I'm talking here

What American accent do you have?
Created by Xavier on Memegen.net

Northern. Whether you have the world famous Inland North accent of the Great Lakes area, or the radio-friendly sound of upstate NY and western New England, your accent is what used to set the standard for American English pronunciation (not much anymore now that the Inland North sounds like it does).

Take this quiz now - it's easy!

We're going to start with "cot" and "caught." When you say those words do they sound the same or different?

Same, no wait I mean different, maybe, a little bit different... Different Same

Time has flown...

Was putzing around on amazon. Just noticed that my first purchase was in December of 1997. I sent a gift-wrapped hardcover copy of 'Chicken Soup for the Soul' to the woman who is now my wife.

If I remember correctly, it wasn't the normal book, but a tiny coffee-house version of it. Oops.

Well, the relationship between amazon and I has gotten better since.

Me-ology

TECHNOLOGY

Q. Number of contacts in your cell phone?
A. 70

Q. Number of contacts in your email address book?
A. Not going to count them. Tons.

Q. What is your wallpaper on your computer?
A. A picture of the Orion Crew Vehicle from here.

Q. How many televisions are in your house?
A. 3

BIOLOGY

Q. Are you right-handed or left-handed?
A. Right

Q. Do you like your smile?
A. No. My showing teeth smile is TERRIBLE. Just terrible.

Q. What's your best feature?
A. Height. Not too tall or too short.

Q. Have you ever had anything removed from your body?
A. No.

Q. Which of your five senses do you think is keenest?
A. I think my hearing is pretty good, when I'm awake.

Q. When was the last time you had a cavity?
A. Never.

Q. What is the heaviest item you lifted last?
A. Probably our TV, which weighs 200lbs.

Q. Have you ever been knocked unconscious?
A. No.

MOUTHOLOGY

Q. What is your salad dressing of choice?
A. Ranch.

Q. What is your favorite fast food restaurant?
A. McDonald's.

Q. What is your favorite sit-down restaurant?
A. Olive Garden, probably.

Q. On average, what size tip do you leave at a restaurant?
A. start at 15% and scale accordingly...which almost always makes it 20%.

Q. What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick off of?
A. Tacos.

Q. What are your pizza toppings of choice?
A. Pepperoni, or bacon.

Q. What do you like to put on your toast?
A. Butter

Q. What is your favorite type of gum?
A. Hubba Bubba or Bubba-licious. (do they still have those?)

PERSONOLOGY

Q. If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die?
A. Probably not.

Q. Is love for real?
A. Yes.

Q. If you could change your first name, what would you change it to?
A. I would rather change my middle name to John.

Q. What color do you think looks best on you?
A. Blue or Green.

Q. Have you ever swallowed a non-food item by mistake?
A. Yes, a contact.

Q. Have you ever saved someone's life?
A. Not as far as I know. I did find somebody's dog running loose yesterday and I suppose it could have gotten away forever if I hadn't done anything.

Q. Has someone ever saved yours?
A. No, but I have almost been killed.

DAREOLOGY

Q. Would you walk naked for a half mile down a public street for $100,000?
A. No.

Q. Would you kiss a member of the same sex for $100?
A. No.

Q. Would you allow one of your little fingers to be cut off for $200,000?
A. No.

Q. Would you never blog again for $50,000?
A. Sure. (I forget to all the time for free)

Q. Would you pose naked in a magazine for $250,000?
A. No.

Q. Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000?
A. Yes.

Q. Would you, without fear of punishment, take a human life for $1,000,000?
A. No.

Q. Would you give up watching television for a year for $25,000?
A. No. Think of what I would miss?

DUMBOLOGY

Q: What is in your left pocket?
A: Money clip holding $81.

Q: Is Napoleon Dynamite actually a good movie?
A: No, it's actually a horrible movie.

Q: Do you have hardwood or carpet in your house?
A: Both, and I hate the wood. HATE IT!

Q: Do you sit or stand in the shower?
A: Stand. Not sure why I would sit.

Q: Could you live with roommates?
A: Yes. I lived with my (now) BIL while in college, and that was fine.

Q: How many pairs of flip flops do you own?
A: Two, but they're more like rubber sandals.

Q: Where were you born?
A. Lutheran General.

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A: Various things at various times. Fireman, Policeman...

Q: Who is number 1 on your top 8?
A: No clue what that means.

ULTIMOLOGY

Q: Last friend you talked to?
A: In person, Aimee. (not work people)

Q: Last time you had a run-in with the cops?
A: I got a ticket Feb 26/27, 2006.

Q: Last person you called?
A: Court

Q: Last person you hugged?
A: Court

Q: Last movie you saw?
A: Talladega Nights, which is really a travesty so I should watch something else soon.

FAVORITOLOGY

Q: Number?
A: 847/957 (numbers I use whenever I'm exaggerating something)

Q: Color?
A: Blue.

Q: Season?
A: Winter

CURRENTOLOGY

Q: Missing someone?
A: My sunglasses are somewhere in Cathedral City, California. (I've gotten a replacement pair though)

Q: Mood?
A: Tired

Q: Listening to?
A: Other people walking

Q: Watching?
A: Nothing

Q: Worrying about?
A: Nothing in particular.

RANDOMOLOGY

Q: First place you went this morning?
A: downstairs to let Hooper out.

Q: What can you not wait to do?
A: Watch Lost tonight

Q: Do you smile often?
A: smirk, maybe.

Q: Are you a friendly person?
A: yeah, but sometimes I'm faking.

Q: Now that the survey's done what are you going to do?
A: work

The cat is under the house...

Long-time readers may remember the first name of this blog. This post title is an homage...

The weekend before this last, I installed some in-ceiling speakers in our house. This mean not only drilling two holes in the ceiling, but drilling a hole from the crawlspace close downstairs to the bottom of the attic upstairs. Doing it this way went you wouldn't see the wires at all...unless you were in the crawlspace. Long story short, with the help of my wife it worked out nicely. (and I didn't even have to go into the attic)

While I was in the crawlspace guiding the speaker wire, our cat got into the crawlspace. I would normally be content to leave him there (forever), but I didn't want him to go to the bathroom down there and both A - make it smell bad down there, and B - have me stumble into it accidentally 6 months from now.

He's all about exploring new spaces, so of course he went into every nook and cranny of the damn thing. The tons of tubs down there made it a whole bunch of fun getting him out. I eventually chased him out and exhibited a TON of restraint by not beating him to death.

Rich (optimistic)

Bleed Cubbie Blue :: A Chicago Cubs Fan Community, Founded February 9, 2005: "# Bud Selig dropped by the WGN radio booth and hinted that something might be done about Ron Santo's Hall of Fame status. Yes, voting has already occurred -- but the Hall, being a private institution, can modify its rules at any time. If the Board of Directors of the Hall wants to disband the Veterans Committee and induct Ron Santo this year, they are free to do so."

It's Happy Time

Happy Birthday to my sister, who is 25 today.

Have a great one!

This post brought to you by the letters A, C, and the number 5.

A

...for the Hostess Apple Pie I ate today. Since they've put them in the vending machines here about 6 months ago, I think I've had 6, which would match the amount I'd eaten from 1995-2005 probably.

C

...is for my car, which I got washed the other day and looks clean for the first time in months. It's also for cellphones, which I observed 4 drivers in a row talking on while I was driving home the other day.

5

...is the number of times my daughter has slept through the night, including back to back nights Monday and Tuesday. Woo hoo!

snow-fair

After buying the snowblower the day before BlizzardDay 2006 in December, I've used it about a half a dozen times. 3 times in 3 days a week or so ago, actually. Let me tell you, it's really fun trying to snowblow your driveway when the wind is creating a mini-tornado between your house, your neighbor's house, and your garage. I think the snow blasted me right in the face 4-5 times. See, a smarter person would have STOPPED at that point. But there you go.

Of course, yesterday it got around 45F so the snow began melting...and melt it did. There's some left but the roof is totally bare and I actually got my car washed last night...the first time it had been washed in months. Look for a rainstorm to follow.

All about me...

1. How old will you be in five years?
34

2. What month is your birthday?
November

3. How tall are you?
5'11"

4. What do you look forward to most in the next six weeks?
my daughter being another month older and doing something amazing.

5. Whats the last movie you saw ?
Borat

6. Who is the last person you called?
Court

7. Who was the last person to call you?
Van

8. What was the last text message you received?
Shell, telling me she deleted her LJ.

9. Do you prefer call or text?
text, text, a thousand times text

10. Do you have any pets?
Two: cat and dog

11. What were you doing at 2am last night?
Making a bottle, letting dog out, and seeing that it snowed

12. Are your parents married/separated/divorced?
Divorced

13. When is the last time you saw your mom?
Last Monday I think

14. What color are your eyes?
Brown

15. What time did you wake up today?
7am

16. What are you wearing right now?
jeans, maroon sweater/sweatshirt, brown shoes

17. What's your favorite Christmas song?
Not sure

18. Where is your favorite place to be?
Home

19. Where is your least favorite place to be?
traveling for work

20. Where would you go if you could go anywhere?
drive around on vacation with family

21. Where do you think you'll be in 10 yrs?
Probably in the same house, maybe promoted in my current job

22. Do you tan or burn?
tan, sometimes, burn, sometimes

23. As a child, what did you fear was going to get you at night?
was never really afraid of anything like that.

24. What was the last thing that made you laugh?
for crying laughing, the story my BIL told me about his Dad doing something funny while in Poland.

25. How many TVs do you have in your house?
2, and 1 we don't even really watch.

26. Who do you miss most?
I wish I had known my Grandpa Rich. I also miss my friends from college.

27. Do you have a laptop or desktop PC??
Both

28. Do you sleep with or without clothing??
With, yikes, what if there's a fire?

29. What color are your sheets?
No clue, today.

30. How many pillows do you sleep with?
Two. head on one, clutching one.

31. What is your favorite season?
Winter

32. What do you like about fall?
It starts being cold and breezy, and I like that.

34. What do you like about the summer?
Baseball games.

36. How many states have you lived in?
Two - IL and FL

37. How many cities/towns have you lived in?
7 (time to not move for a while)

38. Do you prefer shoes, socks, or bare feet?
shoes

39. Are you a social person?
yes, but in single-serving increments. (Fight Club)

40. What was the last thing you ate?
Hot chocolate

41. What is your favorite restaurant?
Probably Canada at Epcot or Olive Garden

42. Favorite ice cream?
Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby.

43. What is your favorite dessert?
See #42.

44. What is your favorite kind of soup?
Hot, plain, tomato soup

45. What kind of jelly do you like on your PB and J??
Don't like jelly.

46. Do you like Chinese food?
No.

47. Do you like coffee?
No.

48. How many glasses of water, a day, do you drink on average?
3-4.

49. What do you drink in the morning?
Slim-fast.

50. Would you rather sleep with someone else or alone?
sleeping is sleeping.

51. Do you sleep on a certain side of the bed?
Usually, but somebody tries to steal my spot.

52. Do you know how to play poker?
For fun, yes. With any skill, no.

53. Do you like to cuddle?
No.

54. Have you ever been to Canada?
Yes.

55. Do you have an addictive personality?
Yes.

56. Do you eat out or at home more often?
Nowadays, at home.

58. Do you know anyone with the same birthday as you?
In my life, no. Bobby Kennedy had my same BD though.

59. Do you want kids?
Have one. :)

60. Do you know any other languages?
No.

61. Have you ever gotten stitches?
No, but I probably should have while I was in college. I cut my arm deeply and it still hurts sometimes when I move in a certain way.

62. Have you ever ridden in an ambulance?
Ridden, no, but I sat in one after a bicycle accident 10+ years ago.

63. Do you prefer an ocean or a pool?
Neither, don't like communal water. (Monk, hello)

64. Do you prefer a window seat or an aisle seats?
Window, so I can fall asleep against the plane wall.

65. Do you know how to drive stick?
No.

66. What is your favorite thing to spend money on?
computer stuff, TV/video stuff...

67. Do you wear any jewelry 24/7?
Just my wedding ring.

68. What is your favorite TV show?
Smallville

69. Can you roll your tongue?
No.

71. Do you sleep with stuffed animals?
No.

72. What is the main ring tone on your phone?
RHCP - Hey Oh

73. Do you still have clothes from when you were little?
Somewhere

75. Do you turn off the water while you brush your teeth?
Yes.

76. Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed?
Closed, I think.

77. Would you rather be attacked by a big bear or a swarm of bees?
bees, I could probably outrun them.

78. Do you flirt a lot?
Not particularly

79. What do you dip a chicken nugget in?
ranch

80. What is your favorite food?
Italian.

81. Can you change the oil on a car?
pssht, no.

82. Have you ever gotten a speeding ticket?
heh, yes.

83. Have you ever run out of gas?
yes, once I did in my big blue car.

84. What is your usual bedtime?
before baby, anywhere between 12am-2am. Now, 11pm-12am.

86. Do you read the newspaper?
online, yes.

87. Do you have any magazine subscriptions?
Consumer Reports.

88. Best comedian?
None in particular. I think Seinfeld is funny.

89. Do you watch soap operas?
no.

90. Do you dance in the car?
I don't dance in the anything.

Ok, this made me laugh out loud

ESPN.com: Page 2: "Anyway, Mary J. Blige wins for 'The Breakthrough' and thanks Jesus Christ AND God. Let's hope they're watching together."

batting .333

Of the three things I wanted to accomplish during lunch, I only was able to get one of them done successfully. You'll not notice eating among any of that, unfortunately.

• pick up CableCards from Comcast - local office does not issue CableCards, even though they said they did when I called the other day. This does not bode well. Installer coming next Friday morning.


• get 802.11g bridge working to Tivo for internet connectivity - not working from some reason. If I had more time to work at it I'm sure I could have figured it out. Tivo-branded wireless adapter is coming today via amazon but I'd rather get it working using stuff I already have so I can return the adapter.


• get new Tivo remote working for both Tivo's...but not at the same time! - The new Tivo remote has a switch to go between 2 DVR's. Now, '1' is the DirecTivo and '2' is the Series3. This way, we don't have to cover the IR detector of one while using the other...since one Tivo remote will work for all Tivo's by default. This I actually figured out and saved me from going oh-fer for the day.

HD-We

In what is an early 30th birthday present for me, the Series3 HD Tivo arrived yesterday. It's great. Setup was a breeze. I had ordered a DVI--->HDMI cable from amazon since the Sony 32" has a DVI input and the Tivo is HDMI-out. Cable worked fine. HDMI carries both audio and video but since the Denon receiver I have doesn't have HDMI (see my future receiver here...) I just used an optical cable to handle the audio.

When a local radio shack closed I picked up an antenna for over the air HD broadcasts. I hooked it up to the Series3 and picked up HD signals. Stunning. They look great on the Sony. The weird thing is, I can't pick up WBBM (CBS) but I guess that is normal since they kinda got shafted by the FCC and got something of a crummy channel. What's funny is that for broadcast television CBS has always come in crummy in the Chicago area. ABC, FOX, NBC, WTTW, and a bunch of other stations come in flawlessly though...and it's free over-the-air TV. Fantastic!

Today I'm going to go to the comcast office to pick up 2 CableCards, which are credit card-sized devices which allow you to receive digital cable without a cablebox. These will be put into the Series3 to allow us to pick up HD Cable channels and other digital channels such as Sci-Fi and others. There have been some issues with other people getting the Cards and getting them to work, but we'll see what happens.

Arriving today (I believe) are the in-ceiling speakers I ordered. These will serve as our surround speakers. In FL, we had Sony bookshelf speakers on speaker stands that were on either side of our couch. In our new home this wouldn't really work out, so I decided to go the ceiling route. It will take some work (and crawling around in both the crawlspace and the attic) but when it's done it will look sharp and work great.

And like I said, the Sony looks great, but I can't help feeling that this on this is on the horizon eventually...

Eating with Elvis...

No, this post is not to focus on the baby-weight that I still haven't lost. It's about bagels. Specifically, peanut butter and banana crunch bagels from Panera Bread.

See, my wife had to go for physical therapy a few times on Saturday mornings. On her way home, she'd pick up bagels for breakfast. The first few times I got a plain, but once she told me they had peanut butter and banana bagels, I had to have one.

I've always been a fan of peanut butter and banana sandwiches...despite some people thinking they are gross. I love them. They're fantastic. The two tastes go together so well. I understand Elvis used to like them too...though he fried them and I would never do that.

Anyways, I had my first one this past Saturday. It was so great I went out Sunday morning and got another even though it was snowing and colder than hell, and I hadn't even showered yet.

I'd like to think they are around for good, but that's doubtful. I'm sure they'll disappear...even though Panera still carries the Smokehouse turkey sandwich (one of the few restaurant sandwiches I can order 'as is' and not have anything removed) and I always thought that'd be gone too.

Well, if it does go, I guess I can just order some kind of banana bagel and just put peanut butter on it.

The State of this Union...

State of the Union: Your reaction to president's speech - CNN.com: "Carmeletta Hepburn of Lakeview, Arkansas
Bush sounds good, but almost everyone knows that it is just a bunch of hype. He did not say 'I resign,' which is all I wanted to hear from him."

Sorry, but that's funny as hell.

Might be worth a read...

ESPN.com - NFL/PLAYOFFS06 - Smith: Judge Smith, Dungy by character, not color: "It's character, not color, that separates Smith, Dungy"

I thought this was a good article that made some interesting points. Enjoy!

A nice alternative to BS...

Shows - Veronica Mars

If you don't particularly want to listen to the President blather on tonight, I'd suggest you watch Veronica Mars instead. Of the networks, it's the only show on opposite the State of the Union. (and isn't watching that just too depressing these days?)

So that's what that is...

ESPN.com: Page 2 : The skinny on new NHL uniforms: "Lots of readers have been inquiring about that little nub that appeared on Lovie Smith's jacket the past two Sundays. The short answer is that it's a pump; "

I had seen him wearing that jacket a few weeks ago and I liked it. I've been wondering what that valve thing was on it though...

Pardon the Prognostication...

Today's topics for PTI...

• Peyton Manning getting to the Super Bowl
  
• Bears getting to the Super Bowl
  
• Parcells retiring
  
• Mike Vick - no marijuana found in his bottle
  

In that order. Print it!

Hell Frozen Over - I agree with Mariotti

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Jay Mariotti :: Ditka doesn't matter -- it's all about Rex: "Who really cares if Ditka, paid by ESPN to maintain a neutral outlook, isn't confessing whether he's rooting for the Bears or the last team he coached, the New Orleans Saints? "

I'm not to sure why everyone is caring what Ditka thinks. Sure, he coached the 85 Bears to a Super Bowl victory, but he's gone on and done other things.

Much like I do with Captain Kirk and William Shatner, I try to separate the character of "Da Coach" of yore from the way the guy acts today.

Storm leaves 55 dead, thousands shivering - CNN.com

It was colder than hell this morning.

Thank God I bought those wrap-around ear covers last summer.