Intellectual Poison

So I've come up with a pretty interesting way to get an idea of my overall strength, to create a baseline and then be able to get back and check it from time to time. And I am inviting anyone who reads this and wants to try it to take part.

The benchmark consists of two basic exercises that are done to failure, that is, you do as many of them as you possibly can. If you are working with free weights then you absolutely must have a spotter for the bench press or you can, quite literally, kill yourself. Also, make sure to thoroughly warm up before doing any max-effort exercises.

How many times can you bench press your body weight?
How many times can you leg press your body weight?

Test it now and then again in six months.

Since I've been sick for a little while, I'm going to set my benchmark day for halfway through February. And, because I like to make bets against myself, I'm going to say that I'll be able to bench press my body weight, which is 170 pounds, 25 times before failure. Leg presses, I think I'll pretty safely be able to hit 40 or 50 presses.

Want to play? Leave a comment and let's get it on!

Note, this isn't a test of fitness, its a test of strength.

Tags: exercise, bench press, leg press, strength, benchmark

Labels: exercise, strength, test

Time for a little

1. What are your numbers?
I'm partial to 3's but I also still like 9 and 11 because that's my birthday.

2. What are your words?
I've got lots of words, ones that I made up (like secrutiny and or urbal) and words someone else got to first, like nictitating, malodorous and chunder.

3. What are your names?
For boys - Alexander, Davis, Graydon and Sullivan (of course)
For girls - Cassandra, Nina, Michelle and Chastity (but only if she's got really loose morals because I like irony!)

4. What are your days?
Easy, Saturday and Sunday.

5. What are your colors?
Greens are good.

6. What are your flavors?
Cinnamon, basil, garlic, teriyaki, pineapple grilled on top of marinated skirt steak.

7. What are your scents?
Basil, sweat (my own, thanks), campfires, lime and mint mashed together (as in mixing up some mojitos), freshly cut grass and freshly cut wood.

8. What are your sounds?
Children's laughter, my motorcycle at 10,000 rpm, dead silence at 10 pm (nothing like sleeping kids!), the hum of bike tires during a high speed descent and the crack of a baseball bat when one of the Giants crushes the ball!

Tags: cheddar x, questions, meme

Labels: cheddar x, meme, questions

Today's new word comes from the story about the woman who was raped and then arrested and jailed for a four year old bench warrant and denied her second dosage of an emergency contraceptive which has exposed the police and nurse involved to a huge and expensive and totally avoidable lawsuit.

Stupiduty - when doing your job (or doing your duty if that contradicts with your employment) means you have to behave in an incredibly stupid manner.

Guess where the rest of the new words are hiding? That's right, in the Fictionarium and over its Wordpress quasi-twin IP Fictionarium.

Tags: stupiduty, fictionarium, new words, inventing language, NWotD

Labels: fictionarium, nwotd

Paradegoer Reports Rape, Jailed On Warrant:

"Police are reviewing their policies after the arrest, which one victim's advocate said could have 'a chilling effect' on the rape investigation, the woman's well-being and the desire of future victims to contact police."

Gee, ya think? You think people might be less likely to report a crime they've been a victim of if they're going to get thrown in jail for a bench warrant?

And the denial of the second required dosage of contraceptive is just going to open the police, the nurse and anyone else involved in a great big, ugly and expensive lawsuit. Which they will lose as there is little doubt that her rights were trampled all-the-fuck on.

You'll have to pardon my vitriol this morning, I slept very, very badly last night and am fighting yet another goddamned cold.

Tags: rape, victim, victimized, contraceptive, lawsuit

Labels: lawsuit, police

Warning, do not click this link or read this post if you do not want to know who won the second season of Top Chef.




Why? Because the Top Chef Finale Spoiled AGAIN by the winner giving an interview.

Is this because Bravo's a cable channel or something? I think I'm going to blame Tom Colicchio (the Simon Cowell judge on the show) since he annoys the hell out of me.

As for me, I'm glad the winner who won, won. The other guy was a total asshole with freakish hair and a real need to get kicked in the nuts a few times. Sure, he was a good chef and had some decent tricks. But being the best chef isn't about foams (oops, did that give it away), its about making great meals with anything.

My wishlist for the next season is to get rid of Tom Colicchio because he's an asshole. Maybe they should just clone Padma Lakshmi and be done with it. That's what this world needs, a Padma (note, some images are NSFW) in every living room. Oh yeah!

Anyway, how's about I wrap this up with a spoiler? Marcel doesn't win. Ilan does. Hahahaha. Sorry, that wasn't nice of me.

Tags: Top Chef, reality tv, Bravo, Padma Lakshmi, Tom Colicchio is an asshole

Labels: reality tv, top chef

So, I still cannot upgrade my blogs to the new Blogger. The reason for this is because I actually blog quite a lot on this one. At last check we had broken 4300 posts and that's a lot too big of a pill for the upgrade process to try and swallow. For now.

The annoying thing is that, if I sign into Blogger in FireFox to get access to my blogs, I get signed out of my Google homepage and vice versa. Because Google is Blogger, there are some authentication issues.

And what I end up having to do is either run my Google homepage in Safari or run my Blogger in Safari. Neither of which is all that great. Safari is nice and all but it lacks some features, doesn't retain sign ins and feels like playing in the kiddy pool of the internet as a result.

I'm sure this will all be resolved before too long but, for now, its a bit of a hassle. Especially when I want to quick-blog at work, hard to do the sign-out, sign-in, blog, sign-out and resign-in to Google all that quickly.

Its just kind of a pain and I will be happier when Google gets around to allowing me to finally upgrade all my blogs.

[Update: Funny, the day I bitch about not being able to upgrade, they finally upgrade me. Coincidence or conspiracy?]

Tags: Blogger, upgrade, Google, annoying

Today's new word is appropriate for how I've been feeling lately.

Fauxmentum - false or untrue momentum. I.e. putting on a happy face for clients while feeling like you're standing on the deck of Titanic and the last lifeboat just cast off.

Guess where the rest of the new words are hiding? That's right, in the Fictionarium and over its Wordpress quasi-twin IP Fictionarium.

Tags: fauxmentum, fictionarium, new words, inventing language, NWotD

Uncle Sam spoils dream trip to space

Brian Emmett's childhood fantasy came true when he won a free trip to outer space.

But the 31-year-old was crushed when he had to cancel his reservation because of Uncle Sam.

After some number-crunching, Emmett realized he would have to report the $138,000 galactic joy ride as income and owe $25,000 in taxes.

Oracle should pick up the tax tab on this deal. Otherwise, what's the point of a contest to give away a free trip into space? Its not a free trip. Just like Oprah giving away a bunch of cars and then the recipients getting slammed with taxes that they couldn't afford to pay.

The article also talks about other free space trip contests where the winner also gets a cash reward to be used to help cover the tax liability.

Tags: free, space tourist, $25,000 tax, major suckage

There's a back story to share here but the skinny news version is that we are now happy cat owners again (though it is definitely arguable that nobody "owns" a cat, they're just borrowing them).

Her name, right now, is Tabitha, and she's fitting in pretty well. Nande has, as might be expected, an intense interest in her. But that intensity is diminishing as she becomes more familiar and less "exotic".

I like having a cat again, they carry a different energy than dogs and are alot less needy but they're extraordinarily needy in other ways. Luckily those ways often help make humans feel better too.

I only wish my mild allergy to cats had gone away in the intervening years since we've had a cat. But its managable and the payoff outweighs the hassles, for now.

Tags: cat, family

Life with toddlers. If you've been there, you know what I'm talking about. Life with toddlers and babies requires a pretty sharp shift of lifestyle and habits. And you might as well pack up your humility and put it on the shelf for next 18 years.

Case in point, I was in the bathroom a little while ago draining off some excess liquids, when Grady turned it into an impromptu potty-training field trip. I didn't really have a choice in the matter since closed doors mean nothing to Grady and I hadn't bothered to put up the gate across the bathroom.

So, there I am, peeing and coming under intense scrutiny from my son. He was so interested in the process that he switched sides and got a look from the other side as well.

Yes, peeing in front of your children, just one of the myriad joys of becoming a parent. Along with the full and unconditional surrender of any other private moments you used to enjoy before these little creatures took over your reality.

That and becoming concerned about the price of diapers, having enough wipes (running out is a serious, serious drag) and, most importantly, not running out of formula because there is nothing like a baby who wants his bottle and there isn't any formula in the house to make one for him.

But I still wouldn't trade a single moment of it for anything. Except on those mornings when I get woken up by cold feet in the small of my back at 3:30 am. And the exploding poop filled diapers, yeah, I could do without those too.

And then the Fruit Dance comes on Sesame Street and Grady gets his groove on and all that not so fun stuff is forgotten

Tags: children, humility, potty-training, scrutiny

I always hated having to drink a cup of coffee with my donuts to get all buzzy in the morning. Thankfully, science has come to the rescue with Doughnuts Laced with Caffeine.

I wonder if they come in a coffee flavor?

And if they offer a decaf version?
Tags: caffeine donut, convergence, cop nosh, coffee

Check out the Full size image and its pretty amazing. Look at the shockwave on the water's surface. I read that when a destroyer fires off all cannons broadside at once, the entire ship will move a few inches in the other direction (or maybe more than a few inches). Think about the kind of pressures involved in pushing a destroyer sideways in the water. Now imagine being on the recieving end of a 2700 pound shell. For about a nanosecond before you and everything around you gets vaporized.
More shots of the Iowa in action. Me likee the boom, boom, boom!

via Digg
Tags: cannon, USS Iowa, firing, shockwave

Ga. Teens Admit to Killing Dog in Oven and not only that but torturing the puppy and then showing the dead body to children and threatening to kill them if they told anyone.

Nice scumbag teens.

Please send them away forever. Or why not allow them the choice of life in prison or to suffer the same torture they meted out on the defenseless dog? Duct tape them up and shove them in an oven.

Stories like this make me sick to my stomach.

Jogger Stabbed on West Cliff but didn't end up getting hurt for two reasons. One, she was wearing a big puffy jacket. Two, the switchblade used in the attack snapped in two. Still, we're talking about an extremely high traffic area at 7:30 in the evening.

Are there are as many knife attacks everywhere else and they don't even make the papers? I keep having images from the movie Gangs of New York (fight, Leo, fight!)

It seems like there is a new attack everyday, a random stupidity that makes no sense unless you take into account the attackers malaise and lack of direction. Once kids graduate from high school and they have no interest in college and they come from families that cashed in when land went from dirt cheap to outrageously expensive, you get idiot kids with nothing to do but "rebel". Some rebel by smoking dope and some rebel by drinking, alot. Some rebel by getting angry, getting some pals and going to find someone to stab. No, I don't understand it either.

Tags: attack, stabbing, insane

I've been watching some of this season's Top Chef on Bravo and have, overall, enjoyed the show. Its less about drama than it is about making amazing food fast.

And the second season's finale was last night. I watched the first hour and the first ten minutes of the second since it was after 11 and I needed to get some sleep.

One of the chef's, Marcel, is pretty well reviled by all of the other chefs. His bulletproof hair aside, the guy is an asshole and a jerk to the other chefs. But in a really weasely way, he moves their stuff off the burners on the stove, he does other little things that he claims are mistakes but there is a pattern of monkey-wrenching others that makes it hard to believe its really a mistake.

Anyway, last night's first half of the finale involved the final four preparing an entree and a dessert in a Hawaiian style for a birthday party. Two of the four were being eliminated and it was a very, very tough decision.

One of the judges, Tom Colicchio whom I've referred to as Baldy in my head because I never bothered to pay attention to his name, said something that really struck me and pretty well killed my interest in the show. Just one little statement because it perfectly sums up every asshole chef I've ever worked for.

One of the soon to be eliminated chefs brought up the issue of Marcell messing with other people's food in the kitchen during the competition. Basically she accussed him of not respecting the kitchen. And Baldy said, point blank, that he didn't care, they weren't being judged on their ability to get along but on their ability to cook.

And I think he got it very, very wrong. Being a "Top Chef" is more than being able to cook, its being able to manage a kitchen, its treating your staff well, its the whole package, it is NOT just the ability to cook and present food well. That one little statement really, really pisses me off and demonstrates quite capably that he is the absolute worst kind of judge there is, he cares not at all about how, he just cares about the what and how it looks. As a result, I will likely avoid the show in the future, just as I will not eat at a restaurant that mistreats its employees, I won't watch a show that perpetuates crappy, assholish behavior.

Of course, things were not going to go well in any case when the people's favorite was eliminated. But that was part of the "game" of the show, the comment about not giving a damn what happens in the kitchen is just really, really wrong.

Nice job, Bravo, it was a good show (made better by the stunning Padma Lakshmi) and the guest judges. But the overall product is ruined by having Tom Colicchio as the head judge. I'm sure he overcharges for food at his place of business too, because he can and it helps keep the "rabble" out. I am also sure that he's a total asshole to work for.

Tags: Top Chef, Marcel, respect, Tom Colicchio

The combination of the cold weather and the flu cold/allergies I've been struggling to overcome has resigned me to driving in to work for the last several weeks.

But today, I'm taking the motorcycle. And I am looking forward to it!

I'm also working on creating a list of things I need to do to keep myself happier and saner. Its been too easy to get caught up in the moment and the stress of it all and I really need to keep an eye on the bigger picture. Writing down those things that make me happy and then making sure to do some of them every day or week should help to keep me a little happier and alot more sane.

But its going to be a grinder of a day at work, lots of phone calls out to set some meetings.

Tags: motorcycle, commute, work, sanity

I hope that I'm not the only one who does this. When you go shopping, you see the product you want, you pick up the product and put it in your basket and get home only to find that you grabbed a mistocked item that looks almost exactly like the one you wanted. Only its not.

I hate when I do this and I seem to do it with some regularity. I think I will call it product dyslexia.

Tags: shopping, dyslexia, wrong item, annoying

No wait, here's the whole thing, and no, I did not add Donald J Trump or Rosie O'Donnell to the headline, it was there. Shameless? Yes. Probably effective? Yeah. E! News - Miss USA Out of Rehab - Donald J Trump | Rosie O'Donnell

Anyway, good to Tara Conner (hmm, Tara, Sara, Tara, Sara, maybe this is all a Terminator themed bad dream?) for convincing Teh Donald to let her keep her crown and maybe pose for Playboy. What a great role model Teh Donald is. Suck lemons for ten years, be an amoral buggernaut and come up with an annoying catchphrase and you are there.

But back to the headline. Its a total keeper, clear, succinct, deeply ironic and funny. Maybe even a little melancholic and nostalgic for the good ol' days when people with problems just had lobotomies. I might print out a copy and paste in the wall. Miss USA Out of Rehab. And Lindsay's in. Coincidence? Probably. Should I not be joking about people getting treated for serious conditions? Yeah, maybe.

Tags: Miss USA, Tara Conner, rehab, buggernaut

The day that Gerald Ford's body was displayed for oglers (I think the technical term is lie in state but mine's more accurate) was also the day that I had to get my license renewal postmarked by or I'd get assessed with a late fee.

Well, on the day that Gerald Ford lay in state in the capital, the post office closed in mourning or whatever you call it when a business shuts down.

As a result, my license renewal just came back with a $14 late fee owed on it. Of course, I could contest it but it'd cost me more than $14 in time to contest so I'll probably just pay it.

But I wouldn't mind a check from Gerald Ford's estate for $14 to cover my inconvenience. I mean, its not like all the postal employees went for a looksee at his body on display.

Tags: Gerald Ford, license renewal, late fee, you owe me

The AFC/NFC Championship Game Weekend signals a big party for friends and folks that all play in our local football pool. Because everyone goes everywhere for the Super Bowl, we have our season party this last weekend to celebrate and have a good time. And chow down on ribs, steaks, burgers, let the dogs play together, let the kids get rambunctious and to catch up since we've all mostly moved out of the old neighborhood and its hard to stay in touch.

Congratulations to the Chicago Bears and the Indianapolis Colts. The Bears beatdown on the Saints was a decent game until it got out of reach and then it was just watching to see if I could win a quarter or the final game score off the sheet. I didn't end up winning anything but that's alright. Nande had a blast playing with the other dogs, Grady had a blast being the kid of the party and everyone loved holding Sully because he's such a sweet and good natured kid.

The Colts and Pats game ended up being much better than I anticipated and we actually had to leave the party midway through that game to get the kids home for some downtime before they melted down.

Grady was so tired he was asleep in the car before we'd even pulled away from the curb. And he would have slept straight through the night if we'd let him. But we let him sleep for a couple of hours before getting him up for some dinner and so he'd sleep through the night. And Sully was ready to nap as well, he didn't crash so quickly or so heavily but he was down too. And I was ready to crash but I had to pilot the family home first. And then I got to rest. And it was good.

As always, Monday morning got here too soon and I'm not ready to go back to work just yet but that's not really my choice. This will be a very big week ahead but it should be a good week and I'm looking forward to coming up to speed with another new client. But I'd be lying if I didn't say that I wouldn't mind a full day to do nothing but lay in bed and rest up.

The Super Bowl looks to be a good one with Defense against Offense in Bears vs. Colts. If good Rex shows up then the Bears will roll right over the Colts. But if bad Rex shows up then it'll be a shootout that'll be decided by turnovers.

Either way, it'll be a good game and we had a great time at the football pool party.

Tags: football, party, Bears, Colts

I happened to watch a few minutes of American Idol last night, not by choice. My wife was watching it and I needed to talk with her about a few things so I was inadvertently exposed to the show. I happened to see the long segment where they interviewed the overweight girl with bad teeth, bad hair and a fashion sense set to brown and baggy. She was talking about how she was going to do well by selling "sexy" to the judges. They even brought in her mother, who was her double, just with darker hair.

And then they let her sing a few bars of that song with the chorus of "Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me" when Simon stopped her by saying "No."

American Idol is a curious show. From the pretenders who really can't sing and are just looking for a little exposure to the people with voices that they muck all the hell with "gimmicky" singing (overuse of melismas usually, just because it works for Mariah Carey does NOT mean it will work for you).

Alot of the attraction of the show in these early stages is the same attraction that people have for Nascar. People like to see wrecks. They like to see people go down in flames, they like to see Simon roll his eyes, put his hand up to stop them and then tell them just how awful they really are and that they should concentrate on perfecting their french fry cooking technique.

I will admit that I kind of enjoy watching the smackdown being brought on people who really have no business singing to themselves alone in the shower. But I think the formula is wearing thin, the music they sing isn't very good and I think its time to refresh the show with some new judges who aren't quite so tired of the whole thing.

Not that it would make me watch the show but it might make it just a little bit less irritating when they set someone up for a big ol' smackdown.

Tags: American Idol, Simon Cowell, spectacle, staged, cruelty

The hardest thing about being sick is not knowing what all is going to be waiting for you when you go back to the office. I had an inkling and it gave me nightmares. I was out sick yesterday with fever blisters (or cold sores if you don't want to be as dramatic) that made my face hurt and the idea of conducting business laughable. I ended up sleeping most of the day which helped quite a bit.

And my dear wife got me some Abreva to help cut down on the sick time which is good. Less sick is more better.

But it feels like projects at work got kicked into overdrive and that my one day out sick was really like three weeks out. In the course of the single day, I now have a new client (and one that I'm thoroughly excited about working with) and alot of developments with another client. And a whole bunch of follow up with another client and some heavy grunt work in process for a fourth.

Its hard to know where to start digging in and grinding. Especially because my head feels like a helium filled balloon bobbing around in the breeze so far this morning.

But I've got my meds, I've got my box of tissues and my notepads to try and keep my lists up to date so I don't overlook or just plain forget anything. Wish me luck and that I don't implode before the day is out.

Tags: sick, turbo, work, acceleration

I am not a happy camper this morning. I am a grumpy and grouchy and mostly pissy blogger this morning. Last night I felt the first tingles of some fever blisters and started loading up on Lysine to try and head them off before they turned my mouth into a firepit of pain and unhappiness.

I'm sure the Lysine helped some but not enough to thwart the attack and now one side of my face is painfully swollen and I feel disfigured. And the dull throbbing doesn't help my mood too much either.

I had a dentist appointment scheduled for this afternoon but that's been cancelled because there's just no chance of any work being done on my face now. Not unless I'm unconscious and that seems like a little overkill to take care of some fillings.

So I'll be spending today feeling hideous and pissy. Oh boy!

Tags: fever blister, cold sore, pain, hideous

Ashley Olsen's ghost arrives at the Golden Globes, resplendent in her death eye makeup and sunken chest. Her look is somewhat evocative of a 40's or 50's style outfit but the eye makeup, whiter than white skin and totally bare chest just make her look creepy and ghostly.

I suppose I should feel bad for the Olsen twins except for the fact of their hundreds of millions of dollars they'd be bag ladies living on the street. They so very often seem completely out of place. But at least she left the huge face goggles at home. And the dress makes it harder to see her bony hips and possible eating disorders.

Contrast her doe-in-the-headlights look with Alyssa Milano's or Ivanka Trump (hard to believe someone so pretty has any of Teh Donald's DNA in her at all). Why is it so hard for the Olsen's to look human, much less glamorous?

Am I being unkind? Blame it on the fever blisters. Oh wait, I haven't posted about those yet. They're next up on the list.

[Update: Because it doesn't warrant its own post and this one was already wallowing in celebrity muck, how's about some more celebrity news? How about the news from The Superficial that Lindsay Lohan can still sink lower and lower. This time there's news that she's dating Joe Francis of Girls Gone Wild infamy (and the various and never-ending stream of lawsuits resulting from his terribly exploitive videos). Nice work, Lindsay. I thought you'd bottomed out with the AA announcement and the partying the next week but you have, once again, proved me wrong. And now you're just a creepy skank hanger-on with the king of soft core exploitive pron. Well done. And by well done, I mean Ewwwww!]

Tags: Olsen Twins, Ashley Olsen, Golden Globes, fashion, ghost

Got some time to waste? Check out the Web Kaleidoscope and see what pretty patterns you can make. Its not useful at all but it is kind of neat.

Not all of the 23 Tips to Turbocharge Your DVR will be totally useful or even usable. But there are some really good tips in the mix that make the list incredibly useful overall.

I am looking forward to #23 Getting rid of the Tivo background screen so I can keep watching a show while queueing up the next.

And I like the idea of greater interconnectivity between our computers and our Tivo. I'd love to offload some Sesame Street and Oprah and regain some real estate on the hard drive for stuff I might actually be interested in watching (no offense to Teh Killar Whale).

Now if only Charter would get HD in our area so we can take advantage of the HD capabilities of the tv and bask in the sweet unpixelated glory. Actually, I read an interesting article in Popular Science about HD antennas picking up broadbast HD signals for free. Which would be sweeter than sweet to get a better picture AND to stop paying cable bills. Oooh yeah! I'll have to dig up the link and post it (AntennaWeb lets you figure out which channels are broadcasting in your area that you stand the best chance of picking up with an HD Antenna for free). Or I could just build my own.

Instructables has some easy instructions for making a Budget Photographic Lighting "Tent" that will markedly improve the quality of your table top small photography.

Basically, get a white (or near white) bucket. Cut a u-shape out of it, flip it over and light it from behind with a strong light. No light should shine directly into the bucket.

And.... done. Pretty easy, eh?

I will be getting a bucket tomorrow and playing around with this over the weekend. I will, of course, post results on IP Photography.

[Update: Choose your bucket carefully. The bucket I chose is too thick to let the light through well enough and it has ribs on the inside. Not useful for what I was trying to do. Also, the bucket had two bumps where the handle was attached which made it more of a hassle to prep for photowork since the bucket wouldn't lay flat with them there. The scorecard reads: Buckets 1, Erik 0. I will start my bucket hunt anew! But I think I will also give a try to seed's link where they build a lightbox out of a cardboard box and some tracing paper. Also, I need a bigger office.]

Tags: instructables, photography, lighting tent, improvement

The Big Picture points us to an interesting representation of GDP as applied to US states GDP. Interesting that California generates as much revenue as all of France. And that Vermont is matched up with the Dominican Republic. And that Mexico generates as much as Illinois.

What this graphic really does is illlustrate just how much damned money the US really does make since the combined GDP for the US is the combined GDP for all of the countries represented.

Tags: GDP, country, representation, visualization

You know the old rule when you're in high school and the teacher doesn't show up for 15 minutes that you get to go free? We almost had to invoke the business version of that this morning. When I got into the office, there was no power in all of Scotts Valley. And it was nice and dark in the office with people unsure of what to do. Some made calls home on cells, some tried to keep working on the battery power from the UPS systems, some went out to hunt for some breakfast food.

Me? I went and got my remote control plane out of the car and played with that after snapping a few pics of the icicles out on the pond. Yes, it is that cold in California this morning. Not weensy little icicles either, the thickest was nearly an inch across at its biggest. And sure, that's nothing compared to places that get "real winter" but its as close as we're coming here.

Anyway, no power means no computers means no internet means not much chance to do any work. And the power was out waaaaay longer than the previously required 15 minutes. And yet, here I am, sitting at my desk and typing out this quick blog post. Oh well.

I kind of miss snow days. I don't miss the actual snow or the pain in the ass that snow days represents for parents but I miss the unscheduled day off from work to frolic and play. I think the world needs more unscheduled days off.

That and alot more sleep-in mornings. How about snow days and sleep-in days for everyone?

Tags: power outage, school, snow day, sleep-in

From Geraldo "I Used to be Relevant" Rivera's: I'll Beat Keith (Olbermann) to Pizza and the seemingly never-ending feud between Teh Donald "Teh Lemonsucker" Trump and Rosie "BBW and Proud of IT" O'Donnell (with a possible Madge on the side), this year looks to be a banner year for celebrity boxing. Maybe we can bring back Dustin Diamond so he can beat the snot out of Horshack again.

But, I think the organizers of these events need to get with the times and realize that boxing is out, its all about MMA (that's mixed martial arts) and the UFC's octagon.

Would I pay $10 to watch Geraldo Rivera get the snot pounded out of him? Yep.

What about watching Rosie O'Donnell beat the shit out of Donald Trump? Oh hell yeah.

Who else needs to get in the ring or just shut the hell up?

I don't doubt that there is some real animosity amongst these "stars" but I also feel that, in Trump's case, he's also trying to drum up some viewers for his stupid show. I think Rivera's just trying to get some attention period though. Who's next, Andy Dick taking on Michael Richards for the "All Racist" championship? By the way, Richards would pummel Andy Dick into a puddle. He's got the anger, you see. Just like Dustin Diamond's got that D-List fury ready to unleash.

I updated my IP Quotes last week and one of the ones I added was this superb quote by Mark Twain

"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years."

A good lesson in persespective, no?

Tags: perspective, quote, Mark Twain