Thanksgiving Reminder

Read Full Post »

You Don’t Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows

Dear Weatherman Weatherperson,

Listen. With all due respect, because I do, in fact, have respect for you and what you do, but with all due respect could you please ease up? Just a little?

I know you’re smart. You’re brilliant, even. Some of your colleagues are doctors. That’s nothing to sneeze at. But all I wanna know is whether or not to board up my windows before I go to bed because of the apocalyptic storm headed my way.

I know there are numerous reasons why the apocalyptic storm is headed my way – high pressure, low pressure, immigrants, etc. – but I just don’t care. I’m sorry, but I don’t.

There’s some pressure system coming in from the north? Yawn. Relative humidity was around 90% today? A darn shame. Just tell me, do I need my jacket tomorrow or not?

There’s a lot of air time devoted to you on the news. I know you’re thrilled about that – I think you’re on the air more than ever before. You look fantastic, too. And the new Dopplers and graphics and such? You keep saying they’re better than the other stations’. I think they’re swell, too. But, seriously, I need to know: do I need my jacket tomorrow or not?

I know your station has to fill all that air time they’ve allotted you so instead of spending your 15 minutes talking about weather systems and barometric readings and other stuff I don’t fully understand and can’t track for myself, how about you tell me what the weather will be like for the next month? I know it’s hard to predict the weather that far in advance sometimes but please, take a guess. You’re smart. And, to me, monthly weather predictions are far more worthwhile than hearing you talk simply to justify your education to the viewers. Don’t get me wrong, I am indeed coming to your expertise to find out what I need to know. But tell me what I need to know. You’re not really educating me when I have to come back to you anyway to find out what’s causing the swirly storm in the Gulf of Mexico because my own personal Doppler system isn’t up and running yet.

——————————————————————————————————————

In an effort to make it easier on all of us, I thought maybe you could employ a new system so viewers can know at a glance what to expect for the next day. Maybe something like this:

For that cold front moving in by morning, you could use this icon:

For the rain storm waiting outside our doors, this icon would help us all out:

And for those cataclysmic events which no one seems to accurately predict, this would let us know just when to worry:

Just some suggestions. I hope some of them are usable. And if your producers insist on you filling your time slot, may I suggest providing some good ol’ fashioned entertainment for the viewer like this weathermanstar?

I’ll see you at 10.

Your fairweather friend,
-Josh

Read Full Post »

Fact Check

Taken from Sara’s blog:

——————————————————————————————

Bold the things you’ve done…

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink

02. Swam with dolphins

03. Climbed a mountain

04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive

05. Been inside the Great Pyramid

06. Held a tarantula

07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone

08. Said “I love you” and meant it

09. Hugged a tree

10. Bungee jumped

11. Visited Paris

12. Watched a lightning storm at sea

13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise

14. Seen the Northern Lights

15. Gone to a huge sports game

16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa

17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables (I’m gonna count my mom’s)

18. Touched an iceberg

19. Slept under the stars

20. Changed a baby’s diaper

21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon

22. Watched a meteor shower

23. Gotten drunk on champagne

24. Given more than you can afford to charity

25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope

26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment

27. Had a food fight

28. Bet on a winning horse

29. Asked out a stranger

30. Had a snowball fight

31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can

32. Held a lamb

33. Seen a total eclipse

34. Ridden a rollercoaster

35. Hit a home run

36. Danced like a fool and didn’t care who was looking

37. Adopted an accent for an entire day

38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment

39. Had two hard drives for your computer

40. Visited all 50 states

41. Taken care of someone who was drunk

42. Had amazing friends

43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country

44 . Watched whales

45. Stolen a sign

46. Backpacked in Europe

47. Taken a road-trip

48. Gone rock climbing

49. Taken a midnight walk on the beach

50. Gone sky diving

51. Visited Ireland

52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love

53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them

54. Visited Japan

55. Milked a cow

56. Alphabetized your CDs

57. Pretended to be a superhero

58. Sung karaoke

59. Lounged around in bed all day

60. Played touch football

61. Gone scuba diving

62. Kissed in the rain

63. Played in the mud

64. Played in the rain

65. Gone to a drive-in theatre

66. Visited the Great Wall of China

67. Started a business

68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken

69. Toured ancient sites

70. Taken a martial arts class

71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours

72. Gotten married

73. Been in a movie

74. Crashed a party

75. Gotten divorced

76. Gone without food for 5 days

77. Made cookies from scratch

78. Won first prize in a costume contest

79. Ridden a gondola in Venice

80. Gotten a tattoo

81. Rafted the Snake River

82. Been on a television news program as an “expert”

83. Gotten flowers for no reason

84. Performed on stage

85. Been to Las Vegas

86. Recorded music

87. Eaten shark

88. Kissed on the first date

89. Gone to Thailand

90. Bought a house

91. Been in a combat zone

92. Buried one/both of your parents

93. Been on a cruise ship

94. Spoken more than one language fluently

95. Performed in Rocky Horror

96. Raised children

97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour-

98. Passed out cold

99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country

100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over

101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge

102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking

103. Had plastic surgery

104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived

105. Wrote articles for a large publication

106. Lost over 100 pounds

107. Held someone while they were having a flashback

108. Piloted an airplane

109. Touched a stingray

110. Broken someone’s heart

111. Helped an animal give birth

112. Won money on a TV game show

113. Broken a bone

114. Gone to Africa

115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears

116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol

117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild

118. Ridden a horse

119. Had major surgery

120. Had a snake as a pet

121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon

122. Slept for 30 hours in a 48 hour period

123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. States

124. Visited all 7 continents

125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days

126. Eaten kangaroo meat

127. Eaten sushi

128. Had your picture in the newspaper

129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about

130. Gone back to school

131. Parasailed

132. Touched a cockroach

133. Eaten fried green tomatoes

134. Read The Iliad and The Odyssey

135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read

136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

137. Skipped all your school reunions

138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language

139. Been elected to public office

140. Written your own computer language

141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream

142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care

143. Built your own PC from parts

144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you

145. Had a booth at a street fair

146. Dyed your hair

147. Been a DJ

148. Shaved your head

149. Caused a car accident

150. Saved someone’s life

Read Full Post »

Don’t Feed Me No Bologna

I’m not ashamed to say that for lunch I had no ordinary meal; I had a Manwich Meal.

I just found this one, too… I haven’t see this one before but I can guess why it probably didn’t make it on the air (it starts around 00:20).

Read Full Post »

Oh, For the Love of Pete

So I’m here in Room 312 of the Holiday Inn Express visiting my friend Pete. You may remember Pete from his earlier trip to Houston or from my last visit to Tulsa which included not visiting Pete and his then hating me. Turns out he may not hate me anymore.

He and I, along with the one and only Nobel, met at Pappasito’s Cantina for dinner over on the east side of town, also known as my old “hood.” The east side of Houston is not all that close to my side of Houston.

Interesting fact of the evening: Pete and I left our respective homes at the same time to get to Pappasito’s, me leaving from within Houston, Pete from TULSA, and we both got to the restaurant at the same time. Seriously. Pete, 500 miles away, got to the restaurant the same I did. The traffic was that bad today here in the city. The chaos was intensified by the pouring rain. Two whole hours spent driving to Houston. From Houston.

I’m sitting here now next to Pete and this reminds me of dorm days again (as these visits tend to do). My being here is distracting Pete from doing work he needs to do. So, I must stay longer. This is what friends do.

I just learned that Pete is a fan of The West Wing. This makes me happy.

Pete’s kids are growing. They’re cute. And they’re walking. I saw video and photographic proof of it all.

My brain is tiring so I’m thinking of less to say. And I’m growing more excited about the drive home back through the rain. At least this trip will be shorter by at least 80 minutes.

Pete, goodnight. Even though you can’t read this because you took out your contacts and forgot your glasses back in Tulsa. I hope to see you again soon.

———————————————————————————————————-

You can’t read this without your glasses or contacts. You’re a jerk, Pete, only because you refer to me as your “2nd favorite Indian” when I’m one of the two Indians you know. Jerk.

Pete without his contacts

Read Full Post »

It Matters

Go read Shaun Groves’ blog. He’s in the Domincan Republic with other bloggers visiting sites run by Compassion International and seeing firsthand the work they do in that country, representative of their work done around the world.

And this video from his blog says just about everything that could be said about Compassion and the sponsors who give.

Read Full Post »

The 5 A.M. Alarm

It’s a little after 5 in the morning here in my room. I woke up about 45 minutes ago after falling asleep on the couch (nice, right?) and my throat feels awful. It felt the same way yesterday when I awoke as well. For me, a sore throat is typically indicative of oncoming (further) sickness though this sore throat feels worse than that past sore throats. It feels like I need a drink of water in the worst possible way. I don’t know. I ain’t no doctor-folk.

I had the opportunity to play at Element last night which was fun. I hadn’t been able to attend a service in over a year so it was nice to be back. Chad Bruegman from Red Rocks Church was the guest speaker for the evening and he did a very nice job, I must say. He’s also a very nice guy, as well. It was fun sitting in with the band again even though my guitar inexplicably dropped about 70% in volume in my monitor halfway through the set. That kinda left me in a weird place because I had to play the rest of the set by sight and memory and assume my tone was okay or that my guitar was mostly in tune. Good times!

I’m in the process of having all of my digital belongings transferred over to my new computer and the adjustments to applications on the new OS are making me slow down because I’m not exactly sure where everything is ending up like I did on my other computer. I imagine it’s here somewhere. For instance, I have my entire iTunes library and iPhoto library on an external Passport drive which at first seemed like a good idea but is now making me reconsider a little. (It made sense with my iBook and its 60gb hard drive. My music collection outgrew it and photos took up more space than I could afford so I threw everything on my little drive which I carry around whenever I think I’ll need it, which is rare. [It’s a USB drive and it had issues with my iBook sometimes in that it would drop out randomly. Not always, but it was terribly inconvenient and frustrating when it did. So far, with the new computer there have been no issues. Whew.] Wait, why the heck am I talking about this? How boring. Let’s move on, please.)

Anyone out there interested in purchasing unopened seasons 1-3 of 24 for about $20 each, shipping included? I ask because Amazon.com is selling seasons 1-6 of 24 for $100 today but I already own seasons 1-3. Actually, now I’m not sure if that Amazon.com deal has the set packaged individually by season. If that’s the case, anyone out there interesting in purchasing used seasons 1-3 of 24 for about, say, $15 a piece, shipping included? The discs are in pretty great shape, the packaging is good but with normal wear, blah blah blah. Just let me know.

There was something else I was going to mention but I think the combination of the boring talk above, it being 5 am and my annoying throat has caused me to forget. Oh well. Until next time, kiddies!

Read Full Post »

It’s About Time

So the election was on Tuesday. It was exciting. I was/am excited. We have a new president. And I’m proud of our country and President-Elect Obama.

In other news, look what came in the mail for me on Wednesday!

I’m thinking I’ll just Sharpie over the “2008” part and save it for the reelection campaign.

Read Full Post »