Am I the only person that gets a little pissed off every time I see the underwater Hummer commercial? This is the one where the guy customizes it, then drives it off the end of a dock and into the water, where it turns into a submarine. If they are gonna advertise options showing that you can drive it underwater, they damn well better make those options available. Besides, didn't this commercial come out in conjunction with a James Bond movie, like a year ago or something? It's not relevant to anything now. Lets move on already, guys.
One of these days someone is gonna actually take a flat tire and throw it through the window at a Discount Tire store, and what will they be able to say? They are asking for it, aren't they?
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Sunday, August 26, 2007
The Bionic Woman is Coming Back!
The Bionic Woman is being remade by NBC. It will premier at 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 26.
http://www.nbc.com/Bionic_Woman/
Let's hope they don't screw this up!
http://www.nbc.com/Bionic_Woman/
Let's hope they don't screw this up!
Friday, August 24, 2007
Fantasy Football Sucks
There's nothing better than drafting Donald Driver as your #2 WR with a fourth round pick, only to watch him being taken from the field in a cart literally moments later. God, this game sucks.
I thought I was pretty solid to that point... Two decent RB's (I consider them both to be #1 quality) and two decent WR's (again, both #1's I think)...
RB Willie Parker PIT
RB Travis Henry DEN (I'm hoping for a lot of potential here... No RB committees please, Mr. Shanahan)
WR Chad Johnson CIN
WR Donald Driver GB
This draft is being held by email, so it's going slow. I'll keep my blog updated if anyone cares about the progress.
(Who am I kidding, no one even reads this but me)
I thought I was pretty solid to that point... Two decent RB's (I consider them both to be #1 quality) and two decent WR's (again, both #1's I think)...
RB Willie Parker PIT
RB Travis Henry DEN (I'm hoping for a lot of potential here... No RB committees please, Mr. Shanahan)
WR Chad Johnson CIN
WR Donald Driver GB
This draft is being held by email, so it's going slow. I'll keep my blog updated if anyone cares about the progress.
(Who am I kidding, no one even reads this but me)
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Outlook Auto-Fill, and transfering between computers
Time for another boring tech entry...
Recently I replaced an older Gateway with a newer (but not brand new) Dell for one of my computer users. After going through the painful process of loading all of the required programs, transferring all of the local files, tweaking all of the settings, and configuring email, I figured I had the new computer working pretty closely to how the old computer was set up. Both computers have Windows XP Pro, Microsoft Office Pro 2003, and the same versions of the other programs needed by this user. I figured there would be no down time or learning curve involved, since everything should be the same, just on a faster and more powerful computer.
Well, this morning I was greeted with the ever popular, "Hey, what did you do to my computer? All of my email addresses are gone."
This wasn't actually the case... all of her emails and contacts were there and working fine. The real problem was with the Auto-Fill feature in Outlook 2003.
The names have been blurred to protect the innocent
As you send emails, Outlook remembers the addresses you used, and then tries to automatically fill in the address for you the next time when it thinks it has a match. It's a very convenient feature that a lot of people rely on, and I can understand how frustrating something small like this can be to users who were used to it, and then lost it because of a new computer change.
On a side note, this feature can be pretty dangerous as well. It's very easy to accidentally auto-fill the wrong name if you aren't careful... and send the wrong person the cute office joke of the day... so be careful. And of course when that does happen, just blame the computer guy for not setting up your computer correctly, or causing Outlook to act weird, because we all know it wouldn't be your fault.
So anyways, I set off on a mission to figure out how to transfer this setting between computers. As it turns out, there is only one file that holds this information, and it is easily transferred between computers.
Start by making sure you can see all files and folders... In Internet Explorer, go to the "Tools" pull down, then choose "Folder Options..."
Next Choose the "View" tab in the new window, and select the dot next to "Show hidden files and folders"
You will also want to make sure the check mark is removed next to the option for "Hide extensions for known file types"
Then go to the following folder..
C:\Documents and Settings\{User Name}\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook
My user name is steve, so my path is
C:\Documents and Settings\steve\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook
Copy the file with the NK2 extension... In my case it it called Outlook.NK2
On the new computer, go to the same folder. Rename the existing NK2 file so you save it as a backup. Then copy or paste the old NK2 file into the folder. If the original has a different file name, make sure to rename the new file so it matches exactly. Your Auto-Fill should now work on the new computer, and you will be the hero for the day. No, wait... that means people will just find other things to complain about instead...
Recently I replaced an older Gateway with a newer (but not brand new) Dell for one of my computer users. After going through the painful process of loading all of the required programs, transferring all of the local files, tweaking all of the settings, and configuring email, I figured I had the new computer working pretty closely to how the old computer was set up. Both computers have Windows XP Pro, Microsoft Office Pro 2003, and the same versions of the other programs needed by this user. I figured there would be no down time or learning curve involved, since everything should be the same, just on a faster and more powerful computer.
Well, this morning I was greeted with the ever popular, "Hey, what did you do to my computer? All of my email addresses are gone."
This wasn't actually the case... all of her emails and contacts were there and working fine. The real problem was with the Auto-Fill feature in Outlook 2003.
The names have been blurred to protect the innocent
As you send emails, Outlook remembers the addresses you used, and then tries to automatically fill in the address for you the next time when it thinks it has a match. It's a very convenient feature that a lot of people rely on, and I can understand how frustrating something small like this can be to users who were used to it, and then lost it because of a new computer change.
On a side note, this feature can be pretty dangerous as well. It's very easy to accidentally auto-fill the wrong name if you aren't careful... and send the wrong person the cute office joke of the day... so be careful. And of course when that does happen, just blame the computer guy for not setting up your computer correctly, or causing Outlook to act weird, because we all know it wouldn't be your fault.
So anyways, I set off on a mission to figure out how to transfer this setting between computers. As it turns out, there is only one file that holds this information, and it is easily transferred between computers.
Start by making sure you can see all files and folders... In Internet Explorer, go to the "Tools" pull down, then choose "Folder Options..."
Next Choose the "View" tab in the new window, and select the dot next to "Show hidden files and folders"
You will also want to make sure the check mark is removed next to the option for "Hide extensions for known file types"
Then go to the following folder..
C:\Documents and Settings\{User Name}\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook
My user name is steve, so my path is
C:\Documents and Settings\steve\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook
Copy the file with the NK2 extension... In my case it it called Outlook.NK2
On the new computer, go to the same folder. Rename the existing NK2 file so you save it as a backup. Then copy or paste the old NK2 file into the folder. If the original has a different file name, make sure to rename the new file so it matches exactly. Your Auto-Fill should now work on the new computer, and you will be the hero for the day. No, wait... that means people will just find other things to complain about instead...
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
What Happened to TV Theme Songs?
Ok, I've already complained about the fact that there aren't any good (or even cheezy) heroes on TV anymore... I got that out of my system. But as I was thinking about it, it occurred to me, there's something else that's missing from today's TV shows... good theme songs. What happened to the days when you could sing along to the opening song to your favorite show, and it would even get stuck in your head and drive you crazy. There were some shows that I'd even watch just to hear the opening song, then change the channel to something else. I can't think of any shows on today with memorable songs. So, in keeping with the top 10 theme, I've put together my top 10 list (Actually top 21 this time) of the best TV theme shows. Each of these is linked to an audio sample from Amazon's website (Thanks Amazon), but be careful, it could get addictive. Also, it appears that these samples are all Windows Media Player format, so Firefox users may have a little trouble if you don't have a plug-in (Oh how I hate that... sorry. If you need to use Internet Explorer to listen, be sure to switch right back to Firefox afterwards. I don't want to encourage anyone to use IE on a regular basis).
So, anyways... Here's the story...
of a man named Brady...
Oops, getting a little ahead of myself... but I think I heard you starting to sing already.
21. Good Times
20. Cheers ('Where Everybody Knows Your Name')
19. The Facts Of Life
18. M-A-S-H (Suicide Is Painless)
17. All In The Family ('Those Were The Days')
16. Laverne And Shirley ('Making Our Dreams Come True')
15. Taxi ('Angela')
14. The Muppet Show
13. One Day At A Time
12. The Odd Couple
11. Happy Days
10. The Jeffersons ('Movin' On Up')
9. WKRP In Cincinnati
8. Gilligan's Island
7. Sanford & Son ('The Streetbeater')
6. Mary Tyler Moore
5. Barney Miller
4. The Brady Bunch
3. The Rockford Files
2. The Greatest American Hero ('Believe It Or Not')
1. Welcome Back, Kotter ('Welcome Back')
Welcome Back by John Sebastian reached number one on the charts in 1976 and was the second largest selling single for the year.
So, anyways... Here's the story...
of a man named Brady...
Oops, getting a little ahead of myself... but I think I heard you starting to sing already.
21. Good Times
20. Cheers ('Where Everybody Knows Your Name')
19. The Facts Of Life
18. M-A-S-H (Suicide Is Painless)
17. All In The Family ('Those Were The Days')
16. Laverne And Shirley ('Making Our Dreams Come True')
15. Taxi ('Angela')
14. The Muppet Show
13. One Day At A Time
12. The Odd Couple
11. Happy Days
10. The Jeffersons ('Movin' On Up')
9. WKRP In Cincinnati
8. Gilligan's Island
7. Sanford & Son ('The Streetbeater')
6. Mary Tyler Moore
5. Barney Miller
4. The Brady Bunch
3. The Rockford Files
2. The Greatest American Hero ('Believe It Or Not')
1. Welcome Back, Kotter ('Welcome Back')
Welcome Back by John Sebastian reached number one on the charts in 1976 and was the second largest selling single for the year.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Should we cut * a little slack?
So Barry Bonds has tied Hank Aaron's all time home run record, and within the next few days will have the record all to himself. It's obvious that Barry isn't popular with everyone at the moment, but let's take his personality and demeanor out of the equation and look at the underlying issue. The real question is "Does he deserve an asterisk next to his record?" And what about the other players from this era? How exactly should they be considered in the historical perspective of the game?
After the complete disaster of the strike in 1994, baseball was in trouble. They needed to find a way to increase fan interest in the game, and revive the national pastime. Otherwise, the game was quickly on its way to being past its time. In addition to the complete devastation of the strike, and the loss of a World Series, there were other factors going against baseball as well. Baseball was losing its popularity... The new generation of kids had other interests... video games, skateboards, other extra-curricular activities, and even just plain old slacking in general. The new generation of parents did not have the time or patience to teach their kids the game, instead pushing them into soccer where it was easy to put them on the field and let them run. The skill and practice involved in learning how to hit, learning how to field a grounder, and learning how to throw a curveball were all gone. The intricacies of the game within the game were lost, replaced with the mentality of "kick the ball and chase it". In addition, no longer was there only three television channels, and everyone would talk about the game because that was the only thing that was on the T.V. Times were changing, and baseball needed to find a way to save its sport.
All of these factors lead baseball to turn a blind eye toward performance enhancers. It may not even have been intentional. They may not have considered how serious this topic could become in the future. But they did know that bigger, stronger players... and more home runs... would generate interest in the game. Barry is a product of the system, as are a good numbers of players from this era. These men are at the very top of one of the most competitive sports in the world. Their whole life they've been programmed to do what ever it takes to win, and that is what has driven them to be able to compete at this level. Now this is not an excuse to say that what they did was right, it is just an observation of why and how it happened. And since the powers controlling baseball did not explicitly make clear that performance enhancing drugs would be a major violation, there were no real repercussions to stop this from happening. Until congress became involved and forced baseball to review the drug policy, players had little to worry about. With the rules that were in place, performance enhancement drugs probably weren't considered much different than corking a bat, or throwing a spitball. Sure it was illegal, but it was considered more gamesmanship than cheating. Even when Mark McGwire was on his record setting pace, a bottle of Andro was found in his locker. There was nothing that could be done about it, because it wasn't illegal or against baseball's rules at the time. Can we apply rules retroactively, even in the court of public opinion? Do we convict all of these players because we suspect that they were cheating? Do we really put that much stock in Jose Canseco's book? And is that really the way anyone should be judged, on hearsay? Even now, is it fair to single out individual players without concrete proof? Is American justice based on that philosophy? Just because Sammy Sosa grew much bigger physically during his career, how is it fair that we label him a cheater without proof, or suggest he was cheating if he was only using supplements that were actually within the rules at the time? How can we just randomly assume people like Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clemens or Ichiro have not used enhancements simply because that is what we want to believe? There is absolutely no proof that any of these players have used any type of performance enhancers, but the same can also be said for many of the players who currently have that cloud hanging over their head.
For better or worse, all of these accomplishments were performed on the field, within the confines of the game, and were allowed to take place by the governing body of baseball. I understand that this can set a bad example for our children, but perhaps it can be an opportunity to actually discuss with them right and wrong, and the fact that people aren't perfect, just human. The real example can be set by baseball from this point onward and the way they fix the problem moving forward, not how they dwell on the errors of the past. Unfortunately in reality, sometimes cheaters do prosper. But if that means that we protect the rights of the innocent in the process, it is a trade off I can tolerate.
Congratulations Barry, but I would still rather share a cold one with Hank Aaron any day of the week.
After the complete disaster of the strike in 1994, baseball was in trouble. They needed to find a way to increase fan interest in the game, and revive the national pastime. Otherwise, the game was quickly on its way to being past its time. In addition to the complete devastation of the strike, and the loss of a World Series, there were other factors going against baseball as well. Baseball was losing its popularity... The new generation of kids had other interests... video games, skateboards, other extra-curricular activities, and even just plain old slacking in general. The new generation of parents did not have the time or patience to teach their kids the game, instead pushing them into soccer where it was easy to put them on the field and let them run. The skill and practice involved in learning how to hit, learning how to field a grounder, and learning how to throw a curveball were all gone. The intricacies of the game within the game were lost, replaced with the mentality of "kick the ball and chase it". In addition, no longer was there only three television channels, and everyone would talk about the game because that was the only thing that was on the T.V. Times were changing, and baseball needed to find a way to save its sport.
All of these factors lead baseball to turn a blind eye toward performance enhancers. It may not even have been intentional. They may not have considered how serious this topic could become in the future. But they did know that bigger, stronger players... and more home runs... would generate interest in the game. Barry is a product of the system, as are a good numbers of players from this era. These men are at the very top of one of the most competitive sports in the world. Their whole life they've been programmed to do what ever it takes to win, and that is what has driven them to be able to compete at this level. Now this is not an excuse to say that what they did was right, it is just an observation of why and how it happened. And since the powers controlling baseball did not explicitly make clear that performance enhancing drugs would be a major violation, there were no real repercussions to stop this from happening. Until congress became involved and forced baseball to review the drug policy, players had little to worry about. With the rules that were in place, performance enhancement drugs probably weren't considered much different than corking a bat, or throwing a spitball. Sure it was illegal, but it was considered more gamesmanship than cheating. Even when Mark McGwire was on his record setting pace, a bottle of Andro was found in his locker. There was nothing that could be done about it, because it wasn't illegal or against baseball's rules at the time. Can we apply rules retroactively, even in the court of public opinion? Do we convict all of these players because we suspect that they were cheating? Do we really put that much stock in Jose Canseco's book? And is that really the way anyone should be judged, on hearsay? Even now, is it fair to single out individual players without concrete proof? Is American justice based on that philosophy? Just because Sammy Sosa grew much bigger physically during his career, how is it fair that we label him a cheater without proof, or suggest he was cheating if he was only using supplements that were actually within the rules at the time? How can we just randomly assume people like Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clemens or Ichiro have not used enhancements simply because that is what we want to believe? There is absolutely no proof that any of these players have used any type of performance enhancers, but the same can also be said for many of the players who currently have that cloud hanging over their head.
For better or worse, all of these accomplishments were performed on the field, within the confines of the game, and were allowed to take place by the governing body of baseball. I understand that this can set a bad example for our children, but perhaps it can be an opportunity to actually discuss with them right and wrong, and the fact that people aren't perfect, just human. The real example can be set by baseball from this point onward and the way they fix the problem moving forward, not how they dwell on the errors of the past. Unfortunately in reality, sometimes cheaters do prosper. But if that means that we protect the rights of the innocent in the process, it is a trade off I can tolerate.
Congratulations Barry, but I would still rather share a cold one with Hank Aaron any day of the week.
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