Part of the fun in life is seeing something new and amazing as often as possible. This video is one of those moments for me. As our families new residential and commercial development in Lincoln, NE - Village Gardens - moves forward, one of the bittersweet parts is that a house where one part of our extended family - Aunt, Uncle and three cousins - and which they had lived in for over 20 years - had to be moved to a new site.
This is obviously better than tearing it down, but it was still a bit tough for them to go through. So while the experience was something to boggle the mind - "How the heck can they move something that big?" - it was also one of those amazing experiences that was emotional at the same time.
The video - uploaded to YouTube - is a combination of three separate videos shot on my digital camera that have been speeded up to show a high speed time-lapse experience of the house being moved. Forgive the music choice but as I was making it the song by Stevie Ray Vaughn - The House is Rockin' just seemed to fit.
BTW - the house weighed in at about 140 tons if I am remembering correctly. It took a week to prepare for the move, a full afternoon to move, and notice the Semi Tractor and large Cat Loader having to be used to keep the whole thing from going out of control down the hill.
As I was searching YouTube for the Coupling videos I posted in another entry below, I ended up running across Catherine Tate. (Wiki, BBC Site) I have to say that before today I had only run into Catherine Tate in her role in the Doctor Who 2006 Christmas Special. But once you begin seeing the comedic genius of her in the roles she portrays you get hooked. She reminds me of a red headed Tracey Ullman.
There are much better scenes to meet Catherine Tate and her characters, Lauren, Nan and others but seeing Tony Blair is simply hilarious. Can't see Dubya doing something like this.
As a prelude to "Lauren" - Catherine Tate's High School Girl who can't be "bovvered" - check out the first clip with David Tennant - the current Doctor Who - then once you know "Bovvered" you can check out the Tony Blair clip with Catherine.
Lauren and David Tennant
Lauren and Tony Blair
P.S. - For those who liked her in the 2006 Doctor Who Christmas special - she has been signed to join Doctor Who for the fourth series. (Third series is just starting here in the US on Sci-Fi.) I can't wait for this Fall / Winter when the fourth series will probably show up in the US.
The British "original" version of the show Coupling was an amazing show that to many, myself included, covers the intricacies of the friendships of young professional aged people best of any of the "Friends" type shows.
This clip is one of Jack Davenport's best rants on the show. He is trying to explain why he owns a pornographic movie called "Lesbian Spank Inferno". As he digs himself in deeper and deeper eventually he blows and covers the Four Pillars of the Heterosexual Male Psyche. Davenport's character typically got off onto amazingly funny but true rants and this is one of his best.
Check out the Short version below if you want to go right to the Four Pillars and the long version if you are a Coupling fan and want to see the whole lead up scene.
Ok. I am watching the Live Earth event telecast on Bravo. There are some great ideas and thoughts being spread along with some really great music.
What I am chuckling about is the extent of the ideas they are giving out - especially the page on "Greening up your Sex Life". The list on the Live Earth site is based upon a longer (and less edited for kids) list over at TreeHugger.com.
It is humorous to look over but as you read through it, and look closer, the ideas they throw out in such a large number of topic areas is amazing. The options available they give that can allow all of us to make such small changes boggle the mind. If a bunch of us find a few choices to make each day and many of us act together the result will add up to much bigger changes.
Check the lists out so you can be a "Green" lover. Wink. And then spend some time looking at the other lists at TreeHugger.com to find some choices to do your part in helping to make the world a better place.
Ok - how about this commercial. See if you can tell me what it is about in the first 20 seconds.
Not quite what I expected but definitely gropes for your attention. Call me crazy but I feel like watching a European movie with someone now. Any volunteers? Wink.
Ah the power of a wedding to bring out the most in people. Sometimes it is the worst, especially if alcohol is involved. Sometimes it is the best - which is what happens with most weddings. And sometimes, as is the case with my sister, it brings out the "organizer" in people. My sister is an organizer, and I would say, she is proud of it.
See, my sister is a classified, card carrying member of the Type A personality sect of human existence. And the wedding brought it all out in spades. Now I am not saying it was a bad thing, what I am saying is that an 18 page spreadsheet is something not normally seen at a wedding. But this wasn't a normal wedding - this was my Type A sister.
The sheet had it all - timeline, photos to be taken, people riding in the limo, etc etc. etc. But, you know, I actually think my Sis had the right idea. Everyone knew their part, knew when they needed to be someplace, what to do, etc. and things went off great.
So in general the wedding went great, the party after was fabulous and in general everyone is happy. Now of course we all are in recovery mode. It's been a week and I am still in recovery mode. So please accept my apology for not posting for a awhile. I have been busy with my items on the spreadsheet. And you know what? Blogging wasn't on it. Wink.
So here I am on a Saturday afternoon catching up on email and I run across an email from a buddy. See he ran across this YouTube video of movie quotes. Not just any YouTube video of quotes - a movie of quotes from movies counting down from 100 to 1. Very Cool and I agree with my buddy - this guy definitely had some time on his hands.
Enjoy.
P.S. - My buddy has a great little podcast surrounding the Kevin Bacon game. He weekly creates a movie chain connecting two movie or actors. Fun cast for those who love the Movies or the Kevin Bacon Game. The link to the podcast is HERE
So I have been looking and looking today for something I wanted to post about - well ok around catching a nice nap during the NASCAR race but I digress.
As I was just floating the net I decided to go check out some things on IMDB and while there noticed the "Poll question of the day" and realized it would save my day and give me something to post about.
Which of these recent Academy Award winning actresses would make the best Bond girl?
Among the list was Angelina Jolie, Rachel Weisz, Charlize Theron, Jennifer Connelly, Catherine Zeta-Jones, etc, etc. What gets me the most was the amount of women that are on the list that either have done NO action work - (Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Hudson) and the large amount of women that do HUGE amounts of action work (Angelina Jolie, Catherine Zeta-Jones) and the many others in the middle.
What I happen to enjoy in a Bond Girl is usually a lesser known actress who brings a new look, has beauty (Sorry but Bond has the beauties with him most of the time) and seems slightly out of place. See the way I see it is Bond is the lead focus, he is there to usually save the "Damsel in Distress" and be the hero. While there are some great movies with the Bond girl being a spy herself, or able to handle herself in most situations, the kind of situations Bond is best in are the ones that just about all of us would give up and walk away from. Bond is the guy who leaps from Construction crane to construction crane to catch the bad guy. Who in their right mind would do that? Bond.
So when I see actresses that have been the "Hero" like Jolie, I can't see them as a Bond girl. But those who do little to no action work but have the "look" and "brains" seem to be a better fit. And many on this list seem overqualified or don't have the "feel" of a Bond girl. I happened to choose Jennifer Connelly but I just as easily could have chosen Rachel Weisz, or Cate Blanchett. Each of them while they have done "some" action have not done it exclusively, they have played "brainy" characters and just seem to have that "look" to me.
I wanted to drop a short note up here to let people know that I did not purposely miss posting last weekend. Some people gave me a lot of grief of me having a website that wasn't updated for a long time and I told them my goal was to try and post a few tidbits each weekend so that the site was getting some attention. And last weekend I blew that one by not doing anything but lying on the couch, drinking fluids, sleeping and overall trying to fight off a bout of the flu.
The flu was so bad I took basically a week off from work and didn't do much other than sleep and try to fight it off. And on top of that once I started to fight off the flu, my weakened body decided to let a sinus infection and bronchitis attack and knock me down again. That is where I went to the doctor and got some great medications. "Better living through better chemistry" I always say.
But now, I have had a week of drugs running through my system and I feel much better now. So please forgive the week or two off and we can now return you to our regularly scheduled broadcast.
A "four letter" word for some. The tasks that define who we are for others. But no matter what we do for "work", for many of us, the "work" we do tends to be the main effort for our lives. If you add it up most of us spend anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 of our life at work. And we all forget that work should be more than just punching a clock and showing up. Work should be a way for us to give back. Or a way we can be a productive part in others lives.
While the message I think you would enjoy hearing is within a sermon from a presbyterian church and it does have a religious portion, the ideas shown are more than religious. It is a great message about how we all do work because it is good. That, yes, we do work to put food on the table, roofs over our heads, and money to pay for the enjoyments of life, BUT work should be more than that. We should realize that no matter what we do for work we are important. That the people who work with us are a necessary part of the work we do and we are a team. The better we all work together the better our work will be - and - work is good.
Work should be somewhere we make a difference. Work should be a place we work together to make the world a better place no matter what we do. Work should be a place we all feel important and needed.
The video is hosted at the Menlo Park Presbyterian Church. You can go right to their video section by clicking HERE. Once there scroll down and look for the "Jesus & Your Job" section. You can then decide to listen to the audio, play the video online or download the mp3 file. And it will only take a bit more than 20 minutes. I would recommend it to anyone.
P.S. Found this one through a link over at Guy Kawasaki's site on this page.
Well folks as I write this it is like 3 months away from my sister's wedding.
Ok - it's actually: 98 days, 1 hour, 17 minutes and some odd seconds away but who's counting? [OUCH - Ok C - Sorry.]
Many of you know that I am really, really happy for my sister and her future husband - truly I really am. But as a guy, I am resigned to the fact that I really have no part to play in the decisions about the wedding. Neither does the groom. Nope.
The only opinion that counts is the Brides. Especially as we get closer and closer to the BIG day.
Brides and Brides to be - you can tell us guys (Groom, brothers, friends, etc.) you want our opinions about the wedding, the cake, the invitations, the dresses, the shoes, the whatever, etc. etc. etc.
You can ask for our ideas. You can let us share our opinions about things with you. It's all good. But every guy really knows deep down - in places that we normally don't show you women - that whatever the bride wants is what is going to happen.
Our thoughts on planning the wedding? Nice you want to know them, but not gonna happen. Nope. Never. We know it before you even ask us. Right guys? On some level just tell us when and where we are supposed to be and we will be there with proverbial bells on.
So MY standard line when asked MY opinion about something dealing with the wedding (all through the year and a half of preparation) has been.....
[With absolutely no emotion or inflection in voice] All I care about is my sister's happiness.
It's easy to remember, sounds great to those who have only heard it once and subtly reminds the bride that if you really wanted our opinions then maybe you might actually use one or two versus asking us and then going the way you were going to go in the first place.
REMINDER:
I really am happy for the "Happy Couple" and I will be there assisting in numerous things the week of the wedding. Hopefully with a smile on my face, a pep in my step, and a positive attitude. All as the Bride goes nervy as the day gets closer - and me always trying to be helpful in putting together the wedding my Sister wants. Can I get a "Yay! Go Team!"?
Ok, now that I have that off my chest here is a great video that has been floating the net - maybe you have seen it, maybe you haven't - but it is hilarious and of course comes right back to "Whatever the bride wants - The bride gets."
Just hit play if you don't believe me.
Background:
According to this Video on YouTube from Good Morning America, the Bride really liked the movie, "13 going on 30". Especially a scene where Jennifer Garner leads the crowd in the dance moves to "Thriller" (YouTube-Actual Thriller Video). She liked it so much she asked her future Husband to pull it together for their upcoming wedding.
So with about 6 weeks prep including copying DVD's to the Wedding party with moves slowed down in Slow-Mo, practicing and making sure they were ready, the result was what the Bride wanted - an in person remake of the remake of the "Thriller" Video.
And a surprise to boot for the rest of the Wedding guests that had no clue it was coming! That's dedication to his future wife.
Me as a lawyer (and I don't even play one on TV): I rest my case your honor. Judge: Agreed. Case dismissed. [BANG] NEXT CASE.
P.S. Check out the Groom's Online Comic strip - Rockwood - Great stuff.
P.P.S. - I really am happy and looking forward to the wedding - but any guy who has gone through this all understands where I am coming from. And I should heal enough from the beating my sister will give me to be at the wedding. GRIN.
I have added a new "badge" to the side for the Six Degrees.org movement.
A "play" off of the "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" game - the badge allows you to donate to some charitable organizations that have meaning to me here in Lincoln.
If you would like to learn more about the badges head over to Six Degrees.org for more info or to create your own badge. If you would like to see the video from Kevin Bacon about it all you can watch it below.
I have been saving this one for a bit but haven't had time to post it. The graphic above was created for an article for NY Magazine.
It is a listing of the Top 50 linked to websites and each line connecting two sites is a link in the last 90 days between the blogs. Not a perfect showing of "connectedness" of the web but it is 1) An interesting statement of how information moves back and forth quicker and quicker, and 2) A statement of how once something "interesting" hits the web how much it moves between sites quickly.
P.S. If you are more curious about the sites they used click the link to the article where they list out and detail each site, including one I have on my list of sites I like to visit, Dooce.
Saw this over at Cnet's Webware Blog in an article about Stirr (A group working to encourage entrepreneurial activity in the SF Bay Area).
Seems that Sun Microsystem's Chairman and Co-Founder Scott McNealy's was the lead speaker at a Stirr event called the Founder's Mixer. The event - an invite only event to encourage interaction between the entrepreneurs new to the scene and many movers and shakers - allowed McNealy time to offer his thoughts and hints to the new "class" of up and comers. In the talk McNealy offered some advice.
"If you want to be like Scott McNealy, by the way, here are his six maxims:"
Keep your eye on the ball.
Hire smart people who get along with each other.
Your business has "got to be controversial," otherwise everybody will do the same thing you do.
Don't cheat (even if nobody's looking).
Manage through slogans.
Love your job.
An interesting list that piques my interest in learning more - especially number #5 " Manage through Slogans." I have heard similar ideas before and think I know that McNealy is alluding to - but I just might have to go looking for more info.
Sometimes when I surf I just run across something cool. This is one of those discoveries.
Check out the video of a powered rope ascender designed by MIT students in a design competition for the Army. This little sucker is amazing and once you think about it has so many possible applications for the military, emergency services, etc.
I don't happen to be one - but if you are a fan of "The Office", the NBC "remake" of the British comedy and you happen to be a business kind of person you might want to check out "that's what she said" .
The blog, written by Julie Elgar, is a site where Julie watches "The Office" then as a lawyer comments on the potential litigation costs of the events of that episode.
Humor aside, the values of the items is shocking and should really remind all managers, owners, supervisers, etc. what our world has come to. With more and more people out there believing that the way to the top of the ladder is not so much hard work anymore but a well placed lawsuit, the info Julie gives at "that's what she said", can be a wake up call.
Besides - she has a good wit and style that is fun to read.
Guy Kawasaki, former Apple Evangelist now working in venture capital, and well seen for many years in both print and web spheres, has an interesting article on his blog about "Is your Boss an Asshole?"
The book is a discussion of all of those people in the work world that have a way to be mean and cruel and like doing it. The point being that we all have a few people we know who are like that and what should we do about them? The book (haven't read it) appears to talk about getting rid of them and finding ways to deal with the ones who we can't get rid of - the bosses - so that we can be more productive and better at our jobs. That's my take after reading the notes on the web about the book.
But back to Kawasaki's post - he has a list of 11 things that could describe an "Asshole Boss" and while it is not a perfect or probably complete list, it is well thought out and gives a guy pause to think. So do I really know someone who fits these 11 descriptors?
BTW - After reading the list are you an Asshole? You can tell me - who am I going to tell? GRIN.
Later.
P.S. - If you want to take an online 24 question quiz to see if you are an "Asshole," either go see the post by Kawasaki where you should be able to find a link or you can jump right to the quiz by clicking here.
For those of you who are members of the IT profession - whether professionally or just the guy or gal who gets asked to come "fix" all your friends computers you have to see this one.
Ok. I am watching the 
.
Feeds
