Blanketed Pigs

Our family has graduated to adult pigs in a blanket! Awesome!

Yay, it's Christmas

Yay, it's Christmas. Yes, the tree is up. We did it, we decorated the tree. Cool, huh?

Hide the Decline

Watch it:

Pennies

Coupons on the Arby's tray liner. Oh, boy! What savings!

Rendering, anyone?

First, I apologize (I think there is a bad word at the end of this video, in the credits). Now that's out of the way, what you are about to see is NOT REAL. Not in any way. It's some guy's "spare time hobby" - he's modelled these cars in 3D software, animated them in video, and put his computer to work rendering the whole thing - for 110 days! Yep, he let his computer run for nearly 1/3 of a year to create the following video (note: it's too wide; click the video to view it on YouTube, and I suggest full-screen mode! Might be looking for a new blog template shortly...):

Don't know about you, but I'm impressed! This is just something the guy "threw together" for fun. I only really see one glitch in the whole thing (anyone else see it?). I just wish I had the spare time to do something like this. Oh, and maybe, you know, the crazy talent to be able to put it all together, too, of course. And I wish I could just play everyday (hey, Dean, did you catch that misuse of "everyday"? That was just for you!).

Survey says...

Just spent 10-15 minutes on the phone with someone doing a survey about (apparently) H1N1 and its effects on our daily activities.

...

Surveyor: "How many adults in your household ages 18 and over?"

Me: "Three"

Surveyor: "How many of these adults are male?"

Me: "One"

Surveyor: "How many of these adults are female?"

[at this point I resisted the urge to say, "Really? REALLY?"]

Me: "Two"

...

Surveyor: "Regarding your air travel" [which was previously indicated NOT during the last 60 days] "did you get the H1N1-specific influenza vaccine prior to your travel?"

... uh, we just said it wasn't during the last 60 days, and the H1N1 vaccine was only made available starting in October...

...

Beyond being rather time consuming (and thus annoying, as my food is sitting nearby, waiting on me to eat it), this survey was actually nearly entertaining because of the questions and their obvious answers.

Oh, and I said I was totally not concerned about H1N1 whenever he (she? couldn't really tell) asked.

Technological Wonders... and un-Wonders they reveal.

Here's my family, which was broadcast LIVE on the internet via my cell phone:

Yeah, cool, huh? Not the content, but the fact that, now, you can INSTANTLY broadcast video LIVE from the palm of your hand, wherever you happen to be! Just go to bambuser.com if you want this awesome capability yourself. (Or you can go to qik.com - that links to my personal qik.com account - which I also sometimes use.)

Later...

Storm? What storm?

Thanks to any and all who may've prayed for our safety; I think it worked. Doesn't appear to be any damage around our house; not the giant dead pine in our front yard (it's still standing), not the already-half-falling-off-the-house shutters outside the garage windows, nothing I can see.

So, thanks!

(Note: I am working from home today since the low spots on US-90 tend to flood with heavy rains, so to be even safer I'm taking the day out of the office and working from my living room.)

Upside down again

I think I've posted when this happened before, but it's happened again: my straw was manufactured upside down. Now I have to move to China or Australia or something in order to drink my tea!

Interesting

Watching "Modern Marvels" on the History Channel. About 80s tech. Apparently the CD minimum capacity of 74 minutes was specified by Sony because one of their leaders was also a conductor and wanted Beethoven's 9th Symphony to fit on a CD. Cool.