Oct 27
I found a nice link-collector-type-widget called linkli.st.
My family and I have agreed on a “secret-Santa” theme this year for the holidays with a $50 limit. Carrie and I wanted to make it easier on everybody… here’s our stuff…
P.S. I’m making this post sticky until after the holidays…
Aug 12
I was cleaning out my inbox and ran across this. I want to keep it for the season, but I don’t want in my inbox until January. Enjoy. Go Browns!
Jul 28
I was playing with Yearbookyourself, an application that allows you to superimpose your face onto dozens of old-timey yearbook-looking photographs.
I used my work ID photo (which is a bad picture anyway) and tried them all.
Wow, that’s creepy.
Jul 19
We spent yesterday at Summerfest, which is Fairview Park’s annual summer carnival. We met Lori and her kids there. Soon after her brother-in-law Andrew came by and spent the day. What follows are excepts of the day via my cellphone:
Lori’s daughter Ally spent some time on the kiddie train:
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Lori and Andrew argued about who loved me more:
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We spent some time watching the kids from “School of Rock”:
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…and Kadie danced:
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There was some kind of juggler there (although Andrew thought I was filming him):
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and we ended the evening with fireworks!
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Jul 8
I’m trying out a new WordPress plugin that allows me to embed my converted cellphone videos.
I’ve had this video of my great-niece on my phone for a couple years. It’s extra cute when she sees herself in the front screen of the phone and clobbers me.
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I took this on July 1, 2007. Abbey had just turned 1!
Jun 29
Blog: Who are you talking to?
Me: My readers.
Blog: What readers?
Me: Oh, right…
Jun 24
I got stuck at the lift bridge on Columbus Road waiting for a boat to go by. It took forever to get the damn bridge up.
Personally, I thought the boat would be bigger.
Jun 19
This is awesome.
May 23
You saw this, right? Rise Up, Cleveland. Rise Up.
May 1
These are hilarious. But it’s one of those “it’s funny ’cause it’s true” things. And since it’s true, it’s a little sad. But still funny. And true.
Apr 1
I’m supposed to be Twittering and Facebooking and MySpacing and emailing and blogging, but I can’t take it anymore!!
I’ve hooked up my cell phone to the Internet so I can send pictures to my blog(s) and be notified when people mention my name and get beeped when my cellphone bill is due or when my bank account runs low.
I’ve got 6 email accounts that all funnel into my gmail and I spend every night trying to unravel the threads and replies, deleting the log files I send myself and re-posting the reminders I get from my calendar.
I’ve got terminal windows open to three computers at any time and I’m having a hard time trying to keep them straight. (I like to shell from one account to the other in the same window – I expect to snap into another dimension one of these days)
I’ve received invites to take quizzes, accept badges, support causes and go to events from people I don’t even know, yet I’m afraid to hurt anyone’s feelings by ignoring them (not true – I recently declared amnesty and deleted them all. That lasted like 5 minutes. I drowning again.)
I’m writing all this cause I signed up for yet another social media aggregation site/service. Chi.mp allows you to collect all your social media sites into one huge mess and select which ‘persona’ you want to show to the public, your friends or your work. Want to post that picture of you writing ‘I heart dogs’ on the forehead of your passed out friend with the sharpie marker, but would rather your boss not see the picture? Make it available on your ‘friends’ persona. Wanna post your resume, but not let your friends know about that summer you worked shoveling elephant crap? Post it on your ‘work’ persona.
Sound interesting? Yeah, I though so too. But now I’m not so sure. I’ve got too much going on right now. So maybe I’ll revisit Chi.mp later.
Later tonight, that is.
Mar 21
WordPress has a Facebook Photo plugin that lets you link your Facebook photos to your blog.
I don’t get it. When creating a new post, I can click on the Facebook icon and see my FB photos, but what then? Clicking on them just lets you select a size (to embed, I assume?) or close the dialog.
I was able to link to this photo by right-clicking on the picture in the plugin windows and getting it’s address. Maybe that’s how it works?
If so, I’m not all that impressed.
Anyway, here’s a picture of my first green beer ever (really!) from this last St Patrick’s Day.
I love The Big Bang Theory. This Monday’s episode, The Lizard Spock Expansion is a repeat, but it’s one of my favorites.
While watching the video below, I wondered how hard it would be to write up a Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock game in PHP.
Well, it wasn’t too hard. Admittedly, it’s just a time waster and it gets old fast. The computer picks a random selection and matches it up against your selection and lets you know if you won or lost (based on Sheldon’s descriptions).
My wife and daughter suggested keeping score, so I included that.
Then a friend reminded me of the shirt from ThinkGeek. So I included a link to that too.
Lastly, because I’m validated by attention, I whipped up a simple hit counter that counts unique visitors.
So, anyway.
Check it out and let me know how you do (the computer keeps kicking my ass).
…and watch ‘The Big Bang Theory’ Mondays on CBS.
Have you tried online ordering at Chipotle? I tried it for the first time this afternoon.
Placing the order from work was a breeze. The site allowed me to pick the store I wanted and once I submitted the order, told me to go directly to the cashiers when I arrive, assuring me that my order would be ready at the time I specified (4:00pm)
So, I show up at my favorite Chipotle and proceed to the counter. “Hi, I’m picking up an online order!”
“Um, I just got here – let me check…” the cashiers tells me. “I’m sorry, it’s not quite ready. It’ll be just a few minutes.” And she hands me a cup. Well, cool. At least I get a free drink out of it while I’m waiting.
As I’m filling my cup with ice, the manager approaches me. “I’m really sorry,” he begins, “we should have had your order ready. I’m not sure what went wrong. I’m going knock 50% off your order for the inconvenience.”
“Wow, thanks!” I say. “But I paid online.” (Another really cool feature of the online ordering – but it kinda bit me in the ass this time)
“Oh, OK,” he says, “hang on a second.” and he goes behind the counter. A couple minutes later the cashiers is bagging my order and the manager hands me two free meal cards! Good for a free burrito or tacos or bowl!
Wow.
This particular Chipotle has been our favorite for just over a year and it’s because of customer service like this. The manager, Matt, is always very attentive and makes sure to ask every customer if every thing’s OK (and it always is!).
All in all, I got my order no later that I would have if I had to order once I got there, so it really wasn’t that big of an inconvenience. (Although, I’ll admit that I probably wouldn’t have ordered online again had Matt not gone above and beyond my expectations.)
Dinner was great, as always.
Kudos to Chipotle. And thank you Matt! You’ve earned our business.
Jan 23
I am so pissed right now.
For the past two years our landlord has decided to allow dogs on the property. The understanding was that the dogs must be “small” and of course, they must be picked up after.
Well recently a couple of large dogs have moved onto the property. I know this because I see the size of their shit on a now daily basis. We have a back sidewalk that leads down to the parking lot and everyday I notice more and more dog shit in the snow on either side of the sidewalk. But today we found several large turds melting in the slush on the sidewalk.
Seriously? Look at this: 
Each of those dark spots is a dog bomb. There’s gotta be ten or fifteen pounds of it out there.
How is behavior like this still allowed? Fairview Park has an ordinance against not cleaning up after your dog (505.02(c)) We’ve spoken to management and they claim that they can’t take action until they know who is doing it. Well, I’ll tell ya what… by not stopping one, you’ve basically allowed every dog owner out here to ignore their dog’s dumps.
I know there are a few dog owners out here who are responsible and actually do care enough to pick up after their dogs. But either their number is dwindling, or we’re getting more dogs.
All I know is that this is gross.
