Half-Baked

Eric pointed me to a most-excellent site: halfbakery.com. As explained on their About page: "The Halfbakery is a communal database of original, fictitious inventions ..." One of the many places to which it led me was Böb, the World's First Talking Dog.

Juxtaposition

Unexpected side-by-side results have always amused me.

I remember going to a double-feature (remember those?) in 1985. It was one of those shopping-mall-megaplexes where they have a large number of small screens, each seating maybe 100 people. Anyhoo, the double feature was Weird Science and Real Genius. Being a very small theatre, the marquee above the door was equally small, so the geniuses at the theatre abbreviated the double-feature: REAL WEIRD

Yesterday, I thought about this as I was treated to a handbill juxtaposition. Handbills - you know, those door-hanger advertisements that are thoughtfully affixed to your front doorknob (by highly trained Members Of Society) with tape, friction, or (my least favorite) rubber bands. For the past year, I've collected handbills (they're not just pizza coupons) into a growing pile. Yesterday, the same rubber band combined Dell Computer and a Dog Poop Collection service.

And then (maybe this just hit me funny) the sign outside Oxmoor Center (Louisville Kentucky) which said:

Jewish Hospital
OLD NAVY

Friday Five

Do you like to shop? Why or why not?
No; it's not a good use of my time, unless I know exactly what I'm seeking. Internet shopping (ro)bots are better. Life is too short to wander aimlessly through retail stores because they usually don't stock what I want (stores obsess with getting the cheapest available stuff, and in my mind .. low cost = inferior quality).

What was the last thing you purchased?
A Western Bacon combo at a (somewhat rare in these parts) Carl's Jr. restaurant (at a Love's Truck Stop in Van, TX). This was on the way home after going Over The River and Through The Woods. When I lived in California, I dined at Carl's often, so I made an extra effort to stop at this one after spotting it on Tuesday.

Do you prefer shopping online or at an actual store? Why?
It depends. At an actual store, it's easier to judge quality. I purchase almost all big-ticket (photography, etc.) items over the web, as well as DVDs; CDs; books (Wish Lists are great, but shipping fees associated with impulse buys will negate the savings if you're not careful). Almost every time I've bought shoes or clothing over the web, I've had to exchange it (why can't a size 11 be the same from one manufacturer to another? grrrrr.)

Did you get an allowance as a child? How much was it?
Yes, but it wasn't much. It started as $1 a week, then eked up to $10 a week before I got my first job (stringing tennis rackets)

What was the last thing you regret purchasing?
Anything cheaply made (which I view as throwing my hard-earned money away). I think the real cost of an item is the difference between the least-acceptable (quality) item and what I want to buy. Example: the cost of a car is the difference between what I want, and a utilitarian/dependable vehicle (it can't be butt-ugly either .. I won't drive a Pontiac Aztek).

Stupid Human Tricks

One of my favorite Stoopid Human Trick stories is about the Benihana chef from Alabama. A Japanese friend from a small town in California was visiting me (years ago) and she wanted to go to Benihana; fine. The actor/chef was from the Deep South (I assumed Alabama) and was trying to fake a Japanese accent. I don't know which was more hysterical - his failed attempt at the fake, or the fact that he assumed we couldn't tell this pasty-faced Goober wasn't really Japanese. I have since tried to mimic him, but I can't do it. Hey - you try mimicing a Southern Boy faking a Japanese accent (my mouth refuses to bend that way). I think of this every time I see the trailer for The Last Samurai, starring Tom Cruise (hint: he's as Japanese as I am).

Another story concerns a 90-minute flight I took, when I sat behind a 20-something German couple, very much in luv. He'd lean over to her and whisper (what sounded to me like) Ghhfhg-hhhzt-kfth and she'd lean over to him and say something similar, an octave or so higher. It was all I could do to avoid bursting out in laughter. Lesson learned? German is not the Language Of Love (exception: "Liebchen")

then there's this view of my realtor-in-NYC friend's day. Her name has been changed, to protect the innocent. She schedules appointments in 15 minutes intervals, all day:
(door opens, queue NonStopNewYorkAccent) hiya, I'm Sandy Well Whaddaya Think? What a view, Huh? You like the place? You want it? Listen I got another appointment Hey whassamatter I Ain't Got All Day Here Time's A Wastin' Okay If You Can't Make Up Your Freakin' Mind Just Cwoll Me Here's My Card Gotta Run! Toodles!! (door closes)

GoogL'ost: Oh Joy! Movie Trivia - Film Facts

If You Drop It, Should You Eat It? Scientists Weigh In on the 5-Second Rule, Phyllis Picklesimer, September 2003

interMISHin? whazzat?

I awoke to the sound of a strong wind, followed a few minutes later by an equally strong rain (a good test for my new GutterHelmet®). Now, all is quiet.

Friday night's movie @ Trish & Scott's was Brazil (Robert De Niro played an important cameo role). Watching it on the 65" HDTV thing was amusing. I haven't seen that movie since Bob and I rented it on VHS (back in Los Angeles). I must Blog Bob sometime .. hmm.

I watched the first half of The Sand Pebbles (Steve McQueen, etc.) on DVD last night. I had to laugh when, at the 90-minute mark, the screen faded to black and the word INTERMISSION appeared. I was a bit tired and not ready for another 90 minutes, so I pressed [stop] and the DVD thoughtfully said something like "okay .. saving current state" so I'm expecting to pick up where I left off.

Wonder if I could program a veeper to act as me so I never have to leave home again?

in the "whew, that's a relief" category: Larry Dignan's article Does Honesty Pay Off?: conventional wisdom says there's no financial return in meeting the fraud-fighting requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

GoogL'ost: Mondo Times and magazania

Friday Five

List five things you'd like to accomplish by the end of the year.
0. Lose those last 14 pounds to meet my target weight
1. Win the lottery
2. Win the lottery again
3. Win the lottery again
4. Win the lottery again

List five people you've lost contact with that you'd like to hear from again.
0. Jim Belza (an elementary school classmate)
1. Carolyn D. in NYC
2. T. Steeley (high school)
3. David McClure (7-8th grade classmate; I heard he became a doctor).
4. Man Hyong Kim (another elementary school classmate)

List five things you'd like to learn how to do.
0. win the lottery
1. speak, read & write Japanese
2. speak, read & write Russian
3. speak, read & write Urdu
4. speak, read & write German

List five things you'd do if you won the lottery (no limit).
0. Not tell anyone!
1. Buy something that's expensive (like Maryland)
2. Give a random waitress a thousand dollar tip
3. Invest the proceeds (I know .. how bo-ring)
4. Try to win the lottery again

List five things you do that help you relax.
0. you mean -- besides the obvious?
1. sleep
2. nap
3. doze
4. win the lottery

I wonder how many online survey companies exist? I found a list of several hundred on the Council of American Survey Research Organizations website; prior to finding that site, I was only familiar with National Family Opinion - aka NFO Interactive and Synovate - aka ConsumerOpinionPanel.com

Spotted via the Neil Sperry website: The Mistletoe Center (no relation to DrowsyDriving.org)

GoogL'ost: National Farmers

what about JR Ewing and South Fork Ranch?

It amazes me that the #1 tourist attraction in Dallas is the site of JFK's assassination. Word is that several TV networks are sending their anchors to town; on Saturday, it will be 40 years since that day (I was living about 750 miles from here). An article in today's DMN questions whether Dallas will ever get over the stigma.

The History Channel has been airing a 15-year old series about the alleged conspiracy involving Kennedy's assassination (22 Nov 1963). It's impossible to believe all the theories (there are dozens which overlap) but I was captivated by an explanation of a 2nd gunman shooting from below ground level (a manhole) that makes a lot of sense. If you've ever watched The Zapruder Film and listened to the absurd "magic bullet" theory espoused by The Warren Commission, you'll understand why it makes zero sense that Lee Harvey Oswald [LHO] was the only one shooting at JFK that day (there were 4 shots fired, not 3 .. and LHO only got off 3 rounds).

Today's fun words to say: zamboni; paraquat; exacerbate (and then there are The George's words: fluffer; gazebo)

Unrelated: tonight I'll dine with Hay-Jax and Jill-Bob. Details here later, if I survive the ordeal. :P

RIF <> Really Idyllic Feeling

The George gave me brief details of a layoff at her employer today. This is never fun.

We had a RIF (reduction in force) at my employer about 2 months ago; most were given 60 days to either find an internal job, or accept a severance package. The economy hasn't seen the bottom yet .. I don't care what you read in the newspaper.

This reminds me of the last time I was RIF'd, more than 14 years ago. I was in a small office (30 people?) of a large company, and a guy from Corporate HR arrived onsite unexpectedly. They began paging people, one by one, to come to the front conference room. It didn't take long to figure out that if your name was called, you were toast. I'd been there 6 months and suspected much of the decision was LIFO (remember your accounting classes?) so I wasn't completely bummed to be given a check for 6 months' pay and shown the door. Long story short .. I started working for my current employer 7 days later and have been here 14 years last month. So, that was a good pay year: I was paid for 12 months and I worked 6, and my new employer paid me more than I asked for (to be equal with my co-workers) plus my regular pay. Lemon, meet lemonade.

DQ Museum: closed for repair

backyard rain gauge says 1.6" fell here yesterday .. it was a day of rainstorms and a tornado watch (never became a warning). then, bowling last night; our team won 1 game of 4 (okay : bowl 3 games and the average constitutes game 4) which is not as good as the prior 2 weeks where we won 7 of 8. basically, it was just an off-night: one lane was dry and the next was oily (as if they stopped oiling when they reached the halfway mark) making consistency a challenge for a scratch bowler such as myself.

email from The George this morning: she has the White Rock Marathon weekend planned down to 15-minute intervals (ha!) which is very CFRP*. One of the to-do items is The Nasher Sculpture Center (note: Center, not Centre). Her friends are shocked that there is more to Dallas culture than a trip to the Dairy Queen.

* Christian Fascist Republican Party

Word on the street is that we'll be mobbed by the paparazzi this weekend: the 40th anniversary of JFK's assassination.

close, but no cigar

Yesterday afternoon, I came as close as I ever will to running a marathon. I drove a marathon .. all 26.2 miles of it (and boy, are my arms tired).

okay; it was a scouting exercise. Jill-Bob, who will run in next month's White Rock Marathon was advised to scout the course. So, I volunteered to drive if she would navigate. I chose the theme: Scout the Route (this only works for English purists, who naturally rhyme those two words .. most Americans would say Scout the Root, which makes no sense at all).

One thing I should've brought along: a CD of crowd sounds ("hey Jill-Bob .. you GO girl !!" and so forth). Today, the course was much quieter than it will be on Race Day.

The race starts and ends at the American Airlines Center. Soon after the beginning, and near the end, the marathon goes through the West End and even goes within a block of the former Texas School Book Depository (from where Oswald shot at JFK). Most of the White Rock Marathon goes through neighborhoods (besides a 10-mile segment around White Rock Lake itself). There are precious few attempts to awe the runners with the commercial side of Dallas, which is probably for the best. The George (not a -Bob since she's not a Texan) wants to watch from atop Reunion Tower, where the runners will look more like ants.

There are several stretches where the runners will be on the same road for several miles: these include McKinney Avenue (trendy); Turtle Creek Boulevard (wide and majestic); Ellsworth Avenue (narrow and occasionally kitschy) and tree-lined Swiss Avenue (the latter was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973). Nearby you can find Munger Place. Around White Rock Lake, we found ourselves in a vast minority of cars .. most vehicles were bicycles (and of course, there were hundreds of runners .. some of whom will undoubtedly be in the race next month). It didn't hurt that the weather was perfect .. mid 70's and slightly overcast. Next month, it'll probably be frozen rain on Race Day.

GoogL'ost: DallasSky.com

sequel: Six Easy Pieces

I watched Five Easy Pieces (1970) on DVD last night. Amazing how Jack Nicholson looks different at age 33 (when the movie was shot) than age 66 (now). I wonder what Jack will look like when he turns 99? Lessons learned from the movie?
1. sideburns recede as you age.
2. a smug look at 33 becomes a bewildered+euphoric look at 66 (on the sidelines at the Laker games)
3. big-studio movies were better in the `70s (now the best movies are from the independent studios)
4. a great plot can be left undone at the end; sequels are mostly pointless

Sunday's DVD? Chinatown (another Jack film)

MaGaW is meeting today (after the rain ends!) to discuss the Winter Holiday Gala (no more repeats of the flaming piñata fiasco of 2002). Then, I'll meet up with Jill-Bob at Sherlock's before we Scout The Route of the White Rock Marathon.

GoogL'ost: Thinking Baptists - For People Who Don't Think That's An Oxymoron

Abbreviation learned? QSR: Quick Service Restaurant (I suppose the term [fast food] is passé?) Also see QSR Magazine.

Friday Five

Using one adjective, describe your current living space. spacious.

Using two adjectives, describe your current employer. loquacious; arrogant.

Using three adjectives, describe your favorite hobby/pasttime. clandestine; artful; creative.

Using four adjectives, describe your typical day. stressful; monotonous; predictable; provoking.

Using five adjectives, describe your ideal life. flavorful; essential; challenging; olfactory; restful.

When I first completed this, I wasn't sure about a few words. Were they really adjectives? Turns out that many were transitive verbs (v.t.) according to dictionary.com.

This is my blogchalk:
United States, Texas, Dallas, English, Spanish, Photography.

and in an instant, everything has changed ...

A few weeks ago, I was asked (by the local homeowners association) to take some photos of some of the officers who have, for years, patrolled our neighborhood as off-duty members of the Dallas Police Department. As a result, I was able to meet 6 officers who earn a few extra dollars and help keep us safe. These "photo sessions" had a way of humanizing these men to me, whom I otherwise would not have personified as guys who like to snorkel, coach Little League games or just go for a walk with their wives. I probably spent 10-15 minutes with each officer, chatting about stuff.

Well, early this morning (about 3:30am) one of those officers I met was on his normal shift, a long way from our neighborhood, when he was shot with a shotgun (along with two other officers). He wasn't killed, but he suffered severe damage to his right arm (see Police standoff ends with gunman, 2 others dead).

Just goes to show how tenuous life can be.

Separately .. it wasn't more than 3 weeks ago when I heard that a former co-worker's wife died suddenly. Turns out she choked on some food, and her husband thought it was completely dislodged. She went into the bedroom to lay down and rest, and apparently the food re-lodged and she asphxiated. They had 3 small children at home; the husband worked full time and his wife was fulltime caregiver to the kids. Suddenly, everything has changed ...

Not A Nabob In Whoville ...

We'll see how long the DMN gives its new venture before it comes to a screeching halt. I predict 4 months for Quick! .. then (unrelated) there is The Grinch Who Stole Linux.

International Sunday

Spent 3+ hours today at the DFW International Festival. The weather was pleasant enough, allowing for dry movement between the buildings (St. Mark's School of Texas campus), around the food court and back to the jousting area. There were 2 gymnasiums full of (surprise!) international exhibits, each with a stage for live music and dance. A couple exhibitors were really out there (politically) espousing such bizarre causes as "Give Peace A Chance" (honestly!).

I bought a couple CDs (Incan influence) from Wayanay .. very restful stuff (so much so that while playing them at home, I passed out on the couch for hours). Also sampled a döner (yum!) at the Turkish food booth; special thanks go to Jill-Bob for helping me finish this off (she also spotted a way to test my parallel parking ability, after we discussed my theory of "college mode parking" (aka stalking the pedestrians)).

One of the unmanned booths (but with a big website banner) was the Pakistan Society of North Texas. I didn't spot any booths from Iraq or North Korea, but Iran (the only representative of the Axis of Evil) was represented. There were 2 booths each for Russia; India and Vietnam .. not sure what was going on there.

Sadly, my camera's flash somehow landed in one of those special-effects modes, which I didn't notice until I got home. As a result, the only clear photos are those taken without the flash. {sigh} Will have to return to the festival next year and correct this mistake.

purging time

It's time to recycle all the catalogs that have landed in my snail mailbox in the past N years. But first, I must list them for posterity:

Art: Doug Prather | Kentucky Derby Museum | Southwest Indian Foundation | Texas Parks & Wildlife
Automotive: AutoSport | Bavarian Autosport | California Car Cover | Griot's Garage | Stylin Concepts Motoring Accessories
Clothing: Blair menswear | Coldwater Creek | Duluth Trading | Lands' End | L L Bean | Marshall Field's | Miles Kimball | Norm Thompson | Orvis | Winter Silks
Country: Back to Basics | Country Homes and Gardens Book Club | Gardeners Supply Company | Heartland America | Picket Fence | Plow & Hearth | Troy Bilt | Vermont Country Store
Electronics: B&H | Black Box | Cambridge Soundworks | Crutchfield | Cyberguys | HelloDirect | J&R music|computer world | Miles Tek | Radio Shack | Sharper Image | Sound Promotions | Techni-Tool | TechnoScout
Food & Wine: Bigelow Tea | See's Candies | Smuckers | Stock Yards | Wine Country Gift Baskets | Wine Enthusiast
Household: Clean Team | Crate and Barrel | Design within Reach | EXPO Design Center | Home Decorators | Home Marketplace | Home Trends | Home Visions | Improvements | Preferred Living | SilvoHome | Smarthome | Solutions | Van Dyke's Restorers
Kitchen: Chef's | Pfaltzgraff | Professional Cutlery Direct | Sur La Table
Office: Office Depot | OfficeMax | Reliable Home Office
Pets: Drs Foster & Smith | J-B Wholesale Pet Supplies | R C Steele Pet Supplies | All Natural Springtime
Shoes: B.A. Mason | FootSmart | Wissota Trader
Travel: Alaska | American Orient Express | Columbia River Cruise | TravelSmith
Wind: Into the Wind | Quality Flags | Wind & Weather
Miscellany: Brookstone hard to find tools | Clever Gear | Franklin Mint | FTD | Gadget Alert | Get Organized | Hammacher Schlemmer | Harriet Carter | Herrington | Lifestyle Fascination | Nolo | Real Goods | Ross-Simons | Sky Mall | Sportys Tool Shop™ | The Territory Ahead | Things you never knew existed (Johnson Smith) | Whatever Works

{sigh}

MotivationalArt.com - "Inspirational Posters, Sport Prints and Lithographs" also has a good demotivational section. Not sure if they have a business relationship with the nice folks at despair.com (great calendars!) or not. When I finished nosing around despair.com, I used Google's [Similar Pages] feature and found Friday Five .. hmm. I will backdate an entry now.

Friday Five

this week's Friday Five questions

What food do you like that most people hate?
Hard to answer without knowing what people really hate. I suspect it's one that commonly gets a "eww" retort. The popular ones would be anchovies; sushi; and my own concoction: a Milky Dew (half milk, half Mountain Dew). This begs the question: is liquid considered food? I also like eggplant and spinach; so shoot me.

What food do you hate that most people love?
French (Freedom) Fries. When I order a "meal" at a drive-thru, I commonly give the fries to my dog. All but the most perfect ones, natch. Saw that most fries are sliced near where the potatoes grow (Idaho) .. they're cut to the fast fooder's spec (thickness, square tips or not, etc.) and bagged. I wonder how those waffle fries at Chick-Fil-A are cut?

What famous person, whom many people may find attractive, is most unappealing to you?
Laura Bush. This First Lady doesn't do squat for me. I suspect that would be true for anyone who would willingly spend perfectly good brain cells hanging around W. The last hot first lady was Rosalynn Carter (even her husband thought so).

What famous person, whom many people may find unappealing, do you find attractive?
Julianna Margulies? I suspect many guys don't care for her, but oh, momma ...

What popular trend baffles you?
Reality Television, for the most part: they're completely predictable. I read somewhere that Alzheimer's Disease can be prevented by changing your habits (oxymoron?) frequently. Don't put your shoes in the same place in the closet; take a different route to work each day; eat dinner for breakfast, etc.

theme parks

when we go bowling and it's not part of a league, we often use pseudonyms (Gilligan, Skipper, Shelob). This reminded me of a 1990-ish training i attended in California where they had themes for the practice workstations. one memorable theme (someone else chose it!) was bodily fluids. it was amusing copying files from [puss] to [bile] to well, you get the idea. Tonight, we're going to a German restaurant before (practice) bowling, so we'll use the pseudonyms "Hans, Frans und Deiter".

another thing which amuses me is the email alert I get from weather.com each day. for years, they've been oblivious to a programming error, which often puts the current temperature outside the predicted range. here are the alerts for today and the day before:

Dallas, TX : Cloudy 52-56F, Now 46F
Dallas, TX : Rain 49-60F, Now: 63F

How hard would it be to change the forecast? Example fix:

Dallas, TX : Cloudy 46-56F, Now 46F
Dallas, TX : Rain 49-63F, Now: 63F

Speaking of quality, I've mused here before about typos in Closed Captions. Turns out there's a Caption Quality Initiative underway.

Completely unrelated is the Timebase Archive - Humanitas International - Human Rights and Humanitarian Action. When I have time [sic] I'll go back and read that site out loud. I encountered this site while Google'ing for a publication called Ostara (by Liebenfels).

I'll take "Things That Are Yellow," Alex

Texas Lemon Law Information ... and then there's Flashing Yellow Lights Puzzle BMW Driver and then there's the punchline: ".. but the bad news? It's Hillary's handwriting." Something that isn't yellow are the new multi-colored $20 bills I got from an ATM. I took one inside the bank branch and asked to exchange it for twenty $1 coins. Poor teller acted like I made his day ("I've been trying to get rid of these for 3 weeks!" he exclaimed). I bet he goes home and blogs the event.

I was watching an awe-inspiring History Channel segment (Modern Marvels: Drive-Thru) and learned where the words turnpike and carhop originated. Oh boy oh boy, am I gonna wow them down at Cheers! Seriously educational benefit: several uses of RFID (subset of EPC) include Mobil Speedpass and The TollTag (there's also Transcore's PassKey (Pegasus) system, and EZ TAG in Houston .. word is all of those are being made interoperable). It won't be long before I can buy a Big Mac with my TollTag (seriously).

Stuff I gotta confirm: there are no more Pig Stands (the first drive-thru) in Dallas?

Sundry

I don't do shopping malls, unless there's no alternative. I was amused to see the website for Valley View Center (no relation to the Temple of Yehwe); I suspect most local malls have their own sites. (I will troll for those Real Soon Now).

Outsourcing: cities and counties (including Dallas) can have their regulations posted to the web by Municipal Code Corporation. I cannot conceive of anything more exciting!

GoogL'ost: Asbestos Network.com led me to Asbestos in Automobiles and Brakes

Deep Thought #17: is sniffing chrysotile asbestos healthier than sniffing airplane glue?

less than 5 months until April Fool's Day

I checked the calendar, and no, it's not a full moon, but the loonies are out in force! Check out these 4 sites (all quite funny, for different reasons): MS Linux; The Ten Most Abused Words in Tech; Mrs. Betty Bowers; Halloween Reclamation.

Deep Thought #16: I wonder if Hormel®, Tyson®, etc. would be scared by a new meat conglomerate called Bambi's Mom®? (you know .. Bambi's Mom® brand tuna; Bambi's Mom® brand turkey, etc.)

SDTV, EDTV, HDTV, EIEIOTV

I found a nice (albeit incomplete) glossary of audio-video terms at AfterDawn.com which explained the stuff I see when HDTV is discussed. It's even better when you combine that with The Difference Between HDTV, EDTV, and SDTV by Evan Powell, ProjectorCentral, October 2, 2003

Here are the common HDTV (High Definition Television) resolutions:
1080i : 1920x1080 interlaced
720i : 1280x720 interlaced
720p : 1280x720 progressive

EDTV (Enhanced Definition Television)
480p (aka 525p) : 640 x 480 progressive

SDTV (Standard Definition Television .. aka the stuff we all grew up with)
480i (aka 525i) : 640x480 interlaced

While I'm thinking about it, I am commonly amused at how marketing stumbles when they go for the next technology leap. I'm surprised there wasn't a Super Definition TV in the list. And what will come after HDTV? Probably UDTV (ultra definition TV) then SUTV (super ultra definition) then ... (queue sound of Gene Bob being dragged away in a straight jacket).

News Flash: PDAs don't cure procrastination

Having a PDA can be too handy. Over the past year, I scribbled down website addresses when I encountered them. As a result, I now have a way-too-long list of stuff to see:

spotted in DFW Living: Key Access \ Affluent Living Publications; LampsPlus®; The Pull-Out Shelf Company; Paragon Distributing; Ultimate Edge; The Grout Doctor

digital photo stuff: dotphoto; ophoto (Kodak); shutterfly

spotted in Premier Egg Roll's window (Chinese drive-thru): Sherlock Bones - tracer of missing pets ("$1000 for missing boxer")

spotted who-knows-where: Internet Scout Project ("research and development projects that provide better tools and services for finding, filtering and delivering online information and metadata"); refdesk.com ("the single best source for facts"); searchsystems.net ("Now over 17,203 Free Searchable Public Record Databases")

What's Next: Wired magazine; DemocraticUnderground; NutriCounter; save-on-crafts.com (possibly includes the Ott-Lite VisionSaver DesignPro 18 watt floor lamp ($129) and the Bose QuietComfort Acoustic Noise Cancelling headset ($300))

then there are spamlaws.com/state ("compilation of laws related to unsolicited bulk and commercial e-mail") and SpamCop; SpyCop

spotted on MIT's Blogdex: librarian.net ("putting the rarin' back in librarian"); live.curry.com (Adam Curry); Talking Points Memo (Joshua Micah Marshall); zeldman.com (Jeffrey Zeldman); loobylu.com (Claire Robertson, down undah)

catalogs:
Chef's; Derby Museum; Duluth Trading; Front Gate; Gardeners; Garrett Wade; Herrington; Home Trends; Improvements; In the Company of Dogs; Into the Wind; JB Pet; Lands End; Levenger; LL Bean; MasterAnimalCare; Nabisco; Nolo; NormThompson; OfficeMax; Orvis; Picket Fence; Plow & Hearth; Power House; Shop Lifestyle; Vermont Country Store; Wind and Weather.

There. All done. I feel like I've just purged. I am renewed.

bhagwan baguette

I almost forgot about the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, had I not noticed the new ad campaign by Arby's for their Roast Beef Marinades! sandwiches, only a few weeks after Burger King announced its own baguettes (baguette reminds me of bhagwan).

Note that the late bhagwan is not one of the 3 fat chicks, who are on a quest of non-obesity; their site led me to GetLeanHouston.com co-sponsored by McDonald's (trying out a new healthy menu).

Note that Burger King is marketing their new menu as healthy (5 grams of fat) while Arby's doesn't even try:

Arby's: Roast Beef Marinades
Southwest Beef `n Pepper Jack
French Onion Beef `n Swiss
Italian Beef `n Provolone

Burger King (5 grams of fat each):
Smoky BBQ Fire-Grilled Chicken Baguette
Santa Fe Fire-Grilled Chicken Baguette
Savory Mustard Chicken Baguette

While Googl'ing for Salads & More (McDonald's healthy menu - not yet available in Dallas?), I wandered across McSouthernCalifornia.com which took me to McTexas.com .. what can I say but McYeeeeeHaaaa!

GoggL'ost: National Association of Convenience Stores and SomePlacetoEat.com

meeting day

woke up at 6a, fetched+read the DMN then showered and dropped off newspapers at 7a @ the SMD (Specially Marked Dumpster) by the elementary school (I needed to free my recycling bin to hold the coffee paraphenalia - below). then, off to Albertsons to get 6 dozen donuts then off to Starbucks to fetch a 5-gallon Camtainer® (made by Cambro Manufacturing) of coffee, then off to the 8a meeting. Only 30 people showed (of 60 planned) so several people went home with extra coffee and/or donuts.

Once that was done, I put the Camtainer back in my car and will return it later, but first I had to meet 2 co-workers at 10a @ Plano Super Bowl for some Saturday morning practice. It was a very different crowd than on league night .. nearly all were elementary school (or younger) children .. complete with balloons, birthday songs, and so on. Todd (aka Skipper) brought his 5-year old daughter, and she bowled one game (84) without the bumpers! John and I were also incognito as Gilligan and Shelob (the Giant Cave Spider).

I'm still getting the hang of bowling the curve ball (as you release the ball, you spin the ball slightly, as if you are shaking hands with someone) but this is helping my average by about 40 pins a game. Could be worse; I could be training for a marathon.