Deceitful Salt Lake City weather

Yesterday was pretty warm here in good ol' Salt Lake... it actually got up to 77 degrees, which is 12 above the average. The thing about yesterday, though... it looked all gloomy outside and just had a cold feeling... up until the point I actually stepped out the door.

Now for today, at 12:00, I look outside and think it's still nice and warm (or at least a decent temperature). So I go on to weather.com to figure out exactly what it's like out there, and sure enough, it's 49 degrees. That's crappy.

What are you trying to do to us, Salt Lake City? You look cold when you're warm, and you look warm when you're chilly. I don't know what you're trying to do to us here and what game you're trying to play, but I don't like it. So come on, just quit it, you jerk.

Clipless Pedals

Last night I got home and wanted to get my bike all ready to ride and stuff. My new bike is a lot like the old bike I had, but as I mentioned yesterday, I did upgrade the pedals to something a bit nicer. Of course the new pedals required some special shoes to go with them... shoes that lock onto the pedals instead of just fitting into an external toe clip or something.

Well, I had never used clipless pedals before, so it was a little interesting when I tried them last night. The shoes locked on to the pedals pretty well, but when I was getting pretty close to stopping, I couldn't get them to detach. I came to a complete stop, and my left shoe was completely connected to the pedal, so my only option until I was able to figure it out was to take off the shoe and leave it connected.

Well, I figured out that you just slide your heel out, and it'll unlock pretty easily. But then I thought about how funny it would have been if both shoes were connected and I had to stop... not knowing how to unlock the shoes. My shoes would be connected, and since I would be stopped, there would be nothing to keep my balance up, so I would just fall over with my feet still on the pedals. What a sight that would be to see. Good thing that didn't happen. :)

Laser Pointin' Fun!

So, yesterday I was sitting in class, and my teacher was looking around for a laser pointer so she could point to stuff on the screen. Sadly enough, she couldn't find one, so she just had to point with her fingers. As she had her back to the class, I took my laser pointer and put in on the screen. Her reaction was pretty awesome... "Who has that?!" You kinda had to be there to get the whole effect, but she was looking around the class for anybody who had a laser pointer. She wasn't mad--just surprised or something. Luckily I managed to keep it hidden, so she had no idea it was me.

Well, today I have two laser pointers with me. I've come prepared. ;)

Bicycle!

Well, it's about time... I finally got my new bike. I actually bought it yesterday, but I didn't have a way to get it home. I figured I'd let them change out my pedals for the 50/50 clip/platform pedals until I could pick up the bike anyway. Anyway, today my friend Jake took me out to the bike shop in Taylorsville, and we got it back to my house.

I've been anxious to get this bike for so long... ever since my last bike was stolen from my utility closet at my old apartment (ugh). It's nice to live in a higher class area now.

Here's a picture of what my bike looks like... color and all...


So, those of you in Salt Lake... let me know when you want to ride! I'll be going every day during lunch, at least. Then weekends I'll be doing some longer trips, possibly to the canyons or around some other hilly parts of the valley. There are quite a few routes I want to take, so I'll probably be going all the time until it gets too cold in the fall. Yay for physical activity!

IP Relay

My good buddy Kevin and I were having one of our obscure conversations (not a rare occurrence) this evening, and somehow we got on the topic of IP Relay.

For those who don't know, IP Relay is a free service provided for deaf people. The deaf person goes online and chats with a person who will then call the deaf person's friend. This person relays messages back and forth between the two parties. It's a pretty cool service, really.

One thing that I really don't like about this thing, though, is how many people like to use this for prank calls--I recently read that over half of the calls are pranks. That's crazy. But you know, kids will be kids... and so will 24 year olds, I'm sure.

As Kevin and I were talking about this, he told he actually got a call at work from IP Relay because one of the people he works with is deaf. Somehow I got the idea of how funny (although lame) it would be if somebody called them and gave them their own phone number to call... so the user would be talking to himself.

Well, I personally have never received one of these calls, and I was curious what it would be like. No, I didn't want to make a prank call... I didn't really even want to waste somebody's time... but my curiosity had to be satisfied. I got onto IP Relay and started typing in the number. Soon enough I got a phone call from Ohio, and I answered. They asked me if I had ever received one of these calls before, and since I knew how it worked I said yes. Well let me tell you... it was difficult to have a conversation with myself. After only a couple of lines back and forth, I got so flustered. The part on the phone was annoying, but the typing part was pretty simple.

But really... having a conversation with myself? That was so weird. It makes me wonder, though... are there actually people bored/lonely enough who actually DO have conversations with themselves over IP Relay? That would be sad. :( If you're one of those people, just know that you don't have to do that anymore. I'll be your friend instead. :P

Bluetooth MP3 player and bluetooth headphones

Probably the best purchases I've made recently... the Insignia Pilot and Insignia Bluetooth Wireless Behind-the-Head Headphones. It's cool to have my MP3 player next to me and my headphones on but have nothing connecting the two. Something tells me, though, that I'll be listening to headphones a lot more often now. These will be especially nice when I get my bike.

Yay for the Best Buy proprietary brand!

Simple Plan

There's just something about it... I just can't get enough of Simple Plan's music. Now before you decide not to read this entry just because you think the music you like is so much cooler than "emo" stuff, I just ask that you open your mind a bit.

So what if Pierre Bouvier has whiny-sounding vocals? And of course it's also important to look past some of their "complainy" songs (Worst Day Ever, God Must Hate Me). Once you do that and really listen to the content of some of their music... well, that's when it might start to make sense.

There are two particular songs by Simple Plan that are so filled with emotion, so meaningful, and just so powerful... Crazy and No Love. The first one is from the album Still Not Getting Any from four years ago, and the other is from this year's self-titled album (which is highly recommended, by the way).

Let's start with Crazy...
This song has to be one of the best descriptions of the world today. The song starts out, "Tell me what's wrong with society..." and goes on listing all the things people think are important rather than love for yourself, love for your family, and love for those less fortunate. The song has the typical whiny vocal sound, but I guess in this case it's okay because I think the trends of the world are actually worth whining about... at least he's got his head on straight and is raising the awareness of others somehow. Kudos.

Then No Love...
From the new album, this song is actually directed toward what seems to be some abusive relationship. He starts by saying, "Staring out into the world across the street, you hate the way your life turned out to be," which I think many people can relate to. That's the beauty of this sort of music... sure, it's whiny, but at least it helps people to know that they don't have to feel alone with so many of their issues in life. Then a portion of the chorus, "There's only hate, there's only tears, there's only pain, there is no love here," although quite basic on the surface, has so much emotion in the recording of the song. The song actually gives me such a "hit home" feeling to know that there are so many people out there who feel so terrible with their life situation, whatever it may be, yet they haven't made any changes just because of their fear of what might happen. No, I'm not in the relationship situation Pierre described in the song, but another thing the song does is make me want to be in one that is the exact opposite. In time...

There's a whole lot of good music out there... whether it has awesome drums, sweet guitar, a good horn section, amazing vocal skills, or whatever, there's a lot worth listening to. My favorite "good music", though, has so much more to do with the lyrical content, meaning, and the emotion put into the music than anything else.

Carlos Boozer with an unintentional pun

I just watched the Jazz beat the Rockets in game 4 of the series (now 3-1, woohoo!), and after the game they were doing a quick interview with Carlos Boozer.

One thing that Boozer said in the interview while talking about the upcoming game 5 was, "It's gonna be a blast out there in Houston..."

For some reason the word "blast" really stuck out to me. After all... they're playing the Rockets. Hmm.

So, I'm wondering what else Boozer could have unintentionally said if they were playing some other team.

Pacers: We'll play a nice steady game out there in Indiana...
Raptors: Our team is going to soar out there in Toronto...
Heat: We're gonna fire it up in Miami...

Any other examples you can think of? Don't feel like you need to be limited to just NBA. Be creative!

Woot for the Economic Stimulus Rebate

Very soon many people in the country will see an extra $300, $600, or $1200 to their name thanks to a sweet tax rebate to help kick start this country's economy. This isn't money you're supposed to put into a savings account. This isn't money you're supposed to gamble away. This isn't money you're supposed to keep in your wallet so it looks like you're rich. This is FREE MONEY that's given to you so that you SPEND. WOOT.

So what am I going to do with my economic stimulus rebate? I at least need a bike and a couple pairs of shoes (cycling shoes and everyday shoes), so this is totally going toward that stuff. These are things I've had on my list for quite some time, so it's exciting. Man... they're giving me money I didn't even ask for, so I'm definitely happy.

If you don't know anything about this rebate and would like some information, or to see if you qualify, click here.

So, if you're getting the rebate, what are your plans for it?

Seinfeld and cell phones

Seinfeld, among the best sitcoms ever created, has some really funny situations to which many of us can somehow relate. There's always something in our own lives that has probably somehow been put into a Seinfeld episode. One thing about Seinfeld, though, is the group of friends often seems to get into some crazy situation because they had no way of communicating with each other. The airport pickup where the flight was rerouted... trying to find each other when they're in different theaters... Jerry trying to yell something out to Elaine after she has left his apartment... it's always something. It just shows that this television show took place in the perfect time period (July 5, 1989 – May 14, 1998). Cell phones weren't typical then like they are now. If Seinfeld had started 15 years later, all four of them would have cell phones, and they would have had to come up with some other situations where a cell phone wouldn't be a simple fix. Having said that, I don't know how I would've been able to stay sane if I didn't have a cell phone. Yay for not having cell phones in the 90's, but more yay for having cell phones in the 00's!

Redundancy

People say some dumb things. I'm not saying people are dumb (That's a different subject), but they say things not realizing that what they're saying is unnecessarily repetitive. For example...
"ATM machine" - automated teller machine machine
"PIN number" - personal identification number number
"LED lights" - light emitting diode lights

Can you think of any other examples that would go along with these?

Edit 4/26/2008 9:41 PM:
I thought of another!
"LCD display" - liquid crystal display display

Do you wave at and talk to a person's chest when you greet them?

Okay, I realize it's an odd question, but I have a point here, so just stick with me and hear me out.

If you're a guy and you're a jerk, then it's possible that you would answer yes to this question, but anybody with any decency waves and talks to the FACE when they see somebody.

I just saw a commercial for McDonald's new Premium Roast Iced Coffee, a commercial which I've seen many times before, but something stood out to me this time.

First, here's the commercial:



Now here's the problem... at the 0:02 point and the 0:22 point, we see the cup lifted toward the mouth so the person can take a sip through the straw. No problem, right? We can conclude something from this, though... the camera is positioned at the person's chest or something.

But wait... let's watch the video again. This time, watch at 0:11 to 0:12. I know it's hard to see with this video quality, but I'm pretty sure I saw it correctly when it was on TV. But anyway... where's this crazy lady looking? The coffee drinker's chest? Is she talking to the coffee drinker's chest too? What the crap? She must be some sort of freak. Who DOES this?!

Those McDonald's marketing people apparently didn't do enough thinking when they did this. Did they not realize there would be people observant enough to figure this out? Well, McDonald's, you can't fool me. You may try to deceive me all you want, but I will continue to figure you out. Plus... it's not like your hamburgers are real meat and that yellow stuff on them is real cheese, so why should I believe this is even real coffee?

All that said, McDonald's, even if I was a coffee drinker, I wouldn't buy from you.

Cereal vs. breakfast cereal

I just don't understand.

If you go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cereals then it redirects you to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_breakfast_cereals ... I believe it should be the other way around.

Why should it take me to breakfast cereals when I'm looking for cereals in general? What if I want to find lunch cereals or dinner cereals, so I just look for cereals? Of course Wikipedia is going to forward me to breakfast cereals because somebody decided to be a jerk.

Who says cereal is supposed to be for breakfast anyway? Personally, if I didn't have to cook anything, my breakfasts would consist of French toast, pancakes, waffles, eggs, toast, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, muffins, etc... not all in the same meal, of course. Cereal to me is something I would rather eat around 10:00 at night than at 7:00 in the morning.

So what do you think? Does (cereal == breakfastCereal) return true or false?

Yep, I'm blogging again

I used to blog... back in 2005. I haven't kept a blog since then. Now I have a blog again. This is my first post on the new blog.

I'm sick and I don't like it. Talk about lame.