oh flying...

Last night at the airport, I saw something that I hadnt seen before. At the security checkpoint, they had this air shooter machine. When instructed, I stepped into this human car-wash chamber. I remained still and then several intense bursts of air hit me quickly from every angle. After a few seconds, the light turned green and the clear doors opened. Then I walked through the metal detectors and waited for my carry on bag.

As a fairly experienced traveler, I had minimized my chance of having any holdup at security. I was wearing only jeans and a t-shirt, and everything on my person had been removed and put into my backpack while I was waiting in line. Taking off my belt, long sleeved shirt, hat, and removing everything from my pockets was a bit of a hassle, but far from the trouble that goes along with the personal body search. I took away any and all potential reasons for setting off any alarm.

However, the same was not true for my fellow airplane riders. The people in front of me had clearly not ridden a plane since 9/11. Everything was new to them. But that wasnt an excuse. This new air pumping machine was slowing up the line. That meant you had plenty of time to watch the people in front of you. It should have been obvious by the time they got to the front that they needed to remove their shoes and jackets. But they hadn't, so I waited.

And then the people in front of them were overprepared. They had decided to take their entire pantry with them. And they were aware of some new rule about the amount of fluids that can be carried onto a plane. They have about a dozen ziplock bags with 2.34 ounces (or whatever the new rule is...) The problem was they knew the rules better than the people enforcing them. Despite what you might think, this also held up the line. The security officer didnt know what to do when the old guy took a sip of hand soap from a sandwich bag. Then when the big-on-rules guy told the security guy the rules, he went power-trip and took offense. So then he had to act like there was a big problem, which delayed everyone even more. The sad fact of the matter is if I were a criminal I would have had a perfect distraction to slide through the line. You had a bunch of overeager wanna-be hostage negotiators giving a 65 year old law abiding man a hard time.

Argh. So frustrating. I have decided that the break even point of flying is getting bigger. That is to say that if you are traveling under 300 miles, it is more efficient to drive (or walk or bike or swim.) I dont know what the old thresehold point was, but it is getting longer. They tell people to get to the airport an hour or two early. Well the people who are getting there that early are the ones who are holding up the lines. People who travel often do not need that much time. They arrive with boarding pass in hand without the intention of checking bags.

Then i boarded the plane. Since I was on Southwest and had a C grouping and did not check any bags, I didnt care where I sat. Instead of standing in line for 30 minutes I bought a newspaper and sat in a chair and read it. Then I boarded the plane, last. The flight was almost, but not completely full. I ended up sitting in a middle seat about halfway back. I sat in between a man and women, about 40 years old. I thought they didnt know each other but later learned they were together.

Which was a major problem. They thought they were being so savvy be sitting in the aisle and window seats. Their little sceme was to try to discourage another person from sitting between them by putting their bags in the middle seat. Well it didnt work. I wasnt checking any bags and had a tiny backpack that I could hold on my lap if need be. I wasnt going any further back than I had to, so when I asked if the seat was taken and he reluctantly said it was available I sat down.

It was then I realized they knew each other. It wasnt the immediate conversation that gave it away. It was the next 45 minutes of chatter across me that gave it away. Ok sneaky people, your trick didnt work and I sat in your row. You lost. Well dont talk across me the entire time. If you were so pressed to sit next to your friend/wife/whatever then offer to switch seats with me once I sat down. But that never happened. Jerks. Oh well.

Atleast I arrived at the airport with no way of getting home. At first it was sort of exciting. Sort of like my own personal make-shift Amazing Race. However, after wandering around baggage claim for 10 minutes I thought it was way to sketchy to ask a random person for a ride. My original thought of chatting it up on the plane and getting to know my plane neighbors was ruined by annoying couple, and i was unable to spot anyone wearing a high school jacket of the school near my house (which was my back up plan...) so i ended up sucking it up and just getting a taxi. Atleast I was home in time to watch Monday night footballl.

PS Merry Christmas!

Come on ride the D-Train

I have always liked Dontrelle Willis, and wasn't excited to read about his recent arrest. Drunk driving is certainly nothing to joke about, but I did think his story was interesting. He was driving his Bentley at 4:00 am near some nightclubs, when he stopped his car and got out. Then he took a leak in the road.

Apparently the police officer noticed signs of intoxication, and D-Train failed a field sobriety test. I am pretty sure anytime you are peeing in the road at 4 in the morning, its pretty safe to say you have been drinking.

I just keep seeing a mental movie of a guy driving, stopping for no apparent reason, and then getting out of his car and going to the bathroom in the road. Who does that?

those crazy animals

Apparently pythons from Burma are too tough for the US and taking over the Everglades National Park. It is quite amazing to hear that a python killed and ate an alligator, which then actually killed itself. Here is that story, check out the pic. And another python was in a gators mouth for over 30 hours and survived. These things sound pretty badass. I must admit that even though I am scared of snakes I sort of want to buy a baby Burmese python at a flea market, feed it tiny rodents and watch it grow up from inches to 6 feet in a year. Unfortunately, at that point I would be scared and unable to handle my snake. And then instead of killing it I would probably let it go in the woods behind my house. The funny thing is this is exactly what people did in Florida, and now they are eating all the other animals. Imagine if you walked outside and saw this.

And in other animal news lizards can reproduce with themselves. Judging from the picture, that is probably good news for that lizard. I just hope that Komodo dragon isn't a runner, if so she had better get in touch with Barry Bond's trainer.

random, but fun

What was this guy was thinking... I think I found a clip of the employee telling the story.


If your week at work is especially slow, watch this. I hadnt seen it in a long time.


I was pleasantly surprised when I grabbed an individually wrapped candy from the candy bowl at work and found out it was orange flavored. Turns out that there are two new flavors of Lifesavers candy.


You can go here to light a candle and make a wish for someone special (or select a gift idea for someone...) I am not sure if it is working yet, but I think you are supposed to be able to see all the wishes that are made by other people too.

like i need another reason to not watch

I do not understand how this happens. I really dont know why you would play a basketball game outside. But even if you were going to do it, wouldnt you check the weather? How are you caught by surprise in 2006 when it rains? And the worst part is the stadium has a roof, it was just open. It seems to me like they wanted it to get rained out. I do, however, enjoy people playing basketball in long sleeve shirts.

Back on the market

I read today that my favorite athlete is single again... Perhaps this is the reason the Pats played so badly against Miami last week. Hopefully this will allow him to focus for the playoffs and lead the team to another superbowl. Maybe I should have picked him on my fantasy tabloid team!

My new free toy...

A while back I was invited to join Man Beard Blog. I hadnt yet posted, as contract negotiations were taking longer than expected, when MBB received an email from a public relations firm looking to get a review for a beard related product. Two days later I had a brand new razor in hand and was anxious to write my first entry for MBB. Below is my post from MBB, its another long one!

[since this is my first post on MBB i copied it below. in the future i dont intend to post the same material in both locations so be sure to check out MBB from time to time...]

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Due to the overwhelming popularity of Man Beard Blog, we were recently asked to review the new Philips Norelco Bodygroom and share our opinions with our readers. As an experienced manscaper and self proclaimed body hair expert, I was anxious to receive the electronic device and begin testing.

I did not have to wait long, as less than 48 hours later I had the ergonomically designed electric razor in hand and was ready to put it to the test.

I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the package, pushed the button and the razor turned on. Less than 30 seconds and I went from holding a FedEx overnight box to eliminating unwanted body hair. It is nice when rechargable electronics come charged. There is nothing worse than getting a present that you really wanted only to find out you have to charge it for 8 hours to use the thing. Not the Bodygroom, the folks at Norelco are better than that.

The cordless trimmer comes with 3 attachments, and from my previous clipping experience I knew that these were intended to control the length to which the follicle was cut. Feeling crazy, I first snapped on the "2" piece and raised my right arm. This is where things got hairy. Armpit hair, especially that has been in a long sleeve shirt under a lowered arm all day, tends to be less coarse than hair on other parts of the body. This was immediately giving me trouble with the razor. It seemed to be combing my armpit hair more than cutting it. The actual cutting blades are not large, and are hidden deep under the attachment. So I felt like each swipe of the Bodygroom was removing only the first few hairs it confronted. Then those hairs were clogging the cutting area and preventing the other hairs from entering the cutting zone. I thought that if I switched to the shorter “1” attachment that the problem would be reduced. It wasn’t, as I was still struggling to cut the hair. I will say that I have had this trouble with underarm hair before. I have a three other devices and have had the same problem with all three. So it is possible that it’s not the cutting instrument, it’s me. Needless to say, when I removed the clip and went with the zero I was more successful in removing the hair from under my arm. Then I realized that at no point did I ever intend to remove all the hair from under my arm. Ouch. Not good so far, Bodygroom. On to my chest hair…

Luckily for the BodyG I don’t have much hair on my chest nor do I want any. Since the clips were already removed, using the BG to remove all the hairs was simple. One of the best features is that it has a cutting edge on both sides. This feature is nullified when using an attachment. However, on level zero the user is able to cut hair on both strokes for an increased rate of hair removal. This took much less time than cutting in the first zone mentioned.

The last area that I attempted to trim was my groin area. PS I have never refered to or heard anyone refer to pubic hair as groin area hair. I honestly felt like this is what the BG was made to do. I found that the hair in this location had a different texture that allowed it to be cut much more efficiently with the design of the Bod-G. I started with the level 3 attachment and noticed that the hair was not being clogged as in area 1. In fact it was just the opposite, I felt like Johnny Depp in Edward Scissorhands. It was only a matter of minutes before I moved down to level 2 and re-cut.

It was in region 3 that I really appreciated the shape of the product. Historically, I have issues due to my angle of attack and relative location of the hair to my hands. I had no trouble positioning the cutting machine and I was hacking away. I feel like I was able to remove hair that I was previously unable to reach. I was also able to put the razor in areas that I normally would not place a cutting device. This is because of the position of the cutting blades relative to the attachments. I did not feel like I was at risk for cutting myself. To explain more clearly, all forms of clippers involve some sort of blade. In most cases, this means two teeth shaped metal blades on top of one another. When the blades vibrate or move, the hairs in between the teeth are cut by the teeth of the other blade. This works well to cut hair, however, it also cuts anything that enters between the two blades. Region 3 is an area that is not as smooth as your back and the tension in your skin isn’t always as consistent. Without getting into too much detail, I have injured myself before and am always very careful to make sure it doesn’t happen again. With the BG it was not a concern. I would be foolish to say it couldn’t happen, but with the design I don’t think I came close to cutting myself.

I performed all of this hair removal in the shower to contain the hairs. One of the worst things about removing body hair is my inability to control where it goes after removal. There are very few things as gross as finding tiny hair pieces all over the bathroom for days. Like grabbing your retainer on your way to bed and finding tiny pieces of dark hair. This is when you try not to think about what region it is from, until you taste what you think is Gold Bond and can no longer fall asleep.

Anyways, in the shower I was able to contain and then vacuum (because I never turned on the water) all of the hairs. The box says that the B-Gro can be used wet or dry, so during future body maintenance I may try using it while showering. I just wouldn’t recommend it if you are going to be removing a decent amount of hair or else your drain will probably get clogged.

After I stepped out of the shower I removed the cutting blade (I think it is supposed to be easily removable, otherwise I broke it already…) and cleanup was a breeze. It was just then that I noticed there was a mesh screen between the two blades. I own an electric razor (although I don’t use it much either) and I know the foil on the top of the BG was for removing very short pieces of hair. I concluded that this hypoallergenic foil was to complete the hair removal process, if you were looking for complete hair removal. Since I am not filming any adult movies anytime soon, I had no desire to use this feature anywhere on my body… except my face. Without thinking I turned the BG back on and began rubbing the razor all over my face. Having just shaved with a normal razor this morning I had very little hair to cut. However, what little stubble that I had was removed by the BG. Next time I should go from face to the rest of my body, as opposed to from region 3 to my face. That was entirely my fault though.

After I finished shaving, I reviewed the packaging and the website and I noticed that this product is not advertised as a facial razor. That reinforced my thoughts, that it cut shorter and more coarse hair more effectively. While it was able to cut facial hairs, that is not what it is born to do. vI felt that it performed best in region 3. This is probably not a surprise to the creators of the project, but I could see how they may have trouble pitching a male private part razor.

Overall, I would give the Bodygroom a thumbs up. I found that it outperformed all of the other products I have used for the same purpose, removing hair from the groin region. Further, it was very easy and fun to use, without compromising performance or safety. I think it would make a good present for any boyfriend or brother, in particular if they are between the ages of 18 and 40 and are troubled with unwanted hair in their most personal regions.

If you are interested, you can purchase on here.

A special thanks to Melanie for providing Man Beard Blog the opportunity to review this new product!

Tuesday night TV

While watching the WSOP on ESPN tonight it was down to 10 players. The players were playing at a single table, and each of them had earned over a million dollars (tenth place paid over a million.) The announcers kept saying that they would play down to the final table. The episode ended after one player was eliminated and there were 9 players remaining and the final table was set.

I understand that the 'final tv table' was going to be only nine players. But even knowing that (I bet many viewers didnt know that) it was still super annoying for them to keep saying that 9 of these 10 players were going to make the final table. Last time I checked all 10 made the final table. Now I remember why I dont watch poker (especially tournament poker) on TV anymore.
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I have watched all of the episodes of My Boys so far and have enjoyed the show very much. Perhaps it is not surprising, since I admittedly enjoy chick-flicks. The show reminds me of Sex in the City, about a single woman in a big city. The difference is that all her friends are guys, and she acts like a guy. And she is pretty hot. The best part of the show, in my opinion, is that she is a sportswriter for the Cubs. As a result, each show is themed around some aspect of baseball. The show is cheesy at times, and has been predictable on a few occasions, but they are on the right track in terms of having a recipe for success; a show that appeals to both men and women, possibly for very different reasons.
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I am looking forward to 24 and American Idol starting in January.

Online car purchasing

Below is a long email chain between me and a friend at work. He is selling his car online so I created a fake email address and have been emailing him about his car all week. I was pretending to be interested and asked as many random questions as I could think of. Start from the bottom and read up to follow the conversation. It is pretty funny.

(Start from the bottom)

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Then we called him again and while on the phone we walked over to guy's desk.

After the call, Guy wrote:

are u sure that wasn't u being ur own secretary? they said u were forgetful sometimes lol

Guy wrote:

ok i missed the first call because i was busy with somthing at work, but i just called back, and they said anytime for noon to 2 pm. i told him thats fine with me

(Now Ben calls Guy pretending to be my assistant)

Guy wrote:

oh u got a secretary? dont u think u should schedule it when u are free, i cant tell them i time for you to meet me, its up to you whenever you want to come

On 12/8/06 Timmmy Washington wrote:

can you please give my secretary a quick call in a minute to set it uptomorrow? i have to run into a meeting and am not sure how long it will take. the number is XXX-XXX-XXXX.thanks and i will see you tomorrow

Timmy

Guy Wrote:

what time do u think u can stop by? like morning, mid-day, afternoon?

On 12/8/06, Guy wrote:

yeah i know crossfires are rare, only seen like 5 on the road my whole life, but i;'ve been looking at them at dealerships for a while now. ok well i b4 going to quiznos for lunch

On 12/8/06, Tim Washington

crossfires are nice cars, although i dont see them on the road very often. remember that game called crossfire... and that catchy song that they played on the commercials. i have been saving for a new car for a while, but other things keep coming up so i have been putting it off since my current van gets the job done (for work, but its embaressing for personal use) since i cant seem to get an actual date with that girl kate i mentioned, I guess my goal for my new car is to have it before my friends work christmas party. i think it is next weekend. i am just going with her as a friend, since she doesnt have a date but wanted to bring someone. the place it is at isnt super fancy, but i think its pretty nice and i would prefer not to roll to her party in my van, or make her pick me up.i have talked to a few others about their cars, so hopefully i can get one by then. maybe even your galant...

From: "Guy" To: "Tim Washington"

i bought my car from workin at the XXXXXX. i worked there for like 7 months making 8.75-$10 a hr, and saved $6,000 , put that down. the car was $10,300 + tax, tags, and title=$11,300. plus $350 per rim, $150 per tire, +$100 for taillights + 375 for tints.=$13,775. but now that i got a new job with higher pay, im think im going to buy a Chrysler Crossfire.

On 12/8/06, Tim Washington wrote:

19 and you already own and are selling that car? nice work by you. as far as the mall goes, i need to get a tie or something (maybe a video game) for my brother and also something for my sister. i have no idea really. i was thinking abotu getting my parents a gift certificate to a restaurant or something. i think i have used up all the 'free yard work' as gifts, since I started my business it doesnt really count anymore. the party is at my house in canton. people will probably come over starting at 7 or so. nothing fancy.and if we do go to the mall, i hope we can take the Galant, otherwise we will be pushing a busted up white van with my company's logo on the side of it.

From: "Guy" To: "Tim Washington"

yea give me a call on my cell, i should answer it. if not just shoot me a e-mail. I am 19, what things u gotta get form the mall. i think i need to go to a few places. need to get my mom some PJ's, slippers, and somthing else. my dad some license plate holders, and maybe some camo seat covers for his truck. got to Victorias secret for my GF, and to some nail saloon for my sister. what time is the party and where is it?

On 12/8/06, Tim Washington wrote:

ok cool, i could give you a call tomorrow when i get off work. or if you wanted i could go to the mall with you, i have some shopping to do also. i know its kind of random but how old are you? i am having a party tonight and if you wanted perhaps you could stop by. maybe thats totally random, if so i appologize, just saying there will be around 10-15 of my friends and the age ranges from like 18-23. so if you were interested. if not, no big deal at all. let me know about the party tonight and/or the mall trip tomorrow.

Timmy

From: "Guy" To: "Tim Washington"

it doesn't matter to me, I'll be home most of the day, i think im gonna go to the mall for sme shopping but atleast not until dark. and i'd prefer if you didn't come before 10am.i guess anytime from 10 until whenever, but i guess u dont want to see it in the dark

On 12/8/06, Tim Washington wrote:

i dont really know, obviously that is the idea. she thinks i am in med-school though, which is becoming more and more of a problem. anyways, she wrote me back and said she couldnt make it saturday so nevermind about my idea of borrowing your car. i really should be free after work though to test drive it. what time is best for you? TW

From: "Guy" To: "Tim Washington"

sure will she put out?

On 12/7/06, Tim Washington wrote:

would you want to come on my date with kate?

From: "Guy" To: "Tim Washington"

no reason. um about that test drive. i think i would rather be in the car for the drive, or any questions, to make me feel better so i dont have to see u drive away in my baby, and its against my insurance policy. however you would be covered if i give you consent to drive and im present the entire time. Sorry but its just not worth it to me to have my car totaled on a test drive and not be insured. but if you can make it anyother time, or maybe stop by earlier b4 the date and we can go for a ride together

On 12/7/06, Tim Washingtonwrote:

i think columbia, not ellicott city. why do you ask? she is actually at nursing school in philadelphia. i dont think i can buy itbefore i test drive it. i was thinking i could test drive it from 4 pm until 2 am and after i drop off kate i would swing back to your hosue and give you the car back. then i could decide if i wanted it.


From: "Guy" To: "Tim Washington"

Well be careful, dont get robbed or kidnapped on your date. i heard that happens alot online, its actually a guy or a bunch of them and they will jump u. does she live in Ellicot City? anyways yea u can test drive it until 2 am if you want, and if you got the total amount of the car in cash to give me first. yea sure, 4pm is good, are u talking about Saturday?

On 12/7/06, Tim Washington wrote:

not enough! i am at a different client pretty much every day of the week, so it varies. i might try and stop by this weekend if i have free time. i am trying to set up a date with this girl who i actually met online. well, i have never actually met her, just emailed her and she sent me some pics. anyways, you dont need to hear about that. i work until 2 pm sat, but if i dont have anything with her than maybe i can check it out. or do you think i could maybe come by around 4 before my date (if she says she wants to- i havent heard back from her yet) and then test drive it until like 2 am or something? that way i could show up to meet her with your ride?

From: "Guy" To: "Tim Washington"

ok, kinda figured somthing like that. what part of "Downtown" do you work in? how much lawn care is there in the city? so are u interested in stopping by this weekend?

On 12/7/06, Tim Washington wrote:

Blank road, nice. thats so appropriate because i have my own lawn manicure company. thats why i was asking about the bags of leaves and the trunk room. at time i have haul bags of grass clippings and trim trimmings and stuff. and it actually helps that the windows are tinted because that way people cant see what i am doing. technically, this will be a company vehicle, which is why i was asking about the decals on teh windows. i might have to put my business on the windows for some free advertising. also sometimes on the side i work with a pawn shop in town helping them sell things on ebay. i really just handle the ebay side of the business, i dont work in the store or buy any merchandise.

Tee Double U

From: "Guy" To: "Tim Washington"

I live in Baltimore County. from Canton I'd say less then 20 minutes depending on traffic. Im in the City right now tho. I work on St. Paul Street. my house is XX Blank Road Baltimore Maryland XXXXX, if you want to look up a map

On 12/7/06, Tim Washington wrote:

well i live in canton and work downtown during the day, how far away is your house?

From: "Guy" To: "Tim Washington"

lol not sure of any exact numbers for acceleration, but it goes pretty good. as far as spinners, i never really wanted them on that car, and never really even thought of it. the front seats recline all the way back until they hit the front of the rear seats. I've had people sleep my in my passenger seat almost straight back. and so far nearly every CD i've played is burnt and i have never had any problem. the sound system sounds great on CD. depending on what type of music u listen to, it can make some nice bass.

On 12/7/06, Tim Washington wrote:

does it accelerate quickly? i have a friend who lost his liscense (dont ask) and as a result he rides his bike. he can get moving pretty quick and among my group of friends any car that beats him in a 30 foot race is fast. do you think it would win? hes no lance armstrong(although he might also be on drugs) but he is pretty fast. have you ever considering getting spinners? i was thinking about getting them on whatever new car that i guy, but with your already sweet almost dubs i probably wont. do the seats recline real far back? i like to lean back while driving. do you ever have any issues with burned CDs? i know some cars work fine with normal cds but any cd that was burned can be trouble. i have a few burned cds that i occasionally like to listen to (when I am in classical mood or need to focus on something.) i guess i could always buy the real cd if this were a problem but then thats another 10 bucks per cd. sorry for all my questions- but i appreciate your prompt responses.

From: Guy" To: "Tim Washington"

lol no, it was like the first week i got my car and was coming home from movies and as testing it out. um i havn't named my car, sorry, feel free too. yes the all the windows except front are tinted, including the back. i couldn't say the tint is too dark. it is 35, meaning 35% light gets through.my sister was 30, which was illegal, and i thought that was too dark, and now she has limo tints, like 5%. I think they apply gfx to the outside, not sure tho. the guy at the tinit place (D&L tinting) told me. 35% u can see someone is in the car and tell they are a guy or girl, 30% u can sell somone is there, less then 30 u cant see anyone. the P brake is right hand, you can see it in the fron interior pic i send. the wipers are um. gettin a little old, AutoZone told me to change them every 6 months, and i last changed them in the summer but i think still work fine. perfect mechanically or course. 2 Washer nozzles on the hood spray it. as far was blind spots, not really, its got pretty big windows all around and its got a good view.

On 12/7/06, Tim Washington wrote:

115? have you ever been chased by the cops? is this car stolen? sike im just playing. sounds like the backseat wont be an issue. iknow it sounds stupid, but i figure if i am buying a car i might as wellthink about the little things and try and find the perfect car. does your car have a name? if not its cool, just wondering. is the back window tinted? are the windows too dark to see graphics if i put some on the windows? is the parking brake a foot brake or a hand one? do you notice any blind spots when you drive? how are the winshield wipers? T U U (get it?)

From: "Guy" To: "Tim Washington"

lol, yea that is the rear trunk pass thru, its nice cause u can haul larger things. lol yea i just washed my car yesterday, and i plan on washing and detailing it nice thei friday after work. yea the trunk is big, i barly use it. I'd the backseat is plenty big, the pics i took, both seats are almost all the way back, when no one is in the back the passenger usually goes far back for the most space. but the passenger can easily pull the seat up and give plenty room to the back. I haul my friends around all the time and i've got no complaints. Yes it is a V4. its not bad, top speed/pick up is not an issue for me. Honestly, I've be 115 in it and it handles and goes just fine.

On 12/7/06, Tim Washington wrote:

J Dein- yeah, sorry i have been really busy at work. the pics looked good. seeing the condition of the exterior, i would say you are ridin dirty... (which is better than rollin white and nerdy...) ha, im just kidding. is that a picture of the connection from the trunk to the backseat? that looks like it might come in handy for myjob. the trunk size appears large enough for what i need it for. also, how would you rate the space of the backseat? i have never been in a galant but hopefully there will be two average sized adults back there if you know what i mean... it is a 4 cylinder right? how would you rate the speed and pickup? i cant be picking up girls in a busted hoopty, i would rather be pushing a nice ride, which it seems like you have.

T-Dubs

From: "Guy" Guys Email To: "Tim Washington"

hey, just wondering if your still interested in coming by this weekend to check my galant out, please get back with me if your still interested

On 12/5/06, Guy

thats my ad on www.cars.com on the top tab click Kelly Blue Book Value, and input the information, v4 engine, 61950 miles, then u have to pick the options, (power sun roof, power seat, leather, premium wheels, rear spoiler) those will not be checked but u needto check them to get correct price, then scroll down and pressrecalculate. Private Party Value: 7,875 --$8,725-- $9,360, thats fair, good, and excellent KBB values. If you have any other questions u can mail back for just call my XXX-XXX-XXXX. RIP-BIG

TWash20 Wrote:

hey J-thanks for the information. i will let you know about coming to take it fora spin this weekend. the rims look pretty sweet. is the tint legal? it looks pretty dark... it has a pretty large gas tank, what kind of milage do youget? what grade of gas does it take? does it have a 5th (spare) tire? if so is there a rim on that one?do you know the volume of the trunk? can you fit two sets of golf clubs? four trashbags of bagged leaves? just trying to get a sense if it will belarge enough for what I need it for. i need some space for all my junk (andsome other business related stuff...)do you know how they get they get the KBB values? who is kelley and why is the book blue? is 8700 the lowest you will go? also i have a friend at work who is also interested, so i will pass along the information to him.

TWash

ps nice email address. RIP BIG!

From: "Guy To: "Tim Washington"

Hello, those are the only 3 pictures i took. but i can save some more if you want, i will get a few more angles for you. The car was in 1 minor accident. it was hit and ran in a parking lot, put a small dent in the right rear quarter panel. i had it professional repaired a reported. there was no major damage, nor frame damage, the repair was around $300 and only damages the quater panel. You cannot notice it now since the repair, the paint match is perfect. i do not have a history report, but if you are serious after a test drive i can get on online instantly. I plan on selling to buy a new car. this was my first car and it ran great for a year, but now i have a new job and more income and im ready to get somthing a little more expensive. the car runs great nothing wrong at all. the tires a about 6 months old on 18" chrome akuza rims. no blown speakers, no stains. its really in great shape. if you want to give me a call just just reply back with a time you would like to come by thats great. anytime on the weekend is good for me, just give me enough notice before you come.

On 12/5/06, Tim Washington wrote:

Hey- I saw your ad for your 02 XXXX and I was interested. Do you have any other pictures? Has the car been in any accidents or do you have a vehicle history report? Why are you selling it? Please send me some information and maybe we can schedule a time to meet this weekend so I can take it for a test drive. Thanks- Timmy

good decision?

i feel like these two are probably aspiring models... whether or not that is the case i feel like they made a great career choice. i see them everywhere on the internet. does anyone else know what i am talking about?

that leaves only one other question: 1 or 2?

is this guy for real?

Yesterday something very unusual happened at lunch. We (Ben, Eric and I) were on our way to Chipotle walking east on Pratt Street. We approached Calvert Street, a one way northbound road, and were about to cross. I noticed to my left (in the direction of traffic) that there were those labor union protesters chanting something. I remember thinking that if I were one of them I would have moved like 5 feet to the side to be out of the shadow of the building. I was thinking that they would probably be much warmer if they got into the sun. Anyways, I turned my head about 180 degrees and looked at the oncoming traffic. It turns out there wasn’t any so I started crossing the street. Ben had the same idea, but Eric was frightened and did not cross. In Eric’s defense there were cars about 250 yards away and they were traveling almost 25 mph so he was just playing it safe. Ben was furthest to our left, followed by Eric (always in the middle) and then I was the closest to the oncoming traffic. A few steps into the 4 lane road I admit I slightly accelerated. The cars were a bit closer than I thought but I was still in no danger. If anything I think it was my desire to eat a burrito that caused me to accelerate. In any case, I hear something coming from the area of the protesters. I think it was “look out buddy.” I could barely hear this voice and knew I wasn’t in any trouble because I was staring at the oncoming traffic. It was at this point that the collision happened. Some guy on his bike, riding the wrong way on a perfectly straight portion of a one way street that was 48 feet wide, crashed right into me. Yes, he was unable to redirect the position of his wheeled vehicle to avoid me. I guess during the 15 seconds he had as he approached me he was unable to predict my next move, which just so happened to be to continue walking across the street as I had been doing. Go figure.

Then he had the audacity to act like it was my fault. I do wish I had of said something better. I think he said something like “what are you doing?” and I responded “what, me? you are going the wrong way on a one way street?” That was pretty much the end of the conversation as he picked his bike up (yes, the collision caused him to fall off his bike although he did get his leg down in time so it wasn’t a major fall.) I admit we were all kind of thinking, did this really just happen? And then we laughed about it. I probably could have said something funny or been angry at him or something.

After the fact I put all the pieces together. I think what happened was he saw Ben crossing the street and Eric lagging behind. Then he tried to make it in front of Ben, which he barely did, at which point I was passing Ben. He probably didn’t even know I was there. But that doesn’t explain why he was cutting it so close. There are 4 lanes of pavement in that area, not to mention a sidewalk on both sides of the street.

I can’t stop thinking about the thought process of the rider. Imagine you are riding your bike into traffic on a 4 lane road. There are no cars approaching and you have the entire road. Due to the risk of hitting pedestrians, you decide to ride in the road. You are approaching an intersection, and it looks like 2 guys are crossing the street from your right. You are in the right lane. You decide to maintain your path and call out “watch out buddy” when you are 5 seconds from reaching them. They don’t appear to be moving, but you still pedal straight for them.

Tabloid Fantasy

I have created a tabloid fantasy league for anyone interested. To join, go to TABFL.com and register. You will need to use 2IJPu392041 as the entry code for the group number to join in the league that I created. Good luck!

Gmail is awesome

Update: Here is the newest web clip.

Celebrity Fantasy Leagues - TabloidFantasyLeague.com - Draft Your Celebrity Team Today. If they are in the Tabloids You win

I read about this idea on Page 2 when Bill Simmons wrote about it. Then on vacation in Jamaica we had a mock fantasy draft (and I think B Spears was my second round pick...)

Would anyone want to be in my league if i started one, assuming it was free?

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I have been using gmail for a few years and have been very happy. One thing that is unique about it is the advertisements that it places in the banner on the page are supposed to be related to your email content. Another feature is a 'web clip' that is near the top of the page. You can somewhat control the content.

Anyways, the point of this rant is the web clip that I just read while checking my email. It said the following:

Man Powder vs Baby Powder - www.Man-Powder.com - Men. Sprinkle it on your balls. Put an end to your sweaty nuts.

I sort of wanted to click on it.

Sports Blurbs

There are two things that happened in the world of sports recently that I feel like talking about. The first was when Michael Vick flipped off someone in the crowd. While this seems like a big deal, trust me that it is not. You can check this out if you want to read about other famous middle finger incidents. I am a big fan of Vick, mostly because he is insanely fast and possesses skills that are different than every other QB in the history of the NFL. For this reason, he is fun to watch and root for. Anyways, the part of the story that was surprising was the fine. I think I read that previously players were fined only $5K, but since he is super rich and a big name player, he was fined $10K. That is reasonable, I guess… Anyways, the other part of his punishment is that he has to donate another $10K to a charity. I think this is a good solution, and frankly all of the money that athletes pay in fines for acting stupid should go to charity. Can you imagine rooting for a player to act out of line in an effort to raise money for your charity? I can see it now, the Red Cross is watching an NBA game and rooting for Ron Artest to go goes nuts and jump into the stands to fight fans so they can get his forfeited salary. Or if MADD is monitoring the smoking gun secretly pumped to be collecting money from things like this (I know its wrong, but what irony.)

The other thing that happened involved another one of my more favorite athletes. Ben Wallace was benched for violating a team rule when he wore a headband. That is right; his coach didn’t play him because he was wearing a headband. To presumably keep the sweat out of his eyes and enhance his production, he was taken out of the game. I know that there is a strong chance that the purpose of Ben’s headband is more for fashion than anything else, but is it really that bothersome that the Bulls have a team rule forbidding the use of headbands? I suppose it’s a good thing that a GM makes strict rules and his coach enforces them. I agree with that aspect of running a team, but to me this sort of crosses the line. It is almost historically a part of basketball uniforms. I am pretty sure the NBA has licensed headbands, so that if players do choose to wear them, they have an official league approved one to use. The Yankees aren’t allowed to grow beards or have long hair, but they are allowed to use black bats, or red bats, or tan bats. They are also allowed to wear sunglasses. But the Bulls have a team rule because the GM didn’t like the way the players wore the headbands. I don’t know why they didn’t just make a rule describing how they should wear the popular head attire. Perhaps I am too reasonable to run and NBA team.

Zo Bo? More like Bozo

My thoughts on the season finale of ABC's The Bachelor:

Like everyone else watching the final episode of the Bachelor last night I was pretty surprised when Jen was selected over Sadie. If you have read any of my previous bachelor posts than you know that I was a Sadie fan since the first episode. I have been thinking about his choice and still am not sure why he selected Jen. But I have a few thoughts/ideas:

(Remember I am just brainstorming here…)

He may not have selected Jen as much as he selected Not-Sadie. He really liked Sadie and was into her, she was all the things that he wanted. But contestants who fall head over heels do not have a good track record on this show. There is a certain attraction to the person who is more difficult, and it is possible that Jen feel into this category.

Also, being that Sadie was so ‘innocent’ may have added pressure. Lobs might have felt like even he was getting in over his head with her. He was on the show looking for a girl, but not necessarily ready to completely lock it up. Perhaps he felt like she was totally ready to settle down and be with him forever. He was nervous that he might not be at the exact same point as her and he felt guilty/bad about selecting her with that being the case.

The last point on the Not-Sadie argument is that he may have not felt exactly as he had hoped about either girl. They were both totally great but for whatever reason he just wasn’t convinced he was totally in love and ready to be with just one person. He might have figured that breaking up with Sadie at the final rose ceremony and then Jen later on was easier than giving Sadie the rose but then eventually breaking up with her to. Just the prospect of facing that down the road might have stricken Bozo with enough guilt to convince himself to let Sadie go now. He did care about her and it was clear how difficult it was for him to give her the boot. But he also knew Jen’s crazy dad would be ok with him letting her ‘win’ now and then breaking up later. As opposed to feeling let down by selecting Sadie now, but then having it not work out afterwards.

After my initial shock (and repeated punching of the couch) I remembered that last week on the Women Tell All special, the eliminated girls were asked who they thought Lozo would pick. And more of the girls guessed Jen than Sadie. I found that shocking at the time and assumed they were just bitter and jealous and liked Jen more than Sadie. But seeing the final show, it is possible that Jen was more highly regarded all along.

The final, and perhaps most important reason that I was shocked is because of the way the show was edited and shown to the viewers. I feel fairly confident that it was edited so that all of the viewers, like me, would be shocked. Most likely they decide which clips they want to show to make the show work. They can basically dictate how each character is perceived. So even though it seemed like Sadie was the favorite and everything was going so well with her, it might be the case that things were just as smooth with Jen. They just chose not to show it exactly that way. I don’t know.

I heard that they are no longer together, and if that were the case I would totally not be surprised. I think that would tend to support more of the points I made in the beginning of this post. I think maybe Lo-Zo-Bo wasn’t completely satisfied with his experience and as ready to lock it up as he had hoped. If he is now single, I wonder if he regrets not picking Sadie. Part of me feels like although he will never admit it, he probably does.

In any case, the moral of the story is I am still a sucker for romantic comedies and reality dating shows.

self blog commentary

I was thinking about my blogging style and I realized I don't use many links like other bloggers. I probably could try and start mixing in a few. But also by including links there is a chance I will provide my readers with a really awesome link and I will lose their attention. Although I suppose this isn't entirely a bad thing because then they might check back on my blog and look for me in the future to provide enjoyable links.

One other thing I was thinking about was 1 space vs. 2 at the end of a sentence. Which do you do? I grew up assuming/using 2 spaces after a period. But I went to college with a guy who had never heard of such a thing. And since that time I have been mostly going single style. But from time to time I do switch from using a single strike of the space bar to pressing it twice. I feel like the internet, and IM and email, are to blame. The informality with which I grew accustom to writing in these mediums caused me to forget about things like capital letters and putting two spaces after a sentence. In this blog I have tried to obey the basic rules of grammar so as not to offend any of my readers [in particular those who are professional writers.]

Side note after making this post I noticed that blogger decides for you. whether i put one or two spaces it shows up the same. and if you copy and paste the text from my blog (something that I am sure happens all the time) you get something with only one space. The more I think about it, i could look it up and see what is actually correct. But I won't, I will just continue soul searching through the grammatical jungle, forever pondering which path is the rightous one. (who loves taking a meaningless sentence and jazzing it up to try and sound so real... this guy!)

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Updated: I just noticed that one of the ads on my page was for removing hair on your privates. I am not sure why it was there. I supposed the ads are supposed to be based on the content of the blog, but I am not sure I understand that one. I am tempted to click on it just to see what it is all about, but then I will be letting the advertisers win. So I am not going to check it out. Not to mention if I think really hard, I can probably think of a way to remove hair from my body without visiting that website. For those who are curious, here is the link. Normally I would encourage you to visit my sponsors (I think I have earned a few cents over the past few months) but this time I suggest you use my link.

am i the only one who thinks like this?

it annoys me that the soda machine here at work is ALWAYS sold out of cherry coke. it is never sold out of iced tea's or orange sodas. heck, it isnt even ever sold out of coke or diet coke. why cant the guy who fills up the machine be savvy enough to notice that everytime he comes to refill, the CCs are all sold out.

if you sold sodas, and had a machine that held say 100 sodas, and you were choosing between 10 different flavors, how would you stock the machine? wouldnt you adjust the flavor distribution because you noticed the ccokes are a big seller? this is like a lose lose situation. the guy isnt making as much money as he can, and the people in our office are not getting the sodas that they want. and it really fires me up, because the solution is so simple.

i think i might go write a note and leave it on the soda machine.

Jewel Live

I think in the blogworld it is common to talk about music and to review stuff, and since I havent done much of either, I thought I would give it a shot.

I saw Jewel on Saturday night at the Hippodrome in Baltimore and I thought it was one of the best performances I have seen. It reminded me very much of the old MTV Unplugged concerts because on stage was only Jewel and a guitar. She casually asked the crowd for song requests, and told a bunch of funny stories that I thought really helped me get a feeling for the type of person that she is. Perhaps I enjoyed the concert so much because I like Jewel. I have all of her albums and even though I dont talk about it much, I really enjoy all of her music. I think I like that her lyrics are orignal and meaningful, but not always too serious. Oh, and she is hot and can sing quite well. I felt the other night at the concert many of her songs were more like a story than a song. I also appreciated that the performance was different than the music on her albums. One thing that bothers me at concerts is when singers perform songs exactly as I hear them on the radio. I go to a concert to be entertained, and sitting and watching a boring person sing a song I have heard many times does not entertain me. I was very entertained, in particular when she was yodelling as I have never heard.

So if you enjoy relaxing in a nice theatre listening to hot female vocalists with unique voices sing and tell stories, than I would recommend attending a Jewel concert.


Bonus thoughts:
The concert was especially awesome because I attended it with my brother-in-law. There were not that many guys at the concert, and of the men who were there most of them were with their wives/girlfriends. And then a small percentage of guys were there, perhaps on a date, with another man. I honestly think we were the only 2 straight men at the concert together.

Deal or no deal

I was just watching Deal or No Deal and something out of the ordinary happened. There was a girl on the show who [i think] was obsessed with the color lime green. She also was pretty young, and based on her comments I assumed she was in college. She was being sort of funny because she was mocking Howie and saying all of the shows catch phrases. Anyways, she was doing ok and there were about 6 or so cases left to open. There was only one large amount remaining as she had just eliminated the second largest amount. They presented her with an enormous lime green lime on stage and told her that was her newest offer from the bank. At that point they rolled out a jazzed up Cadillac Escalade. It looked like something that Xzibit would create on Pimp My Ride. There were LCD screens all over, along with a big time stereo and some big spinning rims. [Side note, I think my favorite part of the episode was when Howie bent down and pointed out the 24" spinners.]

Anyways, they said the value of the car was $85K. There was 1 case with a big amount and all other cases contained small amounts. I was thinking that this is the type of situation where I would not take a deal. She needs to open only 1 case and over 80% of the time her offer will go up. The other thing that I was thinking is that I would much prefer to have the cash, over a brand new car with many costly upgrades. I think that an ugly overpriced car is not the best way to spend 85 grand. I can understand the appeal, since it is the type of car that you would never buy. Even if she won enough money on the show to buy such a vehicle, it seems unlikely that she would get this car. So she must have just wanted to take the car while she had the chance, since she took the deal.

Other thoughts:

The next guy on DOND brought his mailman as one of his friends. If you could go on TV and bring 3 people, would you bring your mailman? Even if he is your best friend, wouldnt you introduce him as that instead of the mailman? It makes him look like he doesnt have many friends... Also, if I see one more "save the cheerleader, save the world" preview or David Blaine Target commercial... How as Duke only -230 vs. Air Force tonight? That money line seems incorrect. I guess AF is strong this year, it just seemed bad to me, so I bet on Duke. They are up 10 with 3 minutes left so we will see... Morgan told me she wouldnt want to go on DOND because she wouldnt want to deal with losing money. She isnt excited about winning not the biggest amount, I mean she would be frustrated to win an amount and then find out she could have possibly won more... The next guy, the friend of the mailman, is doing pretty well so far and is on the way to getting a nice offer from the banker... The Bachelor is on tonight but I believe its the episode where the women all get together and confront one another...

real life bluff

Like many people these days, I play poker. I won’t get into the strategy, but I do want to talk about bluffing. It is essentially making a play to win a hand by representing something. The goal is to fake out your opponent. While some people associate such a play with morals, it is a perfectly acceptable way to try to win. It is not a form of cheating, although some people (in particular those unfamiliar with poker) feel it is a form of lying.

I sometimes think about bluffing in real life. I have been known to tell tales and occasionally make stuff up. However, I am not a liar. Here is what I mean. Suppose I am talking to someone that I don’t know well in a borderline awkward situation and I tell them something that is not true. I might make up some BS story about something that happened my freshman year at Duke (being careful to avoid anything about a party with the lacrosse team…) or that I tried out for a reality show, or that I used to jump rope professionally… you get the idea. The point is it is not out of this world for me to be creative to enhance the fun of a given situation. I am tricking the other person but I am not in any way harming them. Most of the time I will come clean and tell them that what I just told them is not true.

The other type of real world bluffing I can think of is when someone asks an obvious question. Imagine I showed you a picture of a purple basketball and you immediately said “is that a purple basketball?” There is only one answer to this question, which I do not consider a rhetorical one. The answer is no. Of course it’s a purple basketball, that’s why I am showing it to you. It reminds me of when someone asks you an opinion or a question where they are looking for a specific answer.

I have realized after writing this that I am not making the point which I was orginally intending to make. The point was going to be that you should be able to bluff in real life. I was thinking there could be a distinction between lying for real (for lack of a better phrase) and jokingly misleading them for fun. Then through my discussion I recognized that the enjoyable tales that I may sometimes tell are not bluffs.

Sweet post. Gulp.

Updated: Munchkin Results

I was going to post the results of the munchkin contest, but saw that Eric already wrote about it. I do want to give Jizzle (thats young Justine) and Ben credit for eating 45 and 36 munchkins respectively. While they fell very short of expectations, it is nothing to be ashamed of. Another guy in our office video taped it, so if i can somehow get a copy perhaps I will post it. (Warning, it probably isnt that interesting so I probably wont do it. However, the best part will be another co-worker from India breaking a silence by screaming 'Come on Jizzle!" That would be worth watching...)

fun things

I love The Office. Tonights episode was great, and I am glad to see they are adding some new characters.

Work has been fun the last few days. Yesterday, this guy at work said he wasnt going to come to the office christmas party because he didnt have a date. I asked him if I could try and find him one and he said I could. He has gotten three inquiries so far, two that had a picture. I really think he should bring one of them to the party.

Every Friday at work we take turns bringing in breakfast. Usually just bagels, sometimes people bring in other morning treats. Anyways, tomorrow the guy who needs a date is competing with another co-worker in a race to finish 50 munchkins. There is also a cash prize for the winner if the time is under 4 minutes. I would be surprised if one of them does eat all 50 in under 4 minutes, although I dont think it is impossible.

The Bachelor: The Final 2

I thought this week’s episode of the Bachelor was pretty boring. It was down to three girls, with each of them having their overnight dates with Lorenzo.

The first date was Jen. The date went better than I would have expected as the two seemed to get along very well. She seems relatively normal (aside from her family) and down to earth, and I think Lobes really likes her. She would probably be considered the dark horse candidate, but I think that is only due to the way the show edits the footage and chooses what viewers see. I suspect she has been a strong choice for much of the way, she just got less camera time than other girls. And I suspect the reason for this is because she is normal. There were many other bitter/jealous/drunk/stupid girls doing much more interesting things than having class and being normal.

The second individual overnight date was Lisa. This was awkward. It was clear that Zobo planned on using this date to be serious and ask questions that he had previously avoided. To his credit, he stuck with his plan and asked the girls the things he wanted to know. He certainly expressed how he felt and faced and uncertainties that he had. Unfortunately for Lisa, this caused her stock to drop dramatically. With her plan exposed, she did a very poor job of defending herself when questioned about her intentions. I don’t think that she was being fake, I just think that she was asked some difficult questions and she hadn’t thought about what she was going to say ahead of time. And stumbling over your suspect answers is never a good approach when you are being asked serious questions. (In her defense, I always feel the need to defend her; I think her answer about why she went on the show was acceptable. She said she went on there to have fun, and there is nothing wrong with that. That’s normal. What are not normal are people who prep themselves to fall in love with someone they have never met, and then do so. All a reasonable contestant can do is show up with an open mind, knowing there is a chance you might like what you see.) Needless to say, I felt it was pretty clear that she was the third ranked girl, even before they showed the date with Sadie.

The last date went well, which should surprise no one because Sadie has been the top choice since the first show. They always have a good time together and in my opinion he is the most intrigued by her. That’s not to say he doesn’t have feelings for the others, but I think there is the most chemistry between the two of them. The only annoying thing about their date was her issue with saving herself. I can understand that she was concerned about it, but as a viewer it was totally clear that Lozo was not going to care. And to make matter worse, there was no other drama or issues this entire episode. So the producers had to focus on this issue, which means every time she mentioned it (which was a lot) they showed it. And before every commercial break they had to bring it up (up next, the virgin decides… after the break, will she save herself? More to come, including Sadie’s choice for the overnight fantasy suite… What will go down next, will it be Sadie?) In any case, as I predicted in the last recap it all worked out and Sadie maintained her position as the favorite.

I was a little surprised how upset Lisa was in the limo. It’s a completely normal reaction; I just didn’t expect it from her. I guess since she has been pretty confident, and because they tried to make it seem like she liked getting married and sticking to her plan much more than Lorenz (which may have been true.) I also wish that when LBorg was saying his final goodbye to the loser that he would stop focusing on looks. Every week he makes a point to tell them that he thinks they are really hot, and I think it makes him sound like that’s all he cares about. Clearly if they made it this far he is attracted to them, and its not the only thing he cares about.

I think next week is the ‘Women Tell All’ which always gets on my nerves because you have a room full of bitter jealous girls. Then I assume the following week is the finale where LorBer will propose to say-it-ain’t-Sadie.

To Whom It May Concern

Dear coworkers-

I am writing to inform you that the urinals in our bathroom have flushing capabilities. I also wanted to let you know the purpose of such flushing is not only to empty solid contents. While I appreciate this style of flushing after using the normal style toilets, I ask that you extend the same courtesy after completing urination. I think that you think that because what you leave is only a liquid, it flows down the drain. You are incorrect. And we are not lucky enough to have those cake things in our urinal to combat the smell. As a result, the leftovers from your number one leave a strong to quite strong odor that makes me sick. Let it be known that I know who you are, because I have attended the restroom with you and witnessed this disregard for the silver lever atop the receiving device. I would hate to have to start taking a leak in your cubicle, but I will consider such retribution if your habits do not change.

Regards,
Brian

Man Word of the Day

Today's word is:

Mancation- a gathering or excursion of only guys to do things that they enjoy. The activities are ones that are not enjoyed by the women with whom the mancationers spend the most time (i.e. wife, girlfriend, etc.) like gambling, watching sports or playing video games.

Despite the similar spelling, manties and manscaping are not a part of mancationing.

Just some thoughts...

In middle school I had a teacher who called Wednesday’s Hump Day. At the time I thought it was hilarious because I thought any word that could be used to describe sex was funny. That was when I was about 12. Now I am 26 and I still feel the same way. I am physically unable to say the word box to a female and not crack up.
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I was checking up on some of my contributions on Wikipedia, and noticed that some new material has been added. I also got a companywide newsletter via email the other day and noticed some external links. I found it strange that all the links were to Wikipedia. I emailed the HR guy who writes the newsletter and asked him why he chose Wikipedia. He was unable to provide any good reason, and I just pointed out that those pages are editable. I am pretty sure he did not know that, which is why he was not hesitant to send a corporate email to thousands of people. I seriously considered going to the linked entry for ebay and editing the first sentence to say something about the guy.
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Due to some Country Music Awards, the Bachelor wasn’t on this week. If you missed any of the recent episodes check out the recaps.
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I have been hearing advertisements on the radio lately for HD Radio. I know very little about this product, but I assumed it meant High Definition Radio. After some brief wikipediation, I learned it actually means Hybrid Digital. Well that’s good to know I guess… in any case, I confirmed that it is a form of higher quality radio.

The problem with this concept for me is that I don’t really value sound quality that much when I am listening to the radio. If I wanted to listen to high quality music I would put in a CD. Pretty much the only time I listen to the radio is on my way to and from work. And my car, like most others, makes some noise while driving. Not to mention often times (much more than 50% of the time) I am driving with a passenger. I talk frequently and would usually rather chat it up than sit silently in the car listening to music. Unless maybe there were some powerful Josh Groban-style vocals on, in which case I would be singing along anyways (you are lying if say you can listen to You Raise Me Up and not want to belt it out along with him.) The only other times that I can think of using a radio is for background noise at a party or maybe while showering (if I had a shower radio.) Neither of these scenarios warrants me paying more for higher quality sound.

Which leads me to the other problem: HD Radio costs money. I need to go out and buy a new radio to listen. I am not a student of business but common sense tells me that sounds like a not sweet business model… take something that isn’t broke, reinvent it by adding features that are not valued by consumers, then hope they go out and pay money for it. I just have a hard time imagining it being successful. I don’t think your average consumer is going to out and buy a new radio. And if they did want to pay for radio they might consider satellite radio. So I think the best way for it to work would be to put the HD radios into all new home stereo receivers and cars. If eventually that became the standard and replaced normal style radios I might listen. But I wouldn’t go out and specifically trade my cash money for a HD Radio.

I know what you are thinking… what about HDTV? In my opinion that is not exactly the same thing. It is true that the shaky business model is the same, adding an unnecessary feature to an already good product and raising the price. But I think that people value watching TV much more than they do listening to the radio. They do it more and it gives them more enjoyment, so they are willing to pay more for it.

Note: I have never listened to HD Radio, so I could be totally wrong. Let me know if that is the case.

TSB

For those of you who are interested in Tecmo Super Bowl, this site is amazing. I especially enjoy the strategic discussions in the 'In Depth' section. I can't wait to test a new style of play.

Halloween Jokes- a week late

Why didn’t the skeleton cross the road?
Because he had no guts.

Why don’t monsters eat clowns?
Because they taste funny.

How do you tell if a Vampire has a cold?
By his coffin.

Fun Pictures

I was looking over some pictures on my computer and found two that I wanted to share.

Here is what Jake looked like last spring when in Jamaica...



And here is Eric sleeping at Morgan's after a wedding...

If you want nice game...

When I was young I would wash my hair at the end of my shower. About the time I was entering college, I started washing my hair first. I think there were two main reasons for this switch. The first was because of gravity. Any dirt particles that were released from my scalp would mix with the water and fall down along my body. In a sense I was washing my body and then dripping dirty water over my clean body. I am not trying to say that I have a lot of dirt in my hair or that this was ever really a problem that I had. It was just preventative maintenance. It is worth noting that about the time I made the switch I sported a very short haircut. Washing my hair was merely a formality at that point in time. The second reason that I modified my self bathing procedure was because of my desire to let the product more fully do it's job. Most of the time my showers are very brief, but from time to time I mix in longer spa-style shower. On these occasions I want the cleansing agents in the shampoo (or conditioner) to have time to wash and condition. Again, at the time my lack of hair didnt really need any additional time. But I was aware that this was a potential benefit for the future.

Years later I still wash my hair first when I get into the shower.

Morgan is pretty much responsible for selecting which products I use to wash and condition my hair. Well the products that I am currently using are so much of a treat that I wanted to post about it. Almost every morning while lathering up I think to myself how great these products really are. Both my shampoo and conditioner are from the same line, Herbal Essences. When I write that line, I think of those old commercials with the hot girls moaning in the shower. I also remember the flower like bottles that I have used many times. Well this new line is different, from looking at the website it appears they have many new types. I have no idea why this typein the blue bottle was purchased, but it is quite impressive. Sporting more than a pleasant (yet not overly strong and womenly) scent, this stuff leaves your hair feeling great.

Perhaps this post is a bit metro, but I just wanted to extend a recommendation to all my manscaping readers.

The Bachelor Rome: The Final Three

If you read my previous recap of the Bachelor, than you know that I was not surprised that Agnese went home on Monday. It is terribly difficult to have a relationship with someone that you can barely talk to. However, I will say that I thought she looked real good this week. It seemed pretty clear to me that LorB was attracted to her the most. I guess its no surprised since she made the final 4 and cant talk to him, but I thought his body language and move busting really showed how much he wanted it. Also I think he was surprised that he had as strong of feelings as he did. He really liked her physically but knew she couldn’t compare to the other girls in terms of a connection on a deeper level. I think he was sincerely upset when she was leaving, but he did sort of make it sound fake when he commented that he wanted to be emotional to let her know how hard a choice it was for him. I also think that the cry-session they shared might have helped Agnese if they had done it sooner. I think LoBo may have valued this other form of communication and it may have helped her stick around a bit longer.

I can’t believe that Jennifer is still around. I still really don’t see why he likes her. I think she is solid, I just don’t see LoBs being that into her. He knows she possesses good qualities, and sometimes I think he is too busy looking for reasons to eliminate girls as opposed to looking for the things he likes. For instance I thought he genuinely had a connection with Agnese, granted it was probably mainly physical, but it was more than I have seen him have with most of the other girls. And I haven’t even gotten to Jennifer’s family. I would like to think they were being extra awkward and weird because they were being filmed, but her dad was pretty sketchy. Did he not think about how strange I was to threaten a grown man on national TV? I know he is just being a protective father and making a point, but the guy who he is threatening is trying to decide between your daughter and a bunch of other hot girls (who potentially have normal parents.) I know he was just being honest because he cares for his daughter, but I am not sure he was really helping her cause.

If you want to talk about doing things to drop your stock, I should probably mention what Lisa did in this episode. She had her best friend stop by why LBo was at her place. That would be acceptable, but the problem was that she was carrying a wedding dress! In what world is this normal? I think every guy in the world sided with eL-Bo when he said something like “what guy wouldn’t be sort of freaked out?” And the worst part was life planning Lisa claimed she thought it went well and him seeing her in the dress helped her chances. Wrong! I couldn’t get as good of a read with Lisa’s family. They seemed kind of normal I guess, all aware that Lisa is a planner. This did, at least in my mind, somewhat justify her obsessive plan. It may not have justified it, but at least you could see that this is how she always is with her life. She is not just some crazy girl who is obsessed with only getting married. I can’t decide if Lisa or Jennifer is going home next week. Fearing for his life, I hope elbow gets rid of Jennifer first. Otherwise her dad is going to be pissed because she is going to be even more upset in the finale when ZoBo selects Sadie.

Sadie is still the lock to win the show. In my view, her family was far and away the most normal, and I agreed with ‘Renz that knowing Sadie this was not at all surprising. There isn’t too much to say about Sadie other than I could see a potential issue next week with the overnight dates. And it is going to go like this: They have romantic date, Sadie knows there is the fantasy suite option and will be all worked up about it. LoZo will know this is coming, and be classy about it. One of two things will happen:
1) after being asked, Sadie will say she would love to stay the night, and she even considers losing herself for him. However, ZoLo knows better than this, and having had his share of women doesn’t mind holding out. So he will be her knight in shining armor when he respectfully declines her invitation. He wants to be the one, he just doesn’t mind waiting. I am not sure if she will actually make the offer in this option, but either way the ending is the same: failure to launch the USS LoBo, but both parties are happy and she goes on to win.
2) Sadie declines the overnight date. It is just not her style, and despite having been stressed about it for days, she decides not to go for it. She fears that this will be a major dagger to her chances, but LB (not to be confused with LB33) doesn’t care. He still likes her the best and ends up picking her. Just that instead of getting with Sadie he calls up Agnese and spends the night with her, but never tells anyone. Just kidding, although LoZoBo wouldn’t hate that.

So that’s my thoughts on the Bachelor. If I had to make predictions, I would say: 3. Jennifer 2. Lisa 1. Sadie

Oh Snap Amanda

November is National Beard Month

Because November is National Beard Month, I wanted to share a few of my thoughts/rules on growing facial hair.

1. You do not shave if there is snow on the ground. It is natures way of reminding you to be manly. If you dont understand, think about this: do polar bears shave?

2. You do not shave if the power is out. The reason for this is not the obvious one, since real men dont use electric razors. The basis for this rule is safety. If there is no power then there is also no light or hot water. These are two things created almost exclusively to aid in the shaving process. You might be thinking that a real man might shave outside and with cold water. But you would then be forgetting that real men dont shave.

3. You do not shave on vacation (unless you are in a tropical location and failure to shave will result in strange tan lines.) Remember, your face is on vacation too. This especially applies if your employer require that you shave for your job.

These are just some thoughts that I had while thinking about the upcoming month. I am not a man beard, just a respectful fan of beards. If you are interested in learning more, you might want to check out Man Beard Blog.

Those crazy engineers

Check out what happened to my desk while I was out. Good times

Best Website EVER

If you liked snakes on a plane phone calls, try this.

Kenny Rogers

A lot of people have been talking about Kenny Rogers having some strange substance on his hand during the World Series game the other night. As a huge baseball fan, it doesnt really bother me. It is true that if he had something other than dirt on his hand that he was breaking the rules. But also it is up to the Cardinals to have the umpires check. If they had requested, and the umpires found something on his hand, he surely would have been ejected. But they didnt and so he went on to pitch very well and only give up 2 hits. I was never a pitcher, but i just dont think that this strange substance is the reason he has been pitching well.

To me its similiar to a lacrosse player using a pocket that is too deep, or a hockey goalie using a stick that is too wide. These are violations of the rule, and against the spirit of the game. But I have heard them used in comparison to using steroids. And in my opinion they are nothing like using steroids.

Updated: The Bachelor Recap

I am a little bit surprised by which girls are remaining. I am going to break it down by girl, as I did in my last Bachelor post. I will comment on the 6 girls who were remaining at the beginning of last night’s episode. For lack of a better order, I am going alphabetically.

Agnese- She still cant speak English. Obviously she wasn’t going to learn it in a week (or however long between episodes) but it still seems to be a major issue. In my opinion she is not very hot. At first I thought she was kind of hot, but the more I see of her, the less attractive I find her. I think Lobo finds her attractive, but I don’t believe that is what is keeping her around. There are two other more important reasons why she continues to get roses. The first is because of the lack of competition. The other girls, as a whole, really aren’t that impressive this season. The second, and more important reason, is her inability to communicate. This is a major dagger in real life, but on reality dating shows this is a major plus for Lobo. What I mean is that basically at any time he can bounce her at any time and not feel bad about it. He can play the ‘I can’t even talk to you’ card and everyone (including her) has to understand. I think as he narrows it down, he feels like he is leading on the girls he lets continue. And that means that they are going to like him more, and he is going to have to hurt them more. If he keeps her around until say the final 3 or 4, it makes his decision at that time much easier. And he is doing this while still giving himself a chance to develop real feelings for her. But if not it’s like when you had a P-wing in Mario Brothers to pass any level at any time, you wouldn’t use it on an easy level. You would wait until you were faced with a very difficult decision. I think thus far there have been other girls he wanted to bounce more each week, so he did. He is saving her to eliminate her later. I realize that sounds strange.

Desiree- She has toned down the ‘yeah, baby’ which is a good thing. Clearly that is her most annoying feature. She is somewhat attractive, although like Agnese the more I see of Desiree the less hot I find her. Lobo knows she is freaky, and if it were about just hooking up Desiree would stand a much better chance. I think Lobo was intrigued, and as a result gave her a chance. But I think other than her craziness and slight hotness Lobo wasn’t really feeling it. He didn’t think of her as someone he would be happy with down the road. I am not saying she is dumb, but I got the feeling that Lobo didn’t feel like he wanted someone who comes off as she does. And I don’t mean to be insulting; I just didn’t see him wanting a girl like that. Because of that, I was not surprised that she got bounced last night. I was annoyed how fired up she got regarding Lisa. But I will save that for my comments about Lisa.

Jeanette- Lobo raved about how attracted he was to her, and other than maybe part of the first episode, I never saw it. I did think she had more of a chance a week or two ago. Lobo was feeling her, and she was quiet but in a good way. While other psycho b’s are making themselves look horrible, she remained quiet. So I wasn’t surprised she made it this far. And going into last night’s episode I had her penciled in as maybe in the final 3. I knew she wasn’t winning but I thought it was her spot to lose. And last night that’s exactly what she did. Not to be mean, but I thought she looked not very good last night. And then she totally dropped the ball after winning the chariot race and not taking advantage. Enjoy the moment? What? When you were little, and it was your birthday and you were blowing out candles and someone said ‘make a wish’ did you ever say to yourself ‘I just want to enjoy the moment’? It’s not a bad thing to want; it’s actually a very nice wish. However, it seemed weak (Lobo even called it a cop-out which I appreciated that he recognized) and sort of cheesy. Like she was trying to seem thoughtful and it felt so suck-up-y. That’s just my opinion though. Overall, I wasn’t sad to see her go.

Jennifer- I barely knew who she was before last night. She was just kind of one of those blond girls who was laying low, not being too crazy and capitalizing on her alone time with Zo. And it seems to be working. Going to their date last night, I immediately started feeling bad for her. I was fearful that Lobo was going to bounce her after the date just as he had done the week before in an alone date. I was thinking it would go nearly the same- he would say that he wanted to be fair and truthful and that he just wasn’t feeling it. But I was wrong! The date went well and she got a rose. I still don’t have tons of opinions on her. She seems nice and pretty down to earth. The biggest dagger for her (it appears) is going to be when Zo meets her family. I am pretty sure last night she said they were cool, but then after she got the rose she casually mentioned something like ‘except for my dad, hes kind of crazy’ or something like that. Then in the previews they show her hunter dad loading a gun and jokingly threatening Lobo. But I won’t judge too prematurely because that could easily be a tiny clip taken out of context. Or she could have a crazy family that scares Zo. We will have to wait and see.

Lisa- As you may remember, I really liked her at the beginning. Well I still like her, maybe not as much as I used to, but she is still currently high in the power rankings. The thing that gets me is that everyone hates her so much. I understand that she has this 5 year plan, but since when is that a bad thing. Sure, it’s abnormal to plan your future out when it comes to the romantic aspect. But how is that any worse than the other girls? They are all going out of the country and falling in love with this guy they just met. In my opinion this show is unique because it’s not a normal love situation. Every other girl insists that Lisa’s feelings aren’t genuine and that she is playing the game. Playing the game? She is trying to get Lobo to like her. THAT’S CALLED DATING! Aren’t they all doing that? So the other girls go on this show, meet this prince, fall in love with him, and try and get him to fall in love with them. Well, if you were going on a job interview (which is similar) wouldn’t you do research in an effort to make yourself seem more desirable to the company? It’s like they are all bitter and jealous because she is familiar with the Bachelor. Why is that wrong? It's not, more power to her. Its not like she doesn’t like Zo just as much as the other girls, she does. But they use this against her and try and pretend their feelings are more real. I don’t think they are. Yes, I think Lisa has issues. But her main issue is that she doesn’t understand how having this ‘plan’ makes her come off. Its not like other people haven’t thought to themselves that ideally they would like to be married by X, or have kids at a certain time. Most people have an opinion on those matters, even if they say they don’t. It’s just that verbalizing it and talking about it all the time makes you seem strange. And she is, but I suspect that is the type of person that she is in life. She probably is organized and goal oriented and a hard worker. So it’s not surprising that she is good at ‘The Bachelor.’ Anyways, I still sort of like her, but I must admit that her plan does sort of tarnish her image. As a viewer I would like her more if she made no mention of her plan, but I am not Lobo, and his opinion is the only one that matters. Not to mention I am sure CBS doesn't mind showing each and every time she says it, possibly distorting our view. Anyways, I think she is in good shape, but based on the previews of next episode I don’t see her going as far as I once thought. It appeared that she already had a wedding dress and all these wedding plans despite the fact that she has no guy. I definitely think that if this is the case that it is going to freak out Zo.

Sadie- Clearly still my top choice and I am hoping I will be able to say that I had it right wire-to-wire. She remains atop the list because she is hot, nice funny, charming, and to me she is the most normal girl remaining. Every time they are alone they get along very well. In my opinion, she has a charming innocence about her while still remaining confident. I think Lobo digs that, and I think he gets the sense that she has a lot of the qualities that he would like in a wife. To me it’s her show to lose. The only thing that potentially could go wrong is if she falls head over heels for him. If that happens to the extreme, and Zo notices, he might feel added pressure/stress or be nervous about it. Generally, it is not common of men to like when girls are obsessed over them. I think they tend to enjoy the chase, which Sadie has handled very well thus far. And once they are down to the last 2 or 3, every girl on this show always says they are falling for him, and they never thought they would find real feelings… And I am just thinking that she could be worse than other girls, because she is so innocent. Honestly I don’t at all see this being a problem. I was just trying to think of something to write about Sadie other than she is the New England Patriots of The Bachelor and she should win. But she is the best girl left for many reasons and I will be rooting for her.

Bachelor Recap

I am working on a recap of The Bachelor from last night. Check back in a little while...

is it wrong

if a homeless guy asks you for money and is really rude and uncomfortable, and you say no and make up a lie about why. say for instance, a person declines to donate money to the shady guy and tells him the reason for his lack of contribution. he thens tells a detailed story of a day when he was donating money to a similiar homeless guy who then jacked him and took his wallet. tell the shady guy that the reason this guy is not contributing on this day is because a different homeless guy ruined it for him. i have to imagine that the homeless guy would understand. he wouldnt feel bad for the guy but he atleast cant blame him for not giving money this time. i imagine the homeless guy would still probably produce a rude insulting remark, but the homeless guy might hate him less than if he just said no.

or maybe i am totally wrong here. i cant decide if this is an apporiate defense tactic vs. an annoying persistent homeless guy. this is all in response to an encounter i had yesterday when this guy tried the old 'pretend we are best friends and that somehow entitles him to free money' scheme. unlucky for him, i was on to him and in no mood for the courtesy chat. i could see and feel the weather and traffic and was not interested in discussing them. nor was i going to give him 85 cents. which reminds me of another thing i have pondered before. when people are begging for money, do they have a specific item in mind when they ask for specific amounts like 85 cents? if it was the price of a bus ticket, or a 40, i would understand. but i feel fairly certain there are times when said person asks for a random amount. it almost makes me ask what it is for. like if you are 63 cents short on this than maybe people would be more likely to contribute. i dont know.

slacker

long time, no post. and i wish my first post in nearly a week was better than this. but it is not. oh well, here goes:

Something that annoys me so much: the sixth floor workers in my building. The building that I work in has 19 floors of businesses. This does not include the 6 or 7 floors of garage parking that is above the lobby and below the 19 floors of businesses. In the lobby there is a separate elevator that goes only to the garage. There are also 2 sets of elevators. I am not an architect or a planner, but if it were up to me I would have set up the elevators different than how they currently operate.

The first set of elevators are marked Floors 1-6. The other set of elevators are marked 7-19. Since I work on the 17th floor, I take the second set of elevators. I think I might understand the logic, but I don’t think the operators are set up in an ideal fashion. Basically, there are equal elevator services for the first 6 floors of businesses as there are for the other 11 floors. I am thinking that if you include approximately 7 floors of parking garage, that makes 26 total floors in the building. And it would also mean that the lower elevators actually service the lower half of the building. So in theory, I can sort of understand why they are set up the way they are. But that is me hypothesizing why they are set up wrong. Even if I am correct, that doesn’t provide any satisfaction because they are still wrong. And this is not really a correctable problem.

Anyways, back to the annoying part. Yes, there is something much more annoying than the set up of the elevators. The higher elevators that I ride, which are marked 7-19 floors, actually service the 6th floor. The sign doesn’t indicate it, but it does. So those jerks on the 6th floor ride our elevators. And I know why they do it. They like express service. When they ride the upper elevators they are guaranteed to have a direct route to the lobby. It just seems so discourteous to me, instead of sucking it up and riding the elevators that they are directed to ride, stopping a maximum of 5 times, they ride the upper elevators and ensure everyone else is delayed by 20 seconds. I don’t think they think about those of us who have to ride to the 17th floor. We have like 10 potential stops and we probably average 3 stops per ride.

One day I want to get the courage to say something to those jerks on our elevator. I have heard stories of a guy who called the female rider from the sixth floor an insulting phrase as the door closed behind her, but I have never done anything like that myself. I think when I do, its going to be something like “you know every person in this building on floors 7-19 hates you, right?” I want to engage them in a conversation and I want them, at some point in the convo, to say “I don’t want to have to stop.” At that point I am going to make some rude remark about how annoying it is to make extra stops. I realize my master plan is nothing special and I know that our building isn’t some skyscraper. And it probably seems like not a big deal, but I think I speak for all employees above the 6th floor when I say that it really makes me mad.