The Dali's Random Thoughts

Random thoughts

2009-05-13T05:29:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone... just a few random thoughts and a couple of links for you...

A reminder that the Lima Classic is approaching - sign your foursome up at your earliest convenience.
I have the largest wallet imaginable. Not based on monetary value, but sheer size. I can't even sit on it anymore. It ends up in my bag or on the front seat of my car. Is that normal? Call me Costanza.
Speaking of Seinfeld, is there any show that even comes close? Man, that show is funny.
Ok, I will say that I think 30 Rock is super funny, and enjoyable. The first season wasn't laugh-out-loud funny (perhaps because we didn't have any history yet) and I used to refer to it as an "enjoyable half hour watching TV". Now, however, I can't stop laughing.
I'm coaching my daughter's T-ball team... what fun. The kids are having a blast, even if they have ABSOLUTELY NOT IDEA WHAT GAME THEY ARE PLAYING. Seriously, for those of us who follow baseball, we know the rules inside and out. We just "know" that you throw to first when they are men on 1st and 3rd with two outs. These kids have no clue! It has really opened my eyes up to how complicated the game really is. No wonder kids like playing soccer. You just run and kick the ball.

Update on the Yankees - always love to include links when they lose: http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/as-halladay-silences-yanks-wang-nears-return/

App issues with the Iphone: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/13/technology/13jailbreak.html?_r=1&hp

We are still sending out shuttles? Really? Am I the only one who doesn't pay attention to what Nasa is doing? Should I? http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/05/13/space.shuttle/index.html

I can't explain how geeky Twitter is... check out some additional information about "Gwitter"
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/gwibber-the-everything-client/

Advertising has gone nuts!

2009-04-29T04:27:00.000-07:00

Ok... I have had it up to here (hand is a foot over my head) with companies trying to squeeze revenue by selling ads for every single uncluttered area possible. I'm probably the last person to be writing about this (being employed as a marketing "expert" and all) but it is driving me nuts!

For instance... the other night I was watching my beloved Red Sox on NESN (presented in HD by WB Mason) and could help notice how many advterising messages we are bombarded with while watching sports. The field itself has tons of advertising, of course, which we are all subject to while watching the game on TV. In addition, there is the "TV-only" ads that show up behind the batter's box that are visible while the pitcher is pitching to the batter. Then there is the "Amica K-zone" which shows if the pitch was a strike or ball. (Good thing Amica is making the K-zone possible, because I didn't just watch the pitcher throw the ball, see the ball caught by the catcher in relation to the strike zone, and witness the "ball/strike" call by the umpire. By the way, umpires must just HATE those K-zone things... they make a call and then the networks immediately show the world if the umpire was right or made an error. You've got to think the inventor of the K-zone is sitting in his house every night wondering if the creaking he hears is just the wind or some disgruntled (out of work!) umpire looking to settle the score.) The video scoreboard between innings is sponsored by someone, the running scoreboard banner that shows during the game at the top or bottom of the screen is sponsored, the pre-game show, post-game show, the post-post game show, and now the worst! In the middle of the game - DURING THE GAME - NESN had some quick advertising (I think it was for Budweiser) graphics show on the screen. They were not the classic: "This game is sponsored by... Budweiser (logo flashes), Century 21 (logo flashes), Levitra (logo flashed, I get nauseous)" but an actual 8 second animated ad that in the middle of the screen about 2 seconds before the pitcher threw the ball. The announcers were not even talking about it - it was like some genius in the sales department thought, "hey, we probably have 16 seconds between when the catcher throws the ball back to the pitcher and the next pitch... why don't we try to squeeze in a few ads?" I couldn't believe it. When does a smart marketing executive come up with a way to show 2 or 3 commercials at the same time? I'm surprised this hasn't been attempted... split the screen and show Irish Spring on one side and Honey Bunches of Oats on the other. Wouldn't that work? I guess the issue would be the audio portion, but isn't that what surround sound is for?

Ok... so TV has advertising (although let me point out that we PAY for television... remember the good old days when advertising was necessary for the networks because we got TV for FREE over the airwaves. Cable TV comes around and starts CHARGING us to watch it, and STILL shows advertising) so I guess we have to live with it, but now I'm getting fed up with the Internet. My fantasy baseball league on CBSSportsline.com (not an ad) is a PAY league. What I mean is that we (our league) pay $150 or so to use the CBS online technology to manage our league. So, we PAY to use the website (unlike the many free sites you can use to play fantasy baseball). I was checking my team the other day and saw ads for Holiday Inn ON MY TEAM PAGE! IN THE PAGE! No, these were not banner ads, they were not ads on the side of the screen, there was a Holiday Inn logo about 1 inch (200 pixels) from MY TEAM's LOGO! Are you kidding me?! The Holiday Inn advertising is all over the screen, regardless of what page you are using within your league. Unbelievable. I would expect it from a free site, but not a pay site. You can't get away from these organizations cramming ad messaging down your throat.

The funny thing... while I know Amica is sponsoring the K-zone, there is no chance in hell that I'm going to call Amica for insurance. By the way, I can't explain how funny and ironic I find the Levitra and Viagra commercials. The way they portray these 40+ people trying to get busy makes me laugh. I'm not going to go into it now, but I find the need (and the huge sales) of these drugs simply ironic given how sex-driven males are in their 20's. Ok, enough of that for one day.

Earthday...?

2009-04-23T06:35:00.000-07:00

One more random tangent for your day... yesterday was Earthday 2009. I think it came and went with very little fanfare - at least in the corporate world. I didn't see anything major happen except for the update "Google" logo. But, I'm sure that there was a lot of work going on as I definitely feel the world is starting to embrace the "greener" way of life. A few observations - and feel free to comment with your own observations or if you disagree with mine...

- I think we have actually become MORE of a disposable society. My God, how many D&D coffee cups have I thrown away? And for those responsible companies like Starbucks (ok, their marketing is more responsible) why don't they do the obvious stuff to promote being green? Like, get rid of those stupid sleeves to hold your paper coffee cup. People, suck it up. Why do you need to have a cardboard sleeve over your coffee cup? Too hot for you? Tough. Also, couldn't they install "recycling" containers for napkins and used cups? There must be some better solutions.

- Everything is plastic. I try to recycle as best as possible, but when 76.567% of my plastic waste is NOT recyclable (ie, it is labeled as recyclable, but no community outside of southern California has facilities to recycle is - so therefor it is about as recyclable as nuclear waste) it ends up in the dump (well, "transfer station"). Listen, I buy a lot of Barbie dolls (for my daughter... and collecting... hey, deal with it) and they are all encased in plastic. What can you do?

- Nobody wants kids toys back... I donate the toys when I can, but nobody wants to take the 1,786 stuffed animals. What do you do with them? They are still fine. I mean, they are still lovable poodles filled with soft stuff. How about we figure out what to do with that!!?

- How are we going to recycle 10,000,000 Webkinz 10 years from now?? That is the solution we need! Paper bio-degrades during a good rainstorm, but Coco the Monkey Webkinz is eternal.

- Speaking of paper... why is it so important that we recycle that? Isn't paper made from trees? Aren't trees regularly grown in forests? Conceivable - and call me crazy - we have an unlimited supply of paper. If I want to throw the McDonald's napkin (made with 34% post consumer material) on the ground, isn't it going disintegrate naturally during rain storms? Ok, maybe in 3 weeks? Everyone talks about going "digital" to save the environment. Aren't computers essentially made of plastic, plutonium, and mercury? Listen, my Dad has 10 Commodore 64 computers in his basement. What is he going to do with those? We churn out millions of computer components each year - to go green, I guess - and yet when those components are old or dated they get thrown away... and sometimes with hazardous materials in them. I still don't get the argument... we should be printing EVERYTHING on paper and recycling the computers!

- Small thing... but we build tons of cars every year. Why haven't people figured out how to recycle cars? They are all the same - 4 wheels, seats, gas tank... and on that same token, why does EVERY car have to have different components? I know this sounds Socialist and anti-American, but why do all my cars have to use different windshield wipers? Honestly!? I don't get it. It doesn't get more basic than the windshield wiper. It is metal, plastic, and some rubber and it goes across your windshield and wipes away the rain. Why doesn't the wiper on the BMW fit on the Hyundai? Are BMW owners such snobs that they don't want to use the same windshield wiper as my mother-in-law? That seems like the biggest no-brainer in the auto-industry. Standardize the windshield wiper. Save the planet! Have one manufacturer make one type. Then we can recycle them! If a car gets into a crash, take off the wipers and donate them to the needy to put on their Kia! Think about it! We could do the same with door lock knobs, and overhead light switches, and power window buttons. Every car has an Emergency Light switch - you know, the red triangle - why can't this be the same button across the board? Why does there need to be 10 manufacturers making different buttons for each make and model? How many buttons is that?! What if we don't use the buttons?! Where do they go!?

The transfer station.

I'm injured... I might die...

2009-04-23T05:43:00.000-07:00

The other day I was trying to get to our local transfer station (a nice way of saying "dump") and had to connect my utility trailer to my van to haul away this garbage. The trailer was extremely full - I hadn't make a "transfer run" since November. It had stuff from my recent family room renovation, Christmas wrapping and boxes, old pool equipment, a dead body, general trash, among other things. The sucker was HEAVY. So I ended up pinching my thumb while connecting the trailer to my hitch. It hurt quite a bit, but it looked like I was just going to have a bruised nail on the thumb. Onward! To the transfer station!

A couple hours later my thumb was just screaming! Throbbing in pain and starting to swell pretty good. A few hours after that the nail was mostly black and the thumb looked like I had taken a hammer to it. I knew it would probably be ok in a day or two, but I was amazed at the pain that a little pinch caused. I couldn't even sleep because my brain kept focusing on the throbbing.

So why am I telling you this? Because after this little episode I can't even image what a REAL injury must feel like... I mean, I'm no He-Man but I think I handle pain pretty well. (By the way, what ever happened to He-Man? When does his comeback start? Care Bears came back strong. Cabbage Patch Kids staged a revival. GI Joe has a movie coming out this summer! What about He-Man? What about that diabolical Skeletor? Don't even get me started...). When someone gets into a car accident and get real injuries does their body just absorb the pain? My theory is that the body can only deal with x-amount of pain at one time. If you have a whole bunch all at once it get aggregated into "pain" and you deal with that level of pain. When you have only one injury your brain focuses on that pain and it is perceived as greater than it really is... What do you think? I'm pretty sure that I just invented that theory. It is based on real life experience, not some pansy laboratory experiment. Anyway, my thumb feels better today, and I'm gonna use my theory to justify how much it hurt the last two days so you all don't think I'm a total wuss.

By the way, I was leafing through a science book and came across Lou Gehrig's disease. I read up on it... man, that is one crazy illness. I think we've all heard of Lou Gehrig's disease, also known as Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), but do you REALLY know what it does? It is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed.

The end game is that the muscles the KEEP YOU ALIVE stop responding to the brain and you literally stop breathing because the lungs stop responding. That, my friends, must be the worst way to die. I can't imagine it. Survival rate is 3 - 5 years. Can yo imagine knowing that in 3 - 5 years your body is just going to stop working?? Sorry to be a downer, but I thought it was interesting to understand exactly what Lou Gehrig's disease actually is since it is so well known in the world - yet most people don't know what it actually is...

Dinosaurs & Writing

2009-04-22T09:41:00.000-07:00

So, my son is crazy about dinosaurs. All kinds. He is almost 4 years old and can pronounce the name of every dinosaur that ever lived. He has about 100 different dinosaur toys and he usually plays "dinosaurs and Barbies" with my daughter. In addition to this he loves dinosaur movies. No, not the Land Before Time - he likes Jurassic Park 1, 2, and 3. We watch those movies 7 - 10 times a week. No, he isn't afraid of the movies at all. In fact, he wants me to skip over the "nice" dinosaurs and just right to the T Rex eating the lawyer part. Crazy.

So, after watching these movies over and over I decided to read one of the books by Michael Crichten. I just so happened to have "The Lost World" in my bookshelf. I don't remember where I got it - perhaps from my sister. I never read it, but this seemed like a perfect time to crack it open. Not only did I want to read it so I could explain the movie better to Drew, but I also found the 2nd Jurassic Park movie (The Lost World) to be mediocre compared to the 1st one. It seemed WAY to Hollywood, and I couldn't believe that it was really based on a book (since the 1st one was directly based on Crichten's book and was very well written with a deep story).

Ok... so I read the book and the movie has more in common with this blog than Crichten's book. I did some digging and apparently Steven Spielberg wanted to make a second Jurassic park movie (since they all made so much money on the first one) and wanted Crichten to write a sequel novel with which he could base the movie. Crichten replied that he didn't write sequels, but after some cajoling he ended up writing the book I read. The book was very good. Very good. So good, in fact, that I am now reading a different Crichten book because I enjoyed this one so much (reading "The Sphere", which was also turned into a movie). It is really interesting how LITTLE Spielberg used of the novel in the movie. What was the point of getting Crichten to write the book? Why not just take him out for drinks, get him talking about possible book ideas, and then make the movie with your own story? Really, aside from the fact that there is a "site B" (a second island with dinosaurs) and actual dinosaurs there is very little in common between the book and the movie. Spielberg could have used the story from Ringo Starr's "Caveman" movie and it might have better aligned with the book. Suffice to say, the book was vastly superior to the movie.

One cool thing that I learned from this experience (other than the fact that Crichten was a very entertaining writer) was the depth that these authors go to understand what they are writing. The theories and formulas and hypothesis that Crichten used to bring his story to life were pretty interesting. Seemed like a lot of work! I mean, he is writing a totally made up story about dinosaurs on an island, but to make the story seem plausible he backs up the plot with some very convincing science. I don't know to what extent the information was accurate or pseudo-science, but it went a long way to bringing me into the story (and believing it was possible).

Dan Brown's work falls along the same lines. I found myself (while reading the DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons) really wondering if the history he was using to tell the story was REAL, simple HYPOTHESIS, or completely FABRICATED. I still don't know! But, I do know that he must have spent some serious time researching the information for his fiction.

This is why I will focus on writing pure science fiction/fantasy. I can make up whatever I want and nobody can challenge me. What would someone say? "Hey, your elf can't be 7 feet tall" or "Why would a dwarf use a two-handed sword"? No way. I can do whatever I want, with no research what-so-ever. Isn't that what writing is all about anyway? Just making stuff up to entertain? If I wanted to do research I'll stay in my current job.

By the way - speaking of challenging information in a science fiction/fantasy story, have you watched the 1st Jurassic Park lately? Well, I have! And I can't figure out how the T Rex gets into the building at the end of the movie to save the people from the Velociraptors. How did he get in? He couldn't have! But, hey, that's Hollywood.

1st post in a while, and other random things

2009-04-22T09:34:00.001-07:00

Sorry people... I haven't been able to post recently because of my lack of ambition. But, hey, I've returned, so sit back and enjoy.

Saw a few movies recently... I'll give you the Lima thoughts...

The Bank Job - just saw this movie the other night. A great movie. Good action and fairly likable characters. Set in London, this movie reminded me of the Guy Ritchie films. Definitely worth a rent.

Batman - the Dark Knight - I'm a little late on this one, as it seems everyone has seen it already, but it was pretty good. I enjoyed it. I will admit, though, that I don't understand the draw of Batman as a super hero. In fact, I'm not sure how Batman survives. He doesn't have any real
"super power", yet he somehow can get beat up and fall 15 stories and not get injured. The newer movies have him in that armor which would appear to totally impact is ability to fight. When you look at all the "super heroes" out now, with REAL powers like the ability to fly, pick up cars, levitate stuff, I just wonder why people like batman. I've watched a bunch of the movies (it seems like Batman is the favorite to make movies) and I don't get the draw. And another thing... I like the idea of making the movies... but when these producers and directors try to make the movie REALISTIC and then have the hero run around in a costume with a cape it just seems silly! Would a superhero really run around the city in a black and red spider outfit? Really? We want to make the movies seem dark and realistic, and then have the hero put on tights to beat the bad guys. Am I the only one that thinks that is dumb?

Tropic Thunder - I was really looking forward to this movie. I bought the DVD from Blockbuster (a used version for $12) instead of renting it. I was disappointed. Don't get me wrong... it was enjoyable... but with all the hype I was expecting Caddyshack meets Full Metal Jacket. All in all it was good, but not amazingly funny. Robert Downey Jr was awesome in the movie, however. He is a great actor, too bad he lost all that time in a drug-induced slumber. He could have really put together a great career if he were sober from 1987 - 2001. Anyway, good movie in general but falls into the Ben Stiller trap... you know, a movie that is really pretty funny but gets kinda stupid at times and stops it from being a classic.

Madagascar 2 - this was a good movie. A good continuation of the 1st movie. I think the beating up of the old woman (who, as being portrayed as a New Yorker I would usually be in favor of) is a little over the top, especially for a kid's movie. Other than that it was really fun. Definitely a keeper.

Be kind... rewind... Wow, this was a weird movie. I thought the idea was awesome when I saw commercials. Looked like it would be really funny. Instead, it was kind of a borderline depressing movie that was just plain strange. I watched the entire movie (which is more than I can say for the next movie) and was mildly entertained, but it was so far from what I expected that I think I watched more out of morbid curiosity than actual interest. It really didn't even have a good ending since the store owner lost his business anyway. This is the kind of movie that started out as a great idea, the writer starts writing it and about 1/3 of the way in doesn't like the movie any more. Unfortunately, the movie production company already bought it so the writer has to finish it and we end up with a bunch of junk wrapped around a cool idea. I honestly think the people who created the trailers for this movie had to use more creatively that the writer of the actual movie in order to get people interested in this...

Don't Mess With the Zohan - ummm... how about you take your crappy movie and give me back the $3.00 I spent renting it... this was so bad that I turned it off 20 minutes in... maybe I wasn't the target audience. I just couldn't get into this at all... I don't even know what to say, other than "don't mess with this movie".

By the way... I was searching for information about Michael Crichton on Google and came across a fascinating aberration. (At least to me.) You know how Google now starts to give you possible results from your search while you type it in? Kinda like it is guessing what you are asking about? Well, if you type in "Michael" (don't hit enter) here is the list that will show up:

michaels
michael crichton
michael jackson
michael savage
michael jordan
michael buble
michaels coupon
michaels store locator
michael kors
michael phelps

Ok, call me crazy but Michael Crichton is the 2nd thing to show up??? Are we serious??? Of all the important "Michaels" in the world Michael Crichton is the 2nd most important? He is the 2nd most relevant? Wow... in fact, I would suggest that none of the listed are that important, but Michael Cichton? In front of Michael Jordan? Michael Jackson? How about some important Michaels? What about Michael the Archangel? He was pretty special. Or, Michelangelo? I think he was kind of an important guy (ok, that is spelled differently). And let's face it - 3 of the results I listed are for Michael's Craft Store. Wow... what a world we live in.

Hasheem is overated!

2009-02-17T06:23:00.001-08:00

Wow... I was watching the (former) #1 UConn Huskies last night and after the game (they lost) I couldn't shake the feeling that UConn's best player, Hasheen Thabeet, is extremely overrated. In fact, one could argue that Jeff Adrien is the Huskies most reliable player.

Aside from being 7'3", I don't see anything special about Hasheem. I'm sure there are basketball purists out there that will gush over his footwork and ability to alter shots in the paint, but he seems extremely rough to me. He doesn't have any offensive game aside from dunks and put backs, and unless you are Shaq in his prime I think that makes you very limited. It amazes me that this guy can't put together a few moves in the paint. He seems utterly useless with the ball.

In fact, even on the defensive end he looks average. Last night DeJuan Blair LIT HIM UP. Not only with dunks but with in your face post play. Blair simply outplayed Hasheem, and really made him look like a guy who has only played for 3 years.

Call it a gut reaction, but I don't see this team going deep unless AJ Price and Adrien shoulder the load. Thabeet is just too raw to be an all-around impact player. I see him changing the game on the defensive end against lesser teams, but against team with solid big-men (like Blair or Haragondy from ND) I think he wilts.

Let's also call out two key players for the Huskies that have been almost invisible as of late... Stanley Robinson probably has the most talent on the team, but he never seems to put it together. He is a bundle of athleticism, but can't seem to get out of his own way. His three-point shot isn't falling, and he usually "blends in" when he's on the floor - which isn't a good thing. The other guy is Craig Austrie. He looks AWFUL last night, and he needs to be a solid contributor - especially with the three-ball - now that Dyson is out for the season. The Huskies don't have any deep threat outside of AJ Price. Austrie can be an effective shooter, but he needs to find his stroke.

On the plus side, I thought freshman Kemba Walker showed no fear while playing meaningful minutes. He needs to work on his defense, but he looked like an effective slasher on offense. I haven't seen evidence of a three-point shot, but he can definitely take the ball to the basket and finish.

Anyway - back to my main point - I don't understand the love affair with Thabeet. He may turn into a solid player down the road, but he is not one right now. On the defensive end he doesn't establish proper position, and he is in love with the blocked shot. He is overzealous in trying to swat the ball, instead of playing solid defense and letting his 7'3" frame become an obstacle. Blocked shots look nice in the highlight reel and on the stat-sheet, but I'd prefer to see him play better fundamentals. On offense, he's just a train wreck.

And one final note - I think Thabeet finished with 4 points, but his only field goal was a dunk in which he was all-alone and received a great pass from Price. He dunked so emphatically you'd think he just made an amazing move and scored his 30th point. Dunks are nice, but I need more than one a game to whet my appetite.

Quick hit on Steroids

2009-02-11T06:03:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I just wanted to quickly post about this whole Arod thing... I won't get into too much detail here, I'll update it later at greater length.

The reason I thought about this today is because I read that Sean Avery was assigned to Hartford's AHL team (the Wolfpack). Why did Avery bring to mind Arod? Good question... I was reading the article about Avery and I started to think about the action taken by the NHL versus the action (inaction) taken by MLB regarding steroids. Think about it:

Avery made an offhand and inappropriate comment about his ex-girlfriends to the media before a game. His comments had nothing to do with the game or his playing ability. His comments were in poor taste, but my God, who cares? Go to a movie today and you can hear much worse language (and pay for it!). So the NHL and the Stars make this big deal out of Avery's comments and "indefinitely punished (suspended) him." Wow.

And now to Arod... so I imagine that since he broke the law and used an illegal substance (while also compromising the integrity and history of the game) he will face a fine and suspension, right? Wrong. Nothing with happen to Arod. Yeah, his reputation will take a hit, although he was pretty widely despised anyway, and his ranking as one of the top players in the history of baseball will probably be in doubt. But no real punishment will come his way. He'll still make his $250 million dollars. He'll play 160 games this year for the Yankees. No punishment. Even the Yankees have come out with a statement that they support him, as he is part of the family. Amazing... he BROKE THE LAW. Nobody cares about that. All the media plays up is whether or not his numbers will legitimately stack up against the others in history.

This isn't really about Arod, but about baseball. The freakin' owners and player's unions are so morally corrupt it makes you sick. Everyone knew about the drug use, but no one cared. They still don't . They only care about limiting the damage and moving on. New alert, you won't be able to move on. Every year this will come up when another member of the 1985 - 2005 baseball seasons become eligible for the Hall of Fame. This is with us for the next 20 or 30 years.

Air Travel

2009-02-05T09:28:00.000-08:00

OK my friends... I just returned from Florida and I must say that traveling has become quite a chore. I understand that we have security measures in place for our safety, but what a shame. Think about how ridiculously demeaning it is going to the airport now-a-days... we have to take off most of our clothes, we can't have any gels or liquids, and God forbid you bring a bottle of water with you through security! Man, get out the tasers!

It is truly sad that the masses have to be subject to these silly rules because of a few crazy people. think about it... one deranged lunatic tries to blow up a plane with explosives in his sneakers and now we all have to take off our shoes before we board a plane. Ok, maybe there were 3 copycats that we never heard about... and now 400 million people have to take off their shoes. Are you serious? My 3-year-old son has to take off his Sketchers before everyone plan ride. And let's face it, is a terrorist really blowing up a plane going from Tampa to Miami with 70 passengers? At what point do we realize that the terrorists aren't targeting business flights from Chicago to Dubuque?

I know, this is tongue-in-cheek, but let's take a quick look at what you have to do to take a flight now...

You have to arrive 2 hours before your flight. ANY flight. If you don't you risk getting caught up in security and missing your flight. So, that 1 hour flight to Philly just turned into 3 hours. plus the time to drive to the airport and catch the shuttle from the parking garage. Amtrack is sounding better all the time.

Ok, so you get into the airport. Now you have to check in... we do everything online now so it's just a matter of checking baggage. Hmmm, most airlines are now charging for bags... can someone direct me to the 5 vacation travelers who DON'T have baggage? Does US Airways think we buy new clothes in Phoenix and then burn them after we are done so we don't have to pay for them to come home with us? How is it that the nation isn't going crazy about these new rules? We all just shrug and move on... people, you are paying $450 to fly across the country and the airline is going to charge you for your bags!!! I guess we should just wear all our clothes on the flight. Why not...? I'm 180 pounds... I figure that if I wear 4 pairs of boxers and shorts, 8 shirts, a couple of pair of socks, two hats, my shoes (I'll drape the other pair over my shoulder) and a jacket I'll still be a slender 215 and the person sitting next to me won't mind too much. Hopefully I don't sweat too much... that could get ugly.

Honestly... I can't believe that rule - and let's hope your bags don't weigh more than 50 pounds each, otherwise its surcharge time! So, what did that rule come about, anyway? Is it the weight of the bags? The manpower to load them onto the plan? Just amazing... and what does this translate into? Some lady putting 75 pounds of clothes into a carry-on bag by using 10 of those suction bags she just got from Target.

Ok... so the bags are checked and it's time for my favorite part... security.

Rule #1, don't joke with the security people. They are actually cyborgs.

Rule #2, don't worry, it only seems like an eternity while you disrobe before using the metal detector. And yes, we all fumble with our keys and coins and feel like idiots.

Ok, so I have to show my license five times before I get to the boarding gate. Like any 15 year old can't forge a license. Give me 24 hours and I'm sure I can locate a way/person/machine to make me a fake license. I love it. All these measures only inconvenience the honest people. It is like the lock on your house. Any thief could get into your house in probably 10 minutes. The lock is there to stop that regular person who has a momentary brain-freeze and thinks he'll take your DVD player as he walks home from the bar. "Oh, it's locked... ok, I guess I'll just go home now."

Think about it... you don't even need official documents to get through security. You need a print out from your home computer - nobody is making fake documents on their computers, right? - and your license.

So you get to the conveyor belt and start loading all your crap. Take your jacket off! And your hat! And your shoes! And your belt! Load up one of those grey bins with your junk for all to see. Oh, and if you have any electronics you need to open them up and display them so any nearby thief can check out what they are going to steal from you later. So we all stand in line in our belt-less pants and shoeless feet and wait for a 57 year-old, 115 pound woman make sure we are not trying to blow up the world. Silly. Again, all this because .000009% of the world hates capitalism enough to blow themselves up to make a point.

You get through the metal detector and whoops! I guess you forgot that you can't bring shave cream and hair gel through security! Not in THOSE quantities. Listen, if you want to simply blow up 5 or 10 seats with a small amount of explosives hidden in a hair-gel container fine, but let's not go crazy and bring in 25 ounces of the stuff! Crazy American.

Ok, so now you don't have your new bottle of Canoe after-shave, but at least you got through security. On to the gate! Wait, put your shoes on first.

Great... now your are in the terminal and it is filled with... stores. Why not? You couldn't bring any luggage and what you had brought got confiscated at security, so go ahead and buy some new stuff. Hmmmm....

When it is all said and done, I find the one thing that SHOULD be monitored ISN'T. Why isn't there a process to make sure that the luggage that you pick up in baggage claim is actually YOUR luggage? How easy would it be to sit around the baggage claim and wait until 3 or 4 bags have floated by a few times with no owner and then grab them? Or what about just being that guy who stands at the opening of the conveyor belt and grab the 1st generic black bag that comes along? I guess the airlines figure that if you paid them $40 to bring the bag you'll make sure you pick it up...

I hate car salesmen... (or women)

2009-01-17T06:03:00.001-08:00

I know I've railed on this in the past, but man I REALLY hate car salesmen. I had episode recently flare my hatred recently.

You know when you get the hankerin' for a new car you can scour the Internet for pricing and availability of a car you might want to buy? You can go to a host of sites, but the main ones are Car.com and Autotrader.com. As a conscientious buyer, you might also check out Kelly Blue Book to see what your old car might be worth, so what the real value of your new car is, etc, etc...

Well, give this a try... go out to Autotrader.com and search for a car you might like... I did, and here was my experience when searching for a for a Saab 9.3 convertible. A bunch of options popped up in my general area. So I'm scrolling down the list. "No, I don't want a 1995 with 300,000 miles for $2000. . . No, I think I'll pass on the 2000 with body work and 89,000 miles for $5600. . While I'd love to, I don't think I want to spend $35,000 on a lightly used 2008. . ." But wait! Here's one... a 2004 Saab 9.3 convertible with 23,000 miles for $13,600 ! That sounds reasonable! Great!

So, the next step was to contact the dealer. Ugg. Ok, so I send an email simply asking if the vehicle is still available. I mean, of course it is available. It is January, we are covered in 5 inches of snow, the economy is AWFUL. The car manufacturers are giving away cars and financing. Who is actually looking to buy a used Saab convertible right now? So, I wait a day and get the response:

Dear Stephen,

Sorry but that vehicle has been sold. We can locate another one for you if you like. When can you come down to locate a vehicle?

Please call me at 203-xxx-xxxx

What a joke. I've been down this road a million times. These crooks post an ad on the Internet that is WAY too good to be true, and then they get you into their "virtual store" (via phone or email) or their actual physical store to sell you some other, way more expensive, vehicle. My gut tells me that many of the ads are fake and that cars never existed. But, if I give them the benefit of the doubt that the original ad WAS true and that there WAS an actual car at that price at one time, the ploy is to "give away" a car to someone and never take down the original ad. Then people contact them asking about the original car (that was probably sold in a few hours) and they try to sell them something similar that costs more. You know the story... "Oh, that original car was nice, but had some body work done and was sitting on our lot for 8 months so we had to get rid of it. But we have a bunch of similar cars without any issues, yeah they are a little more but they are better vehicles..." Blah, blah, blah

The above played out about 3 days ago. I'll give you another REAL LIFE story to justify my intense hatred for people who sell cars for a living. I was searching for a fuel-efficient car about a year ago and was poking around the sites I listed above. I was really interested in a Mazda 3 or a Nissan Sentra. Something small, good on gas, and inexpensive. So I found just what I was looking for: A recent year Mazda 3 with low miles, power accessories, at a low price (I think it was about $14,500). I sent an email to the dealer (Country Nissan, an AWFUL dealership in Hadley Massachusetts) and their "Internet Sales Department" responded that they had the car and I should call for more information. I called up and talked with the "Internet Sales Department" and he listed the options on the car and provided me with basic information. The car seemed good so I figured I'd go look at it. The dealer was in Massachusetts, about 50 minutes from my workplace so I figured I'd head there after work one day.

The day to visit the dealer came and I was getting my information together and reviewing the car online again when I noticed that the pictures of the interior of the car seemed off. My research on the car indicated that certain power features of the car would be controlled on the steering wheel, yet the pictures showed nothing on the wheel. I called the "Internet Sales Department" and asked for confirmation that the car had all the features I wanted. I re-iterated that the dealership was an hour away so I didn't want to waste my time if the car didn't have all the desired equipment. He assured me that it had everything I wanted.

So I drive up and look at the car. Looks nice, but it was night-time so I couldn't REALLY see the car in good light. I took it for a test drive and it drove well. So we go in for the "BS" haggling over the price. At one point the salesperson actually asked me to "initial" this piece of scrap paper to indicate that I would buy the car if he could meet the price. Really? Seriously? So we go back and forth and come up with a price and JUST before I sign the paperwork I realized that I didn't see any power window buttons on the car (it was dark and the car & interior were black). We go check and not only did the car not have power windows, it had no power locks and no cruise control. Those were the 3 things I specifically asked about before driving down.

I ask for the manager and told him what had happened. He gave me a lame, "the information tags must have been switched" and offered to have the power windows and cruise control installed on the vehicle at his cost. I wasn't sure, but since I'd been really wanted to buy a car and waiting for so long I went along with it... it was dumb and stupid on my part. They clearly had this car that they were trying to move... I should have seen the warning signs.

The car is delivered about 5 days later and what a piece of junk. The exterior was fine, but the interior of the car was beat up, cigarette stains on the interior ceiling of the car, scratches on the dash, and the cloth seats were starting to pill. Clearly (to me) it looked like a salesperson's company car. Someone got the car, put their briefcase on the dash (scratching it up) and smoked while they drove from office to office. Just a guess. Anyway, what was worse were the power windows. When you used them it sounded like a noise a 6-year-old boy would make when flying a toy plane. Just terrible. The cruise control didn't work right... it was constantly accelerating and braking to keep a constant speed.

I called Country Nissan and told them I wasn't happy with the car (this was two days later). They told me to come back and we'd work something out. I told them I was interested in a Sentra they had... but I didn't want to drive up again if we were not going to "work something out". Of course, they said they would put something together. I drove up and - OF COURSE - there was nothing worked out. They simply wanted to trade the Mazda back to them (at a loss to men) and sell me the Sentra. What a joke. I could do that ANYWHERE. But, that is how car dealers work. They NEVER do anything that would impact THEIR ability to make money. A normal store would accommodate the customer. Car dealers rarely do anything in the best interest of customers. At least that has been my experience.

Honestly (that is a funny word to use in this blog entry, huh?), why does it have to be like this? Shouldn't it be fun to buy a car? Why is the auto industry the only major one that allows bartering and haggling? Does that make sense at all?

Ok, this went on much longer than expected. Enjoy your MLK holiday!

So what's the deal with meteorologists?

2009-01-07T09:24:00.000-08:00

OK, so this morning I got up and flip on the news while I was getting ready for work. Well guess what I saw? The end of the world! End of days! People, get out your Bibles because we're about to meet our maker.

War? Doom? Pestilence? No, just an ice storm.

Why is it that we have to sensationalize ordinary events? The weather is the freakin' weather people! Man, every time there is a hint of snow, ice, sleet or freezing rain the local news crews make it out to be Dick Clark's funeral. This morning every member of the local (Central Connecticut) news team talked about how dangerous it is to go outside, how travel on the roads will be tricky, and that people should stay home until at least noon when the "freezing rain" converts to "actual rain". Of course, what happens? People get freaked out and make stupid decisions. One of the worst - which is repeated in every town north of Richmond with every storm - is the delayed school openings. For REALLY bad storms we even cancel school a solid 12 hours before the storm hits!

So, as I was saying (writing?) the local news forecast this nasty ice storm for most of Connecticut. Won't change to rain until 3 or 4pm. Schools all close and parents are forced to scramble to find accommodations and supervision for their children. People put off driving in to work until later in the day, or simply work from home.

I decide to check out the driveway... ice, to be sure, but what I like to call "grippy" ice. You know, the ice that isn't actually slippery? It is ice with a bunch of snow/ice attached to the top which gives your vehicle something to grab on to... kinda like the ice they play hockey on in Central Florida. Anyway, we pile up in the AWD van and head out. Roads are fine! A little slick, a little slushy, but perfectly drivable. In fact, we were going 50 mph on Route 2.

How can these meteorologists be so wrong so often? I'm not talking about "it will be cold today" or " watch out, because it's gonna hit 90!" I'm talking about "watch out for 12 inches of snow" when we only get 4. People rely on these forecasts to make decisions about their day, about the safety of their children. These talking suits on TV just throw unsubstantiated data out on the airwaves and (to my knowledge) suffer no consequences. There was a cool marketing but done by a local channel a few years back in which they gauged the accuracy of their temperature predictions +/- 5 degrees. The station had a running average of hitting the mark. I thought it was a pretty cool idea, but then again, how hard is it to be within 10 degrees when you'd got the Doppler 1000 working for you?

Anyway, my big issue is the hysteria caused by these weather people, and the resulting actions taken by school and government entities. My God, my local golf course has radar for the weather and they don't close the course until they see physical lightening. I've played 18 holes through monsoons and rumbling thunder and the course remained open. Why? $$$$ ok, I'm totally rambling now. ( I just used "rumbling" and "rambling" in consecutive sentences)

While I'm sort of on the topic, what's up with the "traffic" reporters in the morning? Are you serious? We need Mark the Shark to tell me that traffic is slow on I-84 going into Hartford at 7:45 AM? Really? What purpose do these people serve? At least the meteorologists is CREATING A FORECAST before they give it to you. What is the traffic person doing? Talking on the phone and then telling you what they heard? And those "traffic cameras" they have set up showing you the roads... how do we know they didn't film 20 days of footage and just randomly show it to us each morning? These stations really went through the expense of setting up a camera to show people the traffic? Half the time the traffic people just tell you what the weather people just said anyway! "Well, as Mitch just explained, it is a little icy out there, so you'll want to make sure you take it slow on the roads. No major delays to report, but keep it slow because there is some ice in the forecast. Here is a live look at our New Haven camera. As you can see traffic is moving slowly, probably from that ice that may be on the road. Ok, back in a few."

Plus, in Connecticut there are no alternative routs ANYWHERE. You could tell me that Satan himself is sitting in the middle of Route 2 knocking every other car off the road and I be forced to take my chances if I wanted to get to work.

Ok, well I might need to leave early since I just heard that there might be rain coming this evening, and there is a possibility that it could be snow or ice if the temperature drop s below freezing, although that isn't forecasted, but it is always a possibility.

Cars and others...

2008-12-18T05:52:00.000-08:00

So I'm driving in to work this morning and I was inundated with drivers who "forgot" which lane they wanted to be in and decided to "dive" into my lane at the last moment to hit an exit. This highway branches off into 4 different roads at the same time, so you need to be in the correct lane otherwise you are stuck on the wrong road. It is pretty simple, though. Just get into your correct lane and then drive, drink your coffee, listen to music, chill out, live the good life.

Of course, the main "exit" is in the center and that is the exit that most people take. Since most people have to take that exit, the lane gets crowded, backed up, and moves slowly. So, many of my fellow drivers use the faster lanes and the "dart" into the main lane at the last minute. It really drives me nuts, but then again, who cares?

Ok, so while I'm watching the cars dart in and out of lanes like hummingbirds I noticed how many cars have the name of the dealership emblazoned on the back of the car. Some had the license-plate cover, others had stickers. I wonder, what gives the dealership the gumption to think they can use our cars as advertisements for their crappy car dealership?? I'll be honest, I hate ( hate ) car salesmen, dealership general managers, the car dealership accountants, the finance guys, I even hate the people who just empty the trash cans at car dealerships. They are the lowest form of life. They will screw you at all costs. But, in addition to just being lousy people, why do they think they can CONTINUE to screw you by making you drive around with the dealership's name on your car?? When I go to Macy's for a shirt and a pair of pants I don't get a MACY's nametag that I have to wear. My Red Sox hat doesn't say "Bob's Stores" on the back of it. I don't get it. I'm thinking of printing up bumper stickers that say "I was ripped off buying this car at _________________" and then the buyer could write in the name of the dealership with a Sharpie.

Have any of you had terrible experiences buying cars? If so, send me an email at thedalilima@gmail.com. I'll post some of the funniest.

While we are on the subject of cars... what's the deal with gas prices (to rip off Seinfeld)?? How do we go from $3.90 in the summer to $1.65?? Talk about getting ripped off... I don't get it... I know it is a traded commodity so the price fluctuates, but that is crazy. Also, who could have foreseen the "big 3" auto manufacturers going under? I mean, Ford currently sells 6 different SUV models. Why wouldn't that business model work? General Motors sells the same cars under 3 different brands... of course that would be successful. Chrysler has 10 cars that feature the gas-guzzling "HEMI" motor and they proudly use that in their marketing. I know the foreign manufacturers have some advantage when it comes to the costs of labor and materials, but if you ask me Honda is the best of the best. They sell 10 cars TOTAL. Ford sells 6 SUVs!!! Get your niche and do it well. Unbelievable. Plus, what they heck does Ford need to also have the EXACT same cars being sold as MERCURY? What sense does that make? The entire auto industry is whacked, from the production of the vehicles, to the dealers, to the crazy gas prices. Just whacked.

-=-=-=-=-

Ok, if any of you want to get notified of updated blog entries, send me your email address and I'll get you on my mailing list. Peace.

A few random thoughts...

2008-12-12T04:59:00.000-08:00

A few things that have been rattling around in my head...

- CC Sabathia... great pitcher, but I don't get the sense that he REALLY wants to pitch for the Yankees. I think he REALLY wants to pitch for 160 million. Could work out ok for the Yanks, but will be brutal if he struggles early. I think the Yanks appears ready to bring in every high-priced free-agent pitcher this year. Well, Phil Hughes, thanks for the memories.

- I get too many things to read in the mail. Honestly, why can't BusinessWeek be published monthly? It would really simplify my life.

- Why is it that sometimes I write a word and it looks misspelled on the screen, but I know it is totally correct? Has that happened to you? Why does that happen? Is it because I'm getting old?

- Why were we told as kids not to sit close to the TV, yet I sit 1 foot from my computer monitor for 6 hours a day?

- I don't understand this "green" movement... Well, I actually understand the premise, but I keep seeing things like "cut down on paper use" and "go electronic, be green". Everything I see at work is related to reducing our printing and paper production and delivering information electronically. From a cost perspective it makes great sense, but environmentally? Isn't paper the most recyclable thing on the planet this side of water? How is building more computers and hand-held devices "green" but printing newspapers (with soy ink, of course) not "green"? I'm being facetious here (there's one of those words that doesn't look correct on the screen!) but I look at my closet full of CD-Roms and wonder what they heck I can do with those and people are worrying about paper...

- Why do I always misspell "great" (greta)?

- At what point do we all agree that every song has been written? We've been churning out "popular" music for 70 years now and at some point we MUST have exploited every chord progression and harmony, right? Case and point - Joe Satriani and Coldplay. Satriani is claiming that Coldplay stole his song "If I Could Fly" in their acclaimed "Viva La Vida". YouTube has the evidence, and it doesn't sound too good for Coldplay. I listen to it and can definitely see Satriani's point, but honestly, at this point in history I think we've exhausted all the musical combinations. Do any of you think about that? Everytime I hear a new song on the radio I think... wow, is that REALLY something I like that is NEW, or is it reminding me of another song that I like that was made 20 years ago? I dunno... maybe I shouldn't think so much...

- The Red Sox released new uniforms yesterday. They are fine to me, I don't really care one way or another, but you should see the negative responses by fans! You'd think the Sox were mandating a dress code for fans to gain entry into Fenway! Unreal. Check it out here.

- And lastly, I just read the Hartford Courant in 6 minutes. Really. I don't think it can even be classified as a "newspaper" anymore. It is more of a periodical, or maybe a thick pamphlet. It is so small now the classifieds are crammed together with the sports pages. I almost called up to buy a box score I thought was for sale.

Have a great weekend.

Ready? One, Two, Smoke!

2008-12-11T11:08:00.000-08:00

My house might be the only colonial in Connecticut that doesn't feature a fireplace or chimney. I guess the previous folk must have worked for an oil company or something. Anyway, because of this I've been working over the last two months on renovating the house and making a nice spot available for a wood stove. After many trials and tribulations we have a perfect spot for the stove and its look just amazing in the family room.

Ok, great - so now what? Well, I guess i have to light the sucker. I don't have much experience with fires and fireplaces, so I did some reading on the 'net, talked with my father and then jumped into it!

Rule #1, don't start a fire if you don't know what you are doing...

I opened the flue and put about 500 gobs of newspaper in the firebox and then added a few "larger than kindling" pieces of wood. I lite the paper and closed the door to the stove. Wow. A lot of smoke. In fact, their was smoke pouring out of the stove where I didn't think smoke could pour! Out the door, the side door, the chimney connection. I honestly think I saw smoke actually come directly out of the paint. The stove looked like it was mad or something.

Rule #2, don't open the stove door...

So, what do I do? I opened the door... bad idea... the oxygen rushed in an created even more smoke! I think the neighbors thought I was having a bad 60's party at the house. Then again, they wouldn't have known because I was doing this at midnight...

I opened the windows, turned on the fan and tried to keep the smoke detectors from going off. Man, it really smokes!! I guess that is what you get for not understanding how to create a "draft" when starting a fire.

Rule #3, a little newspaper goes a long way

Ok, so I figured it out... a little newspaper, a few small scraps of dry wood and leave the door open creates a "draft" into the chimney. In 5 minutes you are ready to burn. I've had the stove running for the last two days and it is crazy hot! We had the house at 80 degrees with the windows open! Cool man! I love the fire, and the stove looks so nice when it is running. Even my dogs love it! My yellow Lab Cammie (named after Cam Neely, of course) sits about 2 inches from the stove. She just loves the warm air. I swear I can see the ticks and fleas jumping off her when it gets too hot!

Alls well that end well, but thank God everyone was asleep while the stove was belching smoke...

My first Father/Daughter dance

2008-12-09T08:25:00.001-08:00

Well, it had to happen sometime, right? My beloved daughter is actually old enough to go to a dance!!! Luckily, I really like the guy she went with so I felt pretty comfortable with her going out to our church's hall for the father/daughter dance this weekend.

It was a pretty weird experience, as there were actually people there! I mean, how many people do you expect at a father/daughter dance in the church hall at 7pm on a Saturday night 3 weeks before Christmas? I couldn't believe it... probably a good 150 people there. So many, in fact, that Delaney and I had to wait in line for 7 minutes to get a mini-cup of water at the water table!

But seriously, you haven't lived until you watch 75 grown men dance awkwardly with their daughters to songs they've never heard before. Most of these guys had no idea what to do... do you crouch down and dance face-to-face with your 7-year-old? Do you hold their hands? Do you just dance NEAR them?

And then, of course, is the dilemma... do you try to teach your daughter how to dance, or just let them bounce up and down like they do in the living room? I opted to let her jump up and down, but there were some fathers and daughters that were doing some kind of odd synchronized two-stepping with an optional hop and skip.

We had a great time, and of course the two of us knocked over a Christmas tree while we were dancing... on to the floor and then broke the base of the tree in the midst of trying to stand it up. But then again, why is there a tree in the church hall, shouldn't that have been a nativity scene anyway?

We got some great pictures and she had a ball. Maybe her next date will be a better dancer...

Dancing with the marginally famous?

2008-12-05T04:45:00.000-08:00

So my mother-in-law is over the moon about the television show "Dancing with the Stars" - of course, being a red-blooded American male I can't stand the show. I was, however, watching the finale and saw that Brook Burke won this year's competition. But who, you might ask, is Brook Burke? Very good question. She is most famous for hosting a show about famous people on the E! network. In fact, other than having a very hot body I'm not even sure how she got that gig. All that aside, I wonder how a show like "Dancing with the Stars" can continue to be successful when most of the people on the show are not stars. I mean, Warren Sapp was probably the most famous person this year. Warren Sapp!

Anyway, I think the whole premise of the show couldn't be more boring... "let's take 6 or 7 former celebrities and pair them up with totally unfamiliar (and publicly unknown) dancing partners and then have them perform in front of a studio audience." Wow... so I get to watch uncoordinated people try to dance? Wow, pass the popcorn and local anesthetic.

Wasn't the runner-up this year a guy from a "boy-band"? How did he lose? Doesn't he already know how to dance?

To top it all off, I just saw a commercial for a new show about "professional dancers" who compete to see who is the best dancer in the world . I can't wait. My DVR is already set.

Recent Movies

2008-12-04T10:14:00.001-08:00

Hello world... I just saw a few movies and thought I'd give you the official Lima review of each...

I saw a number of cartoon and animated movies recent, due mainly to my children (of course), but I won't bore you with the details of the crazy adventures found at Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium.

I DID just see, however, Madagascar II and it was pretty decent. It felt like a continuation of the 1st movie, which I guess is the point of a sequel... It had some funny parts and the general story was pretty good. I'm not sure I was 100% down with the old lady beating the crap out of Alex the lion (Alex, THE Alex) since I was with my kids. I mean, she was no joke and beat the beJesus out of Alex. By the way, man, have we not come full circle with kid's cartoons? When I grew up it was Tom & Jerry and Bugs Bunny beating the Marty McSorely out of each other and then in the 80's and 90's it was "bad" to show kids all that violence... and yet I can turn on Law & Order SVU at any hour of the day and watch an in-depth discussion of some pretty nasty subject matter.

Anyway, I'll give Madagascar II 3.5 out of 5 stars.

I recently watched two movies that I rented from Blockbuster Online...

One was "Deja-Vu" with Denzell Washington. Pretty good movie. I thought the plot was "ok" but once you realize that the machine is actually a time machine it gets a little goofy. Plus, I'm not sure how two Denzell Washington's in the same timeline didn't explode the universe. Isn't that what is supposed to happen? Every girl I meet tells me that the universe can't handle two-Steve Lima's, so why two Denzell's? Anyway... pretty entertaining movie. 3 out of 5 stars.

I also saw Harrison Ford in "Firewall". Yes, as in computer firewall. How come Harrison Ford has a younger wife in each successive movie? I think he's dating Miley Cyrus in his next flick. Good movie until the stupid fight scene at the end. People, Harrison is playing a computer geek systems Vice President at a bank, he can't take 30 punches to the gut from a professional thug. I mean I could probably take 12 or 13, but 30? Seriously. Also, the movie is kinda strange in that it has some fairly serious and creepy siutuations, but then they try to add in some random humor which doesn't quite work. Good movie until the goofy ending. 4 out of 5.

Online Forms

2008-12-04T10:10:00.000-08:00

I have a ton of different accounts online. You've got your Netflix, your online banking, ITunes, web forums, online retirement plans, etc, etc... I was recently setting up an onoline payment at my car insurance company's website and it was totally infuriating me.

You know how you get your bill in the mail and it says "pay easily online at our website"? Great, so let's go. I sign up for access online and the form asks me for my account number. Ok, so I look at my bill and it shows my account number as 1111 4444... so I enter it as such. I then get the page back to me with the error message "Your account number is numbers only, do not add spaces, dashes, or other characters."

Ummm... well, there is a space on my bill between the numbers... This is a silly example, but the idea here is that if you have a space or a dash in your account number on your bill, why is it different online? And why can't they adjust for it in the form? It drives me crazy! Every website asks for your SSN and half allow you add the dashes, half ask you to just enter the 9 digit, and half automatically add the dashes for you. Ok, maybe that's too many "halfs" but you get the idea.

I also have an issue with these online bank sites... man, I've set up "payees" like ExxonMobile and Sears - I mean these are BIG companies... and my stupid bank sites can never "find" the payee to send an electronic payment. They end up requiring me to enter the mailing address so I can send a check via the mail. Wow. I can do that in my kitchen, I don't need to log in to my bank site and initiate a "paper check" to get my bill paid. Isn't the idea that you pay directly from your account electronically? If I wanted to pay with a check I could probably just write one out...myself.

In fact, that's not even the biggest compliant: why don't these wbsites ask for what they want up front instead of waiting for the error message to tell you? And I love the error messages that say something like, "Please do not use spaces in your entry. If you do not understand how to complete the form please call our customer service agent at..." Hey, I'm not a moron. I can figure out how to fill a form out, I don't need to call your 22-year-old college flunky to get help.

Ok, enough for now. Later.

My very first blog

2008-12-04T10:08:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. Ok, hello Mom.

This is my first BLOG outside of the trainwreck called "MySpace". What a terrible website. I can't imagine a web design in more disarray that MySpace. Just a clutter of garbage. But, it started social networking, so it can't be all that bad.

Anyway, I thought I'd get this sucker rolling by posting a few thoughts and seeing if there really IS life outside of Connecticut.