Bits to Remember...

Lego Optical Illusion

2012-01-10T01:30:00.000-08:00

If you're a regular on my blog you'll probably guess that optical illusions are a favorite of mine. This is one of a theme of impossible shapes. Escher impossible cube is the most popular on my site. What do you think of this one? I got it from lego illusion

Childhood Games

2012-01-09T13:12:00.000-08:00

There are games we play when we're children that we remember for our entire lives. We buy them for our families when we get older if we don't have the original any longer. Just seeing the childhood game can bring back memories and feelings that were going on at the time. Sometimes even feelings or scents.

The other day we were walking downtown and came across a store with some novelty items. All of us went into different areas of the store but a yellow box caught my eye and there it was...The game I was taught in 5th grade. I remembered handing out the sheets and trying to decide who would call out the cards, if it was okay to say the card in English, etc... I took a photo of the box and a salesperson instantly said, "No photographing the merchandise. I apologized and continued browsing with a little grin on my face.

What games bring back instant memories for you? Are they good memories or bad?

Married with a Facebook Account

2012-01-08T11:06:00.000-08:00

Do you have a Facebook account? The interesting thing about having an account is what to do when you get married if both of you already have an account. Should you get a joint account and keep your individual one?

If neither of you have an account when you get married and then decide that you'd like to have a presence what do you do? Some will create a joint account with a cheesy photo of them both in the profile picture to show, "Hey, this is our account." Or maybe a neutral photo of the kids or dog.

It could get awkward when the mutual account has only friends from one spouse or the other. And...did they get one account because one spouse wants to keep track of the other with everything being in the open. On the extreme, the husband will usually open an account and not let the wife have one. There is usually a huge problem in that case.

Creating individual accounts seems to be the more popular idea. There is usually a higher level of trust and why shouldn't there be? The issue that may come up is, "Hey dear...who is he? How do you know her? Do they know you got married?" Should the ladies put their maiden name to let others find them easily and don't know their new married name?

Some decide they aren't playing the game and all the issues that come up and don't even get one. How about you? What's your thought?

How to win the Lottery

2012-01-07T22:16:00.000-08:00

Sam's $25,000 Scratcher

I've recently discovered a guaranteed way to win at the scratchers! Yes...GUARANTEED. You read that right. Here is an un-altered winning scratcher. I haven't used Adobe Photoshop on the photo of the ticket or manipulated it in anyway shape or form other than to re-size it to fit on this post.

We know that you can spend a whole lot of money on scratchers and not get three of anything to match up. But after following my very easy instructions you too will know the secret. How is it that I can share this tip? Well, I believe that everyone deserves to see a winning ticket. Btw, you don't even have to give me a single cent although tips are always welcome. Leave me a comment and I'll share this very simple way that you can get three matching $25,000 items to appear after you scratch off that silver looking stuff.

I'll show you how to hold the ticket, how to scratch it, what coin to use and even how quickly you must remove the metal stuff. Make sure you have your friends around when you do it so you can all share in the experience.

I don't know how long this post will be allowed to appear here before someone tells me that it's not fair or to take it down. So...hurry up and leave a comment!

Secure Passwords

2012-01-06T23:28:00.000-08:00

One of the toughest things is picking passwords. Not just any password but something better than LetMeIn, Password1, 10141989, 12345678, qwerty, abc123, <any cuss word>.

The password should be at least 8 characters. Let's add an upper case character, a lowercase, special character, number, to the mix for good measure. Another thing is to make sure you have different passwords for all your accounts. This way, someone doesn't have free reign if you love your password. Get a password manager!

Sam's EMail Password

Sometimes I just remember the temporary passwords websites send me instead of creating my own. Which leads to ... where's the "I forgot my password" link?!

Do you use secure passwords?

Hidden Tiger

2012-01-05T00:31:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted one of these in a while so here is one of those optical illusions. Are you able to find the hidden tiger in this image?

Do you look in the trees? How about the bushes? Or maybe in the dirt?

Yes...It's there right in plain sight. If you give up, then you can follow the link to find out.

Answer

Words with Friends

2012-01-04T00:08:00.000-08:00

I play words with friends (WFW) for the fun of it and don't care if I win or lose. It's just interesting to me to see what kind of weird words come out of the game and the strategy. BTW I normally don't like playing games that reply on random chance or how the tiles are shuffled.

In this game I lucked out and got 111 points on the word SMAZE. The other person almost resigned right then and there. But decided to play on just for the heck of it.

What is the highest total points that you've received for tile placement in words with friends?

Ginormous Reese's Peanut Butter Cup

2012-01-03T22:42:00.000-08:00

I really like Reese's peanut butter cups. Most of the time that you go into a store you'll probably see a candy bar that is smaller that you remember for the same price. But check out this Reese's peanut butter cup that I found today! No photoshop or anything.

What is your favorite candy bar and when do you remember that it first became that. What memories do you have associated with this candy bar?

Pyschopath Test?

2012-01-02T20:10:00.000-08:00

The Shining 1980

This is a puzzle that was supposedly designed to see if you're a psychopath. It has gone through a few changes each time I read it but the core is the same...Here it is:

A young woman is at her mother's funeral. She meets a man she had never seen before, but who's there as a part of family. She instantly falls in love with him but doesn't get any contact information for him. A few days after, she kills her sister. Why?

I solved this test very quickly..Are you scared yet?

Happy New Year - 2012

2012-01-01T22:04:00.000-08:00

Here it is another year. I asked a friend if they had any resolutions and they said, "Why set yourself up for failure? What's yours?" I told them that I had one, "not to make one." Did i succeed?

After thinking about it for a second, I came to the conclusion that a resolution is your acknowledgement that you have some sort of imperfection that you're trying to work on. Keeping it is a matter of discipline that most of us don't have.

Are you going to make one or any?

In-N-Out Animal Fries

2010-09-30T14:36:00.000-07:00

I don't see animal fries on the menu at In-N-Out Burger but my friends know what they are!

Have you ever had "animal style?" The cashiers get all confused when I order animal style fries and then say no onions on the burger.

Hungry yet?

It's Too Hot For My iPhone!

2010-09-29T17:06:00.000-07:00

I went to use my iPhone and pressed the home button, and this appears on my screen! What the heck?

The temperature outside was about 110 but I didn't know that my phone would complain. Luckily it recovered and I was able to use it within about a minute.

Hmmm...I wonder if there is a too cold warning message also.

Has this ever happened to you?

I am NOT a trash can

2010-09-03T09:53:00.000-07:00

We stopped into a Starbucks the other day and I saw this interesting can. The can was placed next to the table where you would toss the straw wrappers, or other trash. Obivously, customers thought it was a trash can and employees had to put signs up that said, "This is NOT a trash can."

Should they leave the can or take it away?

$4,000 Piglet Bank

2010-07-27T10:13:00.000-07:00

You've heard of piggy banks and probably even had a plastic one before. The unique thing about this piglet bank, is that it's a real dead piglet!

If you're willing to wait up to a year for a piglet to die, then this is up your alley. Only $4,000!

What do you think?

Chess With Friends

2010-07-26T07:12:00.000-07:00

Scholar's Mate

Heather kept telling me about her sister playing, Words with Friends, and how much she liked it. I looked up Chess with Friends and bingo!

At this point it's really Chess with Strangers. I play about 10 games at a time. Not because I think I'm good but because that way there is always a move going on and I don't have to wait for days (after a week or so, they automatically resign if they don't move) for a piece to get moved.

After a month now, I play a few regular people and we seem to have gone the same route...WWF and then to CWF. I'm pretty evenly matched with them - "Take a lesson or give a lesson!"

One thing that I don't like is that you can't pre-select a player level. This often leads to playing absolute beginners. Ezekiel asked me what the shortest checkmate was: Fool's Mate but that Scholar's Mate comes in a close second. The opportunity came around and I showed him exactly what it looked like.

I'm an average chess player, so if you'd like to play a game, my nickname is: DaShoe.

Lethologica

2009-10-22T10:07:00.000-07:00

Have you ever scrambled for a word and just couldn't get the right one? You go around asking everyone and they look at you funny. Well, look up that word and tell me if it describes a condition you might be experiencing.

Nope. I'm not giving you a link!

Which # did you press?

2009-10-20T13:48:00.001-07:00

Street Art

2009-09-19T09:42:00.001-07:00

This street art painting are pretty cool . I've never seen one in person but I wonder if people that see them are tricked into thinking they are real. :)

Photo Enforcement Tickets

2009-09-08T06:09:00.000-07:00

I thought this was pretty funny! We've all seen the red-light photo enforcement cameras in intersections to catch motorists but this guy is or has beaten the system until now. He has a boatload (Sam defines boatload in this case as 37) of pictures just like this sent to his house and he always returns them stating that it isn't him.

The law states you can fight it, but the photo on his driver's license doesn't match the photo captured by the intersection camera. He refused to pay so a investigative unit followed him.

You can read about the "Monkey Driver That Won't Pay Fine" if you'd like. Have you ever been busted by the camera?

2009 Little League World Series

2009-08-29T23:25:00.000-07:00

Have you been watching the Little League World Series? We have! Our local Chula Vista team Parkview Little League won today versus the only team that had beaten them in the tournament - San Antonio, Texas. The earlier loss (3-6) was forgotten as Parkview ended the US Championship Game early by the mercy rule, 12-2.

I saw some of my friends on the tube when the cameras panned the audience. Jess was at a football game so I was sending updates to her via text as they happened. She would then tell the rest of the parents at the game.

Now, Parkview will face Chinese Taipei in the the Little League World Series Championship game at Noon Pacific time tomorrow. We're having a little carne asada and munchies at our game get together to cheer the team on. :)

On a side note, has anyone noticed that of the 16 teams in the LLWS that eight are from the United States? And that the United States (1 of the 8 teams) gets an automatic berth into the Championship Game to face the International Champion? Doesn't it seem like this is a United States versus the World tournament?

The spoiled under-30 crowd

2009-08-25T22:51:00.000-07:00

I got this e-mail today...How many remember this?

If you're 30 or older you'll think this is hilarious!!! Maybe!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking Twenty-five miles to school every morning....Uphill...barefoot...BOTH ways...Yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today.

You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!

And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalogue!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen!

Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take, like, a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!

Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us.. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our ass and we got "Licks" from the teachers and principals. Nowhere was safe , I even remember Grandma beating me!

There were no MP3' s or Napsters! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself! Or, you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished and the tape would come undone. Cause - that's how we rolled, dig?

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!! And there were no
multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen...forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel! NO REMOTES!!!

There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards! And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we had to use the stove! Imagine that!

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled. You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or before!

Regards,
The Over 30 Crowd

What's that smell?

2009-07-21T23:13:00.000-07:00

Jess and I are walking down the street in China Town in San Francisco and I spot the following license plate. I got my phone out and Jess knew exactly what I was going to do. The other night I saw one that said, "LiL Terd" but it was too dark to get a clear shot.

What is the weirdest plate you've seen?

Always buy the PRO version!

2009-05-30T10:15:00.000-07:00

Somehow I think a small change was meant to be removed before the release version went out! Another error that appeared in a project that I took over was, "Show me the money!!!" Do you think developers should put these kinds of errors in their messages?

Hidden Images

2009-05-28T09:10:00.000-07:00

What do you see in the image below?

How many do you see?

Vista SP2 Available

2009-05-27T10:04:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has a new update for Vista. How many things will it break in the process of fixing issues?

Spinning Girl

2009-05-27T09:53:00.000-07:00

Look at the spinning girl. Which way is she spinning, clockwise or counterclockwise? Based on how you look at the image, you can make it go the opposite direction! Don't get discouraged if you can't see it right away.

Where is My Mind?

2009-05-06T09:43:00.000-07:00

If you've lost your mind and are having trouble finding it, then there is still hope. Google can help you find it! After you find your mind, try entering, "How to " and see what you get. Or even, "How not to."

What kind of weird searches have you done?

First U.S. Face Transplant

2009-05-05T22:17:00.000-07:00

Connie Culp, shot by her husband in the face was the first face transplant in the United States. The husband received seven years for the shotgun blast that nearly killed her back in 2004, but she had years of recovering ahead of her. As you can tell by the before and after photos that surgeons did a great job with what they had.

I admire the strength it took for her to come forward with her story and know that it would be difficult for many to face all the gawking and pointing.

Do you think that seven years was enough? And secondly, would you go through a face transplant if you were in the same situation?

Headache Remedy

2009-05-05T22:06:00.000-07:00

Jess and I were waiting around after basketball practice and decided to kill some time with an iPhone app. As you can tell, her 10 year old won this round. I don't think that tylenol will help in this case!

What kind of cool games do you have on your phone?

Texting Bus Driver Crashes

2009-04-29T22:58:00.000-07:00

It is against the law to text while driving in California but people still do it anyway. This bus driver from San Antonio was caught on video texting and getting into a traffic accident on the freeway.

Do you text while driving?

The Swine Flu

2009-04-27T22:13:00.000-07:00

Are you concerned about all the coverage on the swine flu? I've seen reports of people buying up masks and hand sanitizers. I think that people are going to flood the emergency rooms soon at the slightest sign of the flu just to be safe.

Will the standard measures: washing your hands, covering your mouth if you cough, and practicing standard hygiene, work in this situation?

Quick, Quick...what company makes Tamiflu? Not that anyone would try to profit off this.

The Chase

2009-04-27T22:03:00.000-07:00

I know what I'm having for dinner!

Air Force One Low Flying Stunt Goes Bad

2009-04-27T21:53:00.000-07:00

Fom the AP Story
Why the Defense Department wanted to do a photo op right around the site of the World Trade Center catastrophe defies the imagination," Bloomberg said. "Poor judgment would be a nice ways to phrase it. ... Had I known about it, I would have called them right away and asked them not to."

Would you have authorized this?

Chat With Strangers

2009-04-27T18:07:00.000-07:00

I heard about site that allows you to chat with strangers. The purpose is:

Omegle is a brand-new service for meeting new friends. When you use Omegle, we pick another user at random and let you have a one-on-one chat with each other. Chats are completely anonymous, although there is nothing to stop you from revealing personal details if you would like.

There is a New York Times article about it so I tried it out. The site randomly picks one of the 2400 anonymous people that were online at the time and asks you to say, "Hi." I went through several chats and found out that that it is exactly what you would expect from a random anonymous chat.

At least it makes it much easier to disconnect from the chat since your name is: "Stranger." You don't have to worry about going invisible or blocking anyone. This might be good for a post secret type of thing if you need to get something off your chest but that's about it.

What does this mean to you?

2009-04-24T18:36:00.000-07:00

Is anyone even surprised by any of this? Imagine what it truly means when your kid says, "I'm bored!"

Fart Loading

2009-04-23T14:20:00.000-07:00

I went to Wings N Things for lunch and noticed that the place was packed with many people standing even though there was a seat by the window! How lucky of me, so I took a seat after ordering. After a few seconds, I look up and see a big guy sitting in front of me and then notice what his shirt says, "Fart Now Loading..." Now I know why nobody wanted this seat.

Should I have moved? Luckily, nothing was in the air!

Instant Tan

2009-04-23T08:18:00.000-07:00

"Honey, the bottle says, 'natural looking tan. Nobody can tell the difference!' Whatcha think?"

Have you ever used a "bronzer?"

Huge Rat Attacks Park

2009-04-22T12:43:00.000-07:00

How would you react to the huge rat?

Optical Illusion

2009-04-18T00:47:00.000-07:00

Tell me what image you see on the left. Don't answer too quickly as you might miss something! :)

I haven't done one of these in a long time and my daughter likes these so don't be surprised if you see more on here.

thepiratebay.org crew found guilty!

2009-04-18T00:12:00.000-07:00

All those in the torrent scene were waiting to see what the verdict would be in the thepiratebay trial. Although polls by those that use torrents overwhelmingly thought they would be found not guilty, they were found guilty in Sweden. Of course nothing really earth shattering happened and here's the press release from the pirate bay.

The four: Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi and Carl Lundstrom were sentenced to a year in jail and to pay about 3.6 million USD. The huge media companies celebrated a big win since this service has almost 4 million users. A never-ending cat and mouse game between the media giants and file-sharing community.

Note that the pirate bay doesn't have any copyrighted material but downloading a file from the site allows those using p2p to get the desired copyrighted material.

The case will be appealed, and this will drag on. You can still get to http://thepiratebay.org/.

... is too long a word. Try using a shorter word.

2009-04-16T22:52:00.000-07:00

10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

I was trying to see how many entries there were for 1 followed by a bunch of zeros by using google.com. That number you see above is 1 zero short of the max before you get the error: "... is too long a word. Try using a shorter word."

There are now 51 people with that number indexed. Yes, I'm the 51^st. See what I resort to when I'm bored?

Ashton Kutcher versus CNN

2009-04-15T21:03:00.000-07:00

In the blue corner we have Ashton Kutcher, and in the red corner we have CNN. Who will be the first to get 1 million followers? I thought so, you don't care either! :)

I think that Ashton has a good chance for being a single entity and not a giant media company but I guess the internet is a great equalizer, right?

Do you have a twitter account?

Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover!

2009-04-15T12:20:00.000-07:00

Did you hear about Susan Boyle? She's a 47 year old that hadn't been given the chance to be a singing star so she went on the TV show in Britain, Britains Got Talent with that Simon guy from American Idol.

She's never been kissed and self-proclaimed ugly duckling. The reaction from the audience before she starts singing is "Ewwwww." But just watch what happens after she starts singing! Check out her performance here (YouTube) The song is: "I dreamed a dream", from Les Miserables.

Tell me what you think.

How to File for an Extension

2009-04-15T11:19:00.000-07:00

The April 15th filing deadline surprised you this year and you're wondering how to file an extension. What to do? You can go to the IRS website and download form 4868 (Application for Automatic Extension of Time To File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return) and mail it in. That's it.

There are several e-file methods that you can use and most will let you do the 1040 basic stuff for free but charge you to send in your state forms. All require you set up an account and fill out the basic information. Information easily transfers to other forms including the extension. You'll get a confirmation that your filing was sent and you should go back to the site you used to e-file and confirm that the IRS accepted it.

If you're in the state of California then you can get an automatic extension until Oct 15th, 2009 to send in your forms.

If you owe money, then you better pay by April 15th, because you're still required to pay up regardless of the extension. I'm not a tax professional so don't blame me because you waited to the last minute!

Easter Eggs

2009-04-11T18:46:00.000-07:00

I can't really remember going on an Easter Egg hunt but this year, I helped fill some eggs for the kids. Somehow a few sports eggs managed to sneak into the basket! Can you spot them?

My girlfriend used this photo as her phone wallpaper. :) Are you or did you go to an Easter Egg event this year?

Out of Bounds Photography

2009-04-08T20:55:00.000-07:00

I stumbled across this website, Out of Bounds. If you like photography and photoshop then you'd appreciate how cool this is.

I have enough photoshop skills to do this so I'll have to round up a photo and try it for myself.

What do you think of the gallery?

Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University

2009-04-08T20:38:00.000-07:00

If anyone has taken this class, the one thing that you'll always remember is: "SELL THE CAR!" I wonder how much this poor guy will get for his? Or maybe he's driving this so that in 50 years by the time he's retiring he'll have 12.5 million dollars. $x.xxx invested at 12% compound interest for 50 years. You'll have to take the class to see what I'm talking about! :)

Do you drive a car you can't really afford to impress your friends or keep up with the Jones'?

GPS Navigation - Unknown Road

2009-03-20T23:52:00.000-07:00

It's a little after 10:00 p.m. and we want to get home after a long day of volleyball matches. Heather loads up the GPS and taps on current location in the start field and our hand-held tells us that we're on an unknown road. After a few minutes it finds us and we're on our way.

Here are some of the things I'd like to see in the next version but doubt that they'll get implemented:

Turn-By-Turn. As cool as the radiating little blue dot is on the purple road is, this is the most requested. Touching the phone could be seen as texting and get you a ticket. My friend got a warning so it does happen. Version 3.0 maybe :)

Next waypoint signal. This would let us know via some sound or vibration that we were approaching, and let me know the distance. Maybe allow me set the distance.

Re-calculate route. We missed our turn, or needed to stop somewhere off the route. Let me get back on track.

ETA Display. This would be for fun and the it would show based on our current speed what our ETA is. Either setting average speed or actual would be nice. A setting or toggle would suffice. As it is, the display says something like, "1 hour 45 minutes with traffic." "@78 mph: 1 hr 12 min."

What do you want to see?

It's Final

2009-03-19T23:24:00.000-07:00

What am I talking about? Many of you know and many wondered what took so long, but everything was signed this afternoon.

Starting New Business

2009-03-04T23:20:00.000-08:00

Today is the first day of my new business venture. Let's see how it goes! :)

Can you hear it now?

2009-02-26T22:20:00.000-08:00

I found this test on one of my friend's facebook profile today and took the test even though it was meant for teenagers. Since I'm slightly over 25, I didn't expecting to hear anything but boy did I hear an annoying high pitched noise.

Let me know if you hear something.

Snapple Real Fact #44

2009-02-26T18:25:00.000-08:00

The bullfrog is the only animal that never sleeps.

What would you do if you didn't have to sleep?

Slow Pedestrian Crossing

2009-02-24T06:02:00.000-08:00

It's amazing how that slow pedestrian crossing becomes a very fast pedestrian crossing when you turn your lights on, rev up the engines, and peel out towards them! :)

Do you hate it when pedestrian go at a crawls pace while walking in the crosswalk?

http://www.in-n-out.com

2009-02-23T22:52:00.000-08:00

We all went out to IN-n-OUT Burger and this is how many crew members were working behind the counter!

I've never seen that many at any one time and as they called our order I asked the girl, "You don't need proof of the order do you?" She looks at me and tells me that they aren't allowed to ask for proof but to just give the customer the order.

When they called the rest of our group's order, the girl saw me go up and she laughed because she knew I was going to take the order even though it wasn't mine. She ended up bringing it to our table.

Do you like it animal style?

The BFG

2009-02-23T22:35:00.000-08:00

This is the top secret manual on the much coveted, "BFG." :) How many of you know what I'm talking about?

What kind of computer games do you like to play if any? Card, puzzle, board, fps, etc...

2009 President's Day

2009-02-16T12:53:00.000-08:00

It's raining in San Diego! I didn't need my iPhone to tell me that it was but here's my question for you guys...If you're in Kansas and there's a tornado going on, do you have a little tornado icon on your display?

I'm doing web programming, updating the BV webiste site, Church website, and wrapping up a sign-up site. Working from home but at least in in my sweats and keeping toasty :)

What did you do for the holiday?

Valentine Strudel

2009-02-14T20:28:00.000-08:00

What do you think of the strawberry strudel? What are you doing or what did you do for your honey for Valentine's Day?

Have your VD celebrations changed over the years? Do you guys just see it as another day? Or do you do the "we don't need a day to make it special?"

Or how many dread this day because you can't think of anything to do for your partner?

Beer Money

2009-02-14T19:56:00.000-08:00

I ran across this homeless guy on my home from work the other day. I noticed from the off-ramp that after anyone gave him money, he would do a little celebration dance and even from a distance I could tell he wasn't homeless. He just didn't fit the profile so tell me if you disagree.

As I pulled up, I lowered my window and he immediately saw my badge and said, "aw dude, you ain't no cop are you? I ain't doin' nothing wrong!" I grinned and asked, "lemme check out your sign."

He holds it up with a very proud look as if he spent countless hours crafting and refining the verbiage he would use to convince everyone to hand over some spare change. I snap the photo and he tells me that one of you guys even gave me some money. I drive off and he waves at me shaking his sign side to side.

Double Rainbow

2009-02-09T20:23:00.001-08:00

It's been raining in San Diego now for about a week now but I don't mind since I like the rain except while driving to and from work. What do you think of the double rainbow?

I actually took this with my iPhone while Heather and I were at a volleyball tournament up in Anaheim. We set up a tent city outside and I snapped this in between games right after the girls finished eating.

Sweet Pea

2009-02-08T21:51:00.000-08:00

Sweet Pea has been living with me since October 2008 right after Jess brought her over when her place got flooded. It's really her kitty but I'm just taking care of her for the moment.

She's developed some routines and wakes me up every morning about 5:20 a.m. regardless of whether it's a work day or not, runs to the phone when she hears Jess' ring tone, and waits for me to come home.

It seems as though Jess and Heather are double teaming me to get a Beagle...How long before I give in?

Is $hit Creek on Google Maps?

2009-02-08T20:30:00.000-08:00

This is an actual street view of the infamous location:

Have you ever been there?

Answer Only 5 Simple Questions

2009-02-08T18:49:00.001-08:00

Have you ever received a call like this?

Caller: Hello Amanda! You've been chosen at random to participate in a short five question survey.

Victim: How did you get my number?

Caller: Would you like to participate in this survey?

Victim: No. I don't participate in surveys.

Caller: Okay, good, good, good. Survey question number one - No. Now on to question number two.

Victim: I don't do surveys!

Caller: Okay. Why not?

Victim: Because they're stupid and waste my time.

Caller: Okay, good, good, good. Survey question number two - "waste of time." Only three more questions!

Victim: OMG you tricked me!

Caller: How did I do that?

Victim: By asking me questions!!!

The Dentist Office Visit

2009-02-08T18:38:00.001-08:00

Has this ever happened to your kids after a dentist visit? I think this is the original but there a lot of mash up versions out there that are pretty funny.

www.hangintherejack.com

2009-02-01T20:00:00.000-08:00

Jack hit by bus!. Is it true?! Is the giant head dead? Rumors have it that he is in critical condition with the prognosis changing by the moment. Getting hit by a bus on Super Bowl Sunday is a sad way to make the news. Our prayers are with you, Jack!

Official statement from Jack in the box can be viewed: at hangintherejack

Please leave well wishes for him in the comments section and they will be passed on to him or his family!

Panhandlers

2009-01-27T21:00:00.001-08:00

For the last five years, on and off, I've seen Dave standing at my off-ramp. During a red light he walks down the row of cars carrying his sign, "Everybody needs a hand sometime. God bless you." Sometimes people give him money and he seems appreciative. When the light turns green he heads back to the intersection with a pronounced limp.

I've always wondered what he does with his money. Is he buying some booze, kicking back under the bridge? Or is he going around the corner and counting his take for the day? It's rumored that some panhandlers make $400 a day. But who knows.

Do you give money to panhandlers?

Play with a Spider

2009-01-26T18:01:00.000-08:00

Someone sent this one into me:

Poke and prod the spider with your mouse , also 'grab' one of its legs with your mouse by holding down the left button and drag it around the screen -- tell me it's not alive!

Also anywhere on the map hit the space bar while the left mouse button is held down and it leaves little bugs, watch the spider go after them. This is totally crazy and creepy too!

Click here: Play with a Spider

Caylee Anthony Doll

2009-01-26T17:42:00.000-08:00

The Caylee Anthony doll will be sold soon. The company that is selling the doll states that they are giving a portion of the sales receipts to charity. My first question is: "How much?" Tell me what you think about a company trying to make a profit off a murdered little girl.

Would you buy this doll even if it's labeled a "Tribute Doll?"

Romantic Date

2009-01-24T23:24:00.000-08:00

Haven't decided where to take your honey for Valentine's Day? I have the perfect date idea so none of you go and tell J because we wouldn't want her surprise to be spoiled now would we?

Just kidding! I saw this poster at lunch the other day and wondered how many of you would take your date to one of these on Valentine's Day.

It's 7:01 a.m.

2009-01-24T21:45:00.000-08:00

Every morning at 7:00 a.m. a parking lane becomes another regular "rush-hour" lane downtown. There are signs posted that there is no parking starting at 7:00 a.m. As I pass by I notice the little parking enforcement vehicles around the corner ready to pounce.

Many times I see tow trucks ready and sometimes they're towing at 7:01 a.m. Every now and then I see the car owners running out to save their car but it's all in vain because that ticket is already written up - sorry.

What was different today? Nothing really except for a huge tractor trailer and three of those little enforcement guys standing around wondering what to do? Do they have one of those monster tow trucks? I wish I could have pulled out my folding chair and just watched.

And yes...I had a huge grin on my face.

Question #45

2009-01-19T13:06:00.000-08:00

When you purchase something from a vending machine and use the exact change, do you check the change slot anyway?

First Volleyball Tournament of the Season

2009-01-18T16:49:00.000-08:00

I was up at 4:00 a.m. and ready to go up north to Costa Mesa for Heather's first travel volleyball tournament in the Gold Division. The parents get the girls to a meeting location and then head up as a team to the venues...Sleep, talk, or just zone out? Four of us went to watch Heather play.

The girls did very well in my opinion and it was much more interesting to watch than high school volleyball. Heather is a Libero so it was really cool when she heard "pipe," and got a back row attack - she killed it! :)

Jess asked that I text updates from the matches as she does when her kids are playing. Seems like between us we got all the sports covered.

Of course I also "watched" the NFL Conference Championships with a little help of my iPhone. The Cardinals got a scare after leading by a huge margin then putting it away late in the game.

So, if you remember from reading my blog what happens after a softball tournament on the way home, then you'll know she slept all the way home from the volleyball tournament also! :)

Overall, the girls won 4 out of 6 sets in three matches. Good way to start!

Elephant Dung Count Reveals Thriving Population

2009-01-17T21:24:00.000-08:00

I wonder how long it took for this Job Opening to fill? "We've found an alternative method to count elephants. You can be pivotal in this ground-breaking research. Apply Now!"

Chula Vista a Boring Place to Live?

2009-01-14T20:20:00.000-08:00

I heard on the radio that Chula Vista, Ca was on the In Pictures: America's 10 Most Boring Cities by Forbes Magazine.

The funny thing is that the picture they choose isn't in Chula Vista...or is it?

Gimme a Boost!

2009-01-14T20:09:00.000-08:00

How many moms would find this useful?

What I Ate Today

2009-01-14T18:45:00.000-08:00

For lunch I had: Carne Asada Nachos Supreme and a 12 oz Pepsi. For dinner I ate: A burger and fries. The perfect concoction for a heart attack! But I still think I'm gonna get killed by someone texting and driving!

How healthy did you eat today?

It looks like a gate

2009-01-13T06:10:00.000-08:00

What the heck is it then?

What ever it is, someone doesn't want you to go through that gate that isn't a gate.

Value Every Minute

2009-01-12T20:00:00.000-08:00

To realize the value of one year: Ask a student who has failed a final exam.

To realize the value of one month: Ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.

To realize the value of one week: Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.

To realize the value of one hour: Ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.

To realize the value of one minute: Ask the person who has missed the train, bus or plane.

To realize the value of one second: As a person who has survived an accident.

To realize the value of one millisecond: Ask the person who has won the silver medal in the Olympics.

Time waits for no one.

Treasure every moment you have.

What Forklift?

2009-01-12T19:44:00.000-08:00

While J and I were shopping I noticed this sign. She knew exactly what I was going to do.

I wonder how many forklift operators have been driven away and how long it took for the driver to finally discover that they had a "guest" in their trailer?

Do you know where I took this?

The Eyeballing Game

2008-10-14T20:37:00.000-07:00

How good are you at eyeballing measurements? Try this puzzle out? The Eyeballing Game. The object of the puzzle is to come as close as you can to the proper measurement. Let me know how you do! :)

Excellent Stalking Skills

2008-09-15T21:11:00.000-07:00

Chargers Lose Again

2008-09-14T20:07:00.000-07:00

On paper they lost but they actually had it won if it weren't for that late officiating error. I think the reason Mike Shannahan went for two points instead of going into overtime was because he knew that the Broncos didn't deserve that TD. He went for the riskier play and if they missed, then all is well and Chargers win. Or am I giving him too much credit?

Snapple Real Fact #132

2008-09-10T23:11:00.000-07:00

A crocodile cannot move its tongue..

The last thing you'd be concerned about if you're getting chomp-chomped!

Large Hadron Collider

2008-09-10T22:46:00.000-07:00

We're still here! If you're not a geek then you probably didn't know that they test fired the Large Hadron Collider today despite lawsuits trying to stop it because of fears that it might create a man-made black hole under the 17 mile site..

Although the chances are very remote, some European physicists place the odds at something like 50 million to 1. For a comparison, the odds of winning the lotto here in California is about 23 million to 1.

This reminds me of people fearing that detonating a atomic device would start an un-stoppable chain reaction destroying the earth back in the 40's. And no, I don't remember it personally! :)

Here's some big numbers related from this experiment: (from wired.com)

LHC FAQ in 140 Characters or Less

Particle physics is complicated. Tweets are not. So, naturally, answering your questions about the Large Hadron Collider in Twitter format, i.e. 140 characters or less, could help you understand some physics.
Q: WTF is a Large Hadron Collider?
A: Hadrons are the parent family for protons and neutrons. The collider will smash protons together to see what they're made of.
Q: What are ATLAS and CMS and all these other acronyms?
A: They are particle detectors. ATLAS and CMS are the big ones. Each detector is designed to carry out a set of experiments.
Q: How does the Large Hadron Collider work?
A: It smashes particles moving at near the speed of light together. Then, detectors look for very rare particles in the wreckage.
Q: Is smashing things together to look for progressively smaller and rarer particles really how particle physics is done?
A: More or less: yes. Theoretical physicists work out the math. The experiments get run to see whose math matches the world.
Q: Gimme the stats on the Collider? Factoid stats.
A: 17 miles around. 9,000 magnets. 7,000 scientists. $10 billion. Operating temp: -456.25 F. Power used: 120 MW. Network: 1.8+Gb/s.
Q: Who paid for the Large Hadron Collider?
A: You did! But not nearly as much as your European cousins. The US contribution stands at $531 million. Total cost: $10 billion.
Q: How does a particle detector work?
A: They work like digital cameras with 150 megapixels taking snapshots 600 million times a second! Then algorithms look for interesting stuff.
Q: Is there an end 'product/goal' that the average Joe will eventually see from these experiments? ie:teleportation?
A: Not directly, but confirmation that physicists understand the universe would be nice. And you never know. The engineering can lead to other things.
Q: When you smash particles at nearly the speed of light isn't that going to release a lot of energy?
A: Yes. The highest-energy collisions will reach 14 trillion electron volts.
Q: How many particles are actually colliding?
A: Hacked Wikipedia: The beam pipes contain 1.0×10-9 grams of hydrogen, which
would fill the volume of one grain of fine sand.
Q: Is the Large Hadron Collider a threat to human civilization and the existence of the Earth?
A: No. Einstein's relativity says it's impossible. And, just in case, studies of highly-energetic cosmic rays hitting earth rule it out, too.

Does the general population really care? Not really...I just got off the phone with my friend and she says, "I'd rather be watching project runway!" :) Good Night.

Heather's First High School Volleyball Match

2008-09-08T23:27:00.000-07:00

I drove out to watch Heather play volleyball in El Cajon after work today. She made the varsity team as a freshmen so I'm proud of her! The team lost but at least the conference matches don't start until next month so they have some time to work on things.

Pull My Finger

2008-09-07T05:53:00.000-07:00

As an iPhone owner, I usually look over the apps that are available on a regular basis and pass on suggestions to my friends that have one also. But here is one application that you won't be seeing on the iTunes store because Apple rejected it stating (as claimed by the author) that it didn't think it would appeal to the iPhone/iTouch user. I told Jess about it and wonder what she would do if I snuck it on her iPhone (evil grin)

If you've seen the apps available through the app store, then you'll agree that this application would be in the top 50 for sure, or am I wrong? Honestly!? :)

Wash Your Hands

2008-09-06T17:39:00.000-07:00

You've probably seen these signs in bathrooms before, but have you ever read one. All restaurants are required to have a sign up that has a bathroom, or cooking for health reasons. Of course you can't have a sign that says, "Hey you! Wash your hands since you either just peed or took a dump!"

Well, a focus group said they would come up with some politically correct way of saying this so as not to let anyone realize we KNOW what goes on in this "restroom." A requirement is that they needed to have Spanish translation also. Here's the Spanish version:

"Laven sus manos antes de abandonar este lugar para volver al trabajo."

Here's the translation:

"Wash your hands before you abandon this place to return to work."

Didn't know I knew Spanish, eh? The mentioning of bathroom or any other bodily functions has been left out, not even restroom. So, remember to wash your hands before you abandon your restroom. Oh wait, not restroom, "this place."

Compact Car Parking

2008-09-06T06:26:00.000-07:00

They're already marking off parking spots for cars of the near future. But somehow I think this car is not compact enough for this spot!

If you were a cop, would you cite him?

Photoshop Beauty

2008-09-05T23:11:00.000-07:00

Think about this the next time you see a magazine cover!

FREE Lunch

2008-07-16T23:50:00.000-07:00

I'm not offering a free lunch! Tuesday the lunch truck lady calls me on my cell:

E: I'm not going to be there since my truck broke down on the freeway. Can you do me a favor and let everyone know?
S: Sure! I'll make a little sign for you and post it at the exit.
E: I appreciate that. I'll be back tomorrow with your nachos!
S: Good. I was about to ask you that. :)

Esther just gave me my lunch for free and that she really appreciated me helping out. :)

Take a Seat

2008-04-04T22:00:00.000-07:00

How many of you would take a seat in this room? The walls are padded and the floor is made of rubber. The chair is solid plastic with many holes in it and I don't even want to guess what's on the floor. There are no windows!

Warning!

2008-04-02T22:41:00.000-07:00

What can be implied by the fact that McDonald's customers must be told that their coffee is HOT and that KFC customers don't have labels that say, "Caution: You might find chicken bones in your bucket of Chicken."

I think one of the best warnings is: "This superman suit will NOT give you the ability to fly." Have you come across a warning that just seems stupid?

Happy April Fool's

2008-04-01T14:11:00.000-07:00

I'm always thinking of some kind of prank to pull and today I feel like I get a free get out of jail card since it's April Fool's Day. At work, I did the hotkey to invert the monitor display since we got new computers and all I could do was hide in my cubicle and pretend that I knew nothing about what was going on...It was funny!

Of course, I played a joke on the softball league where I volunteer and have been getting lots of feedback :) So far about 45 people have fallen victim to my devious prank...

Did you do anything to celebrate April Fool's Day?

Bank Robbery

2008-03-13T22:20:00.000-07:00

A man walks in a bank, gets in line, and when it is his turn he pulls out a gun...and robs the bank! Just to make sure he leaves no witnesses, he turns around and asks the next customer in line... '

Did you see me rob this bank?' The customer replies, 'Yes!'

The bank robber raises his gun, points it at the customer and BANG! Shoots and kills him. He quickly moves to the next customer in line and says to the man, 'Did you see me rob this bank?' The man calmly responds 'No, but my wife did.’

Lost Churches

2008-03-12T17:24:00.000-07:00

Someone sent this to me this afternoon:

One of the local television stations in South Louisiana actually aired an interview with a woman from New Orleans. The interviewer was asked if the complete devastation of the churches in the area had affected their lives.

Without hesitation, the woman replied,' I don't know about all those other people, but we haven't gone to Churches in years. We gets our chicken from Popeye's.'

Check out the Shoes

2008-03-11T11:57:00.000-07:00

After coming back from lunch with my friend, I noticed his shoes. I thought that they were rather interesting and asked if I could take a picture. He said sure and wanted to know if they were going on my blog..."Of course!"

My other friend and I were giving him a hard time about his pink shoes with green and brown trim. It was all in good fun... What do you think?

Hunger

2008-03-10T19:05:00.000-07:00

Alex and I went to the deli down the street and decided to eat outside. We noticed a group of tourists sitting across from us and then went on about our business. As we were almost finished, a homeless guy reached deep into the trashcan and got some bread and started eating it.

The guy started reaching into another trashcan and the lady tourist walks up to him and reaches out a $10 bill and says, "Go inside and get yourself lunch." The guy looks at her and shakes his head. She tries several times to get him to take the money but he refuses. He takes another bite from the bread and walks away.

The lady looks at me, and I raise my eyebrows giving her that, "You tried...What else can you do?" look.

I have nothing to write about

2008-03-09T23:37:00.000-07:00

Yup. I'm having one of those days but I didn't want to leave the 9th blank with nothing here. :)

Snapple Real Fact #92

2008-03-08T23:02:00.000-08:00

Fish can drown.

I guess we assuming that it's water in our lungs that kills but it's the lack of oxygen that is the culprit in drowning. So...if something is reducing the oxygen from the water then a fish could drown in water.

Parents at Games

2008-03-08T19:00:00.000-08:00

I was shooting softball games today with my mp3 player soft enough so that I could hear what was going on. Sometimes I take photos of the parents in the stands and how they react to certain calls. For the most part the parents are there but not paying attention.

There have been plays that I have captured where the spectators say, "Come on blue! That was a terrible call." I look at the photo and see that the umpire was right. Sometimes they come up to me and ask, "Did you get that? She was safe, right?" I tell them they have to wait until I post the pictures on the web and they can check for themselves.

For the most part, the games give parents a way to catch up with their friends and what's going on with everyone lives pausing enough to see an exciting play then back to chatting.

Many of the umpires ask me to get their best side. As I took this photo, the spectators laughed and said, "You go, Sam!"

I wonder if he'll want a 5x7 of this?

Only Drink Domestic Water

2008-03-07T22:49:00.000-08:00

Non-domestic water is only good for irrigation or so the sign says. The Spanish version says, "It's prohibited to drink this water. Only for Watering."

I should have you guys send me photos of signs that you find interesting.