Vengeance is mine sayeth...

...some idiots who feel that they are avenging the death of Steve Irwin by killing sting rays and trying to capitalize by making souvenirs of the poisonous barbs.

What a twisted way of thinking some people engage in to think that something so ridiculous could erase what happened to one of Australia's finest. The guy was a conservationist and now some ocean poachers would like to make a quick dollar or fill their home with reminders of what happened on that day when Irwin was killed. Sheesh...I don't get it.

Must-Have Product of The Day

If the Atari 2600 doesn't hold a special place in your heart, you just cannot say with any true conviction that you are a gamer. You can now take a little bit of that magic with you thanks to these Plug and Play Keychains. Not only do they look exactly like the old Atari joysticks and paddles, but they actually contain games. You can select from Asteroids and Millipede, Centipede and Yar's Revenge, or Pong, Breakout, and Warlords. Just plug in the included pocket-sized cables and enjoy!

Who works on Labor Day?

Me. This pic really does not do the reality of which I created for myself any justice at all. There are 15 lawn/refuse bags in that pic. In a block of several (more than 3, but less than 5) hours, I pulled up all the monster flowers on one side of the house, cleaned up about 90% of the garden and cut the grass 2X since I had to drop the mower one notch to begin getting my lawn ready for the winter.

I hope many of you were able to actually not labor on the US Labor Day.

Just stay home. It's safer for you.

So, earlier in the day, I went to the UofM game and it was a decent day. The Wolverines won. It was an ugly win, but that is a post for another day. My main reason for the post today was in response to several people I saw there...When you are in one place with 109,000 people, you are bound to see something out of the ordinary. Well, I did and what that was was about 6 morbidly obese people climbing up and down the stairs in the BIG HOUSE. I really should just say UP the stairs since they arrived before my boys and I did to our seats right around the middle area of the bowl on one of the end zones. The struggle for these people was just painful to watch. Up 1 stair...rest. Up 1 stair...rest. WHY would anyone put themselves through such a painful experience to then squeeze into a seat in which you are practically on the person's lap as an average sized person tends to be anyway? Why? Why? Why?! Another thing I witnessed was at least 3 elderly people with canes. The obvious pain was in their knees and/or hips. Again...WHY?! You have mobility issues and you subject yourself to an area deep into one of the largest college stadiums in the US and know that you will be paying for it for the rest of the day and even week....Sheesh. Stay home or get to a sports bar and I promise the stress to your heart, vascular system, knees or hips will be lessened. Unbelievable.

This is not a rant against obese or elderly people. It is just an attempt by my simple mind to comprehend why some people select to inflict pain upon themselves for a college football game...

Headset Phone Dork

I'm not sure if anyone reading this post has a bluetooth headset, but if you do, step back and just think about how dumb you look. You are not futuristic. You are not hip. You are not a übercool in any way. Honestly, I can tolerate most technology fads, but I just really think those headsets are the epitome of lame. I see people at my work with them and it just makes me want to throw a paper airplane at them and knock those stupid things off their ear. I understand it can give you an option for hands free whilst driving, but seriously, if you want handsfree, just peep the pic below and roll like that.......

Fantasy Product of the Day

Admit it — you've always pictured yourself sitting behind a huge stainless steel desk laughing maniacally about your threats to "flip the switch" unless $10 billion is delivered to your Swiss bank account in a very short period of time..... Or not. Well, here's the chair I'd be sitting in. The aptly named Villain Chair is an oversized, futuristic exaggeration made of leather, chrome, steel and aluminum — the hallmarks of an evil villain's office chair. What a bargain at $6,800.

Chewbacca as a baby?

There is an uncanny resemblance....

She did it for the Health of it.....

I was in my car shortly after lunch today and glanced in front of me and saw a gangly women walking towards her vehicle in the lot that my work is very near to. Basically, it is just separated by a plot of grass and curb that extends the length of the lot. She opened her vehicle door and proceeded to light up a cig; I'm sure my last post shed some light on how I think smokers are such intelligent people. I also noticed that she had a small plastic bag with what appeared to be a can of some sort within it. She proceeds to smoke like a chimenea and then out from the bag emerges a SLIM FAST. Unbelievable! This science project, female skelator-looking individual was sippin' on some SLIM FAST in one hand and a cig in the other...Sheesh. Some people never cease to amaze me. I suppose the cig allowed for more of a suppression of her appetite and the SLIM FAST allowed expression of more "gangly-ness" for whatever reason...Interesting. And, by interesting, I mean this women seemed to be not too concerned with health in any form.....

Cancer Alley at Comerica Park

L and I went to the Tigers vs Rangers game yesterday afternoon. M stayed with the in-laws and all was good and well. L has not been out of the house for more than a few minutes for the last month. The day was nice. We had nose bleed seats, but at least I can now say that I have been to the uppermost row in the Palace and Comerica Park...Ford Field is next...There really is not a bad seat in either place, but for $10 tickets, you cannot expect to see the perspiration on the players. It was a work outing and there was good company so the complaints are super-minimal.

The one thing we did complain about was after the game. We decided to take a different way out of the stadium just for shats & giggles. It is basically a series of cement ramps that many of the vendors would push up and down carts of food or other things. Many people took that way down towards the end of the game as we did. Anyway, we get down to ground level and there were like 80 people smoking various cancer sticks and watching several monitors of the game still in progress. This way out of the stadium is basically outdoors, but the GREAT WALL of CARCINOGEN almost knocked L and I out. Sheesh man! Since we were kind of at a standstill for a few minutes, our lungs had no choice but to breathe that crap in for a few seconds since much of the time was just holding our breath. We kept just looking at all the nicotine fiends and just shaking our heads as they just shortened their lives with each inhale. At one point, I said louder than a whisper, "What is this? Cancer Alley or something." To which, I received a few dirty looks and just shook my head and kept walking out of there. It's nice to know that a portion of my paycheck will be going to the care of many of these smokers in the future as they rot in a hospital bed... Smoking stinks!

Just because...

I will probably have nightmares tonight...

This is not your father's Segway

Here you have the new all-terrain version of the ultra-geeky, two-wheeled machine. The x2 features cross-terrain tires, a wider track and higher ground clearance. It's equipped with protective fenders with built-in lift handles. The x2 has a top speed of 12.5 mph and can travel up to 12 miles on a single charge of its lithium-ion batteries.

This can all be yours in Sept. for $5,500; a bit too steep for me, but Christmas is not too far away if anyone would like to know something to buy me. :p

On this trip to the deli....

There is a local specialty store that we frequent just about every weekend to get deli meats/cheeses, Italian bread, rapini, olives or the occasional Euro confection. Anyway, this place has been in business for a pretty long time. It's family owned and super-authentic in the decor, food and just about everything. Well, I went in to get some deli items and the older lady that was helping me was someone I am familiar with and we just did some small talk and I was watching this new chick interact with some of the other workers. I may be going out on a limb, but I can confidently say this chick may be working at a deli, but did NOT grow up eating authentic deli meats/cheeses and the only exposure to another food culture outide of hot dogs and fast food was in this store and she was pretty much blonde hair, blue eyes and clueless. Not that blondes are not cultured because every culture has blondes within it, but this chick fell out of the American Gothic painting. Ok, let me just cut the crap...she was a WHITE CHICK (who was true to the stereotype). Anyway, the chick was trying to look busy and was actually sipping coffee in a mug and setting it on top of the deli counter. That is unheard of in a deli setting...at least this one since they are really clean and pissing off an old ethnic person will easily get you ripped a new one should they feel you are tarnishing their imported prosciutto or anything like that. So, this chick had her plastic gloves on and did a benign (outside of a deli, of course) wiping of her nostril and minutes later put three fingers in her hair to place several strands behind her ear. Soon after that, an elderly Italian man approaches the counter and requests a pound of bacon. Blondie leans into the deli cooler (curved glass case so that customers can see and request items) and proceeds to grab a lb of bacon with her hair marinated hand and weighs it up for the gentleman. I am screaming inside since just before the man arrived to the counter, she asked me if she could get me anything while the lady was slicing some of my meats/cheeses. I declined her assistance since I figured her out very quickly with the whole coffee mug on the counter issue before. The older lady helping me finished up my several items and I was on my way out and once again just small talking with one of the owners and his grandson. I told them that if Blondie would have done what she did to me, I would have refused my items and requested someone else handle it correctly. I had confirmed to them what they had heard several times within the week (she was only at the job one week) with the greatest example they told me about being that a woman ordered a lb and a half of salami and Blondie decides to just stack the sliced meat rather than layer and place wax paper betwixt each row of meat as is down for EVERY other meat. One of the greatest things about this place is how they slice and package the deli items.

She probably will not be there when I go next weekend.

Flying was fun......in the past

Here we go again. I am sure everyone has heard the news about the foiled terror plot in the UK and the recent ban on all "beverages, shampoo, sun tan lotion, creams, toothpaste, hair gel, and other items of similar consistency."

I remember a nicer time when getting on a plane was actually fun. Don't get me wrong in that being safe should be a major priority, but it makes one feel a sense of nostalgia.

I'm sure the future will not be better... :(

Ridiculous Product of the day

For your next rave (or early 90s party making fun of raves), this glove-like device features five different colored beams of light, a black light, and strobe light. Twenty different pre-programmed light show patterns make entertainment effortless or hackers can mod it to sync with the song of their choice.

If you love this, get it here.

If you see me walking down the street with two of these things on, drop-kick me.

Party all the time....

We had a lil party last night and M made a card for me, but how? Her mama must have had a hand in this.....The plot thickens..........


...and here, you have Dom and Chiara (w/her quasi-mohawk that would even make Becks proud):

Velcro kicks....

Foot fashion can be a risk sometimes, but this is certainly not one of those instances with these kicks. The last Velcro-equipped sneaks I had were some Roos (Kangaroos to the uninitiated) as a kid that I could swear made me run faster.

Although these Asics have not too much in common with running, you won't be given a citation from the Fashion Police should you sport them.....I still would have to see them in person before a purchase since I am really selective about shoes...

The next chapter has begun....

So far, so good. Plenty-o-pics have been snapped, but I need TIME to properly display and decide which ones to upload. I'm working on the birth announcement pics with L and should decide within the next week or two which pics to use.

Ask me how much REAL sleep I have had since the beginning of this week and I will guarantee you that anyone reading this blog has slept more at work than I have actually slept being away from work...It's fine though. The progeny has been eating very well and filling diapers like a champion (if anyone even knows of a champion who could/would fill diapers). Most say she resembles her papi, but we all know how offspring change from week to week. Those temporary tats on my forearm were pretty accurate to my own thin/ski-like locomotion apparatuses. They also dropped her footprints on the newspaper for that day. Quick thinking by the nurse for some souvenirs right after the birth. I know, I know...they do it for everyone, but I have to inject some of that self-absorbed mentality that new parents boast about thinking their experiences and child are the most unique situation known to man...LOL!

In all seriousness, I have seen many child birth deliveries, but seeing my own was more amazing than words can attempt to describe. The wave of emotions is probably the most intense aspect of the entire process......and that is coming from someone who is not actually delivering the baby because if that were the case, I am sure I'd be able to say that there were physical components of the delivery process never before experienced. L did excellent though. She did not scream one time. Not that I expected it, but I have heard the screams of women delivering children and a joke that is not...Her labor time was 5hrs. Not bad at all according to the doc. She has gotten MUCH less sleep than myself, but I suppose that is the mama genes kicking into full gear. Each day, my nerves are becoming slightly more adjusted to this new addition and I am really amazed each time I sneak a peak at this niñita. She is quite the chuleria en pote if I must say so myself....

If you need a hero...

The Hoff is all you require.

As if this grand thespian needs an intro. He is the magnificent actor of the 80's starring in one of the greatest shows of all time--KR and slam dunking that role like a frikkin champion.

Then, in the 90's, Baywatch grips the emotions of the dozens of us who shared in the adventures of Mitch Buchannon (yes, The Hoff) and the swimsuit-clad honeys.

To not mention this ambassador in the context of European pop music culture would be a mistake of epic proportions.

Give credit where credit is due and Don't Hassel the Hoff.

Oh.........the French.

That's a pretty scary piece of.......Nessie, aka The Loch Ness Monster or something.......

Two faced.......

For some reason, this rare (1 in 80 million) lobster pic reminds me of one of the famous Batman villains....Also, the guy holding that lobster seems to have regenerated like 19 fingers on his one hand... :p

New Look

Just because...Any thoughts? Yay/Nay?

Too many questions....Waaaay too many questions!!

I needed to stop by the bank today to take care of some bidness and today's episode goes a little something like this.

Me: Walk in and ask teller a question and get told that I must speak with a "relationship banker" because they are the only ones who can help me. Ok. Fine. I have a seat where I am told to sit and wait....for 2-3min after signing in.

Relationship Banker (RB): Walks over to the clipboard and says "Hello" to me and proceeds to look around the bank and then back at me and says, "Are you Joe?"

Me: No, but I am Josue' Diaz; I was the ONLY person sitting there at this time.

RB: Joe?

Me: No, Josue'.

RB: Uh, ok. Let's go over to my desk.

Me: Disgusted look on my face and having a sense my simple request is going to turn into a mess.

RB: Asked me 2 basic questions related to my request.

Me: Answers them without an issue.

RB: What do you do?

Me: bla bla bla

RB: How long have you been doing bla bla bla?

Me: bla bla bla

RB: What do you do? Yes, it was the SAME question AGAIN!!!

Me: bla bla bla (same response)

RB: How long have you been married? Yes. She asked me that question. The hag was old enough to be my mother, so it was not a setup to find my status or anything like that. I would never be into dating my mother's age bracket anyway, but that's a post for another day...

Me: Am I the topic of the book you are writing today? Honestly, I asked her that question because I had had enough of the silly questions just to pass the time.

RB: My computer is slow today and I am just making conversation because of this.

Me: I understand, but I am content to stay on topic with what you are helping me with. The answers to your questions do nothing for the situation I came here for and add no value.

RB: Ok. The weather has been pretty nice lately.

Me: Yes it has....


Seriously, I wanted to smash my own head in with that hag's keyboard because she just really bothered me with all the dumb questions (I did not even mention all of them) and the fact that she brushed off my name and had me going in circles for my own request because she did not know her job. It's situations like that that make me nervous to think a "Relationship Banker" like that hag tries to be has access to thousands and thousands of OTHER people's money........

Lettuce in a Garden

The title of this post reminds me of that Snakes movie that comes out in August...

Ok, I admit that it's a slow news day or I am just not motivated to bare my soul in the blogosphere today.....


This is the last of four heads of lettuce that were in my garden and I suppose I had the feeling of screaming at the lettuce pre-consumption or maybe I felt as though it was attacking me or some form of laser hidden within the core of the lettuce would melt my tongue...Ok, that's all for now...

Thinking Caps Optional?

First Kobayashi, now this guy. This week is getting better and better!!!

53.75 Dogs in 12 Minutes

The Fourth would not be complete without the International Nathan's Hot Dog Eating competition held in Coney Island, Brooklyn. Japan's Takeru Kobayashi beat his competitors and took home the top prize for the 6th time. 25,000 people watched as he devoured nearly 54 dogs in 12 minutes breaking the World record that he set.

This guy is an absolute beast! I have seen a story on him and how he "trains" for these competitive eating contests....

They should test for HGH and the "juice" or "the clear" because dude cannot even be contained.....

Desk Lamp 1.0

Costing a mere $4.99, the Grono Table Lamp works like a darkness eliminating champion...The CFLB (Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb) almost cost as much as the lamp...

Your life is just not that interesting to me.....Really.

Let me set the scene for you mind's eye. Two days ago, there was a slow leak in the passenger rear tire of one of the cars thanks to a shard of metal that mysteriously got lodged betwixt one of the treads. Well, this was noticed before work and I threw on the spare (of course, it was NOT a full sized spare) and knew I had to get the leaking tire patched with the quickness. I headed over to one of my favorite places for all things rims and tires--Discount Tire. There were two people ahead of me when I got there and I felt I was there early enough that I would not be late for work. Anyway, I tell them what my situation is and I walk over to the waiting area and some dude is on his phone talking louder than I felt he should have been, therefore, I decided to just hang around the area in which I could look through the glass and see them working on vehicles. Everyone was working. I should be out of there in no time...Ok, I decided that I wanted to read the newspaper and I walked over to where the toolbox was still on his phone talking for all the store to hear...Sheesh, this loser was talking about details of his life that were just embarrassing and he was not the least bit concerned that anyone would hear. For example, I heard this clown say, "Yeah man, I got busted last weekend on the boat. The cop said it would be 6 points instead of 2 since I was given the ticket for BUI (Boating Under the Influence ) instead of DUI (Driving Under the Influence)." What a friggin loser. He was probably in his late 30's and worked for a sprinkler company. I wonder how many jobs this clown botched up....Anyway, he went on to say within his cell convo, "Are you going to the party over the Fourth of July? I know what's her name's cousin will be there and her friend works for the court and I bet she can help me out with the ticket because I cannot afford anymore points." How could anyone just broadcast some ish like that for the world to hear and not be totally ashamed? The psychology involved with cell phone use can be interesting. I kind of parallel it with people who pick their noses in their cars (sans tinted windows) and they think no one can see them.....

Garden 2006 ed. Check out what 1 month can do....

Click for greater detail. Pic taken on 5.28.06





The moons have aligned and the earth springs forth with copious abundance. These pics were taken exactly one month apart and I believe this is what some may call Progress or in honor of the great brethren of the north, "PRO-GRESS"..... :p




Click for greater detail. Pic taken on 6.28.06










I have had to already harvest three of four red-leaf lettuce heads due to such rapid growth. I am just about to harvest the lone lettuce, but wanted it in the pic. I plan to drop four more lettuce plants into the ground pretty soon. Might as well take advantage of the earth since the harvest has been excellent up to this point. I have dozens of tomatoes in the beginning stages from all six plants. I have also harvested some basil, oregano and parsley with excellent results. Things are progressing nicely.


The zuc plant is getting massive and I predict 3-4 zucs will be shooting out of it in the next two weeks. The eggplants are gaining girth, but those tend to take a bit longer, but not as long as the peppers. The pepper plants look good though. The cucs are also growing nicely. So far, so good.

More updates in another month....

Who should you follow?

It's no secret that I am fan of Apple, but I can assure you that it was not always this way. Well, it was, but it's not like my first computer was an Apple and I did not jump onto the iPod bandwagon when they first hit the market. In fact, my first iPod was/is a Shuffle and that came out just over a year ago. I have a 4.5 year old ibook that is my primary portable and is running strong; I replaced the battery on it last year. I also have a mini that I use as a cool "any-purpose" machine that has a ridiculously small footprint. I should get a medal for swapping out the ram stick in that thing...Let's just say sandpaper and a putty knife did the trick; no case damage occurred either.....Anyway, we have established that I enjoy Apple's products and many people do which gets me to the main situation of this post....So many people (maybe even readers of this blog...hint, hint) make noise about the iPod and how overrated and expensive it is and that people who buy them are just following the crowd with no reasoning and without reservation; sheep, if you will....I find this amusing if you flip the script on them and see if they use a PC as their computer of choice. Is that not the same argument that can be used? Let me answer that. YES, it is! I have 6 year old HP (works fine; replaced the HD 2years ago) and a 3 year old PC that I built; runs Photoshop like a champion. I am not a gamer, therefore, I look for the PC to really handle Office tasks, Photoshop, Web Dev (testing), misc prog use and some other not so processor-intensive tasks. I am in no way a PC-hater, but given the choice, the Mac destroys the PC in terms of user-experience and just overall cool-factor. Oh, I have never had ad/spyware or a virus on either of my macs.

This post is more about the whole digital music scene and the platform or music playing device of choice. I prefer the various versions of the iPod. No question of it’s superiority in terms of UI, durability and plain cool factor.

I’m an open minded person though and I actually have this Creative Zen Xtra that I bought 3 years ago due to a great deal amazon had that it came out to like $120. At the time, getting 30GB in music player was NOT cheap and I wanted to be able to say that I knew what the “other” side of the music player world was like. 30GB is a large amount of storage. The quality of the music is fine assuming the proper encoding occurred in the first place, but the navigation on that thing is junk. The small plastic “wheel” on the side is junk. The software Creative used for that thing is junk. It really did confirm to me that the iPod is king and everyone else is a pretender. I am not someone who buys every new gadget that comes out, therefore, the next time I get a music player will be different than the first time I bought one, but unless I get the same experience as what Apple and the iPod give me, then on the shelf will stay those other products.

Without further ado, I leave you with a link to a site that provides motivation to look for alternatives to the iPod. I think the ad campaign is fairly decent; I don’t agree with it, but there will be a segment out there that likes it and will try to dethrone the iPod. People should keep things in proper perspective as they use their PCs like the rest of the sheep out there.... :p

Let there be light.....

I am in the market for a new desk lamp. This should be a simple purchase, but I am not in search of just function. I require style in this purchase. I like to think of myself as a frugal (ok. who am i kidding? i'm cheap) guy, but certain purchases require me to step up my game and consider paying a bit more for durability, longevity and style. Examples of items I HARDLY ever go cheap on would be dress shoes, cutlery, cookware, sneakers, wallets and boxer briefs. I know...it's somewhat of a random list, but it's true. I've learned my lesson by knowing people who have tried to save cash and end up spending more by not paying more in the first place. Also, I have been guilty of this IN THE PAST, but I don't need to go through it again as a reminder. One and done. Anyway, back to desk lamp. I just want something stylish with a small footprint on one corner of my desk. Since they recently opened an IKEA that is not too far from us, I need to get over there and get this purchase over with. I have dozens of sites saved and have been to several office/department/furniture/etc stores, but it's hard to satisfy my mind's eye sometimes and my price point is one that I don't want to exceed. The IKEA has been jammed since it opened and I know how some people can be quite vicious when it comes to a new store opening up. I can wait, but not for much longer......

Heat Win!!! :(

BS. Man, I wanted this series to go 7games and Dallas to come out on top. I really wanted to see Mark Cuban grab all the face time with his antics. Plus, I felt Dallas was a much deeper team and I like Avery Johnson as the coach.

D. Wade is a warrior though and he earned that title and MVP award. Great, and now "marbles in the mouth" O'Neal will be steppin to the mic somewhere in the M-I-A and asking the crowd, "CAN YOU DIG IT?" He did come through on his promise to bring them a title. His legacy just grew. Good for him.

Well, at least my rage has disolved now that the NBA season is over and my Pistons will have an off-season to retool (with or without Big Ben and Sheed?...Hmmmmm) and I can focus on the World Cup, MLB and NFL. By the way, has anyone seen my Tigers....? Oh my, am I dreaming?

Let's just dress up and act like this is real....

So, we recently went to a party. The party was fine, but before going there was a one-way conversation someone had with someone to tell them that someone at the party should not hear something that "that" someone was told. Got it? Well, then the someone who was told the something not to tell the someone at the party started to consider questions in the mind of the someone who was told that particular something. The funny thing was that the something that was told to the someone was something that the someone at the party thinks to be the contrary, but the someone that was told asked the someone why they would not tell the someone at the party if their relationship was so good and the someone who told it would create certain problems.

I would think bigger problems would be created by keeping the particular something inside and not discussing it, but what do I know? I laugh when people insist on claiming they have such deep and meaningful relationships and then shy from discussing issues as they are. Life may be like a box of chocolates, but sometimes one must eat a chocolate and then talk about how bad it might have tasted....

By the way, the King in the pic for this post is very scary and I put him on the same level as clowns in terms of making me jump out of a window if I were sleeping and that character woke me up or if I woke up one day and 50 Kings were in my room laughing... :p

Interesting Fitness Product of the Day

I am truly unsure of the comfort level of these "shoes", but I can see how they might be a really nice cross-training piece of equipment. Some of you may have seen or actually have the Nike Free shoes and I liked the idea of a shoe like that when I first saw these last year sometime. Apparently there are numerous health benefits to walking/running barefoot. I must admit that I am not particularly a fan of walking/running barefoot unless it is on a beach sans yellow sand from someone's pet. Maybe it's because I did not do so that much as a child or had some sort of fear of stepping on a piece of glass, a nail, a syringe, etc. :p I don't know, but I do know that walking barefoot is a positive trigger to the senses. Running on sand is an absolutely great exercise due to further strengthening of ligaments, tendons and muscles. I'm unsure if I would ever buy these Vibram shoes, but I kind of like how the technology is trying to mimic nature a little bit better.

World Cup 2006

Who's your team?

Do these morons think it's 1985 or something? Honestly......

I happen to be scanning the tv post dinner this evening and ran across the NBC Dateline show entitled "To Catch A Predator". I am sure that you have heard of this. The basic premise is about these losers (dudes) who chat online (usually a myspace situation) and after days or weeks of chatting with what they think is a 12-15 year old girl (or boy) (actually a police decoy in the cyber unit or 19yo girl they utilze for talking on the phone and video chat), they agree to meet for some "partying". The host of this report, Chris Hansen, is absolutely HILARIOUS in how he talks to these sick morons and then produces the transcripts from several sessions of explicit chats. Mr. Hansen actually walks in from another room into the kitchen while some of these guys sit there with some type of brew in their hands (Mike's Hard Lemonade seemed most popular). I love when he asks these idiots if they have heard of Dateline and seen the show on catching people like them... Oh man....I never tire of seeing these mostly predictable people sweat bullets and then either flip out when the cameras come out from being hidden and then the guys run out of the decoy house and get arested. I say mostly predictable because sometimes they get a real loon on there who starts taking his clothes off right when he gets into the decoy house....It's pretty ridiculous. It is truly amazing to me that ANYONE would think that in 2006 you could set up a session of "partying" with an underage person and not get caught.........eventually. The sick thing is that although these idiots claim that "this was my first time doing anything like this", we all know otherwise. It's pretty bad when tonight's show displayed a teacher who was married, a student from a religious college, a paramedic and some other people with certain job titles. I have seen this series in the past with doctors, lawyers, engineers, rabbis, pastors and the list goes on and on.....It just shows kind of shift in societal circumstances thanks to the Internet. If kids (and adults) would be more cautious and flat out emotionless within chat rooms and message boards, many of these types of things would not have opportunites to become criminal activities. I suppose the whole annonymiety vs trust dicotomy of the Internets plays around with some people's sense of reality.....


PS,
I can assure anyone reading this that neither Hall nor Oats were harmed in the formation of this post. :p

Just another day at the zoo....

I've said it before and I will say it again; being in a cage makes one do things one may not usually do.....

I wonder how they act at home.....

This is one for the ages. For those of you who work in a place with several departments, you are probably familiar with what I am going to talk about today. The all too familiar work-sponsored food event, aka pot luck or catered lunch/dinner is what I will shed some thoughts on. We recently had one of these situations at work and aside from so many people acting like they were just released back into civilian life after serving 10yrs in the state pen and getting their first meal outside of the prison walls or that seemed to have been raised in the wilderness by wolves in how they hoard their food, there is that further magnified issue of giving food to other departments after a certain department-sponsored event is over. Well, this happened and I wish I was joking, but there was an aluminum container with about 35 chicken breasts in it and 3 people came in to the room and CLEANED HOUSE! Seriously, they had like 4 plates each stacked with these chicken breasts. I suppose they planned to feed their families and a few neighbors. I was rolling on the floor laughing in my mind when I witnessed this nonsense. Do these people have no shame? Do they not think no one sees them? These are not some poor college kids either. I am talking about middle-aged people with kids. I am sure these are the same idiots that pick their noses when they drive and think that eyes in a rearview mirror or a stare across a lane does not apply to them.....Pitiful people....

My Garden, 2006 edition

Check out the pic with detailed notes here.

I am trying a few new items this year in that I have decided that garlic (planted in the fall and soon to be harvested), celery and red leaf lettuce would make good additions to my fresh produce. We'll see how it goes. The usual suspects of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucs, zuc and several herbs are present. I think I did a much better job with spacing this year. My issue last year was more of just trying to use all the items that I purchased since I had to get most of the small plants as a set of two or four. Well, I could not find anyone who wanted to take the plants that I did not want to plant and did not want to throw them away, therefore, I just planted many more last year; which lead to crowding. The harvest was excellent, but was not as organized as I would have liked and some plants did get choked out last year. This year, I was prepared to just throw them in the compost if no one wanted to take the extras. Anyway, I found a neighbor who would take the extra zucs and celery that I had.

I'll drop another post in here after a month of TLC and you should see significant progress.

Why does "old money" think the world revolves around them?

This was so classic earlier today. I went to get most of my vegetable plants (pics to follow soon) for my garden at a local greenhouse. I was not disappointed with my purchases. I have a good feeling about this year's garden; more details with the pics...at a later time. Anyway, I was at the checkout counter and this hag walks in with a piece of paper with pencil written notes. It looked like a list. She taps the girl's shoulder who was about to help me with my purchases and the girl seems surprised to have this rude hag distract her as she was about to help me out. I stood by waiting for some benign question, but what came out of this woman's mouth was pretty malignant. She says to the young girl, "Here's my list and I will return in 2hours. Please have my items available upon my return." As the girl was handed the list, the women turns around and walks off. I am watching the girl closely to see if she reacts in anyway. The first thing she does is radio her coworker and asks her if she knew anything about this. I hear the coworker say, "The lady did what?! She wants you to shop for her?!" Yes, that is what happened. I suppose you would have had to be there to witness this, but it was something out of a bad Victorian era film that basically reduced the chick at the greenhouse counter to some sort of female lackey or some crap. I think the girl did not want to offend the hag, but she still could have asked if she had spoke to someone that may have OK'd the request. Well, I was still standing there and the chick asks if I could wait a few more minutes. "No problem", I said. I hear the chick radio her boss and the boss even says, "Uh....we don't really shop for people." Ok, so it was an absolutely baseless act on this hag's part other than she felt the greenhouse workers were her assistants doing as she commanded. I know that Oakland County is the fourth wealthiest county in America, but some people really have some nerve to make such silly requests. I can see this hag getting pissed off if the workers would have given her a plant that had a slight imperfection on a leaf or something silly like that. I am just amazed by some people......

Waterless Urinals

I did not think this blog would venture into the arena of potty talk, but it seems to have taken a turn for the worst. :p I can assure you that this will not be just your average urinal post. This post involves something I have yet to experience in my life. Today, I was at a technical conference in Novi for my work and I had to make a stop in the little boys room and when I was approaching the porcelain fixtures on the wall, I knew I was in for an experience that was out of the ordinary...a WATERLESS URINAL staring back at me. It did not change how I "used" (no pun intended) that white streamlined block of porcelain bolted to the wall in front of me, but I started to think that I never really had to "go" in/on one of those contraptions before. I knew that MSU had these things for a few years, but the few times I have been there, I never had the fortunate meeting with those urinals. Most of you should know that I am an environmentally conscious guy. I don't hug trees or throw pies at celebs who wear fur, but I like to do my part with recycling and make a conscious effort on a daily basis to conserve energy. Anyway, the main tagline with waterless urinals is the whole idea of saving money for all the flushing. In high traffic areas, that can lead to really significant savings and it helps the environment. Well, I have to say that I really expected the bathroom to smell like death, but it really was not any different than any other reasonably clean public bathroom. My main complaint with these waterless urinals would be the actually shape. Let's just say I am glad that I have decent Kegel muscles because if that had not been the case, I might have looked like I dropped a glass of water on my pants...In other words, the splash factor was in full effect. It also might have been the height of the urinals, but that is another post that will never make it to this blog.

Sorry to any ladies who might read this post since you do not really have the whole urinal-use situation in your repertoire....

If they create waterless toliet bowls, they may need to be classified as WMDs...

Friday is upon us...

For some reason, a suit of babies seems appropriate...

Animals are wild....?

So, I was checking out the yahoo news and came across an interesting article discussing how a sloth bear ate a macaque monkey. This happened on the grounds of a zoo in Amsterdam, but lets think for a second of the horrible concept of zoos anyway. Should this surprise any of the "horrified" visitors? I would be pissed to be locked up in a cage or some pseduo-habitat. On the flip side, I can appreciate animal sanctuaries because if they are getting proper medical care and being nursed back to health, they will require much less of an open habitat due to the dependence on humans, but perfectly healthy animals are psychologically and physiologically confined within zoos. Don't get me wrong, I still go to zoos and if I had kids, I would take them there also, but it seems to be one of those things that when you truly think of it, is pretty horrible....Zoos are not as bad as circuses, but not that far off.

Anyway, back to this story, the monkey gets stunned when the bear chases it to an electric fence. Man, that sounds like a bad Power Puff Girls episode! Sheesh...If this happened in the US, people would be so bent out of shape that it would dominate front page news and be the headline on network news. I love how the Dutch park handled it by saying "Of course the habitats here in the safari park are arranged in such a way that one animal almost never kills another, but they are and remain wild animals,". That is absolutely true. Lock me up in a small space and I am chasing anything that moves.... :p

To all the mothers out there...

Have a happy day. Everyday should be your holiday.

Well, this looks like a decent Dell....

Even though I am not a gamer in the extreme sense, I really like where Dell is going with their new line of XPS Deskops. Because of the recent E3 going on, many tech companies use this as a perfect platform for the introduction of new or soon to be new product offerings. In terms of design, this new gaming line from Dell is not on the scale of the obvious kings of design from Cupertino, CA, but I do have to give them props for a swift Sonyesque move to embrace and promote good design. I am sure the performance is excellent since their XPS line tends to be high end as it is. And the fact that Dell made a recent acquisition of Alienware gives them some street cred to the gamers out there. Although I appreciate the design, I am just not a heavy gamer and even though I would jump out of my skin if one of these machines fell out of the heavens onto my desk, I will just keep an eye on it and hope to see more improved design from Dell and other PC manufacturers.

Why did this train wreck intrigue me?

Well, I must admit that watching David Blaine is somewhat of a guilty pleasure....I don't know if its his deliberate slow speaking gimmick or the hype through the network or the buzz online, but I seem to always make it a point to check out his over-hyped "stunts" when they give him air time. From the 3 days he spent inside an ice cube to the seven days in a box underground, the guy cracks me up. If you did not catch the latest stunt titled "Drowned Alive" last night, you should consider yourself lucky...LOL! What a classic title..Drowned Alive......Oh brother. He did NOT deliver this time...This crap was on TV for two hours. There was no way I was going to go on mental auto pilot for 120min. F that! I caught the first 10min and the last 20min. They had these two rescue divers who had to jump in to the giant hamster ball he was in and pull him out. He tried to break the record of 8 minutes, 58 seconds. Insane (..I mean Blaine) held his breath for 7:08, after having spent about 177 hours under water in the week leading up to the stunt. The guy is nuts!!! Sheesh...

I thought FREE really meant FREE....

So....the summer is approaching and I am hyped about my garden this year. I plan to drop the vegetable plants in the ground at the end of this month. At this point, I have already added compost, topsoil and cow manure. I put about 2-3" of shredded leaves and grass from the Fall on the top layer that I did dig up (by hand; with a garden claw; the blisters are just about gone from doing that 2-3weeks ago) after adding the topsoil and other items I just mentioned. Anyway, it was Earth Day two weeks ago and I read that Starbucks was allowing you to request bags of spent coffee grounds for your garden. I thought, "Yes, even more organic material for my soil!" Well, I made my way to one near the crib and asked about this whole campaign and the girl says, "Well, the program is so popular at our location that we actually save them in containers for people and they come by and pick them up every few days." I felt like I was the only person who was not aware of this situation. She told me that I could bring a plastic container by and put my name on it and they would save the grounds for me. Ok, fair enough, but still no grounds for my garden soil. I left defjected. Well, that same day we were going somewhere and I knew we'd pass another Starbucks and I went in and asked about it. The chick says to me, "Oh yes, we have several 5lb bags here. How many do you need?" I said, "How many do you have?" She said, "like 5." I said, "I'll take 4." And I did. Man, 20lbs of FREE organic material for my vegetables. Nice! And the barista tells me I can come back anytime to get more.....Excellent...No questions asked.....Perfect situation...Well, as I said earlier, all of this took place around two weeks ago, but I went to a different Starbucks today since I was in a different area of the city and figured I would grab a few bags for my brother in-law's garden and heres's where this post gets it's title..........I walk in at a time that it was NOT busy at all. There were a couple of students in there on laptops, a few older women sipping and chatting. Anyway, I ask the dude about the grounds and he kind of looks at me crazy. I said, "I heard that Starbucks gives spent coffee grounds for gardens." He finally understand me and says, "Yes, we have some, but they are not prepared yet. Would you like to wait." I said, "No problem. I can wait." So, dude prepares the 5lb BAG...JUST one...Sheesh. I was in no mood to ask for another bag since I was not feeling a good vibe from this clown...He calls me over to the counter and hands me the bag and says, "Now what can I get you to drink." I said, "I'm fine. I just came here for the grounds." He says with a serious look, "Are you serious?" I said, "Uh...yeah. I noticed you guys are not busy at this time of day and I don't see anywhere that this bag of SPENT coffee grounds says that I have to purchase an overpriced coffee." Again, he looks at me crazy and I say, "Thanks for the grounds. Have a nice day." What a clown that guy was.... Man, FREE is FREE is FREE is FREE..This is not the first time I have been involved in a FREE situation where the workers acted like I was the crazy one....Anyway, in the future I will head back to the other Starbucks where they gave me no ish when I am in need of more spent grounds....

I need beef like I need a hole in the head...

The scene was set over the past weekend. We attended a wedding reception (2nd weekend in a row for weddings, but that's another story....) at a nice place and the menu for the dinner was exceptional by some standards. Filet Mignon (made to each person's order) was one of the meats for the evening. People tore it up! I looked at that 1-2" thick slab on my plate and it did absolutely nothing for my anticipation. If that Mignon was Pavlov's bell, my salivary response did not even kick in.... I look over to Libera and quietly say, "This looks like crap." Again, I was the person with the issue because at our table of 10, about 9 of the people inhaled that beef. I cut a super thin piece off and force-fed myself and it was exactly as I knew it would be....Needless to say, I yearned for the next meat item on the menu--Chicken. It hit the spot.

The moral of this story is I am just not a fan of red meat. I don't take the angle of an animal rights activist. It's all about how my body feels breaking red meat down. I don't feel energized at all. I feel lethargic. And, I am talking about a tiny piece barely large enough to fit on a fork. Pretty weird how my body has adjusted to years of red meat avoidance. I'd say in the last 10yrs, I have not consumed (in total) more than 1lb (16oz) of red meat. I think animal protein is a major cause of adverse health. I look more at portion control and try to be pretty conscious when I consume chicken, turkey or pork. I purposely avoid ALL meat (chicken, turkey, pork and even fish) 1-2days per week because I do believe that it helps my overall health and forces creativity in cooking. It's true that more frequent eating occurs, but I am fine with that; again, portion control is king and advanced planning of snacks and meals really helps. Vegetables, legumes, fish and soy protein and whole grains can make you forget the red meat if you know how to prepare these items properly.