Random Thoughts and Links

Sitting here in my hotel room in Sacramendi, I realized I have been a huge slacker and my posts have been very infrequent. So here are some random thoughts and links:

Posts will continue to be infrequent until I can convince Christina we need a laptop. Maybe I can use Adam's arguement.

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While searcing for a fun link to "Sacramendi" I found this news stating an "Arrested Development" movie is being shopped around.

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I wore my Dunder Mifflin shirt today as I walked to dinner and had six different people comment on it.

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Christina and I are not big on watching reality shows. But I did happen to turn "American Idol" on a few weeks ago out of boredom. We found Dillon loves dancing to the music.

Even though he had a subpar performance on Tuesday, I am rooting for David Cook.

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Everyone knows "American Idol" is full of product placements for Coke and Ford, but here is a top 10 list of some famous product placements. It's worth reading just to watch the Wayne's World clip.

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For the past three years I have purchased the MLB Extra Innings package and each year they keep making it better. Last year they added games in HD. This year, almost every game is in HD and they are offering both teams telecast, if available. So instead of being forced to listen to some truely horrible announcers, I can chose to listen to Vin.

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Check back later for a very special blog post.

Click this

I've been absent for the past few days because my parents left today. They have been here since Thursday. If there was one thing my mom taught me it was to "never blog when you have company." I will post pictures of their visit later in the week. For now I have some awesome links.

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Can you find the 38 Seinfeld references in this picture?

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Another awesome robot.

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Homer meets Darth Vader.



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When I hear "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins I previously thought of Vice City, now I think of an guerrilla.

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Internet People! I think I may have only seen half of the references in this song.

Internet People! - The Meth Minute 39

Add to My Profile | More Videos

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Here is a clever site in response to Miss Teen South Carolina, and such.

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Today I found this awesome Firefox add-on called FoxyTunes. It allow you to control your music through your browser. It's much better than toggling back and forth between the internet and iTunes. I can even show what song is playing as I blog (see below.)

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Now playing: Jack Johnson - F-Stop Blues [2000]
via FoxyTunes

No Link Left Behind

A couple of links I left out of my last post.

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For those of you who don't have cable but love Star Wars, I give you Robot Chicken.

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Pugs with attitude.



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I will be back soon with pictures from the trip to Shafter.

Links - Home Alone Edition

Christina and Dillon have left me home alone for the week so I thought I would spend some of my free time passing along links I found interesting.

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I heard Dana already has tickets for this baseball game.

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Speaking of baseball, here is a cool map of the United Countries of Baseball.

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Here is a list of 52 influential photographs. (Warning: some photos are graphic.)

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Ed was the one who rickrolled me first but I thought I would show the video side by side with the hilarious Family Guy clip.





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Maybe I can get Dillon a role on Lost when we go to Hawaii in November.

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Finally, it took me a couple of tries to conquer this maze. You definitely want your sound on because once you beat it they have a pretty humorous clip.

Beer Me League

Some links while I watch the Marlins-Giants game to see if Bonds hits 755.

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"Homer at the Bat" has always been my favorite Simpsons episode, which is why I this article made me smile. I'll include a video for those of you who prefer to watch then read.



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Fellow video game nerds, there is a new video out showing off the gameplay of Metal Gear Solid 4. By the way, here is the second part of the trailer analysis that I posted earlier.

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I started watching How I Met Your Mother based on a recommendation from Dana and CBS has started running a promotion site based upon the awesomest...wait for it... subplot ever. If you haven't watched the show, then you need to head on over to here to watch the episode in which the promotion site is based on. You won't regret it.

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Adam, as a furniture maker I would like to hear your thoughts on the one-legged table.

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The new Kanye West video is comic genius. Here is the same guy in a Fiona Apple video.



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Yes, the title of this post is a reference to "Homer at the Bat" and my favorite clip from The Office.

Milestones

Anyone who watches SportsCenter knows that baseball players (and teams) have reached numerous milestones this season. The milestones have been from Craig Biggio's 3,000 hits to the Big Hurt's 500th homer to the Phillies' 10,000 loss to Barry closing in on 755 just to name a few.

But today I hit 100 posts. So the following links are all about me and my favorite things.

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My fastest time was .14 seconds at this website that shows you how fast a 90 mile per hour pitch reaches the plate. By the way, I hit a single the second time and homered on the fourth pitch I saw.

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I was recently telling Craig about one of my favorite columns, called Uni Watch, featured on Page 2. Last month Uni Watch wrote about baseball minor league teams and the crazy promotions. It mentions the Fresno Grizzlies and their awesome Price is Right promotion. This new Uni Watch article has even crazier promotions (this Jimmy Buffett one should please my Uncle Larry). But the promotion that really caught my eye was Redneck Night put on by the Kansas City T-Bones. If you look close enough you can see most of my family in attendance.

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Dana attempted to make himself into a Simpsons character earlier in the month but a newer website has appeared that makes it much easier. Someone even used it to make animated Lost characters.

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The Sports Guy has a great article on the latest gambling scandal going on in the NBA. Phoenix Suns fans beware.

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An academic look at the history, humor, and language of farts.

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I don't know how or why we didn't make a strike zone for our wiffleball games while we were in college but I have gone ahead and made one for myself. I used pvc pipe and a piece of sheet metal, which makes a nice sound when you throw a strike. I included a photo of myself to give you a nice perspective. Obviously, my work is much better than anything this guy could make.

I (Heart) Robot

One of the blogs I read, Pop Candy, has a couple of random robot posts today that I thought I would pass along. Ok, maybe they aren't random because of the Transformers movie, but these videos are great nonetheless.

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This video may have started the robot theme earlier in the week. A must view if you love either The Office or Mr. Roboto.

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A great music video featuring a robot.

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This video was on the pilot episode of Flight of the Conchords, which is very Napoleon Dynamite if you haven't seen it yet. "Binary solo."

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I thought it was time to show you a real robot. It may not be quite as impressive as the robot chair, but it still has mad skillz.

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Finally, I can't think about robots (or old people) without recalling this classic SNL commercial.

Quick Links, Lunchtime Edition

I' ve got a couple a minutes during my lunchbreak so I thought I would pass along a few fun links.

Ever wonder how fast food ads compare to the actual food? Click here to see the ugly results.

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Video mashups are one of my favorite things about the internet. This one combines Anchorman with 300.

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A new race is being introduced at our local county fair. No word yet on if being pushed by a grandparent or great uncle will lead to disqualification.

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If you aren't watching 30 Rock yet then shame on you. Here are the Top 10 moments of the show so far. By the way, I disagree with the #1 spot. Yes, it was funny but not the best moment and the clip shown really does not do the humor of the situation justice.

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Finally, here is a site that links to a few Youtube chronologically correct versions of the plane crash from Lost.

TV Links

If you are looking for pictures of Dillon come back later in the week. For now I will provide some excellent links regarding the boob tube.

What happens when Jack Bauer tries to stop the Aqua Teen Hunger Force bomb threat? Find out here.

Still can't get enough of 24, try reading the hilarious top 100 Jack Bauer facts. But here is fact #101: Jack better start killing some more people in season 6, because he has a ways to go to get to his season 4 high of 44.

Now that Lost is back from its winter hiatus, find some answers from the show's creators. And if the A Clockwork Orange scene in last week's episode wasn't creepy enough, take a look at it running backwards and the trippy message that accompanies it.

Finally, Rainn Wilson of The Office will be hosting SNL on February 24th. To prepare, please read a list of all the pranks Jim has pulled on Dwight.

Random Links - Lunchtime edition

I'll wet your appetite with a sport that I can do at home. All I need now is a laser pointer.

The main dish is a Stephen Colbert clip for all you Wikipedia lovers, namely Adam. What I love about The Colbert Report is Stephen's ability to deliver the comedy/satire in a manner that is funny to both Republicans and Democrats. (Via Monkey Bites .)


For dessert, here are some states that you should refuse to acknowledge as Midwestern and Arrested Development lives on... in syndication.

Wasting time

Add this live Mario Brothers reenactment to my list of favorite Internet videos relating to the original Nintendo. Also, this toy is every little brother's worst nightmare.

This is why Al Gore invented the Internet

During the middle of season 3 of 24 I wondered to myself how many people have "died" on the show. This website does not quite answer my question but it is still cool.

Here is an interesting take on the season finale of Lost. The author also has some whacked out theories about the show. Warning: Do not read if you have not watched the season finale.

This summer I hope to catch up on the Lost Experience. I plan to start at this blog.

Finally, you have to give Bud Selig props for pushing MLB.tv, especially once this upgrade becomes public.

Ask Jimmie

The following are questions (and my answers) I am asked every day by Joe Q. Public.

Q: What do you get when you combine two of your favorite things, baseball and sudoku?

A: Baseball sudoku, of course.

Q: Speaking of merging things, what do you get when you combine a loser with an Internet sensation?

A: The most annoying clip of all time.

Q: What do I do if I am jogging and need to know the time, distance, and pace of my run?

A: Buy the iPod compatible shoes from Nike.

Q: Where can I find a geometry related game?

A: Right here. I have reached level 5 before I ran out of time/patience.

Q: What is the MLB Heavyweight Champion and who holds the current title?

A: The MLB Heavyweight Champion was devised by Ken Arneson (see the toolbar on the right hand side) and is defined as if MLB champs were decided like boxing: beat the champ, your the champ. The current champ as of May 23 is the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Q: What is your favorite part of The Colbert Report?

A: The Dead to Me and On Notice lists. I also thoroughly enjoy Stephen's trek from his news desk to the interview desk.

And finally...

Q: What can I do if I am bored?

A: Use Snoop Dogg's Google and read this blog again.

Old School

Here are my top three Internet videos relating to the original Nintendo in ascending order:

3.) A live version of Mike Tyson Punch-Out!

2.) The 10th inning of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series played on RBI Baseball

1.) Someone beating Super Mario 3 in 11 minutes

Gen Net

Techonology is wonderful. Being a part of the first generation to grow up with the Internet means I have the world at my fingertips. Google, Amazon, IMDb, Retrosheet, Wikipedia, I can find any inforamtion I desire on any subject in just a few mouse clicks. It's an On Demand society.

Generation Net (my own definition of anyone born after 1980) can watch any television show they desire at any time thanks to TiVo. With cell phones we can be in contast contact. Blogs, such as this one, allows us to self publish our opinions. iTunes gives us any song for $.99. Stupid yet entertaining videos can be watched at YouTube. The list goes on and on.

Take away our technology and we feel naked. Spend a few days away from a computer and it is as if life is passing us by at 100 miles an hour. Frustration sets in if we can't use our cell phones because of a dead zone. What do you mean I have to use cash and not swipe my debit/credit card?

A downside to living in a foothill community is that often technology is slow to arrive. If visiting Sonora, don't even think about using a cell unless you have Cingular. Believe it or not only half of the county has access to DSL.

I live within the city limits of the county seat and I was offered high speed internet just this week! Being forced to use dial up led to many upset sessions of web surfing over the past two years. I could not browse certain websites at home because my connection would time out before the site would load.

As technology becomes more intregrated with our lives we become more demanding. Sometimes I wonder if I could ever live 200, 300, 400 years in the past. But then my phone will beep with an incoming text message and I will quickly move on to my next technological dependent task.

Ideal Baseball Lineups

With summer just around the corner I have decided to link to a few hypothetical baseball lineups. The first one is a guide on how to fill out the lineup card if your team consisted of classic Nintendo characters. This second link is the "ideal roster of an American League baseball team composed only of famous Davids without obvious athletic ability." And if you Kevin Costner fans are feeling a little left out then you need to read this. Of course every manager wishes he could pencil in this guy every day. (Yes I did just link to a very lengthy, analytical break down of Bugs Bunny. What is worse is that I actually read the entire thing.)

And to preemptively answer all of your questions: No I did not use any of these pick up lines on Christina.

More Random Thoughts

I can only hope that this rumor is true (link via Dodger Thoughts). Even though I will not order Showtime just for Arrested Development the thought of new episodes being created gets me excited.

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It continues to snow as I write this post. I will spare you the pictures but just imagine another foot of snow on top of the few inches from my previous posts.

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Once a month I have to go to Sacramento for meetings. The meetings are designed as a place for the 58 counties to get together and discuss any hot topics. They are very informative and a great chance to network with my counter parts in other counties.

It never ceases to amaze me the lack of respect that people have when it comes to cell phones. Every single meeting there are at least five different times that cell phones go off. What aggravates me even more is when the person decides to answer the phone but refuses to leave the crowded room, letting 50-75 people hear their conversation. I can forgive you if you forgot to turn your cell phone on silent but to think that your call is more important than this meeting is just disrespectful to everyone in the room.

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You can easily read anywhere on the internet that Saturday Night Live has lost its edge and is no longer funny but I really enjoyed the Sports Guy's take (about a quarter of the way down the page, or to be more exact the ninth question and answer) on the "Lazy Sunday" video.

Also, here is a good interview of the four new cast members.

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For those of you who have Hotmail, let me recommend that you sign up for Windows Live Mail. Let me warn you it is in beta so there are some random glitches but it is still a lot better than the regular Hotmail. It looks and responds a lot like Outlook which is a huge plus. My favorite upgrade is the viewing pane. This allows you to see the email without having to wait for another page to load. And since it is in beta you are given a chance to let Microsoft know what is and is not working.

Oh Canada and the Queen Barry

San Francisco may be a city with high tolerance but even this should be unacceptable. Speaking of Barry, wearing this to my next Dodgers-Giants game in SF may hinder me from keeping score.

This is for Craig. Look on the bright side though, at least your favorite player is not dressing in drag.

Random Thoughts

Here are some miscellaneous thoughts for Wednesday:

Yesterday, I spent some time cleaning my desk at work. My keyboard was getting a little to grimey for my liking so I set out to clean it with canned air, a rag, and rubbing alcohol. In the middle of my scrubbing I kept thinking about that one scene in Gattaca where Ethan Hawke has to do that to his computer every day.

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Why is the thing that holds all of your movies at Netflix and Blockbuster.com spelled so funny? It sounds like a consonant but spelled with four vowels. I hate the English language.

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My protest of ESPN.com is now going on 7 months. The reason for the protest is because they have increased the number of articles that are behind the Insider subscription curtain. One of my favorite baseball writers, Rob Neyer, was the first to go. Then they started placing old Sports Guy's articles behind the curtain. The final straw was when they put Peter Gammons as an Insider. I find it difficult to pay for some information that I read for free one day (Sports Guy) or rumors that can be found elsewhere (Gammons). I also see Insider as a veiled attempt to sell the crappy ESPN the Mag.

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I recently bought a 1 lb. bag of Starbursts that had an amazing amount of reds in it. Unfortunately, pinks were at slim pickings. Somehow the ratio of reds and pinks got messed up. Why couldn't that have happened with the yellow? A public poll would find that yellow Starbursts are the least favorite.

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I am not a big fan of Joel Stein but here is a great opinion article about Grand Theft Auto and the hypocrisy of the recent bad press that Rockstar has received.

I believe that all the heat given to the GTA series from the media and politicians is proof of the ever growing generational gap. As the Nintendo generation has grown up so has the content of games. The generations above me still see video games as a corrupting waste of time. I think my great grandma summed it up best when she said, "Kids these days have big thumbs and small brains." Of course she has no idea of games like this.

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Every time that I go to my parents' house I am always surprised at the amount of growth to Shafter and Bakersfield. This article actually shows some long-term hope for the Central Valley. If Bakersfield, Fresno, etc are considered "Third California" then that must put Sonora as "Fourth California".