Traveler

It will be interesting to see if this makes any difference for holiday travelers.

Mood: Intrigued
Music: Steppenwolf: "Caroline"

Build It Better

Anyone who's ever played the game Mousetrap will likely find this interesting. Even if you haven't played the game, you might find it amusing.

At least you don't have to collect any cardboard pieces of cheese.

Mood: Amused
Music: Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band: "Was"

Money Talks

It will be interesting to see how this pans out.

Mood: Apprehensive
Music: Kansas: "Carry On Wayward Son"

Kicking Ass

It was a weekend full of things that kick ass.

Friday night I watched most of the Marx Brothers' movie A Night at the Opera. I say most because I wasn't able to stay awake for the whole thing. Aside from being very funny and entertaining, I was struck by the talent of the Marx Brothers themselves. In my opinion it's hard to find such multitalented people today, yet in this movie not only do they act, but Groucho sings and dances, Chico plays the piano beatifully, and Harpo whistles an accompanying part for his harp. It was kind of bittersweet to watch, knowing there aren't any (many) performers like that today. (Jennifer Lopez does not count!)

Saturday saw the Badgers win against the University of Michigan in Big Ten football. It wasn't an ass kicking in the strict sense of the term, as the Badgers very nearly let the Wolverines get back in the game. Still, it was a satisfying performance in an uneven season.

Saturday night VH1 Classic showed two hours of live Led Zeppelin performances. The performances were obviously edited, because some of the songs were only "Parts" -- but also because the versions of "We're Gonna Grove" and "I Can't Quit You, Babe" sounded almost identical to the versions on Coda. It was neat to see them perform songs I'd never heard live before, including "Kashmir," "Bring It On Home," and "In My Time of Dying" among others. To quote an acquaintance from a mailing list, it "kicked my lame ass all over the place."

The biggest kick ass thing of all was Sunday, for Maryanne had managed to get tickets for the Packers game against the Vikings. It was a beautiful day for football, and the drive up to Green Bay was capped by an exciting game. Not only did the Packers win, but they shut out the Vikings in a very decisive win. They still have some challenging games ahead, though.

Mood: Pleased
Music: Led Zeppelin: "Rain Song"

Ending Hunger

It's a long read, but this article about genetically-modified foods and some of their obstacles is interesting. I found the story at once fascinating and frustrating.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Jethro Tull: "Living in the Past"

Impossible?

I don't know what's going to make Americans snap -- what the breaking point will be when gasoline prices are finally too high for too long, that's finally and really going to get things going to the point where the oil companies can't cover up things like this.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Bachman-Turner Overdrive: "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet"

Phillip's (6)66

I had come to the decision a while ago not to ever shop at a Phillip's 66 station for political reasons. (The same company owns Conoco and 76, as well.) After our trip to Colorado I have other reasons, as well.

Needing a place to stop and check Sarah's diaper in Iowa, we pulled into a Phillip's 66 just off US-151 in Dubuque. Not only did the men's restroom not have a baby changing station, but the floor was too dirty to even think about using it instead.

So I took Sarah next door to the Dairy Queen. I kind of wish I had bought something, just a little something to show my appreciation for them actually having a baby changing station in their men's restroom.

Mood: Disappointed
Music: The Guess Who: "American Woman"

Secret Lives

Thanks to America's Puritanical background and prudish views on sexuality, a lot of people in this country in this country have the impression that the sexual revolution was something new, and that some of the open-minded views on sex and sexuality are new as well. Not so! Not only will works of fiction from the likes of Shakespeare, Chaucer, and Bocaccio show otherwise, but even non-fiction period sources will show the truth.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Styx: "Snowblind"

Country

I don't know who created it, or how it was created, but this list of the top 100 country songs of all time is interesting.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Traffic: "The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys"

Skills

Popular Mechanics set forth this list of 25 skills every man should know. Looks like I've got some work to do.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: The Guess Who: "American Woman"

The Net

Here are 21 things you should know about the Internet.

Mood: Intrigued
Music: Foreigner: "Juke Box Hero"

Lepidoptera

If you're squeamish about insects, you might not want to look at this.

On the other hand, it does feature some fascintating photographs of moths.

Mood: Intrigued
Music: Vanilla Fudge: "Need Love"

Desert Bear

What happens when a teddy bear joins the 101st Airborne? It goes like this....

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Lynyrd Skynyrd: "Simple Man"

History

Do not join the History Book Club.

I got an offer in the mail from them a few weeks ago. Four books for $1 each, plus shipping, with no obligation to buy any more books. The flier they sent had some intriguing titles, so I figured I'd take advantage of it.

I changed the address, though, hoping the books would be shipped to me at work, which would be more convenient.

Today I received a letter dated October 3 stating that they won't ship to non-residential addresses unless the customer makes a $50 deposit to open the account.

While their literature does state they may require some customers to do this, it does not list any of the reasons why. Had I known, I wouldn't have changed the address.

I thought that maybe I could call them and change the address and still get my order shipped. They had no record of my enrollment order. I no longer had the flier I ordered from, so I didn't know what books I had chosen.

So I told them to take me off their mailing list, because I never want to do business with them again.

Mood: Disgusted
Music: Jefferson Airplane: "Somebody to Love"

Journeys

Carnegie Mellon University has a program for their professors called Journeys, a lecture series where the professors share their thoughts and reflections on the everyday things that make a life, on the premise that this lecture be what they would give if it were the last lecture they would give.

What happens, though, when it really is the last lecture? Professor Randy Pausch, dying of pancreatic cancer, packs an auditorium and gives a moving lecture.

Mood: Pensive
Music: Traffic: "Heaven Is In Your Mind"

Tackling Turnovers

While I couldn't have said I really expected the Badgers to lose on Saturday, it wouldn't have surprised me. After watching them play earlier in the season, I thought they were over-rated in the polls, only climbing up the rankings because the teams ahead of them were slipping. Saturday's loss to Illinois was likely inevitable given the way they've been playing. Their defense has been anemic this season, and it was only their offense that kept them in all the games they ultimately won this season. It was once again a suspect defense that led to their defeat, with poor tackling being one of the biggest problems. I'm hoping that they spend some time on it in practice.

Wisconsin sports fans were expecting some redemption Sunday night, though, when the Packers hosted the Bears. The Packers started out well -- really well -- but it's hard to win games when you lose the turnover battle. Green Bay turned over the ball five times by the end of the game, but most costly were the early turnovers the stalled and ended a pair of decent scoring drives early in the game. Still, they had some fire in the first half of the game, but I don't know if they just lost it in the second half, or the Bears got fire enough of their own to come from behind and win it. In the process Favre tied the all-time interception record, a record thankfully preceeded by his breaking the all-time touchdown pass record. There was no gutsy play-calling by McCarthy this time, and I'm hoping that after examining himself he works on protecting the ball.

Mood: Disappointed
Music: Mott the Hoople: "All the Young Dudes"

Animals

For several years now I've used this website to demonstrate just how out of touch animal rights activists like those at PETA are. I found this collection of quotations that should be extremely enlightening and should further demonstrate what I would describe as a tenuous grip on reality.

Mood: Disgusted
Music: Black Sabbath: "Paranoid"

Ping

From the "too much time on hand" files, here are eight creative ways to play Pong.

Mood: Amused
Music: The Moody Blues: "Ride My See-Saw"

Losing Time

I thought the battery on my watch was running low, because while the digital portion was working fine, the analog part was running slow or stopping altogether.

I took the watch to the Dakota Watch Co. kiosk at the East Town mall, and had the battery replaced. There I discovered my watch was no longer water proof, though I have no way of knowing if the battery replacement did this, since they didn't test it for water proofing before removing the back cover.

The watch ran well most of the day, but then started losing time again. I was very frustrated and disappointed. This was the third or fourth watch I've owned since my old reliable Casio bit the dust after I graduated college. What was it going to take to find a reliable watch with the features I want?

I checked the warranty on the watch and discovered it was still under warranty; the movement will likely be repaired or replaced at no charge. They might also be able to repair the water resistance, though there will be a charge for this.

I guess I'll have to give Dakota another shot to see if they can fix the problem. If not, it might be back to Casio.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Led Zeppelin: "Kashmir"

Intriguing

The other night I watched The Freshman on TCM. It's an old Harold Lloyd picture, silent and in black and white. It was entertaining, but also intriguing, seeing how slang has evolved in the last 80 years. I also came to the conclusion that people who can read lips get more out of silent movies than the rest of us, being able to see the dialog that's not included in the captioning.

Also intriguing was a new show on ABC, Big Shots. My curiosity was piqued by the advertising, featuring Dylan McDermott and Christopher Titus playing two of the four titular roles. It's a show that has great potential, and I'm kind of hoping it does well.

Mood: Intrigued
Music: The Rolling Stones: "Sympathy for the Devil"