Thinking in vain...

This is apparently the oldest man in India... although at 138, I'd bet he's the oldest living man in the world.

However, the Guinness Book of World Records has the oldest man at 114 and living in Japan.

Doesn't he look a bit like, well.... him?

So this from Make The Logo Bigger reminded me of my movie going experience this past Monday.

Monday afternoon, my sister and I decided to go see a movie.

We walked up to the girl taking the tickets and she looked at me and my sister and said, "I need to check your bags for [something mumbled]."

I said "ok," as I opened my bag... "what are you looking for?"

"Cameras."
"Oh, I have a camera." I showed her my camera case.
"But there's nothing in there?"
"No, my camera is in here." (I'm too damn honest.)
"You can't bring that into the theater, but you can leave it at the desk." She points to the customer service desk behind us with some sketchy-looking man standing behind it.
"I'm not leaving it there."

She told me I could take it to my car. So we left and half-way to my car I realized that it's about 400˚ with the humidity and my camera might not like that. So every step I got more and more irritated. Cat said I should say something when we got back in (which we've now learned, I hate to do.)

We got back in and she didn't check our bags (Cat pointed out that again we were too honest as I could've kept the camera in my bag). But I did tell her that if the heat ruined my camera I'd be getting money. She said OK.

When we sat down in the theater, we realized that 1) she hadn't checked ANYONE else for cameras and 2) there was no sign that said you couldn't have a camera in your bag and 3) we had come to the same theater Friday night to see Pirates (with the same purses) and had not been required to open our bags.

So we were irritated. Or well, I was and now all I was concerned with was that my camera would be OK. Besides, like I had enough batteries to film the entire film and they would have seen me trying to.

Now, we're waiting for the movie to start - I dunno what's worse the 20 minutes of previews and commercials or the damn E! trivia before those that I have to listen to. All of a sudden a very loud employee is telling us to settle down and he has announcements for us.

The gist of it was that we needed to turn our cell phones off now, if we needed to take a call we had to leave the theater completely. If someone so much as put the phone up to their ear, they would have to leave the theater for good. If they saw a cell phone light, the person would have to leave the theater and could not come back. Text messaging is not allowed. If someone is bothering you, come find them and they will kick them out.

Now enjoy the movie.

So they try to take my camera and they give me a lecture (I realize that the lecture wasn't directed solely at me, but still). We've decided not to go back if we can help it. Bad thing is, that's the cleanest theater in the Valley.

That and the movie was horrible. Stop making sequels.

I hate insurance companies. But I love my State Farm agent, I really do. This is such a hassle, especially since the kid and/or the kid's parents have not called their insurance company yet.

Normally, my agent would call the person and ask them about calling their insurance company but BECAUSE the kid's father is who he is and he apparently uses my State Farm agent for other things (I guess like court things) they were hesitant to call him and were hoping to get it resolved through the insurance company. Yes, perfect.

The lady from Rockingham Mutual was a bit of a jerk. I found out that I can not really take the car anywhere I want. I can take it to one of their 3 approved places or I can have their appraiser come out, look at it and then they can give me a check for what they think it will cost. I think someone would be crazy to take the later route. The good thing is one of the places I could take it is apparently really good, so that worked out - I hope.

My agent then took over as I didn't know what the hell to do and got my car towed to a repair shop - there is some talk that my car may be totaled - and got me a rental car.

My rental car is a Saturn Ion - and this thing has the world's smallest steering wheel. And not to be vulgar, but the car smells like ass. Like nasty body odor. I have febrezed the hell out of it and left the windows open, hoping that the smell will go away. It's really that gross.

And I think it got on my clothes. Blech.

Okay, so apparently there is a rumor that the kids were friends of the cop's kids and were leaving a note or had done something to the son's car and were making their get-a-way when they had the accident.

Nice to know a prank caused thousands of dollars worth of damage and hours of frustration.

The judge finally came home and he hasn't been contacted by the kid's insurance company or heard anything and he's a bit irritated.

I would be too (and am), especially since I filed a claim with the kid's insurance company yesterday and gave them mine and the judge's phone number.

Apparently the 7th graders want me to come back and see the ads they've done because they think I'll be impressed.

Oh, and the Starburst "berries & cream" is a bigger hit than any of us ever imagined.

Nice quiet evening. Or so I thought. I walked up my stairs to my bedroom and went over to my dresser, which is right beside my window. A window that looks out over the street in front of my house.

That's when I heard it. Crunching metal is the most horrible sound, and one that stays with you after you've been in a wreck. All that flashed through my mind was that it was close, too close.

I jumped to my window and opened the blinds in time to see a car (the Honda Accord) smashing into my own. And I admit it, I screamed. You know that scream that takes you up and octave higher than you ever thought you could go? Yeah, that's what I did... I screamed "someone's hit my car."

My sister was downstairs and in a chair right by the front door and when she'd heard the noise she had jumped up to look out the window. She then heard me scream and ran, full-speed, out of the house with me right behind her.

I got out there after her. She ran straight up to the kids - who looked 12. Seriously. She was yelling, "What the hell happened? How fast were you going? How old are you?? Are you even old enough to drive?"

I was shaking. But I managed to run back inside and call 9-1-1.

*continues below

This is the general gist of what apparently happened. (And yes, I realize I spelled Volkswagen wrong in the photo... I was in a hurry).

The Volkswagen, which is the 17 year-olds car, was coming down the street. They insisted they were just eating french fries and going the speed limit. They got distracted and hit the Honda Accord. The Honda was parked on the right side of this street about where the Volkswagen is in the photograph.

The Honda was then pushed across the street and into my car. They then backed up the Volkswagen and got out of the car when my sister came running out of the house.

The first thing my sister saw was the passenger... standing there still eating his french fries. And he was a little prick, seeing no blood and everyone out of the car and fine (and eating french fries) - she started asking questions.

That's when he started to give her attitude. Because after he told her that they were going the speed limit, she asked him what was going on in that car and what he had been doing to distract the driver.

Both insisted they were doing nothing. B.S. I've been in two wrecks (I was in the backseat both times and both times were in high school) where the front passenger flipped out and grabbed the wheel or was distracting the driver resulting in the car accident. But that's not what the cops heard. But whatever.

So, of course... everyone comes out of their houses. Great. This is why nothing got done because now the entire neighborhood is up and out on the street meddling.

First cop on the scenes walks up to us and goes, "this kind of thing never happens here." No, no it doesn't, until you get the high school friends visiting going 50 in a 15.

So, of course, the next hour and a half is waiting for the cops to get all the information and talking to the kids and waiting for the tow trucks. No one was really concerned with my car, mainly because the Honda was totaled and the owners weren't home.

The kid is being charged with reckless driving and I probably won't be subpenad to court, but I might go anyway.

So my car is still out front and everyone has given me their opinion. We don't know if it's drivable. The frame could be/mostly likely is bent. I need to get my suspension check. It bent my hood. And well, I need a new door and new side and G-d only knows what else.

I'm glad I wasn't in the car, because my sister and I almost were. We had gone to the gym and were going to stay another 20 minutes but decided to go on home. If we'd stayed we would've been getting home when the kid was driving down the street.

It's just sucks. My car was supposedly safely parked outside my house and it gets smashed into. And if one more person is like, "that's what insurance is for," I think I'll scream. Yes, I realize that's what insurance is for, but I'm a good driver and I try to watch out and drive defensively and I had a great car that wasn't damaged and it's just frustrating that I have to waste my time and effort getting this fixed.

But yes, I'm fine. Slideshow below.

My car got smashed into.

Pictures and story later when I calm down and after I sleep.

Update: Sorry, as my friend pointed out on my MySpace page - yes, I'm alright. My car was parked and I wasn't in it.

augh.

So we've been working on the huge re-branding of a local/regional general contractor... for months now. I didn't get to work on the logo a lot - but I did tweak it.

And the client was *this close* to approving it.

Nope, nada. Start from scratch, as of last night. And I have to come up with 5 good designs by next Tuesday/Wednesday.

Yeah, no pressure.

Eyes on Google for Memorial Day
Fred Phelps Says "Go Google!"

I think I'm going to switch professions. One that looks SUPER easy. I'm going to go into the business of making those common-sense studies. Like the one that just came out that binge drinkers are more likely to make bad decisions.

Young adults who binge drink frequently are more likely to show disadvantageous decision-making patterns than their peers who don't drink as heavily, a new study shows.

What gave that away? The tendency to drink until you pass out and then wake up and drink more? Nah, that couldn't be it.

My sister super good at statistics, I think we need to talk about this. While I'm at it, I think I'll do a follow-up study on procrastination.

via Reuters

p.s. I'm actually glad I work with the GE guys... otherwise I'd have no fun at all.

I have a pet peeve. A small one. One that shouldn't raise my blood pressure as much as it does. I should let it go.

It has nothing to do with driving (though I have MANY annoyances there).

It has to do with email.

Why can people not look at who the email is sent to? I get an email 2 or 3 times just because no one looked to see if I was copied and then they come up and are all like "I forwarded you this email."

Yeah, I got it.

And it's usually something I have to do anyways so by the time I get the email forwarded - I've done said task and emailed everyone about it.

See? Not really a big deal but it made me twitch this morning. I can't wait for this 3-day weekend... I was so sure yesterday was Friday.

I had a nightmare last night and woke up in one of those cold sweats. At least I think I did. I fell asleep watching Ghost Hunters, the one where they're in Kentucky at the Waverly Hills Sanitarium (that's as close as I get to reality TV).

I don't usually get nightmares. All I remembered when I woke up was that there was somebody beside me (to my right) that wasn't supposed to be there and that to my left there should have been a plant that was now gone. Therefore, ergo... someone was in my house - possibly a paranormal someone.

And it took me a good 5 - 10 minutes to figure out what was going on and why I thought I had a plant in my room.

Well, it was different from being on a shaky ledge or dark water.

I just can't make this stuff up... a cat with wings.

UPDATE 08.29.2008: There's another winged cat.

Too many commas. Dear Lord... I know I'm not the best at punctuation (re: my fascination with ellipses) but even I try not to over use the comma in a series bit.

We've got a new client and until until they settle on their new logo, we're band-aiding one of their websites. For some reason this construction company also sells Microsoft products. And the website dealing with all their Microsoft products needed some quick fixes and the guy (that marketing guy) wanted it to do better with search engines so we needed to edit the copy.

We didn't edit the copy a lot, because from my understanding we get to rewrite it a little when designing the new site (geez, I hope so) so a lot of it was still the same.

I just finished looking it over for our programmer to double-check everything and damn. Maybe it was a combination of the commas plus a whole bunch of words that dealt with accounting but my eyes almost bled.

I sincerely hope that the audience he wants coming to the site knows what they're talking about because if it was someone like me they wouldn't stay 30 seconds. But even if they did know something, you can't make every sentence have a list... it's just awful.

So - we have this client. I've never liked him as a person... I think he's sketchy and kind of underhanded.

He'd always bring in other brochures (sometimes the competitions') and logos he liked and wanted us to use those as inspiration for all his little projects. One, they were usually horrible and two, he didn't really want us to use them to go off of. He wanted us to copy them.

He brought in a business card once he like and I (begrudgingly) did one like it and when he was shown it he said, "no, don't reinvent the wheel - make it exactly like it." Logo and all.

I loathed him coming in. Mostly because I thought he was sleazy (with bad ideas) and I kept telling everyone that we shouldn't copy the materials like he wanted us too. That and he'd throw up all over anything I did.

But everybody else loved him. Oh, he's such a good brainstormer... blah, blah.

So he wants another new website for the 5th time and when he called he happened to ask one of my bosses if she liked the redesign of one of the websites we'd already done.

Yeah, news to her.

So she called me to look at it. #1 it's not bad, I liked it. I liked it better than the mess he wanted before, which irritated me. Because I would've preferred to design it a different way... but I won't go into that because that gets into my boss not knowing a thing about websites and other icky things that I think we should do and don't.

The main point I liked was that she was irritated and made the comment about what a "fast talker" he is and how she doesn't think he's always honest and how he's kind of sketchy.

I agreed and refrained from shouting "I told you so!" at her. Which is what I wanted to do.

Finally someone else sees it. Now I would just like to never have to do anything for him again.

As I went to lunch I passes one of our client's vans. They're a construction company and had an established identity so I didn't design this van or have anything to do with it.

There, there's my disclaimer.

So on the side of the truck next to their logo and information is the copy, "We could be at your house."

Now I get it, really. They could be at your house fixing it, building an addition, making things pretty.

But doesn't that line also sound a little creepy? Like 'we could be at your house'... stealing your grandmother's jewelry. Or is it just me?

I mean, if I can be told that my colors remind someone of the Florida Gators (it was burnt orange and lime and it was pretty, back off), then I can think the tag line is creepy.

I would've had a picture but I forgot about it after I ate lunch and I probably shouldn't bring attention to myself.

I, apparently, am not the demographic The History Channel thinks is watching.

I love The History Channel... but according to the commercials the only people watching are older men with a variety of health problems. Or at least men with the potential for health problems.

While watching their evening line-up I had the pleasure of watching commercials for Levitra, Viagra and these new Serenity pads for men. Actually, the Serenity commercial is great - 'cause even big, bad biker men have bladder problems.

I also routinely get all kinds of pharmaceutical commercials, car commercials and commercials for the Hoveround.

Not that I'm complaining... just making an observation. I mean, it's not like The History Channel only shows WWII shows like they used to, they quite routinely have min-marathons of UFO Files.

Okay, off to eat the most delicious peanut butter cookie.

I mowed the grass this weekend... actually the first time I've ever mowed the grass. I was having a bit of a problem staying straight, but I guess I'll get the hang of it eventually.

I also forgot to wear a mask so I'm having a hard time breathing despite the Advil.

I did it with the Reel Mower first, but it wasn't getting the straggly pieces so I had to pull out the electric one. I'll get the hang of it.

It's also freezing in here... I'm really not complaining... really. So hurray for 3-day weekend!!!!

:D

I haven't posted anything animal related lately. And THIS was precious. I want to pick it up.

To which my friend replied: "It's dirty."

This was also a favorite commercial of the 7th graders. They told me so. I heart it myself. It's so ridiculous... but I still love it.

I'd eat it but I don't eat cubed chicken.



There's another one with a football/sport theme which is just as funny... but the hot dog on the grill one is kinda lame.

Scotty's Ashes Lost on Mountaintop?

But that plan went awry when the rocket carrying the ashes landed on top of a mountain in New Mexico's San Andres range -- a location so remote that it was even feared lost. Now, search teams say they know where the rocket is, but they can only reach it by helicopter. A recovery mission is planned for Wednesday.

I don't know how I feel about this, so I'm just posting it.... via the VT Memorial MySpace Blog

A local voice in the national RocaWear Fall Campaign

Ciara has been tapped as the new face of Jay-Z's Rocawear line for women.

The 21-year-old "Goodies" singer celebrated Wednesday night at a small, intimate dinner at Buddakan in NYC with Rocawear co-founder Jay-Z, rapper Young Jeezy, photographer Mark Seliger, who will shoot the ads, and stylist June Ambrose.

The new campaign, which debuts this fall, is entitled, "I Will Not Lose" and will also feature video testimonials by individuals who have overcome various hardships.

Amy Steele, the editor-in-chief of the Virginia Tech newspaper Collegiate Times, is just one of the participants who will be profiled and share her story in the campaign.

*emphasis added

Yeah, it was that foggy.

So I met with my friend Thursday night to go over what I should do. Advertising and persuasion is part of the Virginia SOLs and I didn't want to mess them up on their tests.

Luckily, I was just sort of "introducing" them to the concept of critically looking at ads and how advertisers persuade them to buy things.

Earlier I'd gone through my old college design textbooks and pulled their "persuasive" techniques. You know, nice things like visual metaphors or comparisons or puns, blah, blah, blah. The persuasive techniques named by her handouts weren't as glossed over - things like "glittering generalities," "card stacking," and "name calling." Not that those aren't true of course.

So since they've been bogged down with preparing for the SOLs, she told me to make it fun. I showed her some of the commercials I'd gotten to show them and she goes... "oh they can sing that Snickers song for you." Awesome.

So I picked some print ads and some commercials and made a PowerPoint presentation. I'm still learning PowerPoint, but I think it was pretty good if I do say so myself. Oh, and I redid that "Guess the Logo" online game and they played it for candy.

I stopped by the store on the way there to pick up the candy - and yes, I did get Starburst Berries & Cream... I needed something without any trace of peanuts. So it was those and Smarties®.

*Continues below.

I got there early and did Hall Duty with my friend, this includes telling the kids not to run and taking their hats. Then homeroom (where we stood and said the Pledge of Allegiance) and then first period.

We had the first class (the AP kids) twice. Once for first period and then for third (2nd period is a planning period for her). It took us a while to settle them down. I told them if they didn't quiet down they'd have to give me their lunch money. They said that was mean. I said they were wasting my time. They said, "oh, good point." No lie.

So I showed them print ads and some commericals - Snickers, Jeep, Cingular, T-Mobile, Burger King, Skittles and Starburst, Viva... oh and the Dairy Queen Flamethrower one.

They sang McDonalds "I'm Lovin' It" for me and they sang the Snickers jingle.

So we talked about those and if they thought the ads made sense and if they worked and who they thought the commercials were marketed to.

*Continues below.

This scenario also went for 5th and 7th periods (both the same class like 1st and 3rd was). However, 4th period we only got once and these kids were supposed to be a "challenge" but they didn't take any crap. I showed them the ad for Battery Energy drink - they told me it was a bad idea because you weren't supposed to stick batteries in your mouth and the drink reminded them of battery acid. This prompted one guy to announce that battery acid burns when you lick it.

The second time we had the two classes we put them into groups, made them randomly pick (out of a plastic bag) a verb and a noun. This was their energy drink and they were to come up with a slogan and an ad. Just for fun. A lot of them were really cute/great/funny.



*Continues below.
*Click images for bigger views. And yes the kids that did Skipping Elephant put copyright and trademark symbols all over their ad*

In all the classes, most thought it would be awesome to have ads on school buses when I first asked them. But then I pushed them a little. I asked them about what they thought if ads were on the sides of space shuttles, all three times I got the answer - if they are on the side of the space shuttle it must be a good company or an important product they should know about. So I asked what if it was a candy bar and the company just paid the large amount of money to have it there. They sat there thinking for a while and then decided it wouldn't be that cool.

Part of the school bus thing was my fault, I absent-mindedly used bananas as an example and they couldn't get passed that. Besides they have the Got Milk? ads in the cafeteria they told me.

Perfect timing for this too as we are now getting electronic billboards that will rotate about 6 different ads. And one is on their way to school. I got the "it's awesome" response and then somebody raised their hand to say that he thinks it could cause a lot of wrecks because people would pay too much attention to the billboard.

So first answer was more than likely - "that's cool," "that's awesome," but if you pushed even a little they started thinking beyond the fact that it was flashy or funny.

And yes, the Starburst guy was a very big hit. None of them had seen the commercial before and the first class went and told EVERYONE about the commercial. So the first thing out of anyone's mouth when they walked in and saw me was a comment about Berries & Cream.


By the way - the candy really is good. And it smells even better.

There is a facebook group for the Starburst Guy.

No, no... I didn't go searching for it, one of my friends joined it and therefore I saw it in the stalkerish news feed they have.

Seems there is also one for the singing rabbit.

Maybe I don't understand Facebook groups.

So I haven't gotten around to sitting down and reliving last Friday.

But I do have a picture. *lol*

This was a quick shot of one of the ads we had them do. 2 classes came twice (normally one period for writing and one for reading). So the first time I gave them my little presentation and we talked about ads I brought. The second time we had them do an ad.

They had to pick a verb and an animal and create an energy drink. That little copy up top reads, "more vitamins to keep you going."

Yeah, they see a lot of commercials.

On the down-side the majority of them thought it would be really cool to have ads on their buses.

Oh, and the Starburst guy was a real hit, I'm sure their other teachers LOVED me after that.

(Click for larger picture.)

I forgot my laptop and my camera so all the video and images from Friday are at home... but I will get to them later... promise.

I am also upset I forgot my camera because we have a NEW dog here today. His name is Samson and if I could show you a picture–you'd realize why that's funny. He's very little... I thought he was a puppy, but no he's 4 years-old, and he's a mutt (a beagle and chihuahua, I believe).

He likes me A LOT. *big grin*

Ironically (or not... is it irony?), it's Carter's dog.

Quick observations before my butt takes a nap.

• Teachers are way underpaid for what they have to deal with. My feet, knees and hips HURT.

• I'm exhausted. And apparently the kids were ANGELS today.

• They are very smart... smarter than they think they are. The kids came up with some pretty awesome slogans/tag lines. (I have pictures of some of the ads they did to come.)

• They know the Snickers jingle by heart. Every class could sing it. Which they did, I have audio.
  

• The class that was supposed to be "remedial," or at least the worst class were some of the smartest... they definitely saw through some of the ads.

• They plagiarize a little too much. One of the teacher's assistants was going through recent papers highlighting all the stuff they copy/pasted from the internet. All I can say is DAMN.

That's it for now. I ate school lunch - not bad. They have "Got Milk" ads in the cafeteria, but I'm hungry so I'm off to eat and probably take a nap. I had to borrow lunch money.

Oh, and my friend is my new hero.

Camera seems to be working perfectly... *knocks on wood*

The new memory card seems to be doing it's job and not malfunctioning. Woohoo.

I also had some serious camera envy at the bridge dedication today.

Or is it 2 days?

Anyways. Friday I will be talking to 7th graders about advertising. Wish me luck or give me suggestions.

Awesome.

via 2wenty 4our

So I have an update on the protester. Seems a friend of a friend works at the law firm hired by the clinic to represent them when the protester sued. Apparently what happened was that the clinic offered/suggested a safer, more-up-to date procedure that this woman's husband declined. In writing. According to the clinic he was aware of possible side-effects, but decided to sign the waiver anyways and elected for the tacks.

The problem with the tacks/staples is that they can get snagged on muscle and cause incredible pain - and this is what was happening. She filed a lawsuit which was thrown out and she's been protesting ever since.

And ever since I learned this, her signs have been more along the lines of "What you don't know can hurt you."

Of course, now who do you believe? I dunno. That's when lawyers and people who work for the lawyers seem pretty sleezy to me. That's what got me thinking about pharmaceuticals. I used to work at a law firm and I have friends that are still secretaries there. One of the secretaries was having problems with a difficult coworker. She then went in about foot pain and told her doctor she was stressed about the coworker.

The doctor's solution? Antidepressants.

I told her she was crazy for taking them. She told me she didn't want to be labeled a "difficult patient" in her medical file. WTF - since when does a second opinion get you labeled a "difficult patient." She was also told by one of the lawyers she worked with that women were better medicated.

Yeah, big ol' WTF moment.

I'm so glad my sister decided not to be a pharmaceutical rep. After hearing what she was reading, most pharmaceutical ads make me nauseous if I think about them too much. I like the Rozerem beaver but there's no way I'd take that crap.

So I saw this:

Every pharma team I've worked with says, “Oh, we gotta dumb it down for the physician.” You mean the person who’s had generally 12 more years of college than I have? Yep. He a idiot too.

Sometimes he is. Generally speaking the doctor will get his information from the pharmaceutical rep and because so many medicines come out so quickly they don't have the time to do the research, sometimes the patient will be more informed of the drug they're asking about than the doctor. Oh, and your insurance is paying for only like 15 minutes max with the doctor... so hurry up and ask and have the nice long discussion the commercial tells you to.

Yeah it's messed up. I'd like to know what kind of perks my nurse practitioner is getting for pushing Yaz®.

Disclaimer: My opinions on the pharmaceutical industry and lawyers are my own and you can take them or leave them.

Not that I eat mushrooms that grow in my yard, but with all this fake food I keep reading about, this is the kind of stuff that'll keep me from eating mushrooms for the next two weeks... or until I forget about it.

Some related species cause poisoning when alcohol is taken within five days after ingestion of the mushroom.

via MSN Encarta.

Ty Pennington was arrested for a DUI.

I must say that's not what I thought it was for. But really you can't be arrested for that.

Wait, what? No, I didn't say anything.

I saw an online petition started by students to get Extreme Makeover back to Blacksburg to redo Norris. If that actually happened I seriously wonder who they could get to be the builders... as long as they didn't do it in the middle of December again, that was horrible.

I don't like being in the same room with them - especially marionettes. I'm just waiting for their little heads to turn and cackle at me... like Robert.

But for some reason I like Tim Burton, so I can't decide if this commercial is cool or creepy as hell. The mouth thing at the end is kind of gross, but I think I'm the only one that thinks about that kind randomness. Like when my sister and I were watching The Mummy Returns and the guy blows the powder from the canopic jars... I looked at my sister and said - "If this were real, he just blew 3,000 year-old mummy on them, can you imagine the germs?"

In other randomness Richard's reading a book that has something to deal with rabies (and how it can be transferred by too many things for me to be comfortable with), he had fun playing on my mild hypochondria, so if you'll excuse me I have to go look up the symptoms of rabies.

I guess it'll save us time in the mulched beds.

Boil y'er weeds. Instead of using a commercial weed killer, douse weeds with a mixture of vinegar and boiling water. Cackle maniacally while doing so.

More tips via Consumerist.

via advertising for peanuts.

I didn't do anything.

Happy Friday.

Of course my Mom wasn't going to watch anyways.

This pilot is slow, talky and dull… with the only real visual flourishes revolving around the Cavemen donning different costumes throughout the show in their bid to fit in.

Making matters worse: The pilot uses different actors in the Cavemen roles and none of them are nearly as effective as their advertising counterparts. One of them actually reminded me a little bit of Sanjaya.

From Ain't It Cool News

I'd still vote for The Slowskys, you can just pull from their blog. Don't tell me the writing out pi thing doesn't make you chuckle.


via Make The Logo Bigger

Gizmodo says it's for the lazy. But I think it's a perfect companion for porch-sitting. Or mowing green or oasiscape.

Even though the price is steep, with gas prices going the way they are the little guy may end up paying for itself in no time.

And if you don't want to porch-sit, I think it would come in nicely for multi-tasking. I attack the weeds, vegetable and flower beds while this little guy mows. And he doesn't complain.

I think this is a win-win situation.

My birthday is in July. *winkwinknudgenudge*

Update: The cap'n and I have decided it'll probably run into fences more than anything.

The Grey's Anatomy "2-hour special" has been on for 15 minutes and so far the majority of the story-line seems to be about introducing the Addison's (the chic-baby-doctor) new show/job/life. I'm not sure I'm going to be watching this new show.

Oh, there we go – the part of this show I'm watching for is on. And as soon as I write that, we're back to the new show. Ugh.

So, basically it's 2 hours, so there's an hour of Grey's and an hour of this new show. Way to force people to watch it. Actually... way to go ABC, otherwise I probably wouldn't watch.

Put that on the list, I could've seen the Queen. Not that I know anything about HRH or the royal family, but it'd still be cool.

Queen Elizabeth II's Visit To Richmond

Sometimes things aren't necessarily completely bad taste, but they leave you feeling icky. This news story makes me feel icky.

The book deal was "solidified" April 26, Davis said, 10 days after the shooting.

Tech students land book deal.

And in related news, now people are registering the victims' names... talk about making you feel icky.

"I'm really disturbed to hear that people are registering domains that are the names of the victims," he said. "That's really taking the tastelessness to a whole other level."

'Squatters' nab names of victims for web.

And made it. With 3 minutes to spare.

Oh don't get me wrong, everything was done - printed, mounted, everything when I left last night. I got here about 8:30 and knew the client meeting was this morning. I just didn't know when.

So then the boss(wo)man comes in around 9:15 - 9:20. Looks at it one last time and decides to change things. So I get to work, no biggie.

Until she comes by my office at 9:45 and says, "You know they'll be here at 10:00, right?"

No, no I didn't know that. Which is what I tell her. She says she's sorry and she'll try to be better about that. But I made it, the boards and print-outs were on her desk by 10:00 and I just heard them come in and it's 10:03.

Go me.

Record temps yesterday in Bluefield, VA/WV

Why is this interesting? Because last night I learned that Bluefield is known as "Nature's Air Conditioned City." because it's mean temperature in the summer is in the 70's.

So what happens when it gets/got over 80˚?

The Chamber of Commerce would hand out free lemonade. At the JC Penny, the Train Station and one other place but the storyteller couldn't remember where.

You can't hit that thing just once. Not even twice.

If I hit that thing at all I will get up at the last possible moment. I need an alarm clock that turns on all the lights when it goes off.

So we all know how I probably need a new memory card (it had BETTER be the memory card). Luckily for me it turns out that we need to "document" a bridge dedication next week and our usual photographer is on her honeymoon. And instead of getting someone else, they just thought I could do it. AWESOME.

So they asked me if I could use "our" digital camera and I said that it was only 3 megapixels but that I had a 6 megapixel camera and told her the only problem was my little memory card error, but that Google seems to think it's the memory card not the camera.

So I get to buy a new one. Everyone cross your fingers that it works!!!

Changing zoneviii.blogspot.com to thinkinginvain.blogspot.com.

Idea via Jetpacks, since someone lurked and took the URL.