In the news 03/29/2010

I saw in an article today at Yahoo!News with the following headline:

Naked Erykah Badu video at Kennedy site stirs controversy

Click for article while it lasts.

I won't spend a lot of time on it but I don't think what Erykah Badu was appropriate.

It's not how she or her people didn't get the proper permits to film. It's not how she basically disrespected the site of the Kennedy assassination.

My problem with what she did is she stripped naked when there were children present. About 2:55 in the video here, you can see Erykah passes by a young boy, a very young girl and two adults I'll assume are their parents. The mother looks at Erykah and kind of pulls back on her daughter who is trying to enjoy the nice day, sightseeing. The mother then kind of pulls back on the son. She's not in good focus but it looks like the mother gives one of those "what-in-the-hell-is-going-on" looks.

Anyway, the song is just okay in my opinion. I don't know what she was really trying to say other than look how I can offend children. Good protesters don't offend or involve children. To me, that's where you lose all respect for whatever message you are trying to convey.

Baby...a Justin Bieber song

My kids were watching Nick's Kid's Choice Awards this weekend. I walked in on Justin Bieber's performance of "Baby."

For me personally, I wasn't impressed. It has nothing to do with his age. It had more to do with the annoying repetitiveness of the song. It's not his fault because that seems to be all the rage: see songs by the Black Eyed Peas, Rihanna, Beyonce, or many other four-phrase-hit-wonder bands. The RIAA blames file-sharing for the downfall of the CD but they should actually take a personal inventory on how many "real" and "good" artists they have these days. I can personally listen to a song just for the beat for maybe 10-20 times and then the words start to creep in to my mind and I begin thinking, "Why the hell do I like this song again?" About that time is when the interest for that song wanes and I move on...in actual time, that's probably 3-7 days. Done!

Anyway, I give Justin props for talent. I don't mean his lyrical ability (if he actually writes his songs). I mean according to his Wiki he taught himself how to play piano, guitar, drums and trumpet. That's talent. His voice isn't bad but for the repetitive lyrics and the bullshit "love" songs from a kid that's 16 years old, I find it hard to get into his music.

Now, yes, I am not in his target demographic...WAY above it...but I would hope our kids have a better understanding and love of music than crap like this. I know. I know. They don't quite have that grasp but I can hope.

Anyway, if you get a chance to Google his performance, you will be sorely disappointed as was I. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that he's just another white boy that wants to be "black" too? (I tend not to care what the PC term should be). Yeah, he kept pulling up his "baggy" pants during his performance...and that was pointed out by my oldest!

The Trinity River Project

I went to lunch with my niece last Friday. We hadn't seen each other in some time even though she works less than a block away from me in another campus building.

Yeah, that's the kind of family I have. I help them out. They move on. I don't hear from them again until they need help again. Luckily for this niece, the help I've provided her has not been monetary and she hasn't been ungrateful. Although she hasn't called or come by in a few months, she didn't expect anything from me other than what I provided, she was totally embarrassed by her situation and she was thanking and thankful for us on a daily basis. That's what I expect. I would like a little more than sporadic contact but that's something I can overlook since she was trying to work on her situation.

Anyway, we were driving to Chipotle and she made the comment about driving across the bridge over the Trinity River near downtown Dallas (on I35, I think). I think her exact comment was, "I could smell the water while I was driving over it and it smelled like shit!"

I responded, "And they want to 'beautify' this area into a park and shit!? WTF ever!"

Anyway, I thought it was funny to once again hear the "public-at-large's" opinion on what the city of Dallas think is a necessary thing. It almost is like Dallas is trying to be like Fort Worth's area of I30 and University. I don't think that's going to happen though.

Nine Lives (2002)

Nine Lives (2002). I just watched this movie last night on Hulu. You can check it out here, really you want to...NOT!

I really didn't expect too much out of the movie, especially since it had Paris Hilton in it, but I did have hopes of gratuitous nudity to make up for a shitty movie. I was very disappointed.

Without nudity, the story line was dumb and previously done. The cinematography was lame. The acting was the worst. But I sat through the whole thing. I have to. It's one of those things that I just can't leave a movie incomplete. I think out of the 100s of movies I've seen that there is probably only 1-2 if any at all that I could not, did not watch in its entirety.

FINAL VERDICT: If you like to torture yourself such as I, then have a go at it. It's free torture. Otherwise, you can pass and revel in the knowledge that I suffer through these shitty movies so you don't have to.

Dennis Hopper needs better lawyers

Saw an article online today about Dennis Hopper and his failing (failed) health. I feel for the guy. I liked him in many movies and hated him in others.

What caught my attention though was the following:

Last month, a judge ruled that Mrs Hopper must stay at least 10ft (3m) away from her husband after the actor said he wanted to eliminate unnecessary stress.

Really? What the hell kind of safety boundary is 10 feet!?

Sometimes (more often than not) the courts are just plain stupid!

Click here for article while it lasts.

Procrastination pays off!

My theory of "if you procrastinate and avoid studying/working until the last moment, then you can still be successful" has turned out another positive experiment.

I previously posted here about a paper that I should have written over my spring break but didn't. I thought about doing it the weekend before returning to class but didn't. I thought about doing it the Monday or Tuesday before class (which is on Thursday) but didn't. However, I did start it, albeit briefly, at 8:15am Wednesday - the day before it was due. I thought about going to the library after work to further work on it without being distracted because home is full of distractions but didn't. I figured that I would discipline myself to do it at my desk upstairs and avoid all distractions.

I got home about 4:30pm. I decided to postpone continuing on it until 7pm at the latest. I figured I had all the materials I needed for the research. I just needed to put it all down in a meaningful flow on no more than six pages. About 5:45pm, I decided to go ahead and start. Why procrastinate further and keep myself up later than I really want to.

I was disciplined and I finished about 9:45pm. I ended up with almost seven pages exactly but it could have been dwindled to six if I took out a table I had to insert but was needed. I did a quick reread to make sure I covered everything and it sounded logical in form. I made some edits but then I decided that I wasn't going to be too picky on it as it wasn't like a literature paper. I emailed it to myself so I could print two copies of it at work the next morning.

Stupid me started browsing Facebook and then I started surfing porn...what, it helps me relax and decompress...LOL. Before I knew it, the time was like 11:30pm. I finally went to bed, relaxed knowing that I was done with my paper and had no other worries in regards to my school for the next few days. Good times.

Oh yeah, the point of the post, proving my theory.

I got my paper back yesterday. Out of a possible 80 points, I got...wait for it...wait...wait...wait...77 points. Woohoo! Eat that you people that do their work early! Ha! I think the only thing my professor didn't like about my paper was I didn't use headings for the different sections we were required to write about. Personally, I thought it took away from the look and flow of the paper which is why I didn't do it. I did make sure my flow went in order of his requirements in the description of the paper but I guess he wanted to be able to quickly visually see it instead of just feeling the flow.

Next up, another "crit" (photography speak for a critique) on April 7^th for my B&W photography class. A final research paper and group presentation coming up for my management course. The ones for the management course will be done early(ier) versus later. I can't procrastinate too much on those especially when the presentation involves a partner.

Have I mentioned how I hate school!?

Jonesing for another hand gun

I'm thinking about purchasing another pistol for the small, very small, one, collection of mine. I really want to stick with the 9MM ammunition size. That way I don't have to buy more than one size. I already have my 9MM Beretta so matching ammo for the new one would be perfecto.

I've looked at a few sites for critiques and such but have only looked at Academy Sports and Outdoors for pricing, for now. I prefer a local versus Internet dealer so I can actually go touch and feel the piece as well as not feel like I'm going to get suckered from an online purchase. Besides, I know how much paper work I'd have to fill out and I really don't know how that would be done via the Internet. I'm an immediate gratification kind of guy when it comes to my "toys" so purchasing and waiting for an online product is not my ideal plan.

These are the pistolas I have taken a gander at: a Taurus PT-92 for $429.99, a Taurus 24/7 9MM SS for $379.99, and a Smith & Wesson Sigma 9MM for $319.99 at Academy Sports with their photos in respective order below.



I really like the look of the Taurus PT-92. It's modeled after the Beretta and it is a body style I really like. It has smooth lines compared to the others. I did read that the gun shoots well as is said the same for the 24/7 SS. The S&W Sigma 9MM was rated pretty highly by a few gun "experts" but it doesn't look as "pretty" to me as the other two. The Sigma and the 24/7 are rated better for concealed but it's a mute for point for me right now as I don't have my CHL just yet. I'm planning on getting it but it cost a good chunk of change and I really don't know how comfortable the wife and/or kids would be if they knew Daddy was carrying the heat.

Anyway, these will probably be shelved as "things Jay wants but probably won't get for some time" along with my PS3 Slim, Pontoon and/or Waverunner, and other things.

Ah, to win the Texas Lotto...but I'd have to actually play, huh!?

Archer on F/X

Occasionally I've seen this show, Archer, on the F/X channel. I don't know its regular broadcast day and time but I do know that the short scenes I've randomly seen are funny as shit! I didn't make it a point to find out so I could watch it regularly because already don't have the time to watch the shows I currently TiVo on a consistent basis.

You can see the 1^st six episodes of the 1^st season on Hulu here. Or you can see them on the F/X website.

I've been watching them at work. YES, at work! Because my boss came to me earlier this afternoon and asked me, "Have you ever heard of this show on F/X called 'Archer'?" I thought it was funny how I just saw the end of an episode the night before last and said, "Why yes, I have. And it's hilarious." She continued to say that a friend of hers wanted her to watch it to see if she was crazy for thinking it was funny. Her friend didn't know if it was because her husband found it so hysterical and she was amused by his response or if she really and truly thought it was funny herself.

I told my boss that it is really kind of guy slapstick humor but she likes that sort of thing (she liked The Hangover, Super Bad, and such stupid-but-funny movies like these) so she would probably find it funny.

I've only gotten to the start of episode three because of freaking work interruptions but I'm okay with that as I know I can watch them online...for now.

So, check it out. See how you like it. Let the good folks at Absent-Minded Jay know what you think.

Agassi versus Sampras - The Boo Hoo Name Calling Saga

So there's some new-old rivalry talk going on about Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras. You can see a video of what sparked it here and the corresponding article here and a short one here where Sampras says he's "saddened by Andre's comments." Boo fucking hoo!

I think people are blowing this out of proportion. Pete made a jab at Andre with the pigeon-toe walk and he asked Andre if he had a response and kind of goaded him into it. They both have egos. Just because Andre tends to be more audible about his, doesn't mean Pete hasn't done or thought the same.

Andre came up with the first thing that came to his mind...the bad tipper. It was a little over-the-top only in the sense that it really had nothing to do with Pete's on-court persona. Pete made fun of Andre's walk that he does on court, during matches. Tipping or lack of happens before or after the matches.

Misplaced jab? More than slightly but yes. Out of line? Not really. Both were very funny albeit a little personal. In my opinion it came down to how he responded and I think Pete got the best and final jab in with the near-headshot-rocket service that Agassi almost didn't dodge.

The media should let it go. Fans should comment once and then let it go.

We remember "celebrities" for certain things like their personality, their persona, their performance, their clothes, or attitude on and off their "stage."

Let it go people! Let it go!

And that's all I got to say about that.

The new "A Nightmare on Elm Street"

Apparently remakes are all the rage in Hollyweird these days. No previously shot film is safe from the possibility of being rehashed into someone else's vision.

A Nightmare on Elm Street is the newest...victim. The original Nightmare was pretty good. I saw this when I was like 14 or something and it kept my ass from entering any boiler room looking areas. It was also before TiVo so the too-quick frames of Nancy (aka Heather Langenkamp) being pulled underwater, nude, when she fell asleep in her bathtub were tough to see but well worth slow-mo on the VCR.

Anyway, it was the hit-and-typically-miss sequels that followed. Dream Warriors was sort of acceptable for about 3-5 minutes because I got to see the nurse's big boobs which was quickly ruined when she started lashing out worm-tongues to hold the guy to the bed posts. We thought it was all over with I think flick #6 called Freddy's Dead. WRONG!

Of course, I will rent the movie once it comes out on DVD. It's a sort of self-punishment I like to put myself through, I guess. As long as it's not costly for me, I'll watch just about any movie just to see what it was about and to say, "I've seen it."

The new movie looks like it has some decent scenes and such but I'm not fully sold on Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy Krueger. From the trailer, he just doesn't seem to have that eerie voice or look (he looks scarier without make-up) like Robert Englund. Jackie sounds like a smoker such as he did in Watchmen.

We'll just have to wait and see what the flick brings us once it premieres.

Chevy Volt

Saw an article about the Chevy Volt. A plug-in electric car.

It's a novel concept but isn't plugging in the car going to tax the house power which in turn will make the power plants churn more which in turn will cause more air pollution? So is that still considered a 'clean' automobile?

I'm not an engineer but it seems like a logical theory to me.

P90X - The Proof, The "Restarted" -- Started

Started P90X again on Tuesday, March 9^th.

I talked the wife into doing it with me. We started Tuesday because she works all day on Monday from 8:30am - 10:30pm. I told her we could claim that as her "off" night (7^th day) so she would not have to work out at 11:30pm. I may or may not do Stretch X or relax X. I don't know yet.

My wife's not athletic at all. She's not very coordinated either. She's fucking smart as shit though so it makes up for her lack of physical prowess. :-) I'm glad she was interested in participating though. She's lost a good bit of weight doing her Weight Watcher's. She's thinner but she's not really tone, at all. I don't mind but she's made comments about needing to tone and yada, yada, yada. Now granted, P90X probably isn't the program she should jump into as a non-athlete but I figured that if she could do some of it, she could eventually do more of it, and then maybe even do all of it (Yes, I am an optimist at times). It's also nice that Master Tony includes variations of the exercises for those people not as athletically inclined as others.

So, DAY ONE - CHEST & BACK started out well. I do enjoy the workout once I get started. It's just getting started that is the tough part, in all things, for me.

• The warm up began and the wife wasn't properly prepared with her breast support. When we began to jog in place, she could have gotten black eyes. She made a note for next time to wear better support. She snapped at me a few times when I commented on her form but I was only trying to stress what Master Tony says about good form and "quality over quantity." She quipped back at me when we were doing arm circles with fingers up stating that I wasn't doing them very big. I said because I know what's coming up and I'm pacing myself. Warm up done and we didn't kill each other and neither one of us collapsed.

I'm not commenting on every exercise as I forget them but I will include all similar ones together and an occasional individual one...maybe.

• Push-ups are not my forte and they weren't even close for the wife. I was pleasantly surprised though that I didn't have the embarrassing quantity or quality this time as I did the first go round back in September. No excuses, but I have a very hurt wrist like a carpal may be out of place in my right hand so it was very painful to do push-ups. I still did them. The wife on the other hand had a little more trouble. She did the knee push-ups. Not many of them but she tried and she did some. It's a start.
• Pull-ups were a little easier for her as I use bands. They are 30-lb bands. What that means really I don't know but they were the most "weighted" bands I could find. I don't have a pull-up bar and we do this in my two-car garage so I don't have a door jam to put one up anyway if I had one. Besides, the bands were like $25 and the pull-up bars + installation materials would cost me well over that.

  Anyway, the wife enjoyed the pull-ups a little more as there isn't as much weight force up on the arms (thanks to the bands) compared to the weight applied from push-ups. Not to minimize but it is easier to pull 30 lbs up and down versus your own body weight when just starting a work out.

We didn't do Ab Ripper X. The wife stated that the C & B routine was enough for her on her first day ever of exercising. I could have done it without her but I was lacking some motivation.

DAY TWO - PLYOMETRICS came and went. The wife wasn't looking forward to it to begin with but I told her we had to stick to the routine. We were kind of busy that day and it just kind of lapsed us by. I like Plyometrics but I justified skipping it because I just played tennis Saturday and Sunday morning for about 5 hours. I figured that was pretty comparable to Plyometrics.

DAY THREE - SHOULDERS & ARMS was another difficult one to schedule. Again, we were very busy but finally found some time about 8:30pm when the doorbell rang. It was her best friend that she hadn't seen in a while. I had a feeling she wasn't going to leave anytime soon. I waited and waited for her to leave but they had some "girl gossip" to catch up on so I decided to go workout on my own. I completed S & A but the wife did not finish her visit until a little before I was done. Once again, I skipped Ab Ripper X because I was too tired and demotivated!

------------ INTERRUPTION ------------

I started this post a few days ago but due to many interruptions I never finished. So I will truncate, fast-forward, summarize.

Days 4, 5, and 6 were a bust. Neither of us did Yoga on day 4. The weather was just too good. The kids had friends over and we all just kind of hung out and then I started a fire pit fire where the kids could roast marshmallows. It was a busy day for the family so Yoga was put on the shelf.

Legs & Back on day 5 never happened either. It was too, too nice of a day to spend indoors. Day 5 falls on Saturday which is my for-sure tennis day (Sunday is usually last minute optional) as long as the weather is nice. I did play four hours of really good tennis, running down balls (legs) to hit them with a forehand or backhand (back/core). The play was a 4.0 rating for sure except for my partner's occasional (many) flubs! I figured it was a good enough justification to not do L & B as well since I'm usually a little rickety after tennis. LOL!

Kenpo X on day 6 was put off as well. I had a roller hockey game at 5pm that I figured was a good replacement (more of a fat-burning workout for sure) than Kenpo. I had to take the kids to my sister-in-law's because they are on spring break and wanted to see their cousin. By time I got back to Dallas from Keller, I had to get my hockey gear together and head to Addison/Richardson for my game. After the game, I thought about doing Kenpo but I was really tired and had homework to do...which I avoided in the end as well.

So there is the recap of week 1 of "the restart." It wasn't perfect but I am confident that it was okay since I was active. I just wasn't exact to the daily routines. Today, we will start C & B again. We'll see if the wife continues. I actually have to play tennis from around 7pm to 10pm so I may not get it done today. I may have to do two tomorrow or stay up late tonight. Neither is a welcomed thought because of the timing issues, not because of the exercises themselves. For me, it really comes down to being able to do some extensive exercising more often because once-a-week-sometimes-twice tennis is not enough for me. I don't eat a lot but I also don't do as much activity (the level I like and require) as I did when I was younger.

Here's to continued following of Master Tony's routine!

Sweet Disposition by Temper Trap

I keep hearing this song at work every couple of hours on an Internet radio station, 181.FM - The Buzz. I'm connected to it via Winamp and this is the stream property info link: http://scfire-mtc-aa03.stream.aol.com:80/stream/1022 if you want to listen as well.

This song is catching but it's funny that's it's played with a mix of Incubus, 311, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Kings of Leon, Beastie Boys, Smashing Pumpkins, No Doubt, Green Day, etc. To me, it just doesn't have the same feel for which I would call "alternative." It's still a good song to hear though.

In case you are interested, here is a link to the song's video as well as you can see other Temper Trap videos on YouTube.