Ohhh, shiny and new

In case you haven’t actually checked out this site outside of Livejournal or a feed reader, I switched out the theme again. As much as I liked Silhouette, it felt a tad too “professional” for me. I needed something with… I don’t know… some curves. And why did I start feeling this way? Because last month, Joen announced the release of version 1 of his Fauna theme.

Look at it! It’s glorious!

Not only is Fauna totally awesome in its sleek blackness (customizable by the way – I liked the dark version) but it immediately fixed a couple issues I never bothered addressing. It actually displays the tags on each post, plus you can navigate via links at the top of each post.

On top of that, I also finally installed Zenphoto – something else that Joen first brought to my attention (albeit about 2 years ago). You can check out the current meager beginnings of my photo gallery in case you haven’t found it yet – I’ll integrate it with my WordPress install soon enough. Populating it with photos of things other than my mug is a higher priority.

Now I’m just starting to play around with plugins, again. The photos in my last entry were added via ZenphotoPress, but I really want something that integrates that with a Lightbox functionality. Who knows, maybe 2008 will mark the year that I actually get this site organized again!

Meet the new me… the same as the old me…

Supposedly I care about my looks, but my sheer laziness constantly interferes. That would explain why I get a haircut maybe twice a year and shave once or twice a week these days. At this point, my friends probably barely even notice when I show up looking shaggier or cleaner-cut than before because they can’t keep track of my “style”. Not that I can either.

The past few weeks I entered full-blown Grizzly Adams mode. It was cool for a bit, but eventually it gets irritating. Especially when I got a head cold and the weight of my hair actually contributed to the weight of the mucus in my head. Plus the beard can get itchy…

CRW_2551I finally decided it was time to “lighten the load” and let The Woman go to town with a pair of scissors. This may be one of the final photos of my beautiful locks as I really plan on keeping clean cut these days. As long as The Woman agrees to continue as my barber, this might actually last beyond 3 months.

CRW_2605The result of my wife’s not-so-hidden talent can be seen here. I had to go with the haircut first, because shaving the beard makes me look ridiculous with my pseudo-70s ‘do in full effect. As much as I like it, I have to admit that I almost regretted the decision as soon as the first cut was made. Seriously, can I really pull off the polyester jacket and aviator sunglass look with short hair?

CRW_2674And here I am ready to face the new year with a new look. When I get the chance, new contact lenses will be added to complete. Yeah, thrilling isn’t it? Hey, you’re the ones reading this site, what exactly did you expect?

Hitchcock rocks my socks

Not to be outdone by SciFi’s Twilight Zone Marathon, HDNet Movies has been playing nothing but Hitchcock movies. What a frickin’ genius. I finally got to watch The Birds – even though the effects don’t quite hold up over time, that’s still one scary movie. For the best experience, make sure you have a parakeet in the room. It adds a three-dimensional effect to the sounds – that sparrow attack freaked me out man…

One of the all-time greats, Rear Window, is coming on, but we’re on our way out to toast the New Year in the presence of actual friends – a rare occurrence these days. That’s also why I’m not doing any sort of year-end wrap-up right now. Yeah, I’ll stick with that excuse. Tomorrow will be time for house cleaning on this site along with moments of reflection. That sounds way more serious than it will be.

Hope you all have a great frickin’ New Year!

Things I’ve watched in HD

A few months ago, courtesy of some gift cards and a sale, The Woman and I had the opportunity to procure a beautiful new TV for our viewing pleasure. Specifically, this 42″ LCD from Vizio – a set I can’t recommend enough. And now that we have HD service courtesy of Verizon FiOS, there’s little reason for us to ever leave the comfort of our coach.

These days, we’ll stay on a show simply because it looks great in HD regardless of the content. In the past few weeks, I’ve watched significant amounts of the following in HD:

  • A moose, standing in a lake, eating.
  • Two moose, standing in a lake, eating.
  • A herd of buffalo, standing in a river, eating.
  • A snowy field, set to music by Enya.
  • Krull.
  • A show called “Nothing But Trailers” that features… well… nothing but trailers.
  • Every NFL game that didn’t involve the Patriots, and even a few that did.
  • Madagascar and Ice Age.
  • An actual glacier.
  • A dog show.
  • Loverboy.
  • An NBA game.
  • Curling.
  • “Secret History of the Bra”.

Of course I’m kidding – I never watched an NBA game. But you could probably have a championship game on the Grass Growing Network, and I would be glued to it as long as it were in 720P or better. The beauty of HD and its effects on content probably goes in the following order:

  1. Sports
  2. Nature
  3. Other educational shows
  4. Computer animation
  5. Recent movies
  6. Recent TV shows
  7. Older movies
  8. Older TV shows

And that’s how I decide my viewing these days – not by what’s actually playing but by where it ranks on the awesome scale…

My fifteen minutes continues

What can I say about fame? It’s fleeting – but at least I can milk it for a few more entries.

– I was interviewed by my local paper Sunday night. Much to my surprise, I opened their webpage last night to find my goofy grin smeared across the front. Since most of you probably don’t subscribe to the West Orange Chronicle, you can read the article here. Thanks Debbie. Phone interviews are tough, but you did a great job with the article.

– Meagan (one of my fellow contestants) did a big write-up of what it was like behind the scenes on her blog. I really wanted to do this, too, but I think it might be overload at this point. If anyone is interested, let me know. Otherwise this will probably be it for me.

– Humorously, while googling myself for fun… yeah, that’s never not going to sound dirty… I already found references to the show on the first page. There’s Game Show Newsnet’s Shortshots for the 12th – I’m not sure that they archive it, but the summary of my show is at the bottom. Then there’s Game Show Kingdom’s take on it, too. I also made it on that blog’s list of big winners for the week.

– I’ve topped my previous record for contact with a long lost friend, as an acquaintance from junior high (we didn’t hang out in high school that much) sent me a message on Facebook after seeing me on TV. I’ve been most curious about the possibility that people I haven’t spoken with in well over a decade seeing the show and recognizing me – and this makes one confirmed hit!

– I’ve also been wondering if people might recognize me around town – especially considering my picture is in the paper. But that’s pretty doubtful considering I’m in full-blown winter-mode: 3-4 extra inches of hair and a beard.

Drink your milk

Sometimes, when you’ve had a crummy day and you just dread the following morning because you’re sure it’s going to be more of the same, you need a little pick me up. For those days, YouTube helps so much – because where else can you find a copy of one of the greatest commercials ever made:

You’ve got to feel better after that…

Quick thoughts on my fifteen minutes

– Holy crap, is it over already? After the months of waiting and not telling people what happened suddenly, BAM! That’s that. Sure, there’s still the actual money to look forward to, but the show itself just went so fast.

– I looked pretty decent on TV. Until I smiled. I seriously hate my smile. It looks like I went to a blind dentist with a set of busted power tools as a kid.

– Could I have giggled a tad more like a little school girl?

– My mouth was DRY. That seems like a pretty good excuse for why I kept making those weird faces. That’s what I’m sticking with…

– Meredith and I shared some nice moments – alas, I’m already spoken for…

– My best joke was cut out. I was surprised because everybody laughed pretty well at it, and it was a good closer.

– Overall the editing definitely helped me come off as far more cool, calm and collected than I was – even if they trimmed my awesome reasoning that netted me my final question. I did zoom through the early questions rather fast, but not with the ease that it appeared.

– I’ve watched it twice now, and it’s still a tad unreal.

There’s more to come, as I really need to do a breakdown of every question. Thank you to everybody who watched and cheered me on.

T-minus one hour…

Wow. It’s finally going to be on TV. And here I am without a TV. Turns out the cable TV to my company was never really tested. Surprise! It doesn’t work. So now I’m trying to stream it from home. Only that keeps stopping. ARGH! At least I can watch it when I get home, but I wanted to watch it “live”.

At least the stress is killing my nerves…

UPDATE: Thanks to the magic of UltraVNC, VLC, and Hauppage I am now streaming ABC to my company’s conference room. Who needs cable?

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