Just An Observation

I just happened to catch this coincidence the other day. Two movie posters based on Richard Matheson books. More than just a passing similarity. Two very good movies by the way. And since we're on the subject, I found the differences in the I am Legend book cover and the movie poster interesting. Why remove the dog and the M-16? The book is much more violent than the movie. What's with the political correctness? I have one quick little review. The dog in the movie is great and Will Smith is great, he sure can act.

In Your FACE(book)!!!

In my quest to be an aging curmudgeon I do my best to avoid the latest trends (blogging not withstanding) but one hip(?) new trend I've been sucked into is Facebook. I hear it's the latest usurper to the social networking culture. From what I understand it is surpassing My Space.com in that arena. About all I know about My Space.com is that it helped launch a thousand crappy Emo bands and it's a hunting ground for perverts and pedophiles. Not necessarily my kind of place. I got drawn into the Facebook thing from my friend Jodii Wheler. I've mentioned her before. She's a pen pal I met online way back in the last century. Well anyway...I digress. I signed up and my account languished for months, a victim to my fear of the new and unfamiliar. Than I started getting emails from my 14 and 16 year old nieces. Already suffering from an overwhelming conviction that due to my absence during their growing up I was a crappy Uncle, I thought this would let me keep in touch in a way they would appreciate. And it would let my keep an eye on any of those perverts that made the jump from My Space. It was a flawless plan until I actually got on there and have to endure being notified that my fourteen year old niece just added the "Sexy Friends" application to her homepage. What sounds good in theory doesn't hold up under the harsh cold light of reality. Although it has been fun being able to write a quick little message to the girls on the "SUPER WALL!!!". As far as I can tell there are about three different walls, the regular old Wall, the Advanced Wall and the aforementioned Superwall. For all I know they are all the exact same wall.

One of my big beefs with the site is the encouragement to pass on spam. I got one that told of a girl with lung cancer who was also beat by her mother. The Make a Wish foundation would give seven cents toward her treatment every time the message was forwarded (I admire the seven cent thing, a good believable number). In closing the little girl thanked all of those people forwarding the email. For those cruel callus bastards unwilling to hit the forward button she offered this ominous warning "What goes around, comes around!" It was almost like a bad Japanese horror movie. Would she reach out from the grave and smite us. That's right, I said us. No one threatens me and gets away with it. No seven cents from Big B!

As unimaginably horrifying as it is to see that my niece is taking the "places to make out" quiz, it is reassuring to know what is going on in her life. I know from talking to the two of them, that they have a good head on their shoulders and I think they trust me and talk to me about some of this stuff. Not all of it though. Everyone should have their secrets, besides, my heart couldn't take too much information.

Get Your Daily Recommended Allowance...

...of adorable!

Cooper

Sigh

Man, how long has it been. I use to pride myself on the fact that I had a post for every month I've been doing the blog. That's blown to hell. There are all kinds of things going on lately that are keeping me busy. I'm interviewing for a new job, which I don't want to talk about. I've been working on Quantico MCB as site manager for a month or so, which I don't want to talk about. Mostly what kept me away was being laid off for three months (more or less). You would think all that spare time would lend itself to a writing flurry. I was too busy spending time with Lisa. Turns out I'm a prime candidate for one of those goofy "I love my wife" bumper stickers. Lisa won't let me get one though, God bless her cute little heart, she thinks they're stupid. I'm just corny enough to think they're a good idea. All the time we spent together has really made it hard to go back on the road, hence the change of jobs. I love the company I work for now but the road has taken it's toll. I'm feeling like Bob Seeger more and more every day.

I'll try to get posting again more often (something besides You Tube clips) if you care. For now though sit back and enjoy my newest feature, the Daily Puppy. How awesome is that?

NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL MUSIC!!!

My brother Brent sent me this link. I had a whole old fogey thing in mind about why music today sucks, but I don't really believe that. It doesn't suck but it sure as hell doesn't get any better than this.

Happy "Get Drunk And Celebrate A Little Battle" Day

Otherwise known as Cinco de Mayo.

Geo-Tagging

I've just discovered the joy of geo-tagging on Flickr.com. It's a pretty cool feature that let's you place your photos on a Yahoo map. I've spent the last few Saturdays putting some 400 photos on maps. It's a pretty neat thing for a couple of different reasons. First, I'm a map and satellite nerd. I've mentioned before that I love to read maps but I really love to look at satellite photos. The pictures from our trip to Moab and Colorado National Monument look fantastic from above. I spent a lot of time getting the photos as close to the spot they were taken as possible. In one case I could see the parking lot I took the photo in right down to the concrete stops. I don't know why but I love that shit. How cool would it be if I had actually been sitting in the parking lot when the plane or satellite or whatever it is flew over.

It gave me a new reason to look at the old photos. I like to go back and look at old pictures all the time anyway but this helped give it a fresh spin. In a lot of cases I would drag the map along a road to find the specific spot. It was almost like taking the trip all over again, like in the case of our trip to Canyonlands. I really like the Camp Hale, Colorado photos. It's like the anatomy of a worksite.

You can also browse a map for other people's photos taken in the same spot. I saw some pictures taken in Vieques with a few people I recognized in them. I also saw a fellow Flickrite from Zanesville, It looks like there's only one though.

If you have a chance check out my photos and if you're on Flickr get busy geo-tagging.

A Little Music Break

I've been slipping into my smarmy mode with the last few posts. So I thought I would share this video. It seems as though some guys are taking a break from ethnic cleansing or something to play the squeeze box while a Jewel look-a-like dances on the Enterprise's transporter. Look for a special guest appearance at the end.