right, right?

Or is it?

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=332364&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

snow!

First snow (accumulated) of the year!

captain's wafers are awesome

Back in school we would go out late at night and get food at King's, a crappy 24 hour restaurant that they have in Pittsburgh. The food there sucks, except for the breakfast and the Captain's Wafers.

I haven't had Captain's Wafers since then... till today. Chris' diner on Lee Road. Get some soap. That's where it's at.

work work work

In case you haven't noticed, I haven't updated this blog in about a week. What can I say, I've been busy. Plus, I'm training you for when I'm going to be on vacation for a week.

Yep, that's right. Another vacation. Going to the UK with Barnes for a week. Be back by Xmas.

bling bling

Sweet...

we must protect this house!

So I was reading the column by Len Pasquarelli on espn.com, and I found a little know fact about this ridiculous commercial that we've been seeing.

For those of you who aren't familiar with it, Under Armour has these crazy ads with a bunch of football players going nuts in the weight room, then running out out onto the field like a bunch of madmen. At the end, random dude screams out "We must protect this house!"

Apparently, "random dude" has a name, it's Eric Ogbogu. Now I need to get his jersey. Here's the full story. I'm really looking forward to see the MicroMovie they made. I can't believe I missed it when it aired during the ESPYs.

yay

So I've been buying a lot of stuff. Citibank called yesteday morning to see if someone jacked my card. No, it's all me. I'm an efficient spending machine. Kohls, Amazon, Newegg, Shutterfly, and Adorama Camera must be happy.

Speaking of Shutterfly, it's super fun uploading 159MB of photos from the last three years to print... "develop" for those who use the old school film lingo.

While I upload all of them, I updated my wish list at Amazon and plastered it on the right nav of this blog. With any luck, maybe some of you would do the spending and I can do the recieving. Something makes me think I'll get nothing, but it doesn't hurt to try, right?

bible all-stars

First Place:
George W. Bush - pro-abstinence lobbyist

Honorable Mention:
Karl Herrick - author, Super Bible Toolbar

thanks, iTunes

I like iTunes, but sometimes things just make me wonder...

Case 1:
I'm randomly asked to reauthorize a song I bought a month ago... er... why?

Case 2:
The oh so smooth transition from Tool to Cranberries. Very nice...

free napster

I got 12 free songs from Napster if anyone wants them. I don't care if I know you or not. If you want them, e-mail me or something.

more random

Random link of the day... Thanks, friendster.

Thanks, Texas

Meanwhile, I wait patiently for my package to arrive. My first true gainshare purchase, part deux.

Oh yes, if anyone wants to buy anything for me for the holidays, feel free. Check out the wishlist.

an update

At this point Peyton Manning has thrown for 6 TDs, 3 to Marvin Harrison. My calculations say that that between the two of them they have already scored 44 and 30 points for my fantasy team, respectively. Thanks, fellas. I appreciate the effort.

So I haven't updated this thing is a week. Sorry. I'll try harder.

So a recap of what I didn't cover....

Last weekend:
Fun adventures down in Texas...

The good:

• Waffle House. The most friendly one I've been at. Also the best breakfast I've had in a while. No better way to start the morning than with some pancakes, sausage, bacon, eggs, and grits. Yum!
• The airport. Nice, new, and spacious.
• Alamo Theatre at West Oaks mall. Kick ass. It's one of those restaurant/bar/movie theatre deals. Plus, instead of showing ads before movies, they show old school movies and cartoons instead. Nothing like seeing old runs of spiderman, superman, and weird japanese superhero movies before seeing the Incredibles. Good movie, by the way.
  

The bad:

• The crazy toll plazas. Yes, we do have exact change! What? Coins only? F*ck! A gold star to Hula who somehow got us across three lanes of traffic without getting us shot. A special thank you to you Texans who didn't shoot us.
• Where are we? Oh yeah, we're in Texas. For every time we *almost* forgot where we were, we were reminded that we were in Texas. Was it the giant Texas flags everywhere? The "Native Texan" license plate frames? I don't know... where are we?
• The airport. We have to go through security to eat? What's up with that? Apparently there was food at Terminal A (where I came from), but I didn't want to backtrack across the airport. Besides, the tram thing sucked. Little 6-person cars that crawled on this track that twisted its way along a straight hallway (yes, really). Like something you'd expect at a chocolate factory but without the flair.
• Haliburton. 'nuff said.
  

The weird:

• Houston Texans cheerleaders at the mall... and the line of young kids lining up with their parents. And Hula and I standing behind them to get a gift for Scott.
• The "turkey drop." We didn't see this happen, but John Eagle Honda had a promotion where they were going to drop turkeys from a chopper. We went to check it out, but we either got the date, time, or location wrong. Sigh...
• The airport. But I have to admit, that was the most beautiful car rental facility I've ever seen. Big open atrium, massive counters, marble floors, gigantic covered lot. A lot nicer than most hotels I've been in. I see our airport taxes are hard at work.
  

butch

It's about time...

another state down

Tomorrow (technically today), I'll be heading down to Houston, TX to celebrate the union of Scott Schneider and Jennifer Teasdale. Congrats! I'll be back sometime on Sunday, which means that there's a good chance I'll get screwed over in fantasy football this week. :(

Oh well!

any publicity is good publicity

Tim Couch is once again mentioned on ESPN.com. It's a look at all the QBs drafted #1.

i am going to die

I just purchased a "lifetime membership" from AAII.com (American Assoc. of Individual Investors). This is the confirmation that I recieved.

THE FOLLOWING IS A SUMMARY OF YOUR PURCHASE:

Membership: AAII NL Term: LIFE Start Date: 11/01/2004 End Date: 10/31/2029
1 at $390.00 = $390.00

Apparently I will die on Halloween 2029 and I have a little less than 25 years to live. This is the best $390 I've ever spent!

the power of all of us

This is what I call a good ad campaign. And no, it's not Progressive (that would be too sarcastic even for me).

The Power of All of Us

best job posting ever

Stupid people are funny.

I found this "job" on craigslist for Cleveland. No phone calls, please!

business review

So I've been working on this important project at work and tomorrow I get the chance to present my project to the head of our business group. It's supposed to be really intimidating, but for some reason I'm not really too worked up about it. I guess I've presented in front of enough people to not give a shit. Bad choice of words. I care. As in the song Anna Begins by Counting Crows, "I'm not worried. I am not overly concerned." We'll see if that lasts into the morning.

Worst case scenario:
Prototype doesn't work, they ask me a lot of hard questions, and I start crying. There's no crying in football, unless you're Dick Vermiel.

Best case scenario:
The main presenters actually tell me how they want me to present (yeah, they left out that minor detail... but they have the rest of the presentation to worry about). I wing it anyway, they ask me a lot of hard questions, and I answer them with aplomb because I know what I'm talking about.

Perhaps I shouldn't wear jeans and a t-shirt to work tomorrow. Maybe I should wear a tie (j/k).

"buzz log"

That last post was retarded. I apologize. I'll try to do better.

On Yahoo! today I noticed this "Buzz Log" thingamajiggee. I guess it's supposed to let people know what's buzzworthy. Curious, I took a look. I'm not sure if I was humored or just disappointed.

The featured item for the day was maps. Rationale: What kind of maps are people looking for? End result: We have a bunch of dorks.

pi

So I was okcupid.com answering some of their questions (trying to see if one day I could be 100% friends with myself)...

Think quick!
- 3.14159
- 3.14195
- 3.14519
- 3.14591

I was disturbed to find that I knew immediately which one was the right answer. Funny the things I was able to pick up while playing with my calculator in math class. Heck, it beats paying attention.

oddcast

While doing some work related stuff, I came across the following. Apparently some people think that this is the best thing in new media...

Speak2Me.net
...or for more fun...

For more, visit OddCast.

thanks, albert!

Albert stopped me from using this line in a cover letter:

"I understand that relocation assistance is not offered for this opening, but I would be willing to move on my own means for the right position (and free drinks)."

I guess it's good that I periodically ask for feedback.

if you want a job that can land you in hell

While looking at job postings online, I found one from "Claria Corporation." You may not have heard of it, but I'm sure you've heard of the old one -- gator.com.

It's pretty interesting to see how they describe themselves...

Founded originally as Gator.com in 1998; the company is now one of the Web's most powerful advertising and direct marketing companies in the world. According to Media Metrix, Claria Corporation Web sites are in the Top Ten most visited properties on the web. Our unparalleled technology allows us to display targeted, relevant ads to our tens of millions of users while they are surfing the Web, via the GAIN Network, the world's largest behavioral marketing network. The GAIN Network serves over 43 million consumers and has worked with more than 1000 advertisers to date.

Apparently they claim to be one of the top 10 visited sites on the web. I can see why. If you install enough spyware, you can get people to go wherever you want.

It's also pretty insane how they say they "serve" over 43 million consumers. It almost seems like they think they're helping us out. Thanks, guys, but I could really "serve" me better if you didn't bombard me with popup ads on virtually every site.

So all in all, if you want to go to hell, you should apply for this job.

investigate the vote

For those of those who still hope, there is a call for people to sign a petition to urge Congress to formally investigate this November's election. Amongst the things that people are saying...

• In Broward County, Florida, electronic voting machines counted backwards: as more people voted, the official vote count went down. [1]
• In one Columbus, Ohio suburb, election officials have acknowledged that electronic voting machines credited Bush with winning 4,258 votes, even though only 638 people voted there. [2]

homeland security alert level - ELEVATED

For those of you who want to know when the Administration changes the terror threat level, here's something you can use:

Homeland Security Threat Level 0.2

It's a Firefox extension that puts something in your browser so you can keep tabs of when the government wants us to think that they think that someone is thinking about attacking us.

If you haven't tried out FireFox, I suggest you give it a shot. Version 1 just came out.

old school

Just got "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)" today. Totally old school. Totally awesome.

Most unique set of items bought from amazon.com at the same time:
Donald Norman's The Design of Everyday Things
Mario Puzo's The Sicilian
Wu-Tang Clan's Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

those crazy terrorists...

Our country goes to great lengths to protect us from the evil that lurks outside our borders.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/05/nyregion/05strafe.html

Thanks to Albert Tseng for the news update.

go go go!

So I have officially started my search for a new job. First targeted application in. Time to spruce up my portfolio and hope that they don't find my hideously outdated website at www.paulip.com.

Unless they find this blog first, then they'll know that I don't have access rights to change that outdated site.

my sentiments exactly...

"Alright people -- enough with the Ohio bashing. I'm bummed Bush won too -- but let's get over ourselves -- shall we?

"Exhibit A -- this is NOT okay: http://www.cafepress.com/hideedee.14415638"

- Katie Kowall

I'll remark that I'm proud that Cuyahoga County gave Kerry about +200,000 over the axis of evil. I called up friends around the city and around the country to make sure that they got out to vote. I registered 8 people for our elections here in Ohio. Unfortunately, Ohio is still over 50% hick. Yay.

f*ck...

go vote

For Cleveland, polls are open from 6:30am to 7:30pm.

http://boe.cuyahogacounty.us/boe/default.htm

retard of the day

Retard of the Day: This photo was taken a few days ago when I was on my way home from work. For those who can't believe their eyes, this is indeed a person who made a Chevy emblem out of *wood* and pasted it to the back of their Acura Integra. A travesty...

go pack go!

Our guest political analyst, Navin Lingaraju, who has been covering the election closely, has unearthed an obscure, but reliable indicator for the presidential race.

To sum it up, if the Washington Redskins lose, the incumbent president will lose the election. This test has proven 100% reliable since the start of the NFL.

Although I didn't watch the game, it looks like Green Bay notched a solid victory against the Redskins, winning by a margin of 28-14.

But please, still go out and vote on Tuesday.

I love amazon.com, but....

So I was looking to buy some CD-Rs. While I was at it, I figured I might as well pick up some DVD-Rs as well (in case Greg want to "borrow" some more off of me.

I checked out amazon.com since I have a $20 gift certificate (thanks to the kick-ass costume) and found a decent deal on some Memorex CD-Rs and DVR-Rs (the CD-Rs are decent... been using them for the past few years). However, I also wanted to check out newegg.com since they have a better selection of computer stuff. Lucky I did, because I found a better deal on some odd brand stuff (Legacy brand).

But I still wanted to use my $20 gift certificate at amazon.com....

...so I did a search for "Legacy DVD-R"

...and I got back something I didn't expect....

riddle me this

For complete photo coverage, visit the photo gallery.

My boss' boss, Richard... er... Batman in the new batcave working hard on solving the Riddler's latest riddle. 

Conflict resolution at Progressive. POW! BAM! WOP! 

public service announcement

For those who haven't done so already, try out the web browser FireFox. Finally, a good alternative to Internet Explorer. It's fast, offers tabbed browsing, and also have a ton of extensions that you can tack on to make it even better. My current fav? Mouse Gestures. I like being lazy. ;-)

a riddle

What costs $5.91, is made of childrens clothes, and has vanquished the Key Maker? Find out October 29th...

Photo taken at work. Awesome. Too bad most people at Progressive don't know leet speak. l337 5p34k, 50RRY. 

a simple plea

Please take those horrible AOL ads off the air. They hurt to watch. Especially the mom with the annoying voice who stands up on the conference room table and keeps talking, and talking, and talking, and talking, and talking.... Make it stop!

the devil is beating his wife

Thanks, Southerners...

On a happier note... Happy birthday to Carrie Peters, who turns 23 today. The birthday festivities will continue tomorrow with Lazarus Prime turning a full quarter of a century old. ;-)

pics pics pics

I just uploaded a chock full of pics to my Yahoo! account. Check 'em out.

Included are:

• 09/2004 - Bull Run Mountain, Virginia
  
• 08/2004 - Kunming, Dali, LiJiang, China
• 08/2004 - Hong Kong
• 06/2004 - Mt. Rainier NP, Olympic NP, Seattle, Washington
• 10/2003 - Oahu, Hawaii

Still left to do:

• 06/2003 - Italy, France, Netherlands
  
• 11/2002 - Guilin, HuangShan, China
• 11/2002 - Hong Kong
• 05/2002 - Italy, France, Netherlands, United Kingdom
  

bird watching

So I stumbles across www.nice-tits.org. Apparently a tit is a type of bird (or so they say). What it *doesn't* explain is what's wrong with the tree in this picture. Fourth picture down on the page. Something ain't right. I swear.

friday night lights

If you read the Sports Guy's column, you probably already heard that this movie kicks ass. I'm here to second that opinion. If you're even remotely interested in seeing the movie, you should go see it. You won't be disappointed.*

Note: You *may* be disappointed if you're like me and can't enjoy a movie if you go in thinking that it's good. If that's the case, then this movie really sucks. Just a bunch of ignorant high school kids beating the crap out of each other.

totally awesome

So it's only my second post and I've already failed to live up the goal of getting a post up each day. That's super fantastic! ;-)

Anyway, at some point or another I'm going to have to get a Halloween costume (and a toga) so I'll have something to wear on Halloween and the weekend before. About 80% certain that I'm going to be something like the Key Maker from the last Matrix movie (which sucked). Wish me luck. Worst case scenario is that I won't be able to find the green plastic visor the guy wears and I'll decide to be Tron instead.

I've got nothin'

'nuff said. This is totally new, so what you see is what you get. Judging from the state of my other site www.paulip.com, I ask you to keep your expectations low.

I will say that I'll try to update this daily. Key word is 'try.' Wish me luck.