The Ring For Singles

The problem with Valentine's Day is that unless you have a significant other you can hang with on that day for dinner or a nice, quiet evening at home, that day can really bug some folks. Then there are those who basically want to flaunt the fact that they don't have to buy chocolates, roses, dinner or naughtier items for their girlfriend or boyfriend.

Singelringen, a Swedish jewelry maker asked, at their website, if there are friendship rings, engagement rings, wedding rings, why not a ring for singles?

Yep, you got it, the Singles Ring. Get yours today!

Is there a divorce ring?

Try Not to Give Out Your SSN

Before Christmas, I received a letter from my mortgage provider saying that DHL lost one of their mainframe tapes that had my records on it. I was none too happy since just about everything needed to steal my identity was on that tape. The mortgage company offered to provide free credit checks for six or nine months (can't remember which) but that really didn't offer any sense of relief.

Just after New Year's, I received a letter saying they recovered the tape. Think I'll use DHL for shipping? There was definitely a sigh of relief.

If you are going to have any sort of New Year resolutions, make two to buy a shredder and shred confidential documents and resist requests for your Social Security Number.

This is no easy task. Chris Hibbert at totse.com offers some suggestions:

The guidelines for dealing with non-governmental institutions are much more tenuous. Most of the time private organizations that request your Social Security Number can get by quite well without your number, and if you can find the right person to negotiate with, they'll willingly admit it. The problem is finding that right person. The person behind the counter is often told no more than "get the customers to fill out the form completely."

Most of the time, you can convince them to use some other number. Usually the simplest way to refuse to give your Social Security Number is simply to leave the appropriate space blank. One of the times when this isn't a strong enough statement of your desire to conceal your number is when dealing with institutions which have direct contact with your employer. Most employers have no policy against revealing your Social Security Number; they apparently believe that it must have been an unintentional slip that you didn't give out your SSN.

Public utilities (gas, electric, phone, etc.) are considered to be private organizations under the laws regulating SSNs. Most of the time they ask for an SSN, and aren't prohibited from asking for it, but they'll usually relent if you insist. Ask to speak to a supervisor, insist that they document a corporate policy requiring it, ask about alternatives, ask why they need it and suggest alternatives.

There's much more at their website.

Music Industry Greedy? Surely you jest.

Here's further proof the folks running the music industry really don't know what they are talking about. This is from an article about folks in the music industry not being happy with Apple's pricing of .99¢ per song.

'I’m hearing that the artists aren’t happy, the publishers aren’t happy. Someone other than Apple needs to be happy for this industry to grow,' said Amit Shafrir, president of AOL’s premium services arm.

As someone at iPodlounge.com said, "Um… what about the customers, Amit… they seem to be happy."

'For the time being we all must work with Apple and make the most of iTunes,' said Eric Nicoli, chairman of EMI Group PLC, the world’s No. 3 record company. 'Single pricing is almost unique to the music industry,' Nicoli added. 'If you look at any other consumer category—including things like iPods—they sell at different prices.'

Uh, so you seem to be saying that an iPod shuffle should be the same price as the iPod nano or iPod? That all BMW models should be the same price? Dude, where did you get your MBA?

Basically, the music industry folks are just plain greedy. Apple has been turning in some nice sales numbers with the iTunes Music Store. Apple buys the songs at a certain price and are free to price it to customers as it see fit.

New Rules for 2006

Sometimes, George Carlin is just a cranky nut. Other times, he's a nut and then there are times when he's funny. That said, I couldn't pass this up.

NEW RULES for 2006 (George Carlin)

New Rule: Stop giving me that pop-up ad for classmates.com. There's a reason you don't talk to people for 25 years. Because you don't particularly like them. Besides, I already know what the captain of the football team is doing these days: mowing my lawn.

New Rule: Don't eat anything that's served to you out a window unless you're a seagull. People are acting all shocked that a human finger was found in a bowl of Wendy's chili. Hey, it cost less than a dollar. What did you expect it to contain?

New Rule: Stop saying that teenage boys who have sex with their hot, blonde teachers are permanently damaged. I have a better description for these kids: lucky bastards.

New Rule: If you need to shave and you still collect baseball cards, you're a dope. If you're a kid, the cards are keepsakes of your idols. If you're a grown man , they're pictures of men.

New Rule: Ladies, leave your eyebrows alone. Here's how much men care about your eyebrows: do you have two of them? Okay, we're done.

New Rule: There's no such thing as flavored water. There's a whole aisle of this crap at the supermarket, water, but without that watery taste. Sorry, but flavored water is called a soft drink. You want flavored water? Pour some scotch over ice and let it melt. That's your flavored water.

New Rule: Stop f***ing with old people. Target is introducing a redesigned pill bottle that's square, with a bigger label. And the top is now the bottom. And by the time grandpa figures out how to open it, his ass will be in the morgue. Congratulations, Target, you just solved the Social Security crisis.

New Rule: The more complicated the Starbucks order, the bigger the asshole. If you walk into a Starbucks and order a "decaf grande half-soy, half-low fat, iced vanilla, double-shot, gingerbread cappuccino, extra dry, light ice, with one Sweet-n'-Low and one NutraSweet," ooh, you're a huge asshole.

New Rule: I'm not the cashier! By the time I look up from sliding my card, entering my PIN number, pressing "Enter," verifying the amount, deciding, no, I don't want cash back, and pressing "Enter" again, the kid who is supposed to be ringing me up is standing there eating my Almond Joy.

New Rule: Just because your tattoo has Chinese characters in it doesn't make you spiritual. It's right above the crack of your ass. And it translates to "beef with broccoli." The last time you did anything spiritual, you were praying to God you weren't pregnant. You're not spiritual. You're just high.

New Rule: I don't need a bigger mega M&M. If I'm extra hungry for M&Ms, I'll go nuts and eat two.

New Rule: If you're going to insist on making movies based on crappy, old television shows, then you have to give everyone in the Cineplex a remote so we can see what's playing on the other screens. Let's remember the reason something was a television show in the first place is that the idea wasn't good enough to be a movie.

New Rule: No more gift registries. You know, it used to be just for weddings. Now it's for babies and new homes and graduations from rehab. Picking out the stuff you want and having other people buy it for you isn't gift giving, it's the white people version of looting.

New Rule: and this one is long overdue: No more bathroom attendants. After I zip up, some guy is offering me a towel and a mint like I just had sex with George Michael. I can't even tell if he's supposed to be there, or just some freak with a fetish. I don't want to be on your webcam, dude. I just want to wash my hands.

New Rule: When I ask how old your toddler is, I don't need to know in months. "27 Months." "He's two," will do just fine. He's not a cheese. And I didn't really care in the first place.

Friends Coming Back?

There were rumors yesterday that NBC was bringing Friends back as four 1 hour specials. The folks at TVSquad.com found out that those were just rumors. This is what NBC Media Relations had to say:

'There are currently no plans to have any follow-up to Friends other than Joey, which is still a major part of our comedy line-up and we whole-heartedly support. The rumors started this weekend are just that; rumors. We wish the rest of the cast of Friends continued success in their careers, and would welcome them back at any time, but there are currently no plans for them to appear in their Friends roles.'

I guess that was a sigh of relief for the four people who still watch Joey, which is all but cancelled by NBC.

Readers at TVSquad.com either welcomed the possibility or chided NBC for dredging up the dead. Some readers were overly not enthused because Friends is in such heavy syndication right now that it's valued has diminished greatly.

The Baseball Player's Wife

Kris Benson was traded from the New York Mets to the Baltimore Orioles. Kris' wife, Anna, believed the trade was because of her outspokenness. During an interview, she said,

'I know baseball is a business. But if they really did trade Kris because of me, it would be sexist, it would be discriminatory, and it wouldn't be the right thing to do. They didn't seem to get equal value in the trade, and it would be irresponsible for them to weaken their organization by trading Kris because he's married to me.'

She said this while doing a sexy photo shoot for FHM magazine. She has said before that she believed her husband was being traded because of her negotiations to pose nude in Playboy. So much for sexist and discriminatory.

SOURCE

O Canada! Who Will Carry The Flag?

CTV.ca reported that headliner Canadian athletes have been turning down the opportunity to be the flag bearer for the country at the Torino Winter Olympics next month.

A number of Canada's star athletes have refused to carry the country's flag at the opening ceremonies for the Turin Olympics next month, saying they need to focus on their main events.

Duties for opening ceremonies and media interviews can last up to eight hours, and can be a drain on an athlete's time and energy.

Bobsledder Pierre Lueders, cross-country skier Beckie Scott, and speed skaters Clara Hughes and Cindy Klassen have all asked their associations not to nominate them for the ceremonial role.

Scott, an Olympic champion, is scheduled to defend her gold medal in the 15 km pursuit event two days after the ceremony. Her coach told reporters that the skier does not want to put an ounce of energy where it is not "productive."

Officials were looking at competition schedules as part of choosing a person to carry the flag.

There may be something else to all this.

Some athletes are hesitant to carry the flag because of a rumoured jinx that claims whoever carries the flag is bound to fail.

"The curse can be broken and it will hopefully be broken in 2006, if there is a curse," former Olympic skier Tami Bradley laughed.

In 1998, moguls skier Jean-Luc Brassard blamed his poor performance on the fact that he carried the flag in the opening ceremonies at the Nagano Olympics the day before competing.

Speaking on CTV's Canada AM on Thursday, Brassard said carrying the Canadian flag is a great honour. However, it takes a lot of time and energy, and can break an athletes' concentration.

"When you think you have only 20 seconds to justify all those years of training for some sports, or 10 second for other sports, there are absolutely no room at all for any other thought," he said.

"And you want to have your concentration and all your mind at the specific moment that you have to do."

Further in the story, it was noted that,

A look into recent Olympic history shows that flag-bearing isn't always a curse: Doan, the 2002 flag bearer, won speed skating gold.

One way to dismiss that logic is to look at what Bob Beamon said he was doing with his wife the night before his record setting long jump at the 1968 Olympics.

The night before the finals, Beamon had been concerned, his mind going over his personal problems. He had lost his scholarship at Texas El-Paso for participating, with other blacks, in a boycott of a meet against Brigham Young, a Mormon school whose racial policies disturbed them. He also wasn't getting along with his wife.

"Everything was wrong," he said. "So I went into town and had a shot of tequila. Man, did I feel loose. I got a good sleep." (source)

And athletes balk at carrying a flag?

Comfort Shows

There was another article at TVSquad.com about a variation on the theme of "comfort foods." In this case, "comfort shows."

We've all heard of "comfort foods," those foods that we always return to, the ones that we love and make us feel good and maybe even bring back good memories. But TV shows can be the same way. They might not be our "favorite" shows (though they very well could be), but they certainly make us feel so good we want to keep watching them (and now with DVDs, it's even easier).

The writer went on to list five of his "comfort shows." Here's mine:

• M*A*S*H (I have 9 seasons on DVD)
• Seinfeld (Timeless and funny stuff about nothing)
• Friends (starting to be a little dated but still funny)
• Hill Street Blues (Steven Bocho's masterpiece and it's finally coming to DVD Jan 24)
• The Dick Van Dyke Show (arguably the best comedy series ever)

Others I might include are WKRP in Cincinnati, ER, The West Wing or Frasier.

TV Character Real Life Salaries

TVSquad.com found a list of what the real life salaries would be for some TV show characters. For example, Carrie Bradshaw, a writer with her own newspapere column on "Sex and the City," is able to buy some pretty expensive shoes. In the real world, she would probably be making around $57,000 as a columnist, eating in and definitely not living in Manhattan.

Other characters and their real-life salaries:

• Homer Simpson, Nuclear Safety Inspector, The Simpsons: $64,000. He could so afford health insurance!
• Grace Adler, Interior Designer, Will & Grace: $40,700. No wonder she needs a roommate.
• Susan Mayer, Children's Book Illustrator, Desperate Housewives: $38,060. Alimony probably pays for that house on Wisteria Lane.
• Sandy Cohen, Lawyer, The OC: $94,930. Maybe they got the McMansion for free from Kirstin's dad.
• John "JD" Dorian, medical resident, Scrubs: $37,000. It's understandable that he can't afford an apartment on his own, what with those med school bills and all.
• Michael Bluth, Acting company president, Arrested Development:$140,350.
• Christian Troy, plastic surgeon, Nip/Tuck: $156,500.
• Sidney Bristow, spy, Alias: $50,000.

Wow! I wonder what James Bond and 24'sJack Bauer's would make in real life. I'm sure that in real life, Jack would probably say, after surviving a hail of bullets, something like, "I don't get paid enough to deal with this," or "This isn't in my job description."

Hey Laura, What's On Your iPod?

Laura Bush revealed in a Washington Times interview that her iPod "includes songs by Tina Turner and Dolly Parton." She also noted that her husband, "

...likes country music a little bit more than I do, although I actually really am very fond of country music, as well," she said. "One of the songs on my IPod that I love is Dolly Parton singing 'Stairway to Heaven.' So that's sort of a combination, country and pop."

Rock on, Laura!

What's the Worst Thing You Could Eat?

The folks over at slashfood.com have a list of what they think are the worst foods you could ever eat:

• Deep fried Snickers or Mars bars - This "snack" packs over 450 calories and about 30 grams of fat, and a king size will deliver more than 700 calories and 44 grams of fat. What's more disturbing is that some pubs plate them with a side of fries and call them lunch.
• Shelf stable “creamers” – Water, sugar or corn syrup solids and partially hydrogenated oils make up this shelf-stable faux cream. Need we say more?
• Pasteurized, processed cheese food - No, we don’t care how well they melt. These melty, spreadable, day-glo orange “cheeses” have to be labeled as “cheese food” because of the addition of preservatives and liquids. Yum.
• Burger King Chicken Fries – A tiny amount of chicken with four layers of breading, deep-fried in soybean oil 3 ounces of “fries” with dipping sauce, come up to 340 calories and 24 grams of fat, as well as 1020 mg of sodium per serving.
• Instant ramen noodles – Very high in both sodium and saturated fat On the plus side, there is little, if any sugar in these, though you’ll be reaching for something sweet to get the salt out of your mouth.
• Movie theater popcorn – popped in coconut oil and topped with “butter," a large size has about 20 cups of popcorn and almost three days worth of saturated fat.
• McDonald’s Sausage, Egg and Cheese McGriddle – only if you want to have over 50% of your recommended daily intake of fat, saturated fat and sodium in a 7 oz. (199 gm) sandwich.
• Super sized soft drinks – Huge drinks, like the 52-ounce X-treme gulp at 7-11, when filled with sugary sodas, can pack away over 600 calories each!

I'd probably have to say that Oreos laced with rat poison could probably be worse than the deep-fried Snickers bar. I wonder what that tastes like.

The San Francisco Burrito

While reading one person's blog about his trip to San Francisco and the Mac Expo this week, I saw mention of the "San Francisco burrito". There was even a link to a Wikipedia entry.

That Wikipedia entry reminded me of the couple of years I lived in Cupertino, just a few blocks or so down from Apple's headquarters. My friend Simeon introduced me to a great restaurant called Pollo's Mexican Rotisserie, just off of Stevens Creek Blvd.

They offered huge burritos filled with rice and freshly made chicken. Their salsa was handmade and there was a variety of hot sauces to choose from. Very fresh and great quality for a cheap price. Pollo's was a great place to visit Saturday afternoons.

I would have to agree that the "San Francisco style burrito" is probably the pre-cursor to the wrap sandwiches we see all over the place.

Other restaurants I miss from the San Jose area include Armadillo Willy's, in Sunnyvale, and Yoshinoya's, in Cupertino.

Bowled Out

The college football season is now done. I only watched the Orange Bowl and Rose Bowls this year.

Yes, Penn State won the Orange Bowl but heck, I'd rather remember the 1987 Orange Bowl. That was a much more impressive win over Miami. This year's game was an ugly mess.

Joe Paterno was sporting a really deep tan that could give George Hamilton a run for the money. Micheal Robinson, in spite of the pre-game hype by the announcers botched a snap, threw an interception and simply had trouble connecting with his receivers. Then there were all the missed field goal attempts.

Thank goodness for players like Austin Scott and Ethan Kilmer on the offense, and Paul Posluszny, on defense. Those guys did outstanding work.

The Rose Bowl was no myth as the national championship this year. It was great to watch two incredibly stellar teams play against each other. No. 1 University of Southern California Trojans versus No. 2 University of Texas Longhorns.

I lived in Austin, TX when the Longhorns last won the national championship, so you could pretty much guess who I was cheering for. Hook 'Em Horns, folks!

Vince Young, Texas' junior quarterback, just may be the best quarterback in the country. I have rarely seen a quarterback act so cool under pressure. I am amazed though that Texas did so well in spite of the number of fumbles they committed.

While I was cheering on Texas, either team deserved to be national champs.

Now to see how the Chicago Bears fare in the pro playoffs.

Girl Scout Cookies

Last Monday, I ordered six boxes of Girl Scout cookies from my niece, Alison. When I returned to work Tuesday, I saw signs all over the building by several co-workers asking people to order cookies from their daughters.

I ordered the Peanut Butter Sandwiches, Caramel deLites (probably the most popular) and Lemon Pastry Cremes. I should probably see if I can get the Lemon Coolers. Might help stave off cabin fever.

It's that time of year and now it seems that with the start of every Fall and Spring academic semesters, there's the usual onslaught of fund raiser purchase requests. Girl Scout cookies, trash bags, wrapping paper, magazine subscriptions, hoagies, etc.

Wikipedia has a great article about Girl Scout Cookies.

Exact details vary from Girl Scout council to council, as each council negotiates with the baker and sets their own prices. The individual troop selling the cookies typically receives about $0.40 to $0.60 per box. After the cookies are paid for, the majority of the additional monies go to the Girl Scout Council, and are used to pay for events and activities for the girls, maintenance of the council's Girl Scout camps and other properties, cookie sale incentives, and Council administration costs. Each council can provide a breakdown showing how cookie money is used in that council (this information is usually printed on the back of the girl's Cookie Order Form).

I love Girl Scout Cookies. The quality is consistantly excellent and it's really tough to choose a flavor since they are all good. The only problem is that they don't help if you are trying to maintain any sort of diet.

What surprises me is that the Girl Scouts of America prohibits sales over the internet. I guess the idea is to teach the girls how to interact with the public.

Year of Korean Food?

It's that time of the new year in which every sort of pundit makes predictions about what will happen during the new year. Sarah Gim at Slashfood.com thinks that Korean food will be "in" this year.

January 29 may be the debut of the Year of the Dog, but I'm quite certain that 2006 will be the Year of Korean Food. It's going to be my personal mission this year to see that red (pepper) will be the new black, Korean barbecue will be the Asian answer to South Beach, and kimchee will be right up there with salsa and sauerkraut.

The last time I ate Korean food was while living in Urbana, Illinois. The great thing about Champaign-Urbana Illinois is the huge variety of ethnic restaurants. While I was living there, you could find everything from Greek, Arabic (if that's the right word to use), Thai, Vietnamese in addition to Japanese, Chinese, and of course, Korean.

Hmmm...Korean barbecue...must check this out.

Tracking Santa

The NORAD Santa Tracker is back this year and we don't need the help of the NSA or secret wiretaps to do this. Simply point your browser to the Santa Tracker.

Santa ain't no slacker!

The Deal With Deal Or No Deal

I've now watched two episodes of the weeklong run on NBC of "Deal or No Deal." I'm torn between whether or not I like it.

NBC's description of the show at their website was far too simplistic. Here's my take. The contestant chooses a briefcase. It is opened to reveal a dollar amount which is eliminated from a list of all the available dollar amounts. Of course, the contestant would love for all the dollar amounts except $500,000, $750,000 or $1 Million to be removed.

After the contestant has made several choices, the "banker" will call to offer the contestant an amount of money to walk away from the game. Hence, the "deal or no deal." It doesn't get anymore complicated than that.

At one point in last night's episode, a woman was crying because she couldn't figure out what to do. There were four cases left, three had low dollar amounts attached to them and one had $1 Million. The "banker" offered her $201,000. Hmmm, either $1 Million or something like $5, $500, or $2,000. Yeah, take the deal. And she did, after several tense moments.

The next contestant had most of the high amounts eliminated from the game early on and I suspect he was continuing to play in order to get the banker to offer higher deals. At the end of his run, it was either continue to go for the $500,000 case or $99,000. He took the deal. It wasn't going to get any better.

I have to wonder though, who NBC is catering the show to. At one point during the second contestant's run, it was mentioned in a caption that there was "1 in 4 chance" of picking the $500,000 briefcase. Uh, duh, ya think?

Plus, the so-called "banker" is a hokey device. Just let the show's host make the offer.

That, of course, brings me to the host. Howie Mandel. He did such a poor job of acting with regard to talking with "The Banker" on a cordless phone that nobody was fooled. Even the contestants were making fun of "The Banker."

The show is also heavily edited and voices were overdubbed later in the studio.

"Deal or No Deal" has potential but I guess that once they tidy things up, it will be too much like "The Price is Right."

NYC Transit Workers On Strike

Yeah, to all those transit workers, I saw Santa's list and well, let's just say we're talking coal in the stockings. At least you can use the coal to keep warm this winter since your union is getting slapped with $1million fines each day you're on strike.

Coals!

I'm sure we all get the occasional Christmas Letter in which the sender reports highlights of things that happened over the previous year. I think they're great.

Lifehacker.com mentioned a weblog written for a 2 year-old boy that has a year in review article in which the 2 year-old son is interviewed by Ted Koppel. Funny and a great idea for future Christmas letters.

Read the blog here.

Curtailing Rude Movie House Behavior

On Sunday, I went to see The Chronicles of Narnia. It was an OK film. As a friend said, great epic battle but mediocre acting. It also probably didn't help that the past three Decembers were all about Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings.

Nonetheless, what really got to me while watching CoN was the kid sitting behind me who was constantly kicking the back of my chair. I don't understand this because there is a wide gap between the rows. Several times I turned around and asked him to stop. The father, sitting next to him, just smiled.

Then, someone down in the front row got a call on his cell phone. He had the volume set to low but that was still bad enough but it got worse. The thing with many cell phones these days is the backlighting. My Motorola e815, for example, could probably help get me home in the dark. And that was the case with this guy's cell phone. It pretty much lit up a small area around him.

The National Organization of Theatre Operators has been petitioning the FCC to block cell phone signals inside movie theatres in an attempt to curtail "rude behavior."

On the other side of the fence, the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association is trying to block this request, saying it interferes with the ability for the cell phone owner to receive emergency calls.

Personally, I really don't want more regulations. People just need to learn to be courtious and turn their cell phones off while the movie is on. It really isn't that hard.