Always anonymous.
I am blogging because I love to write about whatever strikes me at the time, and is 95% spontaneous.
Why anonymity? Well, too many people make the mistake of using their names, and the names of those around them, and invariably employers or people you don't want finding out things.... well they find out.
I will try not to let that happen.
So sit back and relax in the Pumpkin Patch friends. All the pie here is free!
Laterz - AH
To me, they are little nuggets of internet goodness. I say internet goodness because that's where I find them. I've only ever created maybe 10 of my own, ever. So when I come across interesting ones on the internet, I collect them.
I was wandering around on YouTube tonight, reminiscing about my younger days singing with an A Cappella group.
I came across some great songs from Rockapella and True Image, and I thought I just had to give you all a listen.
I am going to search for more fantastic a cappella music to post another day, but for now, take a listen to these cool tunes.
Rockapella VS True Image
Rockapella With True Image - Under The Boardwalk
Rockapella- Under the Boardwalk
Billy Joel-The Longest Time
Naturally - Huey Lewis and the News - This particular video is the only one I could find for this song, apparently a school project for RTV at UCF in 1987
For anyone following my blog, and there may be tens of you out there, I have resurfaced from the vacation world of my sofa and computer chair. I purposely didn't blog on vacation, but am back now, so prepare yourselves.
So today I have one simple topic, hacking the iPhone.
I would like to give props out to George Hotz for being the first (from what I gather) to hack the iPhone.
George logged about 500 hours or so on the endeavor, and worked online with others to produce the hack.
You can visit George's blog here for the full details, and list of equipment needed to do it yourself.
I possess none of the skills, and less of the patience to attempt such a hack. So if anyone is successful in hacking their own iPhone, let me know, for I will bow to you on some cyber level that only you and I will ever really appreciate.
I can only play Neverwinter Nights for so long before going a little batty.
I like playing solo, as well as with a group. But I find playing mostly on Role playing servers I get bored easily if there isn't anyone else around wanting to play as a party, or if there isn't a quest or event going on.
So I branch out every once in a while to try some new games. When I do this, it's usually something high energy, with lots of fighting and solo play.
With this in mind, I checked out Dungeon Runners this past weekend. Created by NCSoft, Dungeon Runners delivers the fighting energy I need (albeit a little repetitive).
With more updates and patches coming every month, I can see myself playing this game for a while.
Now I did say it was a bit repetitive, and that's true. But with tons and tons of different weapons, armor and equipment in the game, it's almost a quest in itself to try and get better and better items. You tend to look past the same groups of monsters and attacks, just to see what the next monster will drop.
But it's also interesting to see what the next level of my character will bring in terms of skills, abilities, and special powers.
You can re-spec your characters skill points at any time, so if you want to mix up your game-play a little, you can certainly do that.
Every few levels I gain some new magic, and change my attacks accordingly. So in a sense, the repetitive nature of the game is not as noticeable to me....yet.
It's also free to play, you simply download the game from the NCSoft website, and your off and running.
You can, however, pay a nominal fee ($4.99 per month) which will allow you access to member only items. You can find these items when monsters drop them, but can only use them if you are a member (other wise you can just sell them).
So I bit the bullet, and forked over 3 months of fees. It was pretty cheap, and now I get the full effect of the game.
If I get sick of the game, I can always not pay for it any more.
Here are a few videos of Dungeon Runner, so you can decide for yourself if it's worth playing:
With all the hype surrounding the newest, and last Harry Potter book, I thought I would at least make an attempt at endeavoring to try and see if there is a post I could possibly create which would maybe in fact poke fun at and possibly point out some interesting facts while at the same time saying nothing of any consequence towards this great achievement in literature.
Yes it my very own Harry Potter post. Yay me, Jumping on the proverbial band wagon.
The problem with this post, I will tell you right near the start is, I know very little of the books. Well I know they exist, and I know they are all the rage, but I have yet to read one. In fact, if memory serves, I am quite certain I have not even layed eyes on an actual copy of any of the 7 books (up close an personal that is.....I've likely seen them advertised in print or on tv).
So what can someone like me say about the Harry Potter phenomenon, without having read the books? Not too much.
I don't know how many pages they are.
I don't know what size font they used.
I don't know what sort of binding the books have.
I don't know whether there are pictures in the books, or whether they are all words.
I cannot comment (and yes I realize the irony here of saying I cannot comment on the very thing I am commenting on currently) on the style of writing in these books.
And I cannot, even if I try pretty hard, remember exactly what the author's name is (I believe it's J.K. Rowley.....but this is a guess based on the recent buzz, and I've likely seen the name somewhere. I would venture I have a 65% chance of being close on the name, and maybe 50% chance of getting the spelling correct).
I can, however, say I have written a haiku about the Harry Potter books I have never read. And here it is:
Harry Potter books Haven't read them to this date Maybe I will though
Wow, I even amaze myself with the level of crap I can produce at a moments notice.
I once heard a choir conductor tell us to "sing like you're illiterate".
Um.....
I wasn't quite sure about that particular directive, and I ended up sounding like Kermit the Frog...muttering incoherent sounds.
Maybe if I use some sort of backwards, crazy logic, I could try watching the Harry Potter movies, and using a form of reverse theatrical osmosis, suck the words into my brain, transpose them into mental books, and read them in my sleep.
Yes, I'm sure that will work. I'll have to give it a go.
And as we come the end of today's blog about Harry Potter, I am hoping you've all gleaned some fantastic insight into these books, from what I've placed on the internet today.
And, I know you're asking how can this Anathema Heterodox fellow know so little about so much?
Well, it's a mystery to me as well. But I welcome you all back again next time for more of the same drivel I churn out in all of my posts.
And, uncharacteristically, here are some videos which are related (some loosely) to today's blog:
Simpsons Harry Potter spoof
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ABC Family Preview
A couple of years ago I subscribed to an email newsletter. The newsletter was all about a Canadian named Jean Béliveau whom, in 2000, started a trip to travel across every continent of the world, promoting peace for the children of the world.
Here is an excerpt from his website with the description of his quest:
"On August 18th, 2000, at 9:00 am, Jean Béliveau left Montreal, Canada. His goal is to walk around the planet to promote "Peace and non-violence to the profit of the children of the world". He is traveling alone with a three wheeled stroller to carry a bit of food, his clothing, a First Aid kit, a small tent and a sleeping bag. Jean plans to walk across all the continents, from North America to South America, then across to South Africa, up to Europe, then the Middle East, South and Eastern Asia, Australia, New Zealand and finally back to Canada.
This journey will take 12 years to complete which is in accordance with the United Nations proclamation: 2001-2010 - International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of the World"
His journeys thus far are quite fascinating, and worth the read. He has met all sorts of people from all walks of life. He's met poor beggars on the back streets, to dignitaries in high office. And everywhere he goes, people greet him with open arms.
I highly recommend signing up for the newsletter. And it won't clog up your inbox, the newsletters are infrequent, but a pleasant surprise when you do get one.
I was going to post a video with my previous post, but then I realized I needed to dedicate a whole post to this subject.
Beatboxing
Yeah I know, beatboxing? Isn't that something from the 80's that people don't do anymore?
Um, no.
People are still beatboxing, and doing it well I might add.
I used to sing with an a capella group, and from time to time our arrangements would require a little beatboxing. So I used to consider myself no too bad at it.
Not anymore.
The guys in the videos below are fantastic! I could never compete with their caliber of beatboxing.
So I take off my hat to these artists, because I kow how hard it is to achieve proficiency, let alone excellence.
Enjoy!
uk human beatbox
amazing human beatbox
Blake Lewis Audition - Crazy
Best Beatbox Ever
Human beat box
beatbox
Australian Idol Beat Box Contestant
beatbox -BEATBOX.DG-
UK Beatbox Championships Bristol Final Petebox v Fozzy
Is it just me, or does there seem to a lot of strange weather happening lately?
My area just went through 2 separate hot spells, there was crazy flooding going on in Newfoundland yesterday....earthquakes, hurricanes, super cold weather......it really feels like mother nature is kicking us in the groin.
Maybe it's not that bad, but it sure seems like it.
A couple years ago I discovered the perfect place for to live. The reasoning behind it was the climate. I had been watching a show on tv about the search for Atlantis. They were focusing on several places around the world which would be prime locations for the lost city. Then came upon a group of islands off the coast of Portugal called the Azores. Now here's why that Azores would be my perfect spot to live. Average temperature in the Summer.....24 Celsius Average temperature in the Winter.....16 Celsius That is the perfect temperature range for me. I don't need anything hotter, or colder. I would be satisfied with those temperatures. Now the only problem I see with moving to the Azores, is finding a job. Not that jobs wouldn't necessarily be available, but rather the types of jobs in these islands are rather limited. You got fisherman Then you got tourism That's pretty much it. Now if they had some sort of high speed internet, it may be a viable move, if I could break into the dot com world successfully. But most dot coms fail, with only a select few start-ups gaining any huge success.....enough to sustain me, comfortably.
Time will tell if I end up in the Azores. I am told time is on my side, flows like a river, heals all wounds, is a companion that goes with us on journeys, waits for no man, and is vanquished by love. All of this tells me nothing of whether I will be in the Azores one day.
If I run into time, I will ask him though.
And, here's some unrelated videos for your viewing pleasure:
Quite by accident, as I was surfing through the endless blogs on blogspot, I came across one in particular which was chalk full of haiku. Is it haiku or haiku's in that sentence, I don't really know.
Anyway, the creative juices started flowing, and I managed to churn out a few haiku of my own.
Keep in mind, I am a beginner at this. These are my first haiku. Don't be cruel, but I would encourage comments and retaliatory haiku of your own.
So here they are:
clutching one more smoke craving craving light it up momentary peace
echoes whisper back deja vu the cousin known simply speak again
coffee cakes cut thin talking loudly boisterous fare leave a healthy tip
morning's here at last necessary rituals get to work on time
it is killing me coursing through my body parts yet I cannot stop
And a video to go along with the poetry today.
Haiku Documentary at Yale
This video has nothing to do with Haiku, but I liked it anyway. So here it is:
V - Now in words we can all understand!
And yet another unrelated video. This video deals with something I believe to be one of the greatest recipes ever invented!
Chicken Fried Bacon
To follow the last bacon themed video, here's a video involving something I need to do before I die. And quite honestly, I may die doing this.
Huge Bacon Eating Contest In Boston
And yet another culinary delight, created with love, and presented with class:
Egg and Bacon Ice Cream
And now a double delight video - two things I have now mentioned in my blog come together for this video - Chef Ramsay and bacon:
Gordon Ramsay - Stuffed Bacon-wrapped Chicken Legs
Every morning as I get ready for work, I have the television on. As I approach the last few minutes before I leave, a morning kids show comes on.
I believe it may be driving me crazy.
I leave for work, and I hum the theme music in the car.
I get to work, and find myself singing it while I check email.
Throughout the day I catch myself humming or singing this song. I think there's some sort of morning, kids show conspiracy going on to drive me crazy.
Now I should tell you, this theory is of course, a load of crap. But, it makes me laugh just thinking I have this damned kids show theme song going through my head.
So after the opening credits, they show a cartoon called Arthur (the aardvark). The theme song for this show is actually the one that drives me wacky.
I found a clip on YouTube of Arthur, as well as the next cartoon they play after Arthur is over, Lunar Jim. The Lunar Jim clip is in Spanish I think, but it's still nice to listen to.
I have a friend who is a Shatner fan. And, since I had time off today and nothing better to do, I compiled a few videos from YouTube in my friend's honor.
Enjoy!
Shatner Singing to Lucas
William shatner in Lucy in the sky with diamonds
William Shatner-Rocketman
William Shatner sings "Taxi" on "Dinah!"
Shatner Raps!
William Shatner performs "It Was a Very Good Year"
So I thought my addiction to facebook had subsided.....apparently I was wrong.
I've heard it from many people, saying facebook was for those people who wanted to re-live their high school years. I didn't agree with them of course. I have many people on my friends list, and 99% of them were people I met after high school.
I went through the initial phase of facebook, where you are pretty much addicted, and are adding friends constantly, logging into see who you can find or who has found you, etc, etc, etc.
Once over, the addiction settles, and you start logging in once or twice a day to update a few items, check out a few things, and that's that.
I thought it would end at that.
But no.
Now it seems the high school friends are creeping into the picture. And I find myself with a renewed addiction.
I still disagree with those nay-sayers, I don't want to re-live my high school years. But catching up with friends from almost 20 years ago is very cool. Friends who fell through the cracks somewhere, but you always wondered where they are now.
I find I am now sending messages and having some great email-type conversations with these newfound old chums. And I don't see anything wrong with it.
Let the nay-sayers go on and on about facebook, I don't listen to them.
I think they are missing out on something fantastic!
Well, I have no excuse for not posting for such a long time.....so I won't make one.
But, despite having my clubs stolen 4 days ago, I went out and purchased some new ones, and played in a work tournament this past weekend. Nothing like buying new clubs boost ones spirits after a car theft. Wilson, Callaway, I love you!
And, for no apparent reason, here's some Seinfeld clips!
Chef Gordon Ramsay may be cruel, but he's a realist in my opinion.
Chef Ramsay heads up a show on Fox called Hell's Kitchen. 12 contestants vie for the prize of running a fine Italian restaurant in the Green Vally Ranch and Spa in Las Vegas.
For the losers, utter disgust from Chef Ramsay, and humiliation on national television.
I didn't watch the first two seasons, but I watched the first two episodes tonight, and I think I'm hooked.
Chef Ramsay doles out the insults like make-up at a clown convention. It's fantastic!
To me, this show has the appeal which keeps me watching American Idol.....the honest truth. As with Simon on American Idol telling it like it is, Chef Ramsay holds no punches when telling his wannabe chefs just how tremendously they have failed at preparing food.
He tell them what they did wrong, how bad the food tastes, and hurls profanity at them. He is simply telling them what they should be told. And he's right 100% of the time so far.
When someone fails, what's the point in sugar coating it? Tell them they failed, what they did wrong, and how to fix it in the future.
The only criticism I have of Chef Ramsay, is he should learn how to approach different personalities with different coaching techniques. Not everybody responds to his style of verbal abuse, and he could stand to take a few courses. Granted, it's his restaurant and his money going down the drain when the food is prepared wrong. But I would imagine he's getting a healthy sum from Fox fro hosting the show in his newly renovated restaurant.
When all is said and done, I still like the show, and will be back to watch it next week.
Best of luck to the pawns on the show, just watch out for the rook called Ramsay.
I've been a fan of The Sopranos since it began. Watched almost every episode, and was very excited for the finale tonight.
But, as with a lot of shows these days, they decided to go with the "unanswered questions" ending.
I was a little let down.
Until I thought about it some more.
I suppose the writers could have made some big shoot out ending, with Tony Soprano either being killed, or ending up at the top of the heap. But they went the went a way which I think, in the end, is more realistic.
It was basically another regular episode, with the ending being up in the air. The family is meeting for dinner, and there's all this suspense happening. Strange characters entering the diner, you are really wondering if Tony was going to get whacked!
It left you wondering what would happen next, and opens tho door for the show to continue a few years down the road, or maybe even a movie.
Will Tony go to trial? Will he be indicted? Who else will get killed in the course of events? You have to work it out for yourself now, and think of the different possibilities.
And as a small note - I liked the choice of music for the last scene as well - Don't Stop Believing by Journey. Great song!
So what else is going on.
I bought a few new golf clubs! Yessir.
I found a Calaway X Tour driver on sale, pretty much half price. I also picked up a new sand wedge, lob wedge, putter, and a hybrid 3 iron/fairway club.
I took my new clubs to the driving range 3 days ago, and after a little getting used to them, I started hitting well.
The driver feels very good. It has a 460 face, and I was hitting solid.
But the lob wedge, well let me tell you, this is already my favorite club. I swung a few full ones with the lob wedge, and it felt great. I was getting good contact, and the ball was straight. The best thing was, the face on this club is extremely gritty, and grips the ball like crazy. So when the ball lands, I get some good back spin, and the ball comes back from it's landing spot. After that, I picked a spot on the range with two lines running the length on the field. My first shot, and landed smack dab in the middle of the lines, the ball roles back 3 yards, and ends of right where I wanted it. There rest of my practice shots with the lob were exactly the same.
Wow, I didn't think golf could make me this tired, but it has.
I went out for my third round this year. It was a Texas scramble, and was for an association my company belongs to. So, free golf and me get along rather well together it seems.
We did alright, ending -1 for the round. Now as from my previous posts, I am by no means a professional, or even close. But I played well today, had a few questionable shots, but did ok for the most part. I seem to be hitting my irons really well, especially my pitching wedge. Full stroke with that club will get me a nice 140 yards, so I like laying up and hitting onto the green from 100-140 yards out....it just feels good to know I can make that shot 90% of the time.
But since this game has wiped me out, and need to rest for 10 hours now.
As a new blogger, I am likely going through what every other blogger has gone through in their own beginnings. Start posting things, try to hone your skills a little, start to your groove with the blogging, and ultimately wonder whether there is anybody out there reading your blog.
I find blogging very relaxing. And since my blog is about anything that strikes me at the time, it doesn't really fall into any particular niche of blogs. Personal blog I suppose would be the category, but since I blog anonymously, it's sometimes hard to personalize it enough. I think I've done an alright of it though so far.
Today I woke up, checked my blog (as I always do) to see if anyone left comments ( I also get a report from Sitemeter each morning of how many people visited my site).
So I looked at the little "comments" link below my last blog, and saw there was a number 2.
I blinked.
Rubbed my eyes.
I blinked again. And slowly realized there were comments. And I was really happy to find out there was comments from people other than friends of mine in real life (not that internet friends aren't real, but seeing comments from people over the internet is so great).
Now I know some of you who read this will be thinking I am crazy for being so happy someone left a comment on my blog, but it really is a milestone in the blogosphere.
Think back to when you received your first comments from people on your blog. It's pretty exciting!
So I wanted to take the time today to tell keshi and rodrigo how much I appreciate their comments.
And, for the sake of drumming up traffic, if you liked my past posts, please tell your friends to swing by as well (there's always time to make a shameless plug for my blog. :P).
Everyone is welcome in The Pumpkin Patch!
So to end this post, I leave you with my personal thank you to keshi and rodrigo, you both have made my day a happy one, even this early in the morning for me.
Something on tv set my mind thinking of how many pairs of shoes I owned.
I thought about it, and started to count on my fingers, thinking I would stop at or around 5.
Nope, didn't stop.
I went on to my second hand, and thought it would end there.
Nope, didn't stop there either.
All told, I own 14 pairs of shoes, boots, sandals and slippers. I figure for the sake of argument I will call them all shoes.
Now if I own 14 pairs of shoes, how many pairs must other people own?
Admittedly, and quite possibly perpetuating a stereotype, a lot of women claim to own a vast amount of shoes. I actually know a few women who buy shoes on a regular basis. And by regular, I mean 1 pair a week. That's a lot of shoes!
I was thinking 14 pairs of shoes was a lot, but have nothing to compare it against at the moment. I will start asking friends how many pairs they own so I can find out whether I have a normal amount.
Here are some pictures of my shoes (1 pair of winter boots are missing from the picture).
Jordin won, but I was pulling for Blake. Ah well, your pony can't always bring it home I suppose. Cheers to Jordin though, she is a solid singer.
While watching the show, I somehow got to thinking about The Pogues (don't ask me how it happened, but it did). For those youngsters out there, The Pogues were an Irish band which played Irish folk songs, with a punk influence. The Pogues formed in the early 80's, and are still around today in some form or another. The did fire the lead singer, and front man for the original band, Shane MacGowan in 1996 (he was heavy into drugs and alcohol and was a total wreck.....and still is). In my opinion, they may have become more stable after firing Shane, but the vibe was never the same. Shane embodied the spirit of that band, and they lost a lot of fans afterwards.
But, as I was thinking about their music, I got the itch to hunt around for some clips on YouTube (as usual).
These may not be the best clips, but it brought back some memories for all the same.
Enjoy!
The Pogues & The Dubliners - The Irish Rover
The Pogues - Sally MacLennane
the pogues - fairytale of new york
Katie Melua and The Pogues: Fairytale of New York
POGUES St. Patricks Day 1990 - singing White City, and Body Of An American
Since I am off work for a week at the moment (took a week of vacation time), I have been doing quite a lot of surfing. Specifically I am trolling around YouTube, LiveVideo, FaceBook etc.
There are people out there who don't care for the internet for various reasons. And admittedly, the internet is chalk full of scammers, porn, and other sewer level sites and characters. I think it's part and parcel of how the internet is made. It's something that will likely not change for a long time, and will likely not change for the better entirely.
In the future, there will be laws passed to protect the innocent, and regulate what we can see or post, but even then I'm not sure to what extent "they" will be able to control everything.
Time will tell.
But today I found something very refreshing while surfing around!
Amidst the plethora of garbage on YouTube (a place I have been frequenting lately), I found someone who is genuinely honest and upbeat. Someone who is a pleasure to listen to, and seems to have a zest for life. Someone who is doing what she has a passion for, and wants others to share in that passion.
Meet Valentina.
Val has a web site entitled valsartdiary and can be found at http://www.valsartdiary.com
Val is a painter, and creates vlogs of her life as such. She videos herself creating her paintings, and even gives away one painting every week to one of her subscribers (she has a YouTube and LiveVideo account where she gets her subscribers from).
Initially, you will see the things which attract people to her channels and web site - she's pretty, has a cute accent, she is energetic, and she edits her vlogs with flare and style.
But once you get to watching a few of the videos, you become enthralled in the things she is creating. All the while she is talking about quite a few different things, she is also discretely talking about her painting, and it draws you in, and you cannot stop watching.
Well, at least that's how I perceived it anyway.
It is very nice to find a gem like Val in a sea of idiocy. I would recommend everyone to check out her videos on YouTube, LiveVideo, or her web site.
I will leave you with a couple of her videos, and you can judge for yourself:
Like most Manitobans, we've all been to a social at one time or another.
Those of you who are not from Manitoba, there is a reference in the Wikipedia under the term "social" with the heading "Regional Uses". This explains fairly good what in fact a social is to us Manitobans.
Here is the excerpt from that article: "Regional uses - There is a peculiar use of "social" in some parts of the world. In the Canadian province of Manitoba, a "social" is a fund raising party (for a wedding, non-profit organization, charity, or some other worthy cause). It is also known as a Manitoba Social. Typically, they will include music (current popular music for the youth and "oldies" music older adults), dancing, food, raffles (and other fund raising games). When held in support of a wedding, often they are used as a way to shake down some details of the wedding (e.g., letting the bride try a hair style, practicing dancing, etc.)"
That sums it up pretty good.
The reason I am posting about socials tonight, is I am heading out to attend one tonight. It's in honor a friend of mine getting married in June.
Should be a good time.
I hope the phenomenon of socials will be around for a long time, it's one of the things which set this region of the world apart from others. And I realize it may be a small, unimportant thing to think about, but we all define ourselves somehow, and the social is just another thing we can be proud of when we say we are Manitobans, and Canadians.
Here is the only wedding social video I could find. Seems people here in Manitoba don't post a lot of video's of socials on the 'net.
Myself and some fellow employees volunteered to help a Girl Guide camp site get ready for the upcoming season. We cleared debris, set up tents and cots, repaired a dock, built a ramp to another dock, and lots of other odds and ends. My company does this every year, but this was the first time I have gone. It was great! The weather was a little cool, but I wore shorts to spite it, and we all ended up having a great time. The camp staff cooked us great meals throughout the day, and we took lots of pictures. I will definitely be going back next year.
This video was taken on the way home in my friends civic. The video doesn't really do the drive justice though. It is extremely beautiful out there, and the road was a little narrow, very winding, and we were going faster than we should have. It was like an amusement ride to tell you the truth. The road also pitched up and down, and was very rough. But at least I got a little video of it.
Driving Home From The Lake
Also, here are a few pictures from the outing today:
With taking a short break after 9 holes to eat some fries and grab a few more beers for the cart, we timed in at just under 7 hours to play the full round of 18 holes.
Yipes!
For anyone who golfs, you know how ridiculous that length is for a round of golf.
But it honestly didn't feel like it was taking a long time to play. We even had carts!
Luckily, since it was a weekday and about an hours drive out of town, there were maybe 2 other foursomes out there, and a few individuals. We didn't see anyone waiting behind us at the tee boxes, so we knew we weren't in jeopardy of holding up someone elses game. We played normally, and still took almost 7 hours!
I really can't explain it.
The course we went to was a 5 start gold course. One of, if not the best, in our area. It was beautiful, scenic with rivers, ponds, and lots of trees. I even saw a deer in the brush while looking for one of my golf balls.
I'm pretty wiped now though. There was a crazy wind out there today, which also kept us cooler than normal. But the wind really takes a lot out of you. You tend to try hitting the ball harder to compensate, and get fatigued quicker.
I have next week off work (just took a week off to relax and some work around the house), so I plan on playing a couple rounds, and maybe hit the driving range a few times. Looking forward to it.
That's all for today. I'll leave you with a video though of course:
I am taking the day off with other managers tomorrow, and going golfing.
Now I know right from the start, I am not the worlds best golfer. But, I also know I have a natural ability for sports, and take to any sport rather quickly.
I normally go golfing twice a year, at most. This year I will be heading out for my second game tomorrow. So already I am at par with my best golf year. I think my plan will be to golf 2 or 3 times a month this year. That shouldn't be too much, and should allow me to get marginally better throughout the season hopefully.
The first game this year I shot 118. I have no idea whether that is good for me, since I haven't kept track of previous games and scores. I will endeavor to keep track this year, and see if I improve. I also want to get golf shoes, which "they" say takes 4 strokes off your game right off the bat. Sweet!!! I also might look into some of those fancy hybrid clubs for the fairways. I have borrowed them before in previous years, and they seemed to be pretty comfortable to use. We'll see.
And of course, I'll leave you all with a gold related video to watch:
On Saturday I went with my neighbor to help clear some brush and stumps out at his uncle's farm. Currently, my neighbor has a 42' by 46 quansit shed where he and his brother store some of their cars (they fix up old cars, drive them for a couple years, then park them here). They have run out of room in this storage space, and are getting another 46' extension in June. In order to do this we needed to clear all the brush and old stumps to make way for this new addition. Now I'm not the most athletically challenged person person around, but I've not been exercising like I should be I suppose. My jogging curriculum has gone down the tubes. So we went out there on Saturday, thinking it would be a 3 or 4 hour job.
How wrong we were.
We got out there about 10 AM, and by the time we were ready to go home, it was 8 PM. And, we still had what looked like a full days worth of work to get all the brush and stumps cleared.
Now not thinking it would be a whole day job, I didn't take along any sunscreen or hat.
Bad idea.
The sunburn on my head (which is close shaved) was fairly intense. I put some lotion on it, and figured the next day it would start to heal nicely into a tan.
It didn't.
2nd degree burns are what I got for being a good friend. minor blistering, stuff oozing, not a pretty sight.
So today I stayed home form work to heal more, and get the burn under control. So far all is well. I will go to work tomorrow, probably in time for the skin to start peeling. Yay.
Did I learn my lesson? I suppose so. But in all fairness, I wasn't expecting to spend as much time out there as I did. Had I known we would be out there for that many hours, I may well have taken some precautionary measures.
That's all for now.
I'll leave you with an 11 second clip from Family Guy:
My uvula was crazy big! I mean the kind of big that when you swallow you would likely swallow the uvula if were not attached to the roof of your mouth.
Along with this soft palette protuberance, was the hint of a sore throat.
Now, I ain't not big city doctor, but this smelled suspiciously like a cold or flu on it's way.
Luckily, the uvula eventually went back to normal size after a few hours of discomfort. I have, however, continued to have what appears to be a sore throat. At the moment, it is worse than this morning. I fear a cold coming. Damn.
I am tired also. very tired. And it's only just after 5 PM. I can't go to sleep right now, because that would disrupt my sleep routine, which would make me sleepy for work tomorrow.
So I think I will be forcing myself to stay up, so I will be at least well rested for work tomorrow. I may feel like crap, but I will be well rested.
I do apologize for the mundaneness of this post. I get it, this is not that interesting. But quite honestly this is the best I can do in the condition I am in.
So I will now post a video for your pleasure, and sign off for what will likely be the longest 4 or 5 more hours of my life, as I wait for the appropriate time to go to sleep.
Ever think about jumping from your third story balcony to the parking garage below? Sure, we all have. But have you actually ever tried it? Unless you're reading this from your hospital bed, probably not.
A phenomenon known as "parkour" has swept our athletically gifted, and often intellectually challenged youth into trying grandiose feats of jumping and flipping off of things (I'm not sure how else to describe it, until you watch the videos).
For those who excel at this new "sport", I tip my hat. Some of the acrobatics involved are quite amazing. I sometimes have the thought of attempting some of these outrageous tricks, but then remember I am a thirty-something not-in-quite-as-good-of-shape-as-I-used-to-be manager-type person, and the thought expires.
I first came across a video of some guys jumping around a set of staircases about a year ago. But from what I remember, there was no tag or name associated with the behavior. Now it seem these videos are everywhere.
I doubt this will ever make it into the legitimate sporting world. But maybe one day we will see an X Games version.
You never know.
I will leave you will a few videos on the subject, as well as a special parody video called Pour Quoi. That parody is spot on, I've watched it several times.
Heading out today for a LAN party. Not sure if the word "party" is appropriate, as all of the participants are well past puberty, but a fun time will be had none the less.
This event, for myself, will be easier to achieve simply because of my new monitor. Flat screen LCD monitors are much easier to cart around than CRT monitors. Yay me!
Maybe I will have some interesting story to write about afterwards. Maybe not. We will see.
And here's a video I found very amusing, I hope you do to.
I had a great last few days in terms of getting what I wanted:
- Client Services Manager bowed down to my superior arguments - Approved for car loan and picked up the car today (2002 Chevrolet Cavalier Z24) - Pre-approved for Gold Mastercard, and loan officer at credit union sent off the application today. - Initial number crunching from loan officer at credit union produced an "all systems go" for a mortgage to purchase a new house. - Purchased a new 19" LCD Widescreen Monitor.
I almost purchased a recordable dvd player for my living room tonight as well, but thought a widescreen monitor and recordable dvd player would be too much excitement for one night. I will spread it out over the next couple of weeks, and prolong my happiness.
