Taco Bell Diet

Posted by Andrew - Under: General

First time I saw this, I thought it was fake. It’s not. Completely real and it’s hilarious.

Next couple of days – my top music of 2009. Look for it.

Please Stop

Posted by Andrew - Under: General

Look at what you’ve done snuggie….look at what you’ve done.

Steering Wheel Laptop Desk?

Posted by Andrew - Under: General

I don’t know what to say about this?  What?  How is this even legal to sell?

Steering Wheel Laptop

Steering Wheel Laptop Desk

Academia vs. Business

Posted by Andrew - Under: General

Really enjoyed this xkcd webcomic.

Otter Creek Beer Mustard

Posted by Andrew - Under: General
Otter Creek Beer Mustards

Otter Creek Beer Mustards

I love mustard.  It goes hand-in-hand with the fact that I eat A LOT of sandwiches.  Because of this I have tried almost every mustard imaginable.  I’m always picking up a different brand or type at the supermarket every time I go (at this point, it’s usually brand because I’ve tried most types).  Well, thanks to my friend Zach and his wedding golf tournament gift this summer, I received some of the best mustard I’ve had in awhile.  Otter Creek beer mustard is fantastic.  I currently have the Hickory Smoked in my refrigerator and can’t get enough of it.  The flavoring is delicious, probably in part due to their phenomenal beer – this mustard is made with their Hickory Switch Smoked Amber Ale.  I can’t say I’ve had this, but would love to try it (if I could find it somewhere).  The mustard also has a nice spice too it, but is not over the top, where it becomes overwhelming.  I’ve had it on sandwiches and as a dipper for pretzels or crackers.  I’m too the point now where I’m using it conservatively because I don’t want to run out.  If you like mustard, you owe yourself this treat.

Reno Air Racing

Posted by Andrew - Under: General

Maybe this is cooler for me more than anyone else, but I wanted to share.  One of my best friends from college (Elliot Seguin), who I swam with, has always been obsessed with air racing….if you got him talking about it in school you wouldn’t get a word in for at least 15 minutes.  Well, he’s now a race pilot…..and well…..head to the 5:30 mark of the video.  Well done, you crazy motherfu******

Oktoberfest 2009

Posted by Andrew - Under: General

If this set of pictures doesn’t make you want to visit Germany…..I don’t know what will.  Looks like an amazing time (Thanks to Zach for sharing these with me)

Oktoberfest - Munich, Germany

Oktoberfest - Munich, Germany

Cell Phone Etiquette

Posted by Andrew - Under: General

Again – sorry for being so delinquent in posting. This should stop now as summer is finally upon us, which means no more schoolwork for me (sort of). Anyways, enough about that…let’s move onto the post.

I returned from Vegas a week ago (an amazing time) and was unfortunately reminded of one, if not my biggest, pet peeve. Upon landing and taxing to the terminal, 3 individuals pulled out there cell phones to call someone letting them know we had landed. I can’t stand this – I think it is downright rude. I don’t understand why some people feel the need to make a phone call while they are packed in like sardines on an airplane bothering everyone around them – especially when they can make this call 4 minutes later without being rude. Is that 4 minutes really a matter of life and death? Really? This occurs almost always when I fly and this time made me think of overall cell phone etiquette. There needs to be a class or something on all of these:

  1. Driving.  It should be a national law that you shouldn’t be able to use your cellphone while driving.  The percentage of the time I glance at someone after they pulled a bonehead move  and they end up being on their cellphone is way too high.  It’s just so dangerous.  I admit – I’ve done it, but I try to keep it to a minimum as much as possible.  For instance, I drove back from Chicago to Maine this week (17 hour drive) and talked on the phone for a total of maybe 15 minutes.  That is 1.4% of my trip.
  2. Busy City Walking.  People walk fast in cities.  It’s how it goes.  It seems that whenever there is someone holding everyone up – they are on their cellphone.  Walking and talking on a cellphone is kind of annoying anyways, but when it’s 5 PM and people are trying to get home, it is really annoying.
  3. In Line.  At a food joint, the post office….whatever.  Get off your cellphone.  This has happened to you – you’re in line at Subway and some idiot is on their cellphone trying to order a complicated $5 footlong.  How obnoxious is this?  “Would you like cheese?” “What?” “Cheese…would you like some?” “Oh Oh Oh, yes please” “Would you like your sandwich toasted?” “Huh?  What?” “Toasted, would you like your sandwich toasted?” “Toasted?  I don’t….oh oh oh….toasted….yes please”  AAAAAHHHH.
  4. Ring Tones.  They’re fine in your house or apartment.  But in public…put your phone on vibrate please.  If you’re a woman who carries her cell phone in her handbag….sound on is ok, but at least have the least obnoxious ring as possible.  Do you know how it reflects on you when some 50 Cent song is screaming from your handbag?

These are my Top 5.  I can’t think of anymore at the moment, but I’m sure there are dozens more.  I think cell phone etiqutte is the epitome of showing how disrepectful a large portion of the populice is.  The number of people who give no consideration to others astounds me every day.  Anyways – what other cell phone etiquette blunders do you have?

XKCD Goodness

Posted by Andrew - Under: General
The grass is always greener, right?

The grass is always greener, right?

I apologize for being non-existent here the past couple of weeks, but it’s finals time in school and that makes for a lot of writing, which in turn decreases my enthusiasm for more writing. Does that make sense? I hope so. Anyways, because I still don’t really feel like writing, but felt bad for not posting recently, I thought I would post a couple comics from xkcd that I find to be particularly hilarious. I must give Zach credit for showing me this webcomic and I probably thank him once a week for it because it never fails to make me laugh (unless I have no idea what the comic is talking about b/c he is insanely smart and talks about tech stuff that is way over my head).  If you like these, definitely toss xkcd into your daily reads.

My favorite comic from xkcd

I like stats too much

I like stats too much

Paying for Facebook?

Posted by Andrew - Under: General
I had to use this graphic again!

I had to use this graphic again!

Ok, I’ll admit it, about half the reason I am wrote this post was because I got to use my “Facebook Ax” image again. That took me awhile to put together so I thought I should get at least two posts out of it!  But the other reason is actually a really really interesting one. In case you missed it or forgot, a little over a year and a half ago Facebook was given a $15 billion valuation.  Some felt this valuation was way out of whack and others (myself, unfortunately included) thought it wasn’t too crazy. At the time of the valuation I didn’t know all the details about Facebook, just the fact that millions upon millions of people were flocking to it.  This was the reason I thought Facebook might actually be worth $15 billion.  This is before I knew that Facebook doesn’t actually make any money.  In fact, in the latest reports, it appears that Facebook is burning through $20 million a month.  Coinciding, the valuation numbers have come way down recently…down to the $2 billion range.

So how exactly does Facebook plan on making money – that’s the real question.  Even though its valuation has decreased over 85% in the past year and half, it still lies in the $2 to $3 billion range.  That is still a lot of money and means whoever decides these valuation numbers believes that Facebook can make a profit at some point.  So what would one of the easiest ways for Facebook to try and make

Would you pay for Facebook?

Would you pay for Facebook?

a profit you ask – charge a fee of course (try being the operative word in that sentence).  Well, I came across a survey on CNET.com that I found to be incredibly interesting.  It asked the simple question of, “How much would you willing to pay for Facebook?”  The results don’t bode well for Facebook – at all.  Almost 88% of the people responding to the survey say they wouldn’t pay…not even 50 cents a month.  50 cents!!!!  I know I wouldn’t pay a dime for it (or 5 of them a month).  Relating back to my earlier post about axing Facebook – these results really put into perspective the value people place on Facebook.  It seems people don’t believe that Facebook brings “50 cents a month worth of value” into their lives.  And before you go spouting off about a biased sample with it’s relatively paulty numbers in comparison to the number who use Facebook and the fact that everyone who took the survey is a CNET vistor (I could come up with plenty of other validity issues…I’m taking a class in it right now) – let me say I know it’s biased, but the results are so overwhelmingly one-sided that I thought it to be quite interesting.  From these results it looks like Facebook needs to head back to the drawing board about how to generate revenue if they were considering a monthly fee.  Anyways, the results image here is stale, so click it for updated results and while you’re at it – head over to CNET and check out the article & survey.