help NASA name node 3

node 3 of the international space station (ISS) is looking for a new name. stephen colbert, host of the popular "the colbert report", wants us to help get node 3 named after him. i think it would be funny if it could happen. if you want to help, go here and "submit your own". in the box, put "colbert", and submit. you'll feel better doing it, being a part of pop culture if he wins. he's already ahead of scientology's "xenu".

quickly 2

for some strange reason, about a year ago, i bought "the muppet show - season 1". i'd heard that there were some pseudo-adult jokes in it, that kids wouldn't normally get, and i was a kid when i watched it back in the day. i've watched the first 5 episodes, and TheMom probably thinks i'm nuts. i was actually excited talking about it the other day in how I PERSONALLY am rediscovering actors that i thought were new to the biz, but have been busy at it since at least 1976, the year "the muppet show" debuted.

por ejemplo, joel grey was in episode 3. i saw this young dancer/singer and said to myself, "he reminds me of the 'sloane clone in alias. that same guy played at sorcerer with a tail in buffy, the vampire slayer on TV." so i went to imdb.com, looked up his name, and holy shite... it's the same guy, he's been acting since the 60's, and i just see him for the first time on action-dramas in the 2000's. i tell TheMom about this, and she says he sang "cabaret", which i wouldn't've known except that he sang it on "the muppet show" episode.

episode 5 of the same season had rita moreno as the guest star. i was surprised at her first skit where she's wearing a skirt with a slit ALL THE WAY to her waist, and as she's dancing, she's manhandling a french puppet, and throwing back drinks like a sailor. i thought she seemed familiar, and after a while, it dawned on me... she's "sister pete" from HBO's oz. man alive. again, i thought she'd just started acting or something since i'd never seen her before. then i found out from her imdb profile she was in west side story in 1961. i haven't seen west side story since music class in elementary school, so of course, i wouldn't recognize her from that. i guess it's not much to be excited about, i just think it is so neat to see them now, and then recognize them from 32 years ago on a kids show.

and on a side note before i go, i noticed another thing funny, speaking of oz. i don't watch any of the law & order franchises, though TheMom loves 'em. sometimes, when we are in the kitchen talking and it is on, i'll look up and recognize someone. i think whenever they need to cast for law & order they go through the old cast list for oz. of the 33 oz characters listed on the main oz page of imdb.com, 23 of them have been on one of the law & orders. i was going to list them here, but that's just a little over the top. there are also two oz characters on Showtime's dexter. i just notice stupid stuff. i'd be smart if i could put my brain to more efficient and useful endeavors.

my reward

for losing 15 lbs, i was allowed to get a mcdonald's burger. jules and i were going to celebrate by ordering in, jules getting thai food and me getting mcdonald's. then i invited TheSiteLead and TheMech over to celebrate as well. well, TheMech didn't show up because he was beat from being on vacation all day, and jules had to work late at the site she's been lent to (she didn't get home until 12:30am), so TheSiteLead and i ordered two 1/4 pounders, 2 fries, and 2 diet cokes (he didn't want the drink). it even came with "mcdonald's" money purses, free in honor of mother's day (underneath the diet coke). we ended up watching a couple episodes of "house m.d." and then "the kingdom" (excellent movie by the way), then he went home around 11:00pm. that burger was near orgasmic, which mcdonald's food should never be described as, but i'm sorry, it was. and egyptian 1/4 pounders are HUGE!!! look at the size of that thing! by the time i finished that, i was stuffed, sat back and finished the movie.

today, i'm back to my healthy self having a salad with tuna for lunch, and i've been invited to the safety guy's house tonight to have dinner (chicken-stuffed zucchini) and discuss the protocol for contacting emergency services. this came up because jules and i tried a new restaurant the other night that was really good, but i wasn't feeling great afterwards. we had sushi, and one of them was caviar which i'd never had. after i ate it, my lips felt like they were swollen and after dinner, i had a pulsating cramp in my lower back that i can only describe as feeling like it was being generated from my digestive system. all turned out well, but i started thinking about what if one of us chokes or trips and hurts ourselves, how do we get help, so we are taking care of that tonight.

but back to more important matters, i wonder what i'm going to choose after my next 15 lbs as my next reward meal... maybe KFC.

gettin' healthy

i hate it, it's killing me (er, rather, the opposite, but it FEELS like it's killing me), but i have to do it. i joined the gold's gym in town about two weeks ago, just before jules arrived. since jules has gotten here, she's been regulating my caloric intake = starving me. i no longer get a sandwich from the petrol station on the way to work for breakfast. now i get a tomato with some feta cheese. lunch is no longer pizza and sandwiches, i get a salad with salsa for dressing and sometimes soup. for the first time in my memory, i had nothing but vegetables for dinner the other night (peas, brussel sprouts, and beets with goat cheese). it really wasn't as bad as i made it out to be, but i like my meat, and i miss it. mcdonald's and other restaurants of the like are out of the question until i lose 15lbs, then i get a celebratory meal. since i've been doing this i've lost 6lbs (maybe i'll keep a weight tracker... i'm not proud, my first weigh-in at the gym was 125kg, that is, 275lbs... but i carry it well, all belly, no ass). we've been eating lots of veggies and chicken, no fast food, minimal "processed" food (i don't understand her blanket disdain for processed foods). i'm pretty good at the gym. 30 minutes on the elliptical without being out of breath (but i strangely get out of breath on a stair-climber), then 30 minutes or so lifting. jules joined up with me on sunday. i'm trying to go 4-5 times a week (thursday and friday are definitely out as they are "the weekend") jules is going to try to go 2-3 times a week and do yoga the other days. she makes dinner for me for when i get home which is nice. this living together thing isn't too bad, so far.

anyways, i digress. this picture is from a dinner we were invited to last night. our driver invited us to dinner with his family several weeks ago. the first time we had to cancel because i had to go to alex and jules was going with me, and the second time, we had to cancel because TheMech decided to have a barbecue on the same day. so last night was the rain check, though TheLead ended up having to meet up with some people that are basically who we report to for this site. TheLead invited TheMech to go. this caused a bit of a food overage. originally, there were going to be 6 people: me, jules, TheElec(trical), TheLead, TheMech, and their driver. then they told our driver that two more would be coming totaling eight (so our driver's mom bought more food). THEN since TheLead and TheMech went elsewhere (and their guests as well) eight guests became three. we arrived, met his mom, dad, 4 brothers and 4 sisters, sat down and talked a bit, then the feast above arrived. WOW! one things i don't like much about visiting families in foreign countries is their insistence on stuffing all the guests to the gills and then insisteing on just a bit more + dessert. being on my diet, jules let me ave a bit more than i should've but when the hosts piled 3 chicken cutlets and 2 pigeons on my plate, i knew hat me be a bit out of hand for my shrinking stomach. i'm gonna try this... in the picture above you can find (clockwise, starting at the left): kofta, sliced tomatoes, a load of grape leaves with rice, roast beef (in the green pot), samboussek (behind the beef), more grape leaves, a type of rice called "freek" (?), baba ghanouj, rice-stuffed pigeon (egyptian viagra is the lore), more freek, meat lasagna with bechamel, and four game hens. after that, they offered us the sweets were brought them as a gift. it was FAR too much to eat. there were two large trays of lasagna in the kitchen, there were probably 8 pigeons, googly, just far too much food. we are going to be eating it at work for lunch for days. all the food was amazing, his family is incredibly nice, it was a thoroughly enjoyable time. still, we had to cut the night short. TheElec had to get back to the hotel to call his fiancee.

when we got home, we got ready for bed, i kicked on the TV and satellite to see something i haven't seen in such a long time... a NASCAR race LIVE on TV. i ordered this sateliite specifically because it has LIVE NASCAR. so at 10:30PM, i turned on the TV and watched an hour of the pre-race for the las vegas race. i made it through an hour of the race before i noticed i was dozing around 12:30AM. the race was on until 3:00AM. i'm going to try to get a nap next sunday night, so i can stay up late to watch the race.

well, back to work. i gotta get in the mindset to go to the gym, blah, but they tell me it's good for me.

love is all you need... but a little duct tape never hurts

i found this quote at http://qdb.us/116288. man, that's a great site

<Cyan> Some dude tried to break in last night at like 2am, but I was on the comp and it's like right beside the window so I heard the faggot.
<Cyan> Anyways, I grabbed the folding chair and as soon as he was like halfway through I beat the fucking shit out of him.
<Cyan> So he's laying here unconscious and I call the cops. Once they get here, they search him and look at what he fucking had:
<Cyan> 8 track tape (unlabeled), Flashlight (no batteries), Half eaten box of Fig Newtons, Measuring tape, Instructions to "Monopoly."
<dan> Dude, you fucking killed McGuyver!

THEY'RE TRYING TO USE THE BACKDOOR!!!!

Penn & Teller Creationism Bullshit


not THAT backdoor, you pervs... oh, just me then? anyways, i think it's an amazing coincidence i ran into these two videos within the same relative timeframe. i've heard of the show called "bullshit", starring penn & teller. i may have even seen an episode or two at BTVJGJHo's house. this episode is about creationism and intelligent design. of course, since i'm on the side of P&T in this episode, i'd have to say, it's well organized, detailed, and thought out. of course, i'm a bit biased, but i HAVE done some formal debating (coincidentally with BTVJGJHo) and understand that you have to look at both sides of the argument critically in order to support your points and rebut to counter's points. i think this episode set a good foundation for that type of debate.

separately, i found a link to a CNN.com video about the anti-christian themes in the new movie "the golden compass". i think the movie looks good, i blogged about it many moons ago here. the president of the catholic league believes that this movie is trying to introduce children to atheism through a fantasy movie. they are afraid it's presenting christianity as a big, bad meanie society while promoting atheism as a free-thinking utopia, of sorts. this is what happens when grown-ups forget what it was like to be a kid. the kids are going to see witches, and fighting polar bears, monkeys, cats, and a cool story. that's pretty much it. the adults who, by this time in their lives, probably have their minds pretty much made up on this topic, might pick up some of the religious overtones, but that's a moot point.

anyways, i digress. the title of this post is such, because ironically, that paraphrase is used in both arguments, against creationism and ID in the "bullshit" episode, and against atheism in CNN.com report.

when will we ever grow up, er... i guess in this case, grow down?

now, i just gotta get home

i just insured my new truck. this whole internet thing... i really think it is going to catch on. i love how easy it is to do things online, from around the WORLD. i added a vehicle to my policy, was able to research which is better, uninsured motorist coverage or collision (i went with uninsured, even though i could research it, doesn't mean what i found was very clear). i printed up my temp insurance cards until me new ones arrive (i'm optimistically aiming to be done here within a week or so). i use parentheses (a lot), and i'm not sure why. maybe it's a kinda unconscious subliminal voice, like zach braff's character in 'scrubs' or like kevin arnold in 'the wonder years' (i never watched it, but i caught snippets... damn, there i go again).

well, i'm gonna go sit on the naughty step (OH YEAH!) for my irresponsible use of parentheses. btw, i fixed the plain white t's - "hey delilah" video several posts back. i really think it's worth a look-see / listen-hear (?). good for when you're missing someone, and aren't we all at sometime.

joey "jaws" chestnut... american hero?

i'll be writing about the salt lake city trip soon, it's just tough, sorry, but i will.

until then, i'll keep you busy with some hilarity. some of the BTBz got together earlier in the week and we ended up kind of accidentally watching the 2007 nathan's hotdog eating contest. takeru "kobe" kobayashi was the favorite despite being "day-to-day" due to jaw arthritis and a removed wisdom tooth. his main competition, joey "jaws" chestnut, stood by his side as they competed against a slew of other competitive eaters from other specialties (boiled eggs, strawberry shortcake, french fries, etc). earlier in the year, chestnut had beaten kobe's record set last year at nathan's (54-1/2) by eating 59 in 12 minutes. in the end chestnut bested kobe and set a new nathan's and world record of 66 hot dogs to kobe's 63. 66 dogs in 12 minutes is like 1 every 11 seconds, bun and all, PLUS they drink water/juice/etc to wash it down. that is just insanity.

now that i'm done with that recap, here's the part i wanted to talk about... the announcers. announcing a hot dog eating competition has to be the kind of thing they give to interns and guys who are waiting to retire. i don't know, but i'm guessing there's not a lot of prestige to it. they informed us that if you have a "reversal of fortune" (you can probably guess what that is considering the massive amount of food ingested so quickly), you are disqualified. it's funny that had to come up with a euphemism for a bodily function that might occur during the competition.

still, the funniest was the commentary that the announcer was giving. here are a few of my favorites. keep in mind, the competition was on independence day.

• This would be the greatest moment in the history of American sports if Chestnut can bring the belt home to Coney Island


• He [Chestnut] may have indeed changed the course of this nation . . . Chestnut is a true American hero


• ... the entire free world is focused on these two men


• and my favorite... you google "hero" tomorrow ... "American hero", you're gonna get Abe Lincoln, possibly Neil Armstrong, Taylor Hicks, and then this man, of course, Joey Chestnut

i think this guy is confused, taylor hicks is an american IDOL, not hero, and likening a competitive hot dog eater to real american heroes like the men and women fighting for our armed forces is just abominable (that's for BTVJGJHo at the BTBz).

either way, that announcer certainly was entertaining.

home for a few days

i made it home pretty much without incident. edmonton to minneapolis was ok. we boarded the plane in minneapolis, pulled away from the gate, and stopped for about an hour waiting to get on the runway. a big storm had rolled over while we were boarding and all east-bound flights were grounded until it got far enough away to fly over/around it, so i was about an hour late getting into pittsburgh, other than that, not much exciting.

i've looked into flights, and i think on sunday, i'm going to fly to colorado springs, to visit a friend for a few days, then on to salt lake city on friday for a wedding, then back home on monday to wait for an assignment. i might be able to take a longer job than usual depending on how SLC goes. i was trying to get a greyhound or amtrak from colorado springs to SLC, but the timings were just awful for WHEN i need to be where i need to be. since i want to see a variety of people on the trip, the amtrak runs but has me leaving colorado springs far too early and arriving in SLC far too late. the greyhound is a BIT better, but not much. i guess i'll have to pop my train cherry some other time, and get my mass transit bus fix down the road. maybe i can drag someone along with me.

in other news, i'm still in night-shift mode. i want to go to bed but i'm not tired. i tried to go to sleep in canada around midnight to get some sleep, but slept awful through til 4AM, so i was tired the entire flight (when i would've normally been sleeping). now it's 1:30AM, and i'm not a bit tired. this sucks. and being that it is late night, i get to watch some strange things. does anyone know who pastor melissa scott is? she is the hottest pastor i've ever seen. i love her hair. there are some old 80's like pix on that page, but her new calmer yet mussed hairstyle is hot, the glasses are great, and i love the long coat she wears, yummy. i probably shouldn't speak so sacreligiously about a woman of the cloth, but i'm guessing that she gets more viewers than her late husband. i can't find any REALLY good pictures of her, so i guess you'll just have to stay up late like me and find her on late night TV.

the dreams in which i'm dying are the best i've ever had

this has to be one of the saddest (but still amazing) songs i've ever heard, and you know me... guess what i'm listening to. actually i just stumbled on the video (which i've never seen). the song is from the donnie darko soundtrack, a strangely great movie.

blue october

i've heard a few songs by this band on the radio here in canada (since i don't have my sirius up here... hmm, wonder if it works in canada... anyways), and didn't realize they were the same band. granted the guys has a distinguishable voice, i just think a bunch of th newer bands all sound the same so i never really listened for more than background music. i really like the first one here, "hate me", i like the turmoiled relationship part of the second verse the best. then the second, "into the ocean", i just really like the sound of the chorus, the beat is pretty different. i just added their latest CD to my amazon.com cart, now i just need something else costing $15.01 to get my free super saver shipping. what else can i buy? tell me what you think about the vids. i LOVE comments. and their are some vids and lyrics at the ZUMEL as well.


blue october - hate me


blue monday - into the ocean

MTV

yeah, MTV is a joke. music television shows approximately 24 hours of music a week (14%). most of that music is shown between the hours of 4AM - 7AM with a bit of an extension on saturday, i believe. how disgustingly awful. i remember i used to LOVE MTV back in the day. when it started going downhill into all reality/soap operas, luckily i was in cleveland going to college and found much music. granted, there were bands i didn't recognize since it's a canadian based channel, but it was MUSIC. so that's it. i don't think i'm gonna be in the mood to be cheery and witty for the next couple days/weeks/months. we'll see. wish me luck

futureweapons

i'm not huge on war, i doubt many people are. if the draft were reinstated, i'd probably hightail it to canada (i hear there are a lot of good paying jobs up there in my field anyways, i'd say it was a business decision). anyways, though i'm not big into war, i love technology and there are some MAJOR strides coming from defense contractors. here is a link to a top 5 high-tech weapons list (that only has 4). the metal storm and MOAB are pretty nice. i'm not sure of the benefit of firing 1,000,000 rounds per minute is, but i like that it can theoretically be done. big numbers are awesome.

if you are into that kind of thing, i highly suggest you check out FutureWeapons online and watch the show mondays at 9PM on discovery channel.

i was particularly impressed by:

season 1:

• cornershot
• javelin

season 2:

• E-SMAW
• boot banger
• dragon skin
• gate crasher

go check it out. i should've worked for raytheon.

president logan

ok, i have to apologize for my lateness. i travel quite a bit for work and can't keep up with pop culture TV shows, but i've been hooked by "24". jules and i started watching it in india, back seasons, and we were hooked like crack. apparently she was worse than i, as i was busy doing other things, she hooked her roommate so they caught up and know what is going on in season 5. i'm watching it now, and president logan, AS I STATED LAST SEASON, is a major league pussy. i hate that fukker.

i know season 6 just started. i had TheMom DL the season premieres from iTunes, and i'll watch them JUST as soon as i'm done with this season. many sleepless nights ahead. go JACK go. brb.