The dino goes roar!

Now presenting photos! From the American Museum of Natural History! Not featuring Pamela, even though she invited me! Exclamation points! Roar!

Ancient Mayan Superheros. Very popular with the kids.

My roommate, who once won a regional dinosaur drawing contest, has stated that the following pictures are, "Passable." Enjoy.

Roar!

"Just looking for some tail. Oh, there it is."

Two dino buddies walking off into the sunset, or possibly extinction - it's hard to tell.

Monumental Music of the Moment

So, it's been a really long time since I've done a Music of the Moment, so I thought I'd drop a mixtape's worth of moments on you to help catch up. Here's what's been bouncing around my ear canals of late:

• "Heroes" by David Bowie - How have I missed this song until now? Sad, I know.
• "Rock and Roll" by Led Zeppelin
• "I Feel It All" by Feist
• "Radio, Radio" by Elvis Costello
• "Search and Destroy" by The Stooges - I really haven't been off this one. Thanks Jeff.
  
• "Like A Rolling Stone" by Bob Dylan
• "I Got the Feelin'" by James Brown
• "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life" by Dusty Springfield - This song is a crushed velvet jacket and the girl to go with it.
  
• "Sea Lion Woman" by Fiest - Because I'm a sucker for hand claps. Plus, the guitar interlude is bitchin'.
• "You Got It" by Roy Orbison - Proving yet again that strategic use of timpani can really make a song.
• "Born to Run" by Bruce Springsteen
• "Viva Las Vegas" by the other Elvis
  
• "L-O-V-E" by Al Green
  
• "Little Triggers" by Elvis Costello - Some day I'm going to play this at a dance and chuckle to myself while everyone slow dances.
• "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash
• "All My Friends" by LCD Soundsystem - This CD kind of blew my mind the first time I heard it. Truly an superior cut off and excellent album.
  

Third post of the day

So, to complete today's trifecta of titilating tidbits, check out the comments section for the "Northwest Junk" post. How cool is that? I have absolutely no idea how she found my blog, but I'm pretty excited she did. Hmm... perhaps I should write more? Perhaps she might send soda?

HD DVD

M and I have been talking about the next gen format wars for a bit now, and thanks to slashdot and the financial times, there is apparently more to talk about.

Link

Mad Marketing

So, if you own a Mac you may have heard of this thing called MacHeist. The idea is more complicated than I wish to explain, and has generated some controversy (yay controversy!), so go check Wikipedia if you want the full details. Here's the Reader's Digest version: basically, you do these computer-related puzzles that have you looking all over the internet and you get free programs for finishing them. At the end of it all (which is probably today, from the news I'm getting), they release a bundle of apps on the cheap for public purchase. Agents (those who solve the puzzles) get a discount depending on how much they solved. Basically, this boils down to a very creative marketing strategy that happens to also be really fun.
So, the big reason why I'm passing all this info on is that if you own a Mac, you should really check out the bundle that's coming out tonight. Last years was loaded with a ton of great apps and rung in at $49 (click the Wiki for a list). I'm hoping that this year's bundle will be of equally awesome proportions. If you want to check it out, the reveal party is over at www.macheist.com at 7 PM EST tonight.

By the way, in case you are wondering, here's the list of apps I've gotten for free through doing the heists (some more useful to me than others):

• BitClamp
• Santa's Gizmo
• Overflow
• WireTap Pro
• iota-calc
• Runic
• Mouseposé
• Enigmo
• Catalog
• Wallet
• Podcast Maker
• Freeze Frame
• Voice Candy
• Billy Frontier
• Hana
• DEVONnote
• Xslimmer
• Sofa Control
• Monkey Lover
  

Northwest Junk

A recent post has me thinking about this:and this:
Aside from my family, these are probably the two things I miss most about Seattle - Thomas Kemper sodas and Tim's Cascade chips. When I moved to Utah for college, you couldn't get either of these locally. In fact, my Mom used to ship me Tim's, which I would treat like fine wine. Typically, I'd get two or three bags. One was strictly mine, the others were shared generously with other Seattleites and those found worthy of the experience. Ha! I was a bit of a nut. But with flavors like Coney Island (hot dogs and mustard) and steak and onions, so were they. Most of their weird flavors are gone, but I'm still convinced that some of these Seattle-based food companies (Jones Soda is another notable example) make their flavor choices during cannabis-induced cases of the munchies.
Luckily, product planners over at Thomas Kemper have generally avoided that trend, sticking to the classics: Ginger Ale, Cream Soda, Orange Cream Soda, Grape, Black Cherry, and of course, Root Beer. Mmm... their root beer. I wish I could buy you all a glass so you could try it. I've been drinking the stuff since the late 90's and my Mother makes a point of having a cold one in the fridge whenever I visit. Their ginger ale is more of a ginger beer, and really burns going down. It's taken me awhile, but I really like the stuff. Also, their black cherry is the best I've ever tried.
Thankfully, after I returned from Mexico, both of these were available at the Orem Costco (another great Seattle-based company), which makes me wonder if they can be had at one of the local Costcos. Either would certainly be worth the trip.

Funniest thing I heard all day

I was playing a game with my niece today during dinner. It went something like this: I would compare her to something good, and her brother to something bad. Then she would return the favor. She's 7 and he's 14 with a bit of an attitude, so it worked. After a few rounds of this, I felt things were getting a little too formulaic, and instead of passing her a compliment, I went absurd and told her she was as black as the olive I was currently holding in my hand. Her response was priceless:

"Have you seen those crackers in the kitchen?"

My boring room

I have to admit that my sister outdid herself this year in picking me out a present. I've been wanting to get something to cover the walls of my room for some time now, and she picked out a couple of things to get that started:
Two James Bond posters! Most excellent. As you can see, my room is in need some sprucing up:

I took those photos when I moved in, and if you've been over to my place lately, you'll know that the only thing that has changed is the amount of books on my shelf (and I replaced my stereo). Now, I love my room, but the place is pretty sterile - kind of like an Ikea showroom without the charm (hmm...). I'd like to personalize the place a little bit. So, after a trip to the local Swedish modular furniture mart, and a few hours scouring art.com, I've come up with a few ideas. First of all, I need more light in my room. As is, I have three light sources - a floor lamp and a table lamp (seen in the first bedroom photo) and a second table lamp on my desk (seen on the desk). Maybe another floor lamp? Where would I put it? And what about getting rid of all the white in my room? What color might work? I'm kind of hoping that one of you might be able to help. Yeah, wishful thinking, I know, but I'm not about to refuse any kind of suggestion.
At the very least, I've come up with some ideas about what to put on the walls. I figure I should start with the things that I like, which means heavy on music, movies and photography. I've already got the two Bond posters, so that's a start on the movies, but I figure that I've got to class it up a bit so that my room doesn't look like a college dorm. Luckily, I found these:


Aaaah, Vertigo. What a great poster. And I love the little splash of blood on the last one. As far as music is concerned, I got this great idea, but I'm not quite sure how to fund it. Basically, it would hang over my bed (being roughly the same width) and look something like this:
Those are all album covers from Blue Note Jazz albums. The artwork is pretty easy to come by, but I don't really know about the frames. Anyone know where to get a bunch of 9x9-ish frames cheap? Well, this may never happen, but I think it would look pretty cool. Now for a few more things I'd like to have on my walls:


I love that Louis Armstrong poster. These next two fall into the NYC category. The first one is cool, but way beyond my price range:

I really like the Hopper, and strangely enough it's cheaper on the MoMA website than it is at Art.com. Maybe the MoMA store is more of a bargain than I think it is. Then again, maybe not.


These are the kinds of photos that I'd like to be taking. Unfortunately, my new camera hasn't magically made me a better photographer, so it might be a little while before I'm framing anything that I've taken, but I guess that will just give me more time to save up for that frame. But, I can't resist sharing a recent photo that I took a couple of weeks ago:
Well, I hope you all are having a great Holiday Season. Merry Christmas (late!) to you all!

Thing I learned watching TV with my parents

Apparently, at least according to the Hallmark Channel commercial I just saw, the greatest gift of Christmas is Ernest Borgnine. Remind me not to open any packages with the Hallmark logo on them this year.

New York has changed my father

While driving around in my father's F-150, being forced to listen to the radio by what must be one of man's least effective in-dash CD players (there's actually no CD slot in-dash, only a 6 CD changer behind the driver's seat in a cubby that is currently covered in tools), I found out that the first programmed radio station is not the local oldies station (like it used to be), but the much more "urban" hip-hop station. This baffles me.

I'm no Jon Stewart, but... part 3

Former Vice President Al Gore is letting the National Academy of Recording Arts And Sciences know that he's pissed about not getting a Grammy nod this year. When asked if he even did anything to qualify for a Grammy, Mr. Gore responded, "Well, don't they give away like 1,000 of them a year? I mean, I really didn't win that Oscar, but I got plenty of credit for it. Surely someone can find room for me on their nomination. Kanye's got a ton, and he's an activist, right? Perhaps he can help."
Some have questioned the timing of Mr. Gore's reaction, since the nominations were announced a week ago. "Well, it's kind of embarrassing, but I've been so busy readying my den for our big holiday party, that I kind of missed the news. I mean, where can I put my Prince of Asturias Award without it looking pretentious? And what can I do with this Primetime Emmy? The Nobel? Well, I'll be wearing that one, of course."

Shopping = Done

No more need for 80s robots, butlers, or live in college students who may or may not be related to the Fonz.

However, as long as I'm on the subject of old sitcoms of dubious quality, here's a few more clips for your enjoyment:










OK, enough with the cruddy 80s stuff. Well, Picture Pages wasn't completely cruddy.

Personal Assistant

So, my mom just dropped a bunch of Christmas shopping on me that I really don't have the time to do. Personally, I'm looking at this as an opportunity- and opportunity to get me a personal assistant. Being a grad student really narrows my options here, but I have managed to compile a list of affordable candidates:

• Kevin, Screech's robot from Saved by the Bell
• Charles in Charge (though I hear he has a promising law career now)
• Charles in Charge's friend Buddy
• V.I.C.I. the robot from Small Wonder
• Mr. Belvedere (if he'll come out of retirement)
• and, if I can afford him, Benson.

Don't remember some of these? Here's a refresher:

• Kevin (actually, I couldn't find Kevin, but this replacement should suffice)
• The future Bob Loblaw & his sidekick Buddy (Nicole Eggert was hot, but Charle's girlfriend was hotter)
• Small Wonder (or if you're really brave... link)
• Mr. Belvedere - I wish this was still available.
• Benson
  

Amen.

Stay tuned

Wow, lot's has been happening lately, but I've been too busy to post... so, expect something good soon, like what my new favorite shirt is, the rest of my brithday, and how I finally saw Wicked...

I'm no Jon Stewart, but... part 2

In a recent update, President Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying, "In Iran, we don't have quantum theorists, like in your country. We don't have that in our country. In Iran, we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who's told you that we have it."

I'm no Jon Stewart, but...

The New York Times is reporting that American intelligence agencies are now saying that Iran ended it's nuclear weapons program in 2003. The intelligence community reportedly changed their minds when these recent photos revealed that Iranian scientists are still using the Rutherford model of the atom (rim shot). Thank you.

Richie Havens @ Church

Does anyone else find it slightly ironic and kind of cool that the man who played the opening set at Woodstock is playing at the Lincoln Center Building tonight?

Did you know... #2

Here are a few more things you may not have known about me:

• I went to High School with the son of the inventor of Tetris. We totally knew each other. We totally debated the business practices of Microsoft. He totally tried to crack down on everyone that had a knockoff copy of Tetris on their TI calculator. I do not lie.
• I used to pre-test video games for Nintendo. I got to play them before they were released and rate them. I had soooo much playground cred.
• I used to play banjo in an award winning* dixieland jazz band.
• I have had the same Mr. Potato Head that my grandparents gave me when I was a kid. His name is Fred Potatohead.
  
• I was almost on the Telemundo dating show "12 Corazones." True story.

*It wasn't much of an award, but we won it.

Photos that are making me happy... for now

Except that my scanner didn't get the awesome fluorescent orange of the letters, and I'll be darned if I can't make it in Photoshop.

I miss Arrested Development. I miss SNL being good.

Rachel Weisz as Snow White. Did I mention I might be going to Disneyland for the very first time ever in my life?

Bill Murray as Elvis. He also answers the Tiger Beat survey inside.

Ten days...

The big 27 is coming up in about 10 days, and this year I'm getting a camera. A sexy camera. I'm actually really proud of this achievement because, 1) I've wanted a SLR for about 10 years, and 2) I finally got up enough courage (and capital) to convince my parents that with the money they would normally spend on birthday/Christmas presents I would have enough for a sexy camera. This was actually a pretty big deal, since deviations from the norm aren't necessarily always welcomed with open arms back home. For example, when I decided to move to NYC, the news was met with what I can best describe as "hesitant happiness." Life east of the Rockies is pretty much a mystery to my parents, and they simply didn't know how to respond. It actually took quite a bit of convincing to get them to visit, but once they did, they loved it. I'm hoping the "money for camera" decision turns out the same way. I think it will, since my Dad is something of an amateur photographer himself, and we've had some fun conversations about my camera and the possibility of him making the switch to digital (a big step, considering the home computer is pretty much a fancy Solitaire machine to him). Enough rambling...

So yeah, I've got enough money to get a Nikon D80 (with the 18-135mm kit lens), a 2 GB SD card, and a UV filter. I think that's a pretty good start. I'm hoping that the fat man puts some lens cleaner and perhaps a nice bag in my stocking...

Genre

Amazon sure considers some weird things to be genres. I noticed this while entering my latest CD purchase (the White Album) into Delicious Library. Take a look:
I might not be an expert on the subject, but I'm pretty sure that Britain is a country, not a genre. Ooh... cheap shot, but not the worst that I could make. Take a look for yourself.

The red circles by Vieve and Libby mean they've had my stuff for too long.

5 CD purchases before this one (from most recent):

1. The Reminder by Feist
2. Oscar Peterson Trio + One by The Oscar Peterson Trio
3. Revolver by The Beatles
4. Bitches Brew by Miles Davis
5. E.S.P. also by Miles Davis
   

Most Excellent Subscription That Would Waste Too Much of My Time

Please forgive me for subjecting you all to the horrors that are AC Slatering, but I was getting desperate for something to post about (also, I found it to be extremely hilarious). Hopefully today's post will be a bit less sophomoric and a bit more freshmanic.

Have I mentioned that I've been on something of a comic book tear lately? Yes, ever since I purchased Spider-Man 3 a couple of weeks ago, I've been obsessing about the various minutiae of my favorite superheroes. I've even created my own superhero team in the action/RPG game Marvel Ultimate Alliance*. Unfortunately, most of this obsessing has taken the form of visiting various web sites to get the latest news on all things Marvel, simply because I don't have the capital to buy even a small sample of the comics I've missed out on from 1994-present. Enter Marvel Digital Comics, a new subscription service that gives you access to a ton of comics, old and new (roughly 2,500 at launch, with 20 added each week). The cost? $10/month, or $5/month when billed yearly. Yup, for 60 bones a year you can get access to all these comics.

I have to admit that I'm a bit undecided about whether or not I should buy into this. Perhaps I should weigh out the pros and cons...

Pros
Hours and hours of comic book bliss
Being the envy of all the guys who hang out at Forbidden Planet (not the ones who work there)
Even more excuses for not exercising

Cons
Loss of contact with family/friends
Possible formation of "funk" in my bedroom
Extremely high risk of another 27 years of celibacy

Doubtlessly, I'll be debating this for days.

*Team Name: Counterstrike; Members:Captain America, Wolverine, Storm, Iron Man, Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Daredevil, Invisible Woman(this may have been a bad choice and she may be replaced soon) and Silver Surfer.

The cultural legacy of Mario Lopez

Here's just a little something to tide you over until I have something more worthwhile to talk about:

AC Slatering

Note: I did not find this thread, it was sent to me. Also, be warned that though this link is not graphic, it does mention the existence of poo, and that the commenters all have potty mouths.

GH3 First Impressions

The Cons

• Too many startup 'movies.' In the previous versions of GH, you only had to click once to get through all of the little developer movies at the beginning of the game. Now you have to click through each one individually. This feels like a "Microsoft Move" to me.
• The characters are in this strange middle ground where they don't look so cartoony as before, but they also don't look very real. This really isn't that big of a deal except for one thing:
• The singer. I'm convinced that he is the reason for the Teen rating on the game. He looks like he eats babies.
• The songs seem more rhythmic. Yeah, there are too many songs (in my opinion) where you are playing "chunk, chunk, chunk, chunk, chunk,..." on your guitar, rather than fun melodic figures. I find these songs less rewarding and more "video game" like.
• This one feels more "video game" like. Some of the rhythmic figures seem really ticky-tack to me, kind of like those stupid one brick platforms in Super Mario Bros. that never failed to screw me over as a kid. I guess I'll get over this one.
• There is a flashing on the "Shanker's Island" stage that can be really distracting until you get used to it.
• After every 50 notes in a streak, a message pops up on the screen congratulating you, which invariably causes me to lose my streak. I like the counter (see below) much better.
  
• The new controller. The good is they made the strum bar softer, but the new "more accurate" fret buttons are way too loud. Plus they are a bit over-sensitive, if you ask me. I miss more notes with that controller than with my other wireless. Perhaps some tweaking will be required... (stay posted for that one).

The Neutral

• The little cartoons in career mode. It's like being in a Gorillaz video. It would've been kind of cool if the in game animations were like this.
• The sound balance seems a bit weird to me. I can probably fix that one in the settings, though, so it gets put here with the neutrals.
• The new menus. I kind of like the old ones better, but I'm glad they didn't just change the colors a la Rocks the 80's.
• Whammy bar calibration. I spent about 5 minutes playing with this, but I couldn't make much sense out of it. Perhaps I'm stupid.
  
• The new star power meter. It's not quite as clear at a quick glance how much star power you have, since you have to interpret the brightness of a bulb along with how many.
  

The Good

• Hammer-ons and pull-offs are easier. Very nice.
• The star power animation is much smoother, meaning my tendency to miss the first note after engaging star power has gone down.
• Clicky, over-sensitive buttons aside, I love the feel of the new controller. And the breakaway neck (and the new on/off switch, for some reason).
  
• The battle mode is pretty fun. Beating Slash (after he had beaten me) was surprisingly satisfying.
• The Master Tracks are really fun to play.
• After about a 30 note streak, a streak counter appears. That can be pretty cool.
• Most importantly, the gameplay is pretty much the same as it always has been. Excellent.
  

Too bad I already have a costume...

...and I'm not a kid, oh, and I don't want to be a delivery person for Halloween.

Found in a recent email was an offer FreshDirect for a kids FreshDirect delivery person costume. Don't get me wrong, the FD delivery men (never seen a woman) that come to my house are really nice, but I don't think any self-respecting kid is going to go for this when they can be... pretty much anything else.

Check it out for yourself over at FD.

Revenge of the Granola Guru

This may easily be the least popular post I've ever done, but that's not really saying much.

When I was living in Utah, one of the things that bugged me the most was the general disregard that the people had for the environment. Yeah, so I grew up in Seattle, so I'm probably a bit over-sensitive to this subject, but still - I seemed to run into my fair share of people who figured that since God had given them this land, they could do whatever they wanted to it. Personally, I take exception to this view. During a bioethics course at BYU, a professor told us that the biblical injunction, "let them have dominion over... all the earth," (Gen. 1:26) might better be translated as, "let them have stewardship over... all the earth." I don't really know where this comes from, and I wouldn't even imagine teaching this in a Sunday School lesson, but I do think that the idea fits with the teachings of the LDS Church very nicely. Therefore, it is my personal belief that I should be as good a steward when it comes to things of this earth, being responsible in what I use and how I use it, as I try to be in all other aspects of my life.

Don't get me wrong, I still have some wasteful practices, and I'm not encouraging anyone to sell their belongings and move into some geodesic dome populated by hippies and hempsters. No, I guess the purpose of this post is to make sure you all know that there are some really easy things that each one of us can do to make things a bit greener (cue sappy music and after school special title card). I'm sure most of you have heard about these things, and maybe you do them. If so, good for you. If not, well, give one or two of them some consideration. So, without any further ado, here's my list of simple things to help the environment:

• Go fluorescent. I'm sure most of you have heard about compact fluorescent light bulbs. If not, here's the deal. They cost about 3x-10x more than a regular bulb, but last 5x-15x longer and use about 75% less energy than regular bulbs. The new ones even create an incandescent-type light so you won't have to deal with the fluorescent fuglies. Also, because they are more efficient, they run cooler. That won't really make much of a difference in a small apartment, but possibly in a larger home it could translate into lower heating/cooling costs. Here's a tip, though- since CF's contain trace amounts of Mercury, you'll need to recycle them when you're done with them (easy enough to do, trust me). You can find CF's pretty much at any hardware store. I got mine at Ikea.
• Along with that last one, don't forget to turn off your lights when you don't need them! Thanks Dad.
  
• Get a bag. If you're like me (young, single, handsome), you don't make many big trips to the grocery store, but rather smaller, more frequent ones. I guess that NYC lifestyle has gotten to me. Well, why not get a reusable shopping bag? Most girls I know are looking for a good excuse to get a new bag anyway. There are plenty of places to buy them, and you can even go super fancy and custom build one over at timbuk2.
• Get a bottle. Honestly, how much better does bottled water taste than the tap? OK, so sometimes it really does (talkin' to you Utah). But you can save a whole lotta plastic if you just get some kind of reusable water bottle. I thought it was a laugh when San Francisco outlawed bottled water in government buildings, but the more that I think about it, the more it makes sense. We already have the infrastructure to bring water to us pretty much anywhere, why does it have to be trucked across the country? Refilling your old Poland Springs bottle (or Dasani, or whatever) is a good step in the right direction, but since you can't clean it out, you'll eventually have to replace it. Why not just get something reusable in the first place? You don't have to get a Nalgene, just get something. Oh, and if you don't like the taste from the tap, get a filter. I'm not saying don't buy bottled water, I'm just saying a little bit of planning can make an impact.
• Consider public transportation or carpooling (not really applicable to New Yorkers).
• Recycle your old batteries/tech gear. What do you do with old technology? Most of the big box vendors now will accept old computers/gear for recycling. Honestly, do it. Also, consider rechargeable batteries for around the house. Though they still can be a source of heavy metals entering the environment, recycling them can reduce this risk. Plus, you will use less batteries over the course of a year.
• Turn off your computer at night. Yeah, this one can save you some money over the course of a year. Perhaps you are like me, though, and use your computer as a wake up alarm (yeah, I'm that nerdy). Well, consider putting your computer to "sleep" for the night. It uses less energy than if it were on, and most good alarm programs out there have some way of waking the computer up (I use Awaken, which does the trick extremely well). If you are feeling really nerdy, you can program your computer to actually turn itself on in the morning. Excellent.
• Refill or recycle your ink cartridges. Refilling saves you money, but if you don't feel like it, recycling your ink cartridges is super easy. Lot's of places will take them, and HP even includes an envelope for mailing old cartridges back to them for recycling.
• Last but not least, consider pen refills. OK, this one is admittedly a bit dubious. I don't really know how much of an environmental impact this one will have, but consider this. I spent $9 on a stainless steel pen in the Summer of '05, and I'm still using the original ink cartridge 2 years later. So, I must admit a certain bias here, as I collect pens. I have had some pens for almost 10 years now, and I keep using them. I know that some people have a tendency to lose pens, but those are the type of people that I don't care to mix with (ha ha! just a joke!). Seriously, give it a shot. I'd be willing to bet you that if you put as much effort into not losing a pen as you do in not losing your keys (and really, how much is that), you'd probably keep it for years.

Well, that's my post for the day. Yeah, that last one was a bit of a rant - deal with it.

Love and Baseball

I love baseball. I love baseball so much that I'm even willing to talk about my love life on this blog, just so that you understand how much I love baseball. Considering that my only hard and fast rule for blogging is to avoid talking about relationships, this is a pretty big deal.

Enough preamble. I'm not one of those guys who wrote down a list of things that he is looking for in a girl, but there are a few things that would be nice: she's got to have a good sense of humor, she's got to be easygoing, and she's gotta love baseball.

That's right, I want to marry a baseball fan. I love being with the crowd and rooting for your team. I love that at the ballpark you can give your neighbor a high-five after a big play, even if you don't know them from Adam. And when you love something, you want to share it with the ones you love, right? Right. I can't wait to take my kids to their first game. Going to the game with my Dad was always one of my favorite things. Heck, those experiences made such an impression on me I still remember the first game I ever went to (Mariners vs. Orioles). I think I was 6. I don't remember much else from when I was 6.

Familial concerns aside (and more to the point) girls in baseball gear are hot. I don't know if it's some kind of tomboy thing or an attraction fueled by shared interest, but when a girl throws on her team's colors, I'm sold. And forget fashion. You can always tell when a girl is trying to look the part. I'm talking about wearing it because you love your team. Show me a girl that has bought at least one piece of baseball apparel that doesn't match her purse and I'm there.

One last thing: team choice. Of course, first and foremost, I'd love it if I met a Mariner's fan. I actually did ask a girl out once solely based on the fact that she was a Mariners fan, but that's a story for some other time. But, since M's fans are few and far between out here in the East, I'm open to any team affiliation - except of course for Yankees fans. I realize that I'm eliminating a big portion of the people I may potentially date, but I just can't do it. Any time I try rooting for them, a little bit of me dies inside. But I guess there's always exceptions...

I should have listened

OK, so this week is a pretty big one if you are a geek like me. You see, Leopard (that's the new Mac OS (operating system)) has a release date for Friday, while Guitar Hero 3 has a release date for Sunday. What!? Yeah, Sunday. Well, let me tell you a story...

Way back when I preordered GH3, I debated whether to go to the one on 6th and 23rd or the one in NoHo. A little voice inside my head told me to go to NoHo, but seeing as the 6th Ave location is slightly less difficult to get to, I preordered there (that was before I knew it was coming out on a Sunday). Turns out there is only one place in NYC where they are doing a midnight release (complete with prizes and t-shirts), want to guess where that is? That's right, NoHo. Bummer.

Happy Birthday to me?

No, it's not my birthday just yet, but with the recent spate of friends' birthdays I have been thinking about it. You know, what to do, where to do it - the usual stuff. And then I go and get the ward email announcing that the long awaited Lingos* are finally here - on my birthday. Great, now I've got to compete with that. Talk about adding insult to injury. First the Lingos torture me because as much as I want to enter, I can't come up with a single thing that wouldn't be total crap AND THEN they mock my pain by doing the whole thing on the one day of the year when I can really feel good about myself! Seriously, Lingos, stop sipping the hate-orade and give a guy a break!


*For those of you who don't know, the Lingos is/are (not sure) the LDS film festival thingy here in NYC. Seriously, get with it.

Got a good post coming - this isn't it.

Can I just say that I love this introduction? And that the choice of songs fits nicely with the overall feel of the show?

Damn scientists and all their promises...

I'm not going to lie to you. I want a time machine, and I'm a bit peeved that modern science hasn't made one available to me yet. You see, I really want to go back in time and live it up with the Jet Setters of the '60's. You know, James Bond style, with tailored suits, hotels where the concierge can get you anything you want, and stewardesses in alluring uniforms. Dammit, I want a Diner's Club card.

So, now that you all know that little secret, let me fill you in on one more. After living it up in Europe, I'd take my time machine to Scandinavia during what I like to call the ABBA years. This is a somewhat new desire of mine, and though traces of it have been simmering away in the back of my mind for quite some time, it took this video and the following picture to really bring it to a boil, because, let's be honest, who doesn't want to look like this couple?
Seriously, he's like He-Man in a tux.

Really? This is still in there?

I began humming the tune used in the video below. I had no idea that a memory of such a thing still has space in my brain.

Note: You only really need to watch about half of this video. Probably even less.

I see some amazing things

Yes, I do see some amazing things at times. This week has been extra amazing, because starting last Thursday, I've seen amazing things at almost a daily rate. Here's a rundown of the highlights.

• Thursday: On my way home from Genevieve's bash, I had my second John Hodgman sighting. This time he was at the corner of Houston and Allen hailing a cab (as opposed to last time, when I almost tripped over him). He was wearing the EXACT same thing as he was last time. I get the feeling he has a whole closet full of the same thing, kind of like Matlock.
• Friday: At the new "Holiday Express" Toys 'backwards R' Us in NoHo, I saw the loveable mascot Geoffrey Giraffe manhandling a coworker and shoving him into an elevator (don't worry, it wasn't an elevator shaft, the car was there), thereby spoiling many a fond childhood memory. It was weird.
• Saturday: I saw myself entering Taco Bell, which is something I haven't done in over a year, and I quite enjoyed my crunchwrap supreme. Perhaps I should be worried about a relapse.
• Sunday: I saw the Prophet (on my computer screen).
• Today: I saw former president of Mexico, Vicente Fox at an NYU forum. He talked about economics, immigration, his time as president, and whether or not his grandfather is going to heaven. This last bit is worth a bit more detail, mostly because the other stuff is way beyond the scope of this blog. Apparently his grandfather was an Evangelical Christian, and a few days before his death, Fox's mother, who was concerned about his salvation, had the priest come and baptize him. The funny thing about all this is that, due to his Alzheimer's and being asleep, he had no idea what had happened. So, even though he's not sure if his grandad is in evangelical heaven or catholic heaven, he's pretty sure he's taken care of. As you can see, it had it's light moments.

Also, I got a facebook invite to join this group today. With all due respect to the party that sent it to me, I think I'm going to have to decline. I feel pretty secure at NYU as is.

Morning Quickie

Alicia took what is easily my favorite picture of the weekend. Just thought I'd share.

Just another GH post

Has anyone else noticed how awesome the set list is getting for Guitar Hero III? Here's just a sampling of artists for those who don't know: Santana, Pearl Jam, Bloc Party, Dead Kennedys, Pat Benetar, ZZ Top, Tenacious D, Weezer, Metallica, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Kiss, DragonForce, Kiss, Aerosmith, Kaiser Chiefs, The Beastie Boys, Alice Cooper, The Who(!), Foghat, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Cream, and (last but not least) The Rolling Stones. Phew! After all that awesomeness, how could I not pre-order a copy at my local BestBuy?I was kind of wondering why the box was so big, until I took a closer look.
Wow! Free guitar strap? Ok, so I knew that you got a free guitar strap in exchange for making a binding promise to BestBuy (seems like a good deal, eh?), but I thought you got it when you picked up your game. What an excellent mistake. I couldn't wait to open this baby up, but I waited patiently until I got home.
Wait for it... wait for it...
Bam! An excellent use of a box.
I bet this strap will look excellent with my black and white wireless guitar.

Yup, the guitar looks more excellent. I wish it did the same for me. Also, the strap does say Guitar Hero, like in the picture on the box.

Taste the happy

In the two years I spent living in Mexico, I never once had the Virgin appear in my food (nor in any other medium, for that matter). Tonight, however, the Smiley Face Man visited me in my Oreo.

I'm undecided on Halloween

For the last while now, my free time has been dominated by a search for the world's most awesome Halloween costume. Oh, I've tossed around several ideas, and tossed just as many out, but I've still only come up with semi-awesome ideas. Nothing truly... Awesome. For a while, I was considering something that involved this,
a fake gold chain, and a spray painted badminton birdie, sunglasses and a headband, but in the end, I felt the idea of "Italian Badminton Champion Enrico Ferrari" was maybe a bit too esoteric. Plus, I couldn't get the suit in my size (for a reasonable price). One of my other leading ideas,
Matlock, probably wasn't going to be recognizable enough, and I didn't want to spend the evening in conversations like this: "You remember. Matlcok. Andy Griffith? Simply country lawyer who rarely lost a case?" So that one has been passed on. For awhile I also considered going as Steve Zissou, but I thought perhaps that was a little too 2005.

So, what does this all mean? Well, two things really. One, I'm really open to suggestions right now, and two, I'll probably just be a baseball player again. For like the 5th time.