win and win

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/failblog/~3/GOIf0lXbISA/

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pretty robots

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Buttersafe/~3/KtShciMuhzc/

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another reason i love germany

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/IWOpblS9buE/german-workers-are-more-productive-work-less-and-have-a-better-quality-of-life

and yes, i used no capitals! it's the weekend

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http://consumerist.com/2010/08/check-out-these-sites-for-free-audio-books.html

The lovely wife passed this to me today. Looks like some more audiobook sources are popping up.

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droid!

Last week I broke my Droid. I installed an update and fried little buddy. Verizon was really awesome about it, asked only a few questions then ordered me a new one. I was in their store at 4:30 on Thursday and I had a new Droid delivered to me by 10:00 am on Friday. Can't beat that. So now I'm testing out a ton of new apps. One that came in very handy during my transition was WaveSecure. I got it for free when it was a beta but I would buy this one if I ever needed to. Great way to backup your contacts and messages, plus if the phone is lost you can lock it up. Right now I am using blogger-droid for this post. Works really well, except I have to remember to capitalize. I'll post more about my hits and misses as I go. If anyone knows of a good app for uploading to Picasa let me know.

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Yogi Bear Likes Stealing Picnic Baskets, Inducing Nightmares

Damn sick bears!

Yogi Bear Likes Stealing Picnic Baskets, Inducing Nightmares: "​

No longer content with idling away the hours fucking with Ranger Smith and picking ticks from Boo Boo's nether regions, Yogi Bear will be leaving Jellystone to inflict cinematic terror upon moviegoers when his 3-D, CGI nightmare opens at Christmas. (Most wonderful time of the year my ass). The folks over at /Film stumbled upon this new poster -- in which they accurately compare Yogi to Pedobear. There are two things that are most striking about this. First, Warner Bros. is just asking for trouble with that tagline, especially given the stance Yogi is taking behind his little buddy in this pic. Secondly, Boo's Boo's eyes. They are so dead that I know exactly how Dr. Loomis felt when he first gazed upon Michael Myers' expressionless face.

Mommy?
"

Awesome!

http://www.toplessrobot.com/2010/08/buy_me_this.php
I don't know how this could get any better.

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blogger-droid test

testing out a droid blogger app. I found 2 that got good reviews, this being one of them. testing the photo as well.

Update This app was blogger-droid and it was the only one to work.  While it didn't automatically capitalize my sentences or fix spelling it didn't an adequate job for on the go.  If anyone finds a better android app for blogging let me know.  Thanks.

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hrmmmm, interesting!

hrmmmm, interesting!: "

Wisconsin Billboard Fail

Wisconsin Billboard Fail: "

They are pretty ugly.

Submitted by: Kayla Watters via Fail Uploader

"

Why I was happy

Normally at lunch I either watch a show I've recorded or read at the park for an hour.  I try to get away from the office so I can clear my mind a bit.  Today I didn't feel like reading and I didn't have anything to watch, instead I went to an antique shop and bought some pennies.

First, I'm not an antique shopper.  Last weekend Jen had a tax class and I didn't want to sit around the house so the kids and I went for a drive and ran some errands. While out the kids got hungry and wanted hot dogs.  Even though we were by the mall and could have gone into the food court for a quick dog I decided to check on my phone if there were any hot dog joints near by.  Urbanspoon came up with a place called Pittsburgh Willy's which I had never heard of before so we went hunting for our dogs. I was surprised when we found Pittsburgh Willy's because it was in the middle of a large antique/consignment business called Merchant Square.  The dogs were great and we had some time to kill before Jen would be home so we tooled around for an hour or so.  Both kids had a blast even though we didn't buy anything.

So when today I had nothing to do for some reason I went back to the weekends memory.  I did a quick Google Maps search, found there was an antique shop, Golden Bird Antiques, a couple of blocks over and off I went.  I had no intention of buying anything but once I got there I found something I couldn't pass up.

I collect elongated coins; ECs; pressed pennies; squished change.  I didn't start collecting ECs alone.  My daughter and I started to collect them together on our first trip to Disneyland but she grew out of them and I didn't.  Most of the coins I have I've gotten while on vacations, approximately half of them are from Disneyland.  I've received some from other collectors and recently I received some when I joined The Elongated Collectors. Yes, there is a club.

ECs generally are not that expensive.  Most machines cost 51 cents per coin; two quarters are the cost and then the penny for the pressing.  When a machine goes away it's considered retired and retired coins are considered more valuable.  Older retired coins are considered even more valuable and of course the oldest ECs that are known to exist are valued the highest.

Today when I entered Golden Bird Antiques I started talking to the owner about elongated coins and I was very surprised when he said he had a few.  He prefaced this by saying that while he only had a few they were probably ones that I would be interested in.  He was right.

The oldest known ECs are from the 1893 Columbian Exposition.  The event was essentially a worlds fair in celebration of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus discovering America.  At the convention there was the first known pressed penny machines and there were 4 different coins being made.  What I purchased were two of those four coins.  I've seen the coins for sale on eBay, and I never really planned on buying them but once I saw them in person I had to have them.  The price seemed right and while I knew I'd be in the doghouse I still bought them.

And that is why I was happy.  I'm still happy but I was right about that doghouse.  Crushed my mellow a bit but I deserved it.  Hopefully I'm not in the doghouse for long.  Not a lot of room here.  Little lonely.

I'm So Happy...

...happy happy happy!

No time to explain now, just wanted to say that I am happy!

Planning a Meeting 101

Just a few quick tips for planning a meeting, whether it's a phone call or in person;

1)  Invite the right people
All too often I'm invited to a meeting where there is absolutely no reason for me to attend, and it's not because I'm not important.  I'm kind of a big thing around here (toot toot).  More often then not is because people assume the roll I play and don't truly know what I can and can't do. The solution; if you're not sure if someone should attend give them a a quick call, tell them what you are meeting with others about and see if they feel it would be important to attend.  If they chose not to and they should have then the blame falls on them.

2) Be prepared
Why should I care about what you have to say if you didn't care enough to prepare for your own damn meeting? I didn't schedule it so don't think I'm going to run it.

3)  If I need to contribute let me know ahead of time
If your idea of a meeting is to have me provide details about XYZ then give me a heads up.  I shouldn't have to walk blindly into the lions den with nothing more than my good looks and a Papermate.

4)  Show up on time
Again, if you don't care than I don't care.

5)  Keep your cell phone in your pocket
During our meeting the most important thing should be what we are meeting about.  Unless the Commissioner is calling and needs you to save Gotham City keep your attention on one thing and one thing only, the meeting at hand.

Off the top of my head those are the 5 big peeves I have.  Of course there are others, like stop printing out 90 page docs that no one is ever going to look at or make sure there are enough chairs in the conference room, but 5 seems like a good place to stop for the time being.

And yes, this rant started with a useless meeting invite.

Been a long time, been a long time....

....been a long time but not a lonely one.  For all of my loyal readers, dare I say followers?, I apologize for not posting in such a long time.  My idea about posting about obsessions cured my problem of obsessing.  The miracle of blogging! Praise blogger! Praise Google!  But now I have guilt and feel bad for leaving you alone in the dark for so long.

Guilt is gone.

I decided I can still write whether I'm obsessed or not and who knows, maybe I'll share an interesting thing or two, so I'm back.  For now. Can never tell with me. I'm like a ninja.  That types slow.  And has horrible spelling and punctuation.  But still a ninja and what does a ninja care about commas and periods? He's a frickin ninja!  Everything starts with "....." and ends with "!" with a ninja.

SO when I find something I think is cool that I want to share with more than just my wife I'll post it here.  When I feel like going on a tangent I'll post it here. When I'm doing something totally wicked awesome and I want to brag to the world I'll post it here.  When I'm sad I'll keep it to my damn self because I'm a man and that's what men do!

So expect;

1. Awesome
2. Nerdy stuff (cause deep down I'm a manly nerd but still a nerd all the same)
3. Rants and Raves (expect cursing)
4. More awesome

Do not expect;

1. Emotions (unless it has to do with sports, family, puppies, little tiny kitty cats being saved by puppies from a burning kitty orphanage, puppies being saved by tiny little kitty cats from a burning puppy orphanage, and cheese )

.......   !

Pung

O2?

I feel a new obsession coming on!  Or at least an old one has been rekindled.  While wifey will say that I've been obsessed with my Droid since Christmas I know that's not true (I haven't taken it apart yet!).

So the obsession I'm talking about?  Elongated coins!  Pressed pennies!  A couple of days ago we finalized plans for another trip to Disneyland, one of the best places for collecting pressed pennies.  Then Em went to the World Wildlife Zoo and came back with some new pennies for our collection.  Then she went to the Phoenix Zoo and got some more.  Same day as the Phoenix Zoo my friend Terry from work asked me about collecting pennies at Disneyland and I went crazy.  All of my bottled up knowledge flowed out of me like, well, bottled up stuff.

After I bored Terry for 20 minutes (sorry he was back late from his break Herschel) I pulled up some of my old favorite penny websites and found there is a lot more out there now.  Over the next few days I will post what I know and what I discover.

And sorry for not being obsessed for so long.  I felt a little lost but now I'm found.  Don't remember the rest of the song.

Secret "Jesus" Bible codes inscribed on American military weapons

Two points I want to make clear, and a lot of people already know these; 1) I'm an atheist, b) I'm prior military. I've personally witnessed many things that the military has said they didn't know about but really truly did. I have no doubt that this was known well before the contracts were signed. Bullshit like this makes me glad for two things; a) I'm an atheist, 2) I'm not in the military anymore.

Secret "Jesus" Bible codes inscribed on American military weapons: "ABC News reports that high-powered rifle sights provided to the US Army and Marines by Michigan weapons maker Trijicon include coded references to Bible passages about Jesus Christ:

The sights are used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers. The maker of the sights, Trijicon, has a $660 million multi-year contract to provide up to 800,000 sights to the Marine Corps, and additional contracts to provide sights to the U.S. Army.

U.S. military rules specifically prohibit the proselytizing of any religion in Iraq or Afghanistan and were drawn up in order to prevent criticism that the U.S. was embarked on a religious 'Crusade' in its war against al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents.

One of the citations on the gun sights, 2COR4:6, is an apparent reference to Second Corinthians 4:6 of the New Testament, which reads: 'For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.'

U.S. Military Weapons Inscribed With Secret 'Jesus' Bible Codes (ABC News)

Trijicon (corporate website)


"

Holy Awesome: star wars x clerks

Because anyone that knows me knows I love Clerks.

Holy Awesome: star wars x clerks

William Burroughs's Typewriter (and Other Stuff)

By far one of my favorite authors.

William Burroughs's Typewriter (and Other Stuff): "From The Morning News:

How did you end up photographing William Burroughs’s stuff?

William Burroughs lived for many years in the former locker room of an 1880s YMCA, on the Bowery in New York City. The almost windowless space was known as The Bunker. When he died in 1997, his friend and mine, John Giorno, kept the apartment intact, with many of Burroughs’s possessions sitting as they were. Part of the space is now used for Buddhist teachings, and the apartment is a wonderful mix of Buddhist wall hangings and pillows and carpets and Burroughs’ personal furniture and collections.

Is the room still intact?

His bedroom is as he left it, with all his stuff in place. Giorno looks after it, and occasionally houses visiting artists and friends and Buddhist teachers who come to teach in the main area of the space.

William Burroughs's Stuff at the Morning News

"

Man Scout

My daughter is in Girl Scouts which means, by proxy, I am in Girl Scouts.  This is her first year in the scouts and I want her to do a good job so I posted the following at work, I think it might help;

"This is my daughter’s first year selling Girl Scout cookies which makes it the first of many years where I will be shilling away for her at work!  If you have received this letter and cookie sheet, thank you for taking the time to read them.  So first, let me give you some details;

·         Cookies are $4 a box

·         They are yummy

·         They will be available for delivery middle of February

·         Payment is not due until delivery

And, to make you all feel warm and fuzzy, her troop has decided to use some of the funds received from the sale to build a community garden in Maricopa, tentatively at the Veterans Center.  How can that not make you feel good?  A pretty place for those that deserve it built by a slew of 6 year olds in a town that’s been hit hard?  I’m getting teary right now just writing this!

But if that did not motivate you then maybe this will.  If 250 or more boxes are purchased by employees at GT I will deliver them in a Girl Scout uniform.  Yes, I love my daughter enough to do that.  Plus, 250 seems like a pretty steep number so I don’t think I have much to worry about, but please prove me wrong.

In closing, for $4 a box you get some sweet, sweet cookies, you get to help out a Girl Scouts troop, you get to help that troop help out their community, and quite possibly you might just get those cookies delivered by a grown man in a Girl Scout uniform.

Thank you for helping out!

Christian Schrader

X36105

p.s.          If you do want to order please feel free to send me an email with your order.  All I need is an extension or phone number, and quantity per box.  I’ll fill in the rest.  Thank you."

So, would this motivate you to buy a box?

The Lie Counter

I've done pretty good so far, only one little lie to a customer service rep with Verizon.  I needed to get some information which I knew they wouldn't readily give so I went into interrogation mode and said what I knew would get me what I wanted.

I have noticed though that I am more conscious of what I do and say.  Like I thought last week I am making more of an effort to speak the truth and not stretch it for my own gain. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can continue this trend.

Interesting Question

If you were held accountable for your lies would you continue to lie?  And I mean accountable for even the littlest, tiniest of lies.  Like the time you remembered to take out the garbage but didn't because you were being lazy/rebellious/an ass, and then when you were confronted by your mother/wife/any other woman in your life you simple advised that "you forgot"?  Would you make a true effort to not lie or would you just lose the guilt?

My initial thought is that you would try not to lie for a long time (a week sounds like a long time) then you would slip up, you'd let a little lie fly and feel completely like shit.  But you'd admit it because that is the experiment I'm proposing and you'd find that the repercussion was not as bad as you expected, but you have a conscious and you'd try harder.  The the next lie slips out and you admit it and again not so bad again.  Now you're realizing that admitting your faults makes you a better person and the faults are what truly makes you YOU. So you stop trying not to lie and you go make to your normal ways and when you make a mistake you admit it and that's that.  I don't believe you would stop lying altogether and I don't believe in the long run your lies would decrease.  They might get smaller and that's a good thing but I don't think it's in our nature not to lie.

So test yourself.  If your uncomfortable sharing your lies just keep a log for yourself and review them at the end of each week.  See if the lies made a difference to the outcome of whatever you lied about.  See if they were necessary.  Personally I'm going to keep a list on me and log them as they happen.  I want to see how often I do lie, the outcome/worth of the lie, and other points I'm sure I'll figure out later on.  I want to see if my theory is right.  At the end of the week I'll post my lies, what's the use of me proposing this test if I have nothing to lose, right?

I'll post a link to my log (sounds perverted) in the next day or two, I honestly just came up with this and have nothing prepared.  And just because I'm going to try not to lie don't try to call me out on stuff, you might not want the truth!  Just remember, most of the lies people tell are not malicious, they're to protect the feelings of others.

New Stuff

I want to write.  Or maybe I want to draw.  Or maybe I will do both.  I don't think I will do neither of them, definitely at least one of them, I will let you know.


I read a lot, consume a lot, take in a lot but I don't produce a lot.  I fill very little space.  I'm not a riddle and this isn't a riddle but I wish we both were, that would be much more interesting than the truth, that what I have said is the truth.  I'd like to be a lot more complex then I am.  I'd like to be more than I am.  I will be big in the hearts of others.  Someday