Thoughts of a Ted

The Age of Coddled Women

2011-08-06T17:02:00.000-07:00

An Open Letter to Women:

Now don't get me wrong, chivalry is great and all. I love holding the door open for you. I've got no problem getting your car door. But let's talk about some facts.

It's 2011 (I hope that isn't a shock for you) and in 2011 you can go to the same schools I can. You can get the same degree I can. You can get the same jobs I can. You can make just as much money as I can. Remember all those rules about how the guy should always pay? Yea those are several decades old. In fact, they began in a time when you... couldn't go to the same school, get the same degree, get the same job, or make as much money as me. You've spent decades fighting for equality in income and decision making. Fighting to be treated independent and equal to any man. But then, when it comes to any form of courting, all of a sudden you magically travel back a century, and but of course the man must make all decisions, plan all happenings, and pay all expenses (How could you, (apparently) a 1910 woman, be expected to do any of that?)

Another wonderful facet of the modern courting system: The guy must make every move. Every move. For some reason you are only allowed to offer hints (Which guess what, you aren't really as good at as you think you are). That means every time someone makes a move and ends up looking like an idiot.. it's us! Yep, every time. It's really fun! (Trust me) In fact, maybe you should try it some time since it's so fun! But seriously... you should. Want to know something that drives me nuts? Hearing you complain about how no one will ask you out, or make a move on you. Yep. Drives me nuts.

Imagine a world where, after decades of fighting for equality, you actually acted... equal. Wouldn't that be crazy? What if half the time I asked you out and planned a date and paid (Because you're worth it!) and half the time you asked me out and planned a date and paid (Because... maybe I'm worth it too?). Wouldn't that be crazy?

I'm not saying we should switch roles. I'm not saying you should do everything and pay for everything (Like we've been doing for... a good long while). I'm saying we should play this game together! As equals. Equally yoked and all that jazz.

It's just a thought.

Love,
Ted

Terrible Blogger

2010-12-05T22:15:00.000-08:00

Ya I'm pretty bad.

I took some pictures!

Playing with Richy's T2i and Picasa to do some post-processing.

I'm thinking I might buy a cheap DSLR next spring. Looking at either a Canon t1i (Mary's camera!) Nikon D3100 (It's new and a little pricey but I REALLY liked the interface) or a Pentax K-X (Very small and compact, loud shutter but for the price takes incredible pictures, especially low-light high iso stuff). I've always wanted to get in to photography... but when you actually try to take nice pictures with a point and shoot it's always just so... disappointing... blurry or grainy. Thoughts?

Another Fine Day

2010-10-15T15:50:00.001-07:00

To those of you who live in Seattle, which is all two of you who read this blog, I hope you are enjoying this beautiful Seattle weather!

On top of the weather, I’ve had such a marvelous day so far that I figured it would be a crime not to share!

Fist came the bus. I take the bus to school from the Park & Ride. I normally listen to music through ear buds while I’m on the bus, and today was no exception. However, during the ride I paused a song I didn’t like to go find another one, and was a little surprised to hear some music still going on. I listened a little bit closer and realized someone nearby was sort of mumbling along with whatever music they were listening to. I couldn’t quite place this impromptu performer until I heard a very distinct, slightly above conversational level “Hit me baby one more time!” to my right. I looked over to see a very happy looking girl, who appeared to have down syndrome, listening to what must have been an original iPod (I forgot how darn THICK those things were!) and bundled up in a ski jacket, ski gloves, beanie, sweat pants and boots (Mind you, while I was wearing jeans and a short-sleeve polo). It was such a marvelous sight I felt I simply had to share it with you.

Second fun point of the day, after BCOM class one of my classmates invited me to grab lunch with him. He is a server at a Vietnamese restaurant in the international district and gets 50% off. Which means that I got a 3 course Vietnamese FEAST for $6. Not bad! I’ve decided I like Vietnamese food. They use LOTS of green stuff, so even after gorging myself I felt perfectly fit and ready to walk to meet my bus afterwards.

Next fun part of the day is future. Tonight a friend is coming over, and we’re going to cook Enchiladas, and then we’re off to see In The Heights at 5th Avenue theater with another friend. I’m excited!

Enjoy this beautiful Seattle fall weather!

Life Updates!

2010-10-08T16:02:00.000-07:00

I stand rebuked, rebuffed, and chastised. (Aunt LoLo that's looking to you)

So, an update on LIFE!

Italian Dinners!!

Yes, my beautiful friend came over and cooked some delicious Ravioli in Light Mushroom Sauce with a parsley garnish (Very important!) (**FYI I am currently in negotiations to get said beautiful friend to make a guest post on The Chow Review with this recipe, so stay tuned for that!)

We simply couldn't let such a delicate entrée go unaccompanied, so we fixed up (microwaved) some delicious Broccoli in Light Sauce, broiled up some Garlic Bread and popped open a romantic bottle of Champaign (Blood Orange Sparkling Grape Juice).

Italia has nothing on our table cloth!

New Headphones!!

Oh look at those beautiful beasties. Those are a gorgeous (And very Retro) pair of Sony MDR-V6 Full Size Headphones. These things have been in production unchanged since the 80's, and are still pretty darn popular. They sound amazing, are VERY comfortable, and have a really cool retro looking "for DIGITAL" sticker *ahem* I mean to say DECAL on the side. Oh yes. We have sound, and we have style, and today we have them in one.

But, we wouldn't want our other headphones to get jealous, now would we? So we have:

New Headphone Mod!!

Do you have an old pair of headphones that could really use some... freshening up?

Perhaps you'd like to give them that... clean look?

Or perhaps they have displeased you, incurring your royal wrath and thus are deserving of torture akin to water-boarding?

Well if you answered yes to any of those questions, than this fresh, clean, potentially damaging headphone mod is for you.

Directions:

Coil earbuds around hand

Place coiled earbuds in pocket

Remove pants (In a decent place, please!)

Place pants in Dirty Clothes Hamper

....

Well you get the picture from there. I am happy to report that my earbuds still work, even the buttons for controlling the ipod still work, amazingly enough. The texture of the rubber around the rims to seal with my ears has changed slightly, and is not quite so comfortable... but we survived.

Well that's my life, how is yours?

Bad Subaru. I Quit Your Survey

2010-09-15T15:45:00.000-07:00

Has anyone else actually taken the survey they beg you to take after you buy a car? I just gave it a shot.

I quit.

Throughout the whole thing I could tell I was being manipulated in to answers so Subaru could spout cool facts about how 90% of Subaru buyers think "this".

This last question so embodied this manipulation that I took a screenshot and refused to go any further!

In a normal survey, you would have a slider. On one side would be one quality, on the other side would be the opposite of that quality. "Active.........Inactive" But look at this crazy thing Subaru put together! "Active....Athletic"... wait what? Those are practically the same! "Independent....Non-Conformist" Now that's just ridiculous... "Sensible....Resourceful" "Refined.....Stylish"

Bad Subaru. I quit your survey.

Thanks for the car though.

Temple

2010-09-09T17:52:00.000-07:00

The Seattle Temple is open again!

Last night was the Bellevue 8th Ward Temple Night. So we went to the 7 o'clock session. Wonderful as always. It was fun to see where they redid doors and carpet and things. Had a nice "new" smell inside. When I returned to my car I found that the "Young Women of the Olympic Branch" had placed these little notes in zip-lock bags under the wipers of all the cars in the parking lot. Must have taken them a while! Neat little feel-good project.

Thanks Olympic Branch amigos!

Back!?

2010-09-09T11:32:00.000-07:00

Well my sisters are just such incredible blogging machines that I feel compelled to step up to the plate.

Equipped with a new layout from blogger's nifty new design templates, this is to announce that Thoughts of a Ted is back.

Stay tuned to learn the intimate inner workings of the beast known as Ted!

Google.org invests in Aptera!

2008-07-24T15:02:00.001-07:00

Remember that funny car I told you about back in December? Ya the Aptera! Well wouldn’t you know it they just got another investor!

Via Engadget:

Google.org, the search kingpin's philanthropic wing, has just added another notch to its eco-friendly belt with a recent (and sizable) investment in Aptera Motors -- makers of that absurdly futuristic gas-sipper we've been following. Along with ActaCell (an electric car battery maker), Aptera received a $2.75 million infusion via Google.org's RechargeIT investment program. Hopefully, some of the cash will be put to use bringing Aptera's Typ-1 vehicle to market, where its $30,000 estimated price tag and outrageous 230+ MPG fuel economy will be a welcome relief from rising fuel costs and concerns... and our lack of a fresh ride.

Cool beans :)

Pippin

2008-07-24T14:38:00.001-07:00

Howdy all. Just in case anyone doesn’t know the info, which I think everyone who reads this blog does, tonight (Thursday) is opening night for my show, Pippin. It runs tonight, Thursday the 24th through Sunday the 27th. Every night is at 8pm. Tickets are available on www.ticketwindowonline.com.

Love you all!

Malicious Morons – The Filth of the Human Race

2008-07-17T12:16:00.001-07:00

This story has me starting my day angry.

The discovery of more than three dozen machine-sharpened spikes at the Green Lake Park boating center has prompted the city of Seattle to post warnings to would-be swimmers.

A handful of spikes — metal rods roughly 2 or 3 feet long — were found Sunday night by a man wading near the boating center at the south end of the lake. After he alerted city parks staff, Seattle police divers on Monday found 39 spikes buried in the lake bottom, with sharp points sticking up.

"We're horrified," said city parks spokeswoman Dewey Potter. "There can't be any other explanation than malice that we can think of."

The spikes were buried near the center and southern docks of the boating center, where row boats and canoes can be rented. Parks officials believe the spikes may have been there as long as two months because some of the rods were corroded.

Swimming at the boating center is prohibited, but parks staff posted warnings to stay out of the water nonetheless. As a precaution, warnings also were posted at the city's other boating center, at Mount Baker Park on Lake Washington.

No other spikes have been found by city staff members, and the only injury reported was by Pat Boltz. The Seattle resident felt a sharp jab in his foot Sunday as he was wading with his family.

"I reached down and pulled it out and it was a piece of metal," Boltz told KING-TV.

He said he found about 10 more within a minute or so. "It takes a pretty sick individual to put that kind of time and effort into something like this," Boltz said.

Potter agreed. "It's so bizarre. We can't imagine who did it or why," she said. "In 15 years working for the parks department, I've never heard of anything so intentional and malicious."

This is just terrorism. No other way to describe it. Someone put spikes in the lake just to see if some day they would stab someone’s foot. No aim or reason to this disgusting activity.

I’m peeved.

Rainier Ride: Success!

2008-07-14T10:39:00.001-07:00

Had a blast riding through Rainier National Park down to Yakima, then up through Canyon Rd. and slabbing it home on I-90 (Slabbing was NOT quite so much fun)

Pics time!

Maybe Broadway isn’t Meant to be…

2008-07-11T21:16:00.001-07:00

For those of you that aren’t sure what you’re seeing. iTunes found exactly 666 matches for the search term “broadway” in my music library.

Eek!

No more shirtless walks around the house…

2008-07-11T15:14:00.001-07:00

Yes folks. Today, July 11, 2008, at 9am I went through the Seattle Temple for the first time.

Those of you who know what that means should know that I’m very excited. I had a wonderful experience and the prayer was the only part that almost brought me to tears.

Those of you who DON’T know what that means. Come talk to me. We’ll get you baptized and in a year I’ll show you exactly what it’s all about :)

I love you all! Thank you so much those that joined me on this marvelous day.

R.I.P. Seattle SuperSonics

2008-07-08T17:04:00.001-07:00

What a strange time for Seattle Sports.

Windows Live Writer

2008-06-11T12:10:00.001-07:00

I’m testing out a new blogging tool today, by the name of Windows Live Writer. It is currently out in “Technical Preview” Fancy words for a beta release. I don’t know if they plan to eventually charge for this program or not.

As some(one) of you knows I recently gave Flock another shot for blogging. Once again I found it to be a nice idea, but it wasn’t good enough to warrant the slower browser speeds and larger memory footprint when compared to firefox.

After using Flock’s build in blog writer I found myself going back to Blogger’s built in blog editor, which basically broke the whole browser for me, though I did like the media-bar feature in Flock…

BUT – that aside, I’m now giving this Microsoft attempt at blogging a shot, and I’m liking it as I type this post. It has three tabs for the writing pane – Edit, Preview, and Source. Edit is the standard WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor that most of us have gotten used to (The equivalent of “Compose” tab in Blogger). Preview is a little unique in that instead of just previewing what the post will look like (and often being a little off if you’re in blogger) this program actually shows you the post ON YOUR BLOG without posting it, which is a nice little bit of magic in my opinion :) Source is just what it says it is, the HTML code that makes up the post. I occasionally need access to this to fix things in my posts, so it’s important to have there.

You’ll notice at the top of this post there is a reflection of my screen-shot. My house is not flooded with calm, reflective water. No, this is another advantage Live Writer has over the Blogger editor. There are Photo effects! Little touches like this will spruce up your blog and make it look just that little bit nicer. Let’s take a quick run down of the Border Options.

Inherit from Weblog (Take the Blogger Defined Border):

Photopaper:

Rounded Corners:

This isn’t the best shot to be illustrating these borders with but it’s what I have on me as it were.

You can also Rotate, Crop, Adjust Contrast and tilt all from within the editor, along with the basic Black+White, Sepia, Gaussian Blur, etc. layers you’d expect to see.

These are the basic features I’ve come across just writing up this post, as well as all the basic ones (Tags, Set Publish Date, Save Draft online, Save Draft Locally)

I’d recommend my blogging friends give this one a shot, I’m liking it!

Windows Live Writer is a free download from Microsoft's Website.

DOWNLOAD

Two Amazing Singers

2008-06-11T11:24:00.000-07:00

I've been listening to these two videos in loop for the past day or two. Thought I would share them with you folks :)

They just make me want to get BETTER!

Ramblings

2008-06-09T01:00:00.000-07:00

::**NOTE**::
I needed to write this and share it with my friends to help sort out my thoughts, and hopefully to receive some guidance. By the time I was done writing out my thoughts it had become a short novel, so please don't feel pressured to read this unless you really just want to know what's in my brain and keeping me from sleeping! I love you all :)
::**NOTE::**

I was about ready to pass out, until I actually, you know, tried to go to sleep.

Lying in bed my brain has been going nuts. I'm not the type to generally release his sentiments and thoughts out in to the blogosphere, as it were, but for some reason I just feel it will slow down my thoughts a bit.

I'm almost done being a kid. People have been calling me mature all my life, but I have not lived an incredibly mature life. I've never been a driven individual. In elementary school I would ace everything done in class, and I would hide my home work in piles so my parents didn't know I wasn't doing it. I didn't do this because homework was hard, or even really because I had better things to do. I just wasn't driven, I never felt the desire to excel in school that some people feel, even though I enjoyed getting good grades and learning. I think part of the fun of it for me was that I could pull it off while still slacking so much. I could start researching for a Kael Research Paper four days before it was due and still get a better grade than most of my class-mates. I finally started to notice that I enjoyed this towards the end of high school. Part of it was because I never focussed on anything, and when I put off assignments till the last minute it FORCED me to focus on that assignment and only that assignment, whereas if I left myself time I couldn't get myself to focus like that.

My first career aspiration was to play basketball in the NBA. When I realized I was going to be far too short to play in the NBA my dad told me I should get an MBA. I decided I wanted to be a business-man just like my dad. When asked why my answer has always been simple, "I want to be rich". From a young age my brain deduced that if I was a successful businessman I would get rich, get a hot wife, have wonderful children in a nice house and live happily ever after. I've always been relatively good at math, speaking, writing, and leadership skills, so I should do OK in business. But I know a lot of people much better at math. I know more charismatic people, I know better writers... my claim has always been that while individuals excel in certain areas, I am special because of my abilities in all of these areas, making me a jack-of-all-trades type with the propensity to lead the specialists.

Then I got to BCC. By the time I got to BCC I was already a little ways in to my well-planned Business Associates. It just so happened that in that first Fall Quarter I ended up in a Music Theory class with a Professor Julie Denninghoff. Julie told everyone in her class they should join the Concert Choir. I had always sung in my church choir, and well before I was 16 men old enough to be my father wanted to sit next to me so that they could follow me on their part, I had gotten bored of it. After my first day of Concert Choir I was excited. At church I was the best male voice that reliably showed up, and in Concert Choir I felt I was one of the least prepared students there, it felt like everyone there was better than me and that energized me. Then I sat next to Justin Reeves and Todd Sittig. They were both amazing, I wanted to get as good as they were.

It was then that I started my voice lessons, towards the end of that first fall quarter I started private instruction for the first time with Kent Banton. When I went to Banton I thought I knew how to sing. I thought my range was pretty good. I was an idiot :) Again, I was not driven. I went to my weekly voice lessons, but never practiced anything he gave me in between the lessons, but even then he managed to teach me a lot. Then Kent started asking me about my career plans. I told him I planned to go in to business. He told me that he didn't want to change my life plans, but he strongly encouraged me to pursue a career in music. He's had several students who wanted to go in to music who he has told to have back up plans or look in to other options because they weren't very good. According to him I was one of the fastest learning students he had ever taught. I would instantly pick up things that he would spend weeks teaching to other people. I found this neat and it made me happy, but it still didn't REALLY grab my attention.

The first song Kent gave me that I actually practiced was a Broadway style song. For some reason the style just clicked with me in a way that the classical, madrigal, jazz, and folk songs just hadn't. It was fun, I could get in to the character and really feel the song. Then Spring Quarter came up, and I auditioned for a Disney solo. After my audition Tom asked me about my plans for the next year and encouraged me to audition for Celebration. As I left the room I overheard him saying to Julie "He has a nice voice", exciting words come from the "all-mighty" Tom the director. Over the course of the year I had become friends with many of the kids in Celebration, but there is always a gulf between celebration kids and non-celebration kids. They practically live together, it can't be helped, but I wanted that. I wanted to be part of a group like that. Having gone to my tiny public school I had a couple friends, but I had never in my life been part of a close knit group like Celebration was.

I asked my parents what they thought. I would be turning 19 in December of the next year, during Winter Quarter. I would be finishing my degree in Fall Quarter. My idea was to do celebration, finish my degree in Fall, and then take some more theory classes and learn more about music for the rest of the year. My parents didn't want me to put off my mission, and told me I probably shouldn't.

I almost did it anyway. I almost auditioned. Then my dad told me that he was putting a company together, and it would be taking off RIGHT in the spring of 2010, and that I needed to leave in January so I could be back in January and work in this new company. And because of that I should not do Jazz choir. So I didn't audition.

By the time the next school year had started this company that had kept me from joining celebration had already disappeared in to smoke. I thought the new chamber choir would be a replacement. I thought it would be challenging and we'd be a close group and work on hard stuff. The music was easy. The audition was a sham, every one got in, and none of us got to know each other. I was disappointed and I was angry, and I felt resentment towards my mission. I had given up a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of an award winning jazz choir that competes all over the nation instead of pushing my mission a stupid 5 months. And this anger is the primary reason I didn't leave in January, because I resented the mission and I was not ready to go on it yet, so I stayed. Winter quarter was pretty boring, with more resentment that I wasn't in Celebration.

Then spring quarter came along, and I heard that Julie thought I should audition to be in the Musical. I had never done a musical in my life before, but I knew that Musical Theater music was my favorite kind to sing, and I had been in plays when I was younger, so I decided to give it a shot.

The beginning of Night Music was like the beginning of Concert Choir. It was that same shift from me feeling like one of the best to me feeling like one of the worst. Everyone in the cast knew each other from before the show, and I felt like an outsider trying to step in. I remember the first thing Brittany said to me, on our first read-through, she said "So I hear you can sing". Within a week I knew that that didn't mean a thing. I watched Cady and Lindsay and so many of the other cast in awe as they acted, and I got that feeling again of "I want to be that good" I felt driven. My voice teacher was amazed at how much my voice started improving all of a sudden, since I started working and working. Over the course of Night Music I lost 10 pounds, 2 inches off my waist, and my highest note went from F or F# to a belted Ab, as well as my entire upper range increasing in strength. When Night Music started I was a baritone, who would rather stay down low. Now that night music is over I was given the Jesus solo in our Concert Choir's Godspell show, a rather tenor part, and I will soon be Pippin, another (second) tenor part. For the first time a couple things happened to me. I felt very driven to get better and work on something, and by the end of the show I felt like I was part of a group.

Then I had some people working on the show who know what they're talking about pull me aside and say, essentially, "Ted, we don't say this to many people, but you should really think about going in to Musical Theater. You're a natural on stage and it's been very fun to watch you in this show". My voice teacher had been telling me all along that I should be pursuing a career in music, and now some other very honest and trusted people were telling me more specifically that I should look in to musical theater, the only genre of music that had ever grabbed my interest like this. I started to wonder where I should be going with my life. I've always assumed I would need to be rich to be happy, but I know a lot of people with a lot less money who are a lot more happy. How much do I really need to be happy? I need a car that works, a house that's comfortable, probably a computer for some games and eventually a healthy happy family. Do I really need to be rich to get that? No.

This year I've gotten to know even more of the Celebration kids than last year. I've become friends with the majority of the group, and Megan even called me an "honorary member", which means a lot to me. But I'm still an outsider. I didn't eat breathe and sleep the pieces that they worked on together all year long, or go on the trips or sing in the concerts, and I'm still here. I could've done it, and I see no problem with when I am leaving on my mission now. I bitterly regret not auditioning for jazz choir, and that scares me. I don't want to regret something this way again. If I keep on "the course" and go to school, and get my desk job, and spend the rest of my life slaving away on contracts, what if I feel this regret when I think about what might've happened if I had pursued the first thing in my life that has driven me to work my hardest. I don't want that to happen.

Then I went to go see Aida. I've never seen a real show before, this was my first. After the show Justin and Cady were talking about how it did not make them feel inadequate in the least as actors, Cady saying she could out-act them, Justin that he could out-act and out-sing them.

I felt EXACTLY the opposite. When I watched Aida I just got this feeling of "I want to be able to do that! I want to be able to sing like that! I want to be able to dance like that! I want to be good enough to be on that stage, in front of this sold out house and get paid for it!" Before I went to Aida I felt like without going in to Musical Theater I would be able to work at local theaters like village... but the entire cast had huge resumes, most from all over the country. I'm not at a level right now where I could compete with those people. I feel like I'm capable of it, but I would have to dedicate myself to it. I also feel like it's the only thing I've found so far in life that I COULD dedicate myself to like that.

I can't undo my life up to this point. I am extremely grateful that I did not leave in January, that I have had this opportunity to do Night Music and Pippin, to discover something that not only do I find extremely fun and fulfilling, but I also feel like I'm actually GOOD at! The issue is when I come home. When I come home from my mission is when I need to choose the course of my life, it's when I need to choose where I'm going to school and what kind of degree I want to get. While I'm on my mission I shouldn't be thinking about this too much, so it falls to my brain now to think about it, and thus I can not sleep.

Epic Project

2008-06-06T16:56:00.001-07:00

Embedded Video

I can't say for sure... but Jayon I get the funny feeling we have to make one of these.

Video Clips Are Here

2008-06-04T02:34:00.000-07:00

Night Music Ted-lights (like that?) are here.

Audio and Video quality are both atrocious, and the person recording sometimes doesn't have a very good grasp of where the camera should be pointed but here you go Maxer. Enjoy :)

Desiree's Digs

In Praise of Women

Weekend in the Country

Act II.1

Would Have Been Wonderful

Ted's Final Scene

Will Ferrell IS. THE PHANTOM!

2008-06-03T01:32:00.000-07:00

This made my day. Maybe it will make yours :)

Night Music Video Acquired

2008-06-02T22:32:00.000-07:00

All right folks, I am now in possession of a rip of the video of my Musical.

This is all very "legal" of course... I'll probably cut out my songs and put them online for Maxine/Mary, since you guys probably wouldn't enjoy watching the whole show (it's not a very good video) and burn the full show to DVD for Grandma.

I'll keep you updated :)

Night Music Pictures

2008-05-28T20:09:00.000-07:00

It looks like I won't be able to get my hands on a video of Night Music after all... but for those who missed it you can now enjoy some pictures of me in (most of) my uniform.

You can find the album HERE.

Hey Facebook! Yea you! I'm not Gay.

2008-05-28T20:02:00.000-07:00

This is a terrible way to reintroduce myself to the blog after a leave of absence... but I REALLY wish facebook would implement google-style "smart" advertisements. My profile says I am interested in Women, Facebook knows full well that I am not looking for "Gay Singles" in my life. And yet I see this ad all the time... Anyone else having this annoyance?

Sweeney Todd Soundtrack

2008-04-14T16:24:00.000-07:00

I discovered the entire soundtrack for Burton's production of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd on youtube.

If you feel like giving it a listen.. I love Stephen Sondheim's music :)

More Awesomeness

2008-04-13T15:12:00.000-07:00

For those of you who aren't quite sure what you are looking at, that is over 1,500 inmates of Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center in Cebu, Philippines rehearsing a choreographed dance for Michael Jackson's Thriller.

Is that awesome? Why Yes... it is!

Double click the video to go to it's youtube page and check out the uploaders other videos. They do a lot of dancing!

Simply Wonderful

2008-04-04T17:09:00.000-07:00

I saw this a while ago, but was reminded of it recently and had to go find it. After finding it I thought I would share it with you all. Enjoy :)

Go go algae power!

2008-03-20T18:11:00.000-07:00

People who know me well have probably heard me talk about Algae Biofuel before.

As we've seen already, algae is big business these days, and it now looks like the alternative source of fuel is getting another shot in the arm, with GreenFuel Technologies recently announcing a deal to build an "algae-to-fuel" plant in Europe. The company, as you may or may not know, is now headed (at least temporarily) by Ethernet pioneer Bob Metcalf, with its main claim to fame being a bioreactor that's designed to grow algae from the carbon dioxide emissions of power plants. While complete details are still pretty light at the moment, that bit of technology was apparently enough to score it a $92 million deal with somebody (actually negotiated by the former CEO), which is reportedly contingent on it first building a small scale pilot plant and meeting cost and productivity goals along the way. As Xconomy reports, however, this latest development follows some hard times faced by the company, during which time it actually had to shut down one of its algae greenhouses after it produced more algae than the system could handle.

I'd like to hear about Algae biofuels taking off. Fingers crossed.

Via Engadget

People are Insane

2008-03-13T16:40:00.000-07:00

Dad says that this article must be on my blog.

Authorities are considering charges in the bizarre case of a woman who sat on her boyfriend's toilet for two years — so long that her body was stuck to the seat by the time the boyfriend finally called police... the 35-year-old Ness City woman's skin had grown around the seat.... "We pried the toilet seat off with a pry bar and the seat went with her to the hospital," Whipple said. "The hospital removed it."... "She was not glued. She was not tied. She was just physically stuck by her body," Whipple said. "It is hard to imagine. ... I still have a hard time imagining it myself."... He told investigators he brought his girlfriend food and water, and asked her every day to come out of the bathroom. "And her reply would be, `Maybe tomorrow,'

Uneblievable.

Screenshot

2008-03-02T23:35:00.001-08:00

I thought you would all love to know that my Windows XP is just slightly more ridiculously beautiful than yours.

:) What do y'all think?

Fun from the store (Part 3)

2008-02-29T08:58:00.000-08:00

Just had to share this

2008-02-28T18:57:00.001-08:00

If you feel like a good laugh, go spend some time perusing "Garfield minus Garfield".

In the words of the author,

Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolor disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against lonliness and methamphetamine addiction in a quiet American suburb.

In the end a good time is had by the reader, even if Jon does seem a lot more depressing than Garfield's original author probably intended.

Useful 0's and 1's

2008-02-28T18:22:00.000-08:00

Howdy folks, I thought I'd be nice and point out some of my most favoritist pieces of code for all of you to enjoy with me.

Mozilla Firefox
Web Browser. Simply better than internet explorer.
I would like to point out that I have tried Flock, Opera, IE6 and 7 and have always returned to Firefox, although I do think that social networking junkies should give Flock a try for a very unique feature-set.

Most of you already know about this one. Let's move on.

Greasemonkey
Greasemonkey is one of the most popular firefox addons of all time, and introduces lots of fun features that widen the gap between IE and firefox. Greasemonkey is a base for scripts which expand your browsing experience, and by itself does nothing at all.

I should also point out, that once Greasemonkey is installed, a small monkey will appear on the bottom right of your firefox screen. If you left click this monkey he will turn grey and frown, this means all greasemonkey scrips are disabled, useful if you want to find out if greasemonkey is messing with how a page is loading. By right clicking the monkey you can easily enable and disable scripts as well.

Go ahead and install it now, if you are in firefox (and if you aren't... fix it.)

Greased Lightbox
I just found this one today, and I'm already in love.

Greased Lightbox is a greasemonkey script that enhances image viewing on Google Image Search, Flickr, Wikipedia, Facebook, MySpace, deviantART, and FFFFOUND!.

Basically, when you are on any of the above-mentioned sites, and you click a link to a picture, instead of going to the picture page from that site it launches right there... it's a little hard to explain so just drool over this screenshot:

Still don't understand? Go ahead and install it and give it a try, you'll understand :)

Google Search Sidebar
This one is a pretty nifty little bit of code.

According to the developer,

Adds a sidebar with search results from Dictionary.com, Wikipedia, Flickr, and Youtube.

Very slick, looks like it was meant to be there all along.

DownThemAll
DownThemAll (dTa) is my favorite download manager... which is funny since I don't even use its most prominent feature.

DownThemAll was named for it's ability to grab all of the images or links or basically anything on a webpage and grab it all at one time, without you having to click each individual file.

What it also offers, is lightning fast downloads (claimed 400%, and yes I have personally noticed an impressive increase in speed) I could go in to the technical details of how they do that, downloading the file in chunks from the server, tricking the server into thinking you are multiple computers and thus bypassing server imposed bandwidth limits, but what's important are fast downloads, easy pausing of downloads, and superb integration with Firefox. Go ahead and grab this one, and be sure to take advantage of the dTa OneClick feature :)

Tab Mix Plus
Tab Mix Plus is my current tab enhancer of choice. It takes Firefox's already great tabbed browsing and steps it up another notch. In the words of the developer,

Tab Mix Plus enhances Firefox's tab browsing capabilities. It includes such features as duplicating tabs, controlling tab focus, tab clicking options, undo closed tabs and windows, plus much more. It also includes a full-featured session manager with crash recovery that can save and restore combinations of opened tabs and windows.

Go grab that one too :)

CustomizeGoogle
CustomizeGoogle has too many features for me to even begin to explain them all. This is one that you should just install and start looking through the preferences to make a Google experience beyond anything you've ever had before. Some of the most notable features to me are removal of ads in google search, and streaming results. Streaming results means that where in normal google you scroll to the bottom, hit next page, scroll to the bottom, hit next page, etc. etc. with CustomizeGoogle you can just keep scrolling down forever, no next page required (pretty nifty, no?) I should point out streaming results is not enabled by default, nor does it play nice with the above-mentioned Google Search Sidebar :(

Better Gmail 2
This is a compilation of greasemonkey scripts that make a better gmail experience. Give this one a shot.

Adblock
This one is a must-have for everyone. Block banners from your viewing experience.

Note that there are moral arguments surrounding this extension, as those who advertise on websites are being jipped. I leave such moral issues to you. I tend to only use it if the banners are REALLY annoying.

Pidgin
THE BEST Instant Messaging program developed so far. It will work with all of your IM accounts, is open source (meaning it is free and without ads) and has the smallest memory footprint of any of them. I dare say I love it.

Pidgin used to be known as Gaim

TaskSwitchXP
I just got this one today, and have just started playing with it so the jury is out... but so far I have been impressed with the customization and feature-set of this Alt-Tab replacement. My feature set up so far for those who feel to try it:

General: Minimize windows to tray by right-click on Minimize button (ON)
Appearance: Enable transparency (10%)
Enable fade in animation (200)
Enable fade out animation (150)
XP Visual Style: (Soft XP style)
Preview: Preview Style: ("Window" preview style" both boxes unchecked)

This will give you the same setup I am pretty happy with right now :)

musikCube
There are a lot of music players out there these days, but this one is my current reigning favorite. What makes it my favorite? It has every single feature I want in a music player, and has a TINY memory footprint. Loads almost instantly, and it's free. What more can you ask for? Cause I can't think of anything.

Standout features:

Minimize to System Tray
Pause/Play/Next/Prev/Stop from right click of SysTray icon
Powerful Library search features similar to iTunes interface (but I think better)
Beautiful and Customizable Crossfader for easy transitions between songs-
Easy playlist creation and management including Dynamic Playlist options.
TINY TINY TINY Memory footprint
Instantaneous launchtimes

Note to those who install it: I like transparency enabled at 240 for both active and inactive windows.

Now go get it! :)

VLC Media Player
Unlike musikCube, which is pretty much unheard of, VLC is one of the most popular video players out there. VLC is popular for it's small memory footprint and ability to open a much wider range of formats than WMP (Windows Media Player). Go ahead and give VLC a try, and join the rest of the hordes :)

Foxit Reader
We all look at a lot of pdf's these days, and unfortunately Adobe Reader has gotten a little bloated. If a pdf reader that loads up quicker and uses less memory than Adobe Reader sounds attractive to you, give foxit a try. While this reader is free, it unfortunately isn't freeware, which means that if you try to edit a file in it and save, it will leave a logo on your saved file, but there aren't any freeware pdf editors out there that I've found, so we can't really complain. As far as viewing? Nice fast loadups are just what I like to see.

IrfanView
IrfanView is a very popular imageviewer. It sports a small memory footprint (seeing a trend anyone?) a wide range of supported formats, and a very nice slide show feature.

Finally, my favorite of all of these applications, and the one that has changed my overall computing experience the most.

Launchy
Launchy is a launcher. To be honest I've had it installed for a while and keep finding more and more funcationality. This program is really really impressive, and I think everyone should have it installed, to be honest. I have been a huge advocate of the quicklaunch bar since I was 12, and for the first time ever my quicklaunch bar is GONE, along with all desktop program shortcuts. That should tell you just how powerful this program is.

Launch is open-source, so it is totally free, and I hope you all give it a shot. I have launchy tied to win+space, so I will give some examples of utility.

First I press win(windows button) and space at the same time, an attractive little window appears in the top left of my screen.

Once I am in this screen, I can type the name of any program which has a shortcut in my start menu, hit enter and it launches. Not only that, but it will autocomplete, meaning that normally 3-4 letters is enough to launch the program you want.

Still not sold?

With launchy up, I type "f" (all it took for launchy to guess I wanted firefox). Next I hit tab instead of enter, which completes the name Mozilla Firefox (from my "f") and puts an arrow next to it, waiting for my next input. Now I can input the name of a website "thoughtsofated.blogspot.com" and hit enter. Firefox launches pointed at my blog.

It also will do quick searches. In launchy, I type "go", I see it is guessing "Google" which I want. I hit tab, and I can search for anything on google. Works for wikipedia and several other sites as well.

In a nutshell, go get launchy. Now. :) You will be able to get rid of your quicklaunch icon and clean your desktop to an incredible shine. (I've gotten rid of the My Computer/Documents icons and everything, leaving only a Downloads folder, Recycle Bin (Because I want it in front of me so I remember to empty it) and a folder of background images so I can switch my look up periodically).

Well all, these are the programs I've ended up with after installing my new hard drive in my quest for a fast running, unbogged system with more features than I've ever had before. I should also note I am running "Avira AntiVir" (but Avast! or AVG work great too) and ThreatFire to free up a huge amount of memory. Avira/Avast/AVG replace Norton/McAfee. In tests they perform BETTER than Norton/McAfee, and Norton/McAfee use so much memory that they will harm system performance more than most viruses. On top of this Avira, Avast and AVG are all available for free, with some features attainable at a negligible cost (compared to the big bloated duo). However all of these programs use lists of definitions to scan for known viruses, while the other program I run, ThreatFire (which also has a tiny memory footprint), watches what running processes are doing, and informs you if a process is doing something that looks malicious.

To put it in easy terms, A Samaritan was being robbed next to a road. All of the definition based antivirus programs took a good look at the muggers, checked to see if those faces were wanted or if a warrant was out for their arrest, and upon finding they were not, walked away. ThreatFire saw that whether or not the robbers were wanted, what they were doing was bad, and stepped in to help. My hero!.... something like that :)

This might very well be the longest post I ever write in this blog folks. I hope it helps you.

Got comments about any of my programs? Got some other favorites you think should be on the list? Let us know in the comments :)

Fun from the store (Part 2)

2008-02-22T16:49:00.002-08:00

Caption: Cottonelle "ULTRA" - Now, so soft that it's like wiping your bottom with puppies!

Honestly people need to think about the subconscious messages we send these days...

Fun from the store (Part 1)

2008-02-22T16:49:00.001-08:00

Oh really Matthew's deli? (Sign is located conveniently right next to where customers may attain this "vitamin")

According to this website, a drug is defined as "any chemical substance used for its effects on bodily processes". A-HA!

According to wikipedia, "A drug is any biological substance, synthetic or non-synthetic, that is taken primarily for non-dietary needs". Mmmhmm. Your logic slips from aneath you my dear employer...

Also from wikipedia, "Coffee is the most widely used psychotropic beverage in the world". Yes... yes it is!

Of course, I have no idea what psychotropic means so we must look it up... "A psychoactive drug or psychotropic substance is a chemical substance that acts primarily upon the central nervous system where it alters brain function, resulting in temporary changes in perception, mood, consciousness and behavior."

And there you have it my dear friends. Lies and deceit.

For your viewing pleasure...

2008-02-02T16:32:00.000-08:00

Some friends showed the following videos to me. I thought my sisters might enjoy them :)

Tell every teenage girl you know...

2008-01-26T13:23:00.000-08:00

A man typing a text message in to his cell phone lost control of his SUV and ran over a 13 year old boy on a bicycle. The driver claims he was so distracted by his texting that he left the scene and didn't even realize he had hit the boy until later that night.

This particular driver didn't have a license, and so we are left to wonder what his story is, but this is still a sad reminder of why our attention should always be focused on the road.

via engadget

Time Cube of Awesome Uselessness

2008-01-26T00:46:00.001-08:00

Ok I admit it. I have a strange desire to buy this thing just because it's cool. It's useless, a waste of deskspace and money... and yet.. I sort of want it.

What this thing is, is a clock. The largest triangle displays the hours, while the smaller one is the minutes, and the smallest triangle is the seconds.

You can just make out the vertical line going down to the corner there. You read the time by looking at what number on each triangle lines up with the vertical line.

Useless? Yes.. inexplicably cool? I think so.

via coolest-gadgets

Goldilocks and the Three Megapixels

2008-01-26T00:22:00.000-08:00

According to a study by Image Engineering, more mega pixels might not equate to better pictures.

The folks over at coolest-gadgets.com sum it up pretty well:

The argument is essentially this: CCD chips on point and shoot cameras a smaller and as such, fitting in more pixels causes them to lose light sensivity. Sure, there’s more data on the chip, but the chip can’t absorb the light data and what it ends up with is a picture that has more noise than image quality. In addition, the more megapixels a camera has, the larger the lens it needs to provide the clarity it deserves and prevent diffraction due to a loss of detail with smaller apertures. But since we’re talking portable point and shoots here, those large lenses simply aren’t being made.
Finally, with larger mega pixels comes longer saving time due to their requires huge storage capacity, or more compression if not storing images in RAW format. The result is a noisier image and a dissatisfied camera user who thirsts for high quality and speed.
In the end, relying on a smaller MP that can balance all these needs may indeed be the answer. But is anyone really asking the question?

The image at the top of this post shows what happens as you go from too few pixels on the left (too pixelated) to too many pixels on the right (increased errors result in too much noise).

via coolest-gadgets

And People Wonder Why I'm Cynical...

2008-01-25T23:57:00.001-08:00

Welcome to the United States legal system. Our Chef's Specialties today will be a serving of celebrity murderers getting off free, morons winning millions, and everyone's new favorite dish, abusing the patent system to attempt to steal money from people who actually invent stuff!

From the folks over at engadget:

What would you do if the US patent office gave you the go-ahead on a far-reaching, non-specific application filed for a "mobile entertainment and communication device"? If your answer was that you would immediately draw up lawsuits against almost every major electronics manufacturer that even looked at a smartphone funny, you get a cookie. Yes folks, as impossible as it is to believe, the holders of the aforementioned patent have just sued Apple, Nokia, RIM, Sprint, AT&T, HP, Motorola, Helio, HTC, Sony Ericsson, UTStarcomm, and Samsung... amongst others. So eager was this company to sue, in fact, that legal papers were filed a day before the patent was granted, and subsequently had to re-submitted. The real sucker-punch here is that the patent simply combines a list of prior technologies jumbled into one product, a practice which has recently been ruled against by the Supreme Court. Still, we doubt it will stop the holders from trying to nab a few dollars in settlements, staying the work of real innovators, and generally making a mockery of our patent system. Bravo!

This kind of petty abuse of our legal systems nauseates me.

What do you guys think?

Vatercar

2007-12-23T18:02:00.000-08:00

A terrible new company called Aptera is making life harder for all of us. Yes, they really are. As a matter of fact they are doing one of the most dastardly deeds any company can do, they are undermining our excuses not to buy the things they make. Such forward and grotesque marketing techniques, namely making products that we should all actually buy simply make life unbearable at times.

So what does Aptera make? They make cars, but not just any cars, two cars. They will soon be releasing their two initial offerings to the automotive market: the "Typ-1 e", an all electric vehicle targeted for release next year, and the "Typ-1 h", a hybrid version of the same vehicle with a proposed 2009 release.

The word hybrid has become quite a buzz-word these days, and a lot of people have been very disappointed with the performance of their fancy new gadget-cars. According to wired.com's John Gartner:

In Consumer Reports' real-world driving test, the Civic Hybrid averaged 26 mpg in the city, while the Toyota Prius averaged 35 mpg, much less than their respective EPA estimates of 47 and 60 mpg.

So what is so different about Aptera's hybrid that it is worth blogging (and believe me when I say I am not the only person blogging Aptera!)? Well it could be that Aptera's hybrid claims an impressive 300mpg, or it could be that the Typ-1 h will be offered for under $30,000, or it could be that for that rather ordinary car-price of 30 grand you get a car that looks extraordinarily like something out of the jetsons. Whatever it is, the Typ-1 h is making quite a splash.. but not quite as big as the Typ-1 e.

Why don't we all buy electric cars?

The range is far too short.
The price is far too high.
The speed is far too slow.
The chances of killing a blind person are far too high.

All fine reasons to not buy Aptera's new Typ-1 e... and then their dastardly marketing ploys kick in.

The Aptera Typ-1 e has a range of approximately 120 miles; Plenty for a commuter car.
The Aptera Typ-1 e will be sold at prices of $30,000 and below.
The Aptera Typ-1 e will have a top speed over 85 mph and will achieve 0-60 in under 10 seconds.
The Aptera Typ-1 e will be followed on the streets by a constant "oo" of impressed onlookers. The blind will know you are coming.

Oh but we aren't done yet my friends. They keep going!

The Aptera Typ-1 e/h, due to its 3 wheeled design and wheel placement, is technically considered a motorcycle... that means single occupancy HOV lane usage! I told you this thing was a commuter.

A typical charge of the Type-1 e will take 2-4 hours, and based on current California energy prices will cost between 1 and 2 dollars...

Now just make that energy wave powered and you really are quite good to go.

Additional Video: http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4237853.html?page=1

The Governator Conquers the Oceans

2007-12-20T20:07:00.001-08:00

...Actually, wave power by Finavera makes a device called an Aquabuoy, that is connected to a long underwater piston. The buoy bobs up and down on the waves, then it pushes the piston, which pressurizes a chamber filled with seawater.

Somehow all of this makes electricity. Not only that, just one Aquabuoy is capable of generating 250 kilowatts, which is enough to power 80 homes. The best part is it can also save us a lot of money in the longrun.

So far, wave power has only been experimental phase. After all, wind and sun power is pretty fickle, but some things in life are as inevitable as the tide.

Oh, that was pretty bad. Did I just say that? Well, there is a need for renewable power, so this is right up anyone’s alley.

Pretty sweet, no?

CrunchGear » Archive » The Pencil Bench office furniture: 1,600 pencils, 1 bench

2007-12-17T03:23:00.001-08:00

Who, growing up, didn’t want a bench made entirely out of 1,600 pink pencils? Thankfully, Boex 3D Creative Solutions went ahead and developed exactly that. Its name isn’t too imaginative—Pencil Bench—but it was borne out of a silly, “wouldn’t it be, like, great to make a piece of furniture out of everyday objects?”It would, and it is. For $2,450 even.

CrunchGear » Archive » The Pencil Bench office furniture: 1,600 pencils, 1 bench

Goodness gracious folks.

I sat browsing my RSS feeds, and I was beginning to think that nothing would strike me as funny enough to be worth blogging. Then I came across this pink wonder of invention.

The folks over at Boex 3D Creative Solutions call this monstrosity "Pencil Bench", which really doesn't make a lot of sense to me... I just really don't understand why you would call it that. Perhaps in Europe, where a game played with your feet is called football I could understand calling a bench made up of 1,600 fully removable and usable pencils a "Pencil Bench", but here in America I find it quite inappropriate. It grates against the norm, and so, like all unpleasant things, I will ignore it.

Now it falls on us, friends, to name this fusion of art and bench. But what name fits? Well this is a name made for Americans, who are generally accepted to be large. And those that use this bench will be placing their rears on 1,600 erasers.... oh the implications of that...

Let's call it Garlpit.

We are Americans after all.

Corneary Confusion

2007-12-15T14:09:00.000-08:00

I've already explained this to my one and only confirmed reader, but perhaps in the future someone else will read my ramblings and wonder, "Ted, what in the world is a Corneary Celebration?" or perhaps it is, "Ted, what on earth is a Corneary Feast?"

But, of course, you know what delight means, and you know what feast means, so your true question is what does "corneary" mean?

The answer is that, technically, corneary does not mean anything. I thought it was a great word but apparently I am the first one to think up this wonder of literary invention, as a quick google search showed.

And so, without further ado, I now define a brand new word within the English language. This word received its debut in my last blog post, but now it must be, and it will be, defined.

Let us study the word "corneary". It has two main parts.

Cornea

Well we know what a cornea is. It's a piece of transparent skin on your eye, or as davidorf.com tells us,

The outer, dome-shaped, transparent part of the eye that bulges out at the front of the eyeball and covers the iris and pupil. Its curvature causes light to bend. The cornea provides most of the eye’s focusing power.

Brilliant. I couldn't've said it better, which is why I quoted them!

Now we know what the first part of the word means, but what about "ry"? Well, ry makes a word in to an adjective! (Merry, Hairy, Weary, etc.) and so when we put the two together... we get...

Corneary - adj. - Of or relating to the cornea.

Brilliant.

Don't you feel smarter already?

Hillarity Ensues

2007-12-14T13:19:00.001-08:00

iflickr
Originally uploaded by t.adams88

I had to give an honorable mention to the shenanigans of my good friend Jon. Yes both of our names are single syllabic and triple lettered. I believe it truly adds another depth to our friendship that we both know what it is like to have such a name. Bob, Sue, Tom, Max and all the rest of my kind, my people, understand. The rest of you just can't possibly understand what it's like... but I digress.

Jon was in charge of decorating his house this year, and put up all of his family's lights; but something was missing. The decorations were not complete. His mother thought it needed another strand of lights, and asked him to go get some. But Jon knew better friends! Jon knew that a strand of lights would not be enough to complete the decorations for his home. He knew that one puny strand of lights did not, and would never have what it would take to take his home from "decorated" to a masterpiece of Christmas spirit, a corneary celebration of all that is embodied by this holiday, a home that would bring tears to the eyes of Mary herself in all of its splendor.

No, friends. A strand of Christmas lights just would not do. It would not do at all. This home needed something bigger, something grander... it needed a giant inflatable Santa with his inflatable Penguin sidekick. Yes! Finally the answer to the puzzle presents itself. Of course! Nothing else could fill such a hefty bill as the transformation of this home to completion. Nothing! And Jon, as are most of my single-syllabic-triple-lettered brothers, is a man of action. Action was required and action was taken. The opportunity presented itself as a holiday, nay, a Christmas Party! (Yes I said it liberals!) at which Jon's parents were guests. As soon as they left home for the party Jon sped to the nearest Home Depot (And he does have a quite speedy car so I make no boast) and picked up one (1) giant lit up inflatable Santa and one (1) less giant but still magnificent lit up inflatable penguin.

Let me tell you friends, once Santa's straps were adjusted so he didn't look like he had received a blow to the restricted area, and once Penguin had been restored to his lofty height after a failed suicide jump attempt (Yes friends, there was a penguin down... but now he is up!) the house was complete.

A corneary feast my friends.

A corneary feast.

Christmas at last.

Bubba Bubbles: A Perfect Beginning

2007-12-13T15:18:00.000-08:00

Bubba Bubbles: A Perfect Beginning

This is truly a test of the fancy "LinkBack" technology. But this is a wonderful post. I had the same thoughts. Snow on December 1st! Who would've thunkit.

Dumbo the Cruiser

2007-12-13T14:47:00.002-08:00

Behold, the Victory Vision Tour in all of its splendor!

My father and I held a long and heated 2 second discussion and came to the conclusion that this is, in fact, the ugliest motorcycle we have ever seen.

I went so far as to christen this monstrosity Dumbo. "Why?" you may ask. Well, as the above picture shows, this bike has monstrous ears sticking out of its headlight that they are trying to pass off as turn signals. Turn Signals! I'm not fooled, friends! I recognize Dumbo ears when I see them. You can see that pitiable itching of a ridiculously heavy animal that wishes it could fly. It sticks out its ears as far as it can and just... can't... do it!

Well poor little Vision Tour there is good news. If the rest of the motorcycle buying community has any sense of style your pitiable life will not last long.

Victory is trying to tear some market share away from the big boys.. but they're going to have to do better than this.

Much, much better.

Welcome to My Mind

2007-12-13T14:25:00.000-08:00

As I sat writing an e-mail rant about some subject or other it occurred to me that I write a lot of e-mail rants. It also occurred to me that my e-mail rants look a lot like blog posts.

And so, following the brave precedent set by both of my older sisters, I begin my blog.

This blog is intended to be exactly what it says it is, The Thoughts of a Ted. I am a Ted, and if you chose to do so you can follow some of my thoughts. Whither my thoughts will wander I know not, but perhaps they will be better for the writing, and perhaps you will be better for the reading.

Mutually beneficial relationships really are the best you know.