Flickr is by far the best site to share photos. It’s a shame most people don’t use it and opt for Facebook and Myspace instead when they severely compress your photos. Anyways, here’s a link to a slideshow of the pics. If you click the “i” that hovers over the picture it will display my captions. Be sure to check out the videos as well.

Random thought for today: when is the last time you saw a soda vending machine that held 12oz cans?

Categories: Random
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To be fair to Karl… I can’t think of any.

Hrmm, maybe “Downtown” by Petula Clark? Wonder if that was written in reference to New York City?

Categories: Funny
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There are no words…

Categories: Funny
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All women swimmers will always remind me of the pre-cog in Minority Report:

Categories: Current, Weird
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I’ve just completed week four of One Hundred Pushups. I didn’t think I’d make it this far, but I’ve kept up with it. If you want to feel stronger, I recommend it; it’s a great program.

So I’ve been watching the Olympics all day. I didn’t see the opening ceremonies last night as I was out, but I’m downloading a 720p HDTV rip of it right now so it’s all good. I haven’t been into the Olympics after 1996 when they were in Atlanta, but for some reason I’m liking it again. I think it might be because I have an HDTV now. It’s hilarious to listen to some of the awful announcing though, especially during gymnastics. “Ohhh, that hop was killer! It’s going to come back and haunt him in his nightmares!” Or during swimming, “that was a horrible finish… just fell apart at the end.” The guy lost by .3 seconds. I wonder if the commentators have qualifications, such as being past Olympic athletes or if they just have to know how to fill up dead air. Just now during women’s beach volleyball USA vs Japan, I quote, “The Japanese just aren’t tall enough!”

Categories: Current
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First of all, let me say I intended to see this movie on an IMAX screen. I ordered tickets weeks ahead of time to a show this opening weekend. Eventually all IMAX showings this weekend would sell out. We arrived to find out that the bulb in the projector blew during a previous screening and that it would not be repaired in time for our show. We were then allowed to see it on a regular screen and were given free passes to see any IMAX or regular movie at any Regal cinema with no restriction except that it cannot be this weekend. The only problem is the closest IMAX is pretty far away and The Dark Knight is a long movie. But it doesn’t feel long at all, which leads me to my review which should be spoiler-free.

I was not all that excited for this movie until this week. Every trailer I saw just showed more and more Joker and it seemed like more of an exploitation of a dead celebrity than a hint at what the movie was going to be. And I felt it was just so overhyped; you couldn’t go anywhere online without seeing “Three new minutes of The Dark Knight” videos. I successfully avoided all of those websites. But when all the buzz and great reviews came out this week I began to get excited, especially since I was seeing it in IMAX with the special footage. Anyway, the movie starts off like a rocket and it doesn’t ever let up.

The script was fantastic. Christopher Nolan really knows how to write and direct a movie. I’ve loved his work since Memento, which used to be my absolute favorite movie. The cinematography was incredible and the action sequences were inventive and thrilling. And the score! The movie was intense already, but the music made it even more so. Sometimes the scenes would have you on the edge of your seat just because of the music.

And now onto what everyone is talking about: the performances. All of the acting was excellent, but Heath Ledger really just knocked it out of the park. The image of this new Joker is just completely haunting, yet at times you can’t help but laugh at his antics. He’s literally a terrorist, a maniac, but you want to see more and more. What kind of scares me though is that this movie is not a kid’s movie at all and I know so many parents won’t pay attention and bring their kids to this. A few scenes are really quite disturbing, even for adults.

Aaron Eckhart was also great as Harvey Dent, however I was not a huge fan of Two-Face. I loved how they developed his story, but just the makeup for his face looked cheesy - especially when the other villians look so gritty and real (Scarecrow and The Joker.) That and Maggie Gyllenhaal in for Katie Holmes are my only real “gripes” if I could have any. Loved the movie through and through.

As of right now this movie is sitting at #1 on IMDB’s top 250 films of all time which is pretty funny. I have to say it’s definitely the best superhero movie ever, but I’m not sure if it’s even my favorite movie of the YEAR, let alone all-time. (For those wondering, the other movie in contention is WALL-E.) Interestingly enough, WALL-E was at #9 the weekend it came out but has since slipped to low 20s. The Dark Knight started out lower and has climbed and climbed. No doubt it will slide, but I think it’s remarkable that the movie has actually lived past the hype. It will probably be the biggest opening weekend to date, knocking out Spidey-3.

I wonder how many kids are going to go trick-or-treating as The Joker this year.

Categories: Movies
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This is really my cat, Kitty.

Categories: Funny
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Last week I realized I haven’t been to a Braves game yet this year (well, a game that didn’t rain out) so I thought it was about time to pick up some tickets. I found a $20 off coupon to StubHub so I figured I’d give them a try. To my surprise I found 2 dugout seats listed at $10 a piece for a game in August! I snatched them up right away. Nevermind the $20 mandatory overnight shipping charge plus their normal 10% commission fee. Why should I be forced to pay for overnight shipping when the game is two months away? Oh well, I have a coupon, I’ll let it slide.

Four days later, I have no confirmation of my order so I check the FAQ on StubHub’s page. It said that you should have an order confirmation within 48 hours of purchase. So I call them up and after waiting for 15 minutes I speak to an agent. Only then am I informed that the “seller made a mistake and meant to list the tickets for $100.” She offered me nothing but said she would perform the cancellation for me. Thanks. No offer of similar tickets at a similar price, no offer to help get me other seats for the game, etc. How can they not guarantee what a seller lists on their website? So I let it go.

And I still have a $20 coupon to use. So I decide, well I’ll just look around for some cheap tickets, I still want to go to a game. I found some of the new “All You Can Eat” outfield seats for $24. These things are normally $50!! I ordered 4 and received them today. I take a look at the tickets and see that the price on the ticket is $12.00. So then I thought these must just be season tickets that someone had before they started the All You Can Eat at Turner Field. I figured I’d better call Turner Field up and see what they tell me. Sure enough, they said I would not be given the All You Can Eat benefit. Now I’m not a big guy, and I don’t overeat by any stretch of the means; but I will take advantage of a deal, especially with concession prices at a MLB game. $7 for a beer? The premium for the all you can eat price will be paid for with a beer and a hot dog. Anyway, so I’m pretty pissed because this is the second time in a week I’ve been screwed by StubHub. I called them up tonight to tell them the story and the agent pretty much told me the “only thing guaranteed is the section, row, and that you receive your tickets in time for the game.” I quote, “The seller can comment ‘All You Can Eat buffet’, ‘Catch a Home Run ball’, etc, but we do not guarantee that.” I was appalled. First of all, why would I think you could guarantee that I’d catch a home run ball? Secondly, this pretty much means I can re-list the same tickets and deliberately mislead any potential buyer by doing the same thing. Is this not fraud, which you claim to protect buyers from on your website? Maybe I’ll also claim that Scarlett Johansson and Elisha Cuthbert are on either side of said seats.

I should have known better than to order from a company that is run by ticket scalpers. They make their money by number of transactions processed, so why would they care about customer satisfaction? They’d rather have me resell my tickets so they can get another commission. StubHub are nothing but ticket scalpers who I consider to be the lowest form of mouthbreathers able to walk upright. I’m shocked to see eBay seems to be a partner with this scam shop. I hope their “business” fails miserably and if you’ve read this far reconsider buying tickets from them.

Categories: Baseball, Opinion
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A couple years after we got my dog, Ginger, she came out of the woods with a note attached to her collar.

” 6/12/00

P.S. She visits us quite often.”

Fast forward 8 years later to this past weekend when I was back home for a visit. Ginger came running out of the woods again, this time with a yellow note attached to her collar with a clothespin.

“Dear Ginger’s Masters,
I’m sorry that I do not know your name. We have always
enjoyed Ginger’s visits.

Thanks,
Nathan, Faye’s son.”

I wonder if this explains how sometimes she would come out of the woods behind our house with a turkey leg or a pizza slice. Ha!

Categories: Random
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Categories: Music
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I think this is my most highly anticipated movie of the summer this year… mostly because I used to be a HUGE X-Files fan. Most people will think I’m crazy because it’s not the new Batman or Indiana Jones. While I will definitely go see those (probably opening weekend), I don’t have the same nostalgic feeling others have for those series, as I do for The X-Files. The trailer leaves me feeling “eh” - because I don’t really want a “monster of the week” story, but it’s better than nothing. I never believed Chris Carter when he kept saying that a second movie was coming out these past few years. Maybe if this one does decently they’ll make a third and return to the alien mythological story.

I was not psyched about Iron Man at all and ended up loving it. Funny how those things go.

Here’s the trailer:

Categories: Movies
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This is the band I saw last night.

I’ve enjoyed listening to their CDs for about 4 years now, and have often wondered what it’d be like to see them live. It was really an incredible experience. And I was in the balcony

After they ended with “The Moon is Down” and a broken tambourine, everyone waited anxiously for an encore. I thought out loud, “how could they possibly top what they just did?” Munaf came out and said that was all they had, especially since that was their 2nd set for the day. The 8pm show (that I went to) was sold out so they agreed to play another set earlier in the afternoon. So there was no encore, and just as well because I wouldn’t want to hear another song or two with less energy. As we were walking out I literally heard people cursing the band because there was no encore. People baffle me. I probably paid 3x as much as they did for their tickets (sold out - hello ebay scammers) and they complain about not getting another song. Give me a break! Today I read that they never do encores. I actually think that is pretty awesome. Put everything you have into one solid set. No one is surprised by an encore; you’re never fooling anyone.

Someone on flickr took some great pics:

Categories: Music
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