Cotton Balls are Falling!

There was a lot of commotion at a window near my cube (yes, I love the fact that I'm surrounded by 3.5 neutral-colored temporary "walls"), and so I decided to get up and look for myself.

It literally looks like someone far up in the sky is shaking an enormous bag of cotton balls. I've never seen such big round flakes in all my life!

What Would You Do...

...if someone told you, "seeing you is like a raisin in my hot dog"?

Would you:

---

a) Smile and say "Thanks! I couldn't agree more!"
b) Cry
c) Become angry
d) Check the person into the looney bin because he/she's crazy.

Mr. Peepers

Remember this post from way back in October when Robbie, Amanda, and I took a trip to the local apple orchard? I dug into my archives and pulled out the "lost" video of Robbie giving me his best Mr. Peepers impersonation:

My Secret Artist Life

My second oil painting, based on a photo taken at Forsyth Park in Savannah, GA. It's no masterpiece, but I'm happy enough with the end result. I've decided I enjoy painting enough to keep it up. Now if I can only find the time.

Musical Weekend

Lots of music this past weekend.

• Imogen Heap at First Avenue (Sweet!)
• Robin and Linda Williams at Fitzgerald Theater (Where were you mom and dad?)
• Received a book of "easy" piano songs (excellent Christmas present)
• Poor Lauren's chorus of coughs, sneezes, hacks, and ahh-ahh-chews! (Dr. Seus would have been jealous)
  

Munch

Like Brad, I saw Google's doodle for the day and loved it:


It also reminded me of my family's trip to Norway a couple years ago. My mom and brother were visiting the Munch museum in Oslo when they were approached by a local journalist and asked if they would mind being interviewed. Apparently the journalist was curious to find out why Americans were visiting Norway, and what they thought of the country.

A day (or two?) later my parents were at the airport to fly home. They walked by a stack of newspapers and were surprised to see a picture of my mother and brother on the front page, staring back at them. There was a quote in the story by my brother; when asked what he liked least about Norway, he responded, "The price of beer".

You know you're a guy when...

...you consider wrapping a Christmast present with duct tape. It would match silver wrapping paper, right?

Fortunately, I found a few rolls of packing tape. I'm fairly confident my packages this year won't come undone by themselves.

Skype in the House

My sister lives in Norway. I don't. With Skype, we talk through the internet for free without lag and in crystal-clear voice quality. Skype is pretty well known, but thought I should share it in case someone out there wasn't aware, has a high-speed internet connection, and has a friend/loved one in a different country. Ch-check it out.

Fix Your VW

My 1997 Volkswagen Jetta's rear windows don't like to stay up. My left one fell down by itself 3 years ago when I first lived in Minneapolis. Although I didn't (and still don't) know a thing about cars, I was determined to fix this problem by myself. I had graduated from college and was finally self-sufficient. Shouldn't I therefore be able to fix a little problem like a broken automatic window?

I scoured the internet and found some hints of how to get started. Slowly but surely, I kept making progress, and finally figured out the problem. I called up the dealership, picked up a replacement part, and fixed the window. It was honestly one of my more rewarding experiences -- no one really thought I'd be able to fix it, including myself. I just figured it was worth a shot. Who knew? (Joost -- you would have been so proud!)

Recently, the same thing happened to my right rear window. This time, armed with my trusty camera, I documented the fix. You can view the set here. It's like a self-paced auto-mechanic class in high school that you never took but wished you had.

Cuckoo

A successful story, marketers say, is one that speaks to a fundamental truth about the human condition. It's no longer enough for Sonny the bird to tell us that he's cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs; we need to understand the inner demons that drive the poor bird close to insanity.

William Weir
Edmonton Journal
10/02/2006

Riiiiiight.

Posture King

I flew down to Atlanta this past weekend to visit Lauren and go to her company's holiday party. She's not joking when she says they could film her workplace for NBC's The Office. I won't get into it -- it could be an entire blog in itself. (hint, hint)

Anyway, Lauren sent me a photo taken of us at the holiday dinner, and I couldn't help but notice my terrible posture. That motivated me to sit as upright as possible for the rest of the workday. I was going to make all the yogis out there proud.

I lasted 9 minutes, and then started to complain. It was pathetic. Can my back and ab muscles be that weak? I'm going to attempt to sit perfectly upright (without using the back rest) for the remainder of the week. I wonder if I can even make it one day. Any bets? Anyone willing to compete?

Rebate This, Sucka

You may recall that I purchased a new phone recently. One of the main reasons I picked the w810i was because after rebates it was free.

I've seen some convoluted rebate schemes before, but Cingular/Sony Ericsson took things to a whole new level.

Rebate 1:
Clip this, fill out that, send it in. Not too bad. I can handle it.

Rebate 2:
Copy of this, a copy of that, and a copy of my 4th wireless bill. All of which can not be sent in earlier than 120 days from phone activation, but no later than 180 days.

Rebate 3:
Same as Rebate 2, but this one needs a wireless bill dated 150 days or more after activation, but no later than 210 days.

Are you kidding me? I need to go out and buy a calendar to figure out when to send in my rebates? Good thing I'm cheap, because you better believe I'm going to put some reminders on my work calendar. This sort of task would be perfect for a personal assistant/intern. Any takers?