Christmas for my Wife

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/12/26

Shows we've finished.

You can take LOST and The Sopranos off the list of shows that you can't talk to us about.

LOST drives me insane. It's like the show intentionally try to tell you nothing. Every time you think there is going to be a conversation about anything, you get exactly nothing. Oh I'll watch it because that is the sort of person I am, but I'm still angry about it.

Worst thing is people who told me, "oh, lots of things get answered this season". God damn liars. NOTHING gets explained. Nothing that matters anyways.

Wii vs. PS3

Found by Paul:

Offical Start of Winter

It's officially winter today. Do you know why? I fell on my ass after I slipped on some ice in front of our house for the first time today. Like that first robin the denotes the start of spring, me falling on my butt in front of the neighborhood kids really gets me in the winter spirit...

Good Documentary

I watched a documentary this evening called "Cocaine Cowboys". It's about the cocanine drug trade in Miami during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Its really interesting, especially the parts about how they got the drugs in, just how much money these dealers were making, and how that money changed the entire metro-area.

Something to watch.

Flow Chart to Heaven

From Wikipedia:

I'm not making any judgments about the chart below. The nerd in me just thinks it's awesome that someone made a flow chart to describe the Catholic belief of the afterlife:) Now we just need a sequence diagram of the conversations between us and heaven, and maybe a use case about praying and we will be ready to implement AfterLife (tm) v2.0!

Christmas Party Photos

Photos from the Christmas Party:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wilsone9/

And yes, I know my blog is rapidly devolving into nothing more than a photo gallery. Hopefully some actual thoughts by myself or Sue or even Paul will show up here again at some point soon.

Chicago Trip Pictures

Flicker: Chicago Trip Slideshow

Think of the Little People

Below is a picture of my hotel room's door here in Atlanta. These guys think of EVERYTHING!

You know those 747s that NASA uses to move the shuttle from where ever it lands back to Kennedy Space Center? Here is a link to a picture of the mount used to attached the Shuttle to the 747:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Shuttle_mounting_point.JPG

Apparently the guys who built it had a good sense of humor.

Photo's From Mike and Joyce's Wedding

Puppan Wedding Photo Slideshow

Update: Changed the title to include Joyce!

I Know You Were Always Curious

Who would win in a fight between a penguin and a lemur?

Man Hugs

I love this video. Although they show it, they forgot to mention the all important "no crotch touching" rule. Only your sholders should touch.

Christmas is the Time for..

giving, and receiving, and loving your fellow man, and.....

Mint Chocolate M&Ms!


Oh my God do I love mint chocolate M&Ms. I love them so much that right around New Years, I will start hording them so that I can enjoy them for a few more months (this is really true). Yesterday I bought 4 bags just in case there was a huge run on them or something. And each year when I get down to the end of that last bag...well...I go through the full seven stages of grief.

Disbelief: "No worries. I'm sure there is another bag in the house -or- I'm sure they are still selling them at the store"

Denial: "NO!!! There must be another bag somewhere in the house! Where is it?!?!?!?!"

Anger: "Why the fuck don't they make these all year?!?!? WHY?!?!?! DAMN YOU MARS CANDY FOR THIS!"

Bargaining: "I'm sorry MARS. I swear I will never curse your name again if you can just make me a few more bags to get me through the year."

Guilt: "Why didn't I stock up on more bags?!?!?!? Why didn't I eat them just a little slower??"

Depression: "Guess I'll just go back to regular M&Ms. <long sigh>. No, I'm fine. I just want to be left alone for a few days. You might want to take all the sharp items from the room though. And these shoelaces. Just in case..."

Acceptance: "Just think: the Christmas season is starting earlier every year. Soon, I will be able to get them in July!"

Ramblings #8

Still bored. Still in Atlanta.

Jimmy Eat World is not the best band in the world, but I think they have made one of all time favorite songs of all time: My Sundown



Listen to the song first before reading on.

If you can listen to the line "I could be so much more than this....No one cares...I wanna be so much more than this" (starts around 4:00 minute mark) and not feel...well...something, then you are a dead robot. Sorry, but it's the truth.

Every time I hear this song, I feel this urge get out and do something to change the fucking world. I think it is because, deep down, I know that everything I do these days has no bearing on the world. I mean, my last job was great for at least giving me this feeling that, for better or worse, I was having a real honest to god effect on the world through work. And despite what I told people at the time, I think I really liked what my job meant to me: helping (in whatever small way) to rid the world of some really horrible people.

Now what do I do? I fucking help a group like In Touch Ministries process magazine orders faster so that they can process 10,000 orders a day by mail instead of just 5,000. I want to hurt myself for that. In Touch processes so much money through book and magazine orders, not to mention straight up donations that they can afford to have their own TV and radio studios on site, a print design group, warehouse, and do all their own mailing processing in house. I think about how much money I am looking at just in the construction of their offices here and our software ($250,000+ just for our system) and I just can't help but think this money could really be used for something better. Sometime more Christan (if I even know what that means anymore).

It sucks having these feelings........Who needs a drink?

Late night blog

Or early morning blog. It depends on your point of view I guess.

I'm in Atlanta for work just sitting in my hotel thinking about nothing. TV sucks. Internet isn't cutting it. I can't sleep. So I blog.

And you know what I am thinking about? Something that has divided men since it was first invented. Something that can stir men to the greatest of feats and the lowest of low acts. I'm talking, of course, about the push up bra.

Yep: push up bras.

Some men hate the push up bra. They see it as a form of false advertising. Either you got em or you don't, in these men's minds. No fair pretending you do when you don't.

Not me. I love the push up bra. To me, it says, "I have breasts and I want to put them up high so that EVERYONE can see them." Nothing wrong with that! Healthy self conscience is good for you after all. Who doesn't like the idea of a woman who wants you to oogle her breasts? (Of course, they say they don't want you to look. But they do. Why push them up/together otherwise?)

Your thoughts?

Christmas Lights Already?!?!?!?!

WTF?!!?!??!

My neighbor put up Christmas lights today! And I can see in his upstairs window that he already has his Christmas tree up!

Newsflash: IT'S SIX WEEKS TO CHRISTMAS ASSHOLE!

Everyone knows you put Christmas lights up no earlier than the day after Thanksgiving. Its like the law or something.

Ah, that is better...

Eric and I were in dire need of a club night with some great electronic music pumping. Last night we went to the Bleu Room to see Armin Van Buuren, the best fucking DJ in the entire world!! He rules! We saw him in April at Bal en blanc and we wanted to see him again. Ah, we feel better now that we got our taste of great techno music and we shook our booties all night long. It does not hurt that Armin is also a cutie and he always looks like he is having a great time too. He is very audience interactive!

Smoking is Bad for your Breasts

http://arstechnica.com/journals/science.ars/2007/11/04/the-breast-is-best

I now have a new MOST important reason ladies should not smoke: saggy breasts!

From the article:

They examined each patient's medical history, body mass index, pre-pregnancy bra cup size, and smoking status. What they found was that the degree of breast ptosis was no different in women who breastfed compared to those who did not. They did find that the degree of ptosis was related to age, the number of pregnancies, and whether or not a patient smoked.

"Smoking breaks down a protein in the skin called elastin, which gives youthful skin its elastic appearance and supports the breast... so it would make sense that it would have an adverse effect on the breasts", Dr. Rinker concluded.

After reading this, I will NEVER encourage women to smoke again. In fact, if you see me run up to a woman smoking and steal her cigarettes while shouting "YOUR BREASTS WILL THANK ME LATER!", you'll know why.

What the heck happened to the Sun?

What the heck happened to the Sun? I swear it was setting around 7:00 until today. All of the sudden it's 6:00pm and pitch black outside. Bah...

Work is in one of those lull before the big storm moments (I'll be in Atlanta the next two weeks to install beta software), and I never know how to fill these lulls. With Sue gone, I had one of those depressed, sit in my office by myself, and resist the urge to look for pictures of people doing things my mother would not approve of days, read all the blogs I can find, and write email all day. I HATE THESE DAYS.

Give me something to do! LOTS TO DO! I feed off that sense of accomplishment during work when I hit the run button and see some new widget that I built with only my brain and 2 hands come to life on my screeen. Without I feel bored, guilty (for not doing anything), and generally worthless.

Bah....

Recap of last weekend

I have been slow on the blogging recently. The last two weeks were crazy busy between work, Mike and Joyce's wedding stuff and family stuff. Last Friday was the wedding. It was tons of fun. I think Eric and I are the only two that used a real film camera so our pics will come back later. Of course the battery died before the bride came down the aisle :( , so most are from the reception. The wedding was beautiful and Eric and I actually got to walk down the aisle (not together) so that we could pin and rope the bride and groom. Filipino weddings are kinky:)

The reception was a lot of fun. Our table (Nick, Nicole, me, Eric, Monica, Jeff) was right next to the bar so we were never thirsty. Of course Jen, Jay, Dominic and Robert were at the table behind us too, more friends!! The food was great! The music was fun. Of course Eric and I are always the king/queen of line dances of all kinds. We should hire ourselves out to keep dance floors hopping ;) What can we say, we love to dance. It was the reason we first got together.

We were very drunk. We went to the after party and we had to keep hopping hotel rooms cause we kept getting yelled at. It was fun though. Note:Pam help, I cannot get that song out of my head, you know which one :)

Saturday night we had a Halloween party with friends from my job. Eric went as a tattoed Miami ink guy and I went as a make believe, non real witch. It was fun. We drank a lot again. I drank more cause Eric drove. There were alot of creative costumes but ADD Eric only took a million pics of me. Eric lost a game of beer pong to a drunk mummi and his partner pot leaf even though his partner was Jesus! It was funny. There were 3 Britney Spears. One Pregnant white trash, one bald, one cute innocent. Very funny.

Sunday was spent recovering from hangovers :) All in all a great weekend. Monday Eric had to go to Wisconsin for 3 days and I had to work those 3 days. Bah. Sounds like he drank some more though.

Congrats to Mike and Joyce again!!

Quarantine

Our house is officially on quarantine.

I've been so sick the last two days. I should have written blogs about Mike's wedding and our Halloween party and my trip to Wisconsin. Between the three I was drunk 3 out of four days in a row. (What am I? In college?). Instead, all you get is this lame blog about how I am sick with the flu. I could have made it 4 out 5 if it wasn't for hiding in my room the last night in Wisconsin praying that I would not die.

I don't feel well enough to do anything except the following:

1) cudddling up under the blanket on the couch claiming that I am freezing to death.

2) Wake up an hour later sweating like a hooker in chruch.

3) Eat soup.

4) goto step 1.


At least I managed to get Sue sick too. Misery loves company:)

And I know it is wrong, but I'm taking some joy thinking that at least some of those smart ass 13 year old kids you came here last night for candy are now feeling as crappy as I do.

Monkey attacks!

Deputy mayor dies in monkey attack

Wow. It's like The Simpsons episode where they go to Brazil (Blame it On Lisa, my favorite episode by far), but in real life.

And I love this quote from the end, "Over the years, city authorities have employed monkey catchers who use langurs -- a larger and fiercer kind of monkey -- to scare or catch the macaques, but the problem persists."

Why do I get the feeling that in a year or two I will be reading an article with the title "Entire upper parliment of India held hostage in daring monkey raid."

And somewhere in that article will be a quote along the lines of "We do not negotiate with monkeys! Ever! If we give in to their demands for bananas now, they will only demand a better tire swing and more ropes to swing from."

Bachlor Party Recap - Post 2

Bloody, beaten, and smelling like industrial paint, our heroes (and they are heroes! Anyone who returns from war is a hero. No matter how many times he was shot or screamed like a little girl) move on to some more low key events.

2:00pm - Start drinking and playing cards. When Mike complains we are bringing him drinks too fast, I make statement that "if you don't throw up tonight, we haven't done our jobs".

3:00pm - We watch the first five minutes of the MSU/OSU game and immediately assume all is lost (turns out we were right).

3:05pm - Head to Mongolian Barbecue to cook some raw meat.

3:30pm - Mike is deputized as an official boob inspector. He retains the badge the rest of the night.

6:00pm - head to Canada. On the way our car learns the new insult "You know how I know you are gay?" thanks to (1) a discussion of our weight and (2) people who shall remain nameless stating that Journey was a good 80s band.

7:30pm - reach border. Guard asks us where we are going. Kien gives the now immortal answer of "The bachelor party". Not "A bachelor party". Oh no. This is THE bachelor party! Surprisingly, this answer does not get us strip searched. I think unless we actually used the words "bomb" "Canada" and "hockey" all in the same sentence, that guard was not going to stop us.

9:30pm - Check in, get everyone smelling sort of fresh (as fresh as people who have eaten at MBQ can), and head out to the strip club.

10:00pm - Arrive at Million Dollar Salon. Place is dead, prices are way too much for drinks, and worse they only have 6 girls on rotation at the moment. Boo! On the plus side, I will say they had some impressively flexible girls:)

10:15pm - Start survey of the table of what they like best about chicks: Tits, ass, or legs? In a shocking (at least to me) result, tits and ass are tied at 4 each and legs gets one vote.

10:30pm - We've seen the entire rotation, so we decide we need a new venue. Head out to Rush Bar to get drunk on cheap beer ($2 for a Molsen? Sign me up!)

11:00 - 1:30pm - Everyone gets good and drunk. Mike is a complete pimp. He single handily gets girls to talk to each of the single guys in our party and manages to get 5 girls to dance for him. Committed guys keep getting crappy test tube shots from this incredibly tall/hot waitress. So easy to get us to do stuff when you dress like that! The other waitress is even hotter (schoolgirl outfit and pigtails!) but I just cannot bring myself to buy her girlie drinks.

I only vaguely remember what went on here. I do remember alcohol causing me to have ADHD and wandering around all over the bar. Also, while I was not quite the pimp that Mike was, I certainly was feeling no fear of chicks by this point.

1:30pm - OK, time to get our boy some lap dances. We head to Cheetahs (now THAT is a strip club name!) and are immediately glad we did.

2:00pm - Mike's gotten two lap dances.

2:05pm - Mike is throwing up in the bathroom.

2:30pm - Jeff, Mike, Josh, and I head back to the hotel to crash. Mike is wiped from throwing up and I'm just flat out tired.

I know other things happened, but I was fast asleep in my room after this. Make them write a blog if you want to know.

Bachlor Party Recap

Mike is officially ready for marriage now that we have had his bachelor party. Some of it is a bit hazy for me, but here is what I remember:

9:00am - Arrive for our manly event of the day: paintball!!!! Manly-ness some what reduced by all the whining about how fucking early it is.

9:30am - Finally have all the equipment and paint and all the rules explained to us. We all decide to not enforce their standard 20' rule (this will haunt us later). Time to go to war!!!! We divide up into teams as follows:

Team A (winners)
Konrad
Eric
Sergei
Sasha
Jeff

Team B (losers)
Mike
Kien
Josh
Chris
Frank

First event: Attack the house. One team defends a flag behind a small house. The other is trying to take the flag or kill all the defenders. The house is surrounded by trees and a lot of old cars. Team A defends first.

9:35am - Kien is the first guy hit. And boy is he HIT: 2 shots right to the top of the head. He looks like a candy raver for the rest of the morning :)

9:45am - Defenders manage to kill all the attackers just before time runs out (I'm the only defender left). Teams switch positions.

9:46am - three guys on my team are picked off in the first minute while running in the open. Defenders laugh and point at us.

9:55am - Once again, I'm the last one left alive, but this time it's 4 on 1. I'm starting to think the 20' rule might have been a good idea. The 4 have me pinned behind a car, and I can't see where anyone is.

10:01am - I call them pussies to try and get them out in the open.

10:02am - There haven't been many shots, so I start to stick my head up to see what is going on. Mike has snuck up to about 15' feet away and blasts me in the forehead. I scream "OOOOWWWWWW!!!THAT HURT!!!!" Leave pride on the field and continue to next field.

10:30am - Next field is the "pipe field". Shorter field with lots of PVC pipes set up mostly at random to act as barriers. Team A consistently dominates this field. Some of it is lucky shots and some is better strategy.

11:30am - Next field is the "Lego" field. Lots of large plastic boxes strewn around the field, with a set of PVC pipes running along each side of the field. Once again, team A dominates (with one exception). We consistently take control of one side or another of the field, then proceed to roll up the rest of field killing everyone.

noon - Ref suggests we try one final game for the bachelor called "zombie". Mike and Konrad defend a castle (with all the expected ramparts and higher levels). Everyone else starts at middle of the field and attacks the defenders. Attackers only die from head shots, and they only have to run back to the middle of the field before attacking again. Go until the defenders cry uncle.

All I will say is that it was ugly. We clocked in a twisted ankle, several shots to the hands, head, and masks, and a painful shot to the groom's neck that finally ended the game.

12:30pm - Last event. Last man standing tournament. Mike was way ahead in kills, but in the end Josh got in a lucky shot from across the field to finish the winner.

1:00pm - Tired, sore, sporting welts that look like cigar burns, and all thanking our lucky stars we never took a shot in the goodies, we head to Mike's uncle's house for a little R&R.

Tomorrow: Second half of our night.

Colbert For President

Can Colbert actually get on the ballot?

TUESDAY DRUNK BLOG

IT'S TUESDAY! AND WE'RE DRUNK!

ON WINE! FTW!

And now we are going to have SEX!

Engineer Nerdiness in Cooking

Yesterday I had another of those "why I know I'm a science dork" moments.

I was cooking a 3 lbs ham in our oven. For those who don't know, you cook ham by putting it in a glass baking pan, add a cup of water, and covering it in tin foil. Then you cook it for 20 minutes per pound at 325 degrees.

Ok, so now that we have that out of the way, here is the nerdy science part:

- The temperature inside the oven is above the boiling point of water (212 degrees)
- The ham is sitting in a glass container and surrounded by tin foil. Both conduct heat very well.
- The ham was in the oven for an hour and 20 minutes.
- When I took the ham out, there was still a lot of water in the bottom of the pan.

So my nerdy science question is "why didn't all the water boil away?"

I have no idea. But the fact that I even thought it tells me that I must be a science dork.

Shows We're Watching

Sue and I are loving this new season of TV. So far we are watching all of these shows:

LIFE - Weird, but I like it. The lead character's Zen approach is a nice and interesting touch. Plus, it has already had a wet t-shirt scene on the hot DJ chick from The L-Word.

Pushing Daisies - We watched the pilot yesterday. The writing is excellent and the acting is phenomenal. My only issue is I have trouble figuring out where this show is going to go over the course of a year.

Chuck - I like any show were a nerd is a hero with a really hot chick as a side kick. Of course, the premise is completely ridiculous.

Dexter - Good God this show is good. Sue already wrote a blog about this, but I have to agree that it is my single favorite show on TV right now.

The Big Bang Theory - This one is my guilty pleasure of the season so far. It's all streotypes of nerds, but its really FUNNY sterotypes of nerds:)

Ready for a Woman?

Sue and I were watching a segment on the The Daily Show the other day where they were making fun of all the news networks for asking the question, "Is America ready for a woman president?"

Huh?

Sometime I swear English is a second language to me. I don't even understand what this question is asking. Ready? Ready for what? What exactly do we have to prepare for? I'm a little angry that we even ask stupid questions like this anymore.

Its like asking if we are mentally capable of considering the possibility of a human without a penis giving State of the Union addresses. I mean, I know TV executives as a rule have a low opinion of the IQ of the average TV watcher (they're not the only ones), but still!

28 hours to crazy and your Mom

I seriously thought about trying this before I read the disclaimer (hover over the comic to see):

http://xkcd.com/320/

MSU is Ranked!

MSU football made to #23 in the USA Today poll! WOOOOOO!

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/rankingsindex

And before you ask: Yes, it IS sad that all it takes is MSU making into the top 25 on one poll to make us MSU fans excited.

In other football news: GOD DAMN Fantasy football FRACK BITCH CRAP!

Donovan McNabb had a combined total of just 23 FF points for the first two weeks, so I cut him for this week. Made sense right? My backup was Vince Young, so I thought it made sense. Young was playing New Orleans, who's D has not held up to any team so far this season, and the Eagles were playing Detroit, who have had a decent defense so far.

You can see where this is heading...

Donovan McNabb scored 43 FF points this week against the Lions. Young only got me 18. FRACK! With those extra points I would have won this week and moved into second in the league. Instead, I'm down to 5th place.

I've since realized my mistake: never bet that the Detroit Lions will show up and play a game.

Annual Complaining about the Christmas Season

Mi-Oyce's recent post about Christmas retailers reminded me it time for my annual complaining about the Christmas season post:

FUCKING Target with their Christmas lights already on sale.

First off, its still technically summer you nut jobs.

Second, what crazy person shops for Christmas lights in September? I mean, what the hell is your target demographic here? I'm thinking shoplifters, manics, and folks who have WAY too much fucking time on their hands. Who else on the entire planet would shop for outdoor decorations 3 months before you need them?

They're not even on sale. Who the fuck buys them 3 months before they need them at full price?

Short update on the Wilson's

* Work is kicking my ass lately. I'm starting to get work associated with the "competence" penalty. i.e., I know how to do my job, so I get more and more work. I need a vacation again.

* Sue is working what seems like every weekend this month. Boooo! If anyone has ANYTHING interesting to do on weekend evenings, please call me. Seriously.

* Played in a World Series of Euchre event with Kien last weekend. First day was all right. We played well except for a few mental mistakes that really cost us. That second day though...I don't think it mattered what we did. The god of cards was just flat out mocking us. We were euchred on bad hands, good hands, even a loner. Sigh...

It was so bad we went to Hooters to de-stress ourselves at lunch. I did manage to get our waitress to remove her shirt and let me take it home, so that made me feel better about myself:) (she let me win in a hula-hoop contest, but lets just forget that part and come up with a better story about how I got a shirt off a Hooter's girl).

New awesome tv show

Eric and I started watching Dexter from Showtime. The first season started last year so we ordered over Netflix. We are half way through and we both love it!! The new season begins on the 30th so we are going to get Showtime to watch a show we like in real time for once. The premise is Dexter, played by Michael C. Hall, is a cop by day and a serial murderer in his spare time. Dexter works in the forensics lab in the Miami police department and specializes in blood spatter of course because he is likes blood. Dexter is a different kind of serial killer though because he only kills wrong doers and he usually goes after people that have slipped through the legal system on a technicality. He is a loveable serial killer. It is a different kind of character and the show is very well written with some dark comedy thrown in for fun. The psychology of the show is very intriguing because as a psycho, Dexter is very self aware. His look on life is interesting.

We loved Michael C. Hall in Six Feet Under as David and it was hard to see him as someone different in the first few minutes but he really plays Dexter well. I also have to say that he looks hot in this show. He is tan, built up a bit and just has a sexy look about him.

You know what day it is

It is the anniversary of a bad day for America but we can not dwell on it. We can stop for a few minutes to pay respect so as not to forget but, we have to move on, be strong and make better decisions to enhance our country and the rest of the world. We need to stop making mistakes. We need to stop fighting wars just because we feel like it. We need to stop living the greedy lifestyle Americans love. Stop driving that hummer 2 blocks so that you look cool. Stop wasting so many resources and stop producing so much waste and pollution. That will help fight terroism. Stop hating people because they do not look like you or believe in what you believe in or live your lifestyle. America shows themselves as a hating country when we judge our own people and deny them rights. We need to end that. We need to fix our own country first and stop situations like VT and Columbine from even being considered. No one is right, just stop arguing and live in peace. LIVE! Stop wasting time arguing. All people are people and we all die one day and all of our bodies look the same when they are rotting. We are all made of the same cells. No one is better than the other. Stop praying for people and actually get your ass out there and do something!!

I am going to stop ranting and raving. I thought of closing with John Lennon and his lyrics to "Imagine" which you all know. Those words are still very true and are something to live by. Just think how long ago he wrote this song and still we find ourselves in the same hate controlled world with no hope for resolve. That is just sad. Instead I leave with the lyrics to a Linkin Park about our current situation. The first time I heard it it touched me so and it was like a dart in my heart...

"Hands Held High" by Linkin Park:

Turn my mike up louder I got to say something
Light weights step to the side when we come in

Feel it in your chest the syllables get pumping
People on the street they panic and start running

Words on loose leaf sheet complete coming
I jump in my mind and summon the rhyme, I'm dumping

Healing the blind I promise to let the sun in
Sick of the dark ways we march to the drum and

Jump when they tell us that they wanna see jumping
Fuck that I wanna see some fists pumping

Risk something, take back what's yours
Say something that you know they might attack you for

Cause I'm sick of being treated like I have before
Like it's stupid standing for what I'm standing for

Like this war's really just a different brand of war
Like it doesn't cater the rich and abandon poor

Like they understand you in the back of the jet
When you can't put gas in your tank

These fuckers are laughing their way to the bank and cashing the check
Asking you to have compassion and have some respect

For a leader so nervous in an obvious way
Stuttering and mumbling for nightly news to replay

And the rest of the world watching at the end of the day
In their living room laughing like "what did he say?

"[Chorus]Amen
Amen
Amen
Amen
Amen[End Chorus]

In my living room watching but I am not laughing
Cause when it gets tense I know what might happen

World is cold the bold men take action
Have to react or get blown into fractions

Ten years old it's something to see
Another kid my age drugged under a jeep

Taken and bound and found later under a tree
I wonder if he had thought the next one could be me

Do you see the soldiers they're out today
They brush the dust from bullet proof vests away

It's ironic at times like this you pray
But a bomb blew the mosque up yesterday

There's bombs in the buses, bikes, roads
Inside your market, your shops, your clothes

My dad he's got a lot of fear I know
But enough pride inside not to let that show

My brother had a book he would hold with pride
A little red cover with a broken spine

On the back, he hand-wrote a quote inside
When the rich wage war it's the poor who die

Meanwhile, the leader just talks away
Stuttering and mumbling for nightly news to replay

And the rest of the world watching at the end of the day
both scared and angry like "what did he say?
"[Chorus]Amen
Amen
Amen
Amen
Amen

With hands held high into a sky so blue
As the ocean opens up to swallow you

With hands held high into a sky so blue
As the ocean opens up to swallow you

With hands held high into a sky so blue
As the ocean opens up to swallow you

With hands held high into a sky so blue
As the ocean opens up to swallow you

With hands held high into a sky so blue
As the ocean opens up to swallow you
With hands held high into a sky so blue
As the ocean opens up to swallow you[End Chorus]

Something for the Michigan Fans

I think I can sum up my feelings on the Michigan / Oregon game in one sentence:

"Now you know what its feels like to be a MSU fan."

Welcome to the other side.

One thing I will say though: When we lose we usually don't boo our own team. Or look like someone just shot our mother on national TV. No no.

We drink! Of course, we do that when we win too...

Oh, and I have to comment on Hart's statement that he guarantees they will beat Notre Dame next week:

"Whup-de-freaken-do"

Have you seen Notre Dame this year? They suck. Like a vacuum on overdrive suck. They haven't scored an offensive touchdown in TEN quarters. That's 2 and half games for those slow at math. I doubt they could have beaten Appalachian State either. Hell, my high school's football team could probably beat them, and we were only a 1A school:) Brighton would definitely beat them:)

The Smiths?

All the music ever made in the entire history of the world, and you decide to remake The Smiths "Stop Me"? Again, I thought the point of being in music was to get laid...

Original:



Mark Ronson (He's a tool):

Shocking!

CNN.com: Men want hot women, study confirms

CNN is also reporting that, in a shocking finding, children like candy.

Not only is the title so obvious that you can't help but feel like it is an insult to our intelligence, I love the "story highlights":

• Men are much less choosy than women
• Women are aware of the importance of their own attractiveness to men

I'm shocked. SHOCKED I TELL YOU!

Off to a Red State

I'm off to Omaha, Nebraska today for work again. Because my company has suddenly become cheap when it comes to plane tickets ("What do you mean you won't accept the $1200+ tickets I picked? Budgets? What are those?"), I had to get up way too f#$%ng early today. Dawn wasn't even out when I got up( 4:30am). Hell, dawn wasn't even out when I got to the airport (5:50am). Stupid lazy dawn...

Anyways, onto a totally different note about air travel: I was thinking today that despite all this jet setting I do, I don't really know where any of these places I go are. I mean, I know what state Omaha is in, and I could even point to it on a map (Me smart, see?).

But if you asked me where in the state Omaha is, I would have no idea. Same for Wausau, our company headquarters. I've been there half a dozens times, but when asked by Sue's friends who live in Wisconsin where Wausau is, all I could do was avoid eye contact and pretend I didn't hear the question. And then came the drooling and the covering my ears and singing really loud so I didn't hear the question again. It was embarrassing to say the least.

My Two Favorite Teams

I've got a new 2nd favorite college football team:

APPALACHIAN STATE!

The only bad things was that the game wasn't televised, so I couldn't watch U of M lose to a division I-AA school!

Sue's late blog

Set list:

*Too Much

*Dream Girl

*You Might Die Trying

*Stir It Up [tease] Crush

*#27

*Corn Bread

*Don’t Drink the Water

*Grey Street

*Gravedigger +Eh Hee

*The Idea Of You

*Stand Up [For It]

*~Jimi Thing

*Louisiana Bayou

*Everyday

*Stay (Wasting Time)

*#40 [tease]

Encore:

+So Damn Lucky

+All Along The Watchtower *
Show Notes:

+ Dave Solo

~ Joe Lawlor

So last week Eric and I went to the Dave Matthews Band concert at Pine Knob (DTE amplitheatre) without Sippie (long, nerdy story). Pete Yorn opened for them and they were pretty cool. I knew nothing about him before seeing him. He had 5 guitarists which was cool.

Then there was a 30 minute rain/severe thunderstorm delay. Dave Matthews came onto the stage by himself and basically said that this storm was something you shouldn't fool around with so everyone on the lawn should come into the pavilion to seek shelter while it storms and then they would start once everyone was back in there spots. Great idea!! Not! After the storm the ushers tried to get people out but a lot of bitches decided to stay in the pavilion. There were three 17 year old hoes, who did not know any of the songs, that decided to stand in our row in front of people. No one else decided to say anything so when one of the chicks thought of moving in front of Eric and I, I said "No way. Do you have a ticket for here?" <dumb nod>"Yeah right, there is no room for this bull. I do not think so." So she sheepishly scooted out of our area and kept looking at me when she thought of scooting over. Yeah that is right I threw down. I was ready to throw their asses out when Eric said it is fine. Just leave it. Usually I sit back and take it but I was sick of bitchy hoes trying to ruin my concerts; but I digress.

All in all Dave Matthews Band put on a great show as always as music goes. I gotta say though, I am disappointed in their stage decorations and light show. They had signs every where about how green their tour was and then they have hundreds of bright, blind the audience lights. They also had 3 large video screens behind the band that half the time displayed the band playing in close up and the other half had these stupid images that were supposed to go with the songs. The whole set made me think "Sell out". It should be about the music not the huge lights and video especially with a band with so much talent.

Blame Everyone But the Voters

Know what I hate most about this time of year? The completely STUPID things that candidates will say to try and get votes/attention. For example, the topic of interest at the moment is the meltdown in the sub-prime mortgage market. From the Economist:

Turning up the populist rhetoric, Hillary Clinton has promised to clamp down on “unscrupulous brokers” and wants to give $1 billion to states to help homeowners avoid losing the roof over their heads. John Edwards would produce legislation to regulate “predatory” mortgage lenders and ensure borrowers only receive loans they can afford. Earlier this year Barack Obama called for a “homeowners preservation summit”.

What I'm confused about is why the broker is getting blamed for you not paying your mortgage? Is it their fault you borrowed too much? Or that the housing market fell?

The broker gains nothing if you default. Most brokers resell your loan to other institutions so they have no interest one way or another if you default. By the time you do most don't even own your loan anymore.

Even if they did, I'm still confused why they are "predatory" if they lend you more than you can afford. Isn't it YOUR job to figure out what you can afford? The brokers job is to try and get you a good rate on the amount you want to borrow. Its not to tell you how much to borrow. That's your job!

Computers Hate Me

The hard drive on my work PC died this weekend. No warnings, no weird sounds, just poof. I turn it off Saturday night it is working fine. I turn it on Sunday morning, hear a bunch of horrible sounds and get an error saying the drive could not be read from.

FUCK!

Of course I'm not backing up data at a regular interval. Just kind of whenever I think of it. So I now I have a bunch of code projects up on our servers that are half checked in and half old code.

FUCK!

And I'm never going to remember what I have changed and not changed because we use the dumbest source control system on earth. Since it has no idea what files I had checked out, I'm at this weird state where I know somethings are not right. I just don't know where those changes were or how to go about putting them in anymore.

FUCKIDY FUCK FUCK!

Why I Can't Vote for Mitt Romney

I cannot believe this tool won the Iowa straw poll the other day. I mean, I realize that the Iowa Straw Poll is basically who can pay the most people to show up to vote. Even so, I'm shocked that Republicans can vote for this guy. I list myself as an independent, and there is no way this guy can get my vote. The list is so long I have to document here just in case anyone else was thinking he was alright.

1) In 1983, he locked his dog in a kennel on top of his car for a 12 hour road trip. OK, (A) that is just plain cruel. I don't care how you try to spin it, no dog likes to trapped in a small box for 12 hours. And (b), turns out I'm not the only one who thinks that: carrying an animal on the roof of your car is actually against the law in Massachusetts as a form of as cruel and inhuman treatment. (In the interest of full disclosure, it was not illegal at the time of the incident).

His defense? "The carrier was airtight". WELL LA DE DA! That makes it all better now. So not only was he on top of a moving car for twelve hours, he was in the dark the entire time? They should put you up for sainthood! A wise man once said "Judge not a man by how he treats his equals, but by how he treats those he views as inferior". Well, I'm judging...

From an interview with Fox News where he tries to explain it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvE5Qm_SQ0c

2) When asked if his sons are now or ever have been in the armed forces, his answer was no, but "One of the ways that my sons are showing support for our nation is helping me get elected because they think I'd be a great president."

Seriously? You're going to compare helping you get elected with the guy in Iraq worried about getting his legs blown off from an IED? You have the balls to even show up at campaign events after saying that?

And bull shit explanation for this one: "Oh, I misspoke there." No shit!

3) He's a flip flopper, but that only seems to matter when a Democrat is running. First off, I don't have anything against changing your mind on a subject. I'm all for it. Honestly, I thought the whole idea that being able to take in new information and come to a new conclusion was some how a bad thing was a strange tactic all the way around.

So my problem with Mitt Romney is not that he is a flip-flopper. My problem is that Republicans all of the sudden don't seem to care that Romney was pro-choice, pro-gay rights, and pro-universal health care when he was governor of Massachusetts, but is suddenly pro-life, pro-gay rights, pro-universal health care now that he is running for President.

From his 1994 debate with Ted Kennedy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9IJUkYUbvI

Lets be honest: the guy is changing his stances now not because he had this big change of heart. It's because you cannot get elected in Massachusetts if you are not liberal. But when you are running for the Republican nomination, you have to bend over backwards for the moral majority or you can't win the primary. The real question is which one is he REALLY?

Vegas Day 3

Final night in Vegas.

8:30am - As always, I wake up around 8:30 in the morning. Head down to the poker room for some 2-4 limit hold'em while Sue sleeps.

10:30am - Sue calls me to tell me she is awake and I should make my way back around noon. I'm down $75 when she calls, but manage to claw back to $34 down by the time I get up and head back.

noon - After a quick lunch, its off for more sight-seeing. Today we are hitting up my two favorite casinos on the strip: Venetian and Paris. First stop is the Venetian.

1:00pm - We wander over to TI since it is nearby.



Best thing about TI: They sell Bacardi and Coke in slurpee form! You know I couldn't resist that! Now that we are liquored up a bit, we can move on.

After some more wandering into various casinos, we head back for a simple dinner.

8:00pm - Time for drinking Eric and Sue to shine! Tonight we have decided to try something different and head to the Carnaval Court bar at Harrahs. Its a outdoor bar with a live band every night. This night it was a great hard rock cover band. The only bad thing is that it is an outside bar and it was still 85+ when we go out. Still, we had our funniest night in Vegas ever. We drank, we sang, we danced, and, stupidly, we took pictures flashing gangsta signs because we were hella drunk. I not going to say anything about the walk home because it was both painful and a little gross. Lets just say that people drinking Long Island Ice Teas should remember they are made with 4 shots each:)

Vegas - Day 2

Day two of our Vegas trip:

8:30am - Wake up way too early due to excitement of Vegas. Rather than wake Sue up, I read in the bathroom for a half hour.

10:00am - We are clean, crisp, and ready to go. Head out on the town. First stop, pretzel at New York, New York. They are ALMOST as delicious as the ones at Grand Central;)

11:00am - We wander over to MGM to watch the lions. By sheer luck, we show up just as they are coming out, so we get a good spot.

12:30 - After some lunch and meeting up with the family, we start our first sight-seeing day. First stop, rampant commercialism at the M&M store! And, yes, it IS true what they say about the green ones;)

1:00pm - First stop on the tour: Bellagio. We wander around for a bit, then head to the best part of Bellagio: the authentic gelato shop. Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good. I think I might have had a mini orgasm on that first bite.

4:00 pm - We've hit up Caesars Palace and Flamingo. On the way back, we get some good drinks at Margaritaville at the Flamingo. I think this is the latest I've been sober in Vegas.

6:00pm - We've napped for a bit so it's time for dinner. Head over to MGM again for dinner at the rain forest cafe (shut up; Yea, we are tourists. I blame Sue's family). At least they make decent fruity drinks for the wife. I get beer. I'm not drinking anything that comes with an umbrella.

9:00pm - Separate from the family. Time to really get our drink on! Sue and I have made it our tradition to see NY NY's local band Phoenix at least once while in Vegas. Lots of good 80s rock. We have plenty to drink and lots of great sing-along moments. Our waitress sucks though. She disappears every 20 minutes to do God knows what. I assume smoke breaks, but this Vegas. It could be almost anything to be honest.

1:00am - Tired and sore (I haven't walked this much in the last 3 months), we retreat to our hotel room to pass out.

Vegas Blogs

Sorry I've been slow with Vegas Blogs. My niece and nephew are in town and taking up all our time. I promise the rest tonight or tomorrow.

Vegas 2007 - Day 1

We're back from our 3 days in Las Vegas. Here is our recap of day 1:

5:30pm - Arrive in Vegas and head to the Excalibur. After the usual check-in, unpack, bitch about the god damn time-share sales people cycle, we head down to meet Sue's family.



7:00pm - Head to Dicks Last Resort, the sort of restaurant where the waiter mocks you, forces you to wear a funny hat, and you pay them to do it with a smile. Here for example was Sue's hat:

Sue and I have plenty of drinks and then head out to see some night sights with the family.

9:00pm - We make it down to the Bellagio and watch the water cannon show. At least no one looks down on me for drinking in public this time.

10:00pm - Make it down to the Mirage to watch the Volcano. <Bevis voice>FIRE! YEA!</bevis voice> The family is tired by this point, so we call it a night.

11:30pm - heading back up to the room. By this point I'm just pretending the time-share people don't exist.

Simpson Version of me

Simpsonized versions of Sue and I:

That sounds delicous AND sexy

Someday soon, I hope this will be me:

http://www.bugbash.net/comic/116.html

53 hours and 20 minutes to go

All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Eric a dull boy.

etc, etc, etc.

Vegas next week

It's like 2:00 in the morning, but I can't sleep for whatever reason. I think I'm too excited for our trip to Vegas next week! Wooooo!!!! Viva Las Vegas baby! Fear the awesome power of Eric and Sue drunk from 2:00pm on! Sue's sisters are in for quite an eye opening experience with me. I'll have to keep the drinking around them to a minimum. Oh well. We already told them to assume that if they make plans that require me to be anywhere before noon, they might as well just count me out.

Lately I'm hating this working at home thing. Yea, the "no pants" days are alright. But damn it I want to TALK to people sometimes. Just to joke about stuff or argue about politics. Sue and I have pretty much the same politics, except that I would say Sue is a little more liberal than I am in a few places.

I guess what I am saying is that I am bored with my life at the moment. I love Sue and I love spending time with her, but I miss seeing other people. The Detroit peeps are awesome of course, but the fact that we live 45 minutes away limits what can actually happen on a random Wednesday night or whatever.

And you know what else? I'm sick of myself whining about this and then not doing anything about it. I feel like I'm stuck in the never ending cycle where I complain about stuff in my life but I never actually do anything about it. Like lately I have been complaining (mostly to myself) that I have started to get a little pudgy around the middle. Do I exercise? No. Do I eat different? Nope. It's like I'm trying to change myself by just wishing shit was different. We all know how well THAT is going to turn out.

Fuck, I need to get motivated. That's my real problem. I'm not motivated enough to change yet. I feel like a drug addict watching my life disappear around me. Only I don't even have smack to blame for slowly dragging my spirit down.

This blog started out so happy. How did I end up here? Oh well, its late and I need to get some sleep I guess. Stupid brain dump.

More Spider Pig

You will need to have iTunes installed for this one, but trust me that it is worth it.

Hans Zimmer - Spider Pig

Can you believe this is the 90th most popular download this week?

West Coast! You Dig!

Good Work Crew!

A very successful and packed 4 days this weekend:

Friday - TGI Fridays and Simpsons movie. Spider Pig and teeny boppers. Like Oh MY GOD! Seriously! Shut up!

Saturday - Bowling for Rhinos, a fund raiser for the Detroit Zoo. Fun bowling, plus Mike won $300+ dollars on the 50/50 raffle (all of which are going to his wedding planner to ensure he gets his hand job on the wedding day). And white music that even I was ashamed of (I'm looking at you Sue, Mike and Pam!).

Sunday - Drove up to my uncle's cabin in the middle of nowhere Michigan to celebrate my cousin's graduation from high school. Rode jet skis, played Euchre, chatted with family, and watched my 18 year old cousin get wasted with parental blessing. Also, I think this may have been the very first time I have ever really drank in front of my parents. That was only a little weird. Plus my alcoholic cousin (a different one), is sitting there the whole time watching as I drink. I felt a little bad that I was drinking right in front of her, but f#$k it. I'm not the one with a problem, so why should I have to stop drinking? (really! no problems here!)

Monday - Drive back from Middle of Nowhere. About half way into this 3 1/2 hour drive, my mom runs over a large 2x6 board that was in the middle the of the freeway for God only knows what reason. Pops a tire AND bends the rim. Nice...My dad had to drive 60 MPH the whole way home.

Don't drink the water, there is earth's blood in the water

It is no secret that I have become even more hippie lately. I am on board full force to stop global warming. I saw this link on CNN and it angered me:

"Aquafina labels to spell out source - tap water"

Why is America so stupid? Why do Americans continue to buy bottled water? It is fucking water! Walk to your damn sink, turn on the faucet and get a glass of water! It is just that easy! We are basically telling our city water departments to keep on being lazy and stop keeping the tap water clean. All of the bottled water companies just filter tap water anyway and then they resell it to you with at least a 1000% markup. Have you ever seen any of these so called springs some of the companies claim to get water from. Buying water just seems imbecilic . It is an all time low for the world. Plus the health of the world is suffering because with bottled water you do not get the nutrients like flouride, iron, calcium, and magnesium that you need to function. Trust me. Most of the patients I see have low levels of these and we have to replace them.

The bottles themselves are wasteful and then most of America doesn't even recycle them. Plastic is an oil derivative and is very wasteful to produce. This is from Wikipedia for bottled water:

"The annual global consumption of bottled water in 2004 is 154 billion liters, [2] up 57 percent from the 98 billion liters consumed five years earlier. Though the materials used are generally recyclable, 90% of bottles are not recycled. The Pacific Institute calculates that the process of making the plastic for the water bottles consumed in the U.S. uses approximately 20 million barrels of oil per year (Harpers Magazine, July 2007). Overall, the average energy cost to make the plastic, fill the bottle, transport it to market and then deal with the waste would be "like filling up a quarter of every bottle with oil." (Peter Gleick, an expert on water policy and director at the Pacific Institute in Oakland, California.(Seattle P.I.)"

The think outside the bottle campiagn is a good website to go and get info about the bottled water companies and where they get their water from.

We can stop global warming if we as humans just open our eyes and see the waste that is right in front of us. We have to stop with the American way of thinking that everything is roses if there is not a big gun pointed at us. Our generation and those after us need to change things!! Please don't help kill the earth, there is no other planet out there.

"Nine planets round the sun Only one does the sun embrace Upon this watered one So much we take for granted" Dave Matthews Band - One Sweet world

GOOOAALLLLLLL... BOOM!

I'm really tired. Please take what I say in this post with a grain of salt.

CNN.com - Baghdad bombers target soccer celebrations, killing at least 50

WTF is wrong with these people? Stories like this sometimes make me think for a brief moment that we should just move all our troops out of Iraq, then bomb it until it was a big sheet of glass. People who would do something like this deserve no mercy and will never ask for it anyways.

Sigh...

Homer Simpson for President

The Wire

Sue and I have added The Wire to the growing list of shows we don't want people to spoil later seasons of for us.

We just finished Season 1, and I have to tell that this is the best cop drama I have ever seen. In addition to all the usual violence, drama, and cop stuff, it gives you a chance to bone up on your ghetto slang. If you talk to me and I let out a "Holla back at me shorty" or "WEST SI-EEEEDE!", you will know why.

I'd go far as to say this first season was better than most of the "The Sopranos" seasons. If you have a Netflix/Blockbuster card, go rent the first season tonight.

Simpsons Movie Friday!

Is it Friday yet? Is it Friday yet? Is it Friday yet? Is it Friday yet?Is it Friday yet? Is it Friday yet? Is it Friday yet? Is it Friday yet? Is it Friday yet? Is it Friday yet? Is it Friday yet? Is it Friday yet? Is it Friday yet?

Can you tell I am excited for The Simpsons Movie?



Update: Had to remove that damn movie because it was constantly playing every time I went to the blog to check for comments (which is about every half hour or so).

I am ready to rock!!!!

Saturday night Eric and I took my two little sisters to the Bad boys of Rock tour at the Chesaning Showboat which takes place in my lame hometown of Chesaning. Now generally they have lame acts that only old and rotting people enjoy and they never sell out. Of course the only day they have ever sold out was this year with this night of rock. Maybe they will continue and have more good bands, but I digress.

This was the first time ever that so many swear words were screamed out at the Showboat because my hometown is lame and "Conservative". It was great! The tour had 4 bands. The Exies a smaller band that I have never heard of opened. They were pretty good. Next was Buckcherry. Do I need to say anymore? They fuckin rocked! My favorite song by them, "Crazy bitch". Next was Paparoach and they always fucking rock!! They were my favorite band of the 4. The headliner was Hinder. They were pretty cool, although they were the lamest of the three bands. It was a pretty cool concert overall. It was fun screaming a lot of swear words and jamming to a lot of songs about sex and drugs in the spot that I graduated from high school!

After the concert, Eric and I met up with my best friend from high school Mo and here hubby Tim who were also at the concert. We headed over to the Oakley Family Tavern, a small bar in the neighboring town. Oakley is so small that if you blink you miss it. All they have is a gas station and two bars. The Family Tavern is awesome because #1 the alcohol is dirt cheap and #2 the kitchen is open until 1:30 am. A small mug of Amber Boch draft was $1. Yeah that is right, $1!! And a Jack and Coke was $1.50! It was so awesome! The rule is that everytime you buy a drink you have to talk about how cheap it is. Everyone buys each other drinks cause it is so cheap. It was a great weekend.

New Look

Yea, we have new look here. Sort of a subtle update to the existing blog. The main reason is for the snazzy new voting module that Blogger added. And the better looking calender. And the fact that I just like new stuff.

I'll leave you with the wisdom of P. Diddy: "VOTE OR DIE!"

Charle Scrubs Christmas

Charlie Brown Christmas - Performed by the Cast of Scrubs

Ah, the combination of my favorite christmas show and my favorite TV series. Now that's what I'm talking about!

Fear Tactics to the Rescue!

Experts warn of lightning-strike injuries with iPods

Seriously? This is what CNN.com chooses to put on their front page? A story about people being injured by their iPod while being struck by lightning? I can picture just how this story got approved...

Reporter: I've got this idea for a story about people being hit by lightning.

Editor: Yawn... Lightning? Lightning?!?!? Who cares about lightning? Its been going on forever. What's new to say?

Reporter: Well, see, I've got this angle to involve the iPod and some other...

Editor: APPROVED!

The worst thing is that the article mentions a grand total of two cases of people injured by lightning while wearing iPods. Two. Two cases in the last six years and I should be even thinking about this? Why I am wasting brain cells on this again? And the article even mentions that it is nothing specific to iPods. Nothing like "iPods make it more likely you will be struck". Just the fact that having ANY electronic device nearby will make the burn worse. So why does the title focus on the iPod? Oh right, because that will get people scared. Scared enough to read this boring and pointless article.

President free to violate law as long as he is not caught

I'm baffled by the logic of this one:

Yahoo News: Court dismisses lawsuit on spying program

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled that the ACLU could not bring suit alleging that warrantless wiretapping is illegal because they can't prove that they were actually targeted by the wiretapping because by its nature it is secret. That raises the problem of course of then defining who exactly COULD challenge this program?

This despite the fact that one of the judges stated publicly that he believed the program was both unconstitutional and in violation of the FISA act of 1978.

So the lesson here is that the Bush administration can do anything they want without fear of judicial review as long as the person they are doing it to cannot prove they are specifically targeted. Lets see where that could lead:

1) Currently the program only intercepts calls from the US to foreign soil. But now that this ruling is in place, what is to stop the government from tapping US citizens at home? As long as they can ensure that no one can prove they individually were tapped they would be home free.

2) Internet snooping? No problem as long as you can't prove it.

3) Tracking via your cell phone? No problem as long as you can't prove it.

4) Your tax records? Your personal health records? check and check.

5) A camera in your bedroom? As far as I can tell, as long as no one could find the camera, they are free to do that too.

And I'll leave you with a few choice quotes:

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves. ~Abraham Lincoln

Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of resistance. ~Woodrow Wilson

We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it. ~William Faulkner

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

Crashing Las Vegas

Who knew those giant casino signs in Las Vegas were just the screensaver from some guy's laptop.

http://worsethanfailure.com/Articles/Crashing-Las-Vegas.aspx

Pasta Survey

Sue and I are conducting a completely unscientific survey of people's opinion of wheat pasta. Two questions:

- Have you ever eaten it?

- Did you like it as much as regular pasta?

Please post answers. And remember this is for unscience, so please be honest and mean.

Fantastic? Please...

Hilarious:)

Why the Fantastic 4 Human Torch ATV (with Light-Up Headlights!) is the Worst Movie Tie-In Toy Ever

Confused on Wednesday Night

Quietdrive's cover of the song Time After Time is currently playing on XM.

I thought the point of starting a band was to get laid. How do you get laid covering a Cyndi Lauper song?

Gas Prices Make People Stupid

CNN: Fed up station owner shuts off gas pumps

I've seen this idea float around the internet from time to time. Seems like every May, someone decides that if gas companies didn't make money for a day, it would make some huge difference.

This year, some idiot in Wisconsin actually decided that closing his station would be a good way to effect the price of gas. The best quote was "Schwartz called that [price] 'outrageous' and said even he can't fill up his SUV at that price." Good. Maybe sustained high prices will finally convince people that buying a car that gets less 18 MPG that you drive everday is not a good idea.

What's the logic behind this? Sure, if no one bought gas on a given day, gas station owners will be out $3 billion for the day. But its not like we're using $3 billion less in gas. If you don't buy gas one day, that just means you are going to have to buy it some other day. That's a net $0 difference idiot.

If you want to change the price of gas, there is only method that is going to have any effect:

USE LESS GAS

The Profit Calculator

New York Magazine: The Profit Calculator

Fascinating article about all sorts of NYC businesses and how they make money. I was especially fascinated the section on cab drivers. Who knew they only made about $12,000 in profit a year?

Fun in Bed

As you know, Sue and I are trying to learn nothing about the finale of Sopranos. Last night Sue and I are lying in bed watching The Colbert Report, when he starts to mention the finale. As if it was our plan all along, Sue has her hands around my ears and I have the same around hers. We are both yelling "LA LA LA LA LA LA" as loud as we can trying desperately to hear nothing.

This went on for about a minute, during which Sue started to laugh so hard at how we must look that she was crying a little bit:)

Ah marriage. There is nothing else like it.

Knocked Up

Sue and I saw Knocked Up on Saturday afternoon. I thought this was hands down THE funniest movie I have ever seen. I actually laughed so hard I cried at several points.

This is a witty dialog movie, which is my favorite type of humor. None of that adolescent poop jokes crap. Real, honest to god, funny dialogue.

Oh and it has the funniest "high on mushrooms" scene EVER.

And a racism joke about black midgets. I mean, how can you NOT like a movie with a racism joke about a black midget?

Go see it while it is still in the movie theatres. Seriously. We need to pump money into movies like this so that Hollywood will make more.

To the movie-mobile!

TV Blackout

Sue and I don't have HBO, so don't tell us anything about the last season of The Sopranos. I mean it. I swear I will murder anyone who mentions ANYTHING about how the season ends. As it is, I'm going to have skip all TV next week so that something doesn't accidently ruin it for me (no Daily Show or Colbert Report??!?! Oh god!).


While I'm at it, tell us nothing about the following shows as well:

* Lost
* The L Word Seasons 4+
* Weeds Season 2+
* Entourage Season 3+

Random Cell Phone Pictures

Mike with his Penguins. We got lucky and happen to walk into the penguinarium just as he was caring for one.



Sue looking all innocent. Don't believe it!



Squishy picture at the spot Sue and I shared our first kiss. Ahhhhhhh...



The whole Simpson family (and me).

In Memorium

On Monday evening one of our transplant teams at U of M hospital crashed into Lake Michigan and 6 very talented, selfless men died. Everyone at U of M Hospital is saddened by the loss. I worked with one of the Doctors, Dr. Martinus "Martin" Spoor, cardiac surgeon and instructor, on a regular basis. He was a great guy and really cared for all of his patients. These men will be missed and it is a huge loss for the patients at the hospital...

Tower Defense

WARNING: I wasted an hour today playing this game. Play at your own risk.

http://www.handdrawngames.com/DesktopTD/

Best score so far: 572.

Microsoft Surface

Now THAT is cool! Guess we have another birthday present idea for me:)

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4217348.html

Miss USA Take a Trip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G4zsWi-cL8 (Safe for work)

I know I shouldn't laugh at the misfortune of others but COME ON! Its a beauty pagaent! The only skill you are required to show is walking and smiling!

You'll love your iPod even more!

iGasm (not safe for work)

Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "I like my music hard and fast";)

Studio 60!

Speaking of shows that shouldn't have been cancelled, I'd like to add Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip to the list. That show was funny and witty and didn't talk down to you or pretend you were a simpleton. I mean, sure, it made fun of everyone in the red states at every opportunity. Who doesn't do that? But it also gave them an intelligent voice who was devote without acting like the stereotypical nut-job. This is what fair and balanced really would look like. Boo NBC for canning this show.

Although I will give them props for renewing Friday Night Lights. What I don't get is why Medium and Friday Night Lights were renewed (both are in last place in their time slots), yet Studio 60 is canned.

www.cbssucks.blogspot.com SAVE JERICHO!

Just saw at www.nytimes.com that CBS is canceling Jericho. Now, while not as good as Heroes, Jericho is a decent TV show with an original premise that, to me examined the fascinating implications of the power grid and economy falling apart. If you want to petition to help save it, try here.

High Walls

I finally know what I want for my birthday:)

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/19/castle.forsale.ap/index.html

My Pseudo-Sisters

I really like my sisters-in-law. They're fun, amusing, and give me a good idea of what living in a house without a 4 to 1 male/female ratio would have been like.

For example, I've noticed that they NEVER have a WWF wrestling match in the basement or try to hold pillow fights in the dark. Violent video games don't interest them. They don't have contests to see who can drink the most Mountain Dew before they have to pee. They don't embarrass each other in public or fight for shotgun in the front seat as if they're very life depends on it. When they play that "slug bug" game, they don't even leave a bruise. They don't compete in literally everything they do.

Its like they are...well...girls. Its weird.

Manly Movie Weekend

Side Note: there was no post yesterday because we were without internet all day.

Sue is working this weekend, so I've decided to make this my all manly movie weekend. On the list so far:

- Terminator III
- Apocalypse Now
- American History X
- Porn (j/k Sue)

Oh and I'm officially declaring it a "no pants, no shirt, showering only when the smell overwhelms, shaving is for pussies" sort of weekend. So avoid the house. No really. And if you call, I may answer the phone with nothing but a series of grunts and burbs. Don't be alarmed.

Fun quick (slightly) dirty news story...

Okay, seeing as how Eric is slacking on his promised daily posts due to that whole marital bliss thing, I couldn't help but share this story on a new "kids toy"




Ah, it's wonderful that, almost 100 years after Freud focused so much on phallic symbols, the ol' boy's still relevant....

GO THE WINGS

Sue and I stayed up last night to watch the Wings lose to the Ducks in OT. Boooooo!

That last goal in the third period was crap. If you push the goalie into the net, that's not a goal.

Wish Us Long Love and Life

Six years ago Sue and I swore eternal love in front of our friends and family in a small church in Hamburg, MI.

Six Years. Six years and I still love her just as much as I did that day.

Part one of Eric and Sue's 6th anniversary celebration!

Day one of our anniversary celebration was very successful and the curse of Paul Van Dyk was lifted! W00t! Even though Eric's plane was an hour late we made it to the club right at the perfect time. We got to our local dance club Bleu about 9:30 pm. I wanted to get there early to see Kenneth Thomas, a Detroit DJ. He used to be one of the resident DJ's at Bleu but now he tours on Oakenfold's Perfecto tour since he is so fucking awesome!! We have seen him a few times at Bleu and he just gets better and better!! We danced hard before Van Dyk even got on!

Paul Van Dyk rocked hard too! I see why he has been the number one DJ! All I can say is wow! He is one of the best DJ's I have seen and my list is growing. After seeing Deep Dish 2 weeks ago I was not sure how it was going to go, but it was great. Kenneth Thomas is 10 times better than Deep Dish and PVD is 2o times better. His music makes you dance hard! All of my muscles hurt today from rocking out so hard!!

It was a great night!!