Business Week decides to kick a man when he's down with this article about Paul Pressler and what he did and didn't do to single-handedly bring Gap to its knees. There were several moments where I laughed out loud at the ludicrousness of some of the scenarios. Hope you enjoy.
Lose: Yesterday I woke up around 7:35-ish in the morning go through my morning routine, forgetting that I wanted to hitch a ride to Target from my Mom. She had already left, but it wasn't a big deal, I wanted to listen to a CD I hadn't heard but just recently rediscovered, so the walk was fine.
I arrive at Target with intention of picking up Crackdown for the Xbox 360 to play the Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta this spring. I walk down the long aisle to the electronics department to see if the game is on the shelves. It isn't, I hunt down the electronics guy who is working, and he tells me that the side stock workers haven't gone through the boxes and so it won't be out until about 12pm. I certainly am not going to hang around Target for four hours for a game I'm not sure I really want.
Win: After hearing the news I walk down an aisle that I don't normally go down to leave the store, but it looked like the staff was having some merchandising meeting that I didn't want to walk through. I look to my left and there is one of those old PC game two-packs. One of those games, Sanitarium, was one I've been wanting for nearly 10 years. Get this; the two-pack is only $2.48!
Lose: I get home, and glance at the system requirements wondering if it will work with Windows XP. It does, I install the game and go to play it; after the first level loads the game freezes and shuts down. It does this a couple more times as I try to launch the game.
Win: Today, I ran over to Target and they had Crackdown.
Lose: After buying it, I look at the case and it's broken.
Win: Mom and I went to Best Buy because I wanted to pick up a couple of DVD's that I meant to get on Sunday.
Lose: They only had V is for Vendetta in stock. I also wanted Heat, but I had to settle for Poseidon.
Win: The also had Crackdown, so I considered picking it up and almost did. Instead, I decided not to get the game and save myself $60. Who knows, I might change my mind later.
Let me throw this question out into the ether. Is there a better show on television than The Amazing Race? Now, let me answer it for you. No. The Amazing Race is not only an amazing race, but it also happens to be an amazing program, an amazing reality program. In terms of drama, action and intrigue, there is no other show on television that offers an ample supply of each.
With that said, tonight began the series premier of the 11th season. This time, some of the best teams from past seasons have returned to make up the first all-star edition of this Emmy awarding winning program. After watching it tonight, I'm starving for another episode.
Back in January I ran through the teams racing this season, so I won't go into depth about each team. Nevertheless, I think it's imperative that I make a list of them in order of most favorite to least favorite.
01. Rob & Amber
02. Dustin & Kandace
03. Eric & Danielle
04. Oswald & Danny
05. Uchenna & Joyce
06. Kevin & Drew
07. Charla & Mirna
08. David & Mary
09. Teri & Ian
10. Joe & Bill
11. Jon Vito & Jill
While thinking about this list, I placed Charla & Mirna higher than I would have thought. If I just didn't hate the way David & Mary raced last season, and how poorly their racing this season, they probably would be a little higher. Kevin & Drew seemed to lose their sense of humor, and they are just a drag to watch. The last three couldn't be less interesting. I will say that Joe & Bill were great to watch in the first season, however since then, many teams made better villains.
The top three, Rob & Amber are the king and queen of The Amazing Race. Never was there a team that raced better and had amazing luck on their side. Dustin & Kandace ran an excellent race last season and I favored them to be in the final three. Unfortunately for them and me, they were unable to do so, ultimately making the final episode a little less exciting.
In this first episode, Rob & Amber came in first place and Jon Vito & Jill were eliminated for being the last team to make the same mistake as a few other teams. This worked out beautifully for me because they never made "great TV" so their elimination will better concentrate the drama.
I am optimistic that this season will be the best season yet.
In reaction to my post last night, I decided today would be one of cleaning. Well, maybe not all day, I mean, I have other things I need to accomplish. Nevertheless, I washed my sheets, cleared off a few surfaces, and filed my pay stubs. It may not sound like a lot, but the difference is noticeable.
Tomorrow I'm continuing the project and finish cleaning the odds and ends. Really, how many tubes of ChapStick does one person need? I don't know about you, but I need quite a few. One thing that I really want to do is laundry. I just did some laundry a couple of days ago, but there are some jeans and t-shirts that could use a second wash because of the junk once covering them.
Well, it's the last song on the new Gwen Stefani CD signaling my final moments on the computer. Time to do a quick spell check and post. I'll talk to you all tomorrow.
I'm sick of everything. I'm drowning in the vast quantities of stuff I've accumulated over the years. I feel like I need to purge myself of all my excess, like DVD's and video games. One of these days I would like to go through my entire collection of belongings and make a list of things I'd like to keep and things I'd like to sell.
I would first go through my DVD's. I have an enormous collection of DVD's and a lot of them I haven't even opened, much less seen. It would be difficult, because I like watching movies so much, that to give any up is heartbreaking. My ideal collection would consist of no more than 100 of my favorite movies and television shows (an entire series would count as one).
Video games are next. This would be a little easier because the NES would be the first to go. I never play it and all my 152 games are just sitting in my closet collecting dust. However, after the NES things would get a bit hairy because we move into hallowed territory with the SNES, considered by many the greatest gaming console of all time. I have most of the classics like Final Fantasy III (FFVI), Chrono Trigger, The Legend of Zelda a Link to the Past, and various others. I hope that many of these would be offered as downloads on Nintendo's Virtual Console, although I would hate to have to re-buy them all.
In my head, I look at my room and it is sparse. The only furniture is one desk with a computer, a bed, a dresser a book shelf and a phat 46-52" plasma/LCD TV adorning my wall hooked up to an awesome 7.1 surround sound system. That isn't too much to ask. Right?
Anna Nicole Smith died! I couldn't believe it when I was told Thursday at work by a manger that has a habit of making jokes. Not necessarily jokes about death, but you get my meaning. It came as a total shock that she was dead after losing her son and giving birth to her daughter just five months prior.
Even more shocking and telling, just hours before her death, Rosie O'Donnell decided to rant about Anna Nicole Smith on The View saying,
"If I have to see Anna Nicole Smith one more time on television, one more time, that woman and her paternity tests and she can hardly even speak now. She can't even speak. It's a tragedy all around. Her son died. She has this little baby. There's obviously some kind of medication or substance involved."
Rosie O'Donnell has a keen sense of tragedy that she can anticipate when it would least benefit her career to go off on a tangent. Honestly, whom can she possibly defame and kill next?
Above that, the question of who is the father of her five-month-old daughter, Dannielynn. Is it Howard K. Stern, Larry Birkhead or Prince Frederick von Anhalt (aka Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband)? Whoever it may be, that is going to be one rich daddy.
There are tons of questions that still need answering. I can't wait to see how this modern-day Marilyn Monroe mystery unfolds.
There was a movie that I've wanted to see for a while now, but I never thought there would be an opportunity for me to watch it. The movie is called Just My Luck starring the ever popular and doped up queen of bulimia, Lindsay Lohan. Lindsay plays Ashley, the luckiest woman on the planet, that is until she meets the unluckiest man, Jake. They kiss on the dance floor and swap more than just spit; they swap luck. Now Jake who was unsuccessfully trying to get a record producer to listen to the band he represents, immediately makes them superstars. All the while Ashley finds herself living with her friends and eating scraps off other people’s plates.
My friend Kim was taking the movie home and I commented that I wanted to see it. She asked if I wanted to borrow it and I of course said yes. The movie was charming and I enjoyed it, however it was extremely formulaic. Formulaic in the sense that it borrows aspects from a thousand different formulaic movies. It had a little, Freaky Friday, Spiceworld and then your generic romantic comedy.
My relationship with Lindsay Lohan is interesting. It wasn't until I saw her host the 2004 MTV Movie Awards that I began liking her. I continued to enjoy Lindsay in Mean Girls, after which her stock plummeted when she became a causality of her own fame. The drugs, the drama, the bulimia. The whole episode of her life was just too much for me to care about that I and everyone else immediately made her a punch line. Yet, even though she is trying to get her life back together, I still don't think she is going to live down her shenanigans.
A customer came to my register today and told me she was moving to the Virgin Islands to be a yoga instructor and wedding planner. She also said bold women make bold decisions. I think it is obvious that this was one bold woman. It inspired me; I wanna be a bold woman too! Not really, but I would love to make as bold decisions, to leave everything I know and move to some exotic location to start a new life.
I think I would rather leave everything I know and visit an exotic location for a week or two, then return home. I can't imagine anyone wanting to live in the Virgin Islands. It's hot there and there are hordes of fat, sweaty tourists half clothed and always ready for a party. It doesn't sound like fun at all.
Thinking about it, I can't say for sure where I would like to live if I had the chance to leave Oregon. I love Oregon, the climate's great most of the year and everything I'm interested in is just a stone throw away. If I had the chance though, I would like a try at living in England, Japan, Switzerland and Alaska. That is of course assuming that I would have Internet access and FedEx and UPS were able to deliver. The only thing that's keeping me from doing that is television programming.
I spent the bulk of the day cleaning. In the next few days, another manager or group of managers from other stores will judge our store on its cleanliness. This is always a tough time for the team because we clean and clean and clean; yet it almost never makes a difference, because we can only be as clean as our customers and the age of the store allow us.
So, as I said in the beginning I spent most of my time cleaning. The first thing I do in the morning is clean the bathrooms. I think I've mentioned that this is usually my favorite time at work, because it allows me to have a few quiet moments before associates and managers start laying down demands. I make that sound worse than it is. After I clean the bathrooms, it is nearly time to open and my second task is to wipe down all the carts.
This is not a task I do daily, come to think of it; I don't think I've ever actually done it before. I know I've attempted to dry carts for customers, but I never cleaned them. So I take out the Sani-Spritz Spray II, spritz the carts and start wiping them down. Not the most glamorous of jobs, but it did keep me busy. One of the tools I like to use when cleaning are latex gloves. This was the crux of the experience, because every time a customer was ready to pay, I had to take off the gloves and ring the customer through. After helping the customers, I put on a fresh new pair of gloves. I got both tired and good at putting on latex gloves. Sadly, it's always been a slight dream to be able to put on gloves as seamlessly as they do in medical drams like ER, and even The X-Files as I have seen Scully do a thousand times before.
After I returned from break, I was instructed to do my favorite task of all time, paint. That's right ladies and gentlemen, the painting wasn't done yet. This time I had to paint the doors. Immediately I began to panic like last time. I don't think I did a good job last time, and this time I let my general manager know it. She didn't seem to mind, but I could see my blatant lack of experience shine through. Those poor doors went through a lot.
I had three doors to paint. The first door took the longest because it was absolutely filthy. The second door was easier and more interesting. Let me tell you about the second door. There was tape all over it; some of the tape was fresh while other pieces were painted over. I used a scraper to take off most of the tape. Afterwards, I grabbed a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to try to get the goop that was left behind. The thing about the Magic Eraser is it will take paint off walls, but what happened next was a complete surprise.
I washed the door with the magic eraser and got most of the sticky goop off. I realized I still had some pieces of tape on the door, so I grabbed the scraper and went to scrape of the tape. I put the scraper to the door and pushed up and down came a long strip of paint. I kept scraping up and more of the paint came off the door. Soon I had most of the paint on the floor in these long strips. It was the most satisfying moment of the day.
All the while two managers were trying to scrape off this horrible green paint off the third door with little success. I won't go into the details, but suffice to say, it was like watching Laurel and Hardy scrape paint. After I finished the second door, I moved onto the last one. This one needed the most work of all and I just didn't have the time to fix it. One of the managers said he would work on sanding down the divots so I could get it painted tomorrow.
I am sick and tired of working on websites. I knew the work I was doing with Dreamweaver 8 wasn't going to amount to much. I knew that it wasn't going to be compatible with Blogger. I knew all that, but there was a small part of me that believed it would. I hoped that all the hours I invested in this blasted program was going to produce something great.
It's very likely that I don't have a clue what I'm doing with the program. I'm not taking advantage of any of the intermediate or advanced features, mostly because I don't know how. What I am doing, creating style sheets, linking them to my HTML document and formatting my CSS in the HTML page takes some knowledge. However, Dreamweaver is not doing all the heavy lifting, I still am. I'm still hand coding the vast majority of what I'm doing and that doesn't seem right.
This is the problem with WYSIWYG's, what I see in Dreamweaver, is not what I'm seeing in the browser. My XHTML validates, my CSS validates, and I have cross-platform compatibility, yet there is one tag that affects the page in Dreamweaver, but doesn't affect it when I preview the page in a browser.
Later this afternoon, when I realized my design wasn't going to work in Blogger, I looked into WordPress. Many of the better-designed blogs out there use it and so I thought, if it works with them, I can see it, in the end, working for mine. The first thing I needed to do was create the template for my blog. I began reading about how to do that. I continued reading, and read some more, then more. While I loosely understand the concept, there is little out there to solidify my knowledge. Then I got lost when I realized I needed to use PHP.
I tried to learn PHP last year by buying one of those horrible 900-page Behemoth XLs (read: books) that ultimately teach you how to create the Internet. It was an attempt to make my website dynamic and I got lost at page 27. I'm sure I understood the underlying concepts and even the syntax but it was putting it all together that twists my brain into a knot.
What doesn't help is that I never start small. I always figure that if I'm going to do it, I want to go for the gold. So, I have the very complicated design that I need to shoehorn into WordPress using templates and PHP and CSS and XHTML and all other acronyms that I only have a rudimentary understanding.
For the next couple of weeks, I'm going to try and study and work on getting a firm grasp on everything I need to learn. If your thinking about me taking a college course in this, stop. They don't offer one. They offer one about Dreamweaver, and I may in the future begin taking that, but that's not what I want. I want to know how to do it the hard way before I start doing something the "easy" way.
Yesterday I remembered there were programs out there called WYSIWYG's (What You See Is What You Get) to help with the creation of websites. I used to use on called FrontPage several years ago and it allowed me to do some amazing things. Now, with the advent and widespread usage of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) I decided to look back into these to free up some of the work.
Last evening I downloaded a free trial of Dreamweaver 8 from Adobe's website. This seemed to have all the tools I wanted to make creating a valid website with ease. I installed it and began working with it that evening. While it does a good job of keeping me organized, you still need to know the basics of CSS, its structure, and how to place your tags within your HTML document.
The program was difficult to use at first, because facing a blank screen, much like a blank canvas represents a daunting task ahead. I didn't know what to do or where to start. I took a layout I worked on a couple of months ago down from my bulletin board and began piecing together the code. The site is coming together nicely, the only thing holding me up are the graphics and what I'm going to do with all this space.
Here's a quick tip, make sure you have a plan for the space you create. I have a lot of room that I don't know what I'm going to do with. Several things are running through my head, but I'm unsure how to implement them. I just have to think everything is going to work out in the end as it normally does.
I don't follow baseball that much, but since it is the Super Bowl, I thought I would get into the spirit of the event. While at my computer I had the game on in the background and occasionally watched grown men run up and down a court chasing a ball to make a goal. I find it amusing that this is what people wait all year to do. They buy gigantic televisions to watch this. Why? What is it about sports that require this much devotion and expense?
All right, I'm just kidding about my ignorance about sports. I'm well aware that the Super Bowl is the football game of the season. I know it pitted the AFC's Indianapolis Colts against the NFC's Chicago Bears and I even know the score. I still don't know why this is such a big deal. I look back at the days when I followed basketball like a second religion, and yet I don't know what got into me when the Finals came around. It was just another game.
Even though the Finals were big, what I remember enjoying the most was the All-Star game and I wonder if the same is for those who enjoy football. Coming up is the Pro Bowl and I think that would be a much more entertaining game to watch. While the competition isn't as intense as each team plays soft, I always thought seeing the best players in a league compete together far more interesting.
For any of these games, would I buy a $3000+ television to watch it in all its HD glory? I suppose. I know that if I had the money and the technology was more readily available back then, I would have plunked down some serious cash to watch the NBA Finals in high def. Looking at it now, it's stupid, but that's just my opinion.
We just finished watching Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby starring the incomparable Will Ferrell. Yes, it was funny, but not nearly as funny as I expected. I think as a whole, I was disappointed I didn't laugh until I cried. Something I tend to do.
First, let me talk about Will Ferrell. Will Ferrell has a spotty history of funniness with me. On Saturday Night Live, he was probably the funniest cast member of all time and then in 2002 he left to do films. To be frank, even while he was on SNL, his shenanigans on SNL movies were poor. Have you seen A Night at the Roxbury and Superstar? After leaving SNL in 2002, he started strong in Old School and Elf, two of the funniest movies I had ever seen. That's when things began going downhill.
Daily I come across people who think Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy is hysterical. I didn't, I barely laughed throughout the entire movie, and maybe I just didn't get the joke. At that moment, my faith in Will Ferrell as a comedic actor waned. Would he ever be funny to me again? Where did his magic go?
My hopes were set high when I bought Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby when I saw the many previews. I laughed hysterically when he named his children Walker and Texas Ranger. I laughed when he begged Tom Cruise to do his magic. I even laughed when his father made him drive with a cougar in the car. By the time I actually saw the movie, the jokes weren't funny anymore. To my surprise, those were the funniest moments in the movie, and they used all of them in the previews. This is not new for movies, they have to use their best material to attract viewers, but at least leave something to surprise us.
We began watching the movie and then paused it 38 minutes in. Mom and I both silently thought to ourselves that it was the longest 38 minutes of our lives. I thought that if the first 38 minutes of the movie was this slow, I couldn't imagine what the last 90 minutes would feel like. I almost dreaded it. To my surprise, the movie got better, and Ricky Bobby miraculously got smarter.
For someone I thought was as dumb as a box of rocks, his reasoning and common sense were sharp. There were some conversations he had with his friend Carl that had me wondering if this was the same character. Then in the next scene, he would be this bumbling idiot; I just didn't really know what to think. It frustrated me that they didn't stay true to the character throughout the movie.
This is where it gets sad. The moment I laughed hardest wasn't in the movie at all, but in the gag reel. It wasn't the gag that was funny but the line, "pale and paralyzed" that had me laughing so hard. Maybe if they kept that line in the movie, I would have walked away with a better feeling. Overall, it was a good movie. It definitely had its moments, and most importantly, I got the joke and was entertained. That's all I could really ask for.
I couldn't wait. I needed to do it. I needed to go to Barnes & Noble. I needed to reserve my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I needed to, and I did.
The time was 11:20am and I set out for my quest. It was a chilly mid-morning and butterflies where flapping a freaking hurricane in my stomach. Harry Potter, as my last posts faintly suggested, is my favorite series of all time, so it was imperative that I get this book. I was prepared to pay anything they asked. The whole amount? Sure, no problem!
A moment of terror struck as I was walking over. What if they hadn't set up the preorders in store like the one they had online? What was I to do then? I knew; I was going to scream bloody murder as I tipped the New & Notable table over and ran down the main aisle knocking every book off their themed displays. I wasn't going to let some corporate giant get in my way of me getting the most important book release in the last decade.
I still wasn't there, I hadn't even crossed the street yet; a battle I wasn't looking forward too. Crossing four lanes of traffic isn't easy, especially when coming upon the lunch rush. I was able to walk halfway across the street before having to pause in the turn lane for some idiot who obviously doesn't understand pedestrian laws in Oregon. I arrive at the other side of the street safely and make my way to the front door; heart beating a million beats a minute.
I step in expecting to see some grand display notifying all the patrons they were ready to begin taking preorders for the next Harry Potter book. I got nothing. There was no fanfare, nothing to indicate that Harry Potter existed. Surprised, I looked around to see if there was someone I could bully into reserving me a copy. I chose the fat kid in the corner. Luckily for him, there was a sign at his station informing the public about the Harry Potter book.
I walked up to the counter, and stated that I would like to preorder the book, he obliged and it was over in a manner of minutes while he typed in my information. I walked out thinking how easy it was. I mean I didn't even have to tip tables or knock down displays. The next challenge is taking down any kids that get in my way.
I just checked my e-mail and I received e-mail from both Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com preparing me for the event of the decade. On July 21, 2007 the release of the final installment of the Harry Potter franchise of books, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Panic has surged through my body as I am in disbelief at how quickly this day has come.
Several years ago I remember going Christmas shopping at the mall while my Mom was at some seminar for her job. I walked into the B. Dalton books and picked up the first Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone after pre-militant lesbian Rosie O'Donnell talked at length at how great the book was.
It was a kid’s book and I had grown out of those. In fact, I had grown out of those long before I was supposed to since all the books were geared towards girls. It was very difficult to find a book that a boy would enjoy reading. Finally, I sat there in the food court after all my Christmas shopping was done, and began reading.
The Boy Who Lived was the title of the first chapter and it sparked in me a reading frenzy unlike any book or series ever did. I devoured the book, and then I bought the second one. Even though I didn't think it was as good as the first, I still relentlessly took it all in. Then I added the third, Prisoner of Azkaban, currently my favorite in the series and consumed it.
When the fourth book came out, that's when trouble arose for me. The book was the longest in the series, and I just couldn't get into it. It was difficult for me to become excited about the Triwizard Tournament because it seemed like it was going on forever. I thought it would never end. I did press through and finished the book, however it took me much longer than the other three combined.
I finally reached a point when I dropped almost anything for Harry Potter. Upon the release of the fifth book, I actually took Saturday off so I could read it. I knew I had to get through it quickly as everyone and their grandmother was going to start discussing it and I wanted in on the discussion. When it arrived, I opened it up and began reading. I barely stopped and was able to get through it in the weekend. It was the largest book I ever read in such a short amount of time. I seem to remember that Charles Bronson died around that time, yet hardly anyone was talking about his death, but more about the death of Sirius Black.
I made the same arrangements upon the release of the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I took that Saturday off and when I finally got the book, I began reading and didn't stop until I finished that same weekend. It's almost necessary to read them all the through as quickly as you can because people talk and want to discuss things about the book, and if you haven't read it, than the dreaded spoiler will ruin the experience.
Even though the task is daunting, I am looking forward to reading this book all the way through. What is even better is that there are about six months before the final book's release. Therefore, I just might read all six books in the next six months to be up to date on everything Harry Potter since I haven't read a Harry Potter book since The Half-Blood Prince, nearly two years ago.
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