Thank you, Internets, for finding everything

This Sunday, the minor league baseball team in St. Paul, Minnesota will be giving away a great prize to its first 2500 fans. The prize allegedly is in honor of National Tap Dance Day but it is clearly meant to honor Senator Larry Craig of “hypocritical right wing Republican who was foot tapping in a stall in the men’s bathroom of the Minneapolis-St.Paul airport to solicit sex from an undercover officer then blaming it on a wide stance once he was caught” fame. The “bobblefoot” will no doubt end up on eBay soon.

Dammit

After another round of storm damage in OKC, I am beginning to disdain my dual residence situation.

BTW, the first picture is the hole left from the attic vent that now decorates my flower bed.

Set my heart a Twitter

So, wait: just when I have this blogging thingy mastered, now comes micro-blogging? (Actually, it’s been out a while).

Heads down, thumbs up, let’s play 7 1-Ups!

Yeah, so the blog entry title is a stretch. Anywho, Mario would be proud of my 1-Up cakes. I made them for a staff birthday party for a co-worker who has similar childhood experiences with Nintendo. He better fricking like them.

Biting off the soundbites

Bill Moyers had a great interview with Jeremiah Wright this past Friday on “Bill Moyers Journal.” It was refreshing to watch a journalist go to the source, avoid showing only the sensationalistic clip of Wright’s fiery sermon, and instead show the minutes of the sermon prior to his phrasing of “God damn America.” If you have some time, give it a view.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04252008/watch.html

Bye bye, American Pie

So I went to a wedding reception this weekend in Fort Smith, Arkansas for a college friend who was voted Most Likely to Stay Unmarried. Also, he was voted Most Likely to Be Happy. Coincidence? On my way to the reception, held at an outdoor pavilion, I noticed it was located behind an XXX Adult Superstore. As I drove by and laughed, something caught my eye. An immaculately dressed woman was walking to her car in the parking lot of the porn palace. Just about the time that I determined she was a high-priced call girl making a stop for “groceries” before her visit to Client No. 9, I realized that she was actually a high school-aged girl who was dressed up for prom. She was entering 1 of the 3 cars of prom couples that were in the parking lot.

America, what has happened to our innocence? Back when I went prom, the riskiest thing we did was eat taquitos while watching The Shining. I playfully lamented for the good ol days at the reception until someone accused me of becoming a Republican. I laughed. Then I punched her.

Here’s another fun fact from the wedding: at the reception’s peak, there were approximately 65 people in attendance. Of this group, maybe 2/3 were drinking beer. A keg holds about 15 gallons, or about 1920 oz. The 40 or so imbibers consumer 2 kegs over the course of the evening. (Mom, if you’re reading this, I only had 2 Frescas. Also, I’m sorry I crank-called you at 3 am. That was the Fresca.)

Move over Speak & Spell

I read a post on Gizmodo this morning that surprised me probably more than it should. It was about a visual search engine coming to the iPhone & the video below explains it. What captivated me was the potential for the next leap in search technology. Obviously, integrating voice search will be a major advancement in search, but visual search seems to be more feasible for the present. The concept of being able to take a picture of an item, even if that item is partially obstructed, and being able to submit it to a search engine got my mind to spinning. I know it may violate the concept of being unplugged, but imagine a hiker coming across a plant & wondering if it is safe to eat or if it, in the words of Ralph Wiggum after eating a berry from such a plant, “tastes like burning.” You could take a photo of a rash to see what it might be or a bug bite to see how to treat it or even a bug to see if it will try to kill you if you put it under a magnifying glass. Anyway, I think this concept is very cool & I look forward to seeing how it evolves.

VP pick em

In a move to stimulate interaction with my loyal readers (and also because I’m genuinely curious), I would like to have a contest (with no prizes) to guess who the vice-presidential candidates might be this fall. You can make multiple guesses for each possible presidential candidate. I thought about holding off with my picks, but I run the show here so away we go!

*these picks are in random order
John McCain

• Newt Gingrich: this would bring a level of intellect to the campaign that is currently missing & would solidify him with conservatives (although they’ll probably vote for him anyway).
• Kay Bailey Hutchison: conservative senator from Texas.
• Michael Steele: former lt. governor of Maryland; also, an African-American Republican (yes, they do exist).
• Mitt Romney: a smart guy but he wouldn’t help with those conservative already skeptical of McCain.
• Joe Lieberman: an Independent & former Democratic vp candidate who is already supporting McCain.

Barack Obama

• Bill Richardson: NM governor with a strong resume who may help secure votes in the Latino community.
• Chris Dodd: smart & experienced senator.
• Jim Webb: Virginia senator & Secretary of the Navy under Reagan who would add military experience to the ticket which, for some reason, you need to run for president.
• Kathleen Sebelius: two-term governor of a very red state (KS) & a strategic pick to possibly secure those Clintonites who might abandon the Dems if HRC isn’t the nominee.

In the interests of reality, I’m not picking possible running mates for HRC but feel free to do so. I look forward to seeing your responses.

The Internets make me laugh

So I’ve come across a recent Internets phenomenon called “Rickrolling.” To be Rickrolled (or Rickroll’d), a link is posted on a site, usually in a blog entry, stating something like “this link has more info” about whatever the page is about. The link actually redirects the person to the music video for Rick Astley’s 1987 hit “Never Gonna Give You Up.” Harmless & not really that funny unless seeing a wiggling, carrot-topped honkey with a voice that, frankly, doesn’t match his physical appearance makes you smile.

Anyway, the New York Mets recently held a contest for fans to vote on the song to be played in the 8th inning of all their home games this year (approximately 75 by my count). They made the mistake of letting fans vote online because once the Internerds got a hold of it, they hijacked the voting. Instead of voting for 1 of 10 listed candidates, over 5 million voters wrote in (wait for it) Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.” Of course, now the Mets organization is changing the rules of the contest & will play each of the top 6 vote getters, including Astley, and pick the song based on the crowd response. And to wonder is our children learning…

What recession?

Sooo, after some wheeling & dealing, I got a new toy tool.

With Wifi capability for email, calendaring, searching, maps, etc, the iPod Touch has what I need want. Now, dear reader, you may be saying, “Hey, why not just go with an iPhone?” Hey, shut up. Just kidding. Seriously. I need you people. I get pleasure watching the traffic stats for this blog. Besides, have you seen the rate plans for an iPhone?!?