Catalina!

This past weekend, Wilhe and I went to Catalina to celebrate her grandma's 90th birthday. Yeah, 90. Apparently, the first time the family went to Catalina was to celebrate her 80th birthday, and they've just gone back every summer since. Anyway, here are the highlights:

• Tim and I losing any form of knuckle hair we once had before BBQ-ing some sweet chicken goodness
• Watching Tim flip his kayak over as soon as he got in it
• Flipping my own kayak over, losing a $4.50 pair of sunglasses in the process (may Davy Jones wear them in style)
• Watching Geoff and Tim flip Sam over in his kayak
• Having a toddler come up to me and say "Here is some sludge. Wallow in it." -- At this point, I'm not sure if I should just laugh it off, or be afraid that an evil mastermind genius villain has been born, and has his sights set on me.
• Having dinner with about 90 people related to Wilhe's family in a restaurant with maximum occupancy 75.
  
• Dancing with my wife to 80's and 90's music at Club Chi. Catalina must not get music until about 10 years after the mainland. That's the only logical explanation I can come up with.
• Having people rest on the back of our chairs on the Catalina Express on the way back, being as loud and obnoxious as any loud or obnoxious person could be. It was so bothersome, that it caused the lady next to us to abandon her child and belongings immediately to find a seat somewhere else so she could finish reading her book.
• Arriving home and relaxing with my wife for 2 hours before we went to sleep to start a whole new week of work.
  

Starcraft 2

It's about time. That is the great, and all too true, slogan for the sequel to Starcraft (released in the late 90's). I had been hoping for this sequel release since I came to love the original. (Note: That Ghost release for console units doesn't count. I don't even remember hearing anything about that game once it was released) It all started when my roommate (who had the same name as me) introduced me to this game. We played 8-person battles in the dorm and continued to battle through graduation of college. We were so into it, that after these 8-person battles, we would hold debriefing meetings in which we would discuss strategies and everything that went down. Yes, I am a nerd. And I am proud of it. In light of this announcement, I've had no choice but to load the original game (and expansion pack) back on my computer to relive the story line of the campaign, so when the sequel comes out--whenever that may be--I'll be ready. If you're interested, Blizzard has a whole site dedicated to the sequel at http://www.starcraft2.com.

Free Healthcare for Everyone?

So, here's a disclaimer: I'm not a fan of Michael Moore or his work, therefore this opinion is quite biased :) I was reading some of the latest news regarding his new movie "Sicko" coming out which promotes Universal Healthcare in the U.S. and I stumbled across an interview (you can read the whole thing here) in which he is quoted saying the following:

We're plagued with an every-man-for-himself attitude. That attitude may have been good in helping us build this country and helping us become the innovators that we are. But we won't make it through the 21st century intact as a great country if we don't adopt a different ethos that says we're all in the same boat. We sink or swim together. We have to help each other.

Isn't this the same thing as saying "We've been doing something right for a very long time and it has gotten us to be the great country that we are. It's time to change." If so, that seems a little bit off. What good are we without innovation?

Google Street View

I was browsing through some Technology news on eWeek.com and came across the following picture. Apparently they have some section that has a weekly "Kattoon" which usually features a cartoonish cat somewhere in the picture. In any case, this cartoon is poking fun at the recent claims about Google Street View invading people's privacy. If you're not familiar with these faces, you don't have an inner nerd, but that's okay, because I can explain it for you :) This is Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer (Chairman and CEO of Microsoft) standing outside an Apple store (which is made of glass) holding a brick and a rock, respectively. I just thought it was funny, so I thought I would share. Have a great day!

I'm in your {noun}

So, my brother introduced me to this amazing phenomenon known as: "I'm in your {noun}, {verb}ing your {noun}". Apparently, this craze has swept the internet and has inspired all kinds of fun photographs with funny captions... like a picture of a pet inside a computer case with a caption that says: "I'm in your computer, stealing all your internets"... among other things that I found to be quite funny. There's even an associated facebook group.... so needless to to say, it's everywhere :) Anyway, there will be times when I'll be watching something, or doing something, and an idea will pop in my head for one of these things, and I have no choice but to make it real. So, the other day, Wilhe and I were watching the Never Ending Story (unfortunately better the first time I watched it) and I had an idea... which resulted in the picture attached. I sent it to my brother (as I do with anything I find to be funny), but soon discovered that he hasn't seen the movie. So, if you haven't seen the movie, it won't be nearly as funny to you... but I thought it was worth a post nonetheless.

The PC vs. Mac war

Since I'm interested in buying a Mac in the near future, I've been reading up on the latest Apple news, reviews, etc. It's interesting to see how there are devotees on both sides of the PC/Mac war that will stop at nothing to defend their cause. As I'm reading, I see people making all kinds of unjustified comments filled with all kinds of ridiculousness. In most cases, it seems like the commenter has been burned (one way or the other) and will forever be on a crusade to destroy the reputation of the other. I would have to say that anyone that states that PCs are better in all cases, all the time, or the opposite, is out of control. Clearly each setup has its own set of pros and cons for different purposes.

One specific case was particularly interesting. Kyle and I were checking out a video on YouTube which stated a positive case for Apple. Of course, Windows devotees couldn't just let it sit there without a rebuttal, so there were plenty of responses to choose from. Well, there was one response that was attempting to bash Apple, but the poor soul didn't record any sound. Naturally, Kyle and I needed to let this guy know of his mistakes and left the comment "Shoulda got a Mac, sucka!" on his video blog. Note: at the time, it was the only comment on the video blog. Well, we came back the next day to the same post (just to reminisce about how someone could possibly post a video without sound) and our comment had literally started a war of dozens of comments back and forth....

Simply out of control.