Sevendust - Born to Die and Black (Live)

Anybody who has been paying attention should know by now that I almost in full Sevendust frenzy mode due to the upcoming CD release (March 6th!) followed by the upcoming concert (March 24th!). That means that between now and the end of March, you can probably expect to see approximately 35 references to Sevendust. I haven't looked forward to a concert this much since Dream Theater and Queensryche were touring together. Anyway, I found this video of the end of Born to Die and Black recorded live in Seattle on 10/17/98. The audio and video quality are pretty poor, but that's ok because it's still in Seattle and it still rocks. If you have any small children nearby or anyone who is a big wuss, you might want to get them out of the room before watching this. Otherwise, enjoy.

The richest professional athlete.....

is not Alex Rodriguez, Shaq, or even David Beckham. It's 29 year old relief pitcher Matt White of the Dodgers. Yes, this guy you've never heard of, who Seattle cut in 2003, is a billionaire. The money, however, is from his rock quarry, not his major league career.



In more disturbing news, PETA has protested Kansas State fans throwing live chickens on the court during basketball games. Apparently chickens aren't big basketball fans.



And finally, this isn't just a cute picture, it's a life lesson. If baby orangutan's and baby tigers can get along, can't we all? If these species can live in peace, why can't humanity live in peace? Although I'm pretty sure sooner or later one of those tigers is going to take a bite out of one of those orangutans.

How evil are you?

And there you have it. I'm officially good. The internet wouldn't lie to me about something like that.

You Are 18% Evil

You are good. So good, that you make evil people squirm. Just remember, you may need to turn to the dark side to get what you want!

How Evil Are You?

Crawford2000

Despite the name, I had nothing to do with this site. Regardless, if you like some wacky conspiracy theories/prophecies, you should enjoy it.

What's the point?

A new world record has been set for the world's biggest burger. A lot is said in the article about what ingredients go into a 123 pound burger, but why bother isn't something they get around to. I'm sure the only reason is to get some cheap publicity for the restaurant. I certainly think that if you can eat the whole thing in one sitting, that you should get it for free. The monstrosity will set you back $379 and doesn't even come with fries. I will gladly pick up the tab, however, if you can down that thing on one day Shelvis.

According to this article, the Seahawks are shopping Darrell Jackson around. Since he's a perpetually injured drop machine and we have no shortage of receivers on the team, I like this idea. I think Jackson has always played below average in big games too, particularly the Superbowl. I still hold a grudge for him not knowing where the sideline was. He got screwed on the pass interference call, so I can't blame him for that one.

But if we can get a 2nd round draft pick or higher, or maybe a TE that can catch or a good guard, I say go for it.

Newfound respect for Brady Quinn

I was watching the NFL combine this weekend and saw Brady Quinn bench press 24 reps of 225 pounds. That's really impressive for a QB. I despise Notre Dame, so I still wouldn't want him on any team I like, but I am impressed.

Name That Quote!

It's time for a new contest. Fabulous prizes will be awarded to the first person who can identify this quote: "Say you pull a thorn out of the Pope's butt, and he grants you one wish. What'll it be?"

Also, as an added bonus since this is the debut of this exciting contest, the best wish will in fact be granted!

Academy Awards

The academy awards are this weekend, and I can't help wondering, does anyone outside of Hollywood care? And so it's time for a survey: Does anyone watch the awards?

Korey Cooper

Now this is a chick I could hang out with. It's pretty hard to find a woman who can play guitar, and to find one who can play some good solid rock music like this is really rare. I've been hearing the song Whispers in the Dark on the radio lately, and I dig it. There's something about the band Skillet (I know it's a dumb name) that reminds me of Evanescence. Anyway, I figured I better check them out and was surprised to find not only the female guitar player, but also a female drummer. A wise man once said,"balls and chunk is where it's at." That's the motto I live by, incidentally, and to find a woman playing some chunk is a true delight. Rock on.

Colossal Squid

A colossal squid was caught off the coast of New Zealand. Apparently it is a different breed than the giant squid, a fact I just now found out. And this is the biggest squid ever caught, eclipsing the next biggest by 330 pounds. That's one big squid.

Seahawks Franchise Brown

In a surprising move, the Seahawks slapped the franchise tag on kicker Josh Brown today. Don't get me wrong, I think he's a good kicker, but the idea of any kicker being so valuable that he deserves the franchise tag is strange to me. Do they really think they wouldn't be able to keep him otherwise?

On the news stand

While I was in line at Safeway tonight waiting for the slowest cashier I've ever seen, I couldn't help using the time to peruse the magazines. I was amused by the 300 pound mouse that escaped from a lab somewhere and is now terrorizing the city (I forgot which one). I was surprised to find out that both Edgar Cayce and John the Baptist predicted the same date for the end of the world. But what really intrigued me was the cover of Cosmo. Weird Male Behavior Decoded! At first I couldn't help wondering what behaviors we men exhibit which are so confounding to women. I always thought that men are, for the most part, very straight forward and uncomplicated. Then I thought that perhaps it is this lack of complication that women find so perplexing, that they think that there must be something else going on in our minds. Well, there isn't. Then I couldn't help wondering why women don't just ask a guy they know what's going on when they see a man doing something weird. And that's where I'm still at right now. This headline intrigued me to the point where I almost picked up a Cosmo and began thumbing through it in public. I stopped short of that, however, so if any Cosmo readers can clue me in, I'd appreciate it.

Movies

Thank you Lyndsay for warning me about Black Dahlia. I had been interested in seeing it, but upon further investigation, the reviews are pretty bad. I guess it's better to skip it.

I watched Fearless last night. This was a movie I really enjoyed. Now despite the fact that I watch a lot of martial arts movies, there aren't actually that many that I really like. I've always been put off by rediculous plots, bad acting, flying and other impossible moves, and the annoying bravado ('my kung fu is superior to yours'). With the exception of some wire work, Fearless didn't have any of these. The story was more philosophical. It was more of an exploration of why people study martial arts (or at least why they should) and not simply about guys trying to be the biggest badass on the planet. The acting and cinematography were very good as well, and the fight scenes weren't half bad. I give this movie my seal of approval and a 7 out of 10 rating.

Scott's inappropriate story of the day

Today's inappropriate story is brought to you by Starbucks. Yes, I stopped by Starbucks on the way into work today for my coffee needs. While waiting for my coffee, I noticed a young woman wearing a shirt which read,"What is Scientology.........Seriously?" As I stood there looking at this shirt, I couldn't help thinking to myself,"damn she's got some big boobs." Yes, I know I'm a superficial man, but I am only human. With any luck, it will be a while before you have to be subjected to any more inappropriate stories.

But as long as I'm already admitting to being superficial, how is it that I have never seen an attractive woman working at the Starbucks in the U district? Every other coffee shop in the world has at least one attractive barista, but how is it that this particular shop can't find one good looking girl with thousands of college girls in the neighborhood? It's not right.

Britney Spears Update

According to TMZ, Britney is back in rehab again. Hopefully this stay will be longer than 24 hours. This may well mean an end to her increasingly bizarre behavior. No more sex tapes. No more public head shaving. No more revealing photos. No more drunken debauchery with Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan. No more letting her infant chauffeur her around. No more marriages to redneck morons. If this stint in rehab takes, the death watch may need to be called off.

*** Update to the update ***

Apparently Britney is unable to spend longer than 24 hours in rehab in one stretch. She's back out again today. She's making a strong case for losing custody of her kids.

Ticketbastard

It seems that I rarely get anything in the mail that makes me happy, however today my ticket to the Sevendust show (March 24th at the Showbox!) arrived and made me happy. It turned out to be a mixed blessing though. Getting the ticket reminded me of the $8.61 'convenience charge' tacked on by ticketmaster. What would have been more convenient would have been not getting an exhorbitant fee tacked on to my ticket price. This is exactly the reason I missed the Sevendust show about a year ago (which I still regret to this day). I couldn't stomach paying $35 for a $20 ticket after all the tacked on fees. Is there any way around these offensively high fees? It really ticks me off.

I need a nap

According to this article, a half hour nap of at least 30 minutes, 3 times a week reduces your chance of dying of heart disease by 37%. Also, there is some anecdotal evidence that a midday nap actually increases your productivity at work. Maybe if I show this article to my boss, I can work some naptime into my daily routine.

First day on the job

Today was my first day in my new position. It is a little humbling to go from being respected and knowledgeable, someone that other people come to with questions (at least that's how I saw myself) to being the low man on the totem pole who doesn't know a damn thing. Some of you may have already guessed - I spent about half my day playing in one of the many filing cabinets. As I understand it, I will become very familiar with the filing cabinets in the coming days/weeks/months (hopefully not years). Other than that things went fine. I did get to enjoy having my computer periodically download and install some updates and then reboot since this computer apparently hasn't been turned on in months, but that wasn't entirely unexpected. Hopefully it's done now, and hopefully the biggest concern for me in the coming weeks will be having to annoy people with the volume of questions I'm almost certain to be asking as I learn more things. Good times. Luckily I won't be a newbie forever.

Thank you presidents

......for the day off today. As I rolled out of bed at about 9:30 this morning, I have never been more proud to be an American. If we had a king, I wouldn't have had the day off today. In honor of said presidents, enjoy this historical ranking of the presidents brought to you by wikipedia. In all of the various polls that are referenced, Abe Lincoln, George Washington and FDR consistently rank in the top 3. For the most part, I would agree with that, however, I'm not sure I would put Lincoln that high. I still think that the Civil War possibly could have been avoided with a little more diplomacy on his part. I wouldn't be surprised to get some argument on this however, so feel free to let me have it.

On a completely unrelated topic, I caught the end of Planet of the Apes this morning and realized that it is terribly dated and, in general, a pretty bad movie. I do recall a few years ago seeing a Planet of the Apes marathon, if I remember right, it was about the time of the theatrical release of the remake which, by the way, was bad too. Anyway, each successive movie was worse than the one before it. I think I watched 3 of them and was nearly ready to kill myself after that third one.

In other movie news, I watched Saw 3 and Invincible this weekend. Saw 3 was a horrendous money grab. I really liked the first Saw, however both sequels were bad. 3 was pretty much devoid of any story or creativity. It seemed to me to be trying to outdo the previous movies by throwing in more gore and generally disgusting scenes instead of working on the script. Invincible, however, I really enjoyed. It was a very inspiring story of a substitute teacher/bartender walking on and getting a job with the Philadelphia Eagles after open tryouts. I am not a fan of Mark Wahlberg, but he won me over with his portrayal of the humble, yet hard working Vince Papale. The movie gives hope to all the pitiful wanna be's like myself who wonder if they could actually make an NFL roster if given a chance. I have finally made peace with the realization that I never was as good an athlete as I thought I was, but Invincible let me forget that for a short period of time.

Speaking of football glory, my flag football team won despite a pretty poor performance by myself, improving our record to 4-1. I think this may be the season that we win the championship. And I want to thank the rest of the team for playing some great defense and really bailing me out.

And once again, this rambling, aimless post was made possible today by our presidents. Thank you presidents.

GM to buy Chrysler?

According to this article from the Detroit News, it's a possibility. Since I have a brother in the auto industry, I'm a little ashamed to admit that I was unaware that Chrysler was in such bad shape that they are seriously considering selling off their assets. I was also unaware that GM was in good enough shape to acquire Chrysler. The last stories I had read about GM said that they were laying people off left and right and fearful of bankruptcy. At least one of the big 3 US auto makers has turned things around.

Which brings me to this article. Apparently Ford's 'way forward' isn't working as January retail sales were down 10,600 vehicles from their goal. They are not meeting other goals either, and employee confidence in the company is way down. Not a good sign. The lone bright spot appears to be the success of the Ford Edge and Lincoln MK X.

In fact, times are so bad in Michigan right now, that one Farmington Hills man's idea of a practical joke is to put a 6 foot boa constrictor in his mailbox to scare the mailman. He could find himself laughing it up in prison for the next 6 months.

The point to all of this? We need to find John a job in the Seattle area and rescue him from Michigan. If you know of anybody hiring mechanical engineers, or are hiring one yourself, let me know.

Britney Spears Death Watch

After seeing a story yesterday that Britney Spears checked herself into rehab, and then immediately back out again, followed by a story today that she has shaved herself bald and is now hitting the tattoo parlors, I officially declare a start to the Britney Spears death watch. I think by the end of the year she is going to turn up dead of a drug overdose. She is an absolute mess. I just hope for her sake that she can get herself into a church or a psychiatrist's office or whatever help she needs to end this train wreck before it's too late. If not, a fabulous prize awaits whoever can correctly predict the date of her death (not free coffee for a year by the way). Let the games begin.

Free Coffee

.....for a year if you help catch the robber who victimized Perfetto Espresso in Mountlake Terrace. Shelvis, I know you're not busy at the moment. Find that guy.

RIP Robert Adler

I saw on the news this morning that Rober Adler died Thursday at the age of 93. He is known for inventing the TV remote control. This man truly changed my life. Yes I do remember a time as a child when we had a TV without a remote (and our first VCR had a wired remote). I also remember getting our first microwave, and we didn't get our first computer until I was in high school. Man I'm getting old. We always had a car though. But I digress. The point is, where would we be without the remote? Thank you Robert Adler for making the world a better place. I'm sure he's flipping channels up in heaven now.

Today's useless fact

A chef's hat is tall and balloons at the top so as to counteract the intense heat in the kitchen. The unique shape allows air to circulate around the scalp, keeping the head cool.

Is it a full moon?

Because the freaks are out today. Half a block after leaving the office today, I came across a guy in a trench coat with hooded sweatshirt underneath, hood on. Now here comes the unusual part. He had on dark sunglasses and pretty much the rest of his face was covered in duct tape. Why in the world would somebody cover their face in duct tape? All I could think was that he had a real Darkman thing going, except instead of bandages, he had duct tape. I'm probably going to lose sleep trying to unravel that mystery.

Well, walking away from that guy, I thought I was done for the day, however there was another surprise waiting for me on the bus. A guy with a long purple goatee, purple eyebrows, purple hair, a big purple flower pinned to his shirt, and a top hat. What bothered me most, however, was that he had to look everyone in the eye and smile as they got on the bus. Some of you know this about me already, but I have an intense distrust of people who are smiling for no good reason. If I don't know what they are smiling about, it must be because they are up to something sinister.

And that reminds me, at lunch today there was another guy that creeped me out. Imagine if you will, that I am sitting in a small restaurant eating a gyro, facing the window. As I looked out, a guy walking down the sidewalk looked right at me smiling, and then had the nerve to nod at me. I don't know why he did that, but I was looking over my shoulder all the way back to the office.

Daylight Savings Time Rant

I know it's starting early, but then again, so is daylight savings time this year. It's been on my mind today since IT sent out some patch that's supposed to adjust the clocks to the new and improved daylight savings time. To this day, I don't know what the point is. I've heard that it's supposed to save energy, but I don't know how. What I do know is that statistics have shown that every year when you have to change your clocks, traffic accidents increase by about 10%. I haven't run across any stats on energy usage however. I've also heard a theory that it is somehow supposed to benefit farmers, but from what I understand, farmers schedule their day around sunrise and sunset, not the clock. So what is it good for then, other than pissing me off twice a year? Nothing, that's what. It's just a pointless exercise in screwing up everyone's schedule. If the person that came up with the idea was still alive today, I'd kill him (or her). Maybe I should just move to one of those states that doesn't recognize daylight savings time. The only problem right now though is that the only state I know of that doesn't is Arizona, and I don't want to live there. I can't figure out why anyone would want to live in the desert, but that's a rant for another day. You can also look forward to my upcoming Acadamy Awards rant, unless I already missed the awards. I don't think so though.

Love Story

I came across this story today, and I guess my Valentine's Day could have gone worse afterall. At least I didn't end up getting tied up and then stabbed by a crazy woman who wanted to drink my blood. But it get's even better. The man was able to break free, only to have the woman chase him down the street with a pickax. Just take one look at that woman and tell me he shouldn't have known better than to let her tie him up.

DSS here I come

It hasn't officially been announced, so you heard it here first. After 3 interviews and then being strung along for over a month, I finally got the job I was trying for. I'll be moving 100 feet or so down the hall and will have to be the low man on the totem pole again, but I will also be getting more money, a job that is not in danger of being outsourced, and an extra half our of sleep every day of the week. I'm really looking forward to this opportunity and will officially be starting Tuesday the 20th. I'm finally starting to feel something other than relief that I don't have it hanging over my head anymore.

For Valentine's Day

Love Stinks - J Geils Band

Renton Supersonics

This just in: the Sonics are moving to Renton. No word on whether this will require voter approval or not, but if it does, then my money is on the Oklahoma City Supersonics. Nobody wants an arena at the south end of Lake Washington screwing up traffic worse than ever. At the very least, I'm delighted that they at least ruled out Bellevue as a viable option. I really didn't want that traffic mess on the east side.

No! No! No!

I just learned that not only is a Metal Gear Solid movie in the works, but also a Halo movie. This on top of the who knows how many God-aweful Resident Evil sequels that are in the works. How does this keep happening? There has never been a good movie based off a video game. NEVER! There has never even been a decent movie based on a video game. They were all terrible. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I've seen several, and they were absolutely abysmal. How do they keep getting made? I just don't understand. I guess this begs the question though, what video game would make the worst movie? I know it's difficult to imagine any movie being worse than Resident Evil, but I think Tetris might make a worse movie. Or maybe Irritating Stick.

Dolphins to patrol Bangor

Yes, the Navy is planning on having anti-terrorism dolphins and sea lions patrol the waters around Naval Sub Base Bangor. I'm certain that this must be one of the biggest terrorist targets because, well, uh, they have, uh, I'm not sure why it would be a target. But it's still kind of fun anyway to have a variety of aquatic mammals protecting us.

In other news, apparently women are turned on by sweaty guys. This news comes just in time for me to stop showering before Valentines day. If I can get a good quality stink going, I might be able to get myself a Valentines date afterall. Thank you UC Berkeley, I guess you hippies really are good for something.

Marty Schottenheimer fired

How does a coach go 14-2 and get fired? I've always thought Marty Schottenheimer was a good, but not great coach, but how in the world do you get the best record in the NFL and then get fired because you lost in the playoffs? This to me is really shocking. I don't know who the Chargers are going to replace him with, but I can guarantee you that they won't win 14 games next year. Really dumb move by the Chargers. And even dumber is the excuse they gave. Because too many assistant coaches left after the season. How in the world is that Marty's fault? 2 assistants got head coaching jobs with other teams. What is he supposed to do about that? I think it's more the fault of the management that they were unable to hold on to their assistant coaches. It's just too bad for the Cowboys that they already hired Wade Phillips, because Marty Schottenheimer would be a great fit for them.

Freemasons Secretly Control The World!

According to this show I'm in the middle of on the Discovery Channel. I don't think I'm going to watch the rest of it since it's getting late and I need some sleep, but also because it doesn't seem to be very focused and isn't covering anything I haven't heard before. That aside, I really enjoy a good quality conspiracy story. Anything involving the world secretly being run by the masons, the Bilderberg group, or the Trilateral Commision will usually suck me right in. Now let me just make it clear that I don't believe any secret organization controls the world, but I still find the conspiracy theories very entertaining for some reason. I'm not really sure why, but the best I can come up with is that I am intrigued as to why they are so secretive if they aren't up to something sinister, or at the very least, humiliating, and more importantly how they are able to keep getting new members if nobody knows what they really do. My grandfather was a mason and all he would tell me about it was that it was a cheritable organization. He wouldn't try to talk me, or anyone else for that matter, into joining - I think recruiting is forbidden - but even if he had, I can't imagine why I would want to join since I don't know what they do.

Anyhoo, I think I'm going to have to watch the Stonecutters episode of the Simpsons again. That was some good quality entertainment. I just hope that they are able to keep the metric system down until I'm cold in the grave.

Coming Clean

I can't keep it a secret anymore. I'm the real father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby. All the other imposters out there claiming to be the father are just after the money. But as the real father, I just want what's best for the child, and I feel it's my responisbility to make sure that that child grows up with an enormous tv to watch. So please hand over all those millions now, for the good of the child.

Lots of Snow

I came across this story today. Apparently parts of New York state have gotten 8 feet of snow in the last week or so with another 2 to 4 feet in the forecast through Monday. My first thought is holy crap that's a lot of snow. Immediately after that I began wondering what I would do if it snowed that much here. First of all, I wouldn't go to work. I've got enough vacation time built up that I could ride out a fairly lengthy storm. Second, since I live on the second floor, 8 feet would be just about the right height to just step off the deck if I needed to go somewhere. I'm not sure where I would go though since I'm pretty sure everything would be closed. Plus I'd have to walk to get anywhere, and with no snowshoes, I'm not sure how far I could make it before I collapsed and froze to death. I guess I'd just be stuck staying home watching movies and playing video games. And I'd probably spend a lot of time on the internet. Maybe I'd go shovel some snow and make a snowman just to keep from getting bored. So I guess 8 feet is too much, but maybe 3 or 4 feet might be tolerable.

100th Post Spectacular!

That's right, I'm already up to my 100th post, and at least 6 of them have been interesting. In honor of this meaningless milestone, I am going to write the longest, most pointless, most wandering post to date. So I'm going to start this off with a Homer Simpson quote: "trying is the first step toward failure." Words I live my life by.

Right now, 2 things and 2 things alone are giving me the will to live. First, one of the greatest bands in the world - Sevendust - has a new album - Alpha - coming out on March 6th. For those of you who are good at math, that's less than a month away. I strongly urge you to listen to the 2 full length songs you can hear here. The only other thing I have to look forward to is the wonderful news I just heard yesterday - Sevendust is coming to Seattle on march 24th. I'm really looking forward to that, and most likely won't be able to hear anything for 3 days afterward.

Has anyone else noticed the stupid 'the way I see it' nonsense that Starbucks decided to put on the side of their cups? Well, if you haven't, they are short bits of ridiculous attempted philosophy that people can submit on the web site. These stupid musings irritate me to no end, and the only solace I have is that I can cover half of it up with one of those sleeves. I actually went on the Starbucks web site one day and submitted my own that said: The way I see it, coffee cups should contain coffee, not pseudo-philosophical nonsense from people with too much time on their hands. I haven't seen that on a cup yet.

After all the news that Eddie Van Halen's son will be playing bass on the upcoming tour (link courtesy of Grande Pescadoes), I got to thinking, who is the most talented child of a celebrity to date? I haven't actually heard Wolfgang Van Halen play, so all I know about him is he's goofy looking. But I am sure he's more talented than Kelly Osbourne, either Hilton Sister, or Nicole Richie. My first thought is it must be either Kate Hudson or Jamie Lee Curtis. Freddie Prinze Jr is a doofus. I guess that's all that I can come up with off the top of my head. Oh, how could I forget about the sports world. Maybe Ken Griffey Jr or Peyton Manning would win that contest.

I have some noise cancelling headphones that I wear at work. While I like them - the sound quality is tolerable and they are reasonably comfortable - they don't cancel as much noise as I would like. Since I got them for about $35, I can't complain too much - they do deliver a lot of bang for the buck, but I can't help wondering if some more expensive headphones would do a better job. Or at least look a little cooler. I did take them on the plane with me and will say that they were fantastic at reducing the irritating engine noise.

I just found out today that Anna Nicole Smith died at the age of 39. I assume drugs were involved, but as of yet, the cause of death is still unknown. And since her son died earlier this year, I'm not sure who will inherit the millions she conned out of that wrinkled old billionaire. I wish I was a billionaire.

Which leads me to the fast approaching Valentine's Day. Once again it looks like poor old Scott will stick with the annual tradition of sitting alone in the dark, curled up in a ball with a bucket of ice cream, weeping softly. At one time I thought Valentine's Day was invented to sell cards, flowers, and candy, and to force men to see chick flicks, but now I believe it was invented solely to mock all the dateless losers of the world like me (and Shelvis). Maybe this year I'll split the ice cream with Shelvis. I'm sure he's at least good for a hug.

Apparently Lost came back from hiatus last night. I have been hooked by Lost, but have a difficult time keeping up with serial tv shows since I seem to have a difficult time making sure I'm home at the same time on certain days of the week. Point being, I missed Lost, which isn't a big deal for 2 reasons. 1: I can't remember what happened leading up to this episode since it's been off the air for so long. 2: the good folks at ABC are kind enough to make recent episodes available online which is the only way I've been able to keep up with what's going on in the show.

National signing day was yesterday, and the analysts at ESPN are giving the UW a B- for their recruiting class. I was hoping for better, but I guess that will have to do. Hopefully it's at least enough to get them over .500 this year.

Washington:
B-
Washington has now posted back-to-back impressive classes, and the Huskies
did a nice job adding depth across the board. TE Chris
Izbicki (Kirkland, Wash./Lake Washington) is one of the most well-rounded
tight ends in this class. It bolstered its run defense with DE Emeka
Iweka (Seattle, Wash./Rainier Beach) and DT
spn.go.com/ncf/recruiting/tracker/player?recruitId=41509">Nick Wood
(Poway, Calif.), both of whom have great upside but we feel would benefit from
redshirting. For the second year in a row, the Huskies have gotten a very nice
addition at QB in Ronnie
Fouch (Redlands, Calif./East Valley) to go along with Class of '06 QB Jake
Locker. Scatback
ider.espn.go.com/ncf/recruiting/tracker/player?recruitId=36805">Brandon
Johnson (Compton, Calif./Dominguez) is one to keep an eye on down the road.

I was interested by an article in the latest issue of ESPN the Magazine regarding new ways to keep your body in top shape. I was particularly interested in the new bone grafting method called Infuse which dramatically reduces recovery time for broken bones, using silk to repair torn ACL's, and most importantly, finding out that eating Sports Beans (made by Jelly Belly) is more effective at replenishing electrolytes and vitamins than any sports drinks or good old water.

I'm tired of winter already. I'm ready for some warm weather.

I'm still intrigued by the story of the crazy astronaut who drove 900 miles to attempt to kidnap a woman who she thought was a rival for the affections of a fellow astronaut. How would you like to be stuck in space with her?

Dumb Bears fan Scott Wiese is legally changing his name to Peyton Manning after losing a Superbowl bet. I'm sure alcohol was involved.

The flavor we think of as bubble gum is a combination of wintergreen, vanilla, and cassia (a form of cinnamon).

Wedding cake was originally thrown at the bride and groom instead of being eaten by them.

I watched the movie Flyboys last night and was very disappointed. And I wasn't expceting much from it either.

I can't help thinking that life would be much easier with a helper monkey.

Ok, I think I've rambled sufficiently. I'm going to call that good for now. Stay tuned for more.

Hannibal Rising

Not many reviews are in yet, but so far it looks like Hannibal Rising is going to be a bomb. According to Rotten Tomatoes, critics hate it so far. I had been hoping that despite all my fears, that this movie would turn out to be interesting, but it looks like that was just wishful thinking. I guess I'm going to have to wait until July for a good movie to come out.

Investment Advice

I never pay much attention to investment advice. I've always felt that the people giving you the advice have ulterior motives and are more interested in lining their own pockets than helping anyone else out. That being said, I did read an article today the my dad sent me regarding investing that I really liked. It's pretty long, so I won't include the whole thing here, but this paragraph somewhat sums up the whole thing and at the same time, validates the way I have always felt:

We know real millionaires get rich thinking for themselves. Thomas
Stanley's "The Millionaire Mind" is a perfect model. He says: "What most
millionaires tell me [is] they learned to think differently from the crowd." So
his book was "designed around a central theme: It pays to be different." That
means thinking outside the box, going unconventional, against the herd, a
contrarian who breaks the rules of the game set by Wall Street and the quants.
Be a maverick, trust your gut instincts.

And this is something I feel applies to all aspects of life, not just finances. I see so many people that just seem to go along with the crowd and don't know why they think or act the way they do when it comes to politics, religion, fashion, entertainment, etc.... So this is just my plea to anybody who reads this, examine your motivations. Occasionally ignore the peer pressure and do what you want, not what other people expect you to do. And if you are an independent thinker, feel free to shut the hell up and keep your views to yourself because I don't care what you have to say.

I think I'm dying

I am so completely exhausted right now that it I got distracted and it took me 3 minutes to finish this sentence. Despite getting a reasonable amount of sleep in recent weeks, I have felt completely worn out. I thought it was just stress, but on further examination, I think it might be a virus of some sort. Apparently this virus is also effecting my typing, because approximately every third word has a typo.

Now the fatigue has been going on for a couple weeks now. I find myself just staring at the monitor at work sometimes, wondering how long it's been since I've done something. But Friday, things took a turn for the worse. One particularly insidious co-worker informed me that she had come down with something. Now she telecommutes, so I wasn't overly concerned about it being contageous, however, she either found a way to email me the germs or I contracted a sympathy cold.

That same Friday, I had bragged that I had not been sick all winter. Cursed by my own hubris, it was Saturday afternoon that the sore throat began to set in. By Sunday, a runny nose had made it's way into the picture as well. Now these cold symptoms have been mild, and appear to have almost run their course by now, however, the fatigue is nearly overwhelming. I have been consuming heroic quantities of coffee to no avail. Even as I finish a cup, I still feel as though I could close my eyes and be snoring in a matter of minutes. So, I'm not sure what got to me, but I really feel like I need a 3 (or 4 or 5) day weekend soon.

Pythagorean Expectation

I found this article recently, which combines 2 enjoyable past times: football and statistics. Unfortunately it is getting pretty late so I haven't delved too deeply into it, and some of it looks pretty complicated, measuring stats like DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average) and OVOA (offense-adjusted value over average). And I know what you're thinking, please tell me more! Well, I'll get back to that later since those stats will require more research. Never fear though, there is more. The stat that really caught my attention was the pythagorean expectation. This stat is derived from a baseball formula that estimates the number of wins a team should have based on the square of the ratio of runs scored to runs allowed. From this we can infer that a team that wins more games than expected is lucky, and sooner or later luck will catch up with them, most likely in the playoffs. Now putting this into practice, this site shows that the Seahawks should have won 7.824 wins. Of course, according to these calculations, it should have been Baltimore beating Chicago in the Superbowl. So perhaps it all means nothing, but it's still interesting, and before the next fantasy football season starts, I'm going to investigate further.

Urinal video games

Apparently peeing is not enough fun on it's own, as I have recently become aware of some urinal video games. The first one I heard about, Topspeed, allows you to drive a race car while taking care of business. I imagine that it would be difficult to keep an eye on your aim and on the video monitor at the same time however. The second game, On Target, unfortunately doesn't describe the gameplay, however, based on the name I assume it tests your aim. The third game, You're In Control, also lacks a description, but was brought to us by the good people at MIT. I'm not sure how many beers had been consumed by nerdy programmers when these games were conceived, but I'm sure it was several. If I were ever to come across one of these games, I don't believe I would play it. Also, I hope that no force feedback is available.

In more disturbing urine related news, apparently some tweakers are drinking the urine of other meth users in order to get high. Others will at least boil off the liquid to get to the recycled meth, but either way it's revolting. Just one more bit of evidence of how f'ed up you have to be to use meth.

Illegal use of the force

I find this story really funny. A street performer in LA dressed up as Chewbacca got into an argument with a tour guide and head butted him. I really hope some video of this pops up eventually because I'd really like to see that.

Hilarious Post

Today on the bus ride home, I thought up something that would have made a hilarious post. Unfortunately, by the time I got home, I had forgotten what it was. A free prize is being offered to the first person who can remind me what it was.

The Producers

Last night I watched The Producers. I only made it about halfway through the movie but still think it may be one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I swore I'd never write a review for a movie that I haven't seen all of, but I feel I have to make an exception here. Matthew Broderick looked like he was in pain throughout all of what I saw, but he was in nowhere near as much pain as I was in watching it.

First off, it is a musical starring actors who can neither sing nor dance. That made all the song and dance numbers absolutely excruciating. Imagine if you will, Will Ferrell dressed as a nazi, singing with one of the worst German accents I have ever heard and you start to get the idea. But that's just part of the problem. The songs are very repetitive, horribly written, and way too long.

That leads me to point #2. The crappy song and dance numbers dragged on so long that there was no time for any plot development. I think there was approximately 5 minutes of story in the hour I watched. And that 5 minutes wasn't any good either.

Problem #3 is that this movie is supposed to be a comedy. I didn't laugh, chuckle, snicker, or even crack a smile throughout the whole mess. The jokes they did attempt were very juvenile and/or offensive. If jokes about sleezy broadway producers sleeping with old ladies to con them out of money to finance a flop are your thing, then this is the movie for you.

Finally, the casting was way off. I just didn't feel that any of the actors fit their horribly written roles. But then again, maybe the story was just so bad that no actors could have saved it. Anyway, do yourself a favor and avoid this movie like the plague.