08.27.04
Movies
My sister e-mailed me just the other day and told me that she was looking through my movies. She said that she liked them, but that I needed less planes, and more kids. Just for you sis, here’s and oldie but a goodie. It’s of Breanna at age 3 trying to play baseball. I think you’ll enjoy it:
Life Stereotyping
You may remember our family’s recent obsession with board games. We may be playing the wrong ones.
My daughter has grown fond of the police officer career in the Game of Life. That is all she wants to be and she usually gets it too. Recently, her and my father-in-law, who happens to be an ex-police officer himself, were at a doughnut shop, when she turns to him and says:
Breanna: I want to be a police officer when I grow up?
F-I-L:Really, that’s great, why?
Breanna: Because then I can eat all the doughnuts I want.
This is one stereotype that you can be sure that my daughter has not picked up from me or Marcy. Let’s look at the game of Life a little closer though shall we? On the card, there is a picture of two police officers, one of them eating, pause for tension, you guessed it, a powdered doughnut. But as if that’s not bad enough, the player who gets to be the police officer in the game, and the main reason Breanna likes to be the police officer, collects $10,000 from a player every time that player spins a 10 for “speeding”. So this is the perception my daughter now has of police officers. They eat a lot of doughnuts and they take bribes from people who speed. Great. Thanks Milton Bradley.
Friday Update
A quick update for you, my friends, on this day. A day I can look forward to endless number crunching, yet again. But there’s light at the end of this tunnel that I call today. The budget will be completed by the end of this day, and the people will rejoice. Well, at least for the next two weeks, until corporate comes out to review (scrutinize) our budget.
GMail: It appears as though they didn’t just give me one invite this time…I now have 5 more to give away. Let me know if you want one by writing an essay, not to exceed 10,000 words, on your need for a GMail account. Or you could just say, Hey….give me one.
Fantasy Football: I still need more teams. What are you waiting for. It’s fun and free. Where else can you have fun for free. Sign up today and I’ll set up the draft to auto-pick this weekend. Go to the game front page, click the “Sign Up Now” or “Get Another Team” button and follow the links to “Join a Custom League”. When prompted, enter the League ID# (367921) and password (bmg).
School: Next week my kids start school again, and so do I. I’ve got three classes on my schedule this semester, which should keep me busy, one of them is completely on-line at least.
Smoking: Still not doing it. It’s officially been 27 days, 5 hours, 36 minutes and 17 seconds since Marcy or I have had one. It’s been over a month since we’ve bought a pack. Days like I’ve had this week make me wish I still did smoke at times. Not becuase I crave the cigarette, I haven’t craved it for two weeks now, but because it gave me an excuse to take a break. I had to. Now, at least this week, I crunch numbers into this budget that we’re preparing all day long, without even realizing what time it is.
Tomorrow: We’re taking Michael (and the whole family) rafting for his birthday, which is next week. I’d love to get some pictures of the even and post them up for all to see, but I think I’ll be leaving the camera behind for this one. Without this, I don’t feel like taking the chance of dropping it in the river. Maybe I’ll pick up a disposable one, you know one of those things with that stuff they called film, to record the event.
Well, I think that’s it. Have a nice Friday and a great weekend.
08.24.04
Spamusement
I don’t know if anybody is reading Spamusement!, but you should be. The site owner decided to do drawings based on the subject lines of the spam e-mails he receives every day. The last two days have actually made me laugh out loud, causing me to look around to see if anyone heard me.
Here’s a sample, but make sure you go read Spamusement! every day:
Tuesday is Chooseday
Without being able to mentally function yet this morning, I bring you:
Would you rather:
- lose your keys OR your wallet?
- run your fingers down a chalkboard 15 times in a row OR lick ten feet of sidewalk?
- referee a WWE wrestling cage match OR get in a fist fight with your mother-in-law?
- be the inspiration for the movie “deliverance” OR the movie “gigli”?
I’m gonna have to go with my keys on this one…I can always get another one from a locksmith, but I can’t have the mint remake any cash that is lost.
I’m a semi-germaphobe so even though I hate the chalkboard, I’ll have to choose it here.
Are you kidding me? My M-I-L is a Libra like me…we’d try to talk each other out of it.
Depends on which character in deliverence…Ok so I can’t relate to any of them…I guess I’ll have to go with (face contorted in pain) gigli.
GMail
I have another GMail invite to give away if anyone would like to try it. I think I’ll give it to the first person who comments with one really good reason why I should give it to them.
08.23.04
False Accusations
I don’t often get political here, but every once in a great while something happens that throws me into a fit of rage and makes it hard for me not to comment. Washington > Image > Connections and Contradictions” href=”http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2004/08/19/politics/campaign/20040820_SWIFT_GRAPH.html?YOUR_REG_SYSTEM_MAKES_MY_BLOOD_BOIL”>The New York Times has recently researched and documented the truth about the so-called “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth”. Who gave them their funding at this most opportune moment to speak out? You might be surprised. Why do their claims lie against what they have said in the past, and what the records prove? Will the TV watching public who has seen the commercial of these four individuals debunking Senator Kerry as a presidential candidate ever see this information? Hell no. An accusation gets so much more air time than does the truth.
This is the dirtiest presidential campaign I can ever remember, but the lies told are so blatant, I’m shocked that the incumbent candidate still has as much support as he does. It’s because of things like this TV commercial and book written by the “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” that he still has the support of the general public, and everything about their campaign is Washington > Image > Connections and Contradictions” href=”http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2004/08/19/politics/campaign/20040820_SWIFT_GRAPH.html?YOUR_REG_SYSTEM_MAKES_MY_BLOOD_BOIL”>false. Don’t take my word for it, though. Research it for yourself:
Washington > Image > Connections and Contradictions” href=”http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2004/08/19/politics/campaign/20040820_SWIFT_GRAPH.html?YOUR_REG_SYSTEM_MAKES_MY_BLOOD_BOIL”>The New York Times > Connection and Contradications
08.22.04
What Did You Do On Your Saturday Night?
I don’t know if it’s a testament to my turning 30 in a little over a month now or what, but our Saturday nights used to consist of going out, drinking, dancing, singing, raising hell, coming home well after 3 or 4 and generally doing things no human beings should do to their livers. Last night, however, wrapped up something like this:
- Eating a nice dinner at home (barbecued tri-tip sandwiches, my favorite right now).
- Sharing a bottle of one of my favorite wines with my favorite person in the world, while playing the game of life.
- Sitting down with my favorite desert, creme brulee, while sipping my favorite coffee, Texas Turtle, and watching a movie.
Not the type of fun I’m used to, but I could not have felt more relaxed. How’d you spend your Saturday night?
Disclaimer: This does not in any way limit our ability to participate in the aforementioned activities at a later date if we are so inclined to do so.
08.21.04
Overheard at Lunch
Marcy, Breanna and I went to Applebee’s for lunch and we were treated to a testament of the quality of education here. Four women were seated at the table behind me. Two of the women were probably in their thirties, while the other two were high school girls. Their conversation sounded something like this.
High School Girl: I’m taking spanish this year.
Woman: That’s great, I took spanish, and I was so glad I did. To this day I can still read spanish.
HSG: You can?
Woman: Yeah, well I can’t translate what the words mean, but I can pronounce them correctly.
Now that’s impressive. I wish I could do that.
08.20.04
Browse Happy
Those of you who know me, or have been reading for a little while now, know that I recently made the jump from IE to Firefox. I made some comments one day and the people at The Web Standards Project caught wind of those comments. I was contacted by them because they were starting a website about the switch from IE and they wanted to know if they could interview me. I obliged with the interview and their site is now live.
The site is called Browse Happy, and it’s purpose is to make people aware of the security risks involved with using Internet Explorer. Go ahead and read my interview with them, and then browse around the site. The information there is definately worth your time to read and act on if you haven’t already made the switch. So go, be well, and browse happy.
