I stumbled upon a Frontline episode on fantasy sports and whether they are gambling sites or skill-based. Of course, the CFO of each company clearly refused to use the word gambling in anyway, instead touting the skill required to get the real money.
The government is in the process of investigating the whole matter and a lot of money is at stake. Do you participate in this type of entertainment?
Bits to Remember...
Life goes by so fast...need to take a few seconds to write down and remember experiences that make me the person I am.
Remembering Your Dreams
I'm sick right now; I went to bed early last night hoping to get some extra rest but my cough woke me up a couple of times. The interesting part was that I was in the middle of a dream and could remember it in pretty good detail. I tried to continue the dream where it had left off but it wasn't a contiguous progression.
The dream started to get really odd and unrealistic but it was entertaining none the less. I'm starting my dream blog just for the heck of it. Do you want to read it? I beat my alarm that had been set for 5:45 a.m. and decided to just get up, shower, and get the day going. An afternoon filled with back-to-back meetings await me. Oh joy...
The dream started to get really odd and unrealistic but it was entertaining none the less. I'm starting my dream blog just for the heck of it. Do you want to read it? I beat my alarm that had been set for 5:45 a.m. and decided to just get up, shower, and get the day going. An afternoon filled with back-to-back meetings await me. Oh joy...
Several New Projects
With the new year coming up, people are thinking about what they plan on doing as their New Year's Resolution, and I'm starting on what I need to complete by the 12/31 deadline (self-imposed) with only two weeks left.The goals are something that I came up with the other day and I putting it down in writing so I can have a reference point. Let's go, only 19 days left!
Psychology Degree
I have always been interested in psychology. A few scholarships here and there along with other grants and some hard work results in:
It took a little over a year and a half taking into consideration all my other college coursework.
I really liked the cognitive and neurological aspects while studying and this gave me a great deal of insight into how people learn. My masters thesis will probably be in one of those specific areas.
Okay, back to programming this project...
It took a little over a year and a half taking into consideration all my other college coursework.
I really liked the cognitive and neurological aspects while studying and this gave me a great deal of insight into how people learn. My masters thesis will probably be in one of those specific areas.
Okay, back to programming this project...
I Have Been Gone For a Bit!
It has been a long time since I posted. A lot has changed but I'm still blogging on several other sites that I have created. I feel motivated to start posting here but no promises as to how often. Does anyone really care? Uh, I didn't think so. I'm okay with that.
Today as I was walking/jogging (I got new running shoes), I thought of this question:
"What is something that you struggle with or need to work on?"
It could be a question for your significant other, too. Some may struggle with substance abuse, over-eating, being lazy, cussing, faith, gossip, criticizing others, etc...But, I wonder how many will say, "Nothing."
Today as I was walking/jogging (I got new running shoes), I thought of this question:
"What is something that you struggle with or need to work on?"
It could be a question for your significant other, too. Some may struggle with substance abuse, over-eating, being lazy, cussing, faith, gossip, criticizing others, etc...But, I wonder how many will say, "Nothing."
Michael Brown Recording of Gun Shots
"You are pretty. You're so fine just going over some of your videos. How can I forget?"
Is it 11 shots fired in the background? Several shots fired, then a pause and then more bullets fired. The recording was played on CNN over and over again. The man wants to remain anonymous.
What are your thoughts? Does the pause mean that Officer Darren Wilson had fired several rounds and they didn't stop Michael Brown, but Michael Brown kept coming at him? Or does it mean that Officer Wilson wanted to make sure that Mr. Brown was dead?
As more details emerge it seems like the waters are even murkier!
Is it 11 shots fired in the background? Several shots fired, then a pause and then more bullets fired. The recording was played on CNN over and over again. The man wants to remain anonymous.
What are your thoughts? Does the pause mean that Officer Darren Wilson had fired several rounds and they didn't stop Michael Brown, but Michael Brown kept coming at him? Or does it mean that Officer Wilson wanted to make sure that Mr. Brown was dead?
As more details emerge it seems like the waters are even murkier!
America The Salad Bowl
All of us have heard the phrase, "America the melting pot." They teach us that throughout school and I lost a scholarship when I contested that line of thinking. I looked at the judges and said, "I believe America is a salad bowl." That instantly got their attention.If America were a true melting pot there would be no " [fill in the blank] - American." It would just be American. In a melting pot you can't separate what you don't like, but with a salad bowl you can and that's what happens in America. Just like some people don't like onions, black olivers, peppers, croutons, etc...But the salad bowl allows the people to keep cultural differences alive instead of eliminating all traces of them.
What made me bring this up? Well, the elections did! Think about it, the candidates are going for the Hispanic vote, black vote, or [fill in the blank] vote.
Is the U.S. a salad bowl or a melting pot?
The Benefits of Not Wearing a Bra
How many of you ladies out there agree with the following research done by the French over a 15 year period showing that wearing a bra could actually help your breasts not sag so soon?
French Study Suggest Younger Women Should Stop Wearing Bras
French Study Suggest Younger Women Should Stop Wearing Bras
Kick Ass Movie
What's there to do on a Monday when the wife is not here and the two of us are doing the guy thing and flipping through the channels? Well, we stumble upon this showing on TV. I couldn't stop laughing! Kick Ass Movie Don't you think it's cool how calm the girl is when she gets shot in the chest?
Carl's Jr. Zucchini
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| Carl's Jr. Zucchini |
After I told EZ about this, I thought, oh no, it probably won't be true now. We tipped the zucchini over and at the bottom was a lone little fry. We just grinned...What do you think?
Dark Knight Rises Tickets
What movie would you wait in a long line to see at midnight?
Boost Your SASS Skills at WUSS 2012
I saw this flyer for the WUSS 2012 conference and immediately wondered why anyone would name a conference - WUSS. If you look at the definition in Urban Dictionary it's not a very desirable thing to be called. Was this on purpose? But I guess it worked because it gets a double take. Or are we giving them a little too much credit?Are you going to WUSS 2012?
A Lazier World
Have you noticed that there are places that have a stairs next to the escalators. I had posted this cartoon earlier making fun of people going out of their way to ride the escalator instead of just using the stairs.
And here is the real image of everyone being lazy. Given a choice of riding the escalator or taking the stairs...What percent of the time do you take the stairs.
Kate Winslet Nude in Titanic
Do you remember when Rose from the movie Titanic says, "Jack, I want you to draw me like one of your French girls. Wearing this.."
This is what Jack really drew while filming the movie, the rest was added in post production. You didn't think that Leonardo DiCaprio could really draw did you? Do you remember what she was wearing? If you said, "Heart of the Ocean" blue diamond necklace, then you're right.
Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Training
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| SharePoint 2010 PowerShell Scripts |
I've been in Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Training this week. A five day course in SharePoint Configuring and Administration that is instructor led on-line with virtual machine labs. I like the course except that it is based on Central Time. So their 8:00 a.m. start time is really 6:00 a.m. - Oh joy.
Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition
This is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. For some reason I'm fascinated by all the Titanic shows and documentaries that appear on the Discovery Channel or NatGeo, and yes I will watch all of them. Today since it was raining and super windy in San Diego, we decided that we would go to the Titanic Artifact Exhibition at the San Diego Natural History Museum in Balboa Park.
They had a special $19.12 price for all admission that included general admission to the rest of the features and all the movies. The exhibit was going to stay open until 3:00 a.m. to accommodate the crowds. The line to get into the exhibit was about 30-45 minutes and we were allowed to stay as long as we wanted. Once we got to the entrance they issued us "Boarding Passes" that had the name of person that was actually on the Titanic. We were instructed to located their name on the list of survivors. My person was Colonel John Jacob Astor IV (He didn't make it) and it gives a little bio on the reverse side.
People dressed in attire from the era wandered the exhibit and wouldn't come out of character even when I asked them to post their FaceBook status. All the items in temperature controlled glass containers were actual items brought up from the Titanic. Other props such as state rooms and pipes and passages were only to add to the scenery. We read all the material and looked at all the items. That took two hours. At the end there is a gift shop but we didn't even bother to stop and headed toward the next movie about survivor accounts of the sinking. Very interesting stuff. We saw a couple of friends there and said a brief hello as we headed to our next event...Overall a good exhibit.
iTunes Stuck on Accessing iTunes Store
If you've ever loaded up your iTunes and it gets stuck on "Accessing iTunes Store" then you can feel the frustration of just waiting for it to complete but it just stays on the message and only goes away when you click the little "X"
If de-authorizing, repairing, re-installing the program does not solve the problem then try this:
on a Windows machine go to the START button, the search box type, "CMD" which will find the cmd.exe but don't press enter. Right-click and click "RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR." At the command prompt, Type "NETSH WINSOCK RESET"
Does This Outfit Make Me Look Fat?
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| Girl in Shorts |
Basically all the comments said, "What was she thinking?!" I'm not against people wearing what they want (who am I to decide) but my question is, "Why did you wear that particular outfit?"
Is she getting the attention she wants?
Wing and Things Eating Contest
We went out for a quick bite to eat and saw a huge mess at the table next to us at Wings and Things. On closer inspection it was a young guy trying to finish off his hot wings. There were several of his friends offering some encouraging words waiting for the remaining wings to go down. It only took one and a half hours for the whole episode and the Wings and Things lady came by to verify that the wings were all gone and presented the hard earned black t-shirt. This was our "Man versus Food" kind of thing in Chula Vista and at least we got to see him actually win. I congratulated him and told him that I'd post it tonight. I may even try it next time...
Would you participate in one of these eating events?
Free Re-Fills
We went to a national fast food restaurant the other day and we ordered our food and I give one of the kids their soda cup to fill up while I finish paying. By the time I get over to the machine, they are waiting for me to see what options they have. Usually not a big deal because I don't have a problem with any one of them but today I guess our choices were quite limited.
Don't forget the sign that says, "It is against the San Diego County health code to refill any cup after drinking from it"By the way...Enjoy your unlimited free re-fills!
Diagnostics Failure
After repeatedly telling the tech, "No. The system is NOT working properly." He didn't believe me. I had to take a photo of the screen and then finally, he said, "The computer is faulty. Would you like to be transferred to our warranty service so that we can get that taken care of?"
Have you ever had this type of experience with a technical support call?
$8,000 Chicken McNugget
You've heard about pancakes that supposedly have a photo of Jesus or a leaf looking like a person before. So what makes this Chicken McNugget special? Well, it looks like George Washington! Someone put this up for auction on eBay and actually sold it for $8000. How crazy is that? Would you buy it if money were no object or do you think this is just stupid?
Do you think it looks like anything? A rip-off?
Impractical Jokers
My friends consider me a joker to some extent and really like watching shows like Impractical Jokers. Some times I wonder if I would have the nerve to do some of the stuff these four guys do.Hot Hot Hot Sauce
Do you like your food spicy? Can someone say, "would you like some food with that hot sauce?" I've been adding hot sauce to my food to give it a little kick. I think it's funny when even the mildest sauce gets people to sweat.
Did you know there is a hot scale? It's called the Scoville Scale. The range goes from 0 to 16,000,000. A jalapeño pepper is rated a 3,500 on the scale and most police pepper spray is in the neighborhood of 1,500,000 to 2,000,000. Whoa! Can you imagine what 16 million is? That's pure capsaicin. I don't even want to try it. Maybe I'll watch someone else...
Jeb Corliss - Wingsuit Flyer
Have you ever wondered what feels like to fly? Well, with a wingsuit and a death wish or an infusion of risk taking genes, you can! I watched a special on HBO's Real Sports that had a segment on Jeb Corliss. Jeb talks about how you can travel 3 feet forward for every 1 foot you fall. Nice huh? You become one giant human flying squirrel. If you go to Jeb's site you'll see some cool videos of him "flying" around. I think it's more like controlled gliding but regardless it looks like a boatload of fun. All of the footage seems to be shot with GoPRO cameras - pretty cool.
I was asked, "If given the opportunity to try the suit would you do it?" "uh...NO! If Jeb, a seasoned BASE jumper, and wingsuit flyer has broken almost every bone in his body doing this, then I'd probably splat on the first mountain on my first attempt. No thanks."
Mega Millions Jackpot
The Mega Millions Jackpot is over 100 million dollars! I walked into the 7-11 and asked the manager if anyone really goes crazy and buys a lot of tickets. He said, "Yup. There is someone that comes in here and buys hundreds of dollars of tickets a couple of times a week. More so when the jackpot is huge." I then asked, "Do they ever win anything?" "Yes, twenty or thirty dollars here and there. They put the money right back in though." I got my Big Gulp and noticed a little bag next to the register as I was leaving - "The Loser Bag." These people didn't beat the 175,711,536 to 1 odds.
My Starbucks Rewards
If you frequent Starbucks then you've probably heard of the Starbucks Gold Card. The premier rewards card from Starbucks. In order to get one, you need to buy 30 drinks. Oh, wait. It's 30 visits! So if you decide to order a round for your entire office that counts as one (1). Yes, one! But then again, you might get looks if you did 30 different transactions from the long line waiting to order.
After you use your card 30 times, you get a FREE drink! Let's add that up. In my example, I being like everyone else would order the same thing each visit - a venti caramel frappuccino at a whopping $4.85. that's $4.85 x 30 = $145.50. Woohoo, you get a coupon for a FREE drink :) Again let's do the math. You get $150.35 of drinks (31) for the price of only $145.50. That's a whopping savings of...drum roll please: 3.2%. Any savings is a good savings right?
New Bowling Ball
I'm not very good at bowling and it seems when I do go it's more for the social aspect than to actually do well. I don't have the time to try to get better nor desire but do get a little grin when I get a strike! Maybe this gruesome bowling ball will help raise my average?
Dining Out
When you go out to eat with your significant other do you sit next to them or across facing them? This has been one of my unofficial observation items that I do when I'm out.
At first I tried to determine if it was the new couples that sat next to each other and then they shifted to sitting across as the relationship lasted longer. The jury is still out so keep reading to find out if I have some concrete evidence years from now. But back to today...
We were out today for lunch and I spotted this couple and initially they were sitting across from each other. I heard them say that they liked to "see each others face," when I mentioned my question. I'm okay with that it seems logical and it doesn't bother me in any way.
I sit next to my significant other but sometimes the waiter puts the menus or plates across and we get that weird look, like "hey there's a plate set up. Now I have to readjust." No biggie. One of my friends said, "just wait. You'll be sitting across from each other eventually and you won't even hardly talk while eating."
This couple switched sides and sat next to each other so I could take the picture and then moved back...But later on moved back next to each other. Maybe I got them thinking huh? Do you see her smiling? I think she and her man were thinking, "Uh, how did we let some random stranger take our picture at lunch for his blog?"
Well? Do you sit next to, or across from each other?
Lego Optical Illusion
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
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