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Me on snow at Sonora Pass less then 24 hours after being in Death Valley NP, all in CA.

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At the foothills of Mt. Whitney is Manzanar NHS where more than 10,000 Japanese-Americans were interned during WW II. In all about 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were relocated to one of ten sites across the US.

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Spent the night in Las Vegas, NV and had to check out the sign before we left. On to Death Valley NP.

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Hoover Dam on the AZ-NV border

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Me outside Juan's Garden at Snow Cap on Route 66 in Seligman, AZ.

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Mather Point on the south rim in Grand Canyon NP, AZ.

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Amazing... Thats all i can say. Verde Valley from the Chapel of The Holy Cross in Sedona, AZ.

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I-10 in Phoenix, AZ on the way to the Grand Canyon via Flagstaff, AZ.

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Saguaro NP, right outside Tucson, AZ.

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On top of a dune in White Sands National Monument, NM.

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Guadalupe Mtns. NP (TX) just southwest of Carlsbad Caverns NP (NM).

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About 20 mins west of Hobbs, NM. Headed to Carlsbad and White Sands today.

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Dealy Plaza, Dallas, TX. Where JFK was shot.

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Hope, AR. Birthplace of President Bill Clinton.

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I-30 just west of AWESOME Hot Springs, AR.

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Graceland. Memphis, TN.

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There is a good reason why Mammoth Cave needs no other name. You might not be able to see the pic well, sorry. Mammoth Cave NP, KY.

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Keenland race course just west of Lexington, KY.

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Charleston, WV. Went through here back during high school. Now it looks like a mini-Pittsburgh.

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Near LaVale, MD

more on the tour

I've been asked enough times that I figure I should write out what the planned itinerary for "The National Park Service Tour 2005." Goofy name, I know but I'm still working on it okay? Anyways here is the tentative itinerary:

DC - MD - WV - Mammoth Cave NP (Kentucky) - Memphis (Tennessee) - Hot Springs NP (Arkansas) - Dallas (Texas) - Carlsbad Caverns NP and White Sands NM (New Mexico) - Saguaro NP (Arizona) - Grand Canyon NP (Arizona) - Las Vegas (Nevada) - Death Valley NP (California) - Yosemite NP (CA) - Lake Tahoe (CA) - Lassen Volcanic NP (CA)- Crater Lake NP (Oregon) - Mt. St. Helens (Washington) - Idaho - Glacier NP (Montana) - Yellowstone NP and Grand Teton NP (Wyoming) - Devils Tower (Wyoming) - Mt. Rushmore NM (South Dakota) - Badlands NP (SD)

The italicized parts are parts that can be lopped off if it doesnt look like there will be time. After Badlands it's pretty much up to how much time is left and then back to DC.

Oh and now that blogger.com is doing this "Blogger Mobile", look out for texted messages and photos from the road.

dell deals

I just got my new Apple iBook and am very happy with it. And as much as I would recommend a Mac I know some of you just don't want one. So for those of you who are looking for a great deal on a portable Windows machine, This Deal is for you.

Every so often Dell has a great deal on it's laptops. In particular Dell has a $750 off a $1499 laptop deal. If you are bad at math, that makes the final price around $750... Which is awesome. So awesome in fact that there must be some bad news, right? Well the bad news is that the deals are limited to about 1500 redemptions... which isn't alot. There is a mad rush to buy because of links from sites like FatWallet.com, SlickDeals.net and DealCatcher.com). The last time Dell did this it only lasted about 30 minutes! This deal starts at 9 AM EST. So if it is after about 10 AM on Tuesday morning, you probably have already missed the deal... if not, good luck!

Preakness Stakes

Afleet Alex won the Preakness Stakes which means that for me, one thing is for sure. Afleet Alex WILL win the Blemont, bet on it. I haven't checked but I know this has happened before... The horse that should have won the Kentucky Derby ends up losing and then winning both Preakness and Belmont.

The last few years it has been the other way around... the favorite won the Derby and the Preakness but fell short on the much longer Belmont. But I have the feeling this time that Afleet Alex will be one of those horses that is just better than the rest. Even at the Belmont's mile and a half. Just wait... In the mean time I'll have to wait another year for the possibility of seeing a Triple Crown winner.

Teva

So a few weeks ago the Teva rep came by and talked to us about their sandals and shoes. Any ways the point of this post is that they mentioned that Teva is pronounce 'teh vah.' Which means I've been mispronouncing it. And now I am a snob who says 'teh vah' while everyone (who doesn't know) still says 'tee vah.'

winning without a hit

check this out. Last night the Savannah Sand Gnats (The Single A Minor League affiliate of the Nats) beat the Greenville Bombers 4-3. What makes this interesting tho is that they did it without getting a single hit.

a little dap for paul

so i mentioned how "people were combining features" with the google map. i had neglected to mention that the first kind of site i had seen was a craigslist housing/google map site by this fella named Paul. and the cheap gas site/google map is his interface used with gasbuddy. dont i feel like an ingrate. so much dap to Paul for hooking up the google map.

cheap gas

so there is a website called gasbuddy.com which can help you find the cheapest gas prices in your area (WashingtonDCGasPrices.com if you live in the DC area)... and now that google's online map site is so popular people are combining features with it... including gasbuddy. so now you can find the cheapest gas stations on the map.

so obviously tubular pin locks suck

remember a few months ago when someone made a video of how to pick a kryptonite tubular pin lock with bic pen? well now there is this video of how to pick one of those laptop cable locks with a bic pen, some tape and a roll of toilet paper. (via boingboing.net, gizmodo, and what tian has learned)

ginormously annoying

so i used to have no problem with people who said 'ginormous.' i even used the term every so often. and now... because of this... i must stop.

NPS Tour 2005

I got my first National Parks Passport a few ago and got maybe 3 or 4 cancellation stamps in it before either losing it or "losing it in a break up." I got another but didnt give it much attention... and I'm pretty sure I've lost it. So I recently bought a new on at Shenandoah National Park and am now determined to get as many cancellation stamps as possible.
So I did some investigative work and found this site with a great guide on many, if not all, of the stamps. It really helps that I live in DC since you can get 30+ stamps in one day by visiting two places... the Survey Lodge right next to the Washington Monument and the National Capital Parks-East headquarters in Anacostia Park.
And now that I am headed on my cross country trip later this month I'll be able to pick up a few more stamps. More on that trip later...

free stuff

so even tho i don't like chocolate, and i especially hate frostys, i have to post this so that those of you who love them know about it. Go to any Wendy's this weekend and say "Free frosty please" and voila! you get one...

celeb bloggin

Arianna Huffington has started The Huffington Post. If you don't know who Arianna Huffington is you should do what you should do when you're not familiar with something: check it out on wikipedia (Link to Arianna Huffington on wikipedia).

Anyways, the cool point of her site (besides the news) will be the celebrity bloggers. Now maybe blogger is the wrong term since i doubt each individual celeb will be posting very often. Maybe quick celebrity columnists is a better term. Currently those blogger/columnists include celebrities like Ellen Degeneres and John Cusack.

freaky deaky

so if ya wanna freak yourself out a bit check out ZabaSearch.com and type in your name... and try a few other people you might know. Supposedly the info you get isn't all that accurate if you pay the $20 to get the "background check" but its still a little weird right?

So I get WAY into games... especially when they mean something. I watched part of the Wizard's Game 2 (in Chicago), and they just weren't doing to well. It was annoying. So I didn't watch the next two games (in DC) and they won both. So I figured I'ld just 'monitor' Game 5 back in Chicago.

And they started well. In fact so well that I just started watching half way through the second quarter. They were leading by 10 and strecthed it to 12 at the half. In the third they were up by 22. Even the dreaded 4th quarter started well. For the first 11 minutes the Bulls were never closer than 7 points. And then came the final 12th minute.

Up by 10 with 42 seconds to go, the Wizards decided to miss their free throws, while an unknown Bull's benchwarmer went on a 3-point shooting spree. It drove me nuts! And finally when the Wizards were up by 3 with 10 seconds left, the Wizards fouled Kirk Hinrich and he missed BOTH free throws.... but got the rebound for the second miss to the benchwarmer, Pargo... and he drained a three. Tie game, 5 seconds to go.

I thought at best overtime, and maybe the Wizards could take advantage of all the Bulls with 5 fouls left. But they didn't need it. Amazingly, after going 4-for-a gazillion, Gilbert Arenas calmly sank a 14 footer with two Bulls in his face and no time left. Just drained it... all net. And with that the Wizards take a 3-2 series lead with a 112-110 win over the Bulls.

Talk about ups and downs.

"Loose him, and let him go"

It seems people are rediscovering animals everywhere! Now its three snails in Alabama. (btw, Edward Abbey and friends might be quick to point out the section in the article that says: Many [snails] were lost as dams were built along the Coosa River from 1917 to 1967, when it became a series of reservoirs.)
In case you are wondering... and I was... They are called Lazarus taxon. It refers to any taxon (species, genus, etc.) which has seemingly become extinct and then "return." The ivory billed woodpecker can be considered one of these Lazarus taxons. It also refers to other species which 'skip' period fossil records.

buried treasures and more

You might have heard the story of the guys who were digging in their back yard and found a bunch of old money and such? Of course it sounded a little fishy (in hindsight ALOT fishy) but you were willing to maybe believe, weren't you? Well believe no more... those doofuses didn't find it... they just stole it on a job site. You see these geniuses are roofers and decided to make up the buried treasure story. Why not just keep quiet and not attract all the attention they got? Well, because they're stupid... when they could have just shown up to an Antiques Roadshow with a little bit of the loot? who knows... stunningly idiotic.

woodpecker redux

So a few years ago i wrote (on my older bitterspider.com site) about the supposedly extinct ivory billed woodpecker. I wrote about how i wanted to go to the Louisiana bayous and take a camera and hope to get extremely lucky. Well, i made it to Louisiana and its bayous but I never had the opportunity to look for it... which seems to be a good thing because apparently i would have been a few hundred miles to far south. The AP is reporting sightings in Arkansas. It's always cool to hear that an animal might not be extinct... gives ya hope somehow.

richest zips

Check out the richest zip codes in america (if you don't like reading here is the list by itself). Anyways, I'm willing to bet none of them are your zip code. Not surprisingly, the top 4 are all in California: just south of San Fran (Atherton), just north of San Diego (Rancho Santa Fe), and just north (Montecito) and just south (Newport Beach) of LA. California actually has 18 of the top 30. New York has 3 zips in the top 30 all within about an hour of NYC (one being Tribeca, in Manhattan). Connecticut and New Jersey each have 2 zips, again all near NYC. Nevada's 2 zips are both along Lake Tahoe. And finally my surprise of them all: the great state of Maryland has 2 zip codes: Gibson Island, a gated island on the Chesapeake just north of Annapolis; and Stevenson, a northwest suburb of Baltimore. I'ld have never guessed.

(And in case you are counting and wondering the zip I left out of the top 30 is in Miami Beach, FL)

ummm yeah...

so if you are squemish, you might want to stop reading right about now.

now, since you are still reading don't say i didn't warn you: check out this "body modification" called corset piercing. it's kinda hard to explain... so i'll let the pics do the explaining. i dunno why it intrigues me, it just does. its a cool look if not exactly pleasant to look at...

dolly sods

so just in case you didn't believe that i went to dolly sods, west virginia... the proof is in nick's photos from the trip.

a quick run through of the trip to explain the pics: drove there friday afternoon. car camped that night at primative (ie. hole in the ground toilet and muddy well water) campground. woke up sat morning (thats the pick of my head coming out of the tent). got a flat tire that morning. put donut on car and tried to make it back to town. donut went flat. got stuck in the middle of nowhere with 2 flat tire and no working cell phone. amazingly got a ride back into town with busted tire, got a new tire. even more amazingly finagled (thanks to pamela) a ride back to the van. finally got on the trail and had an abbreviated, yet awesome, hike.

the simpsons...

(from forevergeek) check out a real life version of the simpsons house. its cool, but makes me think of something that would really suck unless done exactly right... a live action simpsons movie.

yeah... very questionable...

free stuff

its that time of year again... ben and jerry is giving away a free scoop of ice cream today from 12-8. if you live in the dc area (or an area with an equally nice day) this couldnt have been timed better.

back in the saddle again

you would think i was busy or something, considering i havent said a word in almost a week. anyways im headed to dolly sods this weekend so im surely not posting at least until sunday night.

my happiest moment on thursday? well attending the Nationals win on opening night of course... a little behind it was finding out about yahoo's new beta news site. (thanks once again to ForeverGeek.com) i might have said it before, but ill repeat it... i love reading yahoo and google's news feeds and something new is always exciting. ill tell you if there's anything that stands out.

maps and maps and more

remember that cool new feature for google's map service? well someone just made it way cooler by combining it with the craig's list for real estate rental and sales. Check it out, it's seriously awesome.

have a seat

So if you've ever booked a flight online, you might have done it on a site that allows you to pick your seat. It was a nice feature, but SeatGuru.com is now making it an awesome feature. The site tells you which are the best seats on practically every airline's planes. For instance, one thing i learned was that on all jetBlue planes the seats in rows behind the wings have an extra 2 inches of legroom... good to know. (thanks ForeverGeek.com)

oh and on a side note... i'ld like to introduce you to your first place Washington Nationals.

Mona Lisa, men have named you

If you had been to the Louvre in the past you of course went to see what is arguably the most famous piece of art in the world, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. And if you were like me you were probably severely disappointed. It was pretty small and displayed in rather common and (understandibly) crowded room. To make matters worse it sat at least 3 or 4 feet deep into the wall in a dark climate controlled booth. An excellent way to protect her, but not exactly the best viewing circumstances.

But it seems that has changed now. She has a new 'sitting' place at the Louvre. And it looks like she's much more viewable now.

i'm in!

Online registration for the 2005 Marine Corp Marathon begins today. This is a popular marathon and it fills up quick, so if you had planned on it... register now!

I've registered, paid the $85 fee (plus $4.95 service charge), and am currently lightly running. That is to say, I'm only running about 15-20 minutes every other day. Which is not marathon training, but I'll get to a decent pace by the end of this month... i'll update my progress later this month.

the coming glory of the olives

Pope John Paul the Great (I definitely agree with calling him this) will be buried on the same day as a solar eclipse. This fits in perfectly if you believe in St. Malachy's Prophecy of the Popes. (The entire prophecy list can be seen here)

maps galore

so google adding satellite photos to their map service is the big news in blogland. but i still prefer microsoft's terraserver because its resolution is much better (at least half a meter in big cities), and it doesnt cost you anything (unlike google's awesome keyhole program, which is free for 7 days but then $30 to keep running).

it is nice that you can toggle back and forth from map and sat image, and that you can click and drag the image... but just checkout the difference in resolution in these photos of the washington monument from google (you'll have to zoom in once to get the closest image) and terraserver.

vegas baby, vegas!

so i saw sin city, and i'm just not as into it as everyone seems to be. it's not bad, but it's just not that good. the cinematography is very true to its comic book roots, which is actually pretty interesting. but the plot is rather mundane... oh well, i must be getting old or something.

Do not be afraid...

I was christened Juan Pablo on the 30th of October in 1976. Slighty less than 2 years later Pope John Paul I succeeded Pope Paul VI. Then only 8 days after my second birthday John Paul I died, and as a tribute to him the suceeding Pope Karol Wojtyła took the name John Paul II. It has never been lost on me that we share this name.

You are probably aware that the Supreme Pontiff passed away today, April 2nd. There is very little I can say to explain my feelings aside from saying that this world has lost a true father today.

John Paul II

so apparantly there might be some truth to the story that the guy who tried to kill the pope in 1981 was saying. (he claimed that the bulgarian secret service offered to pay him to kill the pope) According to recently found east german documents the KGB ordered the Bulgarian Secret Service to kill the pope.

sad day

so this seriously sucks... mitch hedberg is dead. he was one of the few truly funny commedians that just didn't make it that big. which was good for his fans because it was easy to see him live.

he was supposed to play at the baltimore improv this weekend... just sad...

apple issues

ok so now i've got issues. remember how i was going to wait to get a new mac (mac mini, powerbook, ibook... or maybe even an iMac G5). well, at amazon.com if you buy before april 5th (right before mac os x tiger is released) you can get between $100 (12" iBook) , $150 (14" iBook w/ComboDrive) and $200 (17" powerbook w/SuperDrive) back in a mail-in rebate....

oooh and look what i found while looking around amazon: the 17" iMac G5 (1.8 Ghz w/SuperDrive) is already discounted $100 down to $1399 (no rebate needed!).

and dont forget to check Apple's refurb store which is unusually chock full of stuff now.

so is guess the issue stands at: is getting tiger later, worth the $100-$200 off?

my "woah!" moment of the day

so this news story got me to say "WOAH!" outloud: Johnnie Cochran died of a brain tumor today... crazy huh?

crazy pennies

i always do this.

after i see things like this, i say to myself "hey! i want to try that." but i never do... i guess i just don't want to look for all those pennies.

get 'em tiger

as noted on forevergeek.com, mac os tiger is now available for pre-order from amazon. I would get it but i'm actually planning on getting a new mac (and with new mac comes new os.) according to think secret tiger will be ship (be in stores?) by april 15th, so ill just wait til then to get the new mac mini... or maybe ill just shell out for a new laptop.

travesties and huge eggs

what better way to start easter weekend than with news of a 12 year old pummeling the easter bunny. it seems that last week a kid decided the easter bunny needed a beating, and the fellow in the suit was, understandibly, none too happy about it. im just surprised that it happened in Michigan and not Philadelphia (where a few years ago, Santa Claus was booed at Veteran's Stadium.)

oh and if that got you down this might help ya feel better... a picture of a giant chocolate easter egg.

idol revote

unlike the last 2 presidential elections and the washington gubernatorial election, american idol has decided to revote in the face of controversy. well actually they messed up... but so what, its still interesting.

i can't help myself

so i wasn't going to talk about terry schiavo. the republican grandstanding and pandering was just too obvious, too easy a target. but when i read this i had to link to it. it seems that if the same case had occurred in texas, terry schiavo would have had the right to die according to her wishes along time ago. why? well, in texas there is in essence a right to die law. And who signed that bill into law? None other than former Texas governor George W. Bush. Is the term flip-flop too apparent?

De Lorean

John DeLorean has died.

If you don't know who John DeLorean is you either know his car or you didn't grow up in the 80s. You might remember his company, the De Lorean Motor Company (DMC), from it's inauspicious existence and eventual demise after De Lorean's arrest for drug trafficking. But you are more likely to reconized his company's only manufactured car, simply known as the De Lorean. It became famous for starring as the time travel machine in the "Back to the Future" movies. Any self-respecting child of the 80s should wants one of these cars in his/her garage.

idol redux

so i had stopped watching idol. that's not to say i didn't follow it, i just didn't watch. it had gotten to the point where the judges just commented, america decided who stays and whose "journey ends here." i guess i just had no faith in america.

America started off well though, voting off decidedly uninspiring contestants like judd, jared, joseph, and melinda (she was so forgetable i had to look her up). Last week they came down to the final 12. And I couldn't really disagree with who America picked. After a strange happening, with Mario inexplicably leaving and being replaced by Nikko, this week arrived with America deciding who went home regardless of sex.

And since she doesn't have hordes of teenage girls voting for her, Lindsey is headed home tonight. I wouldn't say she deserved to win it all (like i thought when I first saw her) but she most certainly is a better singer than at least Constantine, Anthony, and Nikko (although Nikko might be considered a better entertainer). oh well... hopefully the 'Constatine vote' and the 'Anthony vote' don't actually get a constistantly good singer kicked off the show early.

oh and finally my favorite moment of wednesday night's show came during a commercial: "Coca Cola with lime, it's lime flavored Coke!"

why no post

so i've decided to start doing something i used to do on the old site... which is to post lyrics from songs that i've been listening to. sorta like a small window into my state of life, mind, smell, flavor, body temperature, shoe size, caloric intake, etc.

lyrics

going home, i've done enough to sow my little name
going where the fields are green and i can do my macrame
a buffoon fumblin' without a clue, who likes to shift the blame
And often feels betrayed, there's gonna be some changes made

- bruce hornsby
gonna be some changes made

return of the lyrics

i got two tickets to iron maiden, baby
come with me friday, dont say maybe
i'm just a teenage dirtbag baby like you

- wheatus
teenage dirtbag

supreme descision

so im definitely happy about the supreme court barring excecution of juveniles. what i find intersting is that it was a 5-4 decision. it is amazing how split this country (and the court) is. 5-4. the same margin which killed al gore's bid to hand count the florida election.

Hilary, Hilary, Hilary...

So much talk about Hilary and little did we know it should have all been about two time oscar winner, Hilary Swank. I never thought i'ld ever be able to say that and not be lying. Now I haven't seen 'Million Dollar Baby' but of what I've seen of her acting I am surprised. I saw parts of 'Boys Don't Cry' and thought her acting was average at best. And I faithfully watched the 4th installment of The Karate Kid staring our fair herione, and needless to say she stank. I just don't get it.

Oh and Jamie Foxx in 'Ray?' He was much better in 'Collateral.' I finished watching 'Ray' and thought Foxx played Ray Charles as the most uncharismatic and one sided celebrity ever.

That 'Aviator' didn't win anything that involved acting or the storyline. Which both sucked... maybe I was just to adverse to Leonardo. (Espcially since I have to admit that Cate Blanchett's performance as Katherine Hepburn was pretty good.) That 'The Incredibles' won for best animated feature film, but that was almost a given (I even thought it should have been nominated for best picture). And finally that 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' won for best original screenplay.

Btw, I didn't watch the Oscars because I was on my way back from NYC. But I probably wouldn't have paid much attention to them anyways and it would have been a good thing. Tom Shales (a writer who I respect) wrote in the Post that Chris Rock was "strangely lame and mean-spirited." I think I've already given my 2 cents about him (Great comedian, AWEFUL actor) and I think this just proves it.

lost and found

so go to Unclaimed.org and look in the states you have lived and see if there is a check waiting for you... old feature, but this site nicely compiles all the states for you.

fits of dispair

Joel Achenbach writes in his blog this morning about the snow that is now falling in our uneven city and about Hunter S. Thompson.

Now I never really understood Thompson's writings and I would be inclined to yell "the emperor has no clothes." But that would just be ignorant, especially since I never truly tried to understand his writings. Honestly, there were a few lines here and there that I enjoyed but as a whole I really didn't get it. Anyways, towards the end of his post Achenbach said, "Life is so damn interesting, I can't stand the thought of anyone feeling so much despair that they don't want to see the rest of the show."

So it got me thinking: was Thompson's suicide a result of his "despair?" He had been suffering through some ailments but, as Achenbach noted, Thompson had expressed that he had already lived the life he wanted. I might be talking crazy, but it's not like Hunter S. Thompson was really all that normal. Maybe he became tired of waiting and took it upon himself to see what was next. I would think this would be rather easy without a belief in a higher law. (Implication aside, I'm not trying to suggest that this was the case with Thompson. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't.) I guess if you think there is no plan and things just don't seem to be moving on their own... once you get impatient, there isn't much there to stop you. Not even a snowy evening.

batter up

According to the Washington Post, Bush says attacking Iran is "simply rediculous." yeeaaah, so pretty much Bush has painted himself into a corner. Either he talks tough (State of Union) and doesn't walk it or he will have to live up to being simply rediculous.

watching idol pt. 2

so things are crazy... anwar robinson sung "moon river." april put it best when she said "before coming out he must have thought, 'crap i picked the wrong song.'" but after recovering right at the end, all the judges loved it. am i crazy? he seriously was all over the place on that song. and then anwar smiled stunned face with his eyes wide open like he was getting lasik surgery trying to not blink... its sorta the same look i had the whole time he was singing.

judd harris was better than average but thats not saying much considering how all they guys have sung. interesting song.

joseph morena is next. and he's reminding me a karaoke bar. a good singer, but just not great. oh uh... he just stood up. and shalise made the best comment, "he's got a big mouth." yeah, thats right. simon put it best "it gets you there, but its not really exciting."

the final singer of the night is mario vasquez. and he can sing. and picked a good lively song. and simon was entirely correct in saying "not the best vocal performance."

oh well the ladies are up tomorrow.

watching idol

so im watching idol, and i thought ozzie smith's kid did okay... until i heard the rest of them. bo bice (april's favorite) totally surprised me... he picked the perfect song which helped. aside from them no one else was memorable. its fun to watch simon squirm after jared yates. and simon was right, yates sucked.

off to commercials now...

idol theories

My main issue with this past week's Americal Idol was that Jaclyn Crum went home. Not that she was better than Amanda Avila (neither should have gone home), but she definitely had more potential than a few of the older singers with good, but not great, and developed voices that got through.

My biggest problem was the whole farce of asking Jaclyn and Amanda if they went home, would they try again. (Jaclyn said yes, Amanda said no.) If I had any Hollywood clout I would go out and sign Jaclyn RIGHT NOW, if only to ruin the AI producers plan of bringing her back for next season. There is no reason she should have to go through the whole process again, she is talented and could easily be groomed into the teen idol mold.

But in my big conspiracy theory mind, I keep thinking they are going to bring a few contestants back this year... and my plan (of trying to sign Jaclyn) would suss that out. And if she signed and stank up the joint (first, there would go my theory) it wouldn't be that bad. It couldn't be that risky to sign her for cheap, get her to do a record or two, and market her as the girl would shouldn't have been kicked off American Idol. I'm SURE that that plan would be worth at least a few thousand records sold.

tacky becomes expensive

So you know the joke... tacky painting = dogs playing poker. Well "A Bold Bluff" by Cassius Marcellus Coolidge sold for $590,400 at auction. Thats more than half a MILLION dollars! But to be honest if I had that kind of money to throw around, I would have paid that much too... sad.

oh and in other news, my plan to take over the world with robotic monkeys has taken a step forward.

westminster part 2 - and the winner is...

'Carlee' a German Shorthaired Pointer. Im glad that one of dogs in my list of favorites won. There's been a dearth of Best in Show winner in the breeds that I like. You'ld have to go back to 1986 when another Pointer won. Before that the only winners of 'my type' have been a German Shorthaired Pointer in '74, a Whippet in '64, a Bulldog in '55, Pointers in '32 and '25, a Bull Terrier in '18 and finally another Bulldog in 1913. (I know, I'ld be a terrible judge always picking a Bulldog.) Strangely a Retriever has never won. Terriers, Poodles and Spaniels seem to be the most popular. Oh well...

(Edit: Added the Bull Terrier in 1918)

westminster

The 129th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is now airing on the USA Network. There are 3 new breeds in the show this year: The Glen of Imaal Terrier, The Black Russian Terrier, and (the breed made popular Harry Potter) The Neopolitan Mastiff.

The best in breed and best in group for the working, terrier, toy, and non-sporting groups happened yesterday. The best in breed and best in group for sporting, hound and herding groups is happening right now. And tonight? Best in Show!

So anyways my fav dogs? Well if you know me at all, obviously the Bulldog (and French Bulldog). I also like the Boston Terrier and the Shiba Inu in the non-sportings. The Bull (and Mini Bull) Terrier in the Terrier group. The Italian Greyhound in the toys. In the working group I really like the Great Dane, probably because of Scooby Doo.

It gets complicated when we get to the Sporting and Hound group because I love them all!

In the Sporting group I LOVE Pointers and Retrievers. But if I had to pick one, I would have to go with the Chesapeake Bay Retriever (sorry chocolate labs! oh and note that I think thats the first somewhat longer haired dog I've mentioned.) Also in that group I LOVE the Vizla and Weimaraner.

In the Hounds its even worse because I just can't pick one. I love the greyhound and whippet look (I mention the Italian earlier). And the Basset Hound and Bloodhound are just to cute and droopy. The "Hot Dog" Dachshund and Beagle are classics. Finally, there is just something enticing about the ridge on a Rhodesian Ridgeback.

what is in a name

so i know im all late (in posting and with this link) but who cares.

if you haven't already, check out the Baby Name Wizard's NameVoyager. (and then click on "Launch NameVoyager")

just type in a name and see how popular it has been in the last 100 years. my name has been pretty popular (of course) but it is not as popular now as it was in the 1920s.

pseudo-politics

i hate politicians.

whenever i get a cold or feel a cold coming on, i use 'advil cold and sinus.' and i use it because of it has pseudoephedrine. it is an excellent decongestant... and unfortunately it is a key ingredient in the making of methamphetamine. anyways oklahoma wants to keep track of people who buy pseudoephedrine and specifically those who buy more than 9 grams per month. so that got me thinking and i pulled out my calculator. the normal amount is 30mg of pseudoephedrine per tablet, capsule, etc. boxes usually come in either 20-24 and 40-48 tablets, capsules, etc. 9 grams is about 6 or 7 of the big boxes. not that i would buy that many normally, but what if i did? what if they went on sale? what if i had a big family? its just messed up that the government would keep tabs on things like this.

eagles and pats, oh my

so i'm quite proud of myself. i thought the patriots would win, and so i picked the eagles to win. and my reverse jinx worked. the eagles lost. hehe. it was a little weird that the eagles were just a touchdown away from actually making the score 28-24.. which would have fulfilled my half baked, jinx inducing prediction.

the interesting thing about this game was that i watched the eagles play the redskins a few months ago. and i saw the eagles drive the same way they did at the end of the super bowl to score against the redskins. they were in no hurry, and the were very disciplined. but they were winning 10-7! and it was the 3rd quarter!

this time around there were 5 minutes left and they were down by 10. what were they thinking!? wasting all that time they practically forced themselves to try that weak onside kick. and honestly i did not agree with chris collinsworth, joe buck and troy aikman that they HAD to go for. and thats not just hindsight, i said it when the eagles scored, i thought kicking it away would have been a good option.

anyways, i still think donovan mcnabb is overrated... it was only in this last year that he got his completion rate anywhere near a respectable level and he still threw a third of his throws at receiver's feet. and i'll say it again: they would have had a better chance if mcnabb would have threatened to run. the reason it never really worked in the past was because all you had to do was play mcnabb to run. his throwing was awful and his recievers werent that much better. but now with owens, you had to respect that.... and that would have made for some great runs. but i guess his image of wanting to be a 'real quarterback' was more important than winning a super bowl.

what's on the radio

okay so i'm posting this mainly because i always need it and it takes me for ever to find it.

wanna know what is playing or just played on your local radio station? check out Yes.net

gas pump loophole

a few months ago i decided to start turning off the gas pump at the console thingy and not at the nozzle pump. i figured il'd get all the gas that had been measured... including what was left in the hose. since it would have already been measured and i would already been charged for it. (i know thats weird reasoning because you get that gas from the last person who pumped if that makes sense). but anways, i soon noticed something interesting:

on some pumps the gas kept coming out (albeit slowly) even tho the meter had stopped registering. i think this is a common problem with some gas pumps. the trick is you HAVE to turn off the pump at the "nozzle holding area" (if that makes sense) while the handle on the nozzle is being squeezed and gas is being dispensed. (so that means you can't wait until the automatic shut off clicks on, or else it makes it a little harder.)

if you don't know what i mean by "nozzle holding area", im talking about the place where the handle/nozzle thing waits while no one is getting gas. normally there is either a giant switch looking thing (that you have to 'turn on' to activate the pump) or there is a flap on a spring inside the holder which is released when the nozzle is taken off the holder. you either have to push in the flap or flip the switch to stop the pump.

the last thing to keep in mind is kind of obvious... don't let go of the pump handle. once you let go of the handle it stops dispensing all together. anyways the result on most gas pumps is that the gas will slowly keep coming out.

finally, don't forget: this would be stealing if it isn't just what is 'left in the hose.' but it really doesn't seem to be that... so don't go stealing gas! i just thought it was an interesting obervation, and i guess some gasoline companies should probably be aware of (or made aware of) this issue.

idols are bad right?

so i've always liked american idol, but i think im finally getting into the competition aspect of the show. i always enjoyed watching the preliminary auditions to see the obviously bad singers, the bad singers who thought they were good, and the good singers try-out. but i always lost interest after it was just a competition between 20 or so good singers.

last year was the worst because some, comparatively, terrible singers got into the final 10 and final 5. then there was even the time when the 3 best singers were put into the bottom 3 and "america" picked who was sent home. it was a joke!

anyways here are my picks for who i like: the fat white guy who sounds like harry connick jr... his name is scott savol. i also like the green/purple haired girl who sang phantom of the opera... her name is briana davis. and the pretty girl singer who sounds like she smokes too much... i forget her name. we'll see how well they do..

super bowl prediction time

im not really into predicting games without being able to give an if/then clause to my prediction... so here goes. if donovan mcnabb rushes for more than 75 yards, the eagles will win. mcnabb seriously needs to stop thinking he is not a running quarterback and start to run. he hasn't done it for awhile and now would be an excellent time to start. the only caveat is that bill belicheck and his crew aren't idiots and should have the patriot defense ready for it. which is why i think the patriots are going to win. and since i like going against myself my official pick for the super bowl is... the phildelphia eagles over the new england patriots: 28-24.

childhood memories

i was having myself a bowl of golden crisp and had a childhood memory: i used to always find golden crisp (and its kellogg equivalent "smacks") stuck to my socks. i dunno what it was but those little guys were sticky as a crap!

on the wire

so i think ive mentioned before that i really like PoliticalWire.com. over there i found this interesting new york post article assessing the situation back in 1967, when South Vietnam held elections amid vietcong attacks. Sounds very much like the medias assessment of sunday's elections in Iraq doesn't it?

the corpse bride

it has been almost 12 years since tim burton released "The Nightmare Before Christmas." if you haven't seen, please, do yourself a favor and watch it. not only is it a great story, it has awesome stop-motion animation. and did i mention it is musical too? (which makes me wonder why broadway hasn't done a musical... maybe because it is seasonal theme?) i own and thoroughly enjoy the soundtrack. considering im not a musical fan, that is a feat.
anyways, tim burton is releasing another animated movie called "The Corpse Bride." You can see the trailer over at the Apple site. The interesting thing is that he is directing this film (He only produced "The Nightmare..." and 1996's "James and the Giant Peach") I'm already digging the tidbit of a plot...

freddy a-who?

so freddy adu was 14 when he was signed with dc united. and now there is a 9 year old in brazil who teams like manchester united are looking at. nine!!!! he was born in 1995!

hungry hungry hippo

so a storm is coming our (dc) way and i know you wanted to know where you could get a giant $3,000 hippo statue. well i found it for you! and shipping is only 3 dollars...

flip flop

i told you it would happen. Bush back tracked from him stance on gay marriage, and now he's a few christian fundamentalist mad at him.

why you gotta wait to buy a gun

i seriously hate that piano playing political comedian dude. what else can i say besides that?

cover me, give me shelter from the storm

So cover songs are... well unique. If you know what i mean. To me they fall in three categories: 1. Good, and on a rare occasion better, versions of the original (The Jimi Hendrix version of Bob Dylans's "All Along the Watchtower" and a bunch of songs one doesn't even realize are covers because the originals are obscure) 2. A little too much like the original version, so really they're for fans of the band doing the cover (The Dixie Chicks version and Smashing Pumpkins version of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide") and 3. Those that just plain suck (In essence, the rest.) Alot of times they suck on purpose and other times im just not sure.

Anyways, Coverville.com posts some interesting cover versions of songs. On a recent post they had rock versions of Britney Spears and Shania Twain songs. One (Toxic by Local H click on the scary picture) was... particularly.... ummm.... interesting shall we say.

everybody was peep fighting

so we we're discussing peeps and i brought up peep jousting. and i looked it up to to show people the joys of peep jousting. and then i noticed that the guy who did peep jousting started off with peep fighting. very interesting indeed.

fill in the blank.

afghanistan, iraq, and then ____? if you read between the lines with the help of the new yorker magazine, iran is next. would bush spread the military so thin? who knows?

remember la bamba?

so the Villanova Basketball Team and the Los Angeles Lakers both had scares while traveling in planes... odd coincidence dont you think?

el hfs-ol!

so the title might not make much sense but who cares... WHFS is no longer alt rock! and that is funny! it appears the owners of WHFS have decided to make it a spanish music station. EVEN Funnier! now they are bEl Zol! heheh oh my, i dont know why that cracks me up, but it does. maybe its because they stopped playing good music a long time ago... right around the time they started playing eminem. some would say it began earlier, and i wouldn't argue with that. theres just something poetic about a radio station that says it plays alternative music and then plays popular stuff.

Get your Mac on.

Well, as predicted by ThinkSecret.com, Apple unveiled its under $500 Mac called Mac Mini. They also came out with a new iPod (flash based instead of hard drive) called iPod Shuffle. There are 2 version of the Shuffle: 512KB and 1GB which sell for $99 and $149 respectively.

The Mac Mini is sweet in that it is cheap and small! $500 is awesome for a new Mac and ats 2" tall and 6.5" wide and long it won't take up any room. My main problem is that it smacks of the Mac Cube, which didn't have that good of a run a few years ago (But I think Apple got too ambitious with the Cube and put too much new and not so proven technology, like the touch power button, in the Cube). One of my concerns is that since it is so compact, it looks like it would be hard to upgrade and/or add memory to. I also wish they would have offered a G5 version for about $699.

The iPod Shuffle looks awesome, except that it doesn't have a display. You're just guessing at what is playing, but I guess that just goes along with the name: Shuffle. Plus the tagline is "Life is Random." Pricewise, it is awesome. The only reason why I haven't ordered one online is because i want to see it at one of the many area Apple retail store first.

maps galore

so a few years ago mapquest had a feature that you could see an aerial photo of the map you were looking at. you could see photos of famous monuments, stadiums, etc. you could even see a picture of your house if you lived in a popular enough area. then one day they got rid of it. not cool really. but since then a few sites have put up newer and better version of those with even better resolutions. ive even seen a 3D-ish version. of the normal views, TerraServer is nice.

the bushmiester

so the prez has a new puppy named, miss beazley. i might not be a fan a of the prez, but i sure do like his dogs. so cute!

tsunami damage

check out this before/after aerial picture of Banda Aceh in Indonesia. Scary...

happy new year!

So I finally saw 'The Incredibles' and it was great. I honestly think it deserves an Academy Award Nomination for Best Picture. That might just be a first if it happened... oh and 'Eternal Sunshine' should also get one. I also saw 'The Aviator' and its not bad, but Leonardo DiCaprio's acting killed it. Just not convincing, he has a Keanu Reeves quality to his acting... you know what i mean?

So I'm bashing two 'teenage hearthrob' actors, so now its time to praise one. I definitely respect Johnny Depp not only for his acting but for variety of roles he has taken... but i think I've spoken of that before. Anyways, right before Christmas the Trailer for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory came out. I'm a little concerned because it looks alot like 'The Cat in the Hat' which just tried too hard. Hopefully Johnny Depp can help it not be so contrived.

Finally one of my new year resolutions is to write in here more often... but this time ive got a plan. i used to try and hold my thoughts for a concise post, but now i dont care. ill just post what comes to mind as soon as i can. no waiting.... hopefully that helps.