Borderline Fantastic

Anatomy Of A Failure: Lessons Learned - An interesting post from the founder of Meetro, which was a location based IM client. I tried it out when it was first released. There were not many people in my area. I also thought it was a little strange talking to strangers nearby. I’d rather my strangers be far away. It was an interesting idea and worth a shot. Very interesting read about why it failed and the thoughts of someone behind the scenes.

The Simpsons Ride - Was there not a Simpsons ride before? Its the perfect recipe for a ride.

Mario Kart Wii Training Wheel - Having issues with the Wii Wheel for Mario Kart Wii? I’m not but some of my family had trouble with it as first. You can create your own training wheel and look ridiculous at the same time.

Super Mario World levels set to music - Someone spent a lot of time to create these levels to match up to music. I only got three minutes into it. Those three minutes were cool but I think I got the point.

Turn your soda can into a bottle. There must be some sort of resealable can that could be designed instead of this.

50 Ways to Help the Planet - Easy ways to do your part.

Lovers, Not Fighters by Doug Glanville - As far as I know Glanville is the best writer in baseball. Here he discusses brawls he’s been involved in.

Beckham’s 60-yard Goal - I happened to catch this live. I don’t watch soccer all that much but I was flipping through and saw the game on HDNet. Nothing else was on so I watched a few minutes. I like soccer but there aren’t enough hours in the day to be a fan.

The bracket for the NCAA Baseball Tournament. Possibly the most complicated playoff format outside of Baseketball. The 8 teams that emerge from this 64-team field head to Omaha for the College World Series.

Since I got my first Mac I have encouraged a few of my friends to get them as well. To help them out I sent them a list of things to download to get started. This is the list, along with a few newer things that deserve to be on the list.

Adium
Instant Messenger Client. Let’s you customize a lot, depending on how crazy you want to get. Can use all the various IMs in 1 buddy list. The interface is a lot quicker than iChat, as far as checking status goes. You lose the audio/video abilities of iChat but I never have used those.

Skype
Instead of iChat I used Skype for my audio/video. It isn’t perfect but if you are patient it gets the job done.

Camino
Web Browser. Safari bugs me, but its getting better. See here and here. Camino is made by the same people as Firefox. Firefox has been a little weird on Mac. I’ve been using Firefox 3 a bit and it seems solid. When its finally released (or Camino goes whacky for a few days) I will give it another look.

Flip4Mac
Player for Windows Media. It’s certainly not perfect but if you want to play Windows Media files online you need it. Microsoft stopped making Windows Media Player for Mac so this is what they recommend now.

VLC
Video Player. If you come across a video that won’t play in Quicktime or Flip4Mac then try it out in VLC. If that doesn’t work then the file is likely bad.

Flickr Uploadr
If you put this on your Dock you can drag right from iPhoto then upload to flickr. Sometimes it puts pictures out of order, which really bugs me. FlickrExport probably does a better job, but it costs a few bucks.

Last.fm
Keeps track of what you listen to in iTunes, suggests other stuff you might like. The next version fixes some issues in tracking what you listen to on your iPod.

Google Notifier
Will let you know you have new Gmail (it also works with Google Calendar). It even gives you a preview of the message.

You Control:Tunes
iTunes controls on the menu bar. I have mine setup so I can play, change tracks, and rate the current song. It also has a pop-up that shows you information about each song when it begins to play.

SiriusMac
If you have a Sirius subscription this is a great app to listen. Especially since the Sirius Player only seems to work well in Internet Explorer.

Widgets
Radar In Motion
Current weather radar. I love radar.

Sing That iTune!
Will download lyrics for the currently playing song in iTunes. Is far from perfect but is the best available. The site isn’t in English, I usually download from here.

Happy Birthdays!
Shows you all the upcoming birthdays for the people in your Address Book. That is the Apple link since this is another non-English developed Widget.

Delivery Status
Put in the tracking info for just about any service and it will give you updates via Growl.

iStat Pro
All sorts of details about your system. I use it most often to see what program is hogging my CPUs instead of opening up Activity Monitor.

TV Forecast
Tells you when the next new episode of all your shows is coming.

Last week I went to Seattle for a few days. Last time I went I flew US Air non-stop. The non-stop was great but I was very very sick for that trip so 6 hours in a plane was not going to be a good time in any way.

This time scheduling and prices for US Air did not work out in my favor. US Air is the only airline that offers non-stop to Seattle from Philly. So I went with the cheapest option: Continental with stops in Houston each way. That’s right, Philly to Seattle through Houston.

On Wednesday I started as a normal day getting up around 5am and going to work. At the airport things were smooth. This was my first time not checking any luggage. It was nice to not have to wait for baggage but since I was traveling by myself I had to take my bag everywhere I went. The plane boarded early and we were on our way. The movie for this leg of the trip was 27 Dresses. It was alright. Not great but kept my attention which is all I ask for on a plane. I had headphones but I noticed they were only $1. I’m pretty sure they were $5 when I was on US Air. During the flight I saw the flight attendants handing out what looked like some sort of snack pack. I was shocked at how many people were getting them. I’m used to it being something like $5 for one. As they got closer I realized it was free. When it got to me I found that it was not a snack, but more meal-like. A salad, hot pocket type thing, and a Kit-Kat. I had gotten Burger King in the terminal in preparation for the flight because I would not have time to eat during my stop in Houston. The mean was solid. I was impressed that a domestic airline still served food. I was only in the Houston airport for 10 or 15 minutes before my flight to Seattle started boarding. The movie for this leg was Sabrina. Yes, the Harrison For movie from 10 years ago. I’m not sure where they picked that out of. Luckily I had never seen it and again it was good enough to hold my attention. The snack on this flight was peanuts. They were excellent. I hate when they try and fancy up the peanuts or go with some sort of trail mix. My other favorite airplane snack are pretzels that are stored on the beverage cart so they are chilly when they arrive.

I flew back on Monday. I was excited for the Fish Bar at the airport for breakfast. I stopped there last time I flew out of Seattle. The meals all look excellent but fried fish and fries before 8am isn’t my idea of a good time. They also have breakfast sandwiches and hash browns. That’s my pick in the mornings. A sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich with a hash brown. I made my way through the airport, into areas I didn’t know existed and things were trouble free. On the plane they served breakfast: Total cereal, a pound cake with chocolate chips, and a banana. Once again, like dinner, I was not expecting this but pleased. The movie on this leg was Step Up 2. I had not seen Step Up 1 so I passed thinking I would be lost. Instead I watched Grandma’s Boy on my iPod. The iPod isn’t ideal for watching movies, as I found last trip. I think part of the problem was that I was so sick last time. It could also be that Grandma’s Boy is good enough to overcome the tiny screen.

My stop in Houston this time was 3 hours. I went for some lunch at Papa John’s. Time passed pretty quickly and we were on our way. All my other seats were window seats. For this last one I was on the isle. Then things started going downhill. Some people came down the isle and put guitars in the overhead compartment. Who travels with guitars? I say only hippies and Jesus Freaks. I figured it was some group who’s name included ‘Good Time Family Band.’ If you are in any sort of real band you are not traveling in Coach. One of the guitar players sat next to me. A lady with a baby arrived to take the window seat. Awesome. Crank up the tunes. The movie for this leg was The Bucket List. I hadn’t seen it but I was a little confused by the selection. I’d like something moderately upbeat. About 15 minutes into the movie the captain comes on. He tells us that there may be a problem with the fuel gauge so we were turning around and heading back to Houston. Nobody was happy but we’d much rather be safe. When we got back on the ground the captain came back on to say that in the air they weren’t sure if the problem was a broken gauge or a fuel leak. Good enough reason to turn around. We had to stay on the plan while the mechanics did their thing. It got very hot. People weren’t too frustrated at first. After a while the lady with the baby decided to get off. I’m not sure how that works, if they give her a ticket for another flight or if she has to buy one. I also don’t know why she decided to get off. The baby was incredbly well behaved. He let out a few whines but there was no excessive crying. So guitar player slides over to the window and guitar player’s wife moves into the middle. We’re told that things are fine and they just have to refuel and we’ll be ready to go. About this time guitar player spots some black spots on the wing. I took a look, they were at the edge of the flaps. I have no idea, and neither does he, if they were there before. The baby had been playing with the window so we weren’t able to look out that much during the first trip. He gets the flight attendant and tells her what he sees. He wants it taken care of or he wants another plane. A mechanic climbs up and looks. The flight attendant comes back and says he told her it was just dirt. Guitar player is not pleased. He claims the mechanic didn’t have a good angle. He has her ask again. This time a guy goes out and looks from the ground and sees nothing wrong. Guitar player is really unhappy now. The attendant tells him there is nothing more she can do and he can talk to the captain if he likes. At this point he has convinced himself that these black spots indicate a severe oil leak and that the wing is going to come off at some point during the flight. At least that’s what I gathered from his tone. I am just sitting there with them talking through me while I look around trying not to get involved and giving the people who are now looking in our direction looks that he is crazy and there is nothing to worry about. That look would be a slight eye roll. He now tells the flight attendant that he is willing to bet the captain $1000 that its oil and wants him to come back and look for himself. The flight attendant isn’t really sure how to handle this latest development. At this point she is mostly staying silent until the crazy guy stops talking. She finally says she’ll go get the captain but guitar player has accepted death at this point. He doesn’t want to talk to the captain, he doesn’t care, he’s done all he can to save our lives and he’s out. He transformed from a concerned somewhat-adult (he was probably in his 40s) to a complete child. He then starts repeating that he ‘hopes to god you’re right’ to the flight attendant. The flight attendant left him alone. She was hoping he was done, she didn’t want to have to kick him off the plane. That would cause even more trouble. Luckily she was right and he was done.

So back to the flight. We wound up leaving the 2nd time about 2.5 hours after our original departure time. We were supposed to have dinner on the flight, which for the first time I had planned for and was expecting. Unfortunately with the delay the food had expired and they were not allowed to serve it. Everyone was willing to take the chance but they wouldn’t allow it. To get another delivery and heat it back up it would have delayed the flight another hour. So no meal. They did hand out the Kit-Kats later. For being patient passengers headphones were free, but I already had my own, and your first drink was free, but I wasn’t getting a drink. So all I got out of the delay was the story. The Bucket List was good but I was correct in wanting something more upbeat. Somehow after being so late we arrived in Philly only an hour late. My sister was there waiting and sadly my trip was officially over.

The NCAA announced there will be 34 bowl games this season. Do we need 34 bowl games? I thought 30 was more than enough. When are these 2 new ones going to take place? Thanksgiving weekend? What did the Rocky Mountain Bowl do to not get approved?

All the bowls from last year applied and were approved. Three new bowls submitted applications: Congressional Bowl in Washington, D.C., St. Petersburg Bowl in St. Petersburg, Florida, Rocky Mountain Bowl in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Congressional Bowl and St. Petersburg Bowl both got approved. I’m sure they will be changed to the Yournamehere Bowl soon enough. I should pass the hat in hopes for the Borderline Fantastic Bowl.

The bowl in DC is curious to me. There aren’t many cold weather bowls that are outdoors. I can only think of the Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl in Boise. I’ve always wanted a bowl game in Philadelphia. The closest we got was the Patriot Bowl in Valley Forge, but that was on Coach (so it was fictional). That got me thinking, what would be a good name for a Philly bowl game?

Congressional Bowl
According to this article from the Washtington Post, the game will take place on December 20th. The game will likely feature Navy (assuming they are bowl eligible) against and ACC team (the 9th ACC team). It will be at RFK or Nationals Park. Not sure why not Fed Ex Field. Perhaps because FedEx Field is in Maryland, not DC. I really dislike games at baseball only stadiums, the Emerald Bowl at AT&T Park being my least favorite. So I’m hoping for RFK. Apparently it will be the first college football game held in DC. That doesn’t seem right to me, at some point in the last 100 years a game must have been played.

St. Petersburg Bowl
Again a bowl game at a baseball stadium, Tropicana Field. There is an official site for the game. It doesn’t give much information except that the Big East and Conference USA are involved. I couldn’t find any information about which selection from those conferences would be headed to St. pete. This article says that the game will be on December 20th (same as the Congressional Bowl) at 6:30 on ESPN2.

Rocky Mountain Bowl
This bowl got rejected but I was curious to see if I could find what they had planned or why it wasn’t selected. This article states that the game would have been a Mountain West team against a WAC team. The only reasoning mentioned is that the NCAA doesn’t want more spots than eligible teams. Of course they would rather have a MWC or WAC team left at home rather than a Big East or ACC team that had a lousy year.

I collected these over the past few weeks. I’ve been busy and traveling. I hope these are still relevant.

From the Dilbert Blog, a man was forced to give up his seat and sit in the bathroom.

Horse tramples car. I have no idea how the horse got onto this car and then how did it get out?

GUTS is sort of coming back. It will be a family version on during Nick at Nite. I wonder if Moe is available?

My current favorite Carolla segment is Made Up Movies where callers give the title and the hosts develop the plot of a movie.

Police Log: Someone set a port-a-potty on fire.

NCAA Football 09 is coming. I’m excited.

50 Most Memorable Movie Cars

10 Worst Entry-Level Tech Jobs

Awful Announcing is quickly becoming one of my favorite sites. Here are a few posts I enjoyed in the past weeks …
Apparently you just have to fill out a form to be eligible for the NBA Draft. Then you even get added to the watch lists.

Charles Barkley reads everything he sees on the prompter.

Don’t forget to make your picks for Ice Cream Helmet Horse Racing Picks. The Preakness is on Saturday. Pick the order you think the 13 horses will finish.

Make your picks! (After you log in you will be able to make picks.)

All your favorite contestants from Rock of Love, Flavor of Love, and I Love New York in one reality show called I Love Money. I hope you don’t actually have any favorites. The title of this should have just been, ‘Let’s stop kidding ourselves, this is why you’re here.’ I think this show puts VH1 over the top and finally makes them the king of reality shows.

This is so funny that it has to be made up. If its actually true then it may be the saddest, scariest thing I’ve ever heard. Here is the first paragraph from the story: “US First Lady Laura Bush accused Myanmar’s military rulers Monday of failing to warn their citizens in time about a killer cyclone and pressed the junta to accept US aid in the disaster’s wake.” That should be all you need.

More sad political related news that really only applies to people in PA. The story is specific to the Philly suburbs. Because so many bridges need repair a lot of road projects are being delayed. Yes the bridges need to be repaired, it should have been done long ago and not ignored until they are about to fall down. Now the existing roads will sit how they are as traffic gets worse and more gas is wasted sitting idly.

I think this may come up a lot over the next few months. Arianna Huffington says that McCain told her he didn’t vote for Bushoffice furniture in Bulgaria. Not shocking that he didn’t, since back then he seemed to care about the country. Not shocking that he’s denying it since he’s been trying so hard to be like Bush for a while now.

Now for happier items …

The Office employees talk about the Kentucky Derby. This was the best part of the pre-show that I saw. I’ll admit I didn’t see much of it, I lost respect for NBC Sports when I saw Billy Bush interviewing Heidi and Spencer.

Foosball for 22 players. Not sure where you would put this gigantic table. Just put turf in a room and build a mini soccer field.

1. Comcast Sportsnet - Its just too perfect. Not only do they show the Phillies, Flyers, and Sixers but the Post Game shows for all of them are fantastic. The Eagles Post Game show is two hours every week, and how many other teams have the state’s current govenor as an analyst? The fact that you can’t get this channel on satellite not only has kept me from ever considering a dish but makes me worry that I can’t ever move out of CSN viewing area.
2. ESPN (all of them) - I hate SportsCenter and just about every show except for Around the Horn, PTI, and Baseball Tonight. They show so many big games I have to watch, even if its on mute. Big points go to ESPNews (I can’t wait to have ESPNews HD full time) because they show highlights, that’s all I need.
3. Comedy Central - The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. They should just show these on a loop as their own channel and I’d be in. I don’t even have to mention South Park to get this ranking. Ok, I’ll mention South Park. I remember not too long ago being worried that they might be slowing down. After this season, it may go on forever. By this point in the Simpsons run I was bored.
4. NBC - Here is my list of NBC shows: The Office, Scrubs, My Name is Earl, 30 Rock, Heroes, Chuck, Friday Night Lights, Conan, Saturday Night Live, and Last Comic Standing. I looked at the other networks and I only watch 2 or 3 shows on each of them.
5. CBS - There are a lot of channels even for this final spot. I went with quality. The only shows I watch on CBS are How I Met Your Mother and Letterman. All of the other contenders have slightly above average shows.

Up and Comer: HGTV. Ever since I got this channel in HD I started watching more. For some reason I love shows about kitchens. I don’t like to cook so I think its the number of creative designs and gadgets that can go in a kitchen. HGTV also has a lot of shows about houses. Either shopping for them or looking at expensive or interesting ones.

I saw Joel McHale last week. Bo Burnham opened for him. I thought he was very good. He sings lots of odd songs and is only 17.

I was browsing the iTunes Podcast Directory looking for some new ones to listen to. I wound up adding a bunch of NPR podcasts. Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! is the best of the bunch. Its weekly, on Saturdays, look at news items from the past week with a sense of humor.

New David Sedaris in The New Yorker. Not my favorite, its all about smoking. Still, its David Sedaris, so its worth reading.

A touching story of a balding penguin.

Photoshopping what each candidate would look like in 4 years.

Police Log from The Daily Collegian. Always one of my favorite parts of the paper, this one doesn’t disappoint.

One of my softball teammates’ man cave was featured on a PSU blog this week.

Some Lists …
Philly is #1 place to live for new grads.

Pittsburgh gets a #1, but for sootiest. Here is the full list.

Top 50 comedy sketches. #50 is cowbell. So either the list is terrible or there are about 40 hilarious sketches I’ve never seen.

Top 50 TV Shows of All Time - See how far you get until you have to stop because you realize the list is worthless. I got to #49. Then I flipped to #48 and they redeemed themselves.