interesting predictions courtesy of Dial Idol

Dial Idol predicts that Brandon and Nick will be voted off tomorrow. Based on what I saw, that would not be surprising [then again i have never voted on AI.] That site is pretty interesting though, users can upload the program and use it to speed dial votes via your modem. I guess the analysis it provides is based on the rate of busy signals... anyways, if you are nerdy and care to read about it you can find answers to most of your questions here.

If you want to know my opinion of last night, I liked Blake and Chris R the best. I thought Brandon was sort of weak (although he picked another awesome song, just not AI awesome) and Sanjaya was terrible. I think S-jaya has a good voice, but it is so awkward it's almost painful to watch when he sings. Chris S still looks like he belongs on The Family Guy, but he did alright. I just don't like him as much as others seem to. AJ seemed kind of female and diva-like the way he constantly moved his neck. I thought the bald guy Phil was good. Jared did well and sung another money song, but i think it was said that he lives at home with his parents, which he seems kind of old to be doing... Sundance was strong, but he was bad 5 times in a row, so eventually he had to do better. Finally Nick was average. I think SJaya and Nick should be bounced.

thanks for nothing CSP

today something happened for the first time in a long time: i ate lunch alone. when i first started working i often ate by myself. i didnt mind it at all, and would usually pick up a newspaper. from time to time i would meet a friend who worked downtown, but i didnt worry about it too much. then morgan moved to baltimore and got a job down the street and since then we have eaten together most days. also since then eric started working here, as did ben and bingo. so it is rare these days for me to eat lunch alone. but dont think that this is a cry for sympathy, because i am not complaining. rolling solo i had unlimited options for lunch today, and the world was my oyster (i will be perfectly honest i dont not know what that means and cant think of a possible meaning or origin, but i think i used it properly.)

after much contemplation, i settled for cafe saint paul (CSP). it is kind of boring since it is actually in the lobby of my building, but it has been there for almost 2 years and i hadn't been.

when i entered i was optimistic; the place was bumping. there were 3 or 4 people waiting for their sandwiches and another 3 people in line about to place an order. i got in line and scoped out the menu. i breezed down the menu and wasnt sure what i wanted. then i saw the 'specials' board. this was the daily features, although i think all of the things listed on this list were actually listed elsewhere on the menu. aka they werent actually specials. anyways, i get to the third option on this board: cajun chicken wrap. bingo! no need to worry abotu that anymore, so imy eyes make their way over to the chip stand. baked lays with cheddar and sour cream... combine this with a natucket nectars half and half (more appropriately known as the arnold palmer) and it sounds like a delicious lunch. i order my food and slide to the left, heading towards the register. while waiting, i notice the cajun chicken on the menu. the last 3 words in the description caught my eye: spicy honest mustard. i enjoy h mustard, but i dont like mustard very much. also spicy mustard does not bring me pleasure. fearing the H in the h mustard would be too spicy, i quickly place a request to the sandwich artist asking for her to refrain from applying said condiment on my wrap. she smiles :-)

by this point the pleasure i am already getting is great. it is then i start brainstorming a mental list of websites that i am going to read while eating my wrap at my desk. i pay and head back towards the elevators. i see a bunch of annoying looking old guys entering the third elevator, so i intentionally slow my stride to not make it into their elevator (i am not even sure if they would have waited anyways) when the first elevator door opens and my personal express elevator awaits me.

during the walk to my desk i experience scamperitis. for those who don't know, in this phenomenon, a certain feeling that you have grows inversely proportional to the square of the distance between yourself and the source of this feeling. the most common occurance (from which the name is derived) is when you are headed for the bathroom. you could be 10 miles from your bathroom, and the feeling is one of relief. at 10 miles, you want to be at the bathroom, but it is not a big deal. at 1 mile, the feeling is 100 times strong than it was at 10 miles, but it is still tolerable. as you can see, the feeling grows faster and faster, based only on your location. then inside of a tenth of a mile you start moving your body in an unnatural way to avoid disaster. whether you like it or not, you begin to scamper.

anyways, i am filled with excitement to eat my lunch until the time i open it. dagger. it turns out that cajun chicken wrap is apparently freezing cold chicken salad, in a wrap, sprinkled with cajun spices. i am so let down. i dont like chicken salad (or egg salad, or tuna salad, etc.) i was expecting warm grilled chicken. i give it a shot anyways, and manage to get half of it down. it isnt all together terrible it is just not what i ordered. i google cajun chicken wrap and verify that i am not being unreasonable by expecting my sandwich to not have chicken salad based only on the name. my lunch went from awesome to not awesome so quickly. and i will not be eating at CSP again... atleast i got a blog entry out of it.

and i am thinking that the blame might be on me. its likely that the description says something about chicken salad. but i am certain the 'specials' sign did not... oh well. if you want my advice, if you are in the sandwich industry and are serving a cajun chicken wrap, dont use chicken salad. and if you are using chicken salad for any item, include the name 'salad' somewhere.

oh cua...

for those who haven't heard already there is much noise surrounding american idol contestant antonella barba. it seems there are some pictures of her going around on the internet, including one in the bathroom on the toilet and one on vacation with her friends. since i know you are going to search around for them anyways, here they are;
honestly i dont think there are a big deal. my reaction to the first one is why does she need so much toilet paper? i feel like that picture could very well have been taken at a party at the cloisters. there were probably a bunch of college students hanging out and someone thought it would be funny to bust in and snap a picture. its not the worst thing that has happened at a cua party [side note, i am pretty sure i knew i saved those pictures for a reason, i couldnt find them anywhere with a quick google search...] and i am over the second picture. if anything, i feel bad for the other people in the picture, in particular anyone who might find the picture less than flattering.

i could see why in the american idol scene these photos are less than desirable, but they are not nearly as bad as some other things that contestants have done...

American Idol 2007

I just watched the guys perform and here are my thoughts on the contestants:

AJ
I immediately became not a fan because he came out with his collar popped. i thought he sang alright, but nothing too awesome. i was too distracted by his shirt to listen to the music. i dont know if he will make the top 6. its annoying how they always bring up the fact that he tried out 5 times.

Blake
I liked Blake going in, mainly because of his beat boxing. This makes him different, although I was unsure if he could even sing. i think he has a lot of musical experience. tonight he seemed pretty strong when he sang a song that i did not expect. I hope he makes it to the top 6. i

Brandon
He was alright, i think he can sing but i dont like or dislike him. he is fairly normal and like many of the other contestants this season i think he has a lot of experience.

Chris R
I like this guy and he seems solid. And although it was sort of hard to actually hear him sing tonight, i thought he did a good job. i would like to see him make the top 6.

Chris S
He reminds me of a cartoon character, and I cant believe how old he is (like i should talk...) I think his personality got him pretty far, and now its up to his voice. then again, taylor hicks made it all the way and got extra votes for being diffferent. so that will probably help chris s. i cant root against this guy, but he will need to continue to prove he can sing for me to root for him. oh, and lose the stinger. just because its the only place you can grow hair doesnt mean it looks good.

Jared
I didnt really like this guy much, until he sang Brian McKnight. I love BMcK, so I started liking him tonight. I didnt think he sung it that well, but i still found myself rooting for him (note, its so easy for me to like you on AI. either be hot or sing a song that i like...) i also thought it was funny that one of the judges said 'that was how brian mcknight would sing it.' but brian mcK did sing it, and it didnt sound like Jared. am i missing something? despite the song, i dont see him making it without some improvements.

Nick
I still am not sure why this guy quit last year, but you would think they would say since they bring it up everytime he is on the screen. he sung alright, i didnt love the performance but i didnt hate his voice either. i dont really like him too much, although i suspect he is a bosox fan and if that is the case he might be alright. i also liked when he said vote for pedro.

Paul
what is up with the double first name this season? half the guys have it, including this guy. for some reason i really didnt like this guy tonight. i am not sure what it is. it was probably either his singing or his personality. and its also annoying how he is trying to make being barefoot 'his thing.' i am pretty sure that was invented a long time ago. and its about on par with making a self proclaimed nickname. i hope he goes home.

Phil
when he was singing he kind of looked like my dog. that being said, i still liked him (even though he missed the birth of a child for this...) i liked him going in, and i thought he was solid tonight (the judges seemed to like him a lot.) it seems a lot of the contestants are older this year...

Rudy
how can you not root for a guy named rudy? i liked him in the tryouts although i was disappointed to hear that he is a professional singer. fair or not, i expect more from people who are singers before AI. anyways, he lost the soul patch and sung alright. not great, but not as bad as many of the others, so i hope he hangs around a while.

Sanjaya
this guy seems so young and innocent. he has a good voice, but its sometimes awkward and emotionless. which is strange because all they ever talk about is when he cried. i think he should trim his hair. i dont think he should move on, and i will be surprised if he does.

Sundance
all this guy does is not sing well. he sung well once and somehow he outlasted thousands of other people. once again tonight he disappointed. he doesnt seem to have much personality, just the ability to perhaps occasionally belt out a song. i havent seen it, and honestly i dont think he deserves any more chances. if he does stick around maybe he will show what the judges see in him, but for now i am not impressed.

here is who i want to move into the next round:
rudy
phil
jared
blake
chris r
chris s

here is who i think will move into the next round:
phil
paul
chris s
chris r
brandon
blake

here are morgans top 6 predictions
AJ, Blake, Chris S, Brandon, Jared, Chris R

my predicted eliminations for this week: sanjaya and jared

she's not that innocent

as i am sure you know by now, brittney spears went crazy and chopped off all of her hair. in honor of the pop princess, this afternoon kyle and i decided to do the same. here is what the sink looked like afterwards...
and here is how i look now

weekend at wisp

Got back from a long weekend at Wisp with Brian and Joanna. We had a great time ripping the slopes, relaxing in the hot tub, and dominating Racko... The weather was super cold, and I think over a foot of snow fell (it was snowing the entire weekend.) We ate and drank very well, my only advice would be to not hold out for the creme brulee!

celebrate!

Happy International That's What She Said Day!

swing and a miss

i was supposed to attend a meeting tomorrow morning in delaware. since it starts early in the morning, and is about 2 hours away, work got me a hotel room. the timing wasnt great, as it was valentimes day, but morgan was understanding and so i planned on attending. we left work and ate dinner on the way home, because i needed to get on the road.

on our way home, there was more snow, and the roads were not in great shape. i was having second thoughts about driving out there tonight based on what i saw on the ride home. i thought of many reasons as to why i should or shouldnt go. well after about an hour of deliberation ( i am seriously downplaying the time i spent deciding... ) i decided to go. i hurried my stuff into the car and left. as i was leaving my neighborhood i considered getting gas (right across the street) but then decided not to. i didnt really need gas at that moment but knew i would for my trip. well as i approached the bay bridge i decided i should fill up the tank. it was getting low, but more importantly i wanted to get it in a place where i was familiar, as opposed to being low on gas in the middle of the eastern shore (i was going to take small roads for most of the way once over the bridge.) as i exited 50, i reached for my wallet. turns out it wasnt in my pocket. i had changed pants (into jeans for the ride) and forgot it at home. i seriously yelled the word 'dagger' out loud in the car. i checked the change and at first glance i estimated i had slightly over 5 bucks. probably just enough to get me enough gas to get to where i needed to go (total trip about 100 miles, bay bridge being about 30 or so miles in) i usually get about 30-35 mpg...

anyways, after some more consideration, i turned around and came back. i wasnt looking forward to checking into a hotel sans credit card. i think i could have somehow jack bauered it and made it work. but then i am not sure how i would have eaten tomorrow, or how i would have gotten gas for the ride home. not to mention if anything unexpected happened i would be without anything.

and the worst part is that since i waited so long to leave, it is too late now to turn back. i guess ultimately i made my decision. it just sucks because now i have to go into work tomorrow. and even though he wont be bitter, i am sure my boss will give me a hard time about not going. not so much that i didnt go, but that i called him and debated whether or not i should go because of the weather. and then finally decided to go only to end up not going.

at least i got to be home to celebrate valentimes day with morgan! now i need to go watch american idol and lost...

another CUA student

I am rooting for Antonella Barba (right, with her friend) on American Idol because she is a student at CUA. From what I have seen she is pretty good, and I heard through the grapevine a few weeks ago that she made the top 24 (which airs tonight). For anyone interested here is her page on myspace.

After writing that I sort of feel like a stalker. In other AI news I hope the beat-box guy Blake makes it through. He is pretty good I think, and its just fun to watch someone do something different.

to the left, to the left...

I hear that new Beyonce song on the radio a lot, and everytime I notice the same thing:

I could have another you in a minute
Matter fact he’ll be here in a minute

It reminds me of an old Beastie Boys song (Pass the Mic):

Everybody’s rapping like it’s a commercial
Acting like life is a big commercial

I think it sounds bad when you have a song that has words that rhyme, and then you throw in one two-line verse that ends in the same word. I know there are many other songs that have similar conditions, these are just two that came to mind first.

It kind of reminds me of a first grader's poem-

School is very fun
At recess I like to run
Lunch time is neat
My swiss cake roll is sweet
Math is cool
First grade is cool

not what i expected

This is not what I expected Katharine McPhee's first album cover to look like. I am not saying I mind at all, I am just saying it doesn't seem to match the image she portrayed on American Idol last year... I think I remember her lying on the ground and singing barefoot saying that was how she was most comfortable.

I confess that I probably will buy the album, since she was my favorite contestant from last season (along with Pickler). Although part of me does feel like she is 'selling out' a bit. I always got the impression she was not trying to be a pop princess. I assumed that the songs she chose were the type of songs that she enjoyed singing.

That being said, I don’t really hold this against her. Were I in her shoes (or knee length leather boots in this case) I would probably sing whatever song I could to produce a popular record.

shaky face

Here is a picture of Eric and I doing SHAKY-FACE:

Tony Dungy owes me $201

Like many other people, I participated in a Super Bowl squares pool this year. In fact, I was responsible for organizing it. In previous years I charged $1 per square. The trouble is that some people want to wager $5, $10, or even $20. And there is not much excitement when a few people have most of the squares. I know last year we ended up having 3 different pools, all with $1 squares. Inevitably, some people ended up buying more squares than they wanted, in an effort to complete the grids.

To avoid that this year, I made the executive decision that squares cost $5. Well, the first day or so all the real gamblers bought squares. Most bought about 2, with some purchasing 4. The trouble is by Friday afternoon we were stuck around 60 squares. I did a lap around the office and was able to get about 28 more purchased. The Ben and I pretty much bought the rest. I think together we were responsible for about 23 squares. Anyways, we were able to draw numbers before anyone left work so everyone was happy.

Sometimes I hate being the person in charge of these types of things. I think that over 75% of the people made the same two comments to me. They picked a square, and as they handed over the money they either "so, how much are you taking" or "i want your numbers." Now I know that nobody said this seriously. Every person said it as a joke. The thing is on the humor scale this joke is a zero. It is not funny. And I guess I just got sick of hearing it. I didn't enjoy spending 2+ hours on Friday struggling to get it filled out. Nor did i enjoy buying 3 times as many squares as I wanted to. Not to mention its simple math. There are 100 squares at $5 apiece. That's $500 in prizes. It said on the grid that the payouts were $100 for each of the first three quarters and $200 for the final score. That equals $500. Where would my cut come from? And 62% of the office was crowded around my desk while someone other than I drew the numbers. So there is no funny business happening there. I know I am taking this a bit too seriously, I am just venting because I was annoyed.

Needless to say I was lucky enough to win the third quarter, so I guess it was worth it. The total prize pool was a dollar short though. One entrant dropped by my desk with a stack of money. They had purchased 5 squares and paid using a variety of bills. I accepted the payment, but was working on something and did not bother to count it. As the person was leaving they requested that I count it to make sure it was all there. I think they counted if quickly and like I said, it wasn't a 20 and a 5. It was a bunch of smaller bills including some 1's. Wanting to get back to work, I fake counted it. I sort of fanned it out in my hands like a deck of cards and nodded. Later in the day I really did count it, and it was a dollar short.

Then I began thinking... was this a test? Did the guy know he was giving me $24 but wanted to see if I would catch it? It is possible that he was going to try and get away with it but felt guilty so he suggested I count it. Then when I made the mistake he felt like he was in the clear. I do not think this is what happened. The guy is an honest guy and I think he wanted me to count it because he may not have. Or he did but wasn't confident in his count. In any case, it was over 2 hours later when I realized. And I had 'counted' it in front of him. How could I go back to him now and say "oh, by the way, remember when I counted it right in front of you... yeah well you are a dollar short."

After winning the third quarter I was pretty happy, but I was in great shape to win the final score also. I had Colts 2 and bears 7. Then Vinatieri did the unthinkable and missed that FG to dagger my chances. But then I thought I was in position again, as the Colts drove down the field with 4 minutes left. All I needed was the Colts to score 3 more points and I won $200 more. They got into FG range and then went for it on 4th down. They were up by 12 points, and they didn't take the chip shot FG. I understand there is some risk in the FG, and that after the FG you would have to kick off to the Bears. But you would also be up by 15 points. You would be assured that you weren't going to lose in regulation. The Bears would need to score twice in under 2 minutes and get the 2 pt conversion on the second score. Instead Dungy opted to turn the ball over on downs and sit on his 12 point lead.

I cant blame Dungy for doing this, but I would have kicked the FG. Despite the early mishap on the extra point, I think the chances of making that kick were over 80%. I understand the counter argument, but I think the chances of the Bears scoring twice in either situation is slim. And so for me, if there is a 2% chance they score twice after a FG and a 1.9% chance they score twice without the FG, I would take the FG because at least those 2% of the time you don't lose. Without the FG, if they gave up two scores they lose. Period.

I think the real reason Dungy didn't kick the FG is the same reason Bill Joel strolled through the national anthem- he had the under (surprise the line was 47 points)

Oh yeah, and guess who won the final score square? The $24 guy...

you want the truth?

here is the latest news on this post from last week:

Toronto Star (thanks kb)
AOL (thanks dp)