Some Pictures of Sailing in the Netherlands.

A church converted to a house.

The Trip Begins.... Almost.

Well, we didn't quite make it to Amsterdam yet. There was a problem with the plane in Birmingham for our flight to Detroit. There was something wrong with the power in the plane and they had to wait an hour for the mechanic to show up. Our layover in Detroit was only an hour, so we would have missed our flight. We are now spending the night in a Holiday Inn near the airport in Birmingham (on NorthWest's dime) and will fly out tomorrow morning. Tonight we are going to order room service and then maybe go hang out at the pool.

Hopefully the trip will run smoother tomorrow.

A Preview of Our Trip.

Becky and I leave in 2 days for our trip. We will be spending about a week sailing around the Friesland in the Netherlands on a boat similar to this:



Afterwards, we will be driving to Prague for the 2006 IAU conference. On the way, we will be stopping off in Köln, Germany for a short visit with my aunt and uncle.

It's all about money.

I'm continually amazed at what people will do to each other for money. Check out this article from BBC News:

Inquiry into 'beggar amputations'

Craaaaaaaaaap.

I only have 4 days before I leave for the meeting in Prague. I'm freaking out. I still don't have my poster printed and I feel like I need to include more results on it. That's means frantically doing more work and trying to cram it on a poster that barely has any room left on it.

There is also a bunch of tedious stuff I need to do around the house, like go grocery shopping, clean, pack, etc. It's all just stressing me out.

Ninjonics.

Who's suprised by this?

Here's an article headline in the Entertainment section of CNN.com:

Lance Bass: I'm Gay

Bass says he wondered if his coming out could prompt "the end of 'N Sync."

Just think, there could have been an early end to 'N Sync.

This is why Lincoln is my favorite Republican.

Here is an interesting commentary by Lou Dobbs where he argues that Bush is picking and choosing which laws to enforce.

I Am a Comic Book Nerd.

I did a little hunting around and I came across some cool movie posters.

This is Eddie Brock turning into Venom in Spider-Man 3.



This is Flint Marko (a.k.a. Sandman) in Spider-Man 3.



This poster is for the upcoming Iron Man movie. I'm excited about that too.



Also, here's a picture of Peter Parker apparently succumbing to the suit (check out his eyes).

More Gore, Less Verbinski.

Here's a good review of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

El Blanco Niño

These are some of my favorite GI Joe PSA remakes. Enjoy.

Finally.

Well, I finally finished The Fall of Hyperion. I think I've been "reading" that book for about a year and a half. I probably should have started over to get a better idea of what was going on. Anyway, it was a good story and I would recommend it to anyone who likes hard sci-fi.

Live action cartoons.

Why do the Wayans brothers have to ruin a perfectly good Bugs Bunny cartoon by rehashing it as a live action film? Live action versions of cartoons are never that great (i.e. Scooby Doo and The Flintstones). That being said, I'm a little frightened about how Transformers is going to turn out. It was one of my favorite cartoons as a kid.

Blaupunkt.

I have a Blaupunkt stereo in my car, but it doesn't rock as hard as in this video.

Wheeew.

I had quite a scare yesterday. My work computer started crashing but it never happened consistently. I was truly frightened that all of my data might be lost. Sometimes the screen would lock up, other times there would be no signal from the computer to the screen at all. A couple of times the computer completely shut off without any warning.

Our computer guy, Danny, worked on the computer all morning and it seemed as though the processor just didn't have a good connection to the motherboard. I hope that's all that was wrong with it. It seems to be working fine now.

Beer.

This is a funny commercial for a pretty good beer. Enjoy.

Becky hard at work.

Here's Becky working hard with her new computer... and getting caught.

Kensington Metropark pictures.

Today, Becky, my Dad, and I went to Kensington Metropark. It's a fantastic park about an hour from my Dad's house. Here are some pictures we took.

Awwwwwwww.... little pig butts.



Awwwwwwww.... chipmunks.






Awwwwwwww.... how pretty.




Awwwwwww.... a CH-47D/MH-47E Chinook heavy lift helicopter.



Awwwwwww.... a muskrat, I think.




I think this is a blue heron.




Me and my dad.



Me and Becky.



Southfield, seen on the way back from the park.

Barbecue pictures.

Here are some pictures taken near the end of the Scott and Lana's barbecue on Sunday.



Goofballs amuse me.




The energy is draining with the setting of the sun.

Pictures.

Here are some pictures of the cat and of the drive into Detroit that Becky and I did yesterday.

Awwwwwwww....




I think this is an oil refinery along I-75. The company always paints one of the tanks as either a Tigers baseball or a Pistons basketball, like in the pictures.




Here's a decent picture of the Detroit skyline (the best pictures are taken from Canada). You can see the Renaissance Center on the right.



Here is the Ambassador Bridge, one of the ways to get across the river to Canada.



In this picture you can see the old Tigers stadium on the left and a piece of the Renaissance Center on the right.

Sweeeeet!

I can't believe I have to wait until next summer to see this!



So from the preview, I gather that The Sandman is the main villian, The Green Goblin returns as Harry Osborn, and the Venom storyline is launched (hopefully to be continued in Spider-Man 4). I can't wait.

Ninjas.

I just found this video on this guy's myspace.com page. It's good stuff.



Also, if you don't know what the deal is with net neutrality, have a ninja explain it to you and then do something about it:

Old and depressing New Orleans pictures.

These pictures are pretty old now (circa April 23, 2006), but I thought I would make you look at them anyway.

Here we are, bummed that they postponed the Mardi Gras parade due to the threat of rain. Note the clearly defined shadows due to the sunshine in the later pictures.


Apparently, the parade officials are number 1 in Mike's book.



Zac looks longingly at the parade route, dreaming of what might have been...


Some left-over flood water caught in the double paned window in, what used to be, Mike's house.


Some of the destruction seen in the Lower 9th Ward. Keep in mind these pictures were taken about 8 months after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.

Comic book movies rule.

Now I'm even more excited to see Superman Returns. Check out why.

Just one more video.

I thought this was pretty funny. Someone made this using Garry's Mod.

More videos.

Ok, I'm a dork. Here are the trailers for Half Life 2, Half Life 2: Episode 1, Half Life 2: Episode 2.

Hells Yeah.

I just beat HL2:E1 (about 3 minutes ago) and it was an awesome game. The ending was incredible. I can't wait for the second episode to come out. People have been saying that E1 was too short, and for a price of $20, I would have to agree. For $10-15, I'd say it's just right. I spent a lot of time looking at all the great graphics in the game so it took me a little longer than it would have if I had just played straight through.

I'm thinking about getting F.E.A.R. to hold me over until E2 is released. I've heard good things about it and my friend Scott recommended it. He also recommended that I get HL2 when I first started looking at games to play. He was spot on.

Check out what I found on Youtube.com. It's clips from Half Life 2 used to make a music video of "So Cold" by Breaking Benjamins.

The World Cup.

I think the World Cup has the best fans, don't you?

W. that's why we love ya.

Holy crap.

I can't believe W. actually did something right. My congratulations go out to him. I guess his sliding poll numbers are going to get a boost now. Read the story of what I'm talking about here.

Google Labs rocks.

Google came up with a couple of cool new things. There is the browser sync for Firefox and an online spreadsheet. I downloaded the browser sync but I don't have another computer to use it on yet. I may try it on this portable Firefox and use it when I go to MI. I haven't been able to use the spreadsheet yet because there is a waiting list. I'm hoping I get to try it soon.

There is also this Yahoo! Answers thing that is pretty addictive too. You should check it out.

Zombies and camping.

I've been playing HL2:E1 for a few evenings now, and it is awesome. I read that it's a short game and one guy said that he finished it in about 4 hours. I think it might take me twice as long because of all the exploring and looking around I'm doing. The environment is fantastic and I just want to spend some time looking at everything. The game developers did a good job at creating ambiance. There was one part of the game that freaked me out. You are trapped in a basement, waiting for the elevator to show up and take you to the surface and there are no lights except for your flashlight with a limited charge. When you turn it on, you essentially have tunnel vision. Then the zombies come charging at you... You have to rely on your ears for direction (I have stereo sound), find them with the flashlight, and blow them away with the limited ammo you have. It was good stuff.

On a different note, I'm really looking forward to camping in Kentucky at the end of the month. I'll be stopping at General Butler State Resort Park on my way to Michigan. There seems to be a lot to do there. During peak season (right now) it costs $20/night. During holidays it's $22 and off-season it's $12. I hope it's worth the money. I could probably get a hotel room for $30-35 around there.

I'm thinking about getting a nicer tent than what I have now for this trip. I currently have a little "2-man" tent that is really only big enough for me. I have to sleep diagonally in it because I'm pretty tall. I also want to get a little rechargable lantern so I can do some reading at night.

Big Dorks.

This past weekend Becky and I went to New Orleans to go visit her brother for his 40th birthday. Here's a picture of the birthday boy and the two dorks who came to visit him.

Good stuff.

Check out Stephen Colbert's address to the graduates of Knox College. It's pretty funny.

For all you crab-heads.

I was just updating my Steam account and decided to read the news update for Half-Life 2. Here's the good bit:

The first in a trilogy of episodic games, Episode One reveals the aftermath of Half-Life 2 and launches a journey beyond City 17. Episode One does not require Half-Life 2 to play and also includes a first look at Episode Two, which will ship by year's end.

Sweeeeeeet.

So when does Half-Life 3 come out?


Oh, just in case you don't know what a headcrab is, here's one:


This is what happens when one attaches itself to you:

Useful information.

This is really cool. I was Stumbling last night and I came across this webpage. If you are broke, you can still feed your family of 4 for $45 a week. That's amazing, considering Becky and I spend about $150 a week on food. Of course, we don't buy just the "essentials".

Also, to help out you poor schlubs even more, here's some more useful information. The best credit card I've come across is the AT&T Cash Rewards Credit Card. The problem is that they are canceling that card in July. I've been doing some searching and it looks like the next best card is either the AT&T Universal Rewards Card or the Citi Dividend Platinum Select Credit Card.

The Citi Dividend card is good because you get 5% cash back when you buy things from grocery stores, gas stations, or drugstores and 1% back everywhere else. The best part is that they actually send you a check. The bad part is that you have a cash back limit of $300 which averages out to one $50 check every 2 months.

The AT&T Rewards card is probably slightly better and is the card I'm getting to replace the AT&T Cash Rewards card that I currently have. The cool stuff about it is that you get 30 minutes of prepaid phone minutes each month, 2 free directory assistance inquires each month, free wireless phone loss and theft insurance no matter who your carrier is (good if you have an expensive cell phone), 5% rebate on purchases from grocery stores, gas stations, and drug stores; and a 1% rebate everywhere else. You also get a $100 gift card after your first purchase with this card. The drawback is that your rebates can only be applied to gift cards at pretty expensive stores, although Target and Home Depot are on the list. You can cash in your rebate points for an actual check, but it costs you $75 worth of rebates to get a $50 check. Anyway, since Becky and I shop at Target all the time, this is a good card for me. I'd still rather have cash back, but getting a gift card I know I'm going to use at a store I shop at anyway is fine too.

Oh, if you are one of the estimated 17% of the U.S. population that carries a credit card balance, this credit card information probably doesn't apply to you. I'm sure there are cards with a much lower interest rate than what these cards offer.

Second class citizens.

The following quote is a little dated, but I think it's still worth showing. I found this statement here and it was made by George H. W. Bush (Bush the Elder) on August 27, 1987:

No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.

I'm glad that minorities were respected by the leader of our nation. Sheesh. A friend of mine, who is an atheist and a member of the military, had the opportunity to talk with George W. Bush (Bush the Younger). W. said pretty much the same thing to him. I'm sure that made my friend feel good that he voluntarily joined the army.

Hmmmm.

I'm not sure where I heard the following paraphrased quote, but I assume it's either from a movie or a comic book. It may not be from a reputable source like Gandhi or anything, but it's still fairly thoughtful.

The job of the police is to protect and serve the people. The job of the military is to combat enemies of the state. When the military takes the role of the police, the people become the enemy of the state.