Softsoap at Safeway almost for free

Safeway has a pretty good deal going on right now. If you have a Safeway card, Softsoap Hand Soap (the one with the pump) is on sale, 10 for $10 (1 dollar per soap). And Colgate (makers of softsoap) have a automatic coupon at Safeway that is: buy 5 items get 5 dollars off. So if you buy the soap in groups of 5, they end up being free... you just pay tax.

I just got 35 at my local safeway for $2.03. Be careful though because for some reason some softsoap don't count towards the colgate 5. I got some of the "Real Moisturizing Lotion", "Lavender & Chamomile", and the plain ones (they look like Aquariums). But for some reason the pink ones didnt work at my local safeway... Read more about it over at Slickdeals.net.

what should we do?

A friend asked me this today, "What would be your solution to the war?" I don't pretend to be well enough informed to give an answer, but I am smart enough to recognize that things aren't working. So what is my solution? Well, I believe Wesley Clark's plan is a start. It obviously isn't complete, but what would you expect in a short op-ed. Sadly he has said more and given more in these 11 paragraphs, than Bush has in the past 3+ years.

a little housecleaning

When I started this superjuan thing a few years ago (almost 5 to be exact), I was explaining it to a former boss. He was southern, from Georgia, and therefore not surprisingly a "no bs, get to the point" kind of guy. His response was, "Oh, a blog."

I remember almost taking offense to it. I remember thinking, "No. I'm not that conceited." To me, it served 2 main purposes. First and foremost it was a journal. I was terrible at writing thoughts down, but I was slightly better at typing them. Second, it was a way to have friends keep up with me if they cared to. The most important aspect was that, as a journal, it reflected my thoughts. I never wanted it to become solely my thoughts on sports. Or my political views.

With that said, I hope I'm not headed in a political direction. I have removed boingboing from my links list and replace it with a site I eagerly wrote of before, the HuffingtonPost. Recently, it has drawn me more than a few of the other sites. And yes, this is probably a direct result of the growing anti-war effort, Bush's 40% and under approval rating, and his insistence on repetition when speaking of the war.

That Panda Needs a Name!

So the little bugger over at the National Zoo seems to have made it long enough to deserve a name. Lo and behold 'we' get to name him. And by 'we' I mean those privileged few people who picked the 5 fairly uninteresting names which everyone else gets to vote for. They should have aleast asked for suggestions to be sent in. Anyhoo just head on over to the National Zoo Cub Naming Site and pick a name from the list.

As for me, I'm going with Tai Shan. The Hua Sheng/Sheng Hua combo is just rediculous, trying a bit too hard to connect him to DC. (Plus if you think about neither should win. Since they are so similar any vote for them should be split between them. Yeah I'm probably thinking a little to political about it, but it makes sense right?.) And do I need to say why Long Shan sucks as a name? Really, no pet should ever be named Long something, it's just... strange. Finally Qiang Qiang is too Panda, if you know what I mean mean. (and thats not a typo)

Oh the Nats!

I've recently found a cool blog concentrating on the Nats. Now I can torture myself even more with a statistical analysis of why the Nats have been tanking for the last 2 months. Like I don't realize by watching and listening to the games that they're sadly underpowered when it comes to hitting.

I least I take solice in this: The pitching rotation needs just one more quality starter to go with my boy #22 and Hernandez. I'm fine with Armas and Ayala as number 4 and 5 starters. The pen is set. And then a couple of big bats and a lead off hitter. You know someone that at least looks like a lead off hitter (sorry Wilks). Really, is that too much to ask for next year?

Movie Recommendation... kind of?

This week's movie recommendation is more of a what to look forward to if you go see The 40 Year Old Virgin. Because I wouldn't go so far as recommending it. If you have nothing better to do, go see it.

Not that it's a bad movie, it's just okay... maybe even good. I'ld put it on par with Wedding Crashers.

Now on to more exciting movie news: the trailer to Sam Mendes's new movie, Jarhead, was recently posted. Mendes, if you don't already know, directed Road to Perdition and American Beauty, two extremely beautifully done movies. Not to mention, American Beauty is one of my favorite movies of all time.

Anyways, I've got lots to say about this movie so I'll leave it for another time. For now go see The 40 Year Old Virgin, if you've got time... at least it's not bad.

How to get out of your Verizon Wireless contract

If you are on Verizon Wireless they are adding a 40 cent fee to you monthly bill. What that means is that since they are changing the terms of your contract you can get out of it and not have to pay the $175 fee. Why would you want to do that?

Well for one you can get a new phone and new plan, with them... or any other carrier for that matter. It especially makes sense if you have a 2 year contract and have more than about 5 or 6 months remaining. It is in essence a chance to get a new phone. You just cancel your old contract and get the new phone/plan. If you want to stay with Verizon you might have to get a new phone number tho.

It seems people who have been trying this have to make a big deal of it with the customer service reps, even talking to supervisors, but it's probably worth it. Maybe even get them to send you a new phone for not cancelling. More on this over at SlickDeals.net.

Movie Recommendation 08/12

I've decided to start recommending movies that I yet to see. And sometimes movies that I have recently seen. Either way you can be pretty certain that I have or will have seen it. This weekends movie: Grizzly Man.

This is a documentary on Timothy Treadwell, the man who lived with the grizzly bears of Katmai National Park in Alaska. Now by 'lived with' I mean during the summer season this guy camped near, photographed, walked up to, and freakishly on occasion touched the bears. He believed himself to be so close to them (apparently, emotionally as well as physically) that he started naming them. Not surprisingly, 2 years ago, one of those bears killed him and his girlfriend. The trailer, linked above, shows an intriguing snippet of this fella including some of his abnormal behaviors.

Nascar, Yeehaw!

So I've never been much of a Nascar fan, and I've never really liked the Earnhardts. I guess the whole 'Intimidator' name/images just didn't appeal to my pacifist nature. Oddly tho, there was something that I liked about Tony Stewart, maybe its because he raced Indy cars. Even though he has a reputation of being as brash as Papa Earnhardt.

Anyways, I found something out yesterday. It seems Junior is a big Redskins fan. And as another big Redskins fan, that makes him awesome in my book. So I guess I'm now a Nascar fan... and a Dale Jr. fan at that.

DC Tax Free Shopping, Sorta...

When I was in Montana during the "Big U Turn" this summer I was excited to find out that there was no sales tax. Needless to say, I ended up buying a few items. And now for the next week, August 6-14, 2005, Tax free shopping has come to DC.

Sadly not everthing is tax free. It only applies to clothing (items must be less than $100), shoes, accessories (jewelry, glasses, watches, belts, gloves, etc.), and school supplies.

DC Restaurant Week

Yet another DC Restaurant Week is here. Check out this site at OpenTable.com to make reservations. If you you're not familiar, This week a lot of restaurants (including some high end ones) in the DC area area having full course meals for $20.05 (lunch) and $30.05 (dinner).

They usually have a list of appetizers, meals, and desserts. You pick from the list and the price is fixed (doesnt include drinks or tip... so dont skimp on the tip). Makes it nice and easy to go to restaurants where you are not familiar and when you're not to sure what you want. In case you are wondering, I'll probably be hitting up one of the seafood places... the ones with the $$$$ next to them.

freaky deaky

Check out this set of color optical illusion. (From Fark.com)

a new planet

so they found a "planet" orbiting the sun farther out and larger than Pluto. So technically it should be the 10th planet. Or the real 9th planet, since some ppl don't think Pluto should be a planet in the first place.

oprah redux

Remember how I pointed out a little while back that if September 8, 1986 meant anything to you Oprah wanted to see you. Well i thought that it was interesting that if you did a yahoo search for "oprah september 8 1976" my entry is the 2nd result. Oh and by doing that search I also found out why that date was important to Oprah. It was the day her nationally syndicated show debuted.

I love Laguna Beach

I just got my first taste of a reality show on MTV called Laguna Beach. Apparantly it is in it's second and it is REDICULOUS. Even thought the disclaimer at the start of the show claims that it is real, there is very little to make it feel like it. It felt like an episode of 90120 where the actors adlibbed the script.

Now I have no illusions that any of the 'reality' shows on TV have any sort of reality aspect to them... but this show is a joke. The characters are all to aware of the cameras. The actresses (because calling them anything else would be disingenuous) look and act like 40 year old married women. All of the blondes look EXACTLY alike. The one named Kristen, seems to be the main character, but most of the time I can't tell which one she is. The camera work and cinematography is just too good (too many angles and too artistic), making things feel even faker. The only clue that any of it is real is the vapid nature and dialogue of the characters. One would hope script writers would be more creative than this.

New Urbanism

I remember first discovering the Kentlands (in Gaithersburg, MD) a few years ago. Driving through it gave me a creepy feeling. Like I was driving through the set of the Truman Show. I come to find out now that I wasn't that far off, it's called New Urbanism. (If you already know this, sorry... I'm late to the party.)

I had thought that Seahaven (Truman's town) was a set made for the movie. Well it's not. It happens to be a real town in Florida called Seaside. Seaside and Kentlands are based on the ideas of New Urbanism.

Now, I don't really know that much about it... and of what I've read, it seems like it has some good idea. But in existence, I just find it creepy. It doesn't feel natural.

Pi Approximation Day

In honor of Pi Approximation Day, I present to you Pi written out to 1,500,000 places. It might take a while to load, if you don't have time here is Pi to 1,000 places.

stuff for $2

Not sure how long this is going to last but Suave will send you 5 full sized products (shampoo, conditioner, hair gel/spray, body lotion, and deodorant) for $1.99 shipped.

maps and maps, oh my

So I've seen bunches and bunches of google map hacks like the craigslist and map measuring hacks. And most of them are pretty cool. But I don't want spend all my writing on the newest google map hack. To make things easy there is the Google Maps Mania Blog which list the newest and coolest hacks out.

success

So if you grew in washington dc you know how crazy this city (or at least the cities news) gets when there is news of baby panda at the zoo. Well here we go again: Mei Ziang had a cub this morning.
The last 5 times there have been cubs they have all died. One even lasted about a week. Well its time for this town to get all giddy and hope this cub's fate is better than Ling-Ling's offspring.