Havasimy

What a day. I couldn't access the internet at home and couldn't do what I needed to do at work because when they installed the microsoft program I need to do one part of my project, it failed to install correctly and in the process it screwed up the program I need to do the other two parts of the project. I could go down in the lab and get the work done, but I wanted to be at my desk in case the guy came to fix my computer.

They came this afternoon to fix the internet connection at home and it seems the MAC number for my modem got slightly changed in the company's system. Two letters in the MAC got changed to zeros. I guess it's better than last time when they simply lost the MAC from their system entirely.

This weekend is the big cleanup weekend for my apartment before the big visit the following weekend. I'll hopefully find the time to post a couple things, including the answer to the lyrics quiz sometime this weekend.

My life is starting to get excited now as I've gotten past writing documentation at work and am now starting to write code. Talk about exciting. (Smell that? That's sarcasm.)

I am going to a Tsunami Relief Benefit on friday. Should be interesting. It looks like the bill include, among other acts, a belly dancer and a Johnny Cash tribute.

Talking to my mom tonight, I was informed my hometown, as well as my former high school, made the big city tv news last night because of a sex scandal. Apparently, it involved atleast ten kids hanging out in a little-used room at the high school and taking nude pictures of girls. Nothing like a sex scandal to bring out the local television news. It's been my observation that local news go absolutely nuts for four things: sex scandals, any scandals involving the internet, animal abuse, and crooked politicians. If they ever got footage of a politician shooting a cat with a BB gun while being pleasured by a teenaged girl he met on internet, they're heads would explode with happiness.

Of course, Bill and I was shocked by the scandals. Not because of what happened, but because that there might possibly be a room in the high school we didn't know about.

And does anyone else watch Celebrity Poker Showdown? I watched it a week or two ago and saw the most shocking thing. Lacey chabert dominate Robert Wagner on one hand. She check-raised him three times in a row, taking a big pot from him in the process. He's been around so long, he was the Ed Sullivan show. He's always cool. And she had the bubbly, giggly thing going, but on that hand, she played him perfectly.

And now for the news:

- First some America's Cup news. Yes, a yacht hit a whale. I'm sure it would be considered a remarkable feat, if they were trying for it. Instead, it actually made me think back to the Jamaican bobsled team, for some reason.

- I've caught myself doing this. I've given directions using names that no longer apply. My senior year of college, I would still refer to "Resnik" and "West wing" as the "new dorms" despite most undergrads would have no idea what I meant. I'm going to have to be careful when I'm back now since the new dorms are no long the new dorms. Also in my hometown, I refer to "Russian Hill" and "behind the Brewery" despite the fact that there's few if any Russians living up there and there's definitely no brewery to be behind. (A few "independent" distillery, maybe.)

- This is simply a fun site. My favorites include Spinal Tap and Dingoes Ate My Baby.

Okay, now for stuff I've been saving up to write about:
- This was already posted, but I figured I'd post it as another plea to anyone who, for some insane reason, taped SNL, to get me a copy.

- Google has maps now. Here's a review. The directions feature needs work, but the user interface is a vast improvement over other online maps. The best part is how, instead of clicking a link, the map can be dragged so there's no wait time or stepping from one map to another.

- This one, which I meant to post a few days ago, caught my eye simply because of the headline. I believe the headline was also the only reason I saved it to post.

- This might scare some people. They would have found it in my luggage. Even before 9/11, my carry-on would be search half the time. Of course, back then, one security person wouldn't let a co-worker of mine through security with a carabiner because it could be used as brass knuckles and thus was a weapon. Nowadays they let butcher knives through?

- Here's another one I meant to post a couple days ago. I believe the comment I was planning to make about it was that it looks like Saudi Arabia has got something right.

- And finally, I think that if I was still in college, I might be trying to get a road trip together on a quest for The Hamdog. I'm not sure if I would go for the Luther Burger, though. Grease and Sugar are just something that need to be kept seperate.

I went to see "Million Dollar Baby". It was a movie I wanted to see when I first heard about it, but after seeing a number of articles about the controversy around the movie, with every one having a "spoilers" warning at the top, I made a point to see it soon before I found out about the ending. It was definitely worth seeing. It's the best-acted movie I've seen in a long while. The look of the film is so dark, it's almost a black and white film. The only part I didn't like was Hilary Swank's character's family. Imagine the human white-trash equivalent of Jar Jar Binks. The ending that has spawned the controversy was well done, although I would have liked to see it go in another direction. The controversy is unwarranted and smells of someone trying to use a popular film to get media attention. Overall, it was a great movie. And how can anything that has Morgan Freeman doing a voice-over narration be bad?

I also got Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band from Netflix. It's an amazing accomplishment. They somehow managed to make a movie in the late 70's where the guys from Aerosmith seems like the ones least on drugs. Imagine Pink Floyd The Wall with a less coherent plot.

Other than that, nothing much has happened in my life recently. I went bowling. I've averaged a 500 series over the last three weeks and my average is up to 151 after starting the year lousy due to a new bowling ball and having not bowled regularly since I was half my age.

Okay, here's an updated version of the lyrics list with correct answers posted (and no, I don't really expect anyone to read my mind and guess which cover version of "Daniel" I have):
1. Chance determines destiny. Tide can be the enemy
2. (And So It Goes - Billy Joel)My silence is my self defense
3. I'm a sexual innuendo in this burned out paradise. If you turn me on to anything, you better turn me on tonight
4. (Come Together - Aerosmith, originally by The Beatles)One thing I can tell you is you got to be free.
5. (Mercury - Scott Blasey)Bicycle trail only runs so far. This is a place you can't get by car
6. ran with my heart pounding down that broken path with the devil snappin' at my heels
7. In a place where the world can't find us, love takes the wheel and drives us. Nothin but our senses guide us, all night long
8. If I showed you how you control my mind, would you hold it against me and take advantage of me?
9. (Daniel - , originally by Elton John)I can see the red tail lights heading for Spain.
10. (Someday I'll Be Saturday Night - Bon Jovi)My life's a bargain basement. All the good shit's gone
11. You showed me how to cry. When you told me that everything was a lie
12. (Careless Whisper - George Michael)Should've known better than to cheat a friend
13. New... that's how I'm feelin' like I'm your special one. Two... hearts learning to love. We've just begun
14. ( - The Clarks)The economy is pretty good when any half-drunk lass can buy a four-wheel drive with power heated seats for her fat ass
15. (The Dance - Garth Brooks)Our lives are better left to chance
16. You may be from Venus but I'm definitely not from Mars.
17. I can feel my soul. It's bleeding. Will you fly with me this evening
18. When you're close to me all that I do is think about a way to make you stay with me
19. Milk blood to keep from running out
20. A weaker man might have walked away, but you had faith strong enough to move over and give me space
21. Please don't come home if you're gonna break my momma's heart
22. (Tequila Sunrise - The Eagles)Take another shot of courage. Wonder why the right words never come. You just get numb
23. Bad boys, jealous girls. Been there, done that. I just wanna fantasize.
24. (This Uncivil War - Martina McBride)And both sides say they're winning. And both sides know they're losing. And neither one knows what they're fightin' for.
25.( -Shakira)Por ti me quede como monalisa sin llanto y sin sonrisa

Okay, here's my first attempt at the random lyrics quiz. Instead of an IPod, I used WinAmp. I randomized the playlist and took the first 25 songs. Then I took lyrics from each track. Other notes:

- Since, I have every album of some artists in my playlist, there was multiple songs by the same artist, so I only included the first track by an artist, so no artist is listed more than once.
- There is one case, however, where someone has two songs listed, one as a solo artist and one as lead singer of a band.
- There are two entries where the artist listed also did a better known version of the same song as part of a group.
- There are two entries that are cover version. In one case, the cover is as well know as the original, though. Bonus points if you can guess both the original artist and the artist who did the track I have.
- There is one entry where a different artist in a different musical genre recorded the same song at about the same time. Don't know if one is the cover of the other, so bonus points to guess both artists.
- To get the spelling on the spanish track, I consulted a couple lyric websites. They all seem to agree, so if it is misspelled, makes no sense or is totally obscene, don't blame me.


So, try to guess the name of the song and the artist.

1. Chance determines destiny. Tide can be the enemy
2. My silence is my self defense
3. I'm a sexual innuendo in this burned out paradise. If you turn me on to anything, you better turn me on tonight
4. One thing I can tell you is you got to be free.
5. Bicycle trail only runs so far. This is a place you can't get by car
6. ran with my heart pounding down that broken path with the devil snappin' at my heels
7. In a place where the world can't find us, love takes the wheel and drives us. Nothin but our senses guide us, all night long
8. If I showed you how you control my mind, would you hold it against me and take advantage of me?
9. I can see the red tail lights heading for Spain.
10. My life's a bargain basement. All the good shit's gone
11. You showed me how to cry. When you told me that everything was a lie
12. Should've known better than to cheat a friend
13. New... that's how I'm feelin' like I'm your special one. Two... hearts learning to love. We've just begun
14. The economy is pretty good when any half-drunk lass can buy a four-wheel drive with power heated seats for her fat ass
15. Our lives are better left to chance
16. You may be from Venus but I'm definitely not from Mars.
17. I can feel my soul. It's bleeding. Will you fly with me this evening
18. When you're close to me all that I do is think about a way to make you stay with me
19. Milk blood to keep from running out
20. A weaker man might have walked away, but you had faith strong enough to move over and give me space
21. Please don't come home if you're gonna break my momma's heart
22. Take another shot of courage. Wonder why the right words never come. You just get numb
23. Bad boys, jealous girls. Been there, done that. I just wanna fantasize.
24. And both sides say they're winning. And both sides know they're losing. And neither one knows what they're fightin' for.
25.Por ti me quede como monalisa sin llanto y sin sonrisa

Once again, I had a bunch of things to blog about but the only ones I remember are the ones about articles where I sent the article to myself. Maybe as I'm typing in those, the other ones will come back to me.

First off, duh. I mean, his heart attacks made people question whether he should be vice-president four years ago. Imagine four years from now when it would be for president. Throw in his age, his Halliburton connections, and his record as vice-president (pay no attention to the man behind the curtain) and he wouldn't even win the primary if a decent candidate ran against him. I'm betting there will be a more than decent candidate, unless the far right somehow manages to keep McCain out of it.

I've got to stop reading the news. Every week I hate even the concept of lawsuits. This just adds to it. People should be nice to their neighbors, not be afraid to even help them.

This type of thing doesn't even shock me. The only truly shocking thing in the article, and the only reason it's worth noting, is that, apparently, a female Phys. Ed. teacher had sex with a male. Could this be a first?

All I can say about this is start checking your quarters. Of course, the more west the states represented gets, the less it seems I even see new quarters. I'm not sure if I saw one of every quarter released last year.

I have two comments for this article. First, anybody who currently works as a waiter/waitress or has done so in the past should read the first paragraph. It should bring a smile to your face. Second, my current company is the first that I've worked for that has come out and told everyone that if you're sick, don't come into work. They don't want sick people to infect the non-sick people. The column doesn't talk about that enough. It talks about the money and the politics but doesn't dwell too long on the fact that paid sick leave can be good for the company because sick people are not as efficient and cause other people in the company to be sick. If you're advocating laws that force companies to do something, you should atleast stress how it helps the employers, not just the employees.

Let's see. Other stuff. I went back to the old home area last weekend for the annual Super Bowl party. I had picked up a Oscar the Grouch t-shirt for my nephew. He's three and a half years old. The shirt was size 5-6. It was too small. I think I'm just going to start buying him adult size clothes and just let him grow into them.

Went out with my parents and my brother's family saturday evening for my dad's birthday. My five month old niece is starting to look human. She's totally different than my nephew was. Anyone could hold him and he wouldn't care. She fusses if she realizes her mom isn't the one holding her. On the other hand, she slept nicely through dinner.

The super bowl party was nice. It's obviously has changed over the years. Definitely more kids nowadays. Interesting thing though was when one of the little people discovered that the big square plaything made a airplane sound when it wasn't supposed to be able to make a airplane sound.

The Super Bowl commercials were boring, for the most part. I liked the Bud Light parachuting commercials, although I didn't think it didn't live up to the event quality that a Super Bowl commercial should. The FedEx commercial was a good commercial. The GoDaddy one was also great for a company noone has heard of. Apparently the commercial was supposed to air a second time, but a NFL official called Fox after the first airing and told them not to run it again. Yawn! Also, apparently we didn't miss the Brad Pitt commercial. Anheuser-Busch bought enough ads that it got exclusive national beer advertiser, so Heineken was only able to buy local spots and only did so in select markets. It's pretty safe to assume that Pittsburgh wasn't one of them.

The half time show was boring. Boring isn't so bad if it was a high-school band performing. I would have no problems with that. But to have a top name performer on and hype it as such, it needs to have more spectacle. If you're going to hype a major halftime show, give us more of a show. It's a shame that they paid so much money for a half time show and it wasn't as good as the kiltie band scatter shows (or whatever they were called) that I used to see for free. (And I in no way meant that as an insult to the Kiltie band.)

By the way, I correctly predicted that the game was going to be decided by three points. I actually predicted in my pool that the score was going to be 34-31, so I came close in one sense. In another sense, I missed by a total of 20 points.

And I just remember one other thing I wanted to mention. I heard about it on the radio monday morning and from Tiff monday night. Did anyone see SNL on saturday? Apparently there was a Pittsburgh Yinzer-themed sketch. It was one of the last sketches of the show. Did anyone see it and can tell me about it. And if anyone has a copy of it that I can borrow or get a copy of, please let me know.

Paris Hilton was the host of SNL saturday. It might be the first time that there's been any connection between Paris Hilton and Pittsburgh.

This is my last post til Monday. I'm heading back to Pittsburgh tomorrow morning. I'm not sure if I can stand to be in Philadelphia if the Eagles win. That's not the reason I'm going home this weekend, but it's a plus. On the other hand, it would be interesting to be around a city during a major win. I was around Pittsburgh during when the Penguins win, but that wasn't like it would be if the Steelers won the Super Bowl.

Some tidbits from the web:
- This answers the thing I've always wondered: why hasn't anyone marketed a Duff's beer.

- This article in general isn't unusual. I've seen many attempt to shut down adult establishments by local community groups. It also doesn't trump the one place a couple years ago that had their dancers do shakespeare scenes to take advantage of a legal loophole. What made me laugh is the name of the community group: "Citizens Against Nude Juicebars and Pornography".

First, the term "Nude Juicebar" is just funny. Throw in the fact that they've pluralized it as if there's more than one of them in their area. Then they've added "and Pornography" at the end, as if they'd be okay with the nude juicebar if it wasn't pornographic. I am disappointed that they didn't get a acronym that formed a word, though. I'm thinking Citizens Against Nude Juicebars... UMmmmm... Pornography (CANJUMP?). Okay, it's not easy to do, but considering the first year out of college saw me create I-SORE and witness the creation of SANPHORD for company projects, they could have came up with something better than CANJP.

- Then, of course, there's what I'm thinking of getting Terri for her birthday. Of course, if I do, I'd better make sure I'm out of the immediate vicinity before she opens it.

- I have the movie "The Story of the Weeping Camel" coming from Netflix. It's a film from Mongolia that's gotten good reviews and is a oscar nominee for best documentary. I'm not known to be one to see foreign film, but the camel aspect made it enough to catch my eye. And the good reviews put it into the category of something I would like to see. I didn't see it when it was in the theatre cause my move and new job didn't give me the chance to see it for the five seconds it was in one theatre. The question I have is, even though everywhere else has it listed as Mongolian language with English subtitles, its Netflix page has it listed as English language. Even the amazon site had it listed as Mongolian language with no mention of a English version. I wonder if the Netflix page is wrong or if there's a not-well-publicized English language version. I guess I'll find out soon enough.

I have a challenge for my audience. I'm thinking of making a cd with just songs that have long titles. I'm thinking titles with ten words or more. Words in parentheses count.

So far I have:
The Poignant and Epic Saga of Featherhead and Lucky Lack - Blues Traveler
How Could You Want Him (When You Know You Could Have Me?) - The Spin Doctors
I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That) - Meat Loaf
Standing Outside a Phone Booth with Money in my Hands - Primitive Radio Gods

That last two were suggested by Joe when I was discussing the concept with him. Any other suggestions. I'm sure I'll find a few more when I go through my cd collection.

Am I the only one who finds the Dr. Pepper commercial featuring the song "Stacy's mom" really disturbing?

On the other hand, my favorite song, "Dream On", is being used for a car commercial and I don't have a problem with it. It doesn't change the lyrics or music. It doesn't take the song too far out of context (like "lust for life" in a cruise ship ad). And it has some class.

Oh, no! They've captured G.I.Joe!