Everyone's favorite - More pictures of the twins!

They look so sweet in pictures, you'd never know that they like to keep Mommy and Daddy up till 4am... But, there's no question - we love them!


They like being close to each other


Getting a little fussy


Big yawn


The twins are ready to go out


The twins love Mommy

New pictures of the twins (Yay!)

Here are a few more pictures of the twins for you to check out -


The twins together


Oh, so cute!!


Closeup


Mara hanging out with Grandpa D


Alex and Mommy take a nap

As promised - More pictures of the newborns

More pictures of the twins (Yay!!) and some special guests -


Kayla and Isabella (two of my nieces) with Mara


Victoria (my oldest niece) holding Mara


My brother Josh holding Alex


My sister Megan holding Alex


My mom holding the twins

We're still all doing OK, and will be in the hospital for a couple more days. The wife and I are really tired (of course), and yet we still could not possibly be happier. More to come soon!

Pictures of the new arrivals

A little earlier than we were anticipating, but it was deemed necessary by our OB - so we came to the hospital last night, and after 8+ hours of monitoring in the Labor & Delivery Triage center and 1 C-Section (we were C-Section (lucky) number 13 of the day), here we all are -


What a happy family, eh?


Alex


Mara


And the twins with Grandma and Grandpa D (The wife's parents)

We are tired (especially the wife), but so very, very happy to have our perfect little twins with us - FINALLY! It's been a long road getting here, but it's been worth it. More pictures to come soon - promise!

Baby news

Now, don't get excited - they haven't been born yet. We had a close call last weekend, spent Saturday night and Sunday morning at the hospital because of contractions - but they stopped, and were never serious labor contractions. The wife has been on 100% bed rest for the last couple weeks. No big deal though - she was already on bed rest before that. She's seeing the OB twice a week now - we had our last appointment this past Thursday, but no new ultrasounds (unfortunately), since the twins are stacked on top of each other - fun! Shouldn't be too much longer now, the OB has set a date for a scheduled C-Section, June 5th. If it goes that long, that is - who knows? We could be having babies any day now, right now it's a 'wait and see' kind of thing.
I'll post something as soon as anything changes - promise!

Spinal Tap reuniting? Awesome!

Looks like Spinal Tap will reunite for Live Earth, performing at Wembley Stadium in London July 7. There will also be a new 15 minute 'mock'umentary, directed by Rob Reiner, and premiering on the opening night of Tribeca Film Festival. The director said the new short film explains what the band has been doing with their lives lately. Nigel has been raising miniature horses to race, but can't find jockeys small enough to ride them; David is now a hip-hop producer who also runs a colonic clinic; and Derek is in rehab for addiction to the Internet. Also, there will be a new single coming out, the title is "Warmer Than Hell" - I can't wait!!

A much needed laugh - Alanis Morrisette doing 'My Humps'

Oh, man did I need this! Watch Alanis's version of 'My Humps' - funny!!


My hump, my hump...

Pictures of my poor Vue

Here are a few pictures I took yesterday of my poor wrecked (yep folks, it's a total loss) 2006 Saturn Vue -


Front view


Rear view


Close-up rear (passenger side)


Driver side wheel (damaged)


Front driver side


Rear driver side


Front passenger side


Rear Passenger side

Sad, isn't it? I just got the car at the beginning of February - we'd only made 1 payment on it!!

But, thanks to the wonderful people at Saturn North (and the fact that we realized that we needed to replace the car as fast as possible, what with the upcoming birth of the twins), I have a new Vue - take a look -


My NEW 2007 Saturn Vue

I didn't really want to have to buy a new car so soon, but, it worked out to be the best thing to do under the circumstances. I'm very happy with the new Vue, and this one will surely last us a good long time.

New ultrasounds

It's been quite a week so far, folks - after getting rear ended Tuesday morning I really needed something good to come out of this week. And here it is - new ultrasounds of our daughter! Unfortunately our boy was feeling a little shy and didn't want to give us any good profile views (bummer). Both of the twins are doing great, and that makes their parents very happy!

1st image -



2nd image -



And the last -



Maybe next time we go, our boy might feel like posing. We'll see...

Good news/Bad news

Got a little of both, but I'm going to lead with the good -
The US Postal Service has announced the latest in it's series of Commemorative stamps. Special stamps commemorating the 30th anniversary of the release of Star Wars will be available starting in May. You can find out more about them (and also vote for your favorite) at www.uspsjedimaster.com. I voted for Vader (Big surprise...)

Now for the bad news. I was involved in an auto accident Tuesday morning, and I'm afraid that my nice wonderful Saturn Vue may be no more. It was damaged pretty badly, but I still have to wait till the insurance adjuster looks at it before it's final fate will be decided. Can't really get much more into particulars of what happened, but rest assured that I'm OK (mostly, in quite a bit of pain though). Pretty bad news, I know, but thankfully my 28 week pregnant wife was not in the car. Always have to look for the silver lining, I suppose.

Hot off the presses - new ultrasounds!

We just had our appointment yesterday folks, so we're really on the ball this time!
It was just a quick ultrasound, so we only have two new pictures -

Here's one of both heads -



You can kinda make out a face of one of them in this one, it's there on the right side of the picture -



Another appointment coming up soon - so I'll post more once I've got them!

Happy (belated) anniversary to...

Well, me. Yes folks, it was three years ago on Friday, February 13, 2004 that I officially launched this blog out into the blogosphere. The first post wasn't much, really, but if you're interested in checking it out for nostalgic reasons - here you go. So, here we are, 3 years (and a couple of weeks) later - and a LOT has changed. So, here's to three more years - should be exciting, at least!

The best part of last night's Oscar telecast

If you (like me), didn't watch the Oscars last night, you missed a piece of comedy gold starring Will Ferrell, Jack Black, and John C. Reilly. Thanks to YouTube, you can watch it right here -

Introducing - the twins!

As promised - I have new ultrasound pictures of the twins to share! And without further ado, here they are -

It's hard to tell from any of the ultrasounds, but twin A is a girl -


You can see twin A's hands in this next one -


And twin B's legs here -


Here you can see the spine of twin A -


And a view of twin B's spine -


And, yes folks - twin B is a boy!


Here's a view that shows both heads -


Both babies are doing fine, and I can't even express how excited we both are!
We have another appointment in about a month, and since we'll be having ultrasounds each appointment, we should (with any luck) have more to share soon!

UPDATE : I have a new car!

I'm leaving the post here (for posterity), but as you well know, this car was totalled in the accident I was involved in on 3/27/07. Check this post for all the details.


Well, it's actually just a new-to-me car, since it's a 2006 Saturn Vue, but it's really cool - and I love it! Here's a picture -



Cool, huh?

Mission 'Wii'complished!

Yes, that's right - I have a Wii. After a couple hours out (in the snow, mind you) yesterday. Which sucked, but it was SO worth it. The system is a lot of fun - and so far, I'm loving it. A big 'thank you' goes out to my wife, who waited outside (in the snow) with me. THAT'S real love, folks!

A site for funny signs

Ever seen an odd sign on a building, or a road sign that was unintentionally amusing? Well, there's a website for that - Sign Language (yeah, the URL is SIGNSlanguage, but the site name is Sign Language...). Check it out, it's worth a look - trust me!

D**k in a Box

One of the funniest shorts ever to appear on Saturday Night Live - this is the uncensored version, so WARNING - they're gonna say 'dick' a few times in it...



Here's a clip of Justin Timberlake on Leno talking about the video -



And just in the interest of fairness, here's the female version - My Box in a Box!

On the Wii Hunt

Haven't found one yet - but I'm still looking. If you're like me and don't have a Nintendo Wii yet, check this website out - Wii Seeker. It's pretty cool, shows you a Google Map with retail locations pinned in blue (or green for locations that are open 24 hours) and with auctions (mostly eBay listings) pinned in red. So, check it out! It might just help you find one! Good luck, and Happy New Year!!

I know I promised more pictures, but...

OK, OK, I suck. I don't have the additional ultrasounds of the happy little bundles of joy - yet. It's been a crazy last couple of weeks, because I have a new job. Still working for the same company though, just a new position. I've been in training to start the new position beginning January 2nd, and that's been occupying all of my time, I'm afraid. So, I'm hoping to have more cool stuff to post here soon - but I can't promise it'll be anytime really soon. We'll just have to wait and see how this new job goes. More to come as soon as I can...

Holy catchphrases, Batman!

The pictures I wanted to post here that go along with my previous post aren't ready quite yet - so to tide you over, go check out the Top 100 TV Catchphrases. And if you are so inclined, you can watch the TV Land 5 night Top 100 Catchphrases special event starting December 11th. Resistance is Futile!

Just a quick post

The holiday season is upon us - and in addition to all the other things keeping me too busy to write more here, I've got a big post coming soon. I'm working on it, but I'm waiting on a few more pictures I need for it and won't be putting it up till later next week (hopefully). Hope to have more soon, but for right now I'll leave you with this -



More exciting pictures to come soon!

From the minds of Trey Parker and Matt Stone : Universal Training Flim #304

Back in 1995, Universal Studios had just been purchased by Seagram's, and the new corporate masters of the studio wanted to assure their employees that Seagram's was going to remain artist friendly. So, they commissioned a training film... and hired Trey Parker and Matt Stone to make it. The star-studded extravaganza (with cameos from Steven Spielberg, Brian Grazer, Demi Moore, Sylvester Stallone, Michael J. Fox, and more) is absolutely hilarious, but of course was not exactly what Seagram's was looking for. Thanks to the magic of the internet, you can watch this fine short film - right here.

Part one -



Part two -



Enjoy!!

Very interesting new use for RFID

By now most people know about RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) chips - but here's an innovative new implementation of the technology. An implantable RFID chip that will allow diabetics to monitor blood glucose levels without needing to do a finger stick! Read all about it here in the press release from the company that developed the chip, Digital Angel. This is a very good thing - instead of two, three (or more) finger sticks a day, just hold the reader over the chip in your arm (or wherever you and your doctor decided to place it) and get an accurate glucose reading. What'll they think of next...

Borat : Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

I know, I know - two posts in one day! You aren't dreaming it, it's really happening!

So - went to see the Borat movie last night, because we had a free preview pass. Wow, was that a funny movie. Sacha Baron Cohen is a genius - but now some of the folks 'interviewed' in the film are unhappy with the movie, and say they were duped into participating. So, that brings up the question, can they sue? Well, Slate.com's Explainer (Daniel Engber) answers that question right here.

The movie was a big hit with the crowd we saw it with, so I'm sure it'll make a lot of money. That will probably sway the people that felt wronged by their participation in the movie to go ahead and try suing anyway. I guess I can't totally blame them if they try, but in reality they only have themselves to blame - no one made them say what they said. I guess it's just the American way - blame someone else and don't take responsibility for your own actions.

Well, sorta got off on a tangent there - anyway, the Borat movie was really good, I laughed a lot, which was problematic because so did everyone else (of course), and you tend to miss a funny line or two in the movie cause everyone is laughing through it. Minor complaint though. I do wish that I had known going in that there would be so much male nudity in it, cause I saw WAY more of Borat's producer Azamat (and Borat himself) than I really wanted too! Yikes...

24 - Season 6

It's coming folks - the next season of one of the best shows on TV, FOX's 24, starts in January! Here is the 'trailer' for season 6 -




And here is the 'prequel' - set a few months after the Chinese government captured Jack, a strike team lead by Aaron Pierce and CTU's Curtis Manning are assigned by President Heller to bring Jack back.



Wow - very exciting!! I can't wait, this season looks like it's going to be good!

Nope - I'm not dead!

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything here, but it's been an extremely busy last... Well, almost a month since I last posted anything. Lots of things going on and not a lot of time to just sit and write here on the blog. Oh well - maybe that'll change soon. Anyway... In the interest of all those poor people fearing the upcoming drain on your finances known as Halloween (darn those candy-loving neighborhood kids!), here's a How To guide that might help you out - How To Get Rid of Trick-or-Treaters (Written by the fine folks at getridifthings.com). Enjoy!

Funny Pictures

Browsing around the internet recently, I happened upon a couple of funny pictures that I thought I'd share -


Words to live by :)



Hmmm, I think PC might be a little disgruntled.



Creepy...



Looks like Darth Vader has fallen on hard times.



YIKES!!!

It Lives!

Well, the whole fridge debacle ended up getting fixed. We actually got it looked at a week ago on Friday, but I haven't been able to write anything here about because I have been a very busy, busy boy. Anywho... The fridge apparently had a bad heater (now doesn't THAT seem weird? Refridgerators need a heater - it's what keeps them from frosting up) and that problem caused the whole fridge to stop cooling properly. So 230 some-odd dollars later, it's all better. Yippie skippy. Now I just need to fix the lawnmower, and the laptop, and the PC monitor...

No new news on the job front - I applied for a few things Thursday, and have to call a guy back about one of them on Monday, so we'll see how that goes. Fingers crossed, as always.

Things are just falling apart...

Maybe I'm just unlucky. I really don't know. It's been a bad couple of weeks on the home front - our lawn mower is acting up, our garage door broke (but we were able to jury-rig it into semi-health again, good enough to not need to call a repairman), and now the refrigerator is broken. At the very least we'll have to call in a repairman, and at the worst it could be new refrigerator time. It really sucks because the current one is only 4 years old! That, plus I think my home desktop PC monitor is dying, and my laptop has a dead battery - yeah, not a good couple of weeks. Maybe this means something really good is about to happen, right? Like maybe I'll get a great new job, or my wife will get a great new job - or something, right?

All your Snakes are belong to us!

Here's an inspired idea - mash together the 'All Your Base' video with elements of Snakes On A Plane and you come up with -



Now THAT'S funny!

Next 'Amazing Race' starts September 17th

The next season of The Amazing Race is all set to start on September 17th, and the CBS website has been updated with the new cast info. My wife has already decided that Peter and Sarah are her favorite team. I haven't decided yet, still need to read through all the bios. Dustin and Kandice, the reigning Miss California and Miss New York, seem to be likely candidates for 'First team Philiminated', but teams have surprised me before by either sucking just a little less than the last place team on a few legs, or by actually being GOOD, so we'll see what happens. Should be a good season - because it's not another crap-tastic Family Edition (god, that SUCKED).

I think David Copperfield has lost his ever loving mind...

Seems Mr. Copperfield has found something very special in the Bahamas. He recently bought four islands in the Bahamas (they're called the Exuma chain, and cost him $50 million), and now has proclaimed to the world that they contain the 'Fountain of Youth'. Seriously - read the article for yourself here. I don't know, I think he's losing it - or trying to pull some kind of big hoax or something. Maybe he's been getting too much sun down in the Bahamas...

Alright Mister, that's it - You're On Notice!!

See honey - I told you Stephen put Jon Stewart 'On Notice' -



Jon had better watch out - he might get moved to 'Dead to Me' if he's not careful...



OK, I actually made that 'On Notice' board up - and you can make your own too! Just use this link. It's fun for the whole family!

'Mac and PC' spoofs

Some freakin' GENIUSES have come up with fake ads spoofing the current Apple 'Mac and PC' ad series. There's six of them (so far) - here are the first 3, and here are the next 3. God, these are funny - I'm sitting here at work laughing out loud watching the 'Networking' and 'Portability' clips. The guy playing 'Linux' makes me lose it too, he's hilarious!!

P.S. - Oh man, I ran a spellcheck on this post, and Blogger's spellchecker wanted to replace the word 'freakin' with... 'foreskin'! Hee - and yes, yes I am 8 years old.

The most frightening picture I've even seen

Really - no kidding. It's just that scary.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Cause I TOTALLY did - this is frightening.

Not gross, not vile and disgusting - like pictures of mangled corpses or something like that.

But frightening nonetheless.




Really! You're going to look at it and be all, "Yikes! He wasn't kidding!"




But, you know what??





My sister is going to think it's AWESOME.


I can just tell.



Anyway....



Here you go -



Last chance...












This is it!




SEE?!?! I told you!

The Daily Show : Jon Stewart and John Hodgman discuss Net Neutrality

I totally love this clip - I've watched it several times just for the part where Jon gets him to say "I'm a PC". They totally should have had Justin Long come on and say "And I'm a Mac!" - that would have been hilarious!!

Nice, I've always wanted to be a potentate...

I'd heard of this game before, but never actually played it. It's a logic game - you use five dice to play the game, and it's name is Petals Around the Rose (and the name is significant). However, once I found this site, Petals Around The Rose and played a few rolls I figured it out. So now I'm a Potentate of the Rose. NICE!

"Knights of the Round Table" as sung by the cast of Star Trek

Oh man, this is a good one! Somebody synched up scenes from Star Trek (the original series, of course) with the song 'Knights of the Round Table' from Monty Python and The Holy Grail. Great job - check it out here.

The 11 Best Chappelle's Show sketches of all time

Found this site while browsing around this morning, and it's pretty cool to be able to watch a clip of each sketch. Check out the list here - Top 11 Chappelle's Show Skits.
I kinda see their point regarding why the made their pick for number one, although I'd probably make their number 4 pick number 1.

Fun with Windows Vista

I've had a copy of Windows Vista Beta 2 for a couple of weeks now, and last night I finally got around to installing it on my PC (a lovely Dell Optiplex GX260 I picked up off of Retrobox.com for a good price). I need to add more memory, a bigger hard drive, and a AGP video card - so that took some time to secure the funds to buy the parts. I also wanted to clone my existing hard drive onto the new one, so I wouldn't have to reinstall everything. Got that taken care of thanks to a driver cloning freeware program I found, and then I was all set. Finally got around to actually doing the install last night, and it didn't take too long, about 42 minutes. Not bad really. Got user accounts setup for myself and the wife, went to ATI (for my video card) and got their drivers for Windows Vista installed. Didn't get too much time to play around last night, but I did check out the Widgets... whoops, 'Gadgets' a little bit. But even with limited time on the system, I'm already annoyed with the User Account Control popping up all time, locking down the desktop till you tell it that the program or applet or Control Panel you just launched is OK to run. That's getting tired VERY quickly. One weird thing - the display was acting a little strange. Hard to describe exactly, but it kind of hiccups. It's really the only description I can think of - and it's very odd. Perhaps the new Aero Glass display mode doesn't like my old Sony Trinitron monitor (well, it is about 6 years old - and in computer time, that's ancient). Perhaps something else is goofy. I'll have to play around with it. So, I'll be popping in with further thoughts as I get to spend more time playing around with Windows Vista - stay tuned...

Bad news for lovers of Winternals/Sysinternals utilites

Winternals and Sysinternals are well known for making great freeware (like Process Explorer) and commercial utilites (like their Administrator's Pak, which includes the best Windows recovery utility of all time - ERD Commander 2005). But now they've been acquired by Microsoft, and who knows what will happen next. One of their founders/lead developers, Mark Russinovich, posted on his blog that the Sysinternals site will remain up 'for the time being' (whatever that means). So go get copies of their freeware utilites soon - who knows if they'll still be there next time you go looking for them, right?

Rocky... Rocky... ROCKY!!

In case you're interested, here's the 'trailer' for the new Rocky movie (it's titled Rocky Balboa) due out this Christmas.



Apparently, the studio leaked this out, but says that a better quality trailer is forthcoming.

Natalie Portman to play Indiana Jones's daughter in next Indy film

There's a rumor floating around that Natalie Portman will be in the next Indiana Jones film, as Indy's daughter. The working title for the new movie is Indiana Jones and the Ravages of Time, Harrison Ford is definitely back as Indiana Jones (of course, like they'd try and get someone else...) and Sean Connery is also expected to return as Indy's father Henry Jones Sr. Rumors also are floating around that Jake Gyllenhaal might be joining the cast as well. Now, if they would just start filming the darn thing, that'd be great - Harrison Ford's not getting any younger, you know...

Funny clip from the David Letterman show - Bill Gates leaves Microsoft

Here's a quick clip from The Late Show With David Letterman, a little something they came up with to commemorate Bill Gates and his decision to step down at Microsoft.



And, just cause it's REALLY funny - the classic video of Bill and another MS staffer demonstrating Windows 98 well before it came out... and having it Blue Screen on them.

Funny - Darth Vader takes on Japanese policemen

I got a good laugh out of this clip -

Man trades a red paperclip - for a house

God bless the internet, and people who continue to find many interesting uses for it. (Yes, it's true - you can use the internet for things other than porn - I swear!)
Take, for instance, the story of one Kyle MacDonald of Montreal, Canada. He started his quest on July 12th, 2005 with a blog site and one red paperclip, available to anyone wishing to trade something bigger or better for it. The goal was to end up trading for a house - and that goal has been reached. The series of trades made to accomplish this is well worth the read - and there's even some video clips to go along with some of them. Congratulations to Kyle and his girlfriend, who will fly to the town of Kipling, Saskatchewan to see the house on Wednesday. Way to go, Kyle - way to go!

Astrophysicists take on Superman

Well, you'd think they would have better things to do, but apparently a few of the astrophysicists of Stanford and the University of California have been considering recently whether or not Superman would really have the powers he has in movies/comics/TV in the 'real' world. For example, x-ray vision and flight. It's an interesting discussion, and you can read the article for yourself here. Personally, I don't think we should examine super heroes too closely. Takes away a little bit of the magic and mystery, in my opinion.

Look! Up in the sky!

Yes folks, Superman is back! I saw Superman Returns Tuesday night, and I have to tell you, I really enjoyed it. Sure, Roger Ebert didn't really like it, but what does he know? As a comic book fan, I can say that the film was very enjoyable, and I had a great time watching it - it didn't even feel like I'd been watching a movie for 2 and a half hours (more, with trailers and credits). So I would encourage you to do what I did, go see it for yourself. If you're a Superman fan, I think you'll like it. If you are a big-budget blockbuster movie fan, you'll like it. If you love movies with cutting-edge special effects, you'll like it.

That said, it isn't a perfect movie. Although I thought Brandon Routh did a fine job as Clark Kent/Kal-El/Superman, I wasn't impressed with Kate Bosworth at all. I think she's too young to play Lois Lane as written in this film - she's supposed to have a five year old kid, and an existing relationship with Superman that started a few years before he left. So, what, they started their relationship when she was 16? And then she got pregnant at 18? I also had a problem with some of the supporting roles - like Lex Luthor's (Kevin Spacey) henchmen. Most of them don't even say a word in the film - like Kal Penn's character Stanford. Geez, he's named in the opening credits, but he never says anything!

Overall these are small complaints, and are, I think, forgivable in the long run. The story was well plotted and well written to explore the idea of a Superman returning to a world that is getting along without him. The screenwriters also tap into the idea of Superman as the ultimate 'stranger in a strange land' - separated from the people of Earth because he is not from Earth, and has abilities that set him far above humanity. But he has human feelings and desires because he was brought up to be one of us by his foster parents the Kents. And since Mr. Spacey chose to play Lex Luthor as a much darker character than he had been in the previous films (bringing the character of Lex closer to the comic book character in my opinion), that performance also adds more depth and nuance to the movie. I thought he was great in the role, really got the idea across that Lex is evil, and has a unrelenting hatred of Superman.

There were also nice little touches, like the opening titles in the same 3-D font as the first movie, and the inclusion of the 50's TV series Lois Lane (Noel Niell) and Jimmy Olsen (Jack Larsen) in small roles. The composer used John Williams original Superman Main Title theme, and also used snippets of other themes from the original movie in appropriate spots.

So, to sum it up, although not 'perfect' (and what really is perfect these days), I had a great time and will be seeing this movie again - and again. Can't wait for the next Superman movie!

P.S. - A&E broadcast a great Superman special recently called "Look, Up In The Sky!: The Amazing Story Of Superman" that is available on DVD now. You can get it from Amazon here.
I would highly recommend it for any Superman fan you know, it was excellent!

Are you a psychopath?

Answer this question correctly, and you just might be...

A woman, while at her own mother's funeral, meets a guy she does not know and has never seen before. She thinks he is amazing, and she believes him to be her perfect dream guy . So much so, that she falls in love with him right there, but never asks for his number and could not find him. A few days later, she kills her sister.

Question: What is her motive for killing her sister?

And for the answer - highlight the line below this one.
She was hoping he'd come to her sister's funeral too.

If you answered this correctly, well, you think like a psychopath. This test was supposedly administered by a famous American Psychologist (although I couldn't find out who) to test if someone has the same mentality as a killer.

Many arrested serial killers took part in the test and answered the question correctly. So if you answered it correctly too, maybe it's time for extensive therapy!

Do you have a burning question that needs an answer? Ask a Ninja!

But, I'm not exactly sure how you ask a question of the Ninja...
Anyways, the answers are mighty funny - Ask a Ninja

'Sunday Bloody Sunday' as sung by... George W. BUSH??

This video must have taken a LONG time to make. Somebody actually took bits of different speeches Bush made, stitching them all together to get Bush singing U2's 'Sunday Bloody Sunday'. And also made a video!

Check it out -


As seen on Break.com

The things you can learn about yourself from quizzes online...

Apparently, I should live in Dublin, Ireland -

You Belong in Dublin

Friendly and down to earth, you want to enjoy Europe without snobbery or pretensions. You're the perfect person to go wild on a pub crawl... or enjoy a quiet bike ride through the old part of town.

What European City Do You Belong In?

And if I was one of the X-Men, I'd be Wolverine -

You Are Wolverine

Small but fierce, you're a great fighter. Watch out! You are often you're own greatest enemy. Powers: Adamantium claws, keen senses, the ability to heal quickly

Which of the X-Men Are You?

Go ahead and try them yourself, and you can leave a comment below with your results!

Gnarls Barkley performs Crazy at the MTV Movie Awards

As Star Wars characters!!



I already liked this song - but after watching this, I REALLY like it!
If the embedded player isn't working, try using this link -
Gnarls Barkley at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards (hosted on YouTube)

Funny video clip - Oops, did it again, I have... hmmm, yes...

Apologies for the lack of posts recently - I tried to post this yesterday but Blogger was down. So without further ado - Yoda vs. Britney!

The perfect thing for that special lady in your life - Wonder Woman undies!

Yes, just like the Underroos of old - Wonder Woman undies.

Here's a picture -

Wonder Woman!

They have other styles too - Playboy, Hello Kitty, and even South Park - no Cartman thongs, thank god!

Will you actually want to use Windows Vista?

The next Microsoft operating system is coming - Windows Vista will be here (finally) in 2007. But - will you actually want to use it? You might want to read this article from ComputerWorld.com before you make up your mind. Another good idea would be to test your PC to see if it will run Windows Vista - Microsoft has a tool you can download and use to check your PC here. Of course, I'd be wrong not to mention that the article was written based on experiences with the latest Windows Vista Beta - and that the problems noted might not be there in the final version. I guess we shall see in 2007, once the retail versions (yes, versions - 5 of them) ship.

Funny video - The Evolution of Dance

If you haven't seen this yet - give it a look, cause it's pretty funny. Comedian Judson Laipply gives us the Evolution of Dance - and it only takes 6 minutes.

Happy Towel Day!

I promise - I'm not dead! Just haven't had a lot to say (or time to write) recently.
Just wanted to pop in with a quick reminder - be sure you've got your towel with you, cause it's Towel Day today!

You can also visit the Towel Day site, and the Wikipedia list of Geek holidays, so you won't be surprised when someone you know is talking like a pirate on September 19th.

Do you watch Lost? Then you need to check this website

As longtime Lost viewers know, the mysterious DHARMA Initiative that setup the hatch and many of the other things on the island was created by the Hanso Foundation. The Hanso Foundation website was re-launched on May 2nd, and now holds some tantalizing clues as to what may be happening on the island. It's also part of a game - during the last episode, a toll free number was given out (1-877-HANSORG) - if you call it you get the "Foundation" phone menu - choosing option 1 might just give you a password to access extra content on the site... You can also check out this entry on Wikipedia for more info.

See? Even George Lucas eventually bows to peer pressure

This is some mighty cool news from Lucasfilm - the as-released-in-theaters versions of the original Star Wars trilogy to be released on DVD starting September 12th. Each will be a dual disc incorporating the original version of the movie plus the Special Edition re-release (already available on DVD). The article says they will be "attractively priced" - whatever that means. Still, it'll be cool to finally have the movies on DVD but in the original versions just like when I saw them in the theater all those many years ago.

Searching for a new job sucks

Had another interview Monday, I've no idea whether or not I have a chance at this job but I'm holding out hope still. Should know something by the middle of next week, hopefully. I also am apparently in the running for a help desk position with the City of Columbus, if they call me back to schedule an interview. So we'll see how that goes. I am getting tired of going out on interviews and having nothing happen though - the last couple I went to before Monday went well (I thought), but then I never heard back from them, they didn't even call or send me a letter notifying me I didn't get the job. Still, I'm trying to keep a positive attitude, and I figure as long as I keep getting interviews eventually something has to happen, right?

I'm still alive - I swear!

Just haven't posted anything in (quite) awhile. My wife and I went on a short vacation last week, just a few days away from home at the Belterra Casino/Resort. Nice resort, cramped smoke-filled casino (yuck), and in a VERY remote location of the Ohio River. Seriously remote - the nearest 'town' (Vevay, IN) was 8 miles away and was TINY. Consisted of a graveyard, couple churches, Family Dollar, Dairy Queen, Gas station with attached Subway, and a bowling alley that seemed to never open. The town's big claims to fame? Being never the Belterra Resort and being the home of the Switzerland County Visitor's Center. Quite the bustling metropolis, eh?

Despite that, we had a good time, didn't win any money unfortunately - but didn't lose our shirts (house, cars, etc.) So we could have done worse. We happened upon Indiana's most remote McDonald's (check out pin A on this Google Map), and also stopped over in Cincinnati - got some bowling in (because we had to practice with our new bowling balls, of course), had dinner out with friends of the wife, and went out to a movie with the father-in-law. All in all, a good time. But over much too soon, really. Had the remainder of the week off at home and then had to come into work as normal today - blah. Oh well, perhaps I'll finally have some luck on the 'Need a new job' front - I've got another interview coming up on Monday.

Wake up, Kermit

The animation is so-so, but the idea and execution are good - The Muppet Matrix

New addition to the family

My brother and his wife had a baby yesterday - they now have 4 girls! Here's a picture of her :

Christina Ann, Born 4/5/06 at 7:44pm, 7 pounds 1 ounce and 19 inches long.

She's very cute, isn't she? Congrats to my brother Josh and his wife Errin!

No news is not good news

Never heard anything back about the interview I had on the 13th - so I'm guessing I didn't get that job. I had an interview Monday for a position with the City of Columbus, and I think it went well. Hopefully I will hear something about that soon, because they want to do second interviews for it, and I'd want to (hopefully) get in for one before going on vacation, which starts on April 9th. Boy, do I need a vacation.

So, you think YOU'VE got a terrible job?

There's always someone out there with a worse one - (WARNING: Video clip with naughty language!!)
Worst Job in America

Enter the Urban Ninja

Watch this - this guy is one hell of an acrobat!

A fun site for the children of the 80's and 90's

Greetings all! Had an interview for another job opening on Monday, it went pretty well (I thought), and I should hear something back from them soon. Sounds like it'd be a fun job, so I'm really hoping I get this one.
I have a fun link for you today, Retrojunk - Your Memory Machine. Lots of articles about old cartoons and movies and TV shows (mostly from the 80's and 90's), and video too - old commercials, TV show intros and stuff like that. Lots of nostalgic fun for those of us old enough to remember this stuff :)

I'm still here

Been a long while since I've written anything here, sorry about that! Still no happy news on the job search, I've got a few resumes out there and hopefully still have a shot at a job with the City of Columbus. I have no idea when I might hear something from them - I've found that the wheels of government tend to move slowly when they actually move at all. Anyway, in other news I've been playing with my new 60GB iPod a lot recently and I really love it. Just got a FM transmitter/car cradle for it last night, it's very cool. Also, not to change the subject, but since I haven't given you any cool links to browse to recently (and I've been feeling guilty), here's a fun one - Guimp, the world's smallest website. You can play games on the site like Pac Man and Pong and even Asteroids - but the site is a 18 pixel by 18 pixel box! It's crazy tiny - you should check it out!

Google makes video from the National Archives available on Google Video

This is a great idea - Google will be working on digitizing the video content of the National Archives and making it available to all through Google Video. There are some samples available on there right now, like this one - the 1969 moon landing. Very cool!

The search continues!

Still no definitive answers from anyone on the job front, I had an interview Tuesday and I think it went OK. They said I should hear back from them next week if they want me to come back for a second interview. Still waiting to get my results from the test I took for a job with the city of Columbus - I took the test over 2 weeks ago and still haven't received notification yet of how I did. I called them yesterday and left a voicemail, and they called back and said I should get something 'by next week'. So we'll see how that goes. I'd really like to know one way or another on these prospects soon, so I'm really hoping they do let me know next week as promised. It's so difficult to find a new job... but hey, at least I've had a couple of interviews! Up until recently I wasn't even getting THAT far, so getting to a first interview is at least progress in the right direction.

I wonder...

So I'm sure you've heard about Ritchie Sambora and Heather Locklear and their marital difficulty (if not, you can read about it here). I wonder... when she found out and they talked about it, did the conversation maybe go something like this?

Ritchie: Heather, what's up?
Heather: Ritchie, I found these emails, and frankly, I think You Give Love A Bad Name.
Ritchie: Ah baby, no... you gotta believe it ain't like that - I love you, I'm Livin' On A Prayer here baby!
Heather: Look, we knew it might never be a Bed of Roses, and now it looks like it's over.
Ritchie: Ah, baby no - that's some Bad Medicine!!

Yep, I'll bet it was just like that :)

The more things change, the more they stay the same

Greetings all! Unfortunately posting to the blog has taken a back seat recently to the big job search, and to being crazy busy at my current (cruddy) job. It's really been bad, but hope springs eternal! I have an interview with the city of Delaware on Monday, and I'm still in the hunt for a job with the city of Columbus (should hopefully be hearing from them soon). With any luck something will pan out soon, and I'll be telling you all about it right here folks!

Still hoping...

Haven't heard anything back on the "Matt needs a new job" front - yet. Got a few irons in the fire still, and unfortunately none of the places I'm in the process with are moving very fast. With any luck I'll find out something from one (or more) of them next week. I'm still hopeful that at least one of these will pan out... Wish me luck!!

Keep EVERYTHING crossed...

Cause with any luck, I'll have a new job soon. Haven't been able to post recently cause things have been CRAZY at my current job - it's just incredibly busy, and I haven't had time to write any posts up of any significance. So here's a quick post, just a fast update - I'm working on three different jobs I'm currently in the running for, one I am waiting to see if I get a second interview, another I filled out a pre-screening questionnaire and turned it in yesterday, and the last I have to take an exam to see if they think I'm qualified or not. I'll be taking that on Monday. So, we will see how things go over the next couple of weeks - but with any luck, I'll have a new job soon.

Well THAT was annoying

Hello, and thanks for reading an official NOT 'spam blog'. Apparently Blogger has bots that sweep through blogs they host and flag them as 'spam blogs', disabling them from posting till the owner fills out a form and submits it to Blogger. And my blog was flagged yesterday - I just got access to post back today. So I had already written the post below this one, and decided to go ahead and publish it too. Silly automated processes, but it's all better because the Blogger admins have my blog on the whitelist now. Still was a pain in the rear though.

It was 20 years ago yesterday...

Yes folks, on January 19th, 1986 the first computer virus was discovered. It was a boot sector virus, and was spread from infected floppy disks (ah, those were the days...), a far less serious problem than the worms and trojans and other crud traversing the networks of today thanks to the internet. So in honor of this historic moment in history, let's all make sure our anti-virus programs are up to date and we do a full virus scan, what do you say?

Arrgh...

I hate cars. I totally hate them, with a passion. It never fails, just when you think one is running alright and everything is fine... BAM!!
I had a problem a few months back with the power window on the passenger side of my truck (this is not the actual truck (mine is magenta), just a picture I found so you could see what it looks like). It was stuck down, and I couldn't get the power window to roll back up! I could pull it up so that it was closed at least, but it would slide back down if you hit a bump. So it turns out that the regulator for that window had died, and after a few days and $500 (or so) dollars, it was fixed. Well, now (of course) the DRIVER side window is broken - only this time, I can't get at it to pull it back up! So it's stuck ALL THE WAY DOWN, and folks, it was a COLD drive to work today. I'm very annoyed and pissed off, and since I'll bet the regulator on that window is dead (cause it just figures it will be), it looks like I'm also out another $500...

iPod users are not as likely to steal music

According to a study conducted recently, owners of Apple iPods are less likely to steal music than users of other MP3 players. The survey of US and UK music buyers reveals that even though 25 per cent of people admit to downloading music from file-sharing services, only seven per cent of iPod owners do so. I guess we iPod owners are just an honest bunch, eh? This sure would seem to contradict Steve Ballmer's opinion of iPod users, back in 2004 he told reporters in London that "The most common format of music on an iPod is 'stolen'". Oh well, I guess you can't be right all of the time, right Steve?

Email spam on the decline - uh yeah... sure it is

Here's another quick post for today - I found a funny opinion article written for The Guardian that seems to think that spam emails are on the decline. Right - SURE they are :) I get quite a bit of spam still, but I'll admit that very little of it ever hits my inbox. The majority of it is filtered out by the spam filters I use - my ISP provided accounts (which are POP accounts) I pull down with Mozilla Thunderbird 1.5, and it has a really great built in junk mail filter. I also have a Google Gmail account, and their spam filtering works really well too. I still get spam - but I can just delete it easily and never really have to look at it much. Which is nice, since I'm not looking to buy any penny stocks, or help out the Nigerian Finance Minister, or increase the size of my member.

Computer problems driving UK citizens to alcohol and smoking to cope with the stress

Howdy all - sorry I haven't posted in so long, but I've been pretty busy recently. Having to come back to work after a vacation sucks, hard. Anyhow, I was reading this article from BBC News about a poll conducted by UK charity Developing Patient Partnerships about what causes stress for them. 30% responded that 'IT Problems' cause them the most stress, and out of the 1000 people polled, 27% of men and 23% of women said they would light up a cigarette in such situations. And more than a third of men and a quarter of women have a drink to cope with stress. So it looks like computer woes are leading people in the UK to ruin - I know that my problems make me wish I could have a few drinks every now and then!

Best wishes for a Happy New Year!

Here's hoping that everyone out there (all three or four of you who read this blog) has a wonderful New Year - get out and party tonight like it's 2005! I'll be taking next week off, and will be working on my New Year's resolution... get a new job (I really need one). I definitely need the time off, it'll hopefully help me start 2006 right. So here's to Auld Lang Syne and all that - Happy New Year everybody!

AOL's Top Ten list of Spam e-mail subjects

AOL published it's yearly list of the top ten spam email subject lines recently, and here it is -

1. Donald Trump Wants You - Please Respond
2. Double Standards New Product - Penis Patch
3. Body Wrap: Lose 6-20 inches in one hour
4. Get an Apple iPod Nano (or PS3 or Xbox 360) for Free
5. It's Lisa, I must have sent you to the wrong site
6. Breaking Stock News** Small Cap Issue Poised to Triple
7. Thank you for your business. Shipment notification
8. Your Mortgage Application is Ready
9. Thank you: Your $199 Rolex Special Included
and 10. Online Prescriptions Made Easy

In this article from InformationWeek.com, they talk about the list and also mention that AOL is reporting that they blocked an average of 1.5 billion spam messages each day. The total number of emails blocked in 2005 was OVER 556 billion. Damn! Are enough people actually BUYING penis patches to justify sending out that much spam? Seems like the problem is only getting worse, but the article also mentions that the average amount of spam that actually reached their user's mailboxes declined 75% over last year. Well, that's something, I guess.

Wish I'd come up with this idea...

Alex Tew, a 21-year old student from a small English town, came up with one hell of an idea to come up with money to pay for his education. He decided to start a website, appropriately named milliondollarhomepage.com, and sold it as a billboard site - anyone who wants can buy 1 pixel on the page for $1. So a 10x10 section would cost $100, etc. He sold a few sections to some friends and family, and with the $1000 those sales raised he issued a press release. Which was picked up by the news media, spread around the Internet, and soon advertisers for everything from dating sites and casinos to real estate agents and even The Times of London were putting up real cash for his pixels, with weblinks to their own sites of course. So far he's raised $936,700 - in only four months. Damn, that's quite a lot of money!! If you want to get in on the action, you'd better hurry - there's only 63,300 pixels left.

Coming to a PC near you - an unpatched Windows flaw that exploits Windows Meta File (WMF files) - The zero-day exploit

It's time yet again to watch what emails you open, which sites you visit, and what IM's you click links on VERY carefully! A flaw in the way Windows XP and Windows 2003 Server OS handles Windows Meta File (WMF) files has been exploited, and it can affect your PC even if your copy of Windows XP is fully patches and you run up-to-date anti-virus. As of this writing, Microsoft has no patch ready to fix the flaw in Windows, and the exploit is rampant on thousands of malicious websites. Read more about it here.
There is a workaround available, thanks to Verisign's iDefense. I've copied the procedure (and the possible drawback) below.

According to iDefense, Windows users can disable the rendering of WMF files using the following hack:

1. Click on the Start button on the taskbar.
2. Click on Run...
3. Type "regsvr32 /u shimgvw.dll" to disable.
4. Click ok when the change dialog appears.

iDefense notes that this workaround may interfere with certain thumbnail images loading correctly. The company notes that once Microsoft issues a patch, the WMF feature may be enabled again by entering the command "regsvr32 shimgvw.dll" in step three above.

Hope that helps you if you are worried about this - and I think you should be!

A well deserved honor - TIME names Battlestar Galactica the best show of 2005

And I'd have to agree - it was the best show of 2005. Here's a link to the article so you can read the rest of the list. I don't agree with everything (come on - How I Met Your Mother? Except for Neil Patrick Harris that show blows!!) but most of it is right on the money. Although I would have put My Name Is Earl up higher on the list. The new season of Battlestar Galactica starts on January 6th - and I can't wait!!

Track Santa's progress using Google Earth

Have Google Earth? You can use it to track Santa today - it started 2pm GMT. Here's a link to the post about it from the Google Blog. If you want to download Google Earth, just click the Google Earth link above!

Proof that I work for truly bad people

Cause here I am at work today, posting to let you all know about it. I had the day scheduled off, but apparently that's not good enough for the higher-ups around here! I can't get into it too much unfortunately, but suffice it to say that you can just call me Dante Hicks today, cause "I'm not even supposed to BE here today!!"

Merry Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Festivus/Yule/etc.

I'm going to be unavailable for the next few days most likely, so I thought I'd pop in for a quick post to wish one and all a very happy (insert holiday here). I'll be posting again as soon as I can to let you all know how my holiday went, and whether or not I ever got into the holiday spirit (which is currently still up in the air as of this writing). So here's wishing a very merry (whichever) to all, and I hope you all get what you're looking for from the holiday!