I am NOT smarter than a 5th grader

Tonight on Fox was the premiere of "Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader?". You know I couldn't resist it, not to prove that I am smarter than the 5th graders but to laugh at all the stupid adults. Unfortunately it didn't work out so well for me.

It also didn't work out so well for the show, which will never be a success because the pace was so slow they only asked 6 questions in the entire half hour show! Stupid. Anyway, here are the questions (and my score).

1. In what month is Columbus day? Wrong.
   
2. T or F: Polar bears typically feed on penguins Correct.
   
3. If a triangle has an area of 16 inches, and a base of 8 inches, how long is its height? Wrong (yes, I was a math major).
   
4. Who was the first US president to be impeached? Correct.
   
   
5. Name the ship the pilgrims sailed from Plymouth, England, to the Plymouth colony in America in 1620. Wrong (no excuse).
   
6. What does REM stand for? Correct.
   

My total: 3/6. Definitely NOT smarter than a 5th grader.

This is your brain on fun, late night weekends

After a hard week at work, my brain turns off for the weekend.

...But I like to start my weekends early (say, on Wednesday).

Of course, after the weekend is over, my brain is a little slow to turn back on, so Mondays are kinda tough.

So I guess Tuesday is my only actual productive day of the week.

Hidden musical gem

I've posted before about Damien Rice. I first discovered his music when I was watching the movie "Closer" and this song in the movie was just so...hypnotic...I was just shocked and amazed at how captivating it was.

His music made another surprise appearance tonight in Grey's Anatomy. Unless you're one of those people who only likes certain genre's of music, regardless of its quality - you'll love Damien Rice. His music would probably be categorized as "folk" just because he doesn't really fit anywhere else, but really his taste seems to be all over the map. Mostly his songs are very slow, soulful, and relaxing. There's only one other artist/band that can relax me more, and that is Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon.

I just bought Damien's most recent cd on Amazon a couple week's ago. That makes two that I own: "O" and "9". I like "O" more, but both of these CDs are fab.

The worst smells ever

In all my life, I can only think of two smells that I literally could not get out of my nose. Even after leaving the source of the smell (or after the source of the smell left me), it had already invaded my my body and clothing and would not go away for several minutes.

One of those smells was this dude's breath. I know it sounds like I might be exaggerating, but believe me I'm not. The first time I smelled it I gagged in shock. Luckily I only had to deal with that a couple of times. If I ever have breath that bad I hope someone tells me.

The second smell I experienced tonight, but I've come across it many times before: that unmistakable mosh-pit of dozens of different kinds of mens deodorant combined with B.O. that over time has been absorbed into every grain of wood, and every pore in the paint of mens locker rooms everywhere. After I left the gym tonight, got into my truck, and was halfway through the parking lot I could still smell it. Ugh!

Wii have a problem

Well, *we* don't have a problem, but I do - it looks like I might get re-addicted to video games again since my friend James snagged me a Nintendo Wii. Cool! I never have been a huge gamer, although back in college I could kick your ass at some mario kart on nintendo 64 (I know a bunch of you just said "yeah right" in your heads, but seriously, you'd have had no shot against me back then. I mean it. Really.), and I was a Team Fortress/Counterstrike addict for a few months.

Now if I can just avoid destroying my wonderful beautiful tv like these people at wiihaveaproblem!

Chili with beef and veggies

Brown 2 lbs of ground beef (I use lean) or turkey, stir in 1 chili spice packet (I used mcCormicks but there are tons of different kinds, also I use less than the packet recipe calls for, it calls for 1 packet per 1 lb of beef) and 2 regular 15oz or whatever cans of hunts tomato sauce and two regular cans of light red kidney beans. Bring that to a boil and then simmer for 10 mins. Then throw in 1 large chopped onion, about 2 cups of frozen corn kernels, 1 package of fresh sliced mushrooms, pieces from 1 large broc crown, and however much pepper you like. I prefer cayenne and a lot of it, but I'm a heat freak. :)

I let that cook on med-low for a half hour or so while I cleaned out my fridge, but that part is optional. Hah!

Other options that I haven't tried yet:
red bell pepper
canned chipotles
12 oz beer or beef stock, cooked down
worcestershire sauce, cooked out
garlic
cellery
black beans (no need to drain)

Krispy Kreme Challenge

If ever a "Great American Race" there were - would this be it? The Krispy Kreme Challenge. The challenge is a run from the NC State belltower to the Krispy Kreme on peace streat, where each participant must eat 1 dozen doughnuts, and then run back to the belltower - in less than an hour. A total of four miles.

I wonder what is the record for the most puke in a 2 mile stretch of road?

So far 800 doughnut loving people who can still run 4 miles have signed up. Proceeds benefit NC Childrens Promise. Neat.

I've been pre-qualified!

I am so awesome. I am so awesome that big companies all over the country are desperate for me. You know those bags that they give to celebrities at awards shows that are worth like $10000? Thats nothing. Jessica Simpson's gift bag has nothing on what I get in my mailbox every week. For example, just in the last couple days I received the following invaluable free gifts:

- A check for $6000 from Bank Of America. Yes, I do have to pay it back, but its at the low low rate of 24.7 percent interest.

- A free plastic phone complete with service outages from Alltel Mobile.

- $129 from BellSouth just for signing up for their phone, internet, and mobile service!

- 6 pounds of yellow paper bound together in one large yellow book complete with millions of phone number listings that I will never need.

- An offer to save hundreds of dollars a year with a new mortgage at a fabulous new rate only a few points above my current rate.

- A check for $8000 from Capital One. Again, I do have to pay this one back, but they gave me a great deal on the interest rate.

I'm expecting to start receiving letters in my mailbox from a wealthy nigerian who needs help retrieving millions of dollars.

$10,000 worth of Pizza

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is a great television show, IMO. Papa John's pizza is tasty pizza, IMO. But the two should not mix.

I find it kind of odd that they decided to give away $10,000 worth of free greasy pizza to a bunch of poor children. They already struggle to make ends meet, now you fill them full of trans-saturated fats and cholesterol for a full year. Good thinkin'.

Sony: NOT a software company

Sony, let's face it, you're not a software company. We all loved your VCR's back in the day...but the software on them sucked. We all love your DVD players, but the software on them sucked for years. Then at some point presumably you hired a software usability guy and things slowly improved. Sort of, at least. I don't want to get out of control with compliments about it though, because it still sucks.

I'm pretty sure that Sony knows they're not a software company. We all know where their expertise lies. So, with that in mind, I have a simple question. Why is it so freaking hard to find an mp3 player (not just Sony, but any brand) that doesn't suck?

The intelligent side of my brain said to me, "Woah woah woah, don't buy that Sony mp3 player...don't you remember the whole rootkit fiasko?". But...the stronger, more childlike and excitable fun side of my brain said, "Ah, they suffered enough embarassment, this one is probably a good product. After all, Sony used to be a respected name." So...I took the plunge...into a big cesspool of stinky Sony sewage.

All I ask for is an mp3 player that:

1. Is light, so I can run with it
2. Is reliable, so it doesn't break down after 2 months
3. Respects my privacy, and doesn't install viruses on my computer
4. Is smart, so I don't to have to install 8000 software applications on my PC just to be able to put songs on it.
5. Plays mp3-s.

Sony now has strugged over the hill to get past criterion number 3. Unfortunately they haven't figured out number 4 yet, apparently. Even more incredibly, this product didn't even give me number 5. Can you believe that? Yes, you read correctly. This is an mp3 player that doesn't play mp3 files. Yes, you can give an mp3 file to their required music player and transfer it to the mp3 player device itself, but in that process they transform the mp3 into another format. So I can't just manually copy mp3's onto my device. Ugh! Get real!

To Sony: I already have a media player application, thank you very much. I don't need yours. I don't want yours. But you, in your infinite wisdom, have decided to force me to. Well, at least I don't have your widespread rootkit crap hiding on my machine. As for forcing me to use your crappy music player on my desktop just so I can use your mp3 players when I run - screw you. Thats one more Sony product back on the shelf.