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tomdo98@aol.com |
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Archives |
March 2007 Archives |
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posted 03/30/2007 Non Deep Fried Fish Sandwiches Are Kind of Gross
I like a good deep fried, fish sandwich. The Filet o Fish from McDonald's is really tasty but it's one of the unhealthiest things on the menu at 400 calories and 18 grams of fat. I also like po-boys which are also fried fish sandwiches. Since I like a good fish sandwich, I thought I would like all fish sandwiches including one from a restaurant called El Gringo here in Austin. The sandwich is specifically called "Bollilo and Lox Sandwich" and it was described as "Tequila cured salmon, chipotle cream cheese, escabeche and tomato with yucca chips." The other things on the menu were kind of basic like pulled pork sandwich or pan roasted chicken so I decided to go out on a limb and take a chance. I like things like sushi and smoked salmon in general and without bread but putting non deep fried fish between two pieces of bread is really gross. The salmon and lox were very rich and moist and mixing that texture with dry bread wasn't very good. I think things like salmon, lox, and even anchovies need to be accompanied with things like crispy crackers and not soft bread. Tasty fish sandwich from Mickey D's
Gross, Moist Lox Sammich
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posted 03/30/2007 Some Karaoke Pictures From Saturday and the "Retarded" Shirt
I brought out the Karaoke gear again for my friend's Birthday party. Who doesn't like a little karaoke among friends?
Someone wore a shirt that said "Your retarded." We all think it's misspelled on purpose to show that while the writer is calling other people retarded, he/she is in fact the retarded one for not using the conjunction (I think it's called a conjunction) "you're" instead. I have another friend who thinks that person actually made the shirt himself and just misspelled it.
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posted 03/30/2007 Tax Time and My Former Palm Pilot/Pocket PC Business
As of 3/30/2007, I still have not done my taxes. I usually buy a copy of Turbo Tax every year but apparently you can do it for free now on www.turbotax.com. My taxes are very basic except for some royalties I get from Handango and Pocket Gear. They're supposed to send me separate w9s (I think it's w9) but I only got it from Pocket Gear this year so I have to hand calculate my royalties which is a big pain. The reason I get royalties is because I used to develop software for the palm pilot and the pocket pc when they first came out several years ago.
Here's my logo. I made it myself with some 3-d software.
I am proud to say that I was one of the first movers in the Palm Pilot business. If not the first mover I was at least the first wave. I know this because I was the very first person to introduce a bartending program. Check out the screen shot below. You pick a drink from a list and it tells you the ingredients and how to mix it. It's pretty basic. The only competitor I had offered a program that costs 20 bucks. Mine cost 5. I did great business with just this one app. In the beginning, it generated almost 400 dollars a month. After a while, my sales completely dwindled. I checked the Palm Gear catalog and saw someone had under cut me and sold their product for 4 dollars and what's worse, to entice sales, they had this crappy graphic of a beer wench. I tried lowering my price to 3 bucks in a little price war but my sales were never the same.
I eventually branched out with some of the software you see below. Back then, I was always brainstorming about software I could create.
The biggest money maker I ever made was a program called TNM Staging. This is another medical program that my brother designed. He didn't actually design it. He had a doctor friend who did a lot of cancer work. We decided to work this guy in as a partner because he said he had a ton of ideas. TNM staging is a way to determine what level of cancer someone has based on symptoms. The guy thought that the way cancer was staged was basically public domain information because it was a universal reference. So I took the reference book and manually typed everything in that book into a palm pilot and pocket pc program. It made really nice money, like almost a thousand dollars a month and growing. I had to split it three ways between my brother, that other doctor, and myself but the sales kept increasing. Of course the gravy train ended. Once again, just like with the Food Points program (described above), I was told that I had to cease and desist selling that program immediately. Apparently, the information in the book was copyrighted and a publishing company owned the rights to it. I was beside myself. All that work for nothing. I even had customers email me wanting to know where to get and a hospital wanting to buy a whole set of them. We were selling the program for 19.95 while the company that owned the rights were about to release one for 49.99. During the first year, I made about 10,000 dollars worth of program sales. This last year, I probably made less than a few hundred but I still have to file that amount in my taxes. I haven't touched any of my programs or created any new programs since that staging program. |
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posted 03/27/2007 NU Wave Oven
Back when I was 180+ lbs
I don't think there are a lot of ways to thaw out a completely frozen steak. One method I have is letting it soak in warm water for 20 minutes. I don't find defrosting steaks or anything in the microwave works very well. I could try to plan my dinner by putting the steaks in the fridge before I go to work but who has that much forethought into what they're going to do that night. It's impossible to get that core thawed out. So basically it's too much of a pain most of the time to cook because I want to freeze everything to save trips to the grocery store.
Since I was talking about infomercials the other day, I was thinking there was something that I really want to try. That's the NuWave oven. It's supposed to cook a steak with no defrosting and no pre-heating. It kind of freaks me out because it uses "Infrareds" to cook its meat. I mean who knows what actually causes lots of types of cancers. I still don't really KNOW if microwaves aren't bad for me. When microwaves first came out, my brother heard that you needed to put a glass of water in it when you weren't using it to absorb the radiation. He also thought that moldy cheese on a piece of cheddar was good to eat because penicillin came from moldy cheese.
The only reason I haven't submitted my credit card number yet is because of the price tag. The NU Wave oven is about $120, but look at that steak.
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posted 03/27/2007 GET LISTEN UP!
I love a good infomercial. As you may have read before, the infomercial has tricked me into thinking I need the Sonic Blade, the Abflex, the Bowflex, and the Cool Music CD. Recently, I saw a device that they first advertised as a sort of hearing aid. Later on in the commercial, they were basically showing it as a good tool used for eavesdropping. Notice the man below is using his trusty device to listen to the sewing circle in the room next door.
I talk shit about people all the time, mainly in jest. I make fun of strangers and my own friends. I'm not trying to hurt their feelings. I'm just having a little fun. I don't mean anything hateful about it but I can't imagine if someone heard some of that in or out of context. It's just not meant for their ears. I might point out that someone is showing their crack or perhaps tell my friend someone really stinks. In a moment of male camaraderie I might say some girl has nice jumblies or has yellow teeth. Who knows. My point is that we in this society are not meant to hear everything everyone says. I would never wear this device casually cause I know for a fact that people make fun of me behind my back as I do to them, strangers and friends. Hearing any of that would probably just hurt my feelings and would probably eventually leave me with no friends or I'd have to develop skin as thick as the Great Wall of China.
The only useful thing that would come from this device is cheating. Maybe you could use it to overhear the board room at Google during earnings seasons or find out who juiced up what race horse.
Although I am curious to just see if this thing works, and it is only 14.99...
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posted 03/23/2007 Practical Jokes and 6 to 8 Weeks For Delivery
Before internet shopping, everything you could order in the mail always seemed to require 6 to 8 weeks for delivery. Now I think it's too long if I order something through the internet and I have to wait more than 5 days with regular US mail service. For some reason, when I was a kid, I liked to order those really cheap practical jokes that I would always see in the ads in the back of comic books. You know like gum that made your mouth black, gum that had a little spring where it would clamp down on the person's finger, itching powder, hand buzzers, invisible ink, etc. The ad would let you mix and match 8 or 9 things for less than 10 bucks. All these things were manufactured very cheaply and never as good as the ad showed.
For example, the hand buzzers didn't deliver some incredible electric shock like the picture in the ad. It was basically a little metal device that you would wind up, put in the palm of your hand, and when you went in to shake someone's hand, it would vibrate a little and make a little noise. It didn't really hurt the victim or frighten the victim so it wasn't scary at all. It just made you look stupid. The spring clamp on the gum didn't clamp very hard it was just obnoxious. You want a piece of gum and all you get is someone slightly clamping your finger. All these things are really just super obnoxious and stupid if you think about it. The whoppee cushion is kind of funny.
I remember two of these items really pissed people off. One was invisible ink. Me and my friends didn't really know if it even worked and being kids in middle school, we weren't into testing things. We squirted the bottle all over this kid's brand new white, button down shirt. He was pissed and wanted to kick both our asses but decided to wait and see if the ink would actually go away. Miraculously enough, it evaporated without a trace.
The itching powder, on the hand, did not have such a good ending. First of all, look at the drawing of the man in the picture below writhing in pain. He's all one big twitch after being subjected to the itching powder. He can't even stand up because he's in such agony. Now why would you do this to someone? As an adult, I think using itching powder on someone is basically torture and assault and should land you 30 days in jail. The caption says, "Worse than a cartload of fleas!" Now all these products are so cheap that the itching powder probably doesn't work, right? Wrong! It worked way too well.
We dumped the packet down the back of this kid's shirt, our friend, and it immediately worked. Not only was he itching, he was developed such a bad itch and rash he had to go home for the day. I didn't remember getting in trouble but I'm sure we might have gotten an "infraction" or gotten suspended if we did that today as kids.
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posted 03/23/2007 Trying to Get Used to Lean Cuisine, Smart Choice, or Healthy Choice like the Way I Got Used to Diet Coke
There a was a time, when I was younger, that I would make fun of people in my head that drank Diet Coke. I would think, c'mon, how many calories are you really saving? Why don't you go on a real diet? And then I thought it was really laughable that they would drink Diet Coke and then eat a 2lb burger at Fuddruckers. I don't think that anymore. I made the switch from regular coke to Diet Coke many years ago. It finally sank in that if a regular coke had about 120 calories, and if I was drinking 5 or more a day, then that could possibly really add up and make me gain some serious poundage. I also think it's ok to eat a 900 calorie burger from Fuddruckers and drink Diet Coke. Do I really need to add at least another 240 calories when I have two soda's with my burger? I'll take the savings when and where I can and the burger is just a treat that I don't partake in every day.
Drinking so much Diet Coke over time made me despise regular coke. Now I find regular Coke way too sugary, it leaves a film in my mouth, and all the sugar makes me kind of phlegmy. I used to hate Diet Coke because I thought there was an after taste. Now I call that after taste flavor. I actually had a weird waiter ask a group of us at a table not too long ago why we drank Diet Coke because it didn't look like we needed it. That was kind of a retarded question but he really wanted to know, or perhaps that was his way of angling for a tip with an offhand compliment.
I also remember once, during my regular coke days, I asked a flight attendant to bring me a coke and she said, "Diet?" and then I got a little offended and said, "Uh Nooo. Regular!". Now if I get a regular coke I send that shit back. So my point is, I got used to Diet Coke to the point where I prefer it and even crave it. I wanted to take that type of process to the world of diet frozen food.
It hasn't worked yet. Diet frozen food is like someone cooked you a bad meal. It's bland, it has bad texture, and the sauces are really gross. It's just overall really weird tasting most of the time because they probably took out all the fat content in normal food like BUTTER. The only thing that has come close to being edible so far are the Italian foods. Anything with mashed potatoes, Asian style, or with any kind of soupy sauce is really nasty. I keep thinking to myself, if I eat it enough, I'll like it, just like Diet Coke. I don't think it'll ever work. I bet this is what prison food or food in a nursing home tastes like.
I just finished this lasagna from Smart Choice for 300 calories but I was still hungry so I ate this Healthy choice meal that was two "breaded" tiny wafer like chicken patties over a bed of "mashed potatoes" that had the weirdest sheen (another 200 calories). It also came with some dried out mixed veggies. If I eat two of these gross things then I probably didn't save that much in calories and I probably should just eat some sensible normal food that tastes better.
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posted 03/21/2007 St Patty's Pics click to enlarge
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posted 03/20/2007 Bubble/Pearl Tea/Drink and I'm Not Lactose Intolerant
I think I'm really late on this whole Bubble tea phenomena. I remember my mom buying one a long time ago and I remember drinking it thinking it was kind of weird. Recently, I went to the "China Town" grand opening in Austin. China Town is basically an oversized mini mall that has all Asian themed stores. One of the stores we visited was a sweet shop with an Asian flair. My GF saw people with drinks that had little balls at the bottom and decided to she wanted to try it out. She was actually scared and got ice cream but I was in an easy going mood and decided to try it again. I couldn't remember what it tasted like when my mom got it and she probably got some crazy ass flavor.
It's kind of odd the first time you have a bubble tea. The drink comes with an oversized straw used to suck up these tapioca balls at the bottom of the drink. It tastes like the tapioca in pudding except it's the size of a marble. The drink warning says make sure you chew your balls cause I guess marble sized objects flying at your windpipe could possibly cause choking.
I've come to like Bubble Tea, also known as Pearl Tea. More historical information about Bubble Tea can be found here. I didn't notice until recently that if you get "Bubble Milk Tea", it's made with a crap load of whole milk. For some reason, for a long time I thought I was lactose intolerant. I thought I could remember with great accuracy, drinking straight whole milk and having to be in the bathroom for hours on end. I felt like I could eat ice cream and just get a little farty but I really thought I was lactose intolerant.
I have been getting Bubble Tea's about 3 days a week in the last month and haven't had any real issues. I get a little gassy sometimes but no more gassy than eating too much cheese. I have a friend who is truly lactose intolerant and he carries around a bottle of Beano (anti gas pill. That's a real product actually named that even though it sounds like a Saturday Night Live skit.) everywhere he goes. Sometimes, he'll even take a pill before a meal so he can eat his wife's homemade cheesy enchiladas.
Now that guy's lactose intolerant.
ad for beano
bubble tea
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posted 03/13/2007 A Good Reason to Quit Smoking
I found this ridiculously hideous picture of me from 2000. This is obviously before I quit smoking. I was chubby and out of shape and kind of disgusting. Did I think I was cool or something posing like that??
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My Friend Bobby Had a Bday
My friend Bobby had a birthday. We took him to Ararat. I think it's Greek food. It's BYOB so I brought a couple bottles of wine. I drank a lot of it but I'm not particularly sure how much.
After dinner we went to a very small local bar. There are random bars in Austin that still allow smoking and we didn't realize this was one of them. A smoking bar isn't the worst thing in the world since I used to be an ex smoker, but it needs to have decent ventilation. This place is tiny and has almost no ventilation. It made us cough and our eyes burn. We couldn't stand it for very long. I had two beers there and four of us took Petron shots. We decided to relocate to the karaoke bar, Common Interest. I had no plans on singing but I thought it would be a good place to hang out because it had a lot of different stimuli. It has people singing, usually has trivia, decent sitting, and no indoor smoking. The night was going well and I was pushing the booze like I sometimes do. I think since I haven't thrown up in quite a while I felt a little invincible. I was the one who insisted on shots at the earlier place. I think I was just trying to turn it up for my buddy. I didn't want him to have too quite of a birthday.
I used to go to Common Interest a lot and I remembered they had Jello shots in large novelty syringes (check out the 4th and 5th pictures.) Basically you put it in your mouth and fire the plunger in one shot. This was the part of the night where the bad judgment sets in. I think the Jello shots have Everclear in them. From my college days, someone told me it is one of highest proof liquors available. We used to be stupid and take Everclear shots. Boy did those burn!
Someone signed me up to sing so I sang. I was behind on the lyrics most of the way and it was really hard to hear on the stage. Oh well. No one booed. Someone told me in the bathroom they liked my song. Not sure if they were hitting on me or actually enjoyed the performance. I actually felt fine until I got to my GF's place and laid down. The room started to spin and then I got that nauseous panic. Wu oh. I'm going to hurl tonight, and sure enough I did. I usually don't get hung over. For the most part I can sleep it off and function pretty well the next day. If I puke the night before, that means I'm drunk enough to be nauseous the whole next day, and I was. They say if you throw up on your birthday you had a good birthday. I don't think it qualifies as ironic if I puke on someone else's birthday...
(click to enlarge)
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posted 03/13/2007 Make Sure You Know How to Escape From a Submerged Car
Many parts of Central Texas got a lot of rain over the last few days. In the paper today, some lady and her friends tried to cross a road that had 2-3 feet of water in their car. When the car stalled, a couple of the guys got out and tried pushing the car while the lady steered. I was a little fuzzy on what happened next but some how the car got swept over an embankment, went underwater, and she drowned.
I've heard how to escape from a submerged car so many times but I always forget what's myth and what's reality. If I don't look it up I'd say you should try to roll down the window first. Most cars have electrical windows so I guess by that time, that wouldn't work. I wouldn't be able to open the door because of the pressure of the water. I'm a dead duck. Let's found out what's recommended...
There's quite a bit of suggestions. No wonder I never know what to do. What I take from this article is go ahead and try rolling down the window because there's a certain amount of time before the window shorts out. Once that doesn't work, stay calm and unbuckle your seat belt. It says if you don't unbuckle right away your chances of survival go way down because you'll panic. Basically the only other thing you can do is try to break the window. Don't try to break the front windshield because it's reinforced. Go for the back or sides. They are tempered which means sharp objects have an easier time breaking them. Chances are you won't have a sharp object so you'll probably have to kick it out but this is going to take everything you've got. Adrenaline don't fail me. They say you can also try elbowing it but that sounds harder than kicking it. If you've gotten that far, you might want to disrobe or at least take off your shoes so that it's easier for you to swim out.
Sometimes the whole submerged car thing can be avoided. Don't try to drive your car through flooded roads. Turn around.
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When I Got My Laptop Stolen
I used to play softball in a real, suspect part of town. The fields itself were pretty nice but they are actually quite conducive to car theft. The fields are of course well lit to be able to play at night, but the parking lot isn't well lit at lot. The softball complex houses 15-20 fields, so that usually means you have a ways get to your particular field and then that means you can't see your car while you're playing. Games last over an hour and there really isn't any reason to go back to your car until the game is over.
I saw once on the show Intervention, which is about addiction, where this drug addicts had to steal to get the money he needed for drugs. He said he goes crazy when he sees a laptop in a car and does everything in his power to get it. I guess other than car rims, that's the best size to money ratio thing you can steal. I have an SUV so I don't have a trunk. People with SUVS usually have a back area that they hide with this cover device. I used to be lazy and not pay attention to hiding my belongings in my car.
One night, while playing softball, I pretty much left everything in my car. I figure it's my fortress of security and would certainly be more secure than leaving my wallet in a bag on the fields where I couldn't keep my eye on it. I left my class ring, my ipod, my wallet, my watch, and of course, my laptop in the car. Everything but my laptop was hidden. I actually thought putting my laptop on the floor of the car was good enough because it was so dark.
I came back with my little window pane smashed out and everything stolen. It was quite a haul for those jokers. Losing my wallet was a real pain in the ass because I had to get a new DL, cancel credit cards, stop checks, and I had my stupid SSN card in there. Right after that happened I subscribed to a theft identity prevention service. I lost my first generation IPOD. I even got my class ring replaced but I could no longer get the same model. It seemed silly to wear a class ring that I bought brand new when I actually graduated from college 10 years ago. I lost my fancy Tag Heuer watch that I financed for almost 1,800 and took me over a year to pay for. What's worse is that I just started working at this new company for a couple of months and I had to tell them that I got my laptop stolen.
So now I realize that car predators love a good stereo and a pretty laptop bag. I try to be responsible now and leave the laptop in the car as little as possible and if I have to, I make sure it's well hidden. The way crooks zero in on laptop bags so fervently, I think I'm going to switch my typical laptop bag with my back pack. I often carry workout clothes in my backpack and it should be less of a target.
My friend had her car broken into when they thought her workout bag was a laptop bag. I guess it was borderline. When they realized it was just a workout bag they just left and didn't steal anything. It wasn't quite a happy ending cause she still had her window smashed.
Gold mine vs Smelly Gym Clothes
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posted 03/11/2007 Movie Review: Fast Food Nation / I Like Red Meat I don't know anything about the book, Fast Food Nation, but I did watch the movie the other night. The movie wants to be some sort of wake up call for the gullible American public and open our blind eye to the dark underbelly of the world of massive burger franchises. The movie centers around the fictional franchise, Mickey's. By giving the burger joint this name, I guess the writer wants to make it clear that he is focusing on and is talking about McDonalds. I think calling a burger place "McDowell's" and having "gold arcs" instead of golden arches like in the movie Coming to America is less obvious than this. Picture from Coming to America
The movies has three different story lines. One story line is about a man (Greg Kinnear) who works for Mickey's and is doing an investigation on why they have a found high traces of doodoo in the meat. The second story line has Fez, from that 70's show, illegally coming to America and is put to work in the Mickey's meat processing plant. The third story line is about some teenagers who works at Mickey's and then one of them decides to join some college kids who wants to be radical environmentalists. I know that the meat I eat comes from animals. I know that animals have to die. I know it's pretty gross to see animals gutted and chopped up but that's why I'm glad someone else does it so I can eat it. I don't sit around deluding myself by thinking Dr. Kevorkian comes with his death machine and eases these animals to a nice, slow, and peaceful death. I know that a value meal costs under 5 dollars because there are probably massive fields of cows all jammed together. I actually sided with the Bruce Willis character in the movie that sort of hides some the bad things that goes in the meat plant. He gives the counter point, which is probably supposed to come off as a little ridiculous but it made lot of sense to me. He said there's always been shit in the meat (the shit comes from workers pulling the intestines too fast or incorrectly and then squirting the shit on the meat). He also said, that's why we cook the meat. You cook the meat and for the most part, you're fine. A little doodoo in your meat is ok. I guess it's a gross thought to be eating a little doodoo with your burger but if it's not making me sick then I prefer just to not think about it or know too much about it. The final scene in the movie tries to come off as an equivalent to the climax of a gory horror movie. They show the "killing floor" of the meat plant. They show a cow getting shot in the head with some device. They show a cow hung upside down and getting its throat cut and blood spilling to the floor. They show workers cutting off cow's limbs and some weird machine that pulls their skin off. They show skinless cow heads that are chopped off but still have the eye balls in them. To me it just looked like the meat department of my local grocery store. Fast Food Nation the move one star *. McDonald's quarter pounders ***1/2 stars.
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posted 03/11/2007 Movie Review: Notes on a Scandal The movie Notes on a Scandal stars Kate Blanchett and Judi Dench. They both play school teachers with a twisted friendship. The scandal is Blanchett is having an affair with a 15 year old boy at the school. Judi Dench is a lonely old woman who helps hide the scandal in hopes of becoming BFFs with Blanchett. The Dench character is pretty sad and pathetic and sometimes it made me wonder if all lonely old people experience the same monotony in their lives. I guess there have been times in my life when I didn't know many people and it was tough to pass weekends. When I first got to college I didn't know a soul, didn't own a car, wasn't old enough to drink, didn't have any money, and didn't have any fancy hobbies. Weekends were a bore for a while and it's a depressing feeling when you actually think weekends are too long. Fortunately, it didn't take me too long to start making some friends by branching out and trying new things but I was a young man in college. What can an old person do to make new friends other than moving into a rest home? I guess some places have a "senior center." The Dench character has been so lonely for so long that she becomes really twisted and gets really clingy to anyone who is nice to her. The movie is creepy and tragic but you can't look away. Notes on a Scandal Three stars ***
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posted 03/09/2007 Nosebleed Seats Even Worth Going?
I'm a big fight fan so I was excited to see that the UFC is coming to Houston's Toyota center for it's next pay per view. For the Lion King, I had wanted to see it bad enough where I sat on the second balcony which was dizzyingly high. For the circus two years ago I sat in the first row. For George Strait, I paid a little extra from a ticket broker to sit in the 5th row. So what's better? Well the front, of course, if you can afford it. But if you can't, is it worth going even though you really like the act?
Great tickets to the UFC fight is 250 dollars and is still available. That's too pricey for me. I'd rather buy a new Ipod for that money.
It's probably better to just watch certain events on television, if it's available, then to sit in nose bleed seats. You don't really have a choice when it comes to concerts so that might be the only exception.
Here's an example of someone who posted this fight on Youtube that has pretty bad seats. I think I'll find a bar to watch the fight instead.
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posted 03/07/2007 A Couple of My Favorite Movie Songs
I love great songs in great movies. Some of my favorite songs of all times are in movies. I love hearing a song and thinking about how a movie made me feel or how fantastic the movie was.
Here's an example of two, Blower's Daughter by Damien Rice in Closer and Desperado sang by Sarah Bolger in In America:
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The Lottery is Stupid
I used to buy lottery tickets and scratch off tickets all the time back when I made more money. I'd buy a lot too. I used to have this huge stack of scratch off tickets that had a low win amounts that I'd never cash in. I was always too lazy to redeem two dollar tickets. I was always waiting for the big one. I think the biggest scratch off ticket that I've won is like 100 bucks. The biggest lottery win I've ever gotten is also like 100 bucks for getting 4 numbers right from the original Texas Lottery. When I got to the point where I decided I spend too much money on things like gambling, strippers, and extra fancy dinners, I decided that anything lottery related is a huge waste. There's the old adage that you can't win if you don't play and I realize that the thousands of past lottery winners are pretty happy that they played.
I remember when the TX lottery first came out. My friend's dad, who owned a Chinese restaurant, would always buy at least 100 dollars worth of tickets every time the lottery got even a little high. If it got super high, he'd buy 200 dollars worth. Sometimes I'd wonder what the difference between 10 million and 20 million was compared to a 100 or 200 dollar risk. His logic was that it would prevent him from spending 200 bucks all the time if he only did it when the lottery got high.
Last night the mega millions jackpot was 370 million dollars, a record high. All my pool buddies were buying tickets so of course I buy some too. I bought 25 dollars worth of tickets. Who wants to be the only non millionaire in the bunch? We didn't exactly pool our money but some of us made a pact that we'd give the group each one million dollars if one of us won. So that's not splitting the 370 million prize, that's getting a consolation prize.
My friend said part of the reason he'd give his friends a million a piece was so we could quit our jobs and all hang out and have fun. That's a nice thought. I'd probably buy a franchise or something. Then again, I think a McDonald's one requires a pretty high net worth that's close to a million. I might have to rethink a risk like that.
Of course out of 20 lines of numbers, I got one single number right. That doesn't get you anything. I haven't heard from any of my friends so I assume they didn't win either. I hate losing. Even if it's the 1 in 76 million odds lottery. There's a trillion things I'd rather buy with that 25 dollars now that's it's gone. I could have bought a t-shirt, maybe a pair of jeans, a steak dinner, a sushi dinner, groceries, a video game... |
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Your Double
There's an episode of the Twilight Zone where a woman meets her doppelganger (the definition means a ghostly double of a living person although the word used now doesn't normally mean "ghostly") It wasn't a pleasant experience for her. The double wasn't someone that looked like her, it was her. An evil form of her from a parallel universe and the only way for it to survive is by killing the one that's already here. The complete plot is here. It's actually a pretty creepy Twilight Zone. The creepiest scene is when she's about to leave the bathroom and she thinks she sees a glimpse of herself sitting on a bench outside of the bathroom as she's about to leave. When she does a double take, there's no one there.
Of course that's all fantasy from the mind of Rod Serling but what if you were confronted by someone without any warning that looked just like you? It would freak me the hell out. Some people who claim they look like someone else usually just look like brothers or sisters.
Doppelgangers came up because I was little incredulous about how characters in the movie, The Prestige, found two people that looked exactly like them so easily. I thought it was too easy to spot and too hard to find. My friend saw some website where a guy is doing a whole series of doubles and I think I stand corrected.
These people are not related:
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posted 03/06/2007 The Illusionist v The Prestige
It's funny to me how Hollywood puts out competing movies with the exact same plot device at almost the exact same time. I wonder how that works. What was happening when when the studios were filming Armageddon and Deep Impact? Did one studio hear from a spy that the other studio was filming an asteroid movie and then proceeded to check their script archives or quickly write a script? How about Capote and Infamous (starring Sandra Bullock)? Not only do they have the same plot device, they have the exact same plot. Unfortunately for Infamous, Capote beat them to the release date punch and Phillip Seymour Hoffman did such a fantastic job that they just shelved Bullock's movie for a year.
So what about the Illusionist and the Prestige? Two magician movies released within months of each other. What's so great about magicians set in the 1800s (not sure about the time period) that they had to pump out a couple of movies? These movies aren't your low budget fare either. They are filled with some great actors and actresses. The Prestige stars Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine, and Scarlett Johanson and is directed by Christopher Nolan (who also did Memento and Batman Begins.) The Illusionist stars Ed Norton, Paul Giamatti, and Jessica Beil (Beil not in the class of "great actors".)
The acting is impeccable in both movies by the big stars (not Beil). The movies are very similar but the actual plots are pretty different. The prestige deals mostly with the feud between dueling magicians Bale and Jackman. The Illusionist deals with a love triangle between Norton, a prince, and Beil.
The Prestige is good for the first two thirds of the movie but then takes a wacky turn in the last third. It's one of those turns where you want to nerd it out and dissect the what ifs. It's much like what people do in time travel movies like Back to the Future and the Terminator and time parallel movies like the Lake House. Eventually it gets all twisted and unravels and you just have to suspend your disbelief to the point where you're going to accept what the movie tells you. It's like trying to figure out how to do a magic trick, failing, and then eventually just deciding to sit back and be amazed. The Illusionist is more of a standard fare. The twist in that movie didn't end up being that twisty at all. At the end, the movie employs the quick explanation cuts, like at the end of the Sixth Sense or Mission Impossible, where it recaps the movie for you from different point of views and shows you what you might have missed. The series at the end of the Illusionist wasn't nearly as eye opening as the previously mentioned movies.
If you have nothing better to do and have nothing else to watch, see them both on a Saturday afternoon at home as a double feature. I give the Illusionist and the Prestige both 2 stars out of 5. |
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posted 03/05/2007 Ross (Dress For Less)
I have a very vivid memory of this kid singing this song on the bus when I was in middle school. It goes like this (in a sort of slow, stunted, 80's rap beat) : "Ross... Dress For Less... Vote for the poor... Don't go to.... A Department Store...." He was one of those kids, or one of those people for the matter, that would tell jokes and look you right in the face in the expectation of a laugh. I hate those people. Sometimes, if I get fed up by their bit to look me in the face when they tell a joke, I will come back with a stone cold face that doesn't even look at them. Some people also do that face stare when someone else tells a joke. You know the people that watch a comedy with you and every time the comedian delivers a witty line they'll look you dead in the face. Anyways. That kid made up that song to my knowledge. He was a wannabe class clown. He wanted to be liked and funny.
At the time that kid sang that song, I had never been to a Ross. In fact, I went to a Ross for the first time today. Someone told me they got a cool "graphic t-shirt" there. I, who is always in the market for a cool, nice fitting graphic tee, decided to check it out. As soon as I stepped in that Ross I knew something was amiss. Was it De Ja Vu? Sort of. The last time I have been in a store laid out quite like that is a Goodwill. Ross sucks! I couldn't believe it. They had the same generalized racks that Goodwill has. You know the kind of racks that has Men's Small, Medium, and Large and is sorted by absolutely nothing else. That means if I'm browsing on the Men's Medium rack, I might find some grody t-shirt, a grody button down shirt, or a grody overall all in the same damn spot. No nice folded up shelves like mall stores or even Target. Target is like Neiman Marcus and Armani combined compared to Ross. Don't get me started with the shoes. I've never seen a more disgusting hodge podge then, uh, Goodwill! As soon as I realized what was going on I got the hell up out of there. Ross makes Old Navy look like Rodeo Drive. Ross makes Wal-mart look like Park Avenue. I'm running out of similes but you get the idea.
I'm sorry I'm so tough on Ross considering I went because a friend of mine said she got a cool t-shirt there. But is that stuff used? I don't get it. I've heard people donating stuff to Goodwill but are they donating it to Ross? That stuff is so generic and random that it has to be used or donated. I mean there are no name brand signs adorning the walls. This is just a place with small, medium, and large.
I am not rich and am barely middle class. But I don't understand why people don't just shop at Wal-mart and Target if they want cheap stuff. I guess cheaper is cheaper. I have to admit some jeans at Target can get as high as 30 dollars and Ross probably has $5 dollar jeans. |
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posted 03/02/2007 Employee of the Month is a REALLY Bad Movie
Some people are apparently DANE COOK fans. I guess he's the hot comic or was the hot comic. The only reason I know his name is I was watching a MAD TV skit and someone was doing an impersonation of him and then I noticed him here and there on some people's MYSPACE page. I've never seen his actual act but I have seen his movie "Employee of the Month." It's a god awful movie. It's set in a retail store like CostCo or Sam's. In the tradition of other retail store movies, it's not bad good like "Career Opportunities" or good like "40 Year Old Virgin." It's just bad. Cook had no impressive timing, acting skills, or shtick. Give me a dry, understated comic genius like Steve Carrell, an over the top jackass like old Jim Carrey, or even a goofy man child like Adam Sandler. Cook plays the character completely straight. He's actually a wannabe man child but when the movie delivers plot points like, "My grandmother invested money in my dot com business because she believes in me but she couldn't afford to lose it so that's why I live with my grandmother," then it loses that I'm irresponsible and don't care flair. Jessica Simpson also plays the character completely straight. I never realized exactly how bad of an actress she is. It may even be the most bland, snooze inducing performance I've ever seen. Put Anna Faris in that role and I could bump the movie up 1 star. What also came off as a bit excessive is all extremely low cut outfits she wears to display her ample bosoms. She looks hot in the movie but the low cut outfits are EXTREMELY distracting. The whole time I was like, "Wow. Look at those. Was she always that big? Do people really walk around like that? That's pretty low cut for a first date." It's like she's walking around the movie with a bikini on half the time. I'm not exaggerating. Employee of the Month gets a 1/2 star.
Here's MADTV Making fun of DANE. These two minutes are funnier than the whole movie.
Update: So if I were to continue to spoof on this Mad tv spoof: I saw an actual Dane Cook joke where he said, "Why do people still insist on saying cheese when they take a photo. Was there a time in history where cheese and photography were the shit?" Then I would say really dryly and in an annoyed way, "Hey Dane. It's because when you say CHEEESE it looks like you're smiling." |
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posted 03/01/2007 I Used to Own a BoFlex and Stories of Other Exercise Equipment I Don't Use Anymore
I don't think there is anyone in the United States, who has ever given any thought about their fitness levels, that has not bought a piece of equipment for their "home gym." I think the number one thought that goes through our mind is that we can watch television while we're exercising. Somehow the television is supposed to make us forget how tired we are or how hard we're working.
I myself have bought numerous things for my home gym. Some good and some which are downright silly.
The silliest thing I've bought is the AbFlex:
Just look at that thing! It's a huge piece of plastic. For those of you who have not seen the infomercials, you are supposed to grab the handles at the end, and then spear yourself in the stomach with that red part. The theory is that your stomach pushes back and then creates the necessary isometric motion to give you a wicked six pack. It's also supposed to be great for your back as opposed to sit ups. They always use that selling point for ab exercises. Maybe if you do a million reps with the AbFlex it could possibly work but constantly jabbing yourself in the stomach isn't a pleasant feeling. In the trash you go...
I bought a machine like a gazelle, but it wasn't quite the gazelle. It's hard to describe. It's has handles like the gazelle. In the first position you would sit down, and in the second position you would practically stand up and lean backwards, fully extended. I'm not even sure there was a name for it or how to describe it so I can get a picture.
I've bought two different stationary bikes.
During my Tae Kwon Do days when I idolized Jean Claude Van Damme I even had this device:
It looks like some torture device but it was supposed to help you do the splits. I could do the splits during this time period but I didn't need this cranking device. I could even do the splits on chairs!
I actually own this machine now. It's in most big gyms. It's a very useful machine. I threw my back out some time in my early twenties and decided it was because my back was weak. I started working out my back with this piece of equipment ever since and never had a problem again. That's not me in the picture by the way.
I have a wave master which I used to punch a lot. I don't use it so much anymore. It's kind of loud if you kick it or hit it with a boxing glove.
Here is the granddaddy wasteful purchase of them all:
THE BOFLEX. This is an example of my weak, consumer minded brain giving in to night after night of infomercials. For some reason this commercial really caught my fancy. I just liked to watch it. It seemed like everything I needed in my home gym. According to the commercial, it could work every muscle in your body.
One of the selling points on the commercial was actually the device's greatest flaw. They had one demo where I guy was doing a bench press motion. When he pushed out, it was the normal kind of resistance, but when he went backwards, the Boflex was still pulling him. The expert said that's what makes BoFlex so great, the negative resistance. Not only do you pull going forward, but the Boflex pulls you going back and so it really works out all those little stabilizing muscles.
I've almost injured myself a bunch of times because on that point. Sometimes I attached two many of those rods to my exercise and every once in a while, when my muscles would get a little fatigued, I would lose a little concentration and my arm would go flying backwards. It's pretty scary to be holding on to something connected to a wire whipping you backwards. I eventually gave this machine to my brother and bought a traditional weight bench with barbells and dumbells. It cost me over 1000 dollars.
Nothing beats old fashioned equipment.
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posted 3/1/2007 University of Texas Tries to Give Away Game But Pulls It Off In The End
I prefer watching college football to watching college basketball and I prefer watching professional basketball over college basketball but I'm a big fan of anything Longhorn. In a frustrating but wildly exhilarating game last night, the Texas Longhorns beat the A&M Aggies 98-96. At the end of regulation Acie Law heaved up the biggest rainbow three I've ever seen over 6-9 Kevin Durant and swishes it. At the end of the first overtime, the Longhorns were up 7 points with about a minute to go and they give up a steal and two three pointers, one by Acie Law. At the end of the second overtime, someone grabs Law's jersey instead of committing a clean foul (an intelligent foul where you are at least going for the ball.) I'm not sure what the college rule is but they said something about a technical and probably two free throws. Thank god they didn't end the game like that. Texas wins.
Here are some video highlights: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=270590251
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I lost the weight by eating steak and
broccoli every night. I also switched from beer to rum and diet
cokes. I guess it's an Atkins type diet but I wasn't very strict
with it. I didn't cut out sugars or anything like that and I had a
little bit of bread once in a while. I could afford a cheap steak at TGIF every night because I
was a consultant and we got a 45 dollar per diem every day. These
days, I'm just a regular working stiff so I can't afford to eat
steak at a restaurant every night but I can afford to eat a medium
sized rib eye from HEB (local grocery store). A medium sized rib eye
costs in the area of 7-8 dollars. The problem is I'm too lazy to go
to the grocery store every time I want a steak. I tried buying a
family pack and freezing them but thawing them out takes a crazy
amount of planning. 
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