New 'hood

Well we movin' on uuuuuup...

The new hood. Note the nearby airport, golf club, and the south's largest private waterpark. Relations are welcome to visit but must remain well behaved. (Jana and Suzanne and others who know who they are, stop making faces and sticking your teeth out in hillybilly fashion.) Everyone else may proceed in an orderly manner.

Lap of Luxury

Walt Disney World. Aaron in the whirlpool bath.

Redneck Time Out

What'd the duck do?

The testing place is getting a bit rediculous

-----Original Message-----
From: XXXX
Sent: Monday, December 11, 2006 2:24 PM
To: Robert Bullock
Subject: RE: Test this week
Please remember that study aides and cell
phones will need to remain in your POV and not permitted in the testing
area.
--end message--

Wow, my testing aids and cell phone have to be further away each time. First it was on the table about 6-8 feet away at the front of the room (cellphone on silent), then study aids had to be outside the room (cell and PDA still ok on front table) , now it all has to be in my car.

How far away does my car have to be? :)

Get your Online Degree now!

Hilarious. Apparently some people actually believe this is worth the paper it's printed on. "Belford University" offers online degrees for life experience, etc. They’ll even add a major if you pick one they don’t already offer, and a graduation date of your choice, if you need a degree like yesterday. (For a small additional fee.) Frankly, if you're a big enough sucker/lazya$$/id10t to buy this, it's probably the level of diploma you deserve, and the only one you'll ever get. I hear it's a pretty diploma though. From the HoustonPress.com site.

The plight of the regional FO

Plight, not flight.

I told someone at dinner I was starting at TSA next month. 'Cool, do you know your route yet?' ROUTE. Like I'm a paperboy or milkman. That hurt my feelings.

I mean, those guys make *WAY* more money to start than I will.

Amazing

Long story short: multiple people at Verizon cannot figure out the difference between $0.002 and .002 cents.

The rate at Verizon is evidently $0.002, but he was quoted .002 cents. You know, because they just don't get the difference.

The first number being .002 of a dollar. The guy in this recording acknowledges that .5 dollars is not equal to .5 cents but cannot figure out that .002 dollars is different from .002 cents.

And the USA isn't falling behind in math and science?

You REALLY gotta listen to this.

Maybe the guy should have gotten the rep to realize that .002 cents is equal to .00002 dollars.

If this happens to you, should ask for an engineer.

Blogger Beta

I bit the bullet and we're on the Blogger beta. You'll see one new feature: tags. Like this one I'll tag with beta and blogger. Gee whiz.

Seriously, in the future I'll tag my kid stuff with things like 'Aaron' and you can see what that little freak is up to.

Or I'll use 'freak' and then both kids' blog articles will both pop up.

Doggy Jihad!

For no particular reason.

Punk'd Telemarketer

Thanks Paula! This is HILL AIR EEE US! Audio recording of a guy punking a telemarketer.

http://howtoprankatelemarketer.ytmnd.com/

Good advice for pilots

From a thread at propilotworld.com:

"Best advice given to me from a former chief pilot George Childers, God rest his soul, who flew DC6s all over the Pacific in the Navy, then flew for CAL, then was a Fed, then my boss...

...whenever there's new equipment on the property bid the old stuff."

Probably too true.

A Complete Waste of Time part 'n'

http://www.crazygames.com/game/flow

This is a game anyone can play, with 6 sentences for instructions. And you could probably figure those out. Sony made a deal to bring this game to their PS3. It started life (no pun intended---see the game) as a student project. You guide a creature to eat other creatures and 'evolve'. Like a glorified version of 'Snake' that every Nokia cellphone owner has played while waiting to be seated at the restaurant.



Closely related (and a game I'll probably buy--Hope it comes out for the PSP) is "Spore". Love the flash intro. Sorry, this game isn't out yet.

PLEASE NOTE!!

ALIENS ARE COMING TO ABDUCT ALL THE
GOOD LOOKING, SMART, AND SEXY PEOPLE.

YOU WILL BE SAFE,
I'M JUST POSTING TO SAY GOODBYE!!

Shake those tailfeathers!

My daughter. I love her, but I will probably use this in a compilation CD to share with her future boyfriends. Embarrassing payback after the click.

Ah, the bandwidth is clean today!

Everyone's out of town, the bandwidth is clean, and the market is up.

Mac Tweak

The G4 Macs are getting REALLY cheap. I got one with dual 450mhz (overclocked to 500mhz by me) processors, 320M RAM, two video cards, and the better SCSI card for $200. That's pretty far below what they go on eBay.

So of course I moved all the good parts from my single 500Mhz G4. :) It's for sale cheap. I'd be ok with $125. All you need is a mouse and for that I like the Microsoft Optical wheel mouse. Works great with the Mac, no drivers required.

So anyway, thirsty for even more speed, today I overclocked the video card (Geforce II). 12% faster core speed, 14% memory speed seems stable. Might try to squeeze a bit more from the core. Also updated to a later ROM.

Tip: My initial speed of 215mhz RAM speed was too high. Disconnecting the video monitor cable made the card drop to it's lowest res, and allowed me to go long enought without a kernel panic to reflash the lower speed. I'm guessing the lower res didn't push the memory as hard. I'm at 225 core, 210 RAM if you're interested.

In the G4 towers, the cards have a huge 5" or so fan blowing on them, so they stay nice and cool.

So, if you've wanted to try a Mac, they're CHEAP with the new Intel stuff out there, and I use it more often than my newer 2.53Ghz PC. Mac has 1024 RAM, the PC 768, and the Mac is so much faster except the video speed, hence the overclock. A little bit snappier now.

Cleaning up

You find the *COOLEST* stuff cleaning up. At least you do at my house.

"But I can't see with the blast shield down!"

Packing

That's right, Oklahoma City has sent us packing. We're moving to Houston in about a month.

Merry Christmas!

I'm behind the power curve, as it's almost Thanksgiving! What is up? I know it gets earlier every year, but MAN it seems like stores and people were putting up Christmas stuff at or in some cases before Halloween ths year. When are we going to combine it into Halgivmas?

Submit your combined holiday names below.

Two new Good Shows on TV: expect at least one cancellation

30 Rock will probably make it. This is a show created by SNL's Tina Fey. Soooo much funnier than SNL, maybe because it isn't live. They can do it and edit it until it's right. Tina Fey, Tracy Morgan, and Alec Baldwin are hilarious. You can download a *free* copy of it from itunes. I'm watching the "Jack-Tor" episode now, and this line from Alec to Tina is gold: "If you were any other woman on earth....I would be turned on right now."



The other good one is "Underfunded" from USA. I'd like to say that this network really has some quality shows. "Monk", "Psych", and "Underfunded" are all solid, and all are on my TiVo. "Underfunded" has a great tag line: "Canadian Secret Service...yes, we have one too." Set your TiVo now.

The Beeb

See what the Brits buy with their tax dollar? While I'm not in favor of more taxes, it looks like they put some neat stuff up. As I understand it, the BBC gets a lot of its proceeds from the TV tax. Any o' you limeys wanna comment?

From an email I got, so it'll have some references to forwarding it on. I'm sure he has no problem with placing it on my site.

The first part is available on Ben Stein's Website. Lots of good stuff there.

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on
CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.
Herewith a few confessions from my beating heart: I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important?
I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is either, and I do not care at
all about Tom Cruise's wife.
Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if
I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica
are.
If this is what it means to be no longer young. It's not so bad.
Next confession:
I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish.
And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those
beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel
threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are:
Christmas trees.
It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas"
to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me
in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all
brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't
bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key
intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche,
it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.
I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't
think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I
think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed
around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America
is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution,
and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.
Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from
that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to
worship God as we understand Him?
I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too.
But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and
Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.
In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh,
this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not
funny, it's intended to get you thinking.
Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and
Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something lik e this Happen?"
(regarding Katrina)
Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response.
She said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are,
but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get
out of our government and to get out of our lives.
And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed
out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection
if we demand He leave us alone?"
In light of recent events..terrorists attack, school
shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she
was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want
prayer in our schools, and we said OK.
Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school . the
Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your
neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.
Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children
when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped
and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed
suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we
said OK.
Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience,
why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to
kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.
Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can
figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE
SOW."
Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder
why the world's going to hell.
Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what
the Bible says.
Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread
like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord,
people think twice about sharing.
Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely
through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the
school and workplace.
Are you laughing?
Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it
to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe,
or what they will think of you for sending it.
Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think
of us than what God thinks of us.
Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard
it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought
process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is
in.
My Best Regards .. honestly and respectfully,
Ben Stein

Quit bugging me to donate!!!

Ok, let's get a few things straight. Rob isn't the grinch, and he donates to all sorts of charities: my church, Combined Federal Campaign, Prevent Blindness, Vietnam Veterans, the change pot of the day at 7-11 (Children's Miracle Network, etc.), the firemen with the boot at the interesction, and probably some I'm forgetting.

But I wish they wouldn't call ALL THE TIME! Prevent Blindness and Vietname Vets seem to call every week. Listen guys, I don't go through my closets and piles of stuff that often.

How about an EMAIL? That wouldn't bother me at all. Heck, include a contact number so when I AM ready to donate again, I'll call you.

Fair enough?

Hold on, this blog may accelerate or decelerate suddenly

This bugs me: "Political objectives can be categorized as either unlimited or limited. Unlimited political objectives are usually positive, ethically clear-cut, and easily explained (for example, ridding the world of Hitler)."

Is the author implying that 'ridding the world of Hitler' was one of the major causes of or justifications of, our entry into WWII?

Wasn't it Pearl Harbor that really drew us into the war in a larger way than providing arms to Britain and other countries?

Getting rid of Hitler was of course the right thing to do. (Well, getting rid of the regime at any rate, as there have been arguments that Hitler wasn't the greatest military leader and so 'helped' the Allies' cause whereas someone else might have been more competent.)

Further more, now the spinster can make the comparison between a popular war (WWII) and removing a dictator (Hitler) and an unpopular war (according to the media anyway) the Global War on Terrorism and another dictator (Saddam). It's over-simplified for one thing: "Well, if going into WWII was the right thing to do, then the GWOT is the right thing to do."

I think comparing Hitler/Germany and Saddam/Iraq is a little more complicated than that. Have Americans become more or less discerning since WWII?

I just hate the spin is all I'm saying. Tell it like it is. I'm not making a judgment call here, so that makes me a better journalist than some guys on Fox news.

Food for thought: We still have troops and bases in Europe, Southeast Asia, and Okinawa as a result of WWII and the Korean War. So now how long do you think we'll have troops in the middle east?

I'm not judging, I'm just saying. Something to think about.

Yeah we went from Cheech Marin to socio-political issues. I told you to hang on.

How I met Cheech Marin

There I was, just hired at Trans States Airlines, walking to my gate in St. Louis' airport. Here comes Cheech Marin walking the other way. No big deal, carrying a bag on his shoulder. I'm dressed in a nice knit collar shirt, biz cazh--not crazy fan wear. I smiled and pointed and (not wanting to make a scene) said "Hey, it's you!". He mumbles a little bit; waves. "Do you have like ten seconds for a picture?" Mumble mumble..no sorry... Over my shoulder: "Well at least I'll have a story to tell". Mumble mumble...moves on. This whole deal was in passing, neither one of us stopped, and so we passed.

What I should have done was yelled "Hey it's Cheech from Cheech and Chong!" after he said he didn't have time for a picture. :)

But, I still have the story and my cool factor minus one point for asking for a photo. But ya pretty much gotta at least ask nicely.

Two Funnie. Here me Jon Karry!!

More Stock Tipperooskis

The tippy tip of the day is: Bulltrade.com

I've been investing on their advice, a little intuition, and checking the market daily. You have to be active with them.

I haven't lost money yet, and only have one stock that is currently down, AMD, but they'll be back. Off about 7% so it's not a huge loss.

You'll need a few grand in cash/stock to play effectively. Freetrade.com requires $5000 to start, but only charges $5 per limit trade. I'd do little $1000 or so buys, and avoid short sells until you build a little profit nest egg.

Beat the Rush

Yep, I've done it again this year. With the holiday rush and all, who wants to wait to get sick?

Last year, it was about the 18th of October or so, this year, mmmmmmm...about the 23rd. This offers a number of benefits. First, the bugs aren't up to full strength, so I'm usually sick only a few days. And sometimes the weather is often nice. Would you rather be sick when it's cold and yucko outside (who needs that?) or really gorgeous?

It's that time as gone from kinda chilly and nasty to back to sunny and San Diego--which happens roughly every 45 minutes in Oklahoma about this time of year. (AND in the spring!)

Last year, I got sick in Phoenix, where it was warm and sunny, which is nice, and I'd just started a new job. Employers like that, when you call in sick first thing and get it out of the way.

Then there's my love of all things Hibernol. Bendryl for me should be categorized as a psychoactive substance. Can't stand the stuff. Meth's probably easier to get these days than some cold remedies so I go that goin' for me.

You stay classy.

Get my dork on

Hellz yeah, I'll say it cuz I don't give a D*MN. This is funny. W.A.Y. is at his best when he just nails the material. All my homies think so, or the single wouldn't have hit NUMBER NINE on the charts!



Weird Al's "White and Nerdy" spoofing Chamillionaire's "Ridin' Dirty". Hilarious. His album just debuted at #10 on the Billboard charts. This is his first top 10 single.

Look for 'You're Pitiful' on this website. A free MP3.

America on the decline?

According to Jon Stewart of 'The Daily Show', the answer is no. Proof? Look no further in his estimation than Jimmy Dean Chocolate Chip Pancakes & Sausage on a Stick. Evidently there is also a Blueberry flavor. I'm sorry, but can I just puke now or do I have to eat the sausage/pancake/blueberry contraption?

Thanks to Techspansion for a donation!

Techspansion donated a copy of their Visualhub software so that I could make DVD's of TV for my squadron's troops who are in Iraq. Nice work Tyler! I did have a minor technical issue, but I might have that solved. It stopped after a chapter decode but enabling the option for it to be 'nice' (Unix terminology) and keeping it minimized made it work the third time. It worked nicely, creating a DVD with 11 shows that even played on my Xbox.

Home Run Inn Pizza (frozen) review

ROCKS. This tastes like a neighborhood pizzeria pie. (Because it is.)

Why am I reviewing a frozen pizza? They've been around since 1947. They're doing something right. 'Swhy I bought the pizza. I have a general rule: if they've been cooking the same thing for 50+ years, I'd like a taste. Although White Castle doesn't do much for me....anyway.

The crust is crispy (made on the rack of the oven at about 400 degrees) but about 1/4" thick, the cheese a solid sheet, and it looks like it was handmade; slightly irregular. Bit of a beer/yeast taste to the crust like pizza hut. I might have added a slice of pepperoni or two. Aldi is selling a 1lb 2oz pepperoni for $3.99. Cheese was also available, but please, that's the 89 cent ones you buy for the kids. Check out www.homeruninn.com.

Butterfinger Innards

I've discovered that if you eat candy corn and Reese's Pieces in the correct ratio it tastes just like the inside of a Butterfinger. I think it's a combination of the candy shell, peanut butter, and the corn syrup in the candy corn. I don't consider the candy corn material pumpkins to be an acceptable substitute. While useful in their own right, it's not the same. That is all. Go about your business.

New Job

Well, I got my hand on the next rung of the ladder. Actually, I skipped the 'fly single pilot freight for a while' step, and I'm grateful for it. Ole Rob ain't getting any younger and the career needs a boost. I'll be starting class for Trans States Airlines flying a plane like you see above, the ERJ 145. I start class in St. Louis in January.

Dad's Shelby GT 350 clone on Ebay

You pilots can understand this. He's just started a new job with Aflac (not Ben, the duck) so he's selling his baby for some breathing room. You can eat off this car, it's that clean. My Ebay id is 'neptunecat' and I have a feedback of 231. Only 1 negative in 6 years for a $2.49 ebook I sold. I'll vouch for the 'Stang.

See it:

Ebay Mustang

Props to Flip4Mac

I'd like to thank these folks, particularly Joyce Garrett, for donating a license for their WMV Studio Pro HD so that I can transcode TV for the troops deployed in Iraq. Huge help!

QOTD

After a long day of sorting flight times, paperwork, etc. and having to redo some of it, involving hours of work, and having to fill it all out just so, I'd like to say:

"Please don't confuse me with any more facts."

My own little world has so much more to offer than reality, and they know me there.

My son has his own little world too, but it's populated by him and a multitude of cartoon characters, superheroes, and the like. Keep it that way, son, just don't let anyone else find it or know about it. Unless it becomes a career somewhere down the road. Walt Disney had his own little world too. All that from a mouse.

When technology catches up

It happened while you were sleeping. You've got product A, made better by product B, and then there's a breakthrough. You've always wanted product C integrated with A and B. I'm of talking about waffles, of course. Waffles, A, Syrup, B, would be nice with butter, C but have you ever tried to butter a waffle? Sure, you could melt it, pour it over, but what was really missing was SPRAY butter, or as advertised by Fabio, 'I Can't Believe It's not Butter'. How were we supposed to get a nice even coating of butter in all those holes?!? Now, a nice quick, even coating of butter flavor. I can deal with it not being butter, as you use less, net effect = more healthy. You gotta draw the lines somewhere and as for me, it's sometimes Diet Coke and a burger without Mayo. Here, I stop short of the real butter. And FWIW, Aldi stores right now have some GREAT waffles that totally pwn Eggo. Leggo your Eggo? Gladly, sir.

B-17!

Coolness. Aaron kept calling it a jet. We were taxiing for takeoff, and there's a B-17 on the ramp. Engine shutdown checklist. We took the tour twice. Ya gotta stop. This one will be at Wiley Post Airport in Oklahoma City (technically, Bethany, OK) until Oct 4.

See the CAF's page on the B-17 here.

TSA Fun

The only function of the Suspicious Looking device is to appear as suspicious as possible, whether carried in hand or placed indiscrimately in public places.

Check it. (pun originally not intended, but it's a good one. TSA-Baggage-Check it. Why do I have to keep explaining these things to you??!)

Blazing Saddles

Be still, Taggert; My mind is aglow with whirling transient
nodes of thought...careening through a cosmic vapor of invention.

(I'm still here, just busy.)

Speaking of funny and odd little men...

(see last post for the segue)

What's an asshome?!?

We were driving down the road and some people were cleaning bird nests out of the lettering on the side of their building, you know, the kind that stick out about 6-8 inches, are usually plastic/metal with lighting inside. Aaron remarks on that and wonders if they are going to clean (and this is just how he said it) 'the birds asshome'. At first I heard something else even worse. So, I ask him to clarify. 'You know, birds with a nest in the 's', their 's' home.' Evidently there is a business somewhere on the daily drive to school that has a bird's nest in the letter 's'. Their 'esshome'. So remember parents, don't leap out of your skin next time you hear something that doesn't make sense immediately. And it makes for good bloggin' later.

Puppeeeeees!

Saw it at cute overload which is really a sickening website after a while. Aptly named. A tip of the hat to you, Mr. Cute Overload guy. Real men of jeeeeeenyuuuuusss..... For women and children only.

You know, for kids.

You know, for kids. Those crazy kids and their non DRM'd inferior formats. According to slashdot, it seems vinyl sales are up. Now all we need is a way to make your OWN vinyl record. I think Wicked Lasers should get started. They can 'burn, slash, melt plastic and when your lighter runs dry, it’ll even light up your smoke'. Ah, convergence! A record making cigarette lighter. If you roll your own Doobie on the backs of the album like some of the slashdot posters.

You need something to modulate the signal and power of the laser, and track it on the blank vinyl, but it could be done. This is my idea, so if you build it, I just want a teensy teensy share of the royalties to live on. Nothing too much, just enough to fill a swimming pool with $10's and $20's. But seriously, let's talk.

Actually, you can make your own record.

Nice Rack!

These are some of the biggest, most perfect racks you'll ever see. Safe for work.

Arr, today's the day, matey!

In honor o' this most special day o' days (Talk Like a Pirate Day) here's yer joke, me hearties.

Me matey walks into a bar with a steering wheel sticking out of his shorts, and says, "arr, bartender, bring me a flagon of rum!" The bartender says, "sure, pal, but what's with the steering wheel?" The pirate growls, "I don't know, but it's driving me nuts."

"Freddie Got Fingered" now a Free Download

So far, no one has taken advantage of the offer.

Monday, Sep 19:

Avast, me hearties!





Talk Like a Pirate Day as promoted by Dave Barry.

Bob Hoover

If this sort of thing ever gets old, you should find another passion, cuz it ain't flying.

Separated at Birth #4

Actors Steve Valentine from 'Crossing Jordan' and Richard E. Grant from a whole bunch of movies. They both have British accents even.

MU-2 Flying tonight

So, I'm supposed to fly with a guy on an MU-2 cargo run tonight, whom I've never met, in a plane I've never been in. Should be all sorts of interesting. So, you do what you do if what you do is what I do, you Google. (Don't you like the word usements I'm structuring today? -To paraphrase Steve Martin's character in L.A. Story. ) I digress on a regular basis. I need a new word for that. Anyway.

So I found a blog of a guy who flew MU-2's air ambulance. Good stories. Gems such as:

The second patient of the day was a lady who took a bunch of pills, went to bed and woke up with a broken leg. She was friendly (she rubbed my shaved head for good luck before we took off) but as far as I could see, she had never brushed her teeth in her life, which smells like a hot closet full of dead baby goats in case you were curious.

Does that smell anything like 'Sex Panther' cologne, by Odeon?

Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon but with plasma arcs

Ok, so you've heard of the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, right? So, can you do this with industrial processes? I want you to connect 'Plasma arc' and 'Tropicana juice plant'. Ok, here's the solution: (From Slashdot.)

Geoplasma is planning to build a power plant in St. Lucie County, Florida that will generate electricity by vaporizing landfill trash and sewage treatment plant sludge with plasma arcs. It will be the first plant of its kind in the USA and the largest in the world. The power plant is expected to destroy 3000 tons of garbage, generating about 120 megawatts of electricity per day. The plant will also supply steam to a nearby Tropicana juice plant.

Beginning Scams 101

This little girl in the pink is my daughter's friend in Girl Scouts. I have to harness her power of pure bull$%^& and use it for my own nefarious purposes. Kimberly, you can't hang out with her any more. You'll be the patsy, and she'll move to St. Bart's with the money and a new assumed identity.

Dirty Dirty Dirty

My kids. The dirty little... Notice who's doing the throwing? Big sister.

Caddo Magnet High School

Ok, too weird. Someone I went to High School and haven't seen for at least ten years (was she at the reunion?) lives like two miles from me. The weirder is that the school is 6 hours from here. Otherwise it wouldn't be too strange. Who moves to Oklahoma anyway? :P

Help me help my daughter

It's that time of the school year again. Fund. Raising. Time. Since we're all modern and all, you can go online and buy something here. When you get there, here's the info you will need:


Student ID:5163
School Code:LS605

The site isn't modern and all or they'd have this info embedded in the link. Well, you're under no pressure at least. But hurry up and buy something so we can win the Xbox 360. And the squishy ball prize. Kimberly *REALLY* wants that Xbox 360.

Operators are standing by.

Hezbollah to help in the reconstruction of Beirut...and New Orleans?

Quote of the day from a while back on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart from a bit about the reconstruction of Beirut:

"Hezbollah might be a ragtag group of undereducated Islamic militiamen, but at least they're not FEMA." (clip below)

Ouch.

Jeez

I hate political correctness. Note these survey choices on a recent poll I took: (I'm probably in the minority for actually TAKING an online poll, but anyway. Hey, I want to get cool stuff when I throw my TiVo house party. Maybe Kid 'n' Play will show up.)

-Your husband/companion (an adult female)
-Your wife/companion (an adult female)

Or what we'll see one day:

-Your shimmering blob of sparking energy (This Star Trek episode)
-Your symbiote

Further:
-Married/living with partner (hey, what is it, companion or partner? Even they can't keep it straight. Hah, I said straight. As in, you don't have a Partner.)

Sheesh.

TiVo Viral Marketing Scheme

Some geeks over at Slashdot were all in a froth about it this morning. Shaddup and just enjoy the humor. It's at least smirk worthy.

If you'll notice, I added a new feature when I want to show you the original spot I found this. The title of the post is now clickable and below it'll say 'Link' just above the dates, comments, etc.

Things to do while you're deployed

Stuff we've done in the past:

• Squadron BBQ. Get the food from the dining hall. Someone's probably welded a few BBQ pits by now. You can make ice cream with salt, ice, and some Ziploc bags.
• Brought your laptop? Setup a network for games. Someone pack a switch and some network cables.
• Cappucino Bar. Yeah, we really did this. Milk from dining facility, flavors, coffee, and a cappucino maker from home. We even procured an automatic machine from a contractor.
• Contests: best lawn, decorated tent, best TDY mustache (some women even entered this contest. Not all the mustaches were fake. Really.) etc.
• Movies: hook an LCD projector up to a DVD player or laptop; AAFEs has cheap stereos/speakers for sound, and a sheet or tent wall to project it on. You should have seen the movie theatre someone built in Thumrait.
• Concerts. Someone's brought musical instruments. Someone had a violin at Thumrait.
• Call home. If the Army (!) relaxes the cell phone rules. Was easy in Oman. You could get prepaid phones shipped in.
• Nap. The more you're asleep, the faster it'll go.

Posting from the ole Email

This is something I have to start doing more often, that is, posting on my blog via email. Testing 123....Testes, 1...2...testes...

 

I missed 'Arrested Development' when it was on TV. Shoot me. I was in on 'Firefly', 'Battlestar Galactica', 'Scrubs', 'Monk', and now 'Psych' from the start so I like to think I'm a little hep to Hollywood's jive, but I gotta get caught up on that. And I hear 'Weeds' is good. Favorite character bit from 'Arrested Development':

 

Who Is Tobias Fünke?:  Formerly an "analrapist," the world's first combination analyst and therapist, Tobias has more recently embarked on an acting career -- or at least, he is attempting one.

 

(Psst, look closely at what the combination of analyst and therapist is. How did they get away with that on TV?) I think they pronounced it 'uh-nal-ruh-pist'. Clueless character gold.

 

 

 

Doin' it for the Farkies

It's for a Photoshop contest on Fark. Nothing to see here if/until they work their strange and compelling magic.

Eduardo

Now here's a great tattoo. Stolen from some sorority chick. There's no new material here in the blogosphere, just stuff passing around and around, like karma.

We're closed today, you go home now!

Ebay's getting worse. Dude pays me $2.49 for an ebook I wrote about fixing the PSP and leaves me my first negative feedback ever, after having been a buyer and seller on ebay for SIX YEARS. Paid for it with an unverified Paypal account. French name. From South Africa. Claims he found all the info in it in two hours by himself. (Which I SERIOUSLY doubt. Plus, it's $2.49. Is your time worth $1.245 an hour?) I'm closed to jackasses. Go home now. Oh and ebay? Fix your feedback system so Jacque can't register and ruin someone elses feedback and then fade into the woodwork like this guy's going to do. Or at least let me restrict my business to those people with, say, over 10 transactions on ebay.

Oh, uh, fun stuff tomorrow. Venting over now. Had to end on a positive note and all.

RV for sale

Rv for sale. 1995 Aerbus by Rexhall. 43K miles, new alternator, belt, hot water heater, awning. Get it now for tailgating! Asking 23K, blue book is more than that. Ford 460 gas motor. I lived in it, and loved it, but I'm not using it so it's for sale. Features:

King sized bed, Convection/microwave oven, 80" couch, satellite dish with digital signal indicator, antenna amp, video distribution system, outside shower, whole RV stereo system, 19" TV, 13" TV, bathroom with skylight, glass shower, gas range, ice maker, water filter system, cruise control, hydraulic jack leveler, lots of extras.


Will sleep 2-3 adults and 1-2 kids with ease. Couch and table both turn into beds.


 

Smoky Jungle Frog

This was the sign at the zoo. I did not see the frog, but I imagine it looked something like this.


See how educational the internet can be?

What the Hezmana?!?

  

See what they've done! My rage burns with the white-hot heat of a thousand suns! That sounds like Star Wars material, but it's more like Robert Jungk. Heh. Robert. 'Junk'. I got yer...anyway, speaking of junk, this is the unholy union apparently of the Star Wars verse with the Transformers. What's next, Power Elven Rangers from the 'Lord of the Rings'? (Fark, this Photoshop's for you!) Is nothing sacred?

Logan, New Mexico

(Pic of the Logan Gun Club Accomodations above)
Here I am in the Budget Inn Express in Logan, NM about 11 miles up the road from Tucumcari. You know it's remote when you're describing your location relative to Tucumcari. But hey, I've got broadband, free wireless for my Pocket PC, and the cell phone works. Someone send me a Think Outside bluetooth keyboard and mouse!

Hotel review: Nice, new, but basic. Free continental breakfast with a make your own waffle station from goldenmalted.com. Sweeet. I can recommend it. Free wifi and wired high speed access.

131

While counting objects today at three seperate locations, the number was 131 at those three times. To add to this mystery, I won't tell you where I was or what I was counting. Oooh, it's getting to you isn't it? I counted about 12-15 sets of objects, ranging from 32 to about 392. What are the odds that would come up? Get back to me. Too bad I can't use it for a Pick 3 Lotto. Cuz it's got two ones and all.

My favorite 'hot deal' links

Behold:

AnandTech Forums - Hot Deals
FatWallet Forums - Hot Deals
TechDeals - Your Guide to Technology Bargains
techbargains.com Find bargains in discount computer hardware, cheap digital camera, and cheap DVD player.
dealmac.com - Find the lowest prices on iPod, iBook, PowerBook, Mac, eMac, PowerMac G5, iMac, News on Apple Mac prices.

Sweeeet. Typical setup : pricematch, coupon, cash back program, rebate. Sometimes you can MAKE money buying stuff, other times it's breathtakingly cheap. Freeze your credit cards into a block of ice. While you still can.

Picasa 2 photo collection organizer Review

Impressions:

Yeah , it’s a bit of an iPhoto knockoff. It’s fast. Running on a Dell 4550 533FSB, 2.53Ghz CPU. 768M RAM. I think the jpeg decoder it uses also gives a higher quality photo when you view it in Picasa than the native viewer in Windows XP. Same for the 3GP decoder (usually a cell phone video).

Surprises:
What I didn’t expect is that it also indexes moves, such as the AVI files from my Canon Powershot S30 and the videos from my Snapstream captures. These can be played within Picasa.

Hot:
Timeline. Shows your pictures on a timeline. Don’t look at photos of your children here, you’ll just feel sad because they’re growing up so fast. The picture fixer (color, contrast, etc.) works well.

Not:
No photo editor. No flickr uploading from within the app. I can understand that; Yahoo owns flickr, not Google.

What’s missing:
I can’t blame Picasa for this, but I wish there was a program to sort out duplicates by how they look. Also, to sort out duplicates by filename and/or size

Overall:
Worth a look for sure for the average person. I did get some cleanup done on my pic collection and again, it’s fast. It’s free! (look over on the right side of this blog and click Google Pack). I'd post the link here but it's in javascript, and that's a no-no for posts. Looks like this:




(You can click the button above but it takes you nowhere. Download from the main page amongst the links on the right side.)

Planet Aaron

My son's only line in this video: "What are you looking at?" He flies (with sound effects) a 'spaceship' to Planet Aaron (where he lives) and then notices me filming it.

Separated at Birth: the Prequel

I forgot, we should have started the 'Seperated at Birth' series with the 3 pound cinnamon roll.

Help us test our Micropayment System and get a free Fridge Magnet

If you click the quarter on the right side and send me your mailing address and a quarter, I'll send you a free roblog fridge magnet. It's mostly purple! Offer valid for the first 10 responders.

Separated at Birth #3

Neighbor across the street. People say she looks like Natalie Portman and I agree.

6 or 7 on the scale of resemblence at least. Offer her a job as a celebrity impersonator. I get 15%.

Albino Catfish

Albino Catfish
Originally uploaded by rcbullock.geo.

If you like white meat, this is the best you're going to do. The other white meat. Inside *AND* out. This fish was photo'd in the lake beside the Oklahoma City Zoo. If you feed the ducks on the west side of the lake, just down the hill from the zoo's aquarium, maybe you can spot him.

Cool Wheel "Chair"

I think this would be great. From over at the cool hunter. Looks like just a design at this point, but it's basically a Segway for paraplegics.

Good Restaurants in Bastrop, LA

Oh I beseech thee oh great Google web crawler! Let the search engine find my keywords faithful and let the multitude flock hither with great rejoicings and page hit counts. Here's some good places to eat when you're in town. Of which the odds are low, unless you have a very, very specific reason to go there. It's not on the way to anywhere else, the mill is closing, and it's 30 minutes off I-20. But you never know.

They do have a nice new gas pump at the airport, but it was $4+ per gallon while it was $3.33 at my home field. Oklahoma vs. Louisiana oil prices. Since they're both oil states, you think it'd be close but anyway....

• Old Hardware Fish House.
  
  
  
  All you can eat catfish, whole and filet. A la carte fried shrimp were excellent. Boiled shrimp is good also. Hey, Oklahoma, have you ever heard of Zatarain's? Try it. You can boil shrimp in something besides water and if-you're-lucky a little salt, ya know. There's this thing called the internet and you can order products from all over right off of it!
  
• Granny's Family Restaurant. Had a fire, but reconstruction looks like it's nearing completion as of 8/12/2006. Great all you can eat seafood buffet.
  

Separated at Birth #2

The guy on the right below and Johhny Knoxville. PG-13 rating for language. Turn your speaker down if you're at work.

Free iTunes Videos from Apple

From over at TUAW. I downloaded the first episode of Psych, and Who Wants to be a Superhero. Psych is a good show, so if you only download one free show, get that.

Separated at Birth #1

I might make this a series. I have a friend who looks like the star of USA's Psych. Check it out; Wil Wheaton during his 'Stand By Me' years and 'DJ' from Monster House.

Terrour Threat

Bringing the funny to you. "Tony Blair has already pledged full backing for the overthrow of himself." As they say, the human body is over 70% liquid. And what about yogurt?

TX OK TX OK TX OK

Now I'm in Oklahoma. Now Texas. OK TX OK...



On the left side of the river is Texas, on the left is Oklahoma. So you can go back and forth by flying a straight line. Is that interesting? Dunno.
Here's where it was.

Uncontrolled Rampaging Electricity is Fun (tm)!

My son likes electricity. (Hello DHS, this is a supervised activity.)



My son likes this experiment.







Here's what he looks like now.