i found out today that one my random girls at the knoxnews.com is having some of her video footage aired on conan o’brien’s late night show tonight. erin is pretty stoked about that. i have to say that i am too. ken mink is going to be on conan. the footage will be used with that interview.
watch the clip here and then watch conan tonight to see it in a national setting.
update: erin told me later that conan found some other footage and might go with that. tune in tonight to see what footage is used!
16 December 2008
07 December 2008
the whole story
this weekend, i sat down with my friend tara who had only seen the original star wars movie and watched all the movies in story order from beginning to end including the animated (not cg) clone wars.
we started on friday evening with the first two episodes. i came back the next morning to pick up with “the clone wars” which lead right up to episode three. we finally finished up around 10:00p saturday night. i don’t remember every watching the original three (episodes four, five, and six) in one sitting because that would have been too much. this was different since tara didn’t know the back story. watching with someone who hasn’t seen is much more fun. even though “i’m your father” was not a surprise to her, a couple of other aspects were: following palpatine as the emperor and finding lando to betray han.
bacon bread for saturday morning and chili in the afternoon fueled us for the weekend event. and for those who are going to ask (and probably whine about it in the comments), we watched the revised versions of the “new hope,” “empire,” and “jedi.” i do have the versions of those movies in their original theatrical releases. the updated versions include some extra scenes edited in which i tend to favor.
i had a good feeling about this. it was a fun weekend.
26 November 2008
some dog news
this past weekend went back to typical dog problems again. i ended up calling the sheriff’s office twice this weekend due to late night dog barkings. on saturday night, neighbor put dog up. but they left town for thanksgiving vacation it seems on sunday, and they left doggy free to roam outside all night every night since then.
dog woke me up four times sunday night/monday morning. i put a call into animal control again monday afternoon. this would be the fourth call to them. i reported the address and the problem again. then later that afternoon i got a call back from them. they wanted some more information about the dog and its barking behavior. as it turns out, they came by on monday but didn’t see the dog. since it was raining, abby usually stays indoors and rarely wanders out. since she barks at night, it’s also possible she was napping for her big night life. they recognized her to be a night time barker.
i asked them what was next. they had left a note on the neighbor’s door requiring the owner to call them upon receiving it. they would discuss the complaints with the the owner and suggest the use of a shock collar. they would monitor that progress and go from there. worst case scenario for owner is a citation, which looks like it might cost the neighbor over $100.00 for the noise problem. that might get his attention to addressing this problem. (shock collars cost from $25.00 up to $150.00 depending on model.) they will have a nice surprise when they get back from their holiday vacation time.
i have some hope now that my neighbor will be motivated to action. i thought getting the sheriff involved to begin with would be enough. it amazes me that it would not make a difference. i know if i had a neighbor complaining about a dog i owned, it would be enough to deal with it just from that encounter. law officers would only scare me more. doesn’t seem to have made a dent in my neighbor. as my family has expressed, we just don’t get it.
dog woke me up four times sunday night/monday morning. i put a call into animal control again monday afternoon. this would be the fourth call to them. i reported the address and the problem again. then later that afternoon i got a call back from them. they wanted some more information about the dog and its barking behavior. as it turns out, they came by on monday but didn’t see the dog. since it was raining, abby usually stays indoors and rarely wanders out. since she barks at night, it’s also possible she was napping for her big night life. they recognized her to be a night time barker.
i asked them what was next. they had left a note on the neighbor’s door requiring the owner to call them upon receiving it. they would discuss the complaints with the the owner and suggest the use of a shock collar. they would monitor that progress and go from there. worst case scenario for owner is a citation, which looks like it might cost the neighbor over $100.00 for the noise problem. that might get his attention to addressing this problem. (shock collars cost from $25.00 up to $150.00 depending on model.) they will have a nice surprise when they get back from their holiday vacation time.
i have some hope now that my neighbor will be motivated to action. i thought getting the sheriff involved to begin with would be enough. it amazes me that it would not make a difference. i know if i had a neighbor complaining about a dog i owned, it would be enough to deal with it just from that encounter. law officers would only scare me more. doesn’t seem to have made a dent in my neighbor. as my family has expressed, we just don’t get it.
14 November 2008
quantum of nasa
just got through seeing the latest bond movie. i like how they are producing these films. less cheese, less comic book, more action, more character development. as long as they don’t end up back how they were making the movies before, it will continue to be good stuff.
after bond, i went to stir fry café for some sushi and to do a little christmas shopping. and after that, i’m headed home to put up the christmas tree and watch the shuttle endeavour launch.
and that is how my half day off ends up.
10 November 2008
two week goal
ok, i’m well into november, and i have zero christmas shopping done. i like to be done with at least the bulk of it before thanksgiving. my past goals have wanted it done well before, but i’ve always fallen miserably short. perhaps it’s not realistic to make this attempt since history shows i can’t achieve it.
nevertheless, i am going to make the attempt again. for the next two weeks i will endeavor to get as much of if not all of my christmas shopping done. evenings will be spent on the couch with laptop on lap searching and pricing the gifts for my friends and family.
on a side note, my sis has already put up her christmas tree. i’ve been tempted pull down the decorations and go to town too, but i’ve always set it up the week of thanksgiving. now, i wonder if putting it up this early might not capitalize on the work it takes to lug that big, bulky tree-in-a-box out of the attic and assemble it. i might go ahead and get those gears in motion. maybe i’ll try it this year. and next year, i’ll pull it down the day before halloween. if the stores can do it, why not me, right?
nevertheless, i am going to make the attempt again. for the next two weeks i will endeavor to get as much of if not all of my christmas shopping done. evenings will be spent on the couch with laptop on lap searching and pricing the gifts for my friends and family.
on a side note, my sis has already put up her christmas tree. i’ve been tempted pull down the decorations and go to town too, but i’ve always set it up the week of thanksgiving. now, i wonder if putting it up this early might not capitalize on the work it takes to lug that big, bulky tree-in-a-box out of the attic and assemble it. i might go ahead and get those gears in motion. maybe i’ll try it this year. and next year, i’ll pull it down the day before halloween. if the stores can do it, why not me, right?
31 October 2008
sleeping on the floor
sir barksalot was doing her thing last night. she barked continually from 9:45p until sometime after 11:00p. (she might have taken a small break in there somewhere.) i put in a call to the knox sheriff’s non-emergency number again. i don’t know what time they drove by, but the owners weren’t at home when i headed to my sleeping bag around 10:30p.
i rolled it out in my office to get some relief from the noise, although there was no comfort in the location for the night. it was not a good night’s sleep. i am not sure when the patrol car went by since i needed to get some sleep. when i woke up this morning at 5:15a, the owners had returned.
i’ve called animal control again today to continue the process of having them deal with the dog. i still subscribe to the reality that the only permanent resolution to this problem now is to have the dog removed from the owner. their inconsistent addressing of this problem shows that is the only way.
i rolled it out in my office to get some relief from the noise, although there was no comfort in the location for the night. it was not a good night’s sleep. i am not sure when the patrol car went by since i needed to get some sleep. when i woke up this morning at 5:15a, the owners had returned.
i’ve called animal control again today to continue the process of having them deal with the dog. i still subscribe to the reality that the only permanent resolution to this problem now is to have the dog removed from the owner. their inconsistent addressing of this problem shows that is the only way.
30 October 2008
restructuring pay days
a note with attached pdf document including full-color examples was delivered to our inboxes this week to let us know that the semi-monthly pay plan (the fifteenth and last days of the month) are being switched over to an bi-weekly cycle.
first, thanks for the heads up. second, thanks for making life much harder for all.
as gmoney points out, does anyone have bill that aren’t based on a monthly cycle? answer: no. but now i have to take extra steps to make sure enough is allocated for the etched-in-stone pay dates set up by the rest of the world. those were based on specific days in a month not weekly cycles.
i do not know if this somehow makes their life easier. it might, but since i don’t speak accounting i can’t say. gmoney also points out that it is more costly to have a two-week cycle than it is a semi-monthly. and he’s right: paper cost for all the transactions, bank fees, transaction costs, postage fees. they are all on being done 26 times a year rather than 24. not much of a difference, unless your company is big. then the pennies add up.
i suppose i should just be happy i have a job. and i’ll admit to a certain laziness when it comes to personal finance management. nothing like playing payment timing games to keep you on your toes. we’ll see if i can blog about the positives into next year.
first, thanks for the heads up. second, thanks for making life much harder for all.
as gmoney points out, does anyone have bill that aren’t based on a monthly cycle? answer: no. but now i have to take extra steps to make sure enough is allocated for the etched-in-stone pay dates set up by the rest of the world. those were based on specific days in a month not weekly cycles.
i do not know if this somehow makes their life easier. it might, but since i don’t speak accounting i can’t say. gmoney also points out that it is more costly to have a two-week cycle than it is a semi-monthly. and he’s right: paper cost for all the transactions, bank fees, transaction costs, postage fees. they are all on being done 26 times a year rather than 24. not much of a difference, unless your company is big. then the pennies add up.
i suppose i should just be happy i have a job. and i’ll admit to a certain laziness when it comes to personal finance management. nothing like playing payment timing games to keep you on your toes. we’ll see if i can blog about the positives into next year.
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