Happy Thanksgiving

Have a very happy Thanksgiving, and remember that the tryptophan in turkey doesn’t make you tired.

Turducken

Two weeks ago I went to my parents home for a gathering of their cooking club. Every six to eight weeks they get together with five other couples and cook food from a given region or within a theme. The food is always excellent.

Their last theme was basically Thanksgiving on steroids.

With the help of one of the other cooking club members and former butcher, Nello, my father made a turducken.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with turducken, it is a turkey stuffed with a chicken, that is stuffed with a duck, and three types of stuffing. If you’re keeping score at home, the stuffings are made from andouille sausage, cornbread, and the Spira Family stuffing which is largely crackers and mushrooms.

The meal was breathtaking.

The turkey was the best turkey I’ve ever had.

The chicken was the best chicken I’ve ever had.

The duck was the best duck I’ve ever had.

Together they were perfect.

My conclusion: Duck fat makes everything better.

Tauntaun Sleeping Bag!!!

Yes my friends, that is a sleeping bag that looks like a tautaun from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, and this is no joke.

Remember when Han and Luke were stranded in the snowy desert of Hoth. Han used Luke’s lightsaber to cut open a tauntaun and sleep within it’s warm guts. Now your child can experience that awesome moment with the Tauntaun sleeping bag.

It comes complete with a lightsaber zipper, because there is absolutely no other way to open up your tauntaun. It also has a printed organ pattern on the inside for that extra bit of detail.

You can sleep in a tauntaun for $99.99 on ThinkGeek.com.

So you’ve read all of this?

You must be a Star Wars fan.

Here’s a little something special for you. The deeper you get into this video, the funnier it gets.

I love how pleased the guy is with himself. Superb.

A Hole in My Ceiling

That’s not a metaphor, there really is a hole in my bathroom ceiling.

Last year my upstairs neighbor’s toilet leaked in to my ceiling. Awesome right?

The plumber fixed it from her apartment. And there was much rejoicing.

A few days ago, my ceiling started getting wet in the same place again. This time the plumbers opened up my ceiling and found…

drum-roll…

this is going to be crazy…

you’re never going to what they found…

NOTHING!

They found absolutely nothing. It’s bone dry up there.

So I get to wake up early for the fifth straight day tomorrow (two for the conference, and three for this big waste of time). Someone is coming to patch the hole that I apparently didn’t need… but nothing has actually been fixed.

Speaking of the Future of Web Design Conference, I will get my post about day 2 up soon.

Computer Upgrades & Halloween

I’ve been working all day to upgrade my computer. Backing up, reformatting, installing Snow Leopard, Windows 7, and all manner of software… it’s a bit much.

Moving on… here’s a look at my Halloween costume. I went as an axe murderer.

Since it’s impossible to find toy weapons that look even remotely real, I had to spray-paint my own axe. Do children really need to be feeble and afraid of the world?

"I loves my axe"

Cleanliness is next to Godliness... or so I'm told

And that’s about that.

A Moment

Johnnie Moore shared this video a couple weeks ago:

It prompted me to ponder the question “what is as moment?” which I think was the goal of the piece.

That in turn, made me think back to an old episode of the Aaron Sorkin show, Sports Night.

In one episode there is a rather geeky discussion about the definition of the word “momentarily.” It turns out, “momentarily” has two conflicting definitions:

• For a moment
• In a moment

That means that the statement, “I will be with you momentarily” could mean, “I will be with you shortly,” or it could also mean “I will be with you for a short while, then I will leave.” I guess it’s also possible that it could mean “I will be with you shortly and then leaving.”

I don’t think any of this ultimately matters, but this kind of inane BS is the stuff that runs through my skull.

Taking a Breather

I’m taking a couple nights off from writing.

I’ll be back on Monday.

The Town of Tonawanda Veterans Memorial

Every once in a while life affords you the opportunity to witness, and play a small part in something great.

My friend and college buddy Peter Rizzo had been an official in the Town of Tonawanda; a suburb of Buffalo, New York. I’ve known and worked with quite a few government officials in the past, and Pete is one of the rare few who doesn’t do things for power, attention or with any expectation of reward. He works hard for what he feels is right.

Why am I writing an obviously non-geek post about a friend/ local official?

The answer to that is because Pete accomplished something incredible last week.

On Tuesday, August 18th, the brand new Town of Tonawanda Veterans Memorial was dedicated. Somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 people showed up to honor our veterans at the unveiling of a spectacular new monument. General Colin Powell delivered the keynote address, and Pete read a Presidential Proclamation from Barack Obama, in addition to his own speech.

Here’s a video of local news coverage of the event:

A portion of Peter’s speech really underscores the purpose and thought behind the memorial:

All of our veterans sacrificed for us, whether they served in the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, or Merchant Marine. Whether from private to general, from seaman recruit to admiral, or from airman to general, regardless of rank, every single veteran has sacrificed for us, for our community, for our country. That, ladies and gentlemen, is why the memorial before you lists only names, and not rank. Rank is an honor in and of itself, but service is the common thread that unites them all. We honor all who have served us equally, without prejudice.

I had the opportunity to be a sounding-board for Pete throughout the entire process, and help him craft his communications and pitches to get this project off the ground. While I played an incredibly small role in this big project (which entailed raising $100,000 (correction) more than $180,000 and navigating the labyrinth that is local politics), I am just honored to have been a part of it. However, I must confess that I didn’t believe the thing would ever get built.

I seriously underestimated Pete’s dedication, determination and seemingly endless well of patience. He wanted to do something to honor, and remember the sacrifice of all veterans, of all ranks, from all wars. He succeeded.

For most people, the Town of Tonawanda Veterans Memorial will honor our Country’s veterans. For those of us who know Pete, and understand how hard he worked to make this idea real, the Memorial will also serve as a monument to action. It’s easy to come up with an idea like this. Working nearly six years to make it a reality is something entirely different.

… And that’s worthy of an off-topic post.

(Photos)

Evolution of the Coke & Pepsi Logos

I have no idea where this came from. If you know, please tell me so I can site the originator.

This image tracks the evolution of the Coke and Pepsi logos over time.

Coke got it right the first time. I’m not so sure Pepsi ever got it right.

Thanks to RJay for passing this along to me.

Credit Card Minimum Charges Aren’t Allowed

You see them everywhere. $10, $15, $25 minimum charges for purchases on credit cards, but technically, Visa and MasterCard prohibit this practice.

American Express doesn’t prohibit the minimum charges, but they also require the minimum charge be ≤ the minimum charges of other cards accepted by the vendor. That means that if a store accepts Visa or MasterCard, they aren’t allowed to place a minimum on AMEX charges either.

Be Respectful

The issue isn’t simple for vendors because they are hit with a few fees when customers charge their purchase, so it’s not nice to buy a pack of gum with a credit card.

Customer Experience

Financial exchanges are becoming more digital every year, and a lot of us don’t carry much cash. When a store tries to enforce a minimum charge, I will just leave and probably won’t ever return.

You can report the store to the credit card company, but that seems excessive to me. I would rather make them lose more money on my purchase and future purchases than deal with a bureaucracy.

I think that businesses would benefit from having a sign that asks customers to pay cash on purchases that cost less than $X. It gets the point across without alienating customers or violating credit card company policy.

Businesses need to get with the times, and really evaluate if the loss of revenue on a charged small ticket item is worse than losing the sale entirely, while simultaneously alienating the customer.

Information for this post originated from here: Source

Antics in Costa Rica

I haven’t written much about the trip I took down to Costa Rica with my friends Jackie & Brie. I have a number of reasons for that, but I’ve decided to share some video.

We went for a hike at the “hanging bridges.” Basically they are narrow suspension bridges that span over gorges. At some point we started messing with my Flip MinoHD video camera (I have to review that little guy… so much to write, so little time).

Since we were on a bridge, we decided to reenact the bridge crossing scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Cause we’re cool like that.

We did it in one take, fluffed the lines a bit, I underestimated how much the bridge was shaking, and we generally made fools of ourselves… but whatever.

Curious about the last three seconds? Wondering where that incredibly authentic howl came from?

Well, I’m glad you asked.

We did a number of adventurous things while we were on vacation. One adventure was zip-lining through the canopy of the forest. In the middle of the zip-lining was an optional event called the Tarzan swing. Basically they tie you in, and drop you off a cliff. Have a look for yourself, and enjoy a laugh at my expense.

Usually when I am scared pooless I remain silent… not that time.

While I was on the swing, I had my Flip MinoHD camera attached to my helmet strap. Unfortunately the camera flipped and faced my chest, so you don’t really see anything. However it did capture the audio of my howl. So I grabbed those three seconds and dropped them in at the end of our Monty Python video.

It’s hard to tell, but the view from the far end of the swing was unbelievable.

Have a great weekend.

OneLook – The Reverse Dictionary

Every writer inevitably hits that wall where he/she knows there is a word for something, but can’t remember what the word is.

Enter OneLook, the reverse dictionary. You give it a definition, and it gives you possible words.

It’s no where near perfect, but it can help.

OneLook was brought to my attention via my buddy and frequent commenter pochp.

Jerks, NJ Transit & Wardrobe Selection

Riding the last train to New Jersey from New York Penn Station on a Friday night is always an experience. You are guaranteed at least one total ass in each train car; it says so on the ticket. My trip back this evening was no exception.

I spent my night with two friends that I hadn’t seen in nine years. It was a lot of fun because the last time I saw them we spent three weeks camping and sea kayaking our way through the Virgin Islands. Even after nine years, it was amazing to see them. So much had changed in all of our lives, yet I felt like no time had passed.

Anyway, back to my train ride home. I ended up sitting next to the ass of the car and his girlfriend. His green pastel button down shirt, designer jeans, greased-up faux hawk, and popped collar screamed “I’M AN ASS!!!” His girlfriend was barely clothed, and exceptionally drunk after a night of celebrating her 21st birthday. I can say with confidence that her jewelry was covering about as much of her body as her clothing. As a consequence, a number of people in neighboring seats were leering, or outright staring at her. Both her and her boyfriend, henceforth refereed to as Mr. & Ms. Ass weren’t pleased with the gazes, and proceeded to scream at the guys across the way.

I’ve got to say that Mr. & Ms. Ass were completely nuts. As are any other people who leave portions of their body exposed, and then become up angry, insulted, embarrassed, etc. when someone checks them out. Now, I have the utmost respect for women, and leering isn’t my style, but please hear out my logic.

When you go to a museum the objects on display are behind glass. This is specifically so that people can see the object.

When one wears clothing that reveals a body part, that individual is putting that part on display. If one doesn’t wish to have her parts viewed, she should wear something that is opaque and covers some area, or accept that parts on on display, and consequently inviting viewership.

If I didn’t want you to read my writing, I wouldn’t publish it in a public place.

After the screaming match with the staring men, Mr. Ass realized that Ms. Ass lost his car keys and they spent the rest of the ride raging on each other.

A Man Can Dream… A Man Can Dream…

One day, I will build a secret passage behind a bookcase in my home.

And a malcontent shoot in front of my desk, that drops people through a hole in the floor, and spits them out in my moat that is filled with crocodiles.

"I haven't had to evolve in eons because I'm already a perfect killing machine."

Seriously, crocodiles are scary as hell.

Pixels Are Recyclable

My father worked in the photo industry until it evaporated with the rise of hi-res digital cameras. As a consequence I grew up around cameras, photographers, and film. We had all of the film we wanted, but each roll had a finite quantity of shots.

Now I have an eight gig SD card in my camera, and for all intents and purposes, I can take as many photos as I want… but I usually forget that.

Many people, myself included, continue to treat pixels as a finite and rare commodity like film once was.

On July 4th, I finally used my digital camera as a digital camera.

My parent’s neighbors always put on an incredible fireworks display. Every year they become more efficient, sophisticated, and spectacular; this year was no exception. I decided to play with my camera a bit and see what would come out. I set it to “continuous” and pointed it in the general direction of the explosions.

The initial results were mixed.

Then I made a mistake, shaking the camera as I crushed a mosquito that was biting my arm. It turned out that the continuous shooting, delayed exposure, and shaking of the camera created a really cool streak effect.

Then I started to experiment by shaking the camera in different directions, and at different speeds; I am delighted with what I captured.

The Riddler was here

I took about 700 images and maybe 275 of them are worth a second glance, but that’s OK, because pixels are recyclable.

It’s going to take me a while to crop all of these and make them look presentable, but when I do they will go up on Facebook & Flickr. I will post a link when they are available.