It’s not official until . . .

Dating someone?  Breaking up?  Engaged?  It’s not official until you update your facebook status to reflect the change.

P.S.  If you are planning on doing any of the above mentioned items, make sure you actually tell the person first before changing your relationship status.  Everyone should know AFTER your significant other.

Cheap Goodwill Halloween Costumes

Do you tihnk Goodwill and Salvation Army hate getting all the clothes back people buy their to make halloween costumes?  I don’t.  Its almost like they rent halloween costumes.  The get some money to help their cause and they get the clothes back for someone else to purchase.  Win-Win.

Fringe and TV Extras

I caught Fringe on Fox last night and noticed in almost every scene there was a multitude of people milling around in the background. I’ve never worked in a Federal agency, but I’m guessing that much like any other place of business people are usually more at their desks doing work, then wandering aimlessly.

I’ve noticed the plethora of extras in other shows as well. For some reason directors/producers must feel that the scene won’t feel real if there aren’t a bunch of other people wandering around. I think The Office is one of the only shows that actually keeps people sitting at desks (at least until Michael calls for a meeting in the conference room).

Open Road Phenomenon

Have you ever noticed on the highway that when the road curves, traffic seems to open up? I first thought that perhaps the turn itself had some impact on the positioning of cars within the lanes, but the more I thought about it, I came to another conclusion.

When driving on the highway, most of the time you can see a good distance in front of you. Because of this, you usually see a fair amount of traffic in front of you. Although these cars are pretty far away, the traffic seems heavy. However, when the road curves, especially those long winding curves, the road seems to empty. Only the cars immediately in front and visible to you make up your perception of how heavy the traffic is.

Oh the thoughts you can have during a 4 hour Sunday drive

Christmas must be around the corner

Recently I’ve been seeing a lot more commercials for Playskool toys. I can only attribute this to the fact that this must be the time of year, 2 months before Christmas, that Playskool spends all of their TV media advertising budget. Get the kids riled up for a new toy now, and in a month you’ll be so tired of hearing them beg you for it, that you end up getting them the toy before Thanksgiving. Now, you end up buying more Playskool toys to put under the tree. I think it’s a great advertising scheme.

Obama’s Tax “cuts” explained

While both candidates will reduce their tax plans to clever sound bites, voters should consider how those plans would affect incentives to earn income. Unfortunately, Senator Obama’s proposed “tax cuts for the middle class” are actually marginal rate hikes in disguise

The full explanation can be found here: The Folly of Obama’s Tax Plan

Scrabble on ESPN

There has to be something other than scrabble that ESPN could have on at 3 PM on a Sunday. Maybe if scrabble was on ESPN2 I could understand a little more. Or maybe if it was the National Scrabble Finals, like the Spelling Bee, it would merit being televised. As I type this, Lindsay asks “Isn’t there football on?”

Realizations One Year Anniversary

Exactly one year ago I posted the very first realization. 123 posts, 252 comments, and 11,000 page views later I wanted to take a quick glance back at the highlights of the last year. Here are what I consider the best of the best from each month’s posts.

Date	Link	Why it made the list
October ‘07	MSN Live Messenger Drawing Tool	10% of all site visits are to this post.
November ‘07	bcEOT – Equal Opportunity Tipping	The future of tipping, explained
December ‘07	Ridiculous Receipt	Lots of calculations
January	Ramblings lead to over-zealous MSN drawing	By far the best MSN drawing I’ve ever done
February	Over the Top Donuts	Connecting everyday things to TV shows
March	The Inside Track	More calculations. Also, I think this acutally works.
April	Two Realizations in One – Snow & Suggestions	I learned something writting this one
May	Sonic Drive In Review and Southgate Michigan Location	The most visited post, 1,800+ visits
June	Wal-Mart Pharmacy Closed Early	The most controversial, and commented on, post
July	You Know Your in a Room of Nerds when . . .	Short and sweet and computery
August	Ignore Facebook Addicts	A helpful realization
September	Vending Machine Randomizer	A Kosmo Kramer like invention

Presidential Debate 2 – a replay?

So 12 days after the first presidential debate, here we are with a second debate. This time it’s a town hall format, but other than that, I’m hearing the exact same thing again from both candidates. I guess I’m just frustrated hearing the same exact statements in the debates, commercials, and media coverage.

UPDATE

So far, and hour and 15 minutes into the debate, more time has been spent arguing about follow-ups and time limits than actual debate (not really, but it sure seems like it). SNL spoiler alert – the opening act will be the debate and the main punchline will be Tom Brokaw debating with the candidates about how much time they have to answer for 10 minutes and then he’ll announce that “we’ve run out of time” and the debate is over.

Replay Link

For those of you looking for a place to watch a replay of the debate, here’s a link Presidential Debate Replay from CNN.

Unfair Weather Today

79 degrees in Dayton Ohio at 4:15 PM. A whopping 60 degrees in Auburn Hills. 240 miles apart, yet nineteen degrees. That’s a one degree difference every 14 miles.