I'm really...

...not as much of a Sean John as I am a Sean Astin.

Geek Overcomes Social Anxiety By Turning Life into RPG

This isn't true, but it's good for a laugh.

It's about time...

GM to Launch Self-driving System

Realistically, I think it's too soon for this to be widely adopted, but it's what I've wanted since elementary school. And I'm all that matters.

As a side note, I like how they misquote the title of "I, Robot".

Poochi is *so* not an Aibo

Today, we bought Renaissance a Poochi at a yard sale. It was secretly for me, but she was crying when we put it back down on the table.

So we got home and put some fresh batteries in it, and he's pretty... complicated. With not really any redeeming qualities. Check out the instructions (PDF) for how to make him sing a song.

In an effort to make him more "lifelike", there is no off button. That's all well and good if he acted more like a dog, but he's really a novelty and needs an off button. When you put your finger over his light sensors to make him think it's nighttime and he needs to go to sleep, you have to put up with his snoring first, which sounds similar to what I imagine is the sound of a dying cow.

At least he was only $2, and Renaissance already likes him with the batteries out. He may be a better toy that way.

Life is a sneeze, so don't blow it.

Woohoo, the weekend's coming. Finally, time to rest (read: clean).

Hmm. So I guess that's all I have to say right now. Maybe I'll have an opinion about something later and write about that.

But probably not.

Play-Doh smells good.

So now I'm back in school. The last week has been pretty busy. I worked another sixteen-hour shift. Etc.

Umm. Last night, we almost went to see March of the Penguins, but we read some reviews on it and it looks like Renaissance shouldn't really see it yet. I'm all for the accurate representation of penguins, but there's just nothing for little kids anymore.

I miss Snow White and Bambi and Dumbo. Stuff like that. Even though they touched on scary issues like death and evil, it was in a more palatable way for kids.

So we just let Renaissance watch the trailer until she got sick of it. It only took like fifteen minutes. Plus, she learned how to start it over herself, so we just let her go with her mad spacebar-hitting skillz.

I'm so glad...

...we moved out of Henrico. I don't want my daughter going into a school system that's administered by individuals that are incapable of common sense and lacking a proper sense of reality.

Here's how the iBook sale should have taken place. First of all, look at what you're selling. Computers. The fact that these are Apple computers really is of no consequence. I've spoken with numerous people about this in the last few weeks and no one I'd talked to had ever used MacOS X or even knew what a modern Apple computer is (the last one they'd used being an Apple II or something else from around that era). It's a $50 computer and the news here had been hyping it since it was first announced.

So, we pick a date and time and decide what we're going to do, and then we follow through.

Then, when a ton of people show up, take two or three cops with you and hand out paper slips with numbers 1 through 1000 to the first 1000 people. If anyone gets crazy, arrest them. Allow the first 1000 people through the gate. If anyone beats anyone else with a freakin' chair arrest them. It's called crowd control.

And as a sidenote, people should not bring their kids to places where they know things are going to get crazy. From what I understand, the smashed stroller had a baby in it at the time, but the father was lucky enough to get the kid out of it before it was trampled.

Excerpts from CNN.com:

...one woman standing in front of her was so desperate to retain her place in line that she urinated on herself.

---

"It's rather strange that we would have such a tremendous response for the purchase of a laptop computer -- and laptop computers that probably have less-than- desirable attributes," said Paul Proto, director of general services for Henrico County.

---

Jesse Sandler said he was one of the people pushing forward, using a folding chair he had brought with him to beat back people who tried to cut in front of him.

"I took my chair here and I threw it over my shoulder and I went, 'Bam,"' the 20-year-old said nonchalantly, his eyes glued to the screen of his new iBook, as he tapped away on the keyboard at a testing station.

"They were getting in front of me and I was there a lot earlier than them, so I thought that it was just," he said.

You Are 63% American

You Are 63% American

Most times you are proud to be an American. Though sometimes the good ole US of A makes you cringe Still, you know there's no place better suited to be your home. You love your freedom and no one's going to take it away from you!

How American Are You?

Strange Things You Likely Didn't Know

I learned some interesting stuff from this site.

I did no fact checking, but hey, it was on the Internet, isn't that good enough?

I like Mythbusters.

Renee, Renaissance, Mason, and I have had a busy few days. One of the things we did was go to a feeding zoo-type place. We thought this sign was a little disturbing, so I thought I'd share.



And this rabbit's a bit freaky, too.

Sorry for the rant...

Where to begin?

Yesterday, Renaissance said "That's good, huh!" and she's been saying it ever since, whenever she thinks something is "nummy." We got some video of it and will probably post it on her blog at some point within the next week. As always, no guarantees.

I worked my first sixteen hour shift on Sunday night. It's weird, but it was actually easier than a four hour shift. The next day kind of sucked though -- just trying to get back into the swing of things.

I've been watching Systm, The Broken, and Diggnation. Watching Kevin Rose now is so weird. I miss him on Attack of the Show (but really that's a lie -- I miss him on The Screensavers because Attack of the Show sucks). I still watch Attack of the Show, mind you, but I remember watching The Screensavers a long, long time ago and I was so enthralled to see a show that talked about tech stuff. I don't know if Kevin Rose was on it back then, but he was the last geek holdout on Attack of the Show and once he left, it's all about eBay, stupid web sites (who really gives a crap about a cell phone in a condom, really?), girly girls pretending to play games on a LAN, and stupid bands like Emaneht and Emanon (it takes a lot of creativity to come up with "The Name" or "No Name" spelled backwards... idiots). Occasionally, though, there will be something on there that I haven't heard, or an interesting band that I won't ever listen to again, so I still watch it. It's better than a lot of other television programs...

Anyway, so I'm still mad at Henrico County, but now I'm all about getting an iBook or PowerBook (12"), so if anyone is feeling gratuitous, hey, I'm over here. They made me think about all the stuff I could use a sub-notebook for and now I feel cheated. My issue is not that they're only offering them to Henrico taxpayers, it's that they originally offered them to "the public", and then changed their minds once everyone had time off/flights booked/hopes up, etc. Jerks.

I Hate Henrico County

No iBook for me.

Not only do I not live in Henrico County, I can't make it to the sale on the 16th. Stupid county.

I feel bad for all the crazy people who were traveling to Virginia for this, and also for anyone who took time off of work. Sucks to be you, too.

I am so drooling right now.

Apple finally released a multi-button mouse... sort of.

I've always been of the camp that the Mac really doesn't need a two-button mouse, but I think I'm starting to feel the urge for more buttons. And this is the best possible thing Apple could have made, as far as I know. It's still totally simple and the default settings are set to act like a "normal" Apple Pro Mouse.

And plus, it's got a speaker!


(I'll get one in a few years)

Stuff On My Cat

stuff + cats = awesome

This is one of the most creative sites I've seen in a while. Look at it when you're feeling down. Or when you're happy.

Either way, you'll end up laughing.