Theme Music

Blog inspiration struck me yesterday while attending a Rochester Honkers baseball game. It seems that these days, all baseball players have a song that is played when they come up to bat, or in some cases, closing pitchers have a theme song too. So that got me thinking, what would I use for my theme song when I come up to bat? I have narrowed it down to intros of the following three songs:

• "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC
• "Enter Sandman" by Metallica
• "Stand up and Shout" by Steel Dragon (Theme to the movie Rock Star)

What song would you use as your baseball theme song?

Cody Christopher Evans

Please welcome the newest member of our family, Cody Christopher Evans. He was born at 12:19 PM on April 3, and weighed in at a hefty 9 lbs 6 oz, with a length of 20.25 inches. Holly did a great job and had a much easier labor than what she experienced with Payton. She was able to give birth without any medication, and from start to finish, labor only lasted about eight hours this time. More pictures can be found here.

Ping

I just downloaded the new BlogJet 2.0 software.  Ever since I switched over to the Blogger Beta in October, my old BlogJet software stopped working.  I’m not a big fan of the default way of posting via the Blogger website, which is one of many reasons I haven’t posted much lately.  So maybe this will jump-start my blogging again.

Say What?

I used to think that Reader's Digest was a respectable publication. For several years I subscribed to RD and enjoyed the short articles that are ideal for a bathroom reader. But as time passed, I grew tired of the magazine, and decided not to renew my subscription anymore. I received the final issue of my subscription in August, and figured I'd put RD behind me. However, they still send me notices from the billing department about once a month. I'd like to share the content of one of these letter with you.

IMPORTANT - YOU SHOULD READ THIS CAREFULLY

By failing to pay the sum of $17.98 now seriously overdue in regard to several issues of a magazine subscription mailed to the above address, we must assume that there is no doubt that you owe the amount shown on the attached bill. It is our responsibility to collect.

Take notice, we are giving you this last opportunity to make payment to us. So that we may both avoid unnecessary expense, we strongly urge you to MAIL YOUR PAYMENT TODAY in the enclosed reply envelope.

--BILLING DEPARTMENT

IF THE ACTION REQUIRED BY THIS NOTICE IS TAKEN BEFORE THE DATE SHOWN NO FURTHER ACTION WILL BE TAKEN WITH REGARD TO THIS NOTICE.


I had to read that letter about five times to make sense of it. It's so wordy that I can only assume they are trying to scare and confuse me into thinking I am late in paying. Also, there is no customer service phone number on the letter anywhere, which I find unacceptable given the context of the letter. Since I think the majority of the RD subscribers are age 50 and up, I find this to be a very shady practice of trying to deceive older people.

For what it's worth, I paid for a year's subscription in August 2005, and just as I expected, August 2006 was my last issue. Because of the wording of the letters I am receiving, I will never subscribe to Reader's Digest again, and I encourage you to boycott them as well.

A Growing Problem (not a going problem)

I've recently become very concerned with the quality of automobiles on the road. The problem that I am seeing is very pervasive. It happens on all makes, models, and vintages of vehicles. In general, it is an intermittent problem, but the frequency that I observe this problem is rapidly increasing. My car has not experienced this problem yet, but with this growing problem, I wanted to spread the word, so you can be on the lookout for it.

Put simply, the problem is that turn signals are not working in these vehicles. Every single day I seem to be behind a vehicle that is affected by this problem. Perhaps it is electrical in nature. Has the government been conducting tests with EMPs (electro-magnetic pulses)? Or have solar storms been on the rise? I think if it was either of those, the effects would be much more wide-spread than just affecting turn signals. Whatever the cause, please help spread awareness, and regularly test your turn signals before making turns.

Thank you.

Quick Thoughts 12/3

• We were bowling with some friends last night, and I wound up rolling the highest three game series of my life. 177, 203, and 178 for a 558 series. Not too shabby, especially considering it was that crazy black light bowling, and we were next to some kids who had zero bowling etiquette.
• That reminds me of one of my first 200+ games of my life. I was on a date in high school and we went bowling. She was getting about a 50 and I ended up with 201. I really felt awful.
• Hey the Bears won the NFC North today. Congratulations to "the pride an joy of Illinois."
• That was one ugly game today.
• I'm still supporting Rex Grossman, but he's really making it difficult for me to do so. I really don't know why he keeps trying to force the deep ball. It really is getting to be maddening.
  
• Whoever thought Brian Urlacher was over-rated must have been on crack. I swear he is in on every tackle. It's a pretty safe bet that no other Bears will be wearing #54 in the future.
• It was apparent to me today how good Brad Maynard, the Bears' punter is. The Vikings' punter had a few shanks, but Maynard was a picture of consistency. It's the little things like punting that can really make a difference in a game. Dan, I know you've always appreciated Maynard too.
  
• Iowa gets to play Texas in the Alamo Bowl. That's not going to be pretty Hawkeye fans.
  

Quick Thoughts 12/1

• The Bears play the Vikings this weekend. A co-worker of mine suggested that if the Vikes win, I have to shave, and if the Bears win, he will. I might take him up on that. I'm pretty confident that I'll be keeping my whiskers.
• Yet another reason Legos are so darn cool. Just six, eight stud bricks can be arranged 915,103,765 different ways.
  
• Now for some fun. How nerdy are you? I'm not as bad as I thought.

You Are 36% Nerdy

You're a little nerdy, but no one would ever call you a nerd. You sometimes get into nerdy things, but only after they've become a part of mainstream culture.

How Nerdy Are You?