachment to her diploma, but I'm just curious.

Totally Unrelated Aside (TUA): It has been officially announced that the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics are moving to Oklahoma City.

I hate when sports teams move from one city to another.

When I was young and living in Connecticut, I was a huge fan of the Hartford Whalers of the NHL. I worshiped guys like Kevin Dineen and Ron Francis. They were great. I met Dineen when he came to my school. Still have an autographed card from him.

Several years later, the Whalers up and left Hartford and became the Carolina Hurricanes. I was heartbroken. I loved my Whalers and the Hurricanes just aren't the same. I love the logo with the whale tail that merges with the "W" to create an "H" in the negative space. Hell, I still have my Whalers jersey. It's the only hockey jersey I own anymore. I refuse to get rid of it.

So I felt the pain of people in Cleveland when the Browns left for Baltimore (even though they got a team back) or Charlotte when they lost the Hornets to New Orleans. And now I feel Seattle's pain as they lose the Sonics to Oklahoma City.

It sucks.

Peace and love and who's number one...

Welcome to Snippet Wednesday #5! 5 is my lucky number. Always has been. So why does it feel like it's luckier for you this time around than it is for me? Oh, that's right, because today is the day I announce the winner of the Wii Fit Sock contest and I have to pay for shipping. That's why! Well, anyway, that's at the end of this post. If nothing else, I'll make you read this whole thing before you find out who won. NO SCROLLING TO THE END, YOU CHEATERS!

Byzantine
I love this like nothing else. An internal Microsoft memo was leaked written by Bill Gates to his former minions regarding the insanity he experienced trying to download some software from the MIcrosoft Web site. It's funny as hell to read. But what's strange is that, even though I'm a Certified Mac Whore (tm), I must admit that I've never experienced this level of Hell on the MS site. Of course, I've never really downloaded much more than copies of IE and a multitude of security patches and upgrades for their software, but still and all the same. I do hope this is legit and not some joke post.

Tipping
Just to avoid any confusion regarding yesterday's post, Katie and I are good tippers and we've never not tipped a waiter. Typically we tip about 20% and have been known to give more (especially when Dave2 follows up with table dancing). But, if they give crappy service, they will receive a crappy tip. That's the truth.

Scranton
First it was The Office Convention last October, now it's The Office Games this month to launch the new video and board games that are associated with the funniest show on TV. And the whole shebang will be presided over by Mindy (Kelly Kapoor) Kaling. Man, Scranton gets all the cool stuff (I keed, I keed). But, at least the games will eventually be released to the rest of us non-Scranton residing folk.

Helmethead
I went to my parents' house yesterday during my lunch break to go through some boxes of stuff I had in their crawl space. I got rid of a box, condensed a few others, and brought some stuff home, much to Katie's chagrin. The loot included a collection of sports and non-sports cards, my autographed David Mack Kabuki comics and trade paperbacks, my collection of KISS stuff from my friend Mike, and this gem...

It's a kids batting helmet for the Pittsburgh Pirates that my grandfather (Pop Pop) gave me probably when I was about two years old. I never got rid of it and I'm glad I didn't. It's pretty sweet, although it only barely fits my huge head. I kinda had to slam the top of it to get it that far down my skull and it left welts. Go fig, eh?

I think I'm going to start a Flickr album with all the cool crawl space swag I find. Eve may be interested in the KISS stuff I dug up. Some seriously cool shit in there.

Five
I guess five is lucky for more than just me, though. It's SJ's five-year blogiversary (spread out over 13 different blogs, apparently) this week. I know we're already like halfway through the celebration, but go give her some love!

Socks
Okay, now let's figure out who won the free pairs of Wii Fit Socks. I promise you that I have not worn them... yet. We had entries from Sheila (Charm School Reject), BA, Odie, Scott, Beth, and MadIrishMan (I think).

As much as I'd like to see those socks come back to me as the wrapping paper around a copy of Donnie Brasco, I'm going to have to DQ MIM since I don't think his was a legitimate entry. And BA made me jealous by taunting me with the fact that he now has a copy of Wii Fit. Grrrrr... And, Scott, sorry, while it was quite celebratory in nature, that was a brain-numbing amount of exclamation points. Gah.

So our winners are:

• With her creative English contractions - Sheila
• With her promise of green polka dots contrasting with purple skin - Odie
• With her desire to not share toe jam amongst family members - Beth

Congrats! E-mail me your mailing addresses and I'll send them out as soon as possible.