Weekend Assignment #322: Product Placement

Carly is in charge of the assignment this week. It's an easy one for me.

Okay, let's shift gears to something very commonplace. Product Placement. We all have a certain product in our lives we simply couldn't live without. Tell us about your favorite product. How long have you used it? Why is it the best? If it were no longer on the market, what would you use instead? Give us all the details!

Without thinking twice I know I couldn't live without my iPhone. Yes, I know, not very original. And, no, I'm not saying that the iPhone is the best thing since sliced bread...but it's close.

I'm sure Jenn will agree, I use the thing all the time. I can easily check Twitter, Facebook, email, and my blog at anytime. I use it sometimes to double-check directions when I go somewhere unfamiliar. Occasionally, I'll snap a photo of something goofy I see to post to Twitter, or send to Jenn. I do that a lot at grocery stores and Walgreen's. There are some wacky products out there, you know.

Also, I have been know to play a game, or two, when I'm bored. Especially Angry Birds. That game is so infuriatingly addictive.

I don't know what I'd do without it. I'd get some other kind of smartphone, I guess. But I wouldn't be happy.

So, there is my lame answer. Go check out the blog to see what other people can't live without.

I'm somewhere else today

Today I'm guest-blogging on my friend Florinda's blog. She was nice enough t to allow me to drag down the quality of her book blogging by letting me talk about the book that she had gotten signed for me.

So, go over there today. Okay?

Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot #93: Fire

Carly wants some pictures of fire in some form in the week's photo assignment.

I call this, Andrew Jackson by candlelight.

I know, I was kind of reaching for this one.


I took this last summer at Disney World. Now that is a fire. We could feel it from our seats.

That's all I have for this week. Go check out the rest back on Carly's site.

Random thoughts on a Friday

I'm working the midnight shift this week so my brain is a little more mushy than usual. So instead of thinking up a real post, I just want talk about some random subjects.

I know I tweeted about this last week, but this drummer cracks me up. I can't stop thinking about it. I laughed hard when I first saw it, and I still laugh. This guy is awesome.

I know it is a little early to laugh about this tragedy, but I like this spoof on the BP oil spill and (lack of) clean up effort .

On the topic of BP, turns out that the magnitude of the spill so far was off by a magnitude of two. That doesn't sound so bad, until you realize the initial estimate was nearly 50 million gallons. They are talking about BP going bankrupt because of this. Good. Their gas prices were always higher than everyone else around here anyway.

I really like the new iPhone. I can't get it right now, unless I want to pay 400 bucks for it, but Jenn is able to upgrade when it comes out. That is her late Mother's Day gift. She really needs a phone though, she gets text messages a day late and her phone turns off by itself throughout the day. I may play with it a little bit though. You know, just to make sure she has it set up right.

I just saw a preview for the Battlestar Galactica MMO. Looks interesting. It just might be something I check out when it comes online. It was a great show and seems like a cool universe to play around in.

Speaking of games, Team Fortress 2 is now available for Mac on Steam. I've heard a lot about this game and I'm excited to play it. I played around with it a little bit yesterday to get a feel for it, I'll probably play more next week while Jenn is out of town. It's the perfect thing to do on a summer night when the kids area asleep and there is nothing on TV. Is anyone else on Steam? Let me know your handle.

I think that is all I have for now. Have a good weekend.

Weekend Assignment #321: Ancient Technology

Karen has the topic this week, and while I can't say I've heard the saying, "X has gone the way of the buggy whip," I certainly have some things that fit the expression.

We sometimes hear the expression, "XXX has gone the way of the buggy whip." In other words, technology and society have moved on, and something that was once commonplace barely exists anymore because it's no longer needed. Do you still have something in your home that has become essentially useless? If so, why do you still have it? If not, when did you get rid of it?

I have two things that fit with the topic this week. First, is my cassette deck. Jenn hates that it is sitting with our audio equipment since it doesn't work well and just takes up space, but I'm having trouble giving it up. I can't remember the last time I played a cassette in there, but I know I dragged it out of the garage a couple of years ago when I found a box of cassettes that I hadn't heard in a long time. See, many of them are not in CD form, or are hard to find.

This particular cassette deck I got back when I was in high school, so it's not exactly new, though it was slightly advance for it's time. I loved making tapes on it, usually by hooking my brother's boombox up to it, and I liked the cool blue light it used for it's display. I thought I was pretty cool with this thing. Now it sits and collects dust in the family room. Such a sad way to go.

The other piece I wanted to mention was my Laserdisc player. I did move that out of the entertainment center, mostly because I didn't have a cord long enough to reach the back of the TV, but at least it's out. This is a little newer than the cassette deck. We bought this just before we got married as I was leaving my job at Circuit City. Still, that was at least 15 years ago. DVDs weren't around at the time, and from what I remember, it seemed there was a format war going on, so I thought it was going to be a long way off. I don't believe it turned out that way. Oh, well.

I still have some cool stuff on Laserdisc. I have The Abyss: The Director's Cut, Close Encounters of the Third Kind: The Criterion Edition, Star Trek:First Contact, a RUSH concert video, and best of all, Star Wars: The Definitive Edition. The last is the complete trilogy in original form (no added CGI) in CAV format that came as a box set with a book on George Lucas. Jenn bought that for me a long time ago. I should sell it on eBay.

Anyway, yes, I have some old stuff that is out of date and should be out of this house.

Extra Credit: Have you ever worked in an industry that has gone the way of the buggy whip, or is in danger of doing so?

As I said, I worked at Circuit City. Does that count since they went belly up?

Go back to the main Weekend Assignment site to see the other responses.

Why my son doesn't want to change schools

Our kids go to a Lutheran school close to our house. We didn't send them to the public school down the block because the kindergarten schedule wasn't going to work for us. Then, once our son was set there, we decided to keep going. Why change if they like it, right?

Well, since it is the end of the school year we get to see a lot of the stuff they did in class that hasn't come home yet. One project was titled, "Why I Go to a Lutheran School." He wrote the expected stuff about teachers and God, etc. The kicker was the closing:

"I want to stay here because I don't want to go to a school that worships the devil."

So there you have it, people. If you don't go to a Lutheran school you worship the devil. Hey, I didn't say it. Don't get mad at me.

Aren't the last days of school fun?

Music choices

So, after a long lay off (because I'm a slacker, that's why), I'm getting back into running. I mean, I've done some races this year, but the training for said races was very lacking, to put it mildly. So, now I have to get back on the horse, as they say.

Today when I was running a couple of older songs came on. I think they were, Great White Hope and Borrowed Time, both by Styx. You know what? They made me feel a little better while I was running. Sure, they may not be your typical running songs, but they were from my days as a kid, so I felt a little younger while listening to them. Only a little, though. Remember, the lack of training I mentioned earlier?

As I was driving home with the kids, I've decided I need to go through the music on my iPod Shuffle and mix in some older stuff to keep me going. I'll keep the Styx on there, but I need to go and add some more. I need to make sure I don't pick out some super mellow songs.

Okay, I've got Styx, I'll put on some Kansas, but as I look through my iTunes list, I don't know if I have enough stuff like that.

Okay, I just bought something. I don't know if I can tell admit what it is. It's on the cheesy side, but this was some of my first taste of heavy metal. Also, I went to a private Lutheran school, if that gives you any hints. I just heard some and it made me laugh, so I think it is perfect. I need something that is going to make me feel good when I'm getting tired. It's not like I have some psycho trainer person yelling at me when I'm running. I need all the help I can get. You know?

Is this post a meandering mess? It seems that way. Okay, I need to go back to iTunes to find some more music. Or maybe Amazon.

I'll leave you with this, since it is the first day of June. It's not from my youth, but it's a good song by a band called Spock's Beard. Give it a listen. It's not metal at all. Just a good song. Enjoy! Happy June!