Justin posted this description of his office earlier and it's so damned funny I just had to share. I'm reminded most of the scene in Office Space where Peter rips down the big banner hanging in the middle of the cube farm....
Hey look, more snow. The interesting thing here is that I took this picture at 9pm in the middle of the winter, and due to all the light pollution around here, the sky is actually fairly well-illuminated. In related news, there was a 60-car pileup on I-90 just east of...
Crap, I've plateaued. Since last week, I've gained 0.4 pounds—which doesn't really mean that I've gained a lot of weight, but it sure does mean I've quit losing it for a week. I hit this sort of thing when I dieted a few years ago and got fairly discouraged—but I've...
So, there's some weirdness here. Our agent mentioned that it's possible (although not necessary likely yet) that the listing agent and seller of the home in which we're interested may actually search for us to do some basic background checks. The problem here is that if I'm blogging about how...
After only a weekend of hunting, we think we've found the one for us—so we're going to try to assemble an offer tomorrow. The house could use work, but it's priced (about) right and gives us the flexibility to fix it the way we'd like it and to squeeze some...
Layla and I got our first tour of some homes today and, due to the price and location where we're looking, have seen a lot of fixers. After seeing a handful of these homes-in-need-of-attention, I'm left scratching my head to figure out how much it really does cost to get...
Those of you who haven't seen the redneck rollercoaster should watch that video before you start the one below. Redneck-licious!...
More important than the weight, however, is that the reality has set in. I'm really, really sick of protein shakes. Maybe it's because I've been having strawberry shakes, with strawberries added. Maybe it's because up until recently, I've been having four or five a day. Maybe it's because ultimately, they're...
...we're getting married. That's all for now. I'm too overjoyed to post anything more....
After meeting with a loan officer mortgage consultant and a real-estate agent, Layla and I are really cranking down on looking for a house. We've been poking around the local listings on-and-off for the last few months, but we've now got all of the pre-approvals and timelines to start looking...
Get a ton of people together. Strand them somewhere stupid. Let them each buy a car for no more than $1,000. Make them drive it somewhere less stupid. Hilarity ensues. If you've been watching Top Gear recently, this is probably pretty familiar. The stupid place was Miami, and the less...
Incidentally, it's illegal to drive in Washington with unsecured loads—some scientists were killed a few years back when a tarp flew off a truck and caused a huge wreck....
Layla and I watched Jesus Camp last night. It's a fantastic film about evangenical Christian camps run in the heartlands of America. Well worth your time, highly recommended, five stars, and all that. The thing that struck me most about the film was the burden placed upon fairly young children...
I just can't get enough of these things. Bahahahahahaha!...
Exhibit A: the lottery. Exhibit B: people who circle parking lots at walking speed looking for a convenient spot. I realize there's an end case where a lot is completely full and there's absolutely no parking nearby—and in this case, your strategy for finding a spot is probably going to...
I spotted this last week and nearly peed myself with excitement. My clockwork orange clock arrived in the post today and tomorrow will be proudly adorning my office....
Hey, it's time for another 20/20 update! As of my weigh-in this morning, I'm down over 15 pounds from my initial weight. I've dropped two notches in my belt, and I've replaced wheezing hikes up the staircase with ass-kicking runs at the gym. One thing that hasn't been the best...
I used my Zune to play a number of Top Gear and MXC episodes on the six hours of travel1 required to get home, and I'm happy. I think I managed to get three solid hours of video out of the Zune, which isn't bad considering I was dicking around...
The thing about the southwest that's always driven me crazy is the lack of originality exercised in home design. Unfortunately, this isn't exactly uncommon (even up in the enlightened north) but since the land is so flat and brown, it can get really depressing. Any of you who have been...
This is a picture of the top of a Saguaro cactus near Layla's mom's place in Tucson. But instead of the usual load of arms (and other, ahem naughty bits of anatomical suggestion), this cactus is topped off with a wonderfully swirly brain-looking thing. It's not too clear in the...
I spotted this a little while ago at the end of the Alaska Airlines terminal at lovely SeaTac. It's a smoothie shop—closed at the horrific hour of 6:30am—but bedecked in gratuitous umlauts and diaerses. Unfortunately, the camera wasn't able to meter the shot correctly, so you'll really have to squint...
It's 4am and we're getting ready to fly to Tucson for the weekend. In the past, I've left a big post like this at the top of /dev/null for days, saying where I'm going and for how long I'll be gone. In the interest of not being stupid, I'm going...
Certainly, it chatters a little bit, but the clutch I installed in the BMW is still fully assembled, and the engine hasn't fallen out of the car yet. So, mission accomplished. But now the damned thing has gone through the third tail-end lamp in just as many months—this was a...
Freakin' sweet. Courtesy of English Russia....
This is easily one of the coolest radio-controlled airplanes I've ever seen. At least, I think it's a radio-controlled airplane. Sortof difficult to tell. This hangs above one of the baggage terminals at SeaTac....
I've got to get me a back-e-otomy!--Samson, Half Baked The reason I bring this up is that I've used that line often in the past whenever my back has been sore. Typically, it's lower back pain, and it happens when I'm lounging on the couch after a full day at...
Layla and I spent six hours in a home-buying seminar for first-time buyers today, and since Mouser posted about open houses, I figured I'd use this opportunity to share a bit of what I learned. The rationale for real estate agents to hold open houses makes sense, at first glance....
Something I didn't mention earlier about the LeMay Museum is that the vast majority of ~350 cars in their public display are American vehicles made before 1970 or so. Apart from a handful of German minicars (Isetta, KR200, etc.) and a few oddities here and there (such as the gorgeous...
I'm a keyboard snob. For years, all I used was a Lexmark/IBM Model M, unmatched in its spring pressure, tactile response, and roommate-annoying racket it made when you really got going on it. It's an absolute brute of a keyboard, but it had oustanding durability, fantastic keypress consistency, and sported...
I've learned a lot about exercising effectively. It's helped immensely in keeping me pushing the limits of my endurance, and to do so without exhausting myself. Most importantly, it's keeping me burning fat instead of glucose, which is terribly easy to do if you're not watching the numbers. Here's what...
