POTW: Alaska at Dusk

©Copyright birdieguy.blogspot.com 2009

This is the picture I captured during my Alaskan cruise, which a buddy of mine says I should try to get printed on canvas. The more I look at it the more I agree with him. No idea what this costs, but will the quality be as high as expected? Nonetheless, it's an awesome compliment if nothing else, and I just may try to get it done. I also have a few others I think are just about as good. Click to enlarge..

13 Interesting Facts about Dreams

Image Source

Dreaming is one of the most mysterious experiences in our lives. During the Roman Era, some dreams were submitted to the Roman Senate for analysis and dream interpretation. They were thought to be messages from the gods. Dream interpreters even accompanied military leaders into battles and campaigns! In addition we know, that many artists have received their creative ideas from their dreams. But what do we know about dreams? Here are 13 interesting facts.

Weekend Hilarity

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From Funtasicus

Some Good Stuff

How to actually make coffee

How long does it take YOU to earn $100k?

Joe Francis is in trouble.. again

Your daily dose of a pole wearing a bikini

Wikipedia's entry for propofol

Dr. Odd's "Cooking With Disease"

Johnny Carson: Tonight Show First Time Stand-Ups
and
Letterman: Casey Kasem's Top Ten Favorite Numbers

A few fun games I've recently discovered: Gimme Friction Baby, DeepLeap, and an all-time favorite: DigDug

Our Alaska Cruise Aug. 2009

If the weather cooperated, Alaska would certainly be the most beautiful place on earth. Steph shopped, Mom & Dad enjoyed the ship and the meals, and I tried to take as many pictures as possible.

SHS 2009 20th Reunion Pics

See them here

What a super time! I was hesitant to go, but this feeling was gone within about 15 minutes. Met a bunch of new ppl, and got to see dozens of old friends I hadn't talked to in a long time! A great experience, and I urge all of you who have this coming up to go - just go!

December '07 Cruise

Going in I was pretty aprehensive to leave the dogs for a week. But it's just that and fear of the unknown. Once we got on the ship everything was great! It took me two days to really understand the entire layout of this big ship, and after almost 3 full days I was ready to get off.

We got to Jamaica and I wasn't across the border 10 feet when I had a guy asking me, "Hey mon, you wanna get high? I got the good stuff...." We took a little tour to bartering shops, and then went to the beach. Afterward once we got back to the ship, I was glad to be there. Jamaica felt very unsafe. Tourism is their biggest money-maker, and I'm not surprised. But the people who live there make it a bad experience for all the people who support their livelyhood - us, the tourists. It's a beautiful place from a distance!

Grand Cayman was the most impressive. It's a rich man's Jamaica. Everything there was clean, organized, and really nice. I was set to feel FREE, and wasn't disappointed in the least. We walked about 5 miles to the beach and had a great time after the 15-minute rain passed.

Cozumel was just as I expected: Beautiful and upper-middle class Mexico. Most of our time there was spent in Señor Frogs having a HUGE margarita, and then we walked and shopped.

The time aboard the ship was an incredible experience - especially the food! I had some of the best dishes I've EVER had, and if you think about it, the meal prices would MORE than make up for the price of the cruise itself. Our stateroom was small but just fine. The stewards and dinner waiters certainly earned their money, and were great. I won $135 at the blackjack table the last night, and we were also able to cash in on great duty-free smokes & liquor, as well as a few great professional pictures too.

The primary memory for me will certainly be the experience with Mom & Dad, and all that we did together. Celebrating our 4th anniversary, Steph & I also had the time of our lives!

View the pics!

Manu

Simply the greatest Spurs pic of all time. Duncan's 3 to send the game into OT is awesome too, though. I'll post it too eventually..

Everyone remember where you were when Manu hit this?

Click to enlarge!

Tony

No wonder he misses so often..

New Metallica

This post is directed toward true Metallica fans. If any of you remember the anticipation that existed between the summer of '88 (while you totally wore out And Justice for All), and the summer of '91, when the Black album was released, you probably remember how happy you were to finally get some new Metallica.

The Black album was so different than what we ever expected, it probably seemed "bad" to you at first listen. But if you're anything like me you gave it chance after chance after chance, and eventually you grew to like it as much as I did. This was it. This was the new Metallica. It was different but it was great.

Hetfield was actually singing a little.. lol Things had changed, and as much as it differed from the other releases, it also began to hold its own for you, if not surpass expectations. For me, nothing could eclipse the four studio albums before it, but this one was unique, and satisfied a ton of people as being - again- the new Metallica.

But none of the rest did that for me. They obviously went through a funk, or whatever. But very little new material they put out for 12 years did much for me with the exception of a few tracks.....

Until now. If you haven't given Death Magnetic a try, and another, and a few weeks' worth of listenings, you should. This album is incredible. No one wants to say "this is old Metallica", or "this is better than the first four (or five) albums," that's not the point. This is the New Metallica, and it is VERY good. If you are a true Metallica fan, and felt something from '83 to '91, then you will feel it again.

The best track is without a doubt "All Nightmare Long". It's obvious they spent a long, long time here. The instrumental "Suicide & Redemption" is also very well done. The two radio-releases, "The Day that Never Comes" and "Cyanide" contain tons of elements you remember from those glorious 8 years. The acoustic riff in the former gives me chills it's so much like Fade to Black. Even "Unforgiven III" after giving it very little chance is a great track, regardless of the fact that it is a III to a great Black Album creation.

Give it a chance - it's incredible.

South Padre Island at Sunrise

South Padre Sunrise from a couple years back

New Blog

Welcome to my new blog! I've done this for years, but on sites owned by others... Linkfilter, Myspace, Facebook. Now it's mine, and I hope to provide everyone with stuff that's interesting to me, interesting to most others, or nonetheless interesting period. When you can't find any other places to surf for the day, please come back here for your last one for the road.

I'll be getting it off to a fast start by posting quite a bit in a hurry - most of which I've already posted somewhere else - in an effort to launch this from ground zero directly into orbit.