woah, wow!

i seriously cannot get enough of this video... i don't know how many times i've said "i would like to touch them" in the past month. i love the southern accent the kid seems to have when the dad clearly doesn't have one. and you can't forget the classic cookie monster impression. :)


you can see a better version here, which i couldn't embed.

new beginning...

it still hasn't sunk in yet... but wow, what a crazy political ride and election night. flood of alcohol, cheers, discussion and tears...


i decided to take the easy route on the cake writing... have you tried writing round, connected letters with a crappy icing pen thing? and now the wait to inauguration begins...

oh, and i have so many things to post about on this and my 101 blog, but haven't had the time. but now that this is over, politics is no longer taking over my life. :)

Komen 5K

Quick post...

Some friends and I recently formed a team to participate in a 5K on November 2, 2008, benefiting the Susan G. Komen for the Cure here in Austin. I'm nowhere near as ready as I should be, but this is at least a step in the right direction. Anyway, if you are able to donate as little as $10, my team and I would greatly appreciate it! The donation is tax deductible and going towards a great cause.

Here's a direct link to our team page:

http://bit.ly/komen - Thanks!

pointers....

while i definitely lost a lot of interest in programming after i got my comp sci degree in '03, i can still fully appreciate the occasional fun-poking...

ike, toast

so many things going on right now so i haven't gotten a chance to update... been busy checking out a friend's new band, trying to stay informed about the political race (ie, keep all the false accusations straight) and now hurricane ike is about to hit galveston/houston. my parents, along with several friends live in the mandatory houston evacuation zones (ie, clear lake/nasa area) so i'm trying to keep in touch with them and watch the news when i can. my parents boarded up their house and headed maybe 20-30 miles more inland at a friend's hotel, but honestly, i don't know if they'll have electricity after tonight. the wind and rain is going to hit hard and for a long time so they'll be trapped there for a while. i really wish they had come up to austin, but whatcha gonna do? they at least left their house (which they weren't going to do at first) to a slightly better situation with other people they knew.

trying to reach them and others has been tough with 'all circuits are busy' messages often, but i'm keeping in touch the best i can and have confidence they'll stay safe. their house may not be so lucky so we'll see. *fingers crossed*

anyway, just wanted to poke online with a quick update. also, anyone in/around houston, stay safe, smart and dry! and if you still have time (or want to) leave, austin's a good place to go. :)

oh, and for something completely different, i stumbled across this product on Cafe Chick's blog:


and then i did another quick search online and found this baby. i want one!! but yeah, not for the $400 i saw on ebay...


while it's a pretty cool novelty idea, next thing you know, companies will be buying ads on toast at ihop, printer ink sales will go down, printer paper will be used only on legal documents. this puts the idea of recycled paper on a whole new level. haha.

food find

i love cheese, but never really got into these until recently. and now i'm hooked...


unfortunately, costco doesn't sell these in bulk so i had to get the non-light ones, at 20 more calories each. oddly enough, i prefer the flavor of the light (not as salty or something). oh well for now.

no surprises??

so chris and i are hoping to go to NYC this december (cold, i know) since he's never been and we both love big cities, mass transit, etc. i've been using pretty much every major travel site out there and of all of them, orbitz is the most frustrating. sure, some dinky site may have crappy web design and take a little longer to pull up results, but at least they don't pull this crap on you once you've already chosen an itinerary and have seen the price. i wouldn't have expected this from such a major travel site... (click pictures to enlarge)

i've already chosen my hotel and flight at this point:


i click to continue and then all of a sudden, on the next page:


"Up front, no surprises" my ass.... why bother putting that statement there? this has happened both times i've visited this week and i remember it happening to a friend a while back. is this how they always do it? i wonder how many customers they lose to this. luckily, i found a cheaper deal for the same exact flight/hotel so problem solved.