Friday, December 22, 2006

OH MY GOD


OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD

Black Eyed Peas = Battletoads?

I never noticed, but that Black Eyed Peas song that was used in the Twix commercials starts off just like the Battletoads music. Weird. You can hear the music at the beginning of this silly "worst ways to die in a videogame" movie here. Battletoads is the first game shown, so you only have to listen to the first 30 seconds to hear it. (It's only that first long note, but it's totally dead-on.)

Har Har Har

First of all, woah. If anyone out there actually wants a PS3, Circuit City is already selling a PS3 bundle with just 1 game and an extra controller, and they've been in stock for days. Looks like all those stories about the PS3 supply glut are true.

Also, I hate my neighbors. This morning at 7:45 they turned on their stereo and set it to very, very loud. I was up, but Maria was still slumbering. Had she been woken up I would have been pounding on their door. God, they're such a-holes. Here's to getting away from everything for ten days! (clink)

Furthermore, the Wii internet channel was released this morning. It's pretty nice, but still a trial version, so some features are missing. I doubt I'll use it regularly, but I could see using it to watch some You Tube or movie trailers on the TV once in a while. It's a convenience thing; my laptop is right there, but if I'm sitting around with friends and we want to look something up I could see using the Wii. It's cool to have available (and free).

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Ho, Ho, Ho

Everything has been busy as the holidays approach, so writing has fallen by the wayside. I'm back with a blow-out supersale of Dave trivia, though! What better to get me back online than a good old fashioned Comcast rant?

I must admit that out Comcast service has been working very well since they came out after that snowstorm (knock on wood). I've even been tempted to start recording things in HD again, as I haven't seen the HD channels screwed up in the past couple of weeks. However, there is a new problem that has arisen to keep my hatred of Comcast burning bright. It turns out that in their latest firmware update Comcast broke their HDMI output, somehow screwing up the handshake process that goes on between the cable box and the TV. So when you turn the TV on all you see is snow - if you unplug the HDMI cable and plug it back in things work fine, but that's ridiculous. I actually went out and bought a new HDMI cable because I thought the problem was just with adapters - nope, it's all HDMI cables. This evil firmware update was pushed sometime during November, and word on the internet is that Comcast has no plans to fix this until "maybe January". This is effecting tons and tons of their highest paying customers and they're putting off a fix for two months. Hooray for Comcast.
Until the fix is released we can continue to use Component cables, which I'd be fine with using indefinately except for the fact that I want to use my Wii component cables. So it's annoying, but not really all that bad, and in general I've settled down quite a bit. It's been nice not having to wonder if our TV will work when we sit down to watch Harry Potter 3.

Also, I finally made the upgrade to Blogger 2.0, so if anyone ever wanted to post to Zombie City or Life After 208 ever again you just have to do a little upgrade dealie. It takes about thirty seconds. Jeez, remember when we actually wrote stuff on Life After 208 and Zombie City? Those were good times. Also, I like the Life After 208 design a lot. I think I'm going to use pieces of it in the next big spanishturtle.com redesign.

In closing, Christmas is almost here, so merry Christmas! I'm looking forward to a full ten days away from work hanging out with Maria and seeing family. I can definitely use the decompression time, too. I'll be putting in a few hours a day from my laptop, but nothing too serious. The whirlwind Midwest tour leaves Saturday morning making stops in Iowa City, De Witt, Brookfield, Chicago and Madison. I'm really looking forward to visiting everyone and getting to spend a week away from the city.

Labels:

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Holiday Plans

Like Joe, I will now make my holiday plans available for public viewing. I'll be in Iowa for Christmas Eve and then heading to Brookfield on Christmas day. On the 27th I'll probably head back to Chicago for a couple of days, then visit Madison. I am thinking about spending an extra day or two in Brookfield to visit folks, though, unless people want to visit Chicago.

Sorry, that wasn't very exciting.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

My Comment Meant for the Blogulator

Apparently Blogger comments are broken right now, so I'll post my latest Blogulator comment here instead of there.

THE COMMENT:

Dammit Qualler! When I post saying I don't like having to scroll to the bottom of a post, telling me to scroll to the bottom of a post is NOT an acceptable solution. Just move the byline to the top. Do it. Do it. Do it. You know it sounds like a great idea. Do it.

Furthermore, why does the Blogulator have a Qualler profile on it? Isn't Chris half of the Blogulator? MORE CONFUSION.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Finally Breaking the Surface and Gasping for Air

Boy howdy have I been without internet access for the past few days. Our internet at home has been down (and just was finally "repaired" today), and I've been attending a marketing expo, which renders me offline for most of the day at work. Now that I finally have my sweet, sweet internet back I've been doing all kinds of crazy net surfing (writing this qualifies as 'crazy').

Our cable and internet are working as well as they normally do (to an acceptable level of crapiness), and at this point I'm just releaved to be able to check email and whatnot. On Friday Chicago was hit by a pretty heavy snow storm, and our cable/internet went out. I decided it was the second-to-last-straw, and I downgraded our cable service to the cheapest package available (which is actually a new customers package that has about 100 more channels than what we got before). We're prepared for the possibility we may cancel our cable television entirely and become over-the-air TV watchers for the next few months. It'd be fine most of the time, but I would miss cartoon network and espn and the history channel sometimes. I'd also become much more dependent on BitTorrent without a DVR. It all depends on how this iteration of supposedly "working" television performs.

The expo I've been attending has been pretty interesting. It's my first major exposure to people I don't work with talking about the industry. It's reassuring to hear people talk about what my company already does as if it's bleeding-edge stuff, and we seem more advanced than the assumed level of knowledge for any of the seminars I've been to (which are in the 'advanced' track). I also got to hear the man in charge of Netscape's Digg copy-cat site, and he seems like a pretty bright guy (though he's really defensive about the fact that his site is almost an exacty copy of Digg). Aside from the content, it's been a pretty nice change of pace too, sort of like being back in school for a few days (except it's 9 hours long). My go-to reminiscent class memory is offically intro to Genetics in Agriculture Hall with Mootzger. That was an awesome class.

P.S. Did you guys see Chris gave a glowing review to United 93? That must signal the end of the world, or at least a reversal of everything we've come to assume about reality.

Friday, December 01, 2006

Save the Food

In recent weeks, for reasons I cannot explain, people have taken to bringing food into my home and leaving it in my refrigerator. While I am happy to cool and house this refugee food, these beautiful young foodstuffs need your help. For just pennies a day you can give these eats clean water, a place to learn, or some baking powder. But more than money, these castaways need a new home; a place they can learn to trust and love again. Won't you help?

Meat shouldn't have to learn the hard facts of life on the cold streets of a strange freezer. These chicken breasts were abandoned after spending months in an empty apartment with no human contact of any kind. Through our loving support and seasonings these chicken breasts will learn to be delicious again. If you have a warm stomach and a taste for poultry perhaps you could give these breaded bits of avian bosom a loving home. Fully preserved and ready to cook, come meet these wonderful chicken breasts and learn that it's what's inside the breading that really counts!

Hi, I'm not juice yet, but I dream that someday someone will dump me into a pitcher with warm water and stir me until I dissolve, releasing my bountiful nutrients unto the world! My foster parents at David's kitchen have kept me cold, dry and housed inside of a box with the chicken breasts. The chicken breasts and I have brown quite fond of each other, and we'd love to stay together forever! Now here's a word from my foster Daddy: Thanks, juice concentrate! He's a great kid. Juice concentrate does need some special care; unlike our other foods up for adoption, juice concentrate demands a bit of preparation. His instructions are clearly written on the side of his convent, cylindrical packaging, though, and can be accomplished with simple kitchen utensils.

Who would eat food that's still alive? That just seems... delicious! This litter of six peach yogurt cups was discovered hiding in our refrigerator inside of a grocery bag. We're pretty sure they were brought home from a store in that bag and lost somewhere along the way. Certianly no one meant to leave these little guys behind; they're just too cute! Currently connected by the tops of their heads, these yogurts are ready to be snapped apart and enjoyed for breakfast, lunch, or just a snack! Talk about a team player! The peach yogurt boys have made a real name for themselves at the refrigerator late-night raves, where their bright packaging and glossy surface look just fantastic under a black light.

We found these waffles stuffed ramshackle into a bag meant for a waffle family half their size. Though they are cramped, they are strong. A friendship has grown between the waffles and their new neighbor, vodka bottle. The two often stay up late into the night, singing songs and knitting mittens. Though vodka bottle will be sad to see them go, he wishes them, "nothing but the best home a sac of waffles could have". High praise for some highly delicious, toaster-ready breakfast food!

What's that? You're looking to eat some cereal? Or bake a cake? Or eat some cookies? Well, whatever you had planned for dinner, there's nothing better than a tall glass of milk afterwards. Milk arrived at our refrigerator under nourished and skinny. Though he's still not as well-rounded as his luckier milk brothers, this little guy is a fighter. The first thing he did when arriving in the refrigerator was muscle his way right between the assorted beer and half-empty Gatorade Fierce; talk about a bold entrance! We're sure milk will make a similarly bold entrance - straight into your mouth.

*A note about this: Yes, people really have brought all of these items to my house and left them in my refrigerator. At first I was going to use these photos to post ransom demands, but the food won me over; now I just want to see it happy.