Monthly Archives: March 2007

Great Chips!!!!

LayssunflowerI really like these new chips! They’re new Lay’s, cooked in 100% Sunflower Oil, Sour Cream and Onion chips. I like them better than the regular Sour Cream and Onion chips, I’m not sure what it is but I’ve really been enjoying them. And I really don’t like the regular Sour Cream and Onion chips all that much, I’d rather have plain chips and use Sour Cream and Onion dip. So I’m sure this is way the heck healthier than the old way being cooked with the dip.

Plus, it really seems as if it lasts a long time before they go stale. I went way past the overdue date with the last bag and they were still super-fresh.

I’m not sure if they’re migrating all the chips to Sunflower Oil or what. I’d link to the nutrition info but since their site is all flash, you can’t link to anything (I hate that!) but it’s pretty (it’s just slow and unlinkable).

Complete My Album – New iTunes Feature

It’s about time! Now you can go back and buy the rest of an iTunes album at a discount if you previously bought one song. Just go to the iTunes Music Store and in the upper right choose “Complete My Album”.

Apple iTunesThis is great mainly for several reasons: If you bought one song off an album that had 12 songs on it (for $9.99) you can now get the other 11 for $9.00 instead of having to buy the whole album (it looks like it’s full credit). Also, if you bought one song off an album and some of the songs were “album only” purchases you now have the option to get rest since you’re actually buying the whole album. For a 10 song album, it really doesn’t make a difference. Not all artists are doing this and you only have six months to get your missing albums, but it’s a nice option if you regretted not getting it in the first place. FYI, they did grandfather in all the old albums you bought more than six months ago (so you can still get the missing ones).

I’m not sure if this will help if you bought a pre-release single since I haven’t bought that many. I’m pretty sure a few of the songs on the list are ones I’ve (purchased) for free, but I could be mistaken. And I know there are a few that I didn’t purchase off the album they are showing, I must have bought off some other album or special purchase mix that iTunes offered (iTunes Originals or something).

Stardust – the movie preview

They’ve finally got the preview for Stardust up. This is based on the Neil Gaiman book of the same name. I’m thinking they’ve taken some liberties but it’s been a while since I read the book so maybe not.

This is what started me thinking about Neil Gaiman a few days ago, but the preview they had up at Yahoo didn’t seem as universally playable as this one at the official site so here you go to the official site. But back to the preview and check out this cast: Robert De Niro, Michele Pfeiffer, Claire Danes, Sienna Miller, Peter O’Toole, Ian McKellen (Narrator) and Charlie Cox (the main character).

Harry Potter Revealed

So the new cover is out and IMHO it’s pretty generic. Not showing much at all, nothing to see here, just move along folks…

But if you take a look at how the whole wraparound looks. You can see quite a bit more, I don’t really know what it’s showing but it certainly shows more than just the plain old cover shows. I’m not the biggest HP fan, so maybe some HP geek knows what this is a drawing of but I don’t have a clue…http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0545010225.01.IN01._SS400_SCLZZZZZZZ_V24642110_.jpgI’ve seen a few mentions of the cover but I hadn’t seen much that showed the whole view of the cover so I wanted to mention it because it definitely shows a lot more… Continue reading

Win Odd Stuff…

So there’s a raffle at the Open Rights Group and one of the items is the keyboard that Neil Gaiman used to write most of his Sandman stories. It’s missing a key, but it’s autographed and for some reason he doesn’t think this would be a very cool prize. This would be so cool to have! There’s lots of other prizes too (more from Neil too).

If you don’t know who Neil Gaiman is, someone summed it up the other day (and I don’t remember who I found it, so now I don’t have to paraphrase it).

Most geeks swear by him (Neil Gaiman).
If Joss Whedon is their god, Gaiman is their Jesus.

Peter Sciretta at SlashFilm.com

Actually, I’d rank Neil higher than Joss, but he’s definitely more of a parable/quote person (IMHO) so maybe the latter fits more.

So back to the keyboard – However I wanted to display it I’d have to put a little tag on it that says something like, “This author writes stories that transcend reality as we know it, but still fits in with it. Don’t ask any more because it’s a really really long answer”. He’s one of the few people that I really enjoy that I haven’t pushed on people. You really need to read more than a bit of it to get someone to really get it and before that point most people give up.

I’ve mentioned Neil Gaiman lots before but I’ve never really posted a lot. If I mention him on-line people either know him or they don’t and I’ve generally left it at that. But I think I’m going to change that. Continue reading

Auction Loot (or “It looks like Christmas”)

So I made out like a bandit at the auction at school. I ended up with five baskets (three of them were the hugest ones there) and two gift certificates. I got good deals but I still spent some cash but I use to donate to the foundation by having it taken out of my check, which was boring, now I just go nuts at the auction and spend it there.

Results on the stuff I donated: My Costa Rican coffee basket had gotten quite a few bids but I think it still only went somewhere in the thirty-ish dollar range. My Cat in the Hat Visit basket wasn’t selling very high at all (it had a few books, an audiobook, stickers and a visit from the Cat in the Hat [that would be me] for story-time or a party) so I bought it. The few times I’ve done it before I did birthday parties and it’s hot inside the costume and the parties are usually outside and if someone isn’t interested in donating enough money I’ll donate it myself (and keep one of my Saturday afternoons free). Plus this means I’ve already got my basket made up for next year!

Auction 2007 BasketsSo here’s the loot I got (click the image for a larger photo):

  • Margarita Basket – Glasses, mix tequila, chips, dip, etc.
  • Another Margarita Basket – Glasses, mix tequila, gift certificate for a mexican restaurant (no address or phone, just a name) and some kinda frozen popsicle molds. The basket was a serving tray.
  • Christmas Basket – This had some beautiful things in it: a cool serving bowl that the spreaders look like light up bulbs (but they don’t light), paper, ribbon, candles, beautiful ornaments, and lots of other stuff. This was the best deal and I got it for a steal. I don’t know where I’m putting this stuff since all the Christmas stuff is in storage.
  • Family Basket – Four board games, Uno, some books a puzzle, a movie, popcorn and movie candies (and the basket was a laundry basket).
  • My Cat in the Hat basket – Ready for donating next year!
  • A gift certificate for a hair cut – at the Fantastic Sams by work (where I go anyways).
  • Another gift certificate for a hair cut (but not really) – when I opened the envelope I saw it was for something else, I’m assuming someone else complained and I’ll switch with them, otherwise I have month of free karate lessons. Continue reading
  • The Victorian Internet – Review

    So a long time ago Dave Goodman recommended The Victorian Internet to me (that’s 3 links in this sentence). After a while I finally ordered it and then after a while I finally read it and then I finally remember to post about it.

    A very interesting book on the how long distance communications took place centuries ago. Eventually the story focuses mostly on the 1800’s and how the telegraph was build, used, subsidized and grew all over the world. It’s a great book with all sorts of obvious parallels to the last 30 years and computer communications that just jump out at you. At least they jumped out at me, the last chapter kinda spoon fed the similarities to you in case you didn’t get them but I think if you made it through the book you don’t really need that wrap up. Continue reading

    New store in my neighborhood

    NewstoreCan anyone tell me what this new store is going to be? At first I thought it was going to be a Best Buy but now I’m not so sure. (Click it for a larger image). If you’re local this is over by the new outside mall in Allen Park (off Southfield between Oakwwod and Outer Drive) it’ll be next to the Meijer’s.

    Any thoughts on what this is going to be?