Monae The worst thing about creating "Best Of" lists is when you forget something you didn't want to forget. A year or two ago (I don't remember when it came out), I left off The White Stripes' Icky Thump from my albums of the year list.
This year, I forgot Janelle Monae's brilliant The ArchAndroid. I freakin' loved that album, but forgot it because I didn't see it listed in the 2010 album release list on Wikipedia. And, yet, there it is under May 18. I don't know how I missed it. Suffice it to say, The ArchAndroid would've fared very well on my list. Easily top 5, maybe even as high as number 3. So if you are looking for something funky, check her out. Worth it. Trust me.
Welcome to Snippet Wednesday: The Christmas Edition! Does this mean all Snippets will be Christmas themed? Well, er, no. Oh well.
Holes I'm not entirely sure where I came across this article. Knowing me, it likely came from Twitter. But, anyway, Wired's Geekdad wrote about the top 10 movie plot holes you probably never noticed before. Pretty interesting. Although I'm not necessarily sure I would agree with #1. As Yoda points out in The Return of the Jedi, "there is another." So clearly he has thought it through contrary to what the author of this article claims.
Cab How many of you are fans of the TV game show Cash Cab? So am I when I actually get to watch it. But, ideally, I now have a better chance of actually participating. How? They're starting a Chicago edition! And, thanks to the fine folks at Chicagoist, I now know what I should be looking for if I want to play. For anyone interested, you'll be looking for a Toyota Sienna that is marked as part of the Yellow Cab fleet. The number on the minivan is 4472TX and the license plate is L53 5925. As a note, if you and I happen to converge on the cab at the same time on the streets of Chicago, I will take you down. Happy holidays!
Ryan A judge has denied former Illinois Governor George Ryan's request to be allowed out of prison to be at the bedside of his ailing wife. And, you know what? I totally agree with the judge. I feel bad that his wife is dying, but he chose to make the mistakes that led to him serving time in prison. I'm sorry, but you have to pay the piper. There are plenty of inmates, past and present, that have ailing spouses and other relatives. Should we just let them all out? No. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer, you're my hero. Thank you for not caving to sentimentality and for sticking to the letter of the law.
Films My boss asked me to bring in some Christmas-related DVDs to work. Being the movie nut I am, I was more than happy to oblige. What films did I bring in? Let's see... National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Elf, Love Actually, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Grumpy Old Men, and, one of the finest Christmas films ever, Die Hard! My coworkers thought I was nuts to consider Die Hard a Christmas movie, but it so totally is! I was told that it is only tangentially Christmas because it happened to be set in the holiday season. But it's a very festive flick! As some of my Tweeps pointed out, it's got holiday music, it's main setting is a holiday party in the Nakatomi Towers, it's very family oriented in that John McClain is trying to protect his family from terrorists and reporters, and he even places a very holiday-centric Santa hat on the head of a dead terrorist before sending him off in an elevator. How much more festive can you get?
Mix My blogger/Twitter buddy @amanda234 sent me a copy of her Wintry Mix 2010 CD. Damn, she's got some great taste in music! Katie and I have to work on our mix CDs for a Christmas exchange this weekend, but I'm almost tempted to just steal Amanda's and claim it's mine. Wait... damn! So much for that idea.
Adios peeps. Got the Lillymonster here for a few days and I think she needs to pee.
Welcome to another edition of Snippet Wednesday... a question edition!
Cheers This past Saturday, after the 5K, the four of us came back to our house to cool off and change clothes and all that jazz. While flipping through the channels on the TV, we found a pair of episodes of Cheers! And, to boot, both were episodes featuring Coach! As much as I liked Woody, nothing could quite compare to Coach. He was awesome. He made the show. I forgot how much I missed both him and this show. The problem is that I don't really want to bother with the DVDs. Too many sets to purchase. What I would love is a network that airs nothing but Cheers episodes back to back to back. Oh, and another that plays episodes of Quantum Leap! Yeah! My two heaven networks.
So my question to you is, if you could have a network program nothing but episodes of a show of your choosing, what show would it be?
Vacation In one of the episodes I watched of Cheers, Norm (George Wendt) received news that a medical test he underwent turned out negative, or is it positive? Well, whichever meant he didn't have a problem. After receiving the news, he decided to leave his life behind and set sail to Bora Bora. It was always a dream of his to sail the South Pacific and now, after gaining another lease on life, he decided to just do it. I think I would work the vineyards of Italy. Hmm.
Question #2: If you could drop everything and leave it all behind to start a new life anywhere in the world, where would it be?
Hammer I was just flipping through headlines on my news homepage and saw something about a new Leonardo DiCaprio film in which his love interest will be played by a guy named Armie Hammer. Really? That's his name? And his parents thought that it would be a good thing to call their child Armie Hammer? I feel like I should pry open his mouth and stuff him in my fridge to keep things fresh.
What's the most unfortunate name you've heard, whether an IRL ("In Real Life") person or someone in the news or a celebrity, etc?
Sports I'm torn about this new movie The Fighter with Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, and Amy Adams. It's about a guy chasing his dream of being a professional boxer. Or, at least, that's what I get from the trailer. I kinda want to see it and I kinda don't. It might wind up being a game time decision if Katie and I see it or not. I never wanted to be a boxer, but I wouldn't have minded being another type of athlete. I think being a speed skater or even a hockey player. Something about cruising along at ridiculously high speeds and the wind blowing past you and the world becoming a blur.
Welcome to another fine (albeit snowy) Snippet Wednesday. I'd also like to wish a Happy Hanukkah to all my Jewish friends out there! Shalom!
Celebrations On the topic of holidays, I have to apologize to some of my family. My recent spate of non-posting led to me not wishing some happiness to my family members. Back on November 21 was my parents' 40th wedding anniversary. Happy anniversary, Mom and Dad! And Monday was my brother's 32 birthday. Happy birthday, old man. I love you all and am sorry.
Run Yesterday morning, due to bad planning, I didn't get to work out. I was dragging all day long. I could've worked out in the afternoon, but I just didn't feel like it. Wow, I've become a total morning workout person. I need to do it to stay awake. Anyway, so I made up for it this morning by running. Took a completely new route through the neighborhood and kept at it despite the dusting of snow we received overnight and the biting cold outside. I ran 3.09 miles total and that final 1.09 felt incredible. If I'd had more time, I think I could've kept going another couple miles without a problem. Of course, when I actually do have the time, I never feel like keeping going. Know what I mean? Oh, and in case you're wondering why the oddball distance, that's when I happened to get back to my driveway and it also balances my total run distance in the Nike+ GPS app at 26 miles even. Yep! I've almost run a full marathon (never mind that it took 9 or 10 individual runs to get there; we won't mention that).
Tweets I Tweeted something today about some topic or other, blah, blah, blah. But it seemingly resonated with a few people as I got replies back from a couple friends that, when viewed in the mentions column of Tweetdeck, looked like this...
Yeah. I totally am. ;-) (no ego there, eh?)
Egypt In response to the retiring of both the Indiana Jones and Prince of Persia lines of LEGO sets, the company has released a whole new series called Pharaoh's Quest. Sure, they may not be 100% faithful to Egyptology, but they're pretty darn cool. You can never have too many mummies!
And for those of you who watch The Walking Dead, there is a figure in one of the sets that I think is a total brick doppelgänger for Shane. Uncanny, ain't it? Well, yanno, for being non-contoured and yellow and really small and all that.
Slider Someone at work brought in some White Castle Sliders for their lunch. We had been talking about it before he got them and I mentioned that I haven't eaten a Slider since I was about five years old. Considering I turn 36 on Sunday, that's a helluva long time. He thought it necessary that I try one again.
Well, that box arrived and I took one whiff and realized exactly why it's been 31 years since I've had one. I call it Gag-Reflex-Inducing-Scent or Eau de Crap. My sense of smell is still struggling to recover.
You know what? I'm not going to call this a Snippet Thursday: The Reckoning. Nope, not this time. I'll just call it a Belated Snippet Wednesday. Does that work for you?
Takeover There are groups of people out there who fear that the United States is being overrun with immigrants or people of different races, religions, creeds, whatnot. Obviously these people are all kinds of whack in the head. They are fearing the wrong thing entirely. You wanna know what I'm afraid is going to take over our fair country? THE DUGGARS! Damn, the kids are having kids now. Another pregnancy was announced this morning on the Today Show. The growth of the family is going to be exponential from this point forward. It's only a matter of time before EVERYBODY in the USA is a minority to the Duggar clan. I can see it now... The United States of Duggar... I pledge allegiance to the Duggars...
Help.
Uno Yesterday, my Tweep kimt205 Tweeted about an e-mail she received that asked the following...
I agree, that's a good question. And it's one that can expand to more than just Twitter users. For those of you who are Facebook junkies or blog readers... what if you could only follow one person on those platforms as well? Who would it be?
No, I'm not fishing for you all to say, "You Kevin! Of course it's you!" I'm genuinely curious how all of you would answer. And, yet, it's a question I'm unable to repond to personally. I really don't know if I could do it. You?
Nooooooo I love my wife. She's so cute. Take last night, for example. We went upstairs to see what recorded on the TiVo. Being Wednesday, she was expecting to find recordings of the latest Modern Family and Cougar Town. Imagine her dismay when there was nothing.
Me: Sorry hon. Nothing new.
Her: Noooooooooooooo!!!!
Me: Obviously they're on a break week.
Her: Noooooooooooooo!!!!
But you have to imagine her whining that word with a little kid's petulence and an oversize frown stretching across her face.
I do love her.
Ponzi I've decided that the only way I'm going to survive in this economy and make my millions so I can retire by my desired age of 40 is to start my own Ponzi Scheme. Does anybody know how to initiate an effective Ponzi Scheme? Would you like in at the ground level? I'll share my profits. Just sign your name to all the associated start-up documents and we'll be rich in no time. Deal? Anybody?
Challenge I'm thinking about starting up another Kapgar Photo Scavenger Hunt (No, this has nothing to do with my Ponzi Scheming). It's actually been a good six months now since the start of the last one and my initial plan was to do it every six. So much for that. But I can still get it close enough for government work.
My question to you, though, is should I run it in December or wait until the new year? On the one hand, we can get some pretty cool holiday photos. But on the flip side of that, you'll be contending with holidays and vacations and may have difficulty posting photos by the given deadlines. So, what say you? December Holiday Edition of the Kapgar Photo Scavenger Hunt or kick it off in 2011? Majority rules on this one.
Oh, and if it helps with the decision process, I plan to allow people to just post links to their photos on Flickr or other photo sharing sites instead of having to write it up as a blog post. So those of you with cameras in your phones can just post on the go, too. Does this affect your decision at all?
Snippets Do you now see why I love Snippet posts? Absolutely no relation between the items I'm talking about whatsoever. Just completely random thoughts floating through my nogging now shared with the world via the wonder of the World Wide Web.
Sure, it's a train wreck of ideas, but I don't care. Do you?
Cobaxl Steven Hyden of The Onion's A/V Club wrote a fantastic piece on the long-running feud between Axl Rose of Guns 'n' Roses and Kurt Cobain of Nirvana during the transition period from the metal era to grunge. I knew there was animosity between the two of them, but I had no idea how deep its roots were. If you like music history, check this piece out. Thanks to @petcobra for the tip.
Moon I saw the first Transformers movie and enjoyed it. Never saw the second and never wanted to. Only want to see the third because of how much of the filming was done in Chicago and the fact that I actually saw it as it was happening. But, let me tell you, if film titles were the sole determiner when deciding if I was seeing a movie or not, Transformers: Dark of the Moon certainly would have me running for the hills.
I must offer my sincerest apologies to George Lucas. The Phantom Menace is no longer the dumbest movie title of all time.
Netflix I received an e-mail from Netflix informing me that they were sending me the next available film in my queue. It was the second film in the list since the first was on a short wait. Then, a day later, I got another e-mail telling me my first choice was available at a downstate distribution center and they were sending it to me as well. So my three-disc subscription was going to temporarily become a four-disc subscription. A way to keep users happy? Has this happened to anyone else?
iPhone I've been using my iPhone 4 for two months now and I really need to get cracking on a review of what I think. There's just so much I want to say. I may have to spread it out over a couple posts or run the risk of having a post that reads like a novel. Yikes!
Typepad This is the second time I wrote this post. The first time, I forgot to give it an interim save and the browser froze up. What I don't get is that Typepad has an autosave feature kinda like Microschlock Word and it constantly annoys me by telling me that it has a saved copy of a post that I already published a few days prior. Of course, the time that my browser freezes is the one time that the autosave feature kicks in only to save the title and nothing in the post. This makes no sense since I came up with the title after I wrote two and a half snippets. What gives?
Shows So what shows have all of you given up on this new television season? There are a couple that we're thinking of ditching and wondering if any of you may have the same opinion. Please share!
Okay, I'm outta here. Time to catch up on the season finale of Mad Men.
Since yesterday was our ninth anniversary, I couldn't quite make a Snippet Wednesday work properly. So, to make up for it, I'm bringing you a Snippet Thursday: The Reckoning!
Stool Katie and I desperately need a new bar stool or two for the table in our kitchen. But, for some reason, we have not been able to find one we like to save our lives.
Huh? Was that snippet just completely random? Yeah, I agree. It's actually a teaser I've been asked to place on my blog in anticipation of a future product review for a company called CSN. I put the word "bar stool" with that link on there and then they will send me a product of my choosing to review. I just felt the need to try to work "bar stool" into some semblance of context. And we would really like some barstools. But that's not what I'm planning to review. The good thing is that, soon after I do my review, I will be giving away a gift certificate to their online store to some lucky reader. Don't worry, this sort of thing won't become commonplace by any stretch. I just wanted to try doing another product review as it's been quite a while. We'll see how it goes. Plus, I have a pretty cool idea for the product I want to review and how I'm going to do it. But it's kinda time sensitive, so here's hoping I get it in time.
Brittany But if there is one thing you may see a lot of around here, it's me avowing my love of Brittany on Glee. I did it a couple weeks ago and, after this week's episode, I'm going to do it again. The girl kills me and her scene with the meatball in Breadsticks a la Lady and the Tramp was absolutely adorable and heartbreaking all at the same time.
Museum Speaking of cool girls, there's one named Kate McGroarty who recently won a Month at the Museum contest through the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Basically this means that she will be living in an exhibit and blog, video, and Tweet her interactions and experiences. How cool is that? She's going to eat there, sleep there, do some other stuff there. I'm hoping she gets a little privacy for the bathroom. Oh yeah, and did I mention she gets $10,000 for the month? Would you do it?
Reiner For as long as I've been cognizant, my dad has had a full beard on his face. Until this last half year or so, that is. Lately, he's become a little more experimental. First, he shaved it down to a goatee and now it's just a moustache. Yes, of course we've been giving him crap about his "porn star" 'stache - we just couldn't help ourselves. However, this past week, Katie and I were watching 30 Rock with guest star Rob Reiner when she chimed in with, "that's what I miss... having Rob Reiner as my father-in-law." And it finally clicked... ohmigod, Rob Reiner is my dad! My dad is Rob Reiner! Finkel is Einhorn!
Well, yanno, minus the directing and acting credits, of course. And the huge bank accounts. And the Hollywood contacts. And... *sigh*
Since the fall television season is about to begin in earnest, howsabout a TV-themed Snippet Wednesday?
Hawaii I can't say that I'm really looking very forward to any of the new shows coming up on the boob tube, however, Katie and I will be giving a shot to a couple newbies. One of these shows is the revamped Hawaii Five-0. I'm tentatively optimistic about it. The good? It's got a pretty decent cast in Scott Caan (Ocean's Eleven), Alex O'Loughlin (Moonlight), Grace Park (Battlestar Galactica), and Daniel Dae Kim (Lost). The bad? It's a used idea. Hell, it's not just a used idea, it's used everything down to the title, setting, and cast of characters. But it still looks like it could be
kinda decent. We're also going to try Blue Bloods primarily because we get to
see the 'stache return in the form of Tom Selleck. Sure, he's no longer Thomas
Magnum, but at least he's got the facial hair back. I'm not expecting much else
from it, though. I think one of the only other new shows we're trying out is
Running Wilde simply because Katie and I are junkies for Keri Russell.
Glee Since we borrowed the first half of season one DVDs from the SiL, Katie and I love Glee. Yes, we're Gleeks and proud of it. we've been trying to catch up on the second half via TiVo recordings, but FOX isn't reairing all of them. Only select few. But we've got the basic gist of what's happening and will continue to watch into season two. However, last night, we watched the reairing of the Lady Gaga/KISS episode and, being a longtime KISS fan, I must take issue with something... Gene "The Demon" Simmons DOES NOT play drums and his kabuki'd image DOES NOT appear on the drumheads for the band. Finn should have donned the makeup for Peter "Catman" Criss or Eric "The Fox" Carr. Yes, I'm anal retentive like that. I could get really into the actual makeup design, but I won't. And my friend, Mike, would be proud of my attention to detail.
Summer One of the things I don't like is that the start of fall television marks the end of my summer season of shows. Stuff like Psych, White Collar, Burn Notice, The Closer, Royal Pains, Rizzoli & Isles, and Flashpoint (currently one of our favorite dramas) make for some of the best TV viewing around. And I also really like the 8-12 episode seasons that off-season dramas employ. If a show has a season-long story arc, having this abbreviated season tends to cut out a lot of the crap and make the episodes tighter and more exciting. I feel like most of the 22-24 episode network dramas have too much fluff or strained writing that takes away from the shows. I can use NBC's Chuck as an example of before and after. While I enjoyed the first season of the show, having a full 24 episodes got a little dull. The following two seasons were both mid-season
replacements at 12 episodes each and the show got so much better. There's little to
no downtime and anything that might otherwise be unexciting either never gets taped or winds up on the cutting room floor. Plus, if networks were to cut many of their dramas to 12 episode seasons, they'd have time to give other shows a chance. They could technically have three seasons each year... fall, winter, and summer.
Boys I just found out yesterday that TBS's My Boys, also a summertime favorite of ours, has been canceled. While I'm upset, I have to admit that the last couple seasons have been less than thrilling. Still enjoyable, but not up to the bar set by seasons one and two. Plus, if you watched the season four finale, you've gotta agree that it wrapped things up pretty nicely. No real loose ends left unresolved. It was well planned. I'll miss you, P.J., but you bowed out on a high note.
Criminal There is one show that Katie and I have loved for a while now, the return of which frightens us a bit... Criminal Minds. Why? Because it was announced over the summer that A.J. Cook (J.J. Jareau) was unexpectedly let go from the cast. In addition to that, Paget Brewster (Emily Prentiss) is supposed to now have a significantly reduced role. What the what?!?! It had been announced that Kirsten Vangsness' (Penelope Garcia) role was being reduced as well, but this is solely because she will be playing the same character on the spinoff show Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, starring Forrest Whitaker and Janeane Garofalo.
Would you like a Snippet Wednesday recap of my morning from hell? No? Then you might want to stop reading now.
Still here?
You asked for it.
Heel As I was walking around this morning getting ready for the
gym and work, I discovered a pain in my left heel. It's pretty normal. I have this chronic crack problem (heh heh) with my heel. It tends to get a lot of dead skin in the form of a callous and then it cracks. I do take care of it and use a Ped Egg to get rid of it pretty regularly and douse it in lotion. But, no matter how much work I do to it, the crack always comes back in the same spot. It doesn't matter what I do, it never permanently goes away. And it can be pretty painful every so often. So I put some Neutrogena Cracked Heel cream on it and decided I was going to ride a bike at the gym instead of run to give it a break. Strike 1.
Book When I ride a bike at the gym, I'm actually able to read while I work out. Obviously not while running or using an elliptical machine... so
much bouncing around that I'd get a headache. So I thought, "Great! I really want to keep reading my book, Gods Behaving Badly," only to discover I'd left the book at work the night before. Strike 2.
Clothes So I pack my stuff and head to the gym. I get a locker and go to unload my stuff only to discover that, of all things, I forgot to bring my pants for work. Seriously, WTF? Of course, this means I had to shower at home and reduce my workout time. Yay. On the way home for my shower, I realized it's probably a good thing I'm heading home because I also forgot to pack a set of clothes for yoga at lunchtime. Strike 3.
And I'm outta here like the Cubs pennant chances.
If you want to ensure just how "outta here" I truly am, here's one more for ya...
Music Speaking of leaving stuff at work, I downloaded some music
to my computer this morning that I was really looking forward to listening to today on my iPod. Of course, I left my iPod at work. No new music for the Kevvy Kev today. Strike 4. That's like a Super Out, isn't it?
I know I don't usually do a TUA in concert with a Snippet Wednesday since a TUA really is just a Snippet. But since the Snippets are on a theme and this is totally unrelated to that theme, I thought why not.
If there is one good thing to come from today, it was my first experience with Yoga Nidra.
It is, by definition, "yoga sleep" and comes from meditation. Our yoga instructor decided to try this with us today per a suggestion I gave her. And I'm so glad I did. I feel so ridiculously relaxed right now. I have to pick up an audio version so that I can introduce this to Katie.
I'm going to hit you with a Snippet Thursday: The Reckoning with a theme today. It's going to be all about the show True Blood and my current disappointment in season 2.
Yes, you read that correctly. I loved season 1, but, seven episodes into season 2, I'm left with a pretty hollow feeling so far. Maybe the final five episodes will right that, but I just don't know.
Oh, and if you haven't watched season 2 yet and plan to, you might want to skip this post. It will be full of spoilers. So consider that your **SPOILER ALERT**
Bill I'll be honest with you, Bill Compton is really starting to wear on me. He's become very whiny lately always bitching about Jessica or his relationship with Sookie, or the fact that Eric is "using" Sookie "inappropriately." Dude, you're a vampire... stop that now. You're becoming worse for the image of vampires than Edward from Twilight.
Sucky Speaking of Sookie, another thing that annoys me to tears is Bill's constant hissing of her name and making it sound like "Sssuckeeee." Dude, I get it, you're a Brit playing a southern gentleman. But take a cue from Sam Trammell who plays Sam Merlotte. He's a native N'awlins boy and, when he says her name, it sounds like "Sookie" with a twang, the way it should be.
It has actually become a bit of a joke between Katie and me and anytime we hear Bill say her name, we bust out in a chorus of the "Suck It" product jingle that David Wallace and his son wrote in The Office. One of us will say "Sssuckeee" and the other chimes in with "Yeah!"
This was all Katie's idea.
Sex Speaking of Sucky, I get that Bill and Sookie are enjoying the sexual aspect of their relationship. Very much, apparently. And I hate to sound like a prude when I say this, but do we have to see it all the time? And all these freaking orgies that Maryann keeps holding in the woods near Bon Temps? Really? I'm not easily offended, but I'm getting a little tired of this. It's like they're doing it just because they can and they need something to fill the 54 minutes in each episode. Also, as a heterosexual male, I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I'm really getting sick of seeing Anna Paquin's boobs in nearly every episode. I'm guessing the embarrassment comes more from the fact that I so highly hyped this series to my wife and now here we are watching this and she's clearly uncomfortable so, by association, I am too.
Grams I think what this show is desperately lacking right now is a moral center. In the first season, this role was assumed by Sookie and Jason's grandmother. As anyone who watched season 1 knows, she's dead now. And Katie and I both miss her terribly. When Andy Bellefleur is the closest thing you have to a moral compass in Bon Temps in season 2, you know something's wrong.
Jessica This is one area where I have actually shifted my view. When Bill created her last season and when she returned to live with Bill initially this season, I couldn't stand Jessica. Just a bratty teen. However, once she was introduced to Hoyt and the two of them started seeing each other, I really began to like her. In fact, the burgeoning love story with Jessica and Hoyt is one of the best things going in the season, IMHO. I really want those two crazy kids to work out. Something tells me they won't, but a guy can hope!
Jason Just when I was beginning to enjoy the story with Jason and the Light of Day Institute, they had to go and discover who his sister was, didn't they? Man! And Sarah shoots him in this last episode we just finished watching? Even I know it was the paint gun that Jason and Steve were using for target practice on the course a few episodes before. Did the writers really think I'd forget that soon? That is what happens, right? Well, I guess we do get a bit of a change of pace for once... instead of a woman that Jason messes around with being found dead as per season 1, this time she at least gets to think she killed him.
Godric I get that Godric is a 2,000-year-old vampire and the creator of Eric and I understand why saving him is important, but this hunt and the trip to Dallas and all that jazz has been just completely underwhelming in terms of excitement level. I enjoyed seeing the history sequences between Eric and Godric, but even that isn't making up for my overall boredom with the storyline. Tell me it gets better.
Funny thing I'm noticing, I seem to prefer vampire stories that explain how certain vampires are created more than the rest of the story being told. I like the creation sequences in the Twilight books, particularly Jasper and Rosalie. I liked the creation of Louis by Lestat in Interview with the Vampire. And I liked the creations of Eric and Bill in this series. But anything that happens after that kinda pales by comparison. Am I weird in that regard? Anyone? Anyone?
Good? Not all of this season is entirely bad. As I said, I like where the Jessica storyline is going, so long as it doesn't take a 180-degree turn.
I was briefly enjoying the Daphne and Sam bit. Until she was revealed to be a Maryann minion. Very disappointing.
I really like Terry Bellefleur and am happy he's playing a much larger part this season even if it involves dating Arlene. But the scene where he defended Lafayette against Andy was great and has quickly become one of my favorite scenes of the series.
And I still get to see where the Jason vs. LODI storyline will go. I'm looking forward to that quite a bit. I wanna see Stackhouse go postal on a bunch of born-again Christians.
Tell me it's worth it. That I won't be regretting seeing this season through to the end. Is season 3 better?
Wow. I'm pretty sure that's the longest I've been neglectful around these parts.
You know it's bad when both your wife and your mom have taken notice
of the fact that you haven't blogged in a long time and are actually a
little mournful about it.
I know it's a very off-day, but I hope you don't mind some snippets. Given I've missed the last two Snippet Wednesdays -- and even the last two potential Snippet Thursday: The Reckonings -- I don't see it being a big deal that I do it now, right?
Rest And on the 14th day, they rested.
This past Sunday marked 13 consecutive days of exercise for Katie and me. As you know, we've been working out weekday mornings for quite some time. Well, a couple weekends ago, we started exercising on weekends as well. Two really long walks in a row now that the heat has calmed down a bit and a 20-mile bike ride this past Saturday. That one caused us to be a bit sore, so we took Sunday off. And we're back at it again this week. All five weekdays so far. Not sure what will happen this weekend. We'll have to wait and see.
Camera I guess it was a good thing I distracted myself with exercise this past weekend. I was feeling a bit naked without my trusty Sony D-SLR. My friend Eric was shooting a wedding and asked if he could borrow it. This is the first time my Sony has not been with me or at least somewhere I knew he should be. I felt a bit "off," if you get my meaning. Nothing was quite right until Monday when I got my camera back -- in perfect working order -- from Eric. Gah!
Beans
But not having my Sony around gave me time to play a bit more with the camera in my new iPhone 4. It's a nice camera. Not perfect by any stretch, but nice... and far more portable. And what's really nice is the automatic geotagging I get in my iPhone photos when they're uploaded to Flickr.
Of course, even this isn't perfect as the geotag of this Jelly Bean photo would indicate. Apparently, I found myself some jelly beans to photograph in "a mysterious place with no name" in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean near the western coast of Africa.
Guess it's a good thing my passport finally came in the mail, eh?
Bloody Katie and I are tearing through True Blood seasons 1 and 2 on DVD right now. We got free video-on-demand of all episodes of season 1 from Amazon and season 2 came in from the library but is due back soon. Funny thing was a conversation between Katie and I as Bill and Sookie were having sex and he bit her, drawing blood down her neck...
Katie: [jokingly] "Edward would never do that to Bella!"
Me: "That's because Edward is not a real vampire. He has no fangs. He couldn't if he tried."
Heh.
Chiro Speaking of conversations, this happened at the chiropractor's office the other day. We finally discovered how old he was.
Me: "You're not even in your thirties!?!?"
Him: "You were born in the Seventies!?!?"
I get it, I'm old.
Lamb The other day, a coworker and I were coming in to work together and she told me about a book she just started reading. She wasn't sure if I'd ever heard of it because it was, to her, a pretty unknown author. Turns out it was Christopher Moore's Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. Only like my favorite book of all time. It took some work to not hug her right on the spot.
Hunger Speaking of books, on the very strong recommendation of @DownWithPants and @Amanda234, I began readingThe Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It's the first in a three-book series and, so far, it reminds me a lot of Takami's Battle Royale (loved the book, hated the movie) and Bachman/King's The Running Man (loved the movie, haven't read the story). And I don't have to wait between books as the final book in the series (Mockingjay) came out this week. I hate waiting. I'm not a patient person at all.
Just a handful of quick snippets for you today. Sorry it's so rushed.
Vote Only a month left until CBS2Chicago finalizes the choices for this year's Capture My Chicago book. If you haven't done so already and you have a free moment, can you please check out my profile, create a quick on for yourself, and vote on some of my photos? I hate whoring myself out like this, but I'd appreciate it.
Music I've been checking out some really great music this week. Stuff from the library and stuff from friends. I've really taken a shine to Hot Chip's albums One Life Stand and The Warning as well as Kelis' Flesh Tone and Jonsi's Go. If you want to check out some new stuff, there you go!
Dune My buddy Whall Tweeted this earlier today and it cracked me up to no end.
If you don't get it, I'm not even going to try to explain it.
Tweets Speaking of Tweets, Avitable posed an interesting question today on his blog -- "has Twitter killed blogging?" I've seen this question asked before but finally decided to comment. As I said on his blog, I can't speak for everyone, but it has certainly diminished my desire to blog as much. And I think being able to distill your thoughts into 140 characters or less is a great skill to have. Don't use as many words and save some time. Maybe it's just me. Head on over there and share your thoughts if you're so inclined.
Well, it's time to get ready for a nice dinner with Katie. Talk atcha soon.
Welcome to a special Blogher edition of Snippet Wednesday. Am I at Blogher? No. I just thought it might get the attention of all the people there and actually drive a few readers here. Am I evil for doing this? Yeah, probably. Will it work? I dunno, I'll tell you in a couple days when I check my stats.
40 I don't really know why, but I TiVo'd 40 Days and 40 Nights and just finished watching it now. It really was a pretty bad movie, but, for some reason, I enjoyed watching it. Me and my bad movies.
Plants This year, Katie and I pared back all the veggies that we planted. Last year, we just tried growing too much stuff and it got a little out of control. Some of it worked while some of it did not. So, this year, we're growing serrano peppers, tomatoes, squash, and zucchini. The peppers? Great! I've picked six so far and have at least 30 more sprouting. Squash and zucchini? Well, not much in terms of fruit yet, but damn if the plants are huge. Tomatoes? As a result of the squash and zucchini, the tomatoes aren't doing so hot. They're being crowded out. And it's the tomatoes that I really want. Check out the stuff that is growing...
Keychains As I told you the other day, while in Chicago, I picked up a couple of those LEGO keychains. One was the alien from Toy Story and the other was a recreation of the original spaceman minifig that debuted in 1978. I was asked for some pictures, so here they are...
My only problem with the spaceman keychain is that he's not an exacting recreation of the original. The difference is minor, but enough to mean something to a purist like me. It's all in the helmet. Check it out...
The original helmet (right) is flush from the forehead down through the chin guard. The revised helmet (left) has a chin guard that sticks out further than the forehead of the helmet. This was done to provide a way for a visor to stop when pulled down over the face and appear flush with the helmet itself. Plus it looks more realistic.
Fine, I'm picky.
Truck Speaking of LEGO, when Katie and I were at my parents' house, my dad gave me back an old set I had built years ago and that has been sitting on his desk all this time. It is the 5580 Highway Rig and it's apparently somewhat valuable on eBay. It's also gotten a bit grungy from grime, but I plan to disassemble, wash, and rebuild it. Should be fun. It's a pretty intense set. And I got a chance to try out photographing it with a nice background display.
Photos I've been bad about this whole Photo365 challenge. The other day, I looked at the set and realized I was a month behind in tagging pictures. Well, I'm all caught up. Through today, even! It took a while to find them all, but I'm good again. And I've passed the 200 day mark. This has been anything but easy. I really can't wait for it to end, but I know I'll miss it. Is that weird?
It's time for bed. Yeah, it's only 9:15. I'm pathetic. I admit it.
This past Saturday, I hopped aboard a Metra line to downtown Chicago to meet up with Dave2! Just kind of a spur of the moment meet-up where we did nothing but really walk around the city, talk, and generally geek out. I think a photo-laden Snippet recap of the affair works quite nicely despite it not being Wednesday (or Thursday, for that matter), so enjoy!
Weather
Chicago and the suburbs have been sweltering for the last couple months so arriving downtown and seeing a thermometer in the Ogilvie Transportation Center read that it was 67 degrees out was refreshing to say the least! And it was already past noon, to boot. But, then, it always feels nicer in the city for some reason. Lucky bastards. However, by 4 p.m., it was back up in the mid-80s. Not terrible, but not nearly as nice as it was earlier. And Chicago is the greatest city on Earth by far, so when you mix it with nice weather and a good friend, how can you go wrong?
Dave
As any of you who have met Dave can attest, he's always a great person to meet up with and one heckuva gracious guest. So getting together with him never winds up in an awkward moment or with a lack of things to talk about or do. That's why it's always so much fun to meet up with him. I think this visit marks about a half dozen times now. Three Davecagos, one Depeche Mode concert, and a couple random visits. And, so long as he is always willing, I will be too.
Dogs
The first thing we decided to do was get some lunch. Neither of us had eaten yet so we were a bit famished. Dave knew of a place nearby called America's Dog. I figured, heck, why not? I love hot dogs. In fact, I've been darn near addicted to them lately. I can't explain it, but anytime I find myself having dinner at home when Katie's working late, I wind up eating a hot dog. Well, for this special occasion, I had my first-ever full-on Chicago-style hot dog. I've come close in the past having eaten one that only lacked pickles, but I went the whole nine yards this time. Actually, I ordered two of them. I really liked them... a lot. That scares me. Dave had the same, but with a veggie dog, which intrigued me. I've never had a tofu-based hot dog before but if it will cut back on the fat and calories and still taste pretty good, I'll give it a shot. Maybe next time.
(This is Dave's photo, BTW)
3
On our way out to Michigan Avenue, we happened across the set of Transformers 3. While it's not a movie that either of us really want to see, it was still cool to see them out there shooting and we each took some photos. One thing that I noticed in a photo of mine is that the guy situated on top of the pile of rubble is none other than Patrick Dempsey. Cool. Sorry, ladies, I didn't get much closer than this.
LEGO
Being the LEGO geeks we are, you bet your sweet bippy we beelined it for the LEGO store on Michigan Avenue next! Some time was spent drooling over the new sets, but, shockingly, neither of us bought anything. Yet. Oh, and speaking of LEGO, yes, Norman was with us.
Apple
And what kind of Apple Whores (tm) would we be if we didn't hit the flagship Apple Store on Michigan Avenue? Bad ones, duh. We played a bit with the Magic Trackpad, which just blew my mind. I love using the trackpad on Katie's MacBook so knowing that a similar device is now available for desktop Macs is way beyond cool.
Disney
We also visited what we believe to be a relatively new Disney Store just a little bit away from the Apple Store. Pretty nice inside and they had a huge selection of crap. Cool crap, mind you.
LEGO
Yes, we made a return trip to the LEGO Store after Dave told me that they did, in fact, have a key chain of the little green alien from Toy Story. I missed it entirely. Sho 'nuff, they had it and I bought it for Katie along with an anniversary edition key chain of the very first white LEGO astronaut. Hadda be done.
Millennium
And what trip to Chicago is complete without a requisite visit to Millennium Park? We went there, snapped some shots and then took the skywalk over to the Modern Art wing of the Art Institute. We didn't really go inside the wing. It was just a means of getting across the street. Oh well. It worked for us.
Gay
While walking around, we happened across a guy on State Street petitioning on behalf of the Human Rights Campaign specifically for gay rights. We stopped to let him explain to us what he was doing. At one point in his speech, he said something along the lines of "these rights we're fighting for would protect all gay people" and there was just something about the way he said it that made us both think he was referring to us. Dave must've caught on to it too because he then said, "ummm, we're not gay." The guy stopped, taken a bit aback, and replied, "oh... really???" I mean, sure, Dave and I make a cute couple, but c'mon, we're totally not each other's type. Psshhh.
With just a couple hours to spare, here I am! With Snippet Wednesday! Huzzah! Huzzah!
Reminder There are so many bloggers that have kinda sorta given up on blogging in recent months. Several of them, I'd like to just reach out and say, "what gives? C'mon! Just write a couple blog posts!" But wouldn't that be hypocritical considering I haven't blogged in a week and, even when I do blog, it's infrequent at best. So I'll just shut up, okay?
Fantasy As I was logging in to write this blog post, an e-mail came in from Brandon informing me that he's starting back up his Blogger Fantasy Football League. Now this is something worth celebrating! YES! It means we're that much closer to the real NFL season. Oh happy day!
Drives Yes, my replacement Time Capsule arrived and is hooked up (within two days, mind you). And we bought a Western Digital My Book as a secondary drive and it is hooked up. Our WiFi network is up and running. The TiVos have refreshed their recording queues. The hard drive on the iMac is backed up. And...
Works I finally got around to downloading one of those pieces of software that will allow me to transfer my music from my iPod back to my computer. I went along with Juliette's suggestion and purchased the full version of PodWorks. And it works! It's currently transferring all the music back from my iPod to my iTunes account and it's copying right where it is supposed to go on one of the external hard drives. I was considering PodManager, but discovered that it pulls the music from my iPod and places it on my desktop for me to then copy into iTunes. PodWorks cut out that extra step and is uber easy to use.
Juliette, you are a goddess amongst mere girls! I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you so much right now that, I tell you what, I'm going to buy a copy of your book, Morning Neurosis, and attend one of your signings so you can throw your John Hancock on it! Oh wait, I already did that. I guess you're just going to have to take my word for it, okay?
Runaways One of the movies I've most been looking forward to this year is The Runaways. It's the biography of the all-girl rock band from the 70s featuring Joan Jett and Cherie Currie. I figured that if there was any one movie that Kristen Stewart would excel in, it would be one in which her regular drugged-out appearance would be a natch fit. Basically, I was just waiting to find out it was in theaters. Then, a few weeks back, I opened up my Rolling Stone magazine and saw a big two-page spread for the movie. This is it, I thought. Um, not exactly. It was an ad for the DVD/Blu-Ray release of the movie the following Tuesday. Huh? Did it never make it to theaters? How did I miss it? Well, whatever, it is now coming in from Netflix. So I'm a happy camper.
Playlist I had fun today asking all my Tweeps to set my musical playlist for the day. I challenged them to just name any artist or band and, if available on my iPod, I would add a pair of songs from them to an On-the-Go playlist to set my musical mood for the day. Damn, it was fun! I got some great suggestions, a vast majority of which I had available, but several I did not. I should do this more often. It was even more fun than setting my iPod to shuffle.
I'll be darned if I'm not on time with Snippet Wednesday this week!
Red I
still stand behind the whole red-light camera program, in theory.
However, in recent weeks, as I've driven near some intersections with
these cameras in place, I have noticed issues. I saw one the other day
that snapped a picture of a guy who was 100% still at a red light that
he was going straight ahead through. These cameras are supposed to catch
violators of the right-on-red turns. So, I guess it's a lot like my
view of the death penalty - I support it, but it needs to be
re-evaluated before it's implemented. Even my hometown of Naperville is
re-evaluating.
Red I am sooooo looking forward to the new movie Red (based on
the graphic novel by Warren Ellis) about retired CIA black-ops agents
coming back to help their leader when his identity is compromised. It
stars Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, and Helen Mirren as
the retired team. It also stars Mary Louise Parker, Julian McMahon,
Ernest Borgnine, Richard Dreyfuss, Brian Cox, and Karl Urban. That's one
helluva cast! But the key for me is seeing Mirren and Freeman kicking
ass and taking names! That would be wicked cool!
Red I just read an article that some of those RedBox DVD rental
units may start popping up in front of public libraries. Check that, for
now it will just be popping up in front of a single library for a
six-month trial period, but still. Interesting. I can see this being
good for libraries that charge a minimal amount for rentals. Some of
them do. And having a RedBox to distribute the latest movies at a
similar price is good for those people trying to find the latest and
greatest as well as libraries attempting to cut back on what they spend
on materials. However, if you're talking my library, which charges zero
for rentals, then I might have a problem. Well, maybe not. I don't want
to see my library dip into the red with overspending on some materials.
Oh hell, let's just say it's a pretty cool collaboration and leave it at
that, eh?
Red Speaking of RedBox, it seems they're going to experiment with an online
distribution model in addition to their kiosk machines. No one is quite
sure if this just means online video streaming or online sign up with
mailbox delivery. Only time will tell. But it could mean viable
competition for Netflix. Lord knows Blockbuster wasn't a viable
competitor. Heh.
Red I'll bet after being on this flight, the passengers are seeing red
indeed. Holy cow! People sitting in their seats being tossed in the air,
hitting the ceiling of the plane and then winding up in other seats???
I'm thankful every day that Katie isn't on a flight that is nearly that
bad. She's nervous enough about flying. Experiencing this would push her
over the edge and she'd never fly again. I can guarantee that. Me? I'd
recover, but suddenly be a bit timid about flying, I'm sure. Otherwise, I
love it too much.
I actually wasn't going to do any snippets this week. I had nothing yesterday. And I was pretty sure I'd come up with zilch today. However, Katie, in an attempt to make her brother feel like he actually has something worthwhile to live for during his day, helped me come up with enough crap to populate a Snippet Thursday entry. Day late, but not a dollar short!
Pitchfork Yes, tomorrow is my live music day to end all days! The Pitchfork Music Festival is here and I will be there all day long boiling in what is predicted to be high 80s/low 90s temperatures with about 80% humidity. Oh joy. I love music, but that's brutal. The final day of Pitchfork last year found me wearing jeans, and doing so quite comfortably. Help. Me.
But for anyone interested, I will take some photos and upload them over the weekend to my Flickr account and I'm sure I'll be Tweeting throughout the event so long as there is a reliable AT&T connection at Union Park. It was, at best, spotty last year.
Strippers My brother-in-law and future sister-in-law are going to a sports card show this weekend at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Chicago. Pretty much the same one I went to with them earlier this year. However, this one got pretty interesting in that the Stephens Center will also be hosting an adult entertainment show called Exxxtacy 2010. So, basically what we're talking about here is a bunch of strippers in their red-light best walking around amongst families with children. And I thought Hooters was family friendly.
I'm trying to talk Scott (the BiL) into writing a guest post about this experience complete with photos from Becca (the FSiL). Anybody else want to see him do it? Votes?
Steinbrenner No, I'm not wearing a black armband in memory of George Steinbrenner. Sure I was a huge Yankees fan back in the day. I worshipped them during the 80s and early 90s, an era that his iron hand ruled over unquestioningly. And he was responsible for bringing in my favorite baseball player of all time, Don Mattingly. And I do respect the hell out of him for many reasons. And, well, considering all that, maybe I should've been wearing a black armband. R.I.P. George.
TV This has been a great week for TV. Psych is back. White Collar is back. The new Covert Affairs debuted. The Closer is back. Rizzoli & Isles premiered. Geez. Who needs the regular television season when you've got quality fare like this?
Geneva
Katie and I bummed around our hometown of Geneva this past weekend. It was great just doing our own thing the entire day and we discovered a few new things that made it even more fun. Like Steak Sliders at Wildwood. Yummy! And a bike race that is new to our town but, hopefully, will be back next year when I have my good camera on me (I didn't want to carry it that day only to discover this race was going on after it was too late to do anything about it). So I got a couple photos with my Blackberry. Oh well.
I think I'm going to skip the final snippet we came up with. This should be more than enough for you all, right?
Because of the holiday-shortened week, I almost forgot today was Wednesday and, therefore, SNIPPET WEDNESDAY!!!
Faith Marty nearly blew my mind the other day when he Tweeted about Faith No More playing a gig in NYC the other night. Faith No More? They broke up more than a decade ago! Well, apparently it didn't stick and they got back together last year (minus guitarist Jeff Martin) and have been on tour for a bit and I had no idea. Sure, the U.S. leg of the tour is/was lacking more than just a bit, but how cool would it be to see them play? I loved these guys and never got to see them live back in the day.
Attic I gave the attic one more shot. Lo and behold, in one container that I thought contained old board games, I found them! My Speed Racer LEGO sets, my robo-monkey, and my Octan Racer. Just some all-around cool stuff. I was stoked. But also in the container were a couple of my old stuffed animals that I loved from back in the day, including...
Opus I had no idea how old this guy was. This Penguin Lust Opus from Bloom County dates back to 1984! So hard to believe. But he's in pretty darn good shape, don'cha think?
And I also found...
Woody That kid Andy from the Toy Story movies had his Woody in the form of a Old West sheriff. My Woody was Woody Woodpecker. I have no idea how old I was when I got this, but he's still around. Pretty beat up but I would think that's an indication of the degree to which I loved this guy.
However, being as young as I was, I could not, for the life of me, pronounce "Woody Woodpecker." So I wound up saying — and, yes, this has found a place of prominence in the annals of Apgar history — "ooo-nee cock-er." Well, "woody," "pecker," "cocker"... not that I was too far out in left field with that one.
Cubs Speaking of funny stuff, I was driving behind a car on the way home today with the license plate "CUBS BY 2." I had to laugh.
Cubs? By 2? What? Lost by two? Only won two in the month of June? Missed being in last place in the NL Central by two?
Happy Snippet Wednesday. It's a late one. Sorry about that. Just been a little busy lately, but I didn't forget ya!
Ke$ha It has been 19 hours and I still have Ke$ha's "Tik Tok" stuck in my head. It's been there since my iPod Shuffle came across it yesterday morning during my workout. The worst part is that I don't know the song that well so all I've got going back and forth in my skull is her signing the words "Tik Tok" and then the "oh-e-oh-e-oh-oh" part. Painful, I tells ya.
Shutter Katie and I finally got around to watching Shutter Island last night. I had read the book by Dennis Lehane several years ago and
remember liking it, although I don't remember much of what it was about. The movie was interesting. Not Scorsese's or DiCaprio's best by far. It comes off as very convoluted and overwrought. However, I will say that Michelle Williams was fantastic in it. If you need a reason to see it, then do so for her. I'm not a big fan of hers, but this was a career maker for her.
Jaws Speaking of movies, the library got in a copy of Jaws that I've gotta pick up for Katie and I to watch. This past weekend, I saw a Bio Channel feature on the making of Jaws and it was way cool. Katie didn't watch it as she's never even seen the movie. Oh, she must be introduced to the greatness that is Jaws and STAT!
Capture Guess what! Capture My Chicago is back and I'm all signed up and have submitted something like 70 photos for potential inclusion in the book. As you know, my photos didn't garner enough votes last year to be included in the printed coffee table book, although they were part of the DVD that came packaged with it. This year, though, I'm planning to submit a ton to increase my chances. The 70 I've already submitted constitute about four or five times my total submissions from last year. So I'm off to what I hope is a good start. Ideally, by sending in more, my name becomes more visible on the site and people click through to see the rest of what I've offered up. If you're willing and able, please check it out and sign up to vote. You don't have to be Chicago residents to vote so far as I know.
Shame There are times when I naively think that our society cannot possibly be one in which hate groups such as the KKK can ever survive. Then I read stories like this, about a guy who thinks that the Blackhawks and Cubs are giving off the wrong idea by taking part in the Chicago Gay Pride Parade, and realize that some elements of our world truly are still living in the Dark Ages. Just. So. Wrong.
Tat I now know what my next tattoo will be. Well, Norman anyway, not Boba. No offense, Boba, but I'm a Stormtrooper kinda guy. Yes, I know your father was responsible for their ultimate creation, but still. Do you think Katie would fly with this one?
Okay, now I've gotta go and take care of some stuff around the house. w00t!
Holy crap! Wait, is it? Can it be? It is! Kapgar is getting Snippet Wednesday posted early in the day for our reading (dis)pleasure!
Blogiversary I was scanning down my page yesterday and happened to notice that little widget reminding me that I was one day away from my blogiversary. Wow! I almost missed it again. Five years this time. It's a biggie! Yay me!
Oil The estimates on oil spillage into the Gulf of Mexico has been increased dramatically. Honestly, I don't even want to know how much is spilling. It's just too depressing. The only thing more depressing is the belief I have that it will never truly end or, at the very least, never be completely cleaned up.
Fallon Speaking of Mexico, Jimmy Fallon did a segment on his late night show last night called "Pro/Con: Watching the World Cup." One of them that made me laugh out loud was, "Pro - several players from Team Mexico have already received yellow cards and red cards; Con - they were hoping for green cards." Sorry, but it made me laugh.
Bells If you want a pretty good album to check out, give a listen to Treats by Sleigh Bells (iTunes | Amazon). It's really a unique album compiled by two artists, Derek Miller and Alexis Krauss, that blends several genres of music styles with Krauss' fantastic vocals. Their album was distributed and is being highly championed by M.I.A. and her label so that should tell you something about how eclectic it is.
Shatner William Shatner is creating a
documentary based on his life. One of the things you learn in media
school is that documentaries are, by their very nature, skewed to the
creator's beliefs. God only knows how skewed an autobiographical
documentary will be. Think it will be sponsored by Priceline?
Welcome to yet another late-in-the-day Snippet Wednesday.
Cubs I’m actually going to a Cubs game tomorrow with Katie. Been a while since either of us has been, but we were given tickets by a really fantastic person and you bet your sweet bippie we’re gonna go. Oh, and it’s in Milwaukee which has become about the only place we can go to see Cubs games since games at Wrigley Field are too packed and too expensive and too difficult to get to and, in my opinion, just not worth the headache. Go Miller Park!
Blackhawks Tonight is game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals (actually, we just wrapped the first period) and I’m really not gonna say much more about it other than that. I really don’t want to jinx anything. But I will let my new Twitter friend @niemisays
say it all for me. He's got plenty to say.
NASA I was completely confused and intrigued by a series of window stickers I saw on the back of a vehicle in front of me this morning. I’m guessing that was the point of them, make you wonder and actually pay attention and I certainly did. Check it out…
Of course, I saw another sticker on his bumper that made me realize what it is. Not that my complete and utter misunderstanding of their use of NASA helped.
I did like it better when I thought it was some cool puzzle.
Books I’ve been on a bit of tear in recent months on books that I’ve been reading. It’s about time, too! Now I’m finally going back and finishing up a handful of partial reads that were left behind in the last year or two. They were books I enjoyed, but since my zeal for reading was dead, they kinda went by the wayside. Time to play catch up.
Rain Or maybe I should call it Wicked Morning Weather Wednesday. Man, we got some storms last night into this morning. It was pretty wicked. Usually an indication of pretty heavy rain is when your driveway and sidewalk are covered with earthworms. What the hell's it a sign of when you have frogs? Little guy was sitting in my driveway right in the way of the path of my truck tires. I had to shoo him out of the way or risk frog gut skidmarks. Oh, and go figure that we get all this rain immediately after I go on a lawn-watering binge. Just like a car wash, isn't it?
Hobbit Kudos to Director Guillermo del Toro for bowing out of directing The Hobbit. For quite some time now, del Toro, who directed Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth, was tied to this prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Considering how much I loved Pan's Labyrinth (if you haven't seen it, get it, now), I was really kinda stoked about him directing The Hobbit. I always kinda preferred the story of Bilbo Baggins to the group exploits of Frodo, et al, anyway. But the studio started to put pressure on him to film it in 3D. He said no. And he stuck to his guns. Good. 3D needs to stop.
Recalls One of the cars we've been looking at possibly buying was the Toyota Prius... and then the Toyota recalls happen. This trip to Florida, we rented and fell for our Ford Fusion... and now it's succumbing to an investigation for the same acceleration problems as the Prius. Should I mention the other two cars we're interested in or not press our luck?
Hunt I really enjoyed setting up the Kapgar Photo Scavenger Hunt last month. It was a blast to do and to see what everyone came up with. However, you may have noticed one little catch... I never posted pictures for the final week for myself. Yep, despite my extended week, I still didn't take any pictures. Whoops. Not for lack of trying. I knew exactly what I was going to take pictures of, I just never got off my ass and did it. Hell, I barely took enough pictures to fulfill my Photo365 commitment. Yeah, I was not photomotivated last week.
Hawks But I did submit my jersey/beard photo to ChicagoNow for a Chicago Blackhawks fan gallery and they used it. Go me! And Go Hawks!
Well, it's been a few weeks, but I now present you with the triumphant return of Snippet Wednesday!
Walk My buddy from across the pond, Dan of All That Comes With It, is involved in a pretty ambitious fundraiser called Hadrian's Walk. Basically it's a group of 60 people from around the world who will be walking the 60 mile span of the Hadrian's Wall Footpath in July in honor of Joseph Salmon who died in 2005 at the age of three. The money raised goes to help provide financial assistance to those who have lost a child. Right now, the crew behind this fundraiser have gotten nearly halfway to their goal and they need your help. Generously donated items such as buffs and t-shirts are available for purchase with proceeds going to the Joseph Salmon Trust and a raffle is also being held. If you have the opportunity and are interested in a very worthy cause, check it out.
Nest One of the big deals right now in the area where I live is the discovery of a Bald Eagle's nest at a place called Mooseheart two towns south of me. I had to see this for myself, so I stopped off on Monday night on the way home from work to check it out. It's pretty cool. Sadly, due to the distance, I couldn't really get quite as close a shot as I would've liked and, because it was so far away, the focus is a little soft. But check it out anyway.
Guide You may or may not have seen the Tweet last week, but the DuPage Convention and Visitors Bureau some weeks back asked if they could use some of the photos I've taken of the area and posted on my Flickr account. I have no problem with it, so I zipped up some high-res copies and sent them over. Last week, they e-mailed me to say that they used one of my shots in their Visitors Guide. My shot is the speed limit sign on page 41. I received a pair of guides in the mail today and, on those, you can see where they gave me credit for the image. And the card included in the mailing said that more opportunities may be available in the future. I'm stoked. It's really flattering to have your photography recognized like this so, yes, any chance I get, I'll submit photos.
Toons
On the way home from work today, I was listening to a local college
radio station, WONC FM 89.1 out of North Central
College, when they played a sound bite from Ren & Stimpy
meant to intro their 5 p.m. happy hour programming. Hearing Stimpy's
voice made me reminisce about the heyday of great cartoons that were
introduced when I was in high school. My freshman year marked the start
of The Simpsons, sophomore year was Ren & Stimpy, and
my senior year was Beavis & Butt-head. Oh man, those were
some great years in cartoon programming. *Le sigh*
It felt really good to write up a Snippet Wednesday again. Sorry it took so long.
Sorry this is going out
so late in the day. I know I've "ruined" my brother-in-law's day by not having it posted in a manner that allows him to read it from work. Oh well. Snippet Wednesday and I are officially failures!
NCIS I was so ticked off this morning when I logged on to Twitter and saw that somebody had ruined the "shocker" ending to last night's NCIS: Los Angeles. Didn't even put "Spoiler Alert" on the Tweet. Just all right there for the world to see. ARGH!
Sir The other day, I was walking around during my lunch break
with my camera snapping a few photos when I saw a couple of high school guys doing the same thing. We kinda did the whole "fellow photographer" nod in passing. But, later, we actually crossed paths and spoke. I said "hey" to them and they said "hello, sir" to me. SIR? Me? Christ, am I so old that a couple guys in ragged camouflage and Jonas Brothers haircuts are calling me "sir"? Damn.
Running Okay, week one of morning workouts yielded 7.5 miles of
running. Week two yielded 7.25 (I had trouble on Thursday and we didn't run at all on Friday; just weight lifting). But so far this week, I've already run 6.5 miles and Katie's at 7 miles. Woo hoo! Katie actually hit 3 miles yesterday. That's awesome and I'm so proud of her. And we've still got two days of workouts left.
Speed I was putting some stuff in the attic yesterday when I decided to dig out some of my old office toys that I had stashed away. On occasion, I had purchased a Lego set or two and some of them were stored away when I got tired of looking at them. Well, I decided I wanted to find my Speed Racer Lego sets from a couple years ago for use in a Stormin' Norman idea I had. I looked everywhere in the attic and couldn't find them at all. I looked in a few other non-attic places and zilch. I have no clue where they could be. How do Lego sets up an disappear? Madness I tell you!
Potato I love when classic toys make comebacks. And one such toy
has been the good ol' Mr. Potato Head.
He saw a resurgence thanks, I believe, to the Toy Story franchise of
movies. And then they started doing specialized tie-ins to other movies
and whatnot such as Star Wars (Darth Tater, Spudtrooper, and
Artoo-Potatoo), Indiana Jones (Idaho Jones and the Taters of the Lost
Ark), and Transformers (Optimash Prime and Bumble Spud). Well, I
discovered last week, when checking out Jon Favreau's Twitter account,
that they have a Tony Starch Potato Head for Iron Man 2. Way
cool. My office mate picked one up for her desk which has prompted me to
dig out my Darth Tater. Yeah, another reason I was up in the attic.
Challenge I think I might have to pick some slightly easier
lyrics for next week's Kapgar Photo Scavenger Hunt. I'm having trouble
coming up with photos and I'm the freakin' guy who picked the clues.
Sheesh!
Welcome to the final Snippet Wednesday of April 2010. Can you believe we're done with 1/3 of this year already? Yikes!
Hunt Just so you all know, yes, the photo scavenger hunt is still on. I've been debating how I'm going to approach doing it and receiving some input from people here and there. I now think I have it all figured out. It is going to start on Sunday and run through the month of May. But what I'm going to do is give three things that you need to find each week. So, each Sunday, three new clues will be revealed and you will have the entirety of that week to take pictures that work for those clues. I would like you each to then put links to your photos in the comments to the corresponding post. How's that sound? So keep an eye out this coming Sunday for the first round of clues.
Hawks This prayer comes courtesy of my in-laws. I feel its words beating in my heart and coursing through my veins during this NHL postseason.
Our Father, who art in Chicago,
Hockey be thy name.
Thy will be done,
The cup will be won,
On ice, as well as in the stands.
Give us this day, our hockey sticks,
And forgive us our penalties,
as we forgive those who cross-check against us.
Lead us not into elimination,
but deliver us to victory
In the name of the fans....Lord Stanley,
and in the name of da HAWKS.
Amen!!
Norman Please don't forget about Stormin' Norman right now as he endures a very difficult end to a relationship. He could use your support. Truly.
Films Today, I just didn't feel like listening to music. [What?? Who is this? Who are you and what have you done with our kapgar??] I know, I know. It's almost blasphemous, right? Well, what I did instead was play movies on my iPod in the background as I worked. Kind of an interesting approach. They were all movies I've seen several times, so I knew I wouldn't need to pay attention at all and I wouldn't be sucked away from my work. That was the plan anyway, and it worked for Star Trek and Blue Harvest. But not quite so well for Inglourious Basterds. Not that I don't know what's going on, but so much of it is in foreign languages that I don't speak that I couldn't just listen peripherally while I work. I still did my work, but I just could not follow along in my mind's eye. Bummer. So, my tip to you, if you want to play movies in the background while you work, avoid those in foreign tongues, okay?
Scheduled I really dig on this interactive NFL schedule, especially the schedule toughness meter and the star ratings for each game. I wonder if those will both update as the season progresses to reflect any teams initially thought to be tough that instead suck, or vice versa. Whatever the case, the Bears get to play the Bills in Toronto! I so want tickets to that game.
Mad Yay, the next season of Mad Menhas been announced and will air beginning on July 25. The last season finale was so freakin' awesome that I cannot wait for this one to start up. Holy cow puckies!
Mother I tweeted this to @hismuse yesterday, but I wanted a little more input on it. On this past Monday night's episode of How I Met Your Mother, Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) drives Ted's mom to the airport in a flashback dated to 2006. Ummm... when was it that they were teaching Barney to drive for the very first time in Marshall's late Fiero? I think well after 2006. A little hole in the continuity, eh?
Volcano This photo is one of the many reasons I love photography. This is that volcano that's been wrecking havoc in Iceland.
This is now the wallpaper on my work computer, BTW
I know it's not something I captured, but I labor under the hope that someday I will snap an image of something even remotely as gorgeous as this picture. And here is what the photographer, Lucas Jackson of Reuters, had to do to capture it.
When you see things like this, how can you not believe in a higher power, whatever you choose to call him/her? Something that is equal parts horrifically destructive and fantastically stunning.
Oh, and thanks to @cath68 for bringing both this photo and the description to my attention.
Beard Yes, the beard is going strong. Let's see how it continues. This, of course, is dependent upon the success of the Chicago Blackhawks in the playoffs in combination with my personal comfort level and Katie's ability to tolerate the "floating beard."
Beardathon Do I? Don't I?I'm not sure I'm ready to take on another charity related hair thing just yet, so maybe I'll do it on my own as a show of solidarity without trying to earn money. Not quite the same, but fun. Until I get too warm and itchy, that is.
Charity Speaking of charity, don't you just hate it when the charity and fundraising efforts ramp up where you work? Parents of kids trying to help them by selling shit at work. And chocolate to boot. Bastards!
MGMT Congratulations, the new album from MGMT, is now out! Happy days!
Hunt I know I mentioned a photo scavenger hunt yesterday, but I also know not everyone will want to take part. However, for those who don't want to be part of the hunt itself, I could still use some help. I need to come up with some themes. If you're willing to participate in this event, but just don't want to take pictures, please let me know via e-mail. The link is above in my header. Or at least it should be. Well, most of you have my address already anyway. Let me know.
Knox I have said that I do not believe in paying for signatures, right? So, when a signing comes along for a player I do like that is free, yeah, I think I'll take part. Just like I did last night when Chicago Bears Wide Receiver Johnny Knox was at a local Menards for their grand opening. I waited in line two hours and at 7:58 p.m., just before the stated end time of 8 p.m., I got my balls signed. FOOTBALLS, you sickos! [warning: photo slideshow below; Facebookers, click through]
Wow. Didn't realize it had been so long since I blogged. My bad. But I'm back in time for Snippet Wednesday, so that's good, right?
League Major League? A League of Their Own? 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea? No. She's Out of My League, the new Jay Baruchel flick. Katie and I just saw it and it was cool. Surprisingly cool. Highly enjoyably cool. Basically, it's the story of a guy who, according to his friends, rates a 5 on a 10 scale (Baruchel) who, through an act of courtesy and professionalism, scores a date with a 10 (Alice Eve). The rest of the movie is him trying to come to terms with why she would possibly want to be with him while his friends and family keep giving him a mixed bag of advice. I think the best thing about this was that there was very good chemistry between Baruchel and Eve that gave a great air of legitimacy to their on-screen relationship. Plus, his friends (Mike Vogel, T.J. Miller, and Nate Torrance) were hilarious.
Battery I really wish someone would create a car battery that never dies. Is that really so hard? Can someone get on that so we don't have a situation where Katie's car sits dead in a parking lot again? That would be swell. Thanks!
Pelicans On Sunday, Katie and I went with my parents to see some pelicans that had temporarily stopped in mid migration at a nearby pond. I haven't posted the photos yet, but, while there, I took a series of 55 photos of them in flight. Instead of just trashing a majority of them, I strung them together as a pseudo stop-motion film. Kinda cool, albeit short. So enjoy!
Shorts
I'm still in shock that it's early April and I was able to wear shorts
yesterday. No, not to work, but afterwards. It was pretty damn nice. I
gotta do this more often!
Lust I know lust is one of the seven deadly sins, but I cannot help it with these two T-shirts from Found Item Clothing. Damn them and their Twitter account letting me know about this coolness! (They actually found me on Twitter; I'm assuming because of past posts about my Real Genius gear that Katie bought me from their store).
Shaving While I love having a shaved head, the process is the biggest pain. I don't want to shave every day as that's just a big ol' PITA, so I only shave a couple times a week. The rest of the time, my head is basically 100-grit sandpaper meaning that anything gets stuck to it. I've got one sweatshirt that loves to shed and Katie will wind up picking yellow fuzzies off my head the rest of the day. It's pretty bad. Is there some trick I'm missing to keep myself from being semi-velcroish?
Signatures One of the things I meant to mention in my post about the memorabilia show was that, while I initially went to get Andre Dawson's signature, I never actually got it. A couple weeks prior to actually going, I found out that he (or his handlers, I'm not sure) was charging $60 per signature. That's just ridiculous, IMHO. Actually, everyone there was charging for signatures, but some cost less or they allowed more than just a single signed item. Whatever. Personally, I am very ethically against paying for signatures. I don't have anything against buying a pre-signed item if you're a fan of somebody and have no other way to obtain a signed piece from them. But to be there in someone's presence and have to pay for them to take a few second to whip out a pen and sign it just strikes me as nuts. Not even someone like Dawson who I loved so much as a player will get one red cent from me for his signature. And especially not after I was told by another guy there that Dawson was in Schaumburg the night before signing for free. However, I'll trade him my signature for his. Deal?
Blackhawks I was listening to the radio this morning and hearing news of how great a game Chicago Blackhawks goalie Antti Niemi had last night. They also mentioned that after a bit of a post-Olympics skid, the team seems to finally be getting its act back together. And it dawned on me... I really want the Blackhawks to go all the way and win the Stanley Cup. I want them to be good for a long time to come. I don't mean they have to win the Stanley Cup all the time, but just play well and provide good competition for other teams and just not suck like they did for that time period between the loss of Jeremy Roenick and the start of the Patrick Kane/Jonathan Toews era. And I would trade the Chicago Cubs ever winning a World Series again for a consistently successful Blackhawks team. That's how important hockey has become to me. I'll trade the success of a World Series-starved team for our hockey team. And Katie agrees. This coming from a lifelong Cubs fan.
Four Wow. The Illinois House has approved an option for a four-day school week for public schools in Illinois. That's insane, if you ask me. Their reasoning is that it saves operating costs and in this cash-strapped state, it's needed. But, while I agree that it's a cost savings, how is this ever going to benefit Illinois students? To clarify, students would likely attend for longer hours on the four days they are in school. But still. This just reeks of a bad idea. I could see this being used against college applicants from Illinois as it is unproven how a four-day school week affects their learning ability. Maybe I'm just being cynical...
Issues Marie invited me to take part in a special day of posting called "Women's Writes" on Monday, April 5, 2010. This is something she's coordinating with a friend in response to Utah's recently passed Criminal Homicide and Abortion Amendments Bill. I really like the idea of this posting extravaganza, but I feel weird being a man writing about women's rights. It's just like how I feel uneasy when asked for my stance on abortion. I have a stance that I feel very strongly about. But, being a man, I sometimes feel it's not my place to get involved in the debate. Am I wrong for thinking this way? And that's just how I feel about this Women's Writes day. Does the fact that I'm a man diminish what I could potentially have to say? Do I worry too much?
Hey! It's a special St. Patty's Day Snippet Wednesday! So buckle up and kiss your blarney stones g'bye!
Grub Tonight, Katie and I are going to make homemade fish n'
chips for dinner. No, not the same as going out to a pub to celebrate
this holiest of Irish holidays, but much better on the sanity front,
that's for damn sure. Trying to get into an Irish bar on St. Pat's is
akin to suicide. And, thankfully, we already stocked up on some Irish
beer this past weekend. I'm sure there will be a run on some brands at
many grocery and liquor stores tonight.
Google So are these supposed to be Celtic symbols or is this what Irish crop circles look like?
Dragon The other night at P.F. Chang's Chinese restaurant in Schaumburg, I think I discovered my ideal tea. It was called Dragon Eye Oolong and it was bliss in a tiny ceramic mug. I wanted to walk out of there with a box of the tea bags along with the mug and the metal pot and cooling rack they brought it in, it was that good. Would that have been wrong?
Jobs A while back, I featured an announcement about a video contest that was being held by the Chicago Public Library. They're back and this time they're asking people to describe how using the Chicago Public Library helped them with their business. It's pretty sweet if I do say so myself. If you're interested, check it out at www.CPLPowersBusiness.com.
Photo365 I think the biggest mistake I've made this year with regard to the Photo365 challenge is that I've been using whatever camera I have available to me at the time to take my pictures. This has resulted in weird, non-chronological uploads on Flickr as well as me searching through five potential cameras to figure out where the heck the photo is that I want to post. Could be my big Sony D-SLR, my little Canon P&S, Katie's Canon P&S, my Blackberry, or her iPhone. I've used them all. This morning I was scrambling to figure out where they all were because I was nearly two weeks behind in posting my photos. Thankfully I found them. Next year, I may try to limit it to one camera (hopefully a network-enabled cameraphone) so they're all in one place. This is getting nuts. And I'm only a quarter of the way into the project.
It's time to go celebrate what's left of this fantastic holiday!
Yep, another late one, but a Snippet Wednesday all the same.
Kin I guess one of the great things about listening to the radio is the occasional reintroduction to an old favorite song that you haven't heard in a long time. That happened to me earlier this evening when the station I was listening to chimed in with Aerosmith's "Mama Kin." God I loved that song.
Soundtrack
However, for every good song, there comes a crappy one. For me, this
morning, it was Death Cab for Cutie's "Meet Me On the Equinox" from the
New Moon soundtrack. I love Death Cab, but I hate this song. I
can't really explain why, but it sucks. And I mentioned it to Katie a
little later on. She also doesn't like the song, but went so far as to
say she hates the entire New Moon soundtrack. I thought about
it and realized that I agreed with her. It was a shitty soundtrack
despite having a bunch of big-name artists on it that you would
otherwise think would be great together. Before you
accuse us of being vamp-haters, we both loved the Twilight soundtrack. I just think this album suffered from the Sophomore Soundtrack Jinx, as I'm now dubbing it. It happens a lot. For example, I loved the Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure soundtrack and hated the one from Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey. Same goes for the soundtracks from The Crow and The Crow: City of Angels (in all fairness, TC:CoA
wasn't terrible, but just wasn't nearly as good as its predecessor, save for
Hole's cool take on "Gold Dust Woman"). I think what happens is that
the first soundtrack is released and shocks everyone by doing
fantastically well in terms of sales. So, when the second one is
planned, every artist in the world
wants in on the action and all the cool little relatively no-name acts
that made the original soundtracks so cool get bumped in favor of bigger names
and the albums wind up sucking as a result. Sure, not all the artists
on the first albums are no names, per se, but compared to the level of
notoriety of the sophomore artists, they're nobodies. Well, this is my
theory anyway.
Human/e Have you ever had a word that, for whatever reason, you just can't type correctly no matter how hard you try? That word for me of late has been "humane" as in "Humane Society." I keep typing it without the "e." Then I see that I've typed "Human Society" and all I can think of is that it's a support group for survivors of Soylent Green. And I chuckle to myself. How sick am I?
Haim Most of you probably know by now that actor Corey Haim was found dead this morning (or was it last night?) after an overdose. I have nothing against the guy. I enjoyed several of his movies in the 80s including Lucas, The Lost Boys (although I maintain his role was written with an 8-year-old in mind), and License to Drive. But, considering what he'd become in the last couple of decades, you had to see this sort of end coming a mile away. Hence why I tweeted this...
Sorry this is coming so late in the day. Heck, some of you may not even receive notice until tomorrow considering how slow both my RSS feeds and subscription service are to update. Oh well. You'll just have to take my word for it that it was posted on Wednesday.
Steak As much as I like trying new restaurants and going to small, non-chain places, there's something about Steak 'n Shake that does it for Katie and me. And we had to cave into temptation tonight. God that's some good stuff. The only kinda strange thing is that they've recently introduced Kool-Aid flavored milkshakes. Even our waitress wasn't too keen on them. Oh well.
Blanket After Steak 'n Shake, Katie and I went to Aldi for some groceries. While loading the purchases into the bed of my truck, Katie noticed that I had a blanket spread out in the bed. She noted that it looked like I was hiding something.
Me: "It's a body. It's perfect because it's so cold that decomposition is delayed a bit."
Katie: "I knew it!"
Me: "Yeah, there are some things about my family I haven't told you."
Katie: "..."
Brooke I don't know if you've all seen tonight's Criminal Minds yet, but Brooke Smith of Silence of the Lambs and Grey's Anatomy guested as the mother of a kidnapped child. At one point, she's talking to one of the agents who is reassuring her that she's working with the best. She says, "I know." Well, duh, of course you know. You've been helped by the FBI before. Hell, you were even working with the Behavioral Analysis Unit. Back when you were kidnapped by Buffalo Bill and kept in a well and threatened with hoses when you didn't properly lotion your skin. Silly girl.
Lincoln Who ever heard of a trailer for... a book? Well, somebody thought to do it for the new Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith. I was already stoked about this book to the point of pre-ordering it, but if I wasn't, this trailer sure would've sold me on it.
Things We bought our first Blu-Ray DVD today. No, we don't have a Blu-Ray player yet, but for a mere $3 more than the standard DVD edition, we got a combo edition with the standard DVD, Blu-Ray, and digital copy of Where the Wild Things Are. I really like this combo pack idea that some studios are doing (they're also offering a combo pack edition of the Bourne trilogy). Oh, and if this film sucks, @LarsenonFilm will pay dearly. We almost never buy a DVD sight unseen, but I'd read so many good reviews from some of you as well as Josh Larsen's testament that we figured why not. Don't judge us. We really don't buy many DVDs at all anymore.
Well, last week was "under." This week is "over." Kinda weird that I take a themed blogging day and break it into subthemes, isn't it?
Over-
-expectant A friend e-mailed me with the information on the new HTC Android phone that AT&T will be carrying is the HTC Desire. It's supposed to be a slightly upgraded version of the Google Nexus One and without the Google branding. It's such a pretty phone. It seemingly does everything I hope it would do. I just am unsure if it has a physical keyboard or if a touch screen is the only option. We will have to see. But, for now at least, I'm drooling.
-exposed I'm still freaked out about this. In Pennsylvania, a school district that gives all their students a MacBook, activated the built-in iSight cameras and observed a 15-year-old student doing something deemed "improper." He got in trouble as a result. But, when confronted by school officials, they showed him the photo of him doing whatever he did and he recognized it as being taken while he was at home. Now a class-action lawsuit is being started up because what the school did may violate federal and state wiretap and computer intrusion laws. This is nuts. I'm sorry, but this is just wrong. God only knows what I might have been caught doing in high school. Yikes!
-reaching And then there's the kid that got a five-day suspension for his "I hate my teacher" page on Facebook. Some people are claiming that the kid was at home and was entitled to do whatever he wanted on his own time. I'm on the fence about this one. The ACLU or some other group claims that this is no different than talking to friends outside school or on a phone or whatnot. But, in my estimation, it's exactly the same as if the kid wrote a note on his own time and sent it to his teacher. If s/he felt threatened by the note, even written on the student's personal time, the school has every right to act and remove the student for the teacher's safety. Add to that the fact that a couple dozen fellow students became fans of the page and that would potentially add to the perceived threat level. At least that's what I think. You?
-stretched Last week, I was introduced to a killer yoga pose called the Pigeon Pose. I was actually able to go full stretch on that one and hold it for a few minutes. It was a great stretch. But, of course, my legs were killing me for the next couple days until I did the stretch again and all returned to normal. But this is the closest my body has ever come to doing the splits. Bear in mind, although I did do the forward fold, I didn't go full One-Legged King Pigeon or anything. I'd like my body to not hate me entirely, thank you very much.
-dunn This whole "under/over" subtheming reminds me of the crew introduction sequence in Airplane!
I'm feeling in kind of an "under" mood for this Snippet Wednesday.
Under-
-exposed I couldn't believe it when Marty sent me this link to a story about one of the members of The Crystal Method who has been chronicling his tour with pictures of his son's Lego Stormtrooper in the different locales he visits. The trooper is even named Norm. In his case, though, it's for "NormTrooper" whereas mine was "Stormin' Norman," but still. Too creepy. I think my Norm needs to get out a little more.
-shirt I bought a pack of Jockey undershirts a month or so ago without realizing that I normally buy them in tall sizes. Now, after a couple washings each, these things could barely be worn by a toddler and provide full coverage. So, until I have a chance to get back out to a store to buy new ones in the right size (and exchange the one pack I didn't open), I've been wearing T-shirts as undershirts. Last week I used a Blackhawks shirt one day. Yesterday was my Flaming Lips skull shirt from last December's concert. Today is my Ami James skull tattoo shirt. I'm stylin'!
-played The mysterious gift I bought for Katie for her birthday was a new iPod. As you know, her old iPod died and was outside the warranty period. So I got her an iPod Nano and loaded it with music and video for her trips to the gym. Yes, she has an iPhone, which she has used at the gym, but she's always afraid of dropping it in mid-run (this has happened) and that's a bad thing to do to something that expensive. So she's been languishing for some time with the radio at the gym set to some crappy Top 40 station. Ick. That must change. Humanity dictates it!
Oh, and since I ordered it from Apple, I did get it engraved. But that stays between us. ;-)
-mined In an attempt to circumvent Netflix, which has had me on hold for the show Glee for a month now, I asked if my library would order it. I received an e-mail yesterday saying, "Unfortunately, because Glee is a network television show, I
will not be purchasing it." Huh? What the hell does it being a network show have anything to do with it? And what sense does that argument make when you already stock 24, also a supposed network show?
-estimated Lindsey Vonn takes the gold in the Women's Downhill while teammate Julia Mancuso takes silver? NIIIICEEEEE! Way to go, ladies! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
I know I don't usually do a TUA in concert with a Snippet Wednesday since a TUA really is just a Snippet. But since the Snippets are on a theme and this is totally unrelated to that theme, I thought why not.
). It's really a unique album compiled by two artists, Derek Miller and Alexis Krauss, that blends several genres of music styles with Krauss' fantastic vocals. Their album was distributed and is being highly championed by 
