That Awkward Time

Yeah, if I remember correctly. It definitely went a little something like this:

http://www.fonztv.nl/fastsite/qt/nemo-teens.htm

Shadows Over CAMELot

Here is a shot from National Geographic. Very cool. It's a top-down shot of some camels with a clever view of the shadows. Click on it for a larger version.

Ten Thoughts to Ponder

As I play catch-up on my email, I run across a few decent "jokes" now and then. Here is one that I just got around to reading that isn't bad. I generally prefer to post these rather than forward them to potentially appreciative or irritated readers. So, here goes. A few of these are comical. Others not so much, but in any case...

Ten Thoughts to Ponder

1. Life is sexually transmitted.
2. Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.
3. Men have two emotions: Hungry and Horny. If you see him without an erection, make him a sandwich.
4. Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach a person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks.
5. Some people are like a Slinky.....not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs.
6. Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.
7. All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.
8. Why does a slight tax increase cost you two hundred dollars and a substantial tax cut saves you thirty cents?
9. In the 60s, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.
10. We know exactly where one cow with mad-cow disease is located among the millions and millions of cows in America, but we haven't got a clue as to where thousands of illegal immigrants and terrorists are located. Maybe we should put the Department of Agriculture in charge of immigration.

Target acquired

Thanks to Penny Arcade, I am now aware of something almost sinister. Remember when Nerf just made softer versions of sporting goods?

A frickin' sniper rifle?!?

It's Elemental, my dear Watson

On Friday, I traded in my 2003 Toyota Corolla S for a 2007 Honda Element EX. It's not the exact color that I would have chosen given the full range (Honda calls this one Arctic Blue), but of the affordable ones on the lot, it's the one that I picked. Those that know me will recognize the irony of me obtaining a vehicle of which the looks I have been criticizing since its initial release in 2001(?). Here are a couple of pictures of my new one (click on them to see larger versions).

I also learned a little something about taking a 2-year old to the dealership with you when trying to negotiate a purchase -- NOT a clever plan. However, on day 3 I will say that it's a pretty neat vehicle. I was flip-flopping between it and the Toyota RAV 4, but decided on the Element due to larger cargo space primarily. They were both really nice, affordable, economical (from a fuel perspective) SUV type vehicles. And, since the driving factor (inadvertent pun) was needing more space for Killian and his associated stuff, this seemed like the logical choice. The easy clean flooring of the Element isn't a bad idea on the Killian note either.

Lots of neat little gadgety items in this vehicle. Some I dig, some don't make a difference to me. It has a line-in jack for audio devices, which will be nice for the iPod or for the portable DVD player should I choose to watch a movie in the vehicle for some reason. The only features that I really asked for are included - power windows & locks and cruise control. It's an automatic transmission, which suits me just fine. It's 2WD which, for my city travel, is again just fine. It comes with a 6-disc changer which will play MP3 and WMA CDs as well and XM satellite radio with a 3-month free trial (going to be hard to give it up after that). It has a tire pressure sensor (as did the RAV 4) which is nice because I'm bad about checking tire pressure unless they are blatantly looking low. It also has side curtain airbags in addition to the standard driver and passenger side ones. A little extra comfort on the safety side of things - along with side impact beams and front and rear crumple zones. Hopefully I'll never get to see any of those features in action.

It has a power outlet (cigarette lighter plug) in the rear near the tailgate as well as the one in front. If you are an outdoorsy/camping type, I suppose this could come in handy for several things. There are a few other things here and there, but that's about all of the nifty things I can think of. The back seats fold down, up and away or can be completely removed - that's kind of neat. Oh, and the front seats can lay down completely flat for the narcoleptics among us.

When I drove it off the lot, it only had 14 miles on it. I've only managed to tag on 35 since then, but I'm sure the coming weeks will see quite a few more.

Links to the entertaining

Here are a few links that I have encountered over the past few weeks that I found to be entertaining:

• A conversation at the suburban neighborhood pool... (not work friendly)
• One sheet of paper (art - wow)
• How Hot (relative heat ratings for common items)
• Balancing Point (nifty rock "stacking" video)
• "The Robot" done right
• Crazy Ladybugs (fun little internet time waster game)

Battle of the Bands

For those about to rock...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6bUD9PJ6i8&eurl

Ants Schmantz

A few things going on of late, but nothing super spectacular.

First, a couple of quick entertaining links:
- weird Al's "White and Nerdy"
- A freakish cure for hiccups
- Frightful political news
- A comical Google Earth bug

Life remains fairly hectic. Bobbie continues her at home treatment which remains challenging but she's hanging in there. The most recent hurdle is that she started to lose her hair (approximately 1/500 chance of that happening with this treatment) which resulted in her getting it cut fairly short (to a bob) to slow down the loss. The haircut seems to have been effective so far in reducing the amount of daily loss. It's not obvious that she's losing it yet other than finding it everywhere. However, as I've said throughout the treatment thus far, it's all to ensure that she's around for many more years to see her son grow and mature. The side effects are of no concern to me if they are not health threatening.

I recently went on another business trip to Newport News and managed to be sick the entire time (sinus infection or something of the like) and am just starting to feel better today (5 days later). That sucked. I actually missed work on Friday as a result, but got some much needed sleep to help knock it out. Killian is just starting to get a runny nose today, so it's probably his turn. Bobbie was sick simultaneously with me, but she was a day ahead. Other than that, the trip was pretty fruitful from a business perspective. However, I was surprised by having to stay an extra day so I had to go on a shopping adventure to pick up an extra day's worth of clothing.

My little free time continues to be occupied by World of Warcraft and Mythos. If you didn't see the season opener for South Park and know anything about World of Warcraft, you should try to catch it in a rerun or on the internet. Pretty funny stuff (as South Park *always* is in my opinion).

I can't remember if I posted it before or not, but I've added my Amazon.com wishlist and my DVD Collection back to the blog page (see upper right corner).

Nothing especially new to report on the Killian front other than that he continues to change and learn more everyday. He now knows please pretty well and is picking up new words all of the time. Shamu is finally starting to play with him a bit, but she's still a pain in the butt about it for some reason. He's generally pretty gentle with her, but she flees whenever he gets near.

Alright, I'm off to snag some lunch while he's napping. Until next time...