Car Packing List

Below is a checklist of things that should be in my car at all times:

Dopp Kit that Contains
Dental Floss
Flashlight because changing a tire or hunting for something that slipped between the seats at night should be made to be less stressful
Dental Floss

On a related note, this piece of food that refuses to leave the gum holding the back of my right medial incisor no matter how much I tongue it is messing with my ability to focus on other tasks.

Entertainment this Weekend

In this post I present some things that will keep me entertained this weekend. I also plan to:

Harvest the garlic I planted without wondering why it is that every time I mention that I am growing garlic people have to ask me about my ancestors as if only people from Transylvania grow garlic
Plant more seeds from the awesome seed packets I got for Christmas this year
Hike around Santa Cruz Island, the largest of the Channel Islands
Poke around an abandoned building (man, I want the NFL to come back)
Read a copy of the New York Times from cover to cover
Burn things (in a totally safe, controlled manner, I swear)

YouTube Round Up

Jokes and jokes and

Spaghetti, Spaghetti

The Internet is Filled with Boundless Entertainment
but, honestly, most of it is worthless junk.  I 've only started wading into the sea of content on the See Mike Draw site that brings us the following image and some of the humor is a little too disgusting even for me.  Still, the price is right so I've added this site to my RSS feed.  Enjoy, if you dare.

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Video Games to Waste Time With

I enjoy a good point-and-click adventure game.  I realize that this type of game is far from being cutting edge and that most real gamers are probably turned off by this genre.  Still, I enjoy these games in my spare time.  Recently, I came across an adventure game with three episodes called Cover Front, which might keep me entertained this weekend.  I have only just scratched the surface of the third game in the series.  I plan to start playing the first episode this evening and see how long that holds my interest.  Here is the link to the first episode:

I think the whole PastelPortal.com site where the Cover Front series is located looks like it will be entertaining to check out.

According to the bio of the creator, his game The Submachines is the most popular of his point-and-click creations.

Also, I still have a fondness for Galaga, an arcade game that my Dad and I play every time we come across one of the big wooden towers.  Here is an online  version of the game, which, sadly, moves much faster than the arcade game and is therefore less enjoyable.  Here is another link, which I haven't tried yet.

House Hunting Part 2

Entryway


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Kitchen

I think the kitchen of this renovated stone barn looks fantastic with both the original stone left exposed, concrete, wood and stainless steel.  The exterior shots of the place available via the via link below this image are worth a look as well imo.

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Entertainment Room

Bedroom(s)

Garden / Conservatory





Fireplace

I think the first thing to install in a home should be the fireplace.  There is a reason that when all the cowboys in old western movies gather round a fire in the evenings.  Below is an awesome fireplace made of bronze slats:


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Staircase to 2nd Floor

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Brilliant!


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House Hunting

I don't want a lot in a house.  Just something simple like this:

No big deal - via

Good Design

Here are some web designs that appeal to my olde timey sensibilities:

http://www.wellingtonstravel.com/wall-map-london/

Upcoming Entertainment

Tonight at 4:00 p.m. is the NBA Dunk Contest!  I have fond memories of Dwight Howard dunking with one hand while slapping a sticker of his own smiling face to the top of the backboard with his other hand.  Here is the video:

I Don't Think the Judges Could See the Sticker and 

Therefore Didn't Rate this Dunk Highly Enough

Enlightened
Sundays, 9:30 PM ET, HBO

Season 4 of Archer has begun!

Happy Endings
Tuesdays, 9:30 PM ET, ABC

Childrens Hospital
Thursdays, Comedy Central

Zero Hour (February 14)
Watching the first episode gave me the chance to crack wise about a lot of the material that was being covered.

Oz The Great And Powerful (March 8) 
It's got Sam Raimi as the director!  The guy has the Midas-touch I tell you.


The Last Of Us (May 7)
A video game about zombies from the guy who did the excellent Uncharted trilogy

Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing (June 7)
I'm not holding my breath in anticipation but I suppose I will give it a shot.

Christopher Priest’s The Adjacent (June 20)
Something for you fancy book readin' types.

So much win:

I want to lick the creators of this short film.

Of course most of the stuff listed above will probably turn out to be just slightly above par:

Now for something you'll really like:

I can't think of any possible downside to keeping a tiger in the backyard:

Shouts to Doobybrain.com for finding these videos.  I have taken the initiative of culling the weaker videos from the doobybrain site to bring you only the best. 

13 seconds in things start to get good

This video of a power plant being imploded in Chula Vista, CA gets a little loud:

Coming down from this high is not going to be fun for this jerk:

Fast-forward to 10:15 for the good stuff

For your gif needs, I sugges that you visit, giphy

Recent Reading
Recently, I read the novel Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.  I enjoyed the experience and recommend the book.

Making My Own Entertainment
I taught myself HTML, CSS and JavaScript in the hope of growing rich.  This has not really worked out for me so far.  I do still have a dream of constantly creating a website that allows visitors to go on a free online adventure.  That's right, my dream is to publish a free game that people play online.  The game I have in mind presents the user with images I have captured from my own camera and allows the user to play through a series of story lines that are constantly being created.   


The closest thing I have found to what I have in mind is The Kingdom of Loathing.  My plan has always been to create something of a similar scale but to use photos instead of crude drawings because, if you look at the scribbles on this blog, I clearly should not be encouraged to draw anything myself.

TL;DR: Above are links to sources of entertainment to put in your eye and ear holes.

Someday I Want to Live Indoors

It has long been a dream of mine to live in my own home.  I am sick of renting a place to live and throwing away my money each month to help someone else make their mortgage payment.  

I don't think I'm going about this in the most direct manner however because instead of buckling down and reading about homes that I can, with the help of my trusty ski mask, some day hope to live in briefly before being evicted due to a lack of being able to pay the mortgage, I have been spending time looking at unique designer abodes.  Below are some of the custom homes that I have found to be incredibly interesting along with some of my notes.  I hope you enjoy the following building porn.

Overall Look / Exterior

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An indoor garden, exposed stone, lots of glass and wood make this a place that I would like to call home.

I really like the built-in storage.

Concrete works for me as a building material.  I also like what I believe are chain link fence and the garden in this home:




I like the hardwood floors, the drapes and the ginormous sofa.  I could do without the irregularly shaped holes in the ceiling and the bathtub surrounded by hardwood floors, especially since it's located right next to a window.

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The place doesn't need to be big but I would prefer that it was not a cookie cutter home.

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I really like the angles of this cabin and the exposed wood exterior.  I love the twin stone pillars that mark the driveway.



Here is the inside of the same home that shows lots of built-in storage, exposed wood and a gorgeous view of the surrounding forest.  I want to live here!

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Check out the exposed stone and the storage available here:

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My ideal home should be primarily constructed of concrete, wood and glass with space for green things that grow.  Beyond that the home should have the following rooms:

Kitchen

A copper sink would be cool with me.

Here is one I like the look of:

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Library

It doesn't need to be quite this grand

Via - This link has a good collection of library ladders

But it would be cool if it had one of these ladders with a metal railing:

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Cops in California

New in the News

The following places at which one should not be caught dead delivering copies of the the Los Angeles Times have been indicated on this map:

Not Cool Cops

Work

A trained monkey could do my job.  In fact, I have been shown the monkey several times and its training is progressing at an alarming rate.  If they can just cut down on his feces throwing slightly he will be below my level and ready to replace me.  

Two of the Following Things Should be Obvious from This Image:

1. This is an image of a chimp learning to respond to email

as two people monitor his progress from behind glass 

2. The creator's knowledge of perspective and 

illustration are totally lacking

3. The artist has no understanding of how to visually depict

the characteristics of a chimp 

Entertainment

Based on a recommendation from the always entertaining My Drunk Kitchen series, I have decided to give Adventure Time time* to go in my eyes and ears.  

I watched the first episode of The Following, a new hour long thriller on Fox and took the following notes:

We've seen it before Kevin**.  Please don't show us your bacon again.  

*I should really plot out my entire sentences ahead of time.  Thanks Mike Meyers for not allowing me to put the same word next to each other in any sentence without making me think of your Austin Powers character.

**Ruining / Explaining the Joke: See Wild Things (1998)

Random Links to Check Out

Sites to Check in On:

AlexPrager.com - Thanks to this post from the fantastic The Reel Foto blog for bringing her photos to my attention in the first place.

TheAmazings - Try to see what you can make of these

FilmOnPaper - A collection of movie posters.  This page has some fantastic artwork that I've never seen before.

Unfortunately, the older entries all seem to be the standard artwork I've seen before.  Hopefully, the creator(s) of this site will add more movie posters in the future.

ListGeek.com - might be interesting to keep an eye on.  I'm hoping that in the future there might be useful content on the site.

This is Your Brain on Excel

It's Groundhog Day!

Hopefully, today does not repeat itself over and over because work has been stressful lately.  In fact it has been so stressful that last night, I decided to seek a little recreational relief.  I took $20 and caught a bus to 3rd street.  I tried to take another bus to get to D street but there is none in downtown San Diego.  Thankfully, while I was at the bus stop in downtown, I was able to meet an Albanian man named Meriton and we all know that Meriton's stuff is- say it with me now and don't worry that this particular piece of slang has fallen out of popular use:

That's Right, Da Bomb! 

I used my cellphone to record our conversation because I knew as soon as I saw the sweet leather trench coat he was wearing that everything he had to say would make for excellent blog material.

Meriton: Do you know the American actor Liam Neeson?

Roger: That's actually a common misconception you hold.  Despite the fact that he is famous for acting in Hollywood films, Liam Neeson is actually from Northern Ireland.  According to his IMDB page he even operated a forklift for the Guinness brewing company.  

Meriton: You seem to know a lot about him.  You best move off of 3rd St.  Go on. Move it.  Move it!

Roger: I appreciate you continuing the Dave Chappelle allusion (source on YouTube).  But believe me I don't know Liam Neeson.

Meriton: I can't be too careful.  You know that this man delights in killing Albanians, yes?

Roger: Yeah, I've seen the movie.

Meriton: Movie?

Roger: Never mind.  Actually, the reason I'm here is to find something that will help get me through the next week at my job working with computers and I'm wondering if you can, you know, hook me up.

Meriton: My friend, I can help you with this.  There's a cool new thing that all the people who work with computers are doing these days.

Roger: I like where you head is at and am sure that the next thing you have to suggest will be very serious and in no way provide fodder for mild internet humor.

Meriton: It's called Excel.

Roger: (Triple sigh)

Meriton: Keep expanding your lungs.  Excel will expand your mind. My friend, say the tab button starts moving the focus way across the worksheet instead of just one cell to the right, all you need to do is the following, check it:

Turn off transition navigation and turn off Lotus 1-2-3 transition options

Roger: You're seriously offering me tips on using the computer spreadsheet program Excel right now.  

Meriton: You're welcome, my friend.  Here is another: you can toggle the Scroll Lock key to change the function of the arrow keys on your keyboard from moving the focus of one cell to another or move the entire workbook.

Roger: I want to go home now.

To Do
Note to self: I came across these words "the name of human body inside things with map" on this intriguing blog today and now I feel compelled to crudely draw such a thing.