(not so)Slim Goodbody

Working from home today, and some PBS for kids show is on tv. It is giving me a major childhood flashback. Do you remember the guy who wears the suit with the organs and blood vessels on it? I don’t remember if I thought he was creepy when I was a kid (he for sure was), but he is much creepier now.He is still running around in that embarrassing suit, but now looking old and with a little gut.

The man should have put a clause in his contract that stipulated he could wear a sweater or something after he hit 40.

(Apparently the character is Slim Goodbody. Hopefully the ads below will help those of you looking for a Slim Goodbody Costume)

I am a scientist

A friend told me about when he was a kid, he and a friend came across another kid who was pulling a dead cat out of a ditch, they asked what he was doing and he replied in a robotic monotone, “I am a scientist!”

I am scientist too. I like to know distances, speeds, heart-rates, and temperatures (I even have a light switch with a thermometer built-in installed in my garage.)

So being horribly sick these past couple of days has been pretty great. I have gotten to check my temperature every couple of hours (102 degrees most of yesterday, dropping to closer to normal today). The other night I puked violently for 10 minutes, and imagine my luck, I threw-up into a bowl with measurements on it!

12 cups! Is that a record?

Wearable Computing

The obvious next step in technology is wearable computers. Apple just introduced a step towards that with a ski jacket with iPod controls built into the sleeve. Not bad looking at all, but apple has nothing on this guy!

Who wouldn’t want to look this cool?

Busiest Man Alive?

Today, while I was in the bathroom I hear a cell phone ring. The only other guy in the bathroom, who happened to be at the urinal at the time, answered the phone!

How busy can you be that you have to answer the phone while urinating!?

The guy wasn’t doing it as a joke either, like, “Hey, guess what! I am taking a leak while we talk! Ha!” No, this was a BUSINESS call. A business call that must have sounded awful echoey to the guy on the other end.

I need to find this guys boss and ask that they lower his work load.

See also: The Busiest Man Alive Part II

Urban Exploration

There is just something about “going places you’re not supposed to go.”

My twin brother and I once tried to infiltrate the steam tunnels under BYU. It has been done many times, but we didn’t know where they entrances were. We found one possible entrance, but for some reason–I think it was the fact that that particular tunnel was about 200 degrees– we decided not to go in.

I am currently exploring cities all over the world from the 70 degree comfort of my favorite chair in my living room via The Urban Exploration Ring “This ring contains sites focussing on the art of urban exploration: touring storm drains, abandoned buildings, rooftops, transit tunnels, college steam tunnels and other off-limits locations.”

Note to self #1

When someone says something that indicates they aren’t feeling that good about themselves, do not say, “Nice self-esteem loser!”

Che Robot

Today I realized there was a void in my life. I am 27 years old. I have a wife, a child, a house, a college degree…. but something has been missing. A nom de guerre!

I do not have a nom de guerre. More worrisome yet is that I haven’t needed one. I am obviously doing something wrong with my life. I am trying to decide what to do first, choose the name or start the revolution.

Sigue Sigue Sputnik

These satellite recordings are so cool! I am currently using one as my ring-tone, which probably drives everyone crazy.

Update A lot of people are coming here looking for the band Sigue Sigue Sputnik (but everyone spells it Zig Zig Sputnik), so I thought I would give you some info on them.

Try clicking on these links to find more links and info and maybe music on Sigue Sigue Sputnik.

Sigue Sigue Sputnik

Ex-Generation X guitarist Tony James formed futuristic glam band Sigue Sigue Sputnik (named after a Russian street gang) as a kind of latter-day Monkees with cheekbones, coloured-hair and space outfits. James poached from cyberpunk novels and films (especially Blade Runner) for the band’s image and the group were showered with publicity and record deals before they had even played a note.

In February 1986 they released their debut single Love Missile F1-11 (produced by Giorgio Moroder) which sailed on a sea of hype to Number 2 in the UK charts.

Although 21st Century Boy also made the Top 20 (and their debut album actually sold advertising space between the tracks!) James’ moneymaking ruse soon ended. Despite an avalanche of intentionally lurid press, the band dissolved and James subsequently joined the Sisters Of Mercy in 1991. Kavanagh would go on to Big Audio Dynamite, though James would make an attempt at resurrecting Sigue Sigue Sputnik later in the 90s.

Degville recorded the dreadful solo set World War Four in 1991. He reunited with James and Whitmore in the late 90s, buoyed by Sigue Sigue Sputnik’s continued popularity on the internet. The trio recorded a new album, Piratespace, and toured during 2001. http://www.nostalgiacentral.com/music/siguesigue.htm

Handy Man

We are in the house.

Most everything is still in boxes, but we are slowly getting situated. We still don’t have the phone set up, but of course we already have high-speed internet.

So far I have managed to break my toenail off on a box, cut my thumb on a bed frame, and bash my head on a cabinet leaving a cut and a bump. At this rate I am guessing that I will lose 3 fingers and my left leg before we are done fixing things.

The neighborhood seems really nice. My next door neighbor and his little boys helped me unload the truck for about half an hour, several others have introduced themselves, and one brought a plate of cookies.

The Old Man Across The Street (I have a feeling he will make more appearances on the site) introduced himself and made sure to note, “The people that lived here before sure took good care of that house”. I wish I had said, “Yeah, but look at that manicured lawn! I am against abusing plants like that. It may take a couple of years, but if I leave it alone I think it will heal.”

This pink house

Well, we bought a house. We picked up the keys last night.

Adrienne and I jokingly call it “The House that Logic Bought”. It for sure isn’t our dream house, but it would be ridiculous not be overjoyed to be buying a house at all.

We really wanted to buy a Craftsman bungalow (of which there are tons around here) but we couldn’t find one that was big enough, or in a nice enough neighborhood, or that wouldn’t require every minute of every day to make livable.

So instead, we fled to the suburbs. Consider this a “before” gallery. I am going to take some more pictures and create a “before and after” page. The “after” I most look forward to is the resurfacing of the pink bathtub and tile to a nice non-vomit-inducing white.

So, we are going to be very busy for the next little while, but we are very excited!

I took the gallery down, it was boring anyway.

The Gobbler

You absolutely have to look at every page of this site to appreciate The Gobbler.

I looked at every page. It took 3 days for my vision to return to normal, and I now vomit whenever I see the color blue, but it was worth it. My whole worldview has changed.

)( Amish Radio

I returned the first wireless hub after a couple days of trying to make it work. I bought a second hub (netgear model MR314) and attempted to get it working. After 2 hours of swearing under my breath and one plea from Adrienne that I not throw it through the window, the powebook was online!

My network, Amish Radio, is now broadcasting. I can sit on the couch with my powerbook or use the PC in the den and enjoy a 1.5 MB connection. If you are ever in Provo with a wireless card feel free to use my connection as you drive by my house.

The Wu-tang Frontier

Last night Adrienne and I watched a re-run of the first episode of Frontier House. I am afraid I am totally addicted.

It is great to watch the Clune Family living some sort of reverse Beverly Hillbillies existence. They had just built a mansion in Malibu before signing up to live like they were on the frontier in 1880.

They act just like you would expect. The 15 year old daughter sneaks makeup with her, and whines, “It’s not fair!” if she is uncomfortable in any way. Her mom broke down in tears the first day because she didn’t like the way she looked in her frontier haircut.

Oh, and Karen Glenn is insane, this is great TV!

The last thing I heard before I drifted off to sleep last night was Adrienne whispering to me, “Do you think they got to name the animals? ‘Cause if they did, I would have named my cow Ghostface Killa”.

A plea to web developers

Man, I wish my site got more traffic because everyone web developer alive needs to read How to Create Pop-Up Windows by aaron boodman of youngpup.net.

Aaron wrote this about a month ago, but now I am as annoyed as he is. I constantly open links in a new window. This is a reasonable thing to do. My habit is shift-clicking them, but there are a lot of ways to do it. Idiot web developers can foil them all leaving you with a nice blank page with an ugly url (do you hear me yahoo?!).

Please web developers of the world, listen to Aaron. Don’t make him hurt you.

MIT and OpenCourseWare

“MIT and the OpenCourseWare team are excited to share with you a first sampling of course materials from MIT’s Faculty. We invite educators around the world to draw upon the materials for their own curricula, and we encourage all learners to use the materials for self-study.”

This is incredible! Why isn’t this all over the news? MIT is GIVING AWAY its courses online. This is what I hoped would happen with the internet. Instead of just being full of porn and plans to make bombs–they are giving away incredible knowledge to anyone that can walk into a public library. This could open the floodgate. I wonder which university will be next.

You’re not punk and I’m telling everyone.

I went for a walk and was blasting music on my mp3 player. I was totally feeling the music. You know when you can just feel the songs in your bones– and I was feeling so PUNK when I suddenly thought, “I should turn this down so I don’t hurt my hearing.”

I am suprised I didn’t run home when it started to sprinkle. Don’t want to catch a cold!