Bottom Of The Barrel: June 2007

Props to SanDisk

I have to give props to the SanDisk support team that worked with me on my broken MP3 player and ultimately sent me a replacement. The player was just a year old and would no longer power-up, rendering it basically useless, and they replaced it with a brand new one. The nice thing was they sent a complete replacement - player, ubs cable, headphones, and software - even though I only needed the player. I can return to my regularly scheduled programming.

It just keep getting stanger

In a very sad story, last Friday Professional Wrestler Chris Benoit allegedly strangled his wife, Nancy, 43, and later asphyxiated his 7-year-old son, Daniel, then hanged himself using a weightlifting machine cord at their Fayette County, Ga., home. This could not be a more shocking or bizzarre story and many have voiced blame on the reported steriod use by these kind of entertainers.

To that end, yesterday federal drug enforcement investigators raided the office of focusing on whether Benoit's medical records showed he was prescribed steroids, and if so, whether the prescription was necessary. Phil Astin, Benoit's Carrollton, Ga.-based physician, did state that met with the World Wrestling Entertainment star last Friday and previously had prescribed him testosterone to boost levels of the hormone that were in decline. Prescription anabolic steroids were found inside Benoit's home by police on Monday, and Benoit was listed as a customer of a Florida clinic whose owners pleaded guilty to illegal steroid distribution this year.

Now for the truly bizarre part of this sad story, an anonymous user edited the biography of the wrestler on on Wikipedia — the online open source encyclopedia — Monday at 12:01 a.m. The Monday morning posting said: "Chris Benoit was replaced by Johnny Nitro for the [ECW] Extreme Championship Wrestling Championship match at Vengeance, as Benoit was not there due to personal issues, stemming from the death of his wife Nancy." Authorities discovered the bodies at the Benoit's Green Meadow Lane home that afternoon, at 2:30 p.m. That is more than more 14 hours before police discovered the three bodies at the pro wrestler's Fayette County home. Adding to the mystery, the anonymous poster used a computer whose internet protocol address was traced to Stamford, Conn., where the headquarters for Benoit's employer, for World Wrestling Entertainment, is located.

Bizarre just doesn't seem to begin to describe this tragedy.

That was close

On May 30, Jesse Ramirez and his wife Rebecca were riding in his SUV the vehicle in the greater Phoenix area when the car flipped and both of then were thrown from the vehicle. Doctors said the extent of Ramirez's brain injuries were so bad, he would likely end up blind or in a vegetative state, and on June 8, his wife asked to discontinue life support. Luckily for Ramirez, his family challenged that in court, and a Superior Court judge ordered the tubes reconnected and appointed an independent attorney to mediate between the families and to talk to the doctors. I say luckily because he came out of his coma yesterday and is aware who he and his family is, able to sit in a chair and answer yes and no questions.

Does Hallmark have a card that says Sorry I pulled the plug but I am glad you are alive? If not, maybe Longfellow Deeds should start working on one because they have at least one customer in Arizona.

Laser or coat hanger?

Unbelievable Laser Illusionist - Watch more free videos

House market at the bottom

According to the Warren Group, the publisher of Banker & Tradesman, the median price of a single-family home in Massachusetts was $315,000 in May, down 4.6 percent from a year ago when the median was $330,000. But a report from the Massachusetts Association of Realtors claimed that single-family home prices "remain strong," as it said that the median price for single family homes rose 0.7 percent from $352,700 in May 2006 to $355,000 in May 2007.

The two groups did find some common ground of number of single family homes sold in May was lower than in May 2006. Warren Group states the volume of single-family homes sold in May was lower by 9.1 percent than May 2006 while the MAR says it is off by 7.5 percent.

In an lets-spin-the-bad-news-into-good-news category, Doug Azarian, MAR president, said in a statement: "Stable prices and declining supply indicate that there is still a steady demand. In fact, May is the fifth straight month that residential supply levels have gone down."

If prices are still declining in the state, why would people want to sell now? And if home owners are holding on to their property because the median prices continue to slide, wouldn't the supply naturally begin to dry up? For those who are looking to buy a house, the market is very soft and this could be the best time to buy in - if you can find a house that is.

Labels: Home

9 lost heroes

"Monday, June the 18th, is a day that our city will never forget, never," Charleston Fire Chief Rusty Thomas said. "We lost nine of the bravest men doing what they loved to do best, fighting fire."

Please pray for the following brave men and their families:

Capt. William "Billy" Hutchinson
Capt. Mike Benke
Capt. Louis
Mulkey
Mark Kelsey
Bradford "Brad" Baity
Michael French
James "Earl"
Drayton
Brandon Thompson
Melvin Champaign

Though these men were family to some, brothers to others and strangers to most, they will always be heroes to us all.

Star Spangled Sweepstakes

The Star Spangled Sweepstakes, a Massachusetts Lottery $20 sweepstakes instant scratch game that went on sale on May 1, has only sold about 30 percent of the 4 million tickets printed. Lottery officials say they need to sell half the tickets to break even on the game.

According the the Lottery website, the “Star Spangled Sweepstakes” will award a total of $40 million in cash to players, including an astounding $20 million top prize, 10 prizes of $1 million and 40 prizes of $250,000. Lottery officials say they need to sell half the tickets to break even on the game.

In Michigan, similar raffle-style games have been a runaway success. The Michigan lottery sells a limited number of tickets for each game and holds a drawing only after all the tickets have been sold. The first game, featuring $20 tickets, sold out in 11 days, according to a spokeswoman. The second game, with a $20 ticket, sold out in seven days. The last game featured a $50 ticket and sold out in just 2 1/2 days.

Maybe the Mass Lottery should sell the Star Spangled Sweepstakes game to Michiganites.

Clarkson's 3rd Effort

Kelly Clarkson has some very big shoes to fill, her own. Her sophomore album, Breakaway, sold over 5 million copies [it is only the fourth album in history to stay in the Billboard 200 top 20 consecutively for a whole year], yielded five U.S. top ten singles and gave her two Grammy Awards.

Her follow-up and third studio album, My December, hits stores June 26th, 2007 however it is being streamed online by Much Music and MTV Leaked. Most people have heard the first single, Never Again, and you might have also heard the second single, Sober, which was released on June 6th. It has been reported that Sober was release so soon because Never Again was not getting great air time.

Clarkson took the control of this album and either wrote or co-wrote every track and while the lyrics are very personal to her, it just comes across as she as mad at the world. Even the radio friendly Sober ends with Clarkson screaming her head off about something. The real problem with the album is the music which feels like a half dozen independent groups wrote and that mashed those tracks together to form an album. From the dark rock to the trance bass to the heavy metal to the orchestra - it just feels disjointed.

My December will not be as popular as Breakaway [and in some way it probably could never be, see above] and this album may come as a complete disappointment to Clarkson fans. Personally, I don't know what has got Clarkson so pissed off but I wish he/she/they would apologize so we can get back the great singer who's work we have enjoyed so much in the past 5 years.

New money worth more

Would you carry two different types of currency to save 10% on all of your purchases at local stores? This money would not be accepted at chain or national stores and it's all done in cash, would you still want to use it?

That is what the residents in Berkshire County, the western most county in Massachusetts, have been banking on. BerkShares, as they all called, are private notes issued by Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc., have an exchange rate of 1 BerkShare to 90 U.S. cents. The paper scrip is available in denominations of one, five, 10, 20 and 50. In the first 10 month, there is currently 844,000 BerkShares in circulation, worth $759,600 at the fixed exchange rate. BerkShares are accepted in about 280 cafes, coffee shops, grocery stores and other businesses.

I think the idea of shopping locally is great, especially for very rural areas like the Berkshires, and giving a discount for those who shop there is an excellent give-and-take between local merchant and residents. BHB is looking at the next logical step which is a debit or credit card based on the BerkShare system which would be much more convenient for the shopper and maybe even the retailer. I can hear the slogan now, BerkShare Debit Card, the buck starts here.

Labels: Business

Freedom Writers - A movie review

A young teacher inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves, and pursue education beyond high school. The result was a book called The Freedom Writers Diary and the movie is the story of the making of that book. The film stars Hilary Swank as newbie teacher Erin Gruwell, Patrick Dempsey as her husband, Scott Glenn as her overbearing father, Imelda Staunton as her immediate supervisor and arch nemesis and Robert Wisdom as the supportive superintendent Dr. Carl Cohn. The movie is set in post-Rodney King era Long Beach California and the classroom integration, urban violence and gang influence jumps right off the screen.

Two time Oscar winning actress Hilary Swank is the leading actress and at times the leading actor and should win her third Oscar for this role. The character is a strong, sensitive, inspiring, energetic and caring woman and Ms. Swank caries all of those characteristics and more. She filled very big shoes and gave this inspiring story a very believable face. I think this is her best work in her career.

Freedom Writers is one of true to life stories that seem to good to be true and it is handled perfectly including some very hard times for the teacher and students. This is one of the best movies I have ever seen and now I can't wait to read through the book that created by those teenage Freedom Writers and one very special teacher.

Labels: Movies

Robert Randolph & The Family Band

Robert Randolph and his Family Band have been known for their legendary live appearances but their second album should put them on the chart. I would describe Randolph as modern christen rock meets old school funk with a dash of Lenny Kravitz and Living Colour - which would make sense since he emerged onto the music scene from the House of God church in Orange, NJ.

On his new record, Colorblind, Randolph delivers all types of music, collaborates with a few notable musicians and even covers a 60's classic. The album opens with a radio friendly Ain't Nothing Wrong With That which touts tolerance and inner peace driven by a hard rocking beat and lyrics such as:

Block party, frat party, (It don't matter)
Backyard or boulevard (It don't matter)
Red, yellow, black or white (It don't matter)
We all gettin' down tonight

Tracks like Blessed, Angels and a cover of Sly Stone's Thankful N' Thoughtful are loosely built around faith concepts and provide a decidedly positive and uplifting slant to the album.

Collaboration is also another notable part of this record. Eric Clapton adds nice guitar work on Randolph's cover of the Byrds Jesus Is Just Alright while Dave Matthews adds backing vocals on Love Is The Only Way and duet with Leela James on Stronger is the albums best ballad by far.

I highly recommend picking up this album for those who want a little bit of everything including a good faithful message.

Office Speak 101

Ever wonder what co-workers are really trying to say when they use cubical speak? Here's a handy guide to the truth behind the words:

Let's think out of the box usually means let's all get really creative and come up with a truly unique idea. What it really means is I'm screwed and haven't come up with a new idea in 5 years. Can anyone here bail my ass out and give me an original thought?

I need someone who can hit the ground running is a phrase is common in hiring situations when the hiring manager wants to hire a new employee who can contribute on day one. In reality this screams I am really f'ed now and I need so much help that I don't have time to train the right person.

Do you have the bandwidth is heard when a task is being delegated and is used to determine if a person has the time. energy and knowledge to complete said task. Of course the person asking the question isn't really asking if you can but rather if you can get your head on straight and pull yourself together long enough to get a task done.

Let's hit a home run can be heard in a project kickoff meeting signifying that project manager wants the whole thing to go off without a hitch and for it to be super successful. What the PM is really saying is that he is desperate to look good and I need this to really work to save my job.

My plate is full is used when one no longer has any bandwidth to take on new assignments. What it really means is the worker is drowning, over their head and probably looking for another job.

Let's touch base next week is commonly used to end a phone conversation indicating follow-up communication to keep everyone up-to-date. When a person says his phrase you should be hearing I don't want to talk to you now and it's up to you to get back to me because I won't have time next week to try and track you down.

Keep this on your radar is used to indicate something is important you should keep your eye on it but in reality you should hear this is going to come back and bite you and me in the ass so be prepared.

Good luck thinking outside the box while keeping things on your radar, unless your plate is full of course.

Quincy teachers strikeout

The Quincy Teachers Union and School Committee have come to an agreement ending the teachers illegal 4 day strike. The teachers went on strike lat Friday, even though it is illegal int he state of Massachusetts for teachers to strike, are expected to be back on the job tomorrow.

Winners and Losers?

Teachers - They ended up with with basically the same deal offered before the strike except they have a 3 year ramp to the 20% health care costs instead of 2 years. The upside is they now have an agreement after 15 months of negotiations and 10 months without an office contract.

Committee - Finally pushed the 20% health care costs onto the teachers but had to endure a tense situation in order to get it done. Too bad they were not able to avoid the strike and work out these issues many months ago.

Students - Got 4 days off but unfortunately now have to go to school next week when everyone else will be off for the summer. Hopefully they used this time wisely to study for finals.

Parents - Many were upset by the strike and how it affected day-care arrangements or forcing them to take time off from work to care for their children. I'm sure this was a pain but as working professionals they must understand the teachers union's need to do something to force a resolution.

In the end, there were no winners or losers just 4 days off for the kids, 4 days of headaches for working parents and 4 days of intense negotiations that led all parties right back to the place they started from. Hopefully in 3 years from now they can avoid this situation and work things out in advance. Maybe they should start now.

Joss Stone Show

If you get a chance to see a show at the Avalon Ballroom on Landsdowne Street in Boston, definitely go. This was my second time seeing a concert there and it is a great room where you can be very close to the artist even all the way at the back of the room. We spent the night in the balcony over looking the dance floor [or general admission pit if you will] watching the opening acts Javier and Ryan Shaw and then Joss Stone and her band.

Javier started the show sitting on a stool with his guitar and even opened with a JT track. He sounded really good and was an excellent way to mellow into the show. We bought his debut album and found it a little disappointing since it was a more traditional R & B and not very acoustic. Maybe his new album will be more like the show. Ryan Shaw came out with a traditional 4 piece band and played much more up-tempo dance/rock tracks to get the crowd going and they were pretty good. The only thing was Mr. Shaw tended to go a little jam-band on his songs and they kind of dragged on.

Just past 9, Joss's band took the stage and they let it rip. The 7 part band with 2 backup singers really came through strong and sounded awesome. Once Joss took the stage she jumped right into a blend of her old songs as well as some from the new album, which we really love. The first few songs she sounded as if her mic wasn't loud enough but, as she drank some tea between songs, it became obvious she was fighting through a sore throat or cold or something. However as she went through her set she sounded better and better.

Over all it was a pretty good show and if you haven't heard Ms. Stone's new album, check it out. It may just surprise you and quickly become one of your favorites too.

wis.dm part 2

As a follow up to yesterday's BOTB post, I posted 5 questions on wis.dm yesterday and got some interesting results. Here are the questions I posted:

1. Easily ignited and capable of burning rapidly is the definition of "flammable" (Y) or "inflammable" (N)?
2. Origin of the universe, "Creationism" (Y) or "Evolutionism" (N)?
3. Do you watch more tv now that you own a dvr?
4. Do you regularly read a blog?
5. Do choosy mom's really chose JIF®?

In my experiment I wanted to span across several topics while seeing if the unanswerable is as popular as a hot topic like religion vs science.

Question 1 can not be answered yes or no because they actually mean the same thing. Even though it can't be answered, 7 people tried and in that small sample, 53% think that flammable is the correct answer.

Question 2, which I thought would have been the most responded to, was by far the most one sided of the 5. With 37 respondents, 92% believe in evolution and one guy even commented with this very funny Family Guy clip.

Question 3, had 9 respondents and 56% feel they watch less which was interesting. A person actually left this comment on the question "I watch much less. I never just turn on the TV to flip anymore." Interesting insight.

Question 4 was the one that got the most responses, which given the nature of wis.dm shouldn't be all that surprising, with 110 respondents and 51% saying no. I guess even with the web 2.0 generation, blogs are still not that mainstream.

Question 5 was of the very trivial variety and only got 9 responses with 78% saying no. But seriously, choosy mom's [and dad's] really do chose JIF®.

So you can see how this could be interesting data for companies or universities but is the array of questions so wide that it making heads or tails of it nearly impossible? Maybe that's where the true wisdom lies.

Wisdom or just Dumb

A new social network website called wis.dm [short for wisdom] has exited a beta cycle and has will publicly launch tomorrow into the main stream internet. The proposed value of the website is that it approaches social networking from a completely new direction. Instead of using the network to manage relationships, depending on friends and contacts to discover more content, Wis.dm uses content to bring people together.

At first I thought the idea of just answering yes/no questions really couldn't profile me as a user but if you were to answer a few hundred or thousands than in fact it could reflect a pretty good profile of you as a person. The questions on wis.dm range from interesting ones like "Should the government be allowed to restrict rights to stop global warming?" to truly dumb like "Have you ever dressed like a pirate?".

It will be interesting to see if wis.dm can be the next MySpace or it will just fall by the way side as another attempt at a social network that doesn't have enough traffic to draw in the advertisers and corporate America to make them profitable.

1/2 way there

As of today, I have completed 6 months of the streak. I haven't gone the greatest distance in the past 6 months, only 295 miles, but it has been a challenge none the less. Just 6 more months of running everyday to complete the 1 year goal.

Shut the %#@& up...

Colors

Colors are all around us but have you ever stopped to think about color and how it effects you and your mood and how you dress?

In the color extremes you find white and black. White is pure, clean and fresh like a fresh snow or a wedding gown or a doctor's coat. Black has a unique duality of power or submission or even evil as in the power suit, Dracula's cape or priest's garb.

In between we literally have a rainbow of colors like blue, green, red, yellow, or brown. Blue is the most popular colors and is the color of the sky and ocean. Blue is peaceful but also can be a cold color. Red, on the other hand, has the opposite effect and can even raise one's heart rate. Red is an intense color and is used to symbolize love. Pink is the softer side of red and is much more tranquilizing.

Green is a symbol of nature and is a very popular design color choice. It also has a calming effect and is used in "Green Rooms" for TV guest to make them comfortable before being on air. It is also the easiest color on the human eye. Yellow is bright and can be overwhelming for people. People will lose there temper easier in a yellow room but at the same time it increases concentration and that is why legal pads are yellow. Brown is a solid color, like the earth. Brown is another very natural color like wood or leather and is commonly a favorite color in men.

So what did I pick out to wear to work today? Moss green golf shirt, blue jeans and brown shoes. Nature/Water/Earth or Calm/Warm/Solid. What did your mood lead you to select to wear today?

3 days and she's out

Paris Hilton was released [fitted for ankle bracelet and reassigned to house arrest] from jail due to medical reasons, this according to Los Angeles County Sheriff's Dept. spokesperson, Steve Whitmore. I guess the rich and famous can beat the legal system every time. Instead of a 96 square foot cell, Hilton is now restricted to her West Hollywood home with a 3,000 to 4,000 foot radius of freedom. Oddly enough the department's inmate tracker still lists here in the Lynwood facility. TMZ.com has all of the 411 including the public statements by the Sheriff's office and the press release.

Wonder if Paris is allowed to drive her car as long as she stays on her property???

Make Me Fries...

Flashers

On film, Frank The Tank said "We're going streakin!" in Old School and Van Wylder ran the Naked Mile. Years ago we had WOW [Whip'em Out Wednesdays] bumper stickers here in Boston but today I am wondering if flashers/streakers still exist or is that a fad that has run it's course? I'm not sure but this past weekend the flasher made a come back.

Driving west bound on the Mass Pike early Saturday afternoon in my convertible Sebring [note this is a practical for our climate] and behind me was my longtime friend and his wife. As we neared the Weston tolls, my female passenger turned around and flashed my friends her bra as a goof but then said what the heck and gave them the full monty or, as some might say, the money shot. Several nice comments were shouted back at us from the car behind us but the biggest surprise was a car exiting to route 128 [about 6 cars lanes to my right] beep the horn and give her a thumbs up. Very observant guy - of course they all are when a woman is showing off her bodacious taa taas.

So, for at least one day, flashing is back in Massachusetts and for one Western Mass boy his Saturday has quite and eye full [hope his wife didn't mind].

Lynwood's newest Hilton

"Paris Hilton has reported to a Los Angeles County jail to begin a three-week stay for violating probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case.

The 26-year-old heiress was booked late Sunday into the Century Regional Detention Facility in an industrial area about five miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, according to the sheriff's inmate locator Web site."

This quote was taken directly from the Associated Press story from very early this morning. Although there are many interesting parts of this story - celebrities who think they are above the law, actual enforcement of the law in LA where it is usually money can buy you out of anything or the fact Paris entered the correctional system 2 days early - but the interesting part to me is that the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's website as an inmate locator.

If you go to the inmate locator and enter the required information [Hilton, Paris], you will get exactly 1 result - Booking Number 9818783. Clicking into the booking number gives you the 411 on Ms. Hiltons entrance into the county jail system - At 23:15 on 06/03/2007, Hilton was taken into custody by LASD-CENTURY STATION PATROL at CENTURY STATION and will be housed at CENTURY REGIONAL DETENTION FACILITY in LYNWOOD and is scheduled for release on 06/26/2007. Even her mug shots from 2006 and 2007 can be seen online already. God I love the internet!

Labels: Technology

Best "Costume"

Bay to Breakers road race brought out some pretty interesting customes, get-up's and prop heavy outfits but nothing tops this:

Approprately named, SpongeBob No Pants!

Bottom Of The Barrel