It's supposed to rain for the next two days which is fine with me because I feel like we never see any rain in this city. I plan on staying out of all the traffic and most of the rain, heading down to Portfolio's for a cup of coffee to keep me warm while I blog.
I don't really like New Year's resolutions because I think that we've become so cynical that it's easy for us to cast them aside when they become annoyances. Therefore, I never make New Year's resolutions- I make goals for the next three hundred and sixty five days.
Yesterday I started in on my main goal, to lower the energy use from my house. I bought some CFLs and installed them in all the lights in my house, reducing my wattage from 300 watts across five bulbs to 49 across those same five. I'm not sure the energy my microwave or television uses, but they are the next ones to get an overhaul. I can't really do anything about my fridge since it's my landlord's, so that will have to wait.
I also make sure to keep battery chargers unplugged when not in use as they leak energy even when not in use.
And last but not least, I want to install some sort of solar panels to use and abuse the sun's inifinite power for my Playstation and DVD player. I know it's expensive to do, but I just think that it would be worth it if I was making as small an impact on our world as possible.
Any of you have any other good power-saving, green-Earth ideas? Or are the lot of you hummer-driving, leaving-the-fridge-open, all-styrofoam-plates-using, Planet-killers?
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Thursday, January 17, 2008
13 Hours Down the California Coast
This past weekend I was up in beautiful Silicon Valley for a birthday celebration. It was such a wonderful good time, not to mention the delicious deep-fried turkey that was procured for the festivities.
As we were packing up to get back to Los Angeles, we decided to look online and find some roadside attractions to stop by; after about an hour and a half of searching, we had mapped out a ridiculous detour along the entire coast of the Golden State. Here, courtesy of Flickr are the highlights.
First stop, the world's largest outdoor monopoly board. OK, I've got a couple questions, actually one's a statement: 1.) We were expecting this to be a bit bigger as it was surprisingly hard to find and 2.) Who wants to play a long, boring game of Monopoly outside for 12 hours? This is just such a bad idea.
Next stop, the world's largest Artichoke in Castroville, CA. Inside is an artichoke restaurant-
Clockwise from Left: Fried Artichoke, Artichoke Soup, and Steamed Artichoke. (Not shown because we didn't order it: gross Artichoke Bread.)
Keepin' on down the coast, we come to Monterey, California, a gorgeous seaside town. I would love to spend a springtime up here someday. Meanwhile, across from the cemetery, is the Dennis the Menace park with this laughably small statue of Dennis the Menace. The park itself (not shown) is pretty awesome- there's an actual old train engine you can climb on, a crazy suspension bridge, a ROCK WALL for kids to climb on, and a hedge maze(!!!). Meanwhile, no kids want to play at the park because they've been scared to death by this:
A lion's head water fountain.
Moving on, we then had a two hour drive along the gorgeous Pacific Coast Highway through Big Sur national park.
We only stopped once because we were racing against the darkness and the fog, both of which engulfed us with sixty some odd miles to go before we reached civilization. This picture was taken right at sunset on an outlook over a sea of clouds. Pretty awesome.
So we powered through so we could get to Morro Bay, where Central California's Largest Outdoor Chessboard is:
LAAAAAAMMMMEEEEE.*
The award for grossest roadside attraction (in San Luis Obeezbo) is Bubblegum Alley, which is exactly what it looks like.
Nooooooo!!!! The Madonna Inn's coffee shop was closed- probably because it was eleven o'clock at night on a Monday in January. I imagine if we had stopped to get coffee and a pastry, we would not have kept going to the last two stops on our little trip. Which may not have been a bad thing…
The picture didn't come out, which is just as well, the website said that there were Front Yard Dinosaur statues which sounded awesome, but after being on the road for twelve hours, a seven foot, wicker, tyrannosaurus rex just doesn't impress.
Annnddd finally, the stupid Pismo Beach, giant stupid clamshells, disguised as stupid butterfly wings.
And that's it- then we went home.
Holy shit- that was so much fun.
*Just how lame could this possibly be? It costs $29 PER PERSON to play on the stupid giant chessboard, which I could build in a parking lot in a weekend. Boooo…Morro Bay is filled with criminals and people with bad taste.
As we were packing up to get back to Los Angeles, we decided to look online and find some roadside attractions to stop by; after about an hour and a half of searching, we had mapped out a ridiculous detour along the entire coast of the Golden State. Here, courtesy of Flickr are the highlights.
First stop, the world's largest outdoor monopoly board. OK, I've got a couple questions, actually one's a statement: 1.) We were expecting this to be a bit bigger as it was surprisingly hard to find and 2.) Who wants to play a long, boring game of Monopoly outside for 12 hours? This is just such a bad idea.
Next stop, the world's largest Artichoke in Castroville, CA. Inside is an artichoke restaurant-
Clockwise from Left: Fried Artichoke, Artichoke Soup, and Steamed Artichoke. (Not shown because we didn't order it: gross Artichoke Bread.)
Keepin' on down the coast, we come to Monterey, California, a gorgeous seaside town. I would love to spend a springtime up here someday. Meanwhile, across from the cemetery, is the Dennis the Menace park with this laughably small statue of Dennis the Menace. The park itself (not shown) is pretty awesome- there's an actual old train engine you can climb on, a crazy suspension bridge, a ROCK WALL for kids to climb on, and a hedge maze(!!!). Meanwhile, no kids want to play at the park because they've been scared to death by this:
A lion's head water fountain.
Moving on, we then had a two hour drive along the gorgeous Pacific Coast Highway through Big Sur national park.
We only stopped once because we were racing against the darkness and the fog, both of which engulfed us with sixty some odd miles to go before we reached civilization. This picture was taken right at sunset on an outlook over a sea of clouds. Pretty awesome.
So we powered through so we could get to Morro Bay, where Central California's Largest Outdoor Chessboard is:
LAAAAAAMMMMEEEEE.*
The award for grossest roadside attraction (in San Luis Obeezbo) is Bubblegum Alley, which is exactly what it looks like.
Nooooooo!!!! The Madonna Inn's coffee shop was closed- probably because it was eleven o'clock at night on a Monday in January. I imagine if we had stopped to get coffee and a pastry, we would not have kept going to the last two stops on our little trip. Which may not have been a bad thing…
The picture didn't come out, which is just as well, the website said that there were Front Yard Dinosaur statues which sounded awesome, but after being on the road for twelve hours, a seven foot, wicker, tyrannosaurus rex just doesn't impress.
Annnddd finally, the stupid Pismo Beach, giant stupid clamshells, disguised as stupid butterfly wings.
And that's it- then we went home.
Holy shit- that was so much fun.
*Just how lame could this possibly be? It costs $29 PER PERSON to play on the stupid giant chessboard, which I could build in a parking lot in a weekend. Boooo…Morro Bay is filled with criminals and people with bad taste.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Nerd Alert!
This is uber-nerdy(not me writing uber-nerdy, what I'm about to say is...):
A MacWorld Rumor website has a list of the possible items and products that Apple is going to annouce at Macworld, in order of their probability.
I am typing this on my favorite computer EVER: the 12-inch Apple Powerbook, probably the last one they sold because I bought it a few weeks before they discontinued selling them new. I love it for it's power in such a small size. It's great for mobile production of all sorts(music, TV) and boasts most of the features that mid-level PowerMacs had at the time.
Sooooo....this website is saying that they MIGHT announce a 12-inch MacBook next week at the MacWorld Expo. I've been afraid about having to buy another laptop in the future because I'm so obsessed with my tiny computer. The only small (and smaller) computers at this point are the sub-notebooks made by Sony or HewlettPackard. But if Apple is going to make an aptly branded MacBook Nano, I'll be secure in staying with Apple computers.
Sigh. I'm going to level up my dwarf priest in World of Warcraft...
EDITED TO ADD: Oh shit. THAT was my first post in 2008? This is going to be YEAR OF THE NERD!
A MacWorld Rumor website has a list of the possible items and products that Apple is going to annouce at Macworld, in order of their probability.
I am typing this on my favorite computer EVER: the 12-inch Apple Powerbook, probably the last one they sold because I bought it a few weeks before they discontinued selling them new. I love it for it's power in such a small size. It's great for mobile production of all sorts(music, TV) and boasts most of the features that mid-level PowerMacs had at the time.
Sooooo....this website is saying that they MIGHT announce a 12-inch MacBook next week at the MacWorld Expo. I've been afraid about having to buy another laptop in the future because I'm so obsessed with my tiny computer. The only small (and smaller) computers at this point are the sub-notebooks made by Sony or HewlettPackard. But if Apple is going to make an aptly branded MacBook Nano, I'll be secure in staying with Apple computers.
Sigh. I'm going to level up my dwarf priest in World of Warcraft...
EDITED TO ADD: Oh shit. THAT was my first post in 2008? This is going to be YEAR OF THE NERD!
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Nixon Overload: A Day Trip to Yorba Linda
My dad and I went to see an exhibit on model trains- at the Nixon library, birthplace, museum, and resting place, obviously.
It was pretty cool. I expected a large room with a bunch of different layouts (model train terminology for a piece of painted plywood you put model trains on), where you could walk amidst them all and enjoy the intricacies of plastic buildings and whizzy model trains. In actuality, it was a giant mountain of Styrofoam and plaster and CVS holiday buildings with like 24 model trains all ripping around on loops and ovals of all gauges(model train sizes).
The walls were filled with shelves and shelves of antique/vintage model trains from almost a hundred years ago. My dad and I felt the same way, we probably couldn't appreciate the value of some of these awesome old mechanical goodies.
Here are a few pictures from the exhibit:
Panorama of the south side of the "glacier" (as they referred to it)
There are four trains zipping around this mini Grand Canyon.
Girl Train!
A little gruesome...who thought this scene under the Golden Gate was a good idea?
Wall of Trains!
MORE PICTURES ON MY FLICKR SITE: www.flickr.com/photos/crockeronline There's a ton up there from all sorts of stuff, feel free to browse.
We figured, "Well, we're at the Nixon library, when are we going to come here again? Lets walk around."
Wow. I don't think I ever need to see another button or pin or newspaper article about Ricahrd fucking Nixon ever, EVER again. I thought it was going to be a small, walk around a couple small rooms of stuff, but it was a twisting, crippling, labyrinth of Richard Milhous Nixon. That guy did a ton of amazing stuff, all the while being kind of America's greatest skeez. And he's from Yorba Linda.
And his official Presidential helicopter, I'm not making this up, seats 16 people, has 32 ashtrays, two wetbars, one red phone, and NO SEATBELTS.
If you live in southern California, and are in junior high and have to do a report on Richard Nixon, this is the place to go. Or if you need Presidential tchotchkes, the gift shop is the place to go.
They also do weddings.
Happy New Year everybody!
It was pretty cool. I expected a large room with a bunch of different layouts (model train terminology for a piece of painted plywood you put model trains on), where you could walk amidst them all and enjoy the intricacies of plastic buildings and whizzy model trains. In actuality, it was a giant mountain of Styrofoam and plaster and CVS holiday buildings with like 24 model trains all ripping around on loops and ovals of all gauges(model train sizes).
The walls were filled with shelves and shelves of antique/vintage model trains from almost a hundred years ago. My dad and I felt the same way, we probably couldn't appreciate the value of some of these awesome old mechanical goodies.
Here are a few pictures from the exhibit:
Panorama of the south side of the "glacier" (as they referred to it)
There are four trains zipping around this mini Grand Canyon.
Girl Train!
A little gruesome...who thought this scene under the Golden Gate was a good idea?
Wall of Trains!
MORE PICTURES ON MY FLICKR SITE: www.flickr.com/photos/crockeronline There's a ton up there from all sorts of stuff, feel free to browse.
We figured, "Well, we're at the Nixon library, when are we going to come here again? Lets walk around."
Wow. I don't think I ever need to see another button or pin or newspaper article about Ricahrd fucking Nixon ever, EVER again. I thought it was going to be a small, walk around a couple small rooms of stuff, but it was a twisting, crippling, labyrinth of Richard Milhous Nixon. That guy did a ton of amazing stuff, all the while being kind of America's greatest skeez. And he's from Yorba Linda.
And his official Presidential helicopter, I'm not making this up, seats 16 people, has 32 ashtrays, two wetbars, one red phone, and NO SEATBELTS.
If you live in southern California, and are in junior high and have to do a report on Richard Nixon, this is the place to go. Or if you need Presidential tchotchkes, the gift shop is the place to go.
They also do weddings.
Happy New Year everybody!
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Super High Me - Doug Benson’s pot documentary trailer online
What feels like fifteen years ago, we made this documentary with Doug Benson (Best Week Ever) about pot. The trailer I made popped up online this morning and I thought I would pass it along to you fine people.
Super High Me trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7vMqowaPig
Feel free to forward it out to all your pro- or anti- marijuana friends, because everyone should see the movie as it follows a fascinating experiement with the devil's weed.
For all those Digg-ers out there, Digg it up!
Digg it up, Delicious it, or whatever it is you kids do with your Helios these days.
Spread the word!
Super High Me trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7vMqowaPig
Feel free to forward it out to all your pro- or anti- marijuana friends, because everyone should see the movie as it follows a fascinating experiement with the devil's weed.
For all those Digg-ers out there, Digg it up!
Digg it up, Delicious it, or whatever it is you kids do with your Helios these days.
Spread the word!
Friday, December 21, 2007
Brief Links or Lief Brinks
Hello-
A few of you may have seen a bulletin I posted a few weeks ago asking for a new news site to get my headlines from because I just couldn't take the horrible, fear-mongering, retarded news that CNN.com pushed on the world. It's the WORST.
Thank you to all that responded and alert reader, professional TV-watcher, Daniel Ricker wised me up to Huffington Post, which I have adopted immediately and effortlessly and am enjoying immensely. They've got a great format, great political coverage, and some pretty awesome commentary blogs (Alec Baldwin is a regular contributor).
And then, as icing on the cake, I recently found a list of great blogs from this year and found this amazing link: WTFCNN. Loyal readers to my blog know that I've posted screenshots of CNN headlines before because THEY ARE RETARDED. And now there is an entire blog devoted to saving the amazing, unfathomably stupid headlines that are posted by CNN.com. WTFCNN is brilliant.
Hope everyone is having a delightful holiday season!
A few of you may have seen a bulletin I posted a few weeks ago asking for a new news site to get my headlines from because I just couldn't take the horrible, fear-mongering, retarded news that CNN.com pushed on the world. It's the WORST.
Thank you to all that responded and alert reader, professional TV-watcher, Daniel Ricker wised me up to Huffington Post, which I have adopted immediately and effortlessly and am enjoying immensely. They've got a great format, great political coverage, and some pretty awesome commentary blogs (Alec Baldwin is a regular contributor).
And then, as icing on the cake, I recently found a list of great blogs from this year and found this amazing link: WTFCNN. Loyal readers to my blog know that I've posted screenshots of CNN headlines before because THEY ARE RETARDED. And now there is an entire blog devoted to saving the amazing, unfathomably stupid headlines that are posted by CNN.com. WTFCNN is brilliant.
Hope everyone is having a delightful holiday season!
Friday, December 14, 2007
UPDATED: How many 5 year olds could you take in a fight?
25
I normally don't post stuff like this, but I was laughing through this entire quiz. Plus, the design of it all is pretty spiffy and it's short. Go take the quiz.
I've always loved when ideas that have no scientific value are approached in with a scientific eye. The rules they give in determining the "constant" of the five year olds and they playing field is hilarious.
This is actually the premise for the book "Freakonomics;" using statistical analysis in ways that it's never been used, for jobs, items, or ideas that don't warrant it, but in applying these two uncomplimentary forces we seem to be finding out that they DO work well with each other. There's a whole section of the book that deals with what real estate agents have to do with the KKK. It's a very interesting read.
Althought I have to wonder- what has happened to me at that "25 five-year-olds" mark? Have I been knocked unconscious? killed? was I too exhausted to continue? Did I suddenly have a change of heart in beating up these kids? Or was it just such a steady stream of kids that they eventually buried me alive.
I wonder.
EDIT: WHAT THE HELL! I am so sorry. I had no idea you were going to get spammed. I took the quiz twice (the second time to see how many 5 year olds a 7 foot body builder with years of martial arts experience could take) and never got spammed. Ugh. I'm a dick.
Try this link
That's the original link that I followed to take the quiz. If you get singles-spammed at the end of that, they must have changed all their bullshit to spam people, in which case, you are all five year olds and I WIN!
I normally don't post stuff like this, but I was laughing through this entire quiz. Plus, the design of it all is pretty spiffy and it's short. Go take the quiz.
I've always loved when ideas that have no scientific value are approached in with a scientific eye. The rules they give in determining the "constant" of the five year olds and they playing field is hilarious.
This is actually the premise for the book "Freakonomics;" using statistical analysis in ways that it's never been used, for jobs, items, or ideas that don't warrant it, but in applying these two uncomplimentary forces we seem to be finding out that they DO work well with each other. There's a whole section of the book that deals with what real estate agents have to do with the KKK. It's a very interesting read.
Althought I have to wonder- what has happened to me at that "25 five-year-olds" mark? Have I been knocked unconscious? killed? was I too exhausted to continue? Did I suddenly have a change of heart in beating up these kids? Or was it just such a steady stream of kids that they eventually buried me alive.
I wonder.
EDIT: WHAT THE HELL! I am so sorry. I had no idea you were going to get spammed. I took the quiz twice (the second time to see how many 5 year olds a 7 foot body builder with years of martial arts experience could take) and never got spammed. Ugh. I'm a dick.
Try this link
That's the original link that I followed to take the quiz. If you get singles-spammed at the end of that, they must have changed all their bullshit to spam people, in which case, you are all five year olds and I WIN!
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