while on blogcation for 6 months, i gave up blogs all together. it wasn't just my blog that i neglected, i didn't read any blogs other than those on espn, which don't really count as blogs. in my book, those are columns- that is you are an expert in the field paid to write regularly about that specific topic.
well it was the baseball playoffs that brought me back to blogville. i had been discussing the playoffs with the writer of mlbbaseblogg and he encouraged me to check out one of his recent posts. i agreed and not surprisingly began casually perusing other blogs. my original reason for the cold turkey approach to all things blogs was that i felt like if i had time to read other blogs then i had time to write my own. after i found myself reading blogs again, i decided to get back on the horse.
anyways, during my blogbbatical i also stopped checking the sitemeter stats on this blog. during my peak traffic times (such as mustache day) it was fun to check out how various people had found my blog. i saw a post on erics blog about a search that led someone to his blog. naturally i checked my stats and was shocked to see that someone was lead to my blog through this search. thats right, if you google "mack looks like" you get this webpage. while part of me feels like that is pretty cool, the other part of my cant help but wonder what the searcher was looking for.
for those of you who watch the bachelor, who do you want to win? i have liked the two finalists the most the entire season, so i am happy that they have made it this far. i also think its worth noting that they were the only two ladies who openly said they wanted the other girls to go home. i was sort of glad they said that when they did. while they were being kind of competitive and a case could be made they seemed like they wanted to win more than they wanted to fall in love, i can't hold their honesty against them. after all, they aren't there to make friends.
Showing posts with label random. Show all posts
Showing posts with label random. Show all posts
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Monday, May 14, 2007
guess who's back
I appologize to both of my regular readers for the recent lack of posts. my schedule has been pretty busy and i just havent been able to make time for my blog. as a way to get back into blog mode, i am going to comment on a few random things that are on my mind.
-the survivor finale was absolutely terrible. every year i forget how much i hate the jury part of tribal council. i can't believe how bitter everyone gets. my number 1 most hated thing about survivor is that at the end of the season, all the people who have been voted off try to bring up dirt on the remaining players. they accuse them of lying and being sneaky. now i have never been on survivor, but i am pretty sure that is how you play the game. the reason that those bitter people are asking the questions (and not answering them) is because they were not as good at being shady as the others. i get so frustrated by it. last night it was especially bad, with lici, alex and boo highlighting the annoyingness. and on the other side dreamz was jsut as bad. all anyone wanted was him to admit that when he made the deal with yao that he intended to keep it. then he thought about it and decided against it. instead he tried to act like he was playing yao all along. you mean to tell me that when he was talking to the camera immediately after the deal about having his son watch the show and keep his word, he was lying? i highly doubt it and thought it was totally clear that initially he intended on keeping his word.
-i think that the big-faced girl will win the botchelor. the problem remains that she doesn't like him, but i don't see that being a huge problem until the show ends. i though it was strange that amber (i think that was her name) parents didn't want to be on the show. i can understand that they may not support this type of show, but i thought it was kind of a dagger. instead of meeting the parents A-Bal was stuck hanging out with a couple of college girls. i really think if she had normal parents and it went well that she could still be around. which goes to show you why these shows do not have a high success rate for building lasting relationships.
-i went to this nerd conference a few weeks ago and arrived late. as a result i took the first seat i could find which was cramped between a woman and the orally loudest guy i have ever met. this guy made so much noise that after an hour or two i moved. it kind of reminded me of when my dog eats something he shouldn't. you know, the constant trying to swallow action combined with jaw/saliva motion. or when he is chewing on his bone, you just hear lots of mouth noises. the first few minutes i thought maybe he had dumped a box of nerds, two tablespoons of peanut butter, and some saltines into his mouth and was trying to eat them all at the same time. but then i realized he wasnt eating anything, he was just constantly moving his tongue and lips around. all this noise combined with my physical position of straddling two sets of posts at the connection of two adjacent tables caused me to go crazy.
-monica and dave made the trip down this way last week and stopped by in the LeBaron to meet carlos and eat a meal of food at eggspectations. as usually i was very eggcited to go there and the food did not disappoint. however, the service was eggceptionally slow and the waitress scrambled to keep up with her tables.
-the survivor finale was absolutely terrible. every year i forget how much i hate the jury part of tribal council. i can't believe how bitter everyone gets. my number 1 most hated thing about survivor is that at the end of the season, all the people who have been voted off try to bring up dirt on the remaining players. they accuse them of lying and being sneaky. now i have never been on survivor, but i am pretty sure that is how you play the game. the reason that those bitter people are asking the questions (and not answering them) is because they were not as good at being shady as the others. i get so frustrated by it. last night it was especially bad, with lici, alex and boo highlighting the annoyingness. and on the other side dreamz was jsut as bad. all anyone wanted was him to admit that when he made the deal with yao that he intended to keep it. then he thought about it and decided against it. instead he tried to act like he was playing yao all along. you mean to tell me that when he was talking to the camera immediately after the deal about having his son watch the show and keep his word, he was lying? i highly doubt it and thought it was totally clear that initially he intended on keeping his word.
-i think that the big-faced girl will win the botchelor. the problem remains that she doesn't like him, but i don't see that being a huge problem until the show ends. i though it was strange that amber (i think that was her name) parents didn't want to be on the show. i can understand that they may not support this type of show, but i thought it was kind of a dagger. instead of meeting the parents A-Bal was stuck hanging out with a couple of college girls. i really think if she had normal parents and it went well that she could still be around. which goes to show you why these shows do not have a high success rate for building lasting relationships.
-i went to this nerd conference a few weeks ago and arrived late. as a result i took the first seat i could find which was cramped between a woman and the orally loudest guy i have ever met. this guy made so much noise that after an hour or two i moved. it kind of reminded me of when my dog eats something he shouldn't. you know, the constant trying to swallow action combined with jaw/saliva motion. or when he is chewing on his bone, you just hear lots of mouth noises. the first few minutes i thought maybe he had dumped a box of nerds, two tablespoons of peanut butter, and some saltines into his mouth and was trying to eat them all at the same time. but then i realized he wasnt eating anything, he was just constantly moving his tongue and lips around. all this noise combined with my physical position of straddling two sets of posts at the connection of two adjacent tables caused me to go crazy.
-monica and dave made the trip down this way last week and stopped by in the LeBaron to meet carlos and eat a meal of food at eggspectations. as usually i was very eggcited to go there and the food did not disappoint. however, the service was eggceptionally slow and the waitress scrambled to keep up with her tables.
Monday, January 29, 2007
nice try heather
check out this receipt i found in my desk at work today (some of you who contributed to the bill may have seen this before):
notice anything different? in case you missed it the waitress tried to pull a fast one. a big tab, to a group of guys... she went ahead and tacked on gratuity and then tried to be sneaky and cover it up, hoping to get tipped twice. i recognize the effort, but this is just shady. expecially when you are getting way too much of a tip for your poor service.
my advice to heather (the name of the server, atleast that is what it said on the top): maybe if you werent such a horrible waitress you wouldnt need to do things like this.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Happy New Year
I have been quite busy the last week or so and haven't had time to write anything. There are two things that happened recently that are pretty important to me. I got a dog and passed the PE. I think maybe tonight I will post some pictures of our new roommate.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
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!
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!
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
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.
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.
Friday, November 17, 2006
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.
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.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
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.
----
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.
---
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.
---
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.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Thursday, November 02, 2006
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...
Here is what Jake looked like last spring when in Jamaica...
And here is Eric sleeping at Morgan's after a wedding...
Friday, October 20, 2006
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.
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.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
want some cheese with your wine?
make sure you have the sound on when you watch this video. thanks amanda!
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Friday, July 28, 2006
random thought
i wanted to post that its a goal of mine to attend the golden globes.
not as a fan, but as a guest, for having achieved something. because no matter what it is, you know its a big deal. you will be able to look around and think to yourself "this is it. i am awesome."
not as a fan, but as a guest, for having achieved something. because no matter what it is, you know its a big deal. you will be able to look around and think to yourself "this is it. i am awesome."
Saturday, July 22, 2006
take your shirt off...
greetings from NC. in case you were wondering, it seems journey is so hot right now down here.
other random thoughts:
i love the plethora of chic-fil-a's in NC
download and play Chowder! some SAT fun...
college brian:Snood::brian::Chowder!
i dont love the 10" of rain we got in the last few hours
raleigh-wood airport reminds me of wings. too bad helen wasnt working today (also there wasnt not snizzle at the el aeropuerto.)
waking up due to touching down while on a flight is sort of scary
it seems there is a higher percentage fo SUV's in NC than in other areas
check out the silt fence. its gone.
this blog is like the washington post, if you dont get it, you dont get it.
what?
other random thoughts:
i love the plethora of chic-fil-a's in NC
download and play Chowder! some SAT fun...
college brian:Snood::brian::Chowder!
i dont love the 10" of rain we got in the last few hours
raleigh-wood airport reminds me of wings. too bad helen wasnt working today (also there wasnt not snizzle at the el aeropuerto.)
waking up due to touching down while on a flight is sort of scary
it seems there is a higher percentage fo SUV's in NC than in other areas
check out the silt fence. its gone.
this blog is like the washington post, if you dont get it, you dont get it.
what?
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