Top songs

Since KISW is in the middle of their annual top 999 songs of all time countdown again, I got to thinking, what are my top songs. Don't worry, I'm too lazy for 999. I'll just stick to 5. After putting several minutes of thought into it, here's the list I'm going with:

1. Queensryche - Jet City Woman

2. Dream Theater - A Change of Seasons

3. Van Halen - Panama

4. Guns 'n Roses - Paradise City

5. Joe Satriani - Always With You, Always With Me

The order of these may change without notice. The songs themselves may also change without notice. But today, this is what I'm going with. There is no accompanying explanation of what makes these songs so great, they just are, so deal with it. And if there are any you haven't heard before, do youself a favor and listen to them now.

Useless fact of the day

The original Twinkies filling was banana; it was replaced by vanilla flavored cream during World War II when the US experienced a banana shortage.

Seahawks in the Superbowl again?

According to the good statisticians over at Cool Standings, the Seahawks are going to lose the super bowl yet again, only this time to the Denver Broncos by a score of 18-17. Now if you remember last year at this time, these same guys were predicting that the Seahawks would beat the Steelers in the Superbowl. I don't recall the score they predicted then, but lets hope they stick to the trend of getting the teams right and the winner wrong.

Wasting taxpayer money

I saw this story on the front page of The Seattle Times today. Apparently the Sonics aren't the only sports franchises in the area begging for taxpayer handouts. Also on the list are:
$179 million: For NASCAR track in Kitsap County
$10 million: Toward a $50 million hockey arena in Kent
Up to $53 million: Toward an $80 million rodeo arena in Centralia
$18 million: For renovations to state's five minor-league ballparks

While all these seem like a huge waste of money to me, particularly when we can't find enough money to get 520 and the Alaskan Way Viaduct rebuilt, I am most offended by the NASCAR track idea. I grew up in Kitsap County and still have family there and can tell you right now that there are too many rednecks there as is. The last thing we need is to spend taxpayer money on something to attract more inbred hillbillies.

In general I am opposed to taxpayers having to finance sports stadiums. Sports franchises are private businesses and shouldn't get and special priveledges that other private businesses don't get. Every time a sports team starts begging for money, it gets under my skin. And it really bothers me that after footing the bill, I still have to pay exhorbitant ticket and concession prices. I couldn't care less if the Sonics left town and actually hope they don't build an arena in Renton and screw up the traffic even worse than it already is. I hope that no taxpayer money goes to any of these things, but particularly the NASCAR track. So the question now is: which of these do you guys think is the biggest waste of money. And just to make things more interesting, feel free to throw in any other state or local project that you think is a waste of money, like maybe the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

The Stabbening

This brilliant behind the scenes look at the Stabbening was brought to my attention by Devon. I feel I must give credit where it is due. The premise of the movie is that there is nothing scarier than being stabbed by a knife holding another knife. Absolutely brilliant.

Today's useless trivia

Six people died in Oregon during WWII as a result of a Japanese balloon bomb.

More Christmas songs

I don't know how I could have forgotten to include these gems in my list of acceptable Christmas tunes, but Spinal Tap has produced 2 quality offerings. First, a classy and thoughtful remake of We Three Kings. Second is the ever so slightly more offensive Christmas With The Devil off of their album Break Like the Wind. Give them both a listen and I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

And this video is well worth 7 minutes of your time. It may well end up being the best 7 minutes of your life.

Frozen pizza

I'm too lazy to make any dinner tonight, so I threw a frozen pizza in the oven (with some extra cheese of course). Now, for my money, the tastiest frozen pizza on the market comes from the good folks over at Red Baron. I will admit to eating a Totino's from time to time despite the fact that I'm not sure any part of it can legally be called food. Now I know that Shawn is a man who's eaten a frozen pizza or 2 in his time and has most likely sampled everything in the frozen pizza aisle at one time or another. I'm sure he can enlighten us all with the various intracacies of each brand. Off the top of my head, the only pizza I can think of that I just can't stand is DiGiorno. I don't know what it is about those, but I don't like them. I'm not too fond of anything with a rising crust either. I like a thin crust. The more cardboard like, the better.

And now for a brand new feature!

Debuting today is: Useless Facts! Today's useless fact is brought to you by, well, me. This feature is too new to have corporate sponsorship. But enough of my yackin', lets boogie.

If Jello is hooked up to an EEG, it registers movements virtually identical to the brain waves of a healthy adult.

Once again, this has been Useless Facts. If you would like to sponsor a future useless fact, donations are gladly accepted.

Christmas music

By now I'm sure most of you know that I despise most Christmas music. Years of working retail and hearing the same terrible songs ad infinitum have left me bitter. As a matter of fact, being subjected to Christmas music all day today left me filled with, uh, the 'Christmas spirit'. The third time that Feliz Navidad came on the radio, I was ready to break something. That song in particular has to be one of the worst songs ever written. That being said, there are a few exceptions. Guitarist Gary Hoey has put out a few Christmas albums that I really like. Do yourself a favor and check out Ho Ho Hoey (or Ho Ho Hoey 2 or 3). You can listed to a few tracks on his myspace page. Next on the list is Merry Axemas, an instrumental CD featuring the likes of Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson, Jeff Beck, and others. Jeff Beck steals the show on that one with his rendition of Amazing Grace. Finally, we come to the only other Christmas song I can think of that I like. I'm not sure really why I like it, but the Bryan Adams song Christmas Time is very catchy and makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Let me just state for the record that I don't have the man crush on Bryan Adams that Shawn's cousin does. Now that I've gotten that disclaimer out of the way, enjoy:

Senseless Christmas Violence

I saw this story on the news about senseless Christmas violence. Luckily my friends at youtube had the video on there so I can share it with all of you. If you have small children around, you may want to have them leave the room.

Snow

I headed over to my parents house for the weekend and was very surprised to wake up to snow this morning. They are still forecasting a high of 45 today, so I think this is as close as we'll get to a white Christmas, but still, it's better than nothing. Plus there is the added bonus that I don't have to try to get to work in the snow. Enjoy the pictures.

More Cheese

Somehow, despite being on of my favorite songs from one of my favorite bands, I had never managed to see this video. Now that I have seen it, I can say that it is one of the worst videos I've ever seen. For some reason, King's X was really in love with green screen technology. Without further adieu, I present to you:

It's Love

Seahawks rant

I held off as long as I could, but you knew that sooner or later I'd have to talk about how disappointing the Seahawks have been in recent weeks. I'm lucky enough to have a ticket for Sunday's game, but I'm expecting the Seahawks to be on the ass end of an ass kicking. It's a little hard to get excited about that. They just have no heart any more. They are playing like they just don't care. They are going to barely sneak into the playoffs and then really get blown out. It's really getting difficult to watch.

Finally

It's been 8 days, but I finally got my power back. It's so nice not to have to wear a coat inside.

Man flies using rocket propelled wings

Here's another interesting video I stumbled across. This looks like a lot of fun.

Guitar Hero 2

After being introduced to Guitar Hero last night, I was interested to see this video for Guitar Hero 2. Surprisingly enough, I think it's more difficult to play the game than it is to play an actual guitar. Still, it's somewhat fun.

No end in sight

Well, this is the last time I'm going to complain about still having no power. I promise. I am just flat out amazed that I'm still getting screwed here. Crews were partially blocking the entrance to my complex on Tuesday and managed to restore power right up to the building next to mine. I'm beginning to take this personally. I really do appreciate The Molitor being willing to 'go PSE' on my behalf (see comments in last post).

Seriously though, special thanks to Troy, Devon, Chris, and the Robles family for giving me something to do other than sit in the dark. Also a big thanks to everyone who offered a place to crash or some free firewood or a place to get cleaned up. It's appreciated.

Still no power

Tuesday has arrived and still no power. According to this from the PSE web site, I may not get power back until Friday or Saturday.

Bellevue and Newcastle areas
Restoration efforts in heavily damaged pockets of Newcastle and Bellevue, especially Bellevue's Bridal Trails, Lake Hills, Eastgate, and Phantom Lake neighborhoods, likely will continue late into the week, perhaps Friday or Saturday. Crews are focused on repairing damage to the local distribution lines that serve customers.

Of course, if Friday comes and I still don't have power, I will surely have taken a life by then and will be locked up in a nice warm maximum security prison. Pray that it doesn't come to that.

Embarrasing moments in Scott history

It's about time I told this story to those that haven't heard it. Imagine if you will that I am a temp and haven't been with the company very long. I brought in some headphones and a cd to listen to. What I don't realize at the time is that I've managed to plug my headphones into the wrong jack. The volume is low and so I keep turning it up. It still isn't getting very loud and it sounds kind of muffled. I get the volume up as loud as it will go, but it still sounds funny. Something is wrong, but I can't quite figure out what until the nice person in the cube next to me reaches over and taps me on the shoulder. I take the headphones off and that's when I realize that the music is coming through the computer speakers and not the headphones, and that the computer speakers are capable of producing a surprising amount of volume. Luckily for me I happened to select a profanity laden song for my listening pleasure. I still have a job though, so the story does have a happy ending. Here is the song for your listening pleasure, and if you are listening at work, I highly recommend the use of headphones:

So cold

It is now Monday and I'm still without power. It was 48º in my bedroom when I woke up this morning. I have about 20 pounds of blankets (every blanket I own) on my bed right now and it's still hard to stay warm. I can hardly move under the weight of all the blankets. It's like being pinned down by a sumo wrestler. Or a love starved Britney Spears. Whichever analogy you prefer. As if that weren't enough, somewhere in my building a loud beeping started at about 4:30 this morning. I did some investigating and when I found out that the building wasn't on fire, tried to ignore it and go back to sleep. Unfortunately I couldn't and just got up and went in to work early. Now the lack of sleep is really starting to catch up with me. If the power isn't back on soon, I may just snap and go on a killing spree. If you see something on the news about a lunatic streaking through Redmond brandishing a chainsaw, you'll know what happened. I don't know how much more I can take.

Starbucks

I stopped in to Starbucks this morning to get some coffee since with no power I am unable to brew any myself. The first thing I heard from the girl working the cash register when I got to the front of the line was,"I remember you from yesterday. You were wearing the same hat." At this point I immediately became embarrassed and din't know what to say because I didn't remember her at all. As busy as that location is, I can't believe she can remember anyone, and given the fact that there were at least 20 people in the store when I was in there yesterday, it's even more surprising. I don't remember what I said to her, but it was probably something pretty stupid. To make this even more embarrassing, I'm not sure I'd remember which one she was if I went back tomorrow.

Stormy weather

Let me just say that that was one of the most impressive storms I've been in. After getting absolutely soaked while trying to get home through rain coming down sideways and streets that were turned into rivers, I am completely impressed. Walking down to the bus stop in the U-district, some of the streets had water so deep that it was coming up over the curb onto the sidewalk. Then on the bus ride across 520, there was standing water deep enough in places to make a fully loaded bus hydroplane. Luckily I made it home before the wind really kicked in. I heard the sound of trees cracking and God knows what bouncing off the side of the building all night long.

Thursday night when I finally did make it home, I walked in the door, set my bag down, turned on the tv, flipped over to the Seahawks game, and then walked over and turned on my computer. That is when the power went out. I had been home for less than a minute before it went out. Realizing that turning on my computer was what pushed it over the edge and knocked out the power, I feel like I owe everyone who lost power an apology. Anyway, I got up the next morning to go to work and when I went outside, I saw absolute carnage. Tree branches and blown down trees everywhere. Fences and street signs blown down. I even saw some chain link fences at the construcion site up the road blown down. How in the world can a chain link fence blow down? Luckily, I came over the top of the hill by 116th and saw the lights on at the Safeco tower and knew I wasn't going to get the day off. The closure of the 520 bridge made for a long commute however.

It is now Saturday, and since the power is still off at my place and the thermometer said it was 53º inside, I decided I might as well go into work and get some overtime. It looks like most of the east side is still without power, but hopefully it will be back before too much longer. If you see any workers out repairing power lines, please give them some coffee so that they will have the energy to keep working.

Ken Levine

I know this is old news to some of you, but I have been campaigning to bring back Ken Levine as a Mariner announcer for a while now. This campaign was launched when I learned that Ron Fairly wouldn't be back next season. Some of you may not remember Ken. He was a Mariner announcer back in the early 90's who was quite funny (and even more entertaining now I'm told). My favorite Ken Levine memory? Someone had hit a foul ball and the ball girl missed it. Ken then said,"an error on the ball girl." Then the camera zoomed in to reveal that it was a very cute ball girl which prompted the reaction,"whoa, but she can be forgiven."

So I know what you're thinking now,"Scott, what exactly have you done to try to bring him back other than tell your friends that we should?" Well, I did talk to the head of human resources for the M's and told her that I always liked Ken Levine and would like to have him back. She told me that Randy Adamack was in charge of hiring the replacement announcer but that she would pass along my recommendation. So there you have it. Everyone needs to start writing to Randy and telling him we want Ken back.

Food

Per request, here is a post about food. What I really want that nobody makes is a taco sub sammich. Would that really be so hard? They've already got all the vegetables and cheese right there. All they need now is some taco meat. Some other sub ideas: the teriyaki sub. It would have rice on it instead of lettuce. Maybe some dessert subs. If they can make dessert pizza, why not a dessert sub? I kind of have an apple pie sub in mind, but I don't want to limit it to that. Somebody needs to get Subway or the Sub Shop on this.

My poll is broken

I know this sounds like it's going to be about impotence, but it really isn't. I thought I had figured out how to add a poll, but quickly found out that while it looks like a poll, it doesn't work. It should be apparent by now that I don't know anything about HTML, so while I wait to hear back from my personal IT department, if anybody out there knows where I went wrong or the proper way to add a poll, please let me know. And just so this post isn't too boring, here is a completely unrelated picture.


(Dream Theater at the Moore Theater if you're curious)

Secret Karate Techniques

This demonstration of some of the more advanced karate techniques was sent to me by my sensei and I had to share.

Cell phones

I thought I was done for the night, but I was just annoyed by a cell phone ad and I feel the need to rant. I'm sure most of you already know that I hate cell phones. Granted, they can be useful at times, but it seems to me that more than anything they are digital leashes. A way for people to keep tabs on you when you are away. Whether it's a jealous significant other, a pain in the ass boss who doesn't ever want you to have any free time, or something else, I just don't need that in my life. And then there are the people that seem to be afraid of being alone for fear that they might have to think on their own for a few minutes, all the accidents caused by people who can't drive and talk at the same time, and what absolutely irritates the hell out of me - the people who have to call everyone they know from a sporting event and say 'guess where I am'. I can tell you right now that every one of those conversations ends with 'I can't hear you'. And then there are the annoying people who have to get up and start flailing their arms and saying 'I'm over here. Do you see me? Over by Raul Ibanez.' Let me just make this a little more messy and disorganized by saying that I also don't feel the need to have yet another thing I have to carry around with me everywhere I go and getting back to what started this whole rant, I have never seen a cell phone ad that isn't exceptionally annoying. Just mildly annoying would be a huge improvement. I'm not giving those guys my money simply out of a matter of principal. They would just use it for more annoying ads. So, I've said it before and I'll say it again, maybe when I am the last person on earth who still doesn't have a cell phone, I'll finally cave in and get one.

New competition!
I'm going to start this off with a competition for the cheesiest music video of all time.
Contestant #1: Journey - Separate Ways


Contestant #2: Falco - Der Kommissar


Contestant #3: Van Halen - Pretty Woman


Contestant #4: David Hasselhoff - Hooked on a Feeling


Contestant #5: 1985 Chicago Bears - Superbowl Shuffle


Contestant #6: Indian remake of Thriller (thanks Chris) I actually found 2 different versions of this. Not sure which is better.
A:


B:

Today's Poll

1. Which of these is the cheesiest video of all time?
   

   
   Journey

   
   

   
   Falco

   
   

   
   Van Halen

   
   

   
   David Hasselhoff

   
   

   
   1985 Chicago Bears

   
   

   
   Thriller A

   
   

   
   Thriller B

   
   

   
   

Let the games begin! And suggestions are always welcome.

It begins

It's been a long time coming, but the blog that the whole world wanted is finally here. With any luck, 3 or maybe even 4 people might see it. I have obviously deluded myself into thinking that somewhere in this world, someone actually gives a crap what I have to say, but that's ok. I have plenty of confidence in my ability to entertain myself. What can you expect to see here? I'm glad I asked that. I forsee lots of posts about sports, music, bacon, movies, and most likely lots of complaining. By the way, if anybody knows how to add some polls in here, there will be some voting from time to time. Enjoy!