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...