Angel in TX

Hey - don't leave me out of the South Park shenanigans. This is a very true-to-life rendering of me as an SP character. Most mortals can't see my halo, but it's there. It's there!

Signed,

Snowflake in Texas.

Already behind on my holiday shopping

Yes, I am already behind. And it is only the end of September, I realize, so you may be rolling your eyes...However, long ago (well a few years), I realized that I am able to be more creative and thoughtful in my holiday gift purchasing by giving myself a few months to complete it. It also extrapolates my holiday spending on my "necessary evil" credit cards. :) And, for those of you who read the weekly Analytics blog, this is more important than ever now that my fiance and I are sharing expenses (aka: he put me on a budget. GASP!).

Yet, in my never ending ability to rationalize (aka: forgive myself), I have also determined that my need to get ahead of my holiday shopping means:

a) I cause myself the current stress of feeling "behind" when
b) even starting in September still somehow means I will find myself doing last minute shopping on December 24th despite "getting ahead" since September and usually because I
c) bought so-and-so's gift back in September but stored it someplace I forgot and now am desperate to find something to put under that tree for that person.

Phew! My Cakeplow guilt venting worked - I feel better already! :)

So I went running...

The other day, another one of my ever lasting forced vacation days, I felt a little burst of energy, so I figured I would hit up the gym, and get a good workout. I intended to do a few minutes of cardio, and hit up the weight section afterwards. For some reason I was feeling pretty good, so I started running on the treadmill...I was aiming for 15 minutes or so just to get a good heart rate going.

Well after 30 minutes I was still running, and for some reason, I could not stop. So I kept running, and running and running, until I realized it had been 80 minutes, and a good 9.5 miles. I must have been in the gzone or something. I never attempted to run this much ever. A good 30 minute run is usually all I need.

Somehow I could have kept going, but I usually only spend about 50 minutes in the gym, so I did some cool down walking, and left. Little did I know I was able to run for so long. And weirdly, it felt good, so I might be doing it again soon.

So anyway, that was the highlight of my day, and now I ran out of things to say, so now I shall be on my way...

I don't know what these guys are up to, but it looks quite funny.

MindComet Goes South Park

Ever wonder what you might look like as a South Park character? Well, there's been a superkewl tool floating around the tubes of the interweb for a while now: the South Park Character Generator. Here's a pic of a few MindCometeers hanging out on the beach in character:



I'm not quite sure why one of the characters is naked.

Apply Directly To Your Forehead

The headache medicine that instantly cures the migraine it creates.

At War With O.J.

This morning I went to war with O.J. ... not Simpson, but that yummy nectar from the fruit that graces Florida's license plates.

You might ask; "Why would you want to war with fruit juice?"

Allow me to expound. It wasn't my intention to war with O.J. but "The Juice" started the fight and I was determined to finish it! Despite the label clearly marked "Open Here," when I attempted to open the container to sip some of the juice with my breakfast, it just wouldn't cooperate.

Oh, it's ON!

After a long war of attrition, I was finally victorious! The container was battered and bruised but the juice was mine. Ahhh ... the sweet taste of Victory!

Easy Button 2.0

By now, I think it's fair to assume that most of the general public is familiar with the 'Easy' button - thanks to your friendly office supply store, Staples. I'd like to present my idea for the 2.0 version of this wonderful invention:

Introducing... the 'Undo' Button



Have you every done something and immediately wished you could undo it?

• Sent a nasty email to your boss?


• Decided to drive home under the influence?


• Broke up with your significant other?

I came up with this idea today when trying to place some financial documents in a three-ring binder. When I opened it up, all of the papers proceeded to jam themselves ever so nicely between the ring mechanisms. My oddly nerdy brain thought to itself, "CMD Z, CMD Z, CMD Z." So weird!

What would you use the 'Undo' button for?

FOOTBALL!!!

It's that time of the year again, folks. The time when men and women all over the U.S. gather around their ridiculously large HDTV's on Saturday and Sunday, drink beer, eat nachos and various other fattening foodstuffs, and watch men throw the old pigskin around... in between time outs, penalties, TV time outs, station identification and random interviews with celebrities that "stopped by" the booth. But I digress.

Last year some of us here at MindComet put together a little football pool and my hope is that the same will happen again this year. I am out for revenge. Revenge upon those who make picks knowing nothing about any of the teams and yet still, somehow, win!!! This year I'm doing it right - studying the stats, watching the depth charts, keeping up with the weather conditions, how a team plays on turf versus grass, did Terrell Owens eat steak tartar or chicken a la range for dinner last night. These things affect the outcomes of the games, people.

So let this be a forewarning, a paincast, a brief glimpse of things to come. This year, I'm in it to win it.

My Raccoon Adventure

Many people would say that a Raccoon should not be out during the day. That they are nocturnal in nature and only come out at night to forage for food and knock over trash cans in their local habitat. Some people would even say that they are vicious, mean, horrible creatures that can't be trusted as far as you could throw them. Often found to be rabid and ready to attack you just for looking at them.

However, I on the other hand think these animals are magnificent, beautiful, warm and fuzzy creatures of the night.

I often take my camera with me when golfing with my mother in Summerfield, Florida. I have caught images of birds (walking and flying), squirrels, little grey haired ladies golfing, and even on a few occasions an alligator or two. However, on this Saturday afternoon I came across this cute little fuzzy Raccoon outside of the club house smiling away just waiting for me to take his picture.

As I approached the fuzzy little creature all of the older folks done for their day of golf started screaming at me "stay away from him", "he's rabid", "he's vicious and will attack you". My mother even screamed "Patricia Alice, I'm telling you to stay away from that animal. He's going to bite you and might be rabid".

Now, the animal lover that I am I just can't understand why all of these people, even my mother who knows of my love and natural connection with all kinds of wildlife, whether domestic or wild, would be so afraid of this little wonder. His cute little masked face, fuzzy warm fur, and yes-that cute little smile. So of course I listened to none of them and approached the little fellow with my digital camera.

This is the result of that scary few minutes of horror as I approached this rabid, vicious, attacking, but yet so inviting creature of the night.

Mindcomet goes north of the border for a classic recipe know as “Poutine”

Being the only Canuck here I wanted to share a recipe for the ultimate French-Canadian junk food called Poutine. How is it pronounced, roughly, poo-tsinn. This plate consists of french fries; cheese curds to top it off and covered with hot gravy. Usual time of day for consumption is late night if you know what I mean.

The most important are the cheese curds because they get soft without completely melting. (*Note when the curds are fresh they will often squeak between the teeth)

How to make it
Step 1 - Cook your french fries from scratch.
Step 2 - Cover the cooked fries with the cheese curds.
Step 3 - Cover everything with the hot gravy.
Step 4 - ENJOY!!!


Suggested restaurant while in Quebec to chow some down: La Belle Province literally means "The beautiful province"

Best Mate Ever...

I'm going to take this moment to get a little sappy on CakePlow today, I hope you don't mind. The previous post got me thinking about a noble man who was welcomed into millions of homes and was greatly respected.

The morning of September 4th I awoke and followed my normal routine - opened my eyes and turned on the computer to check my e-mail (and maybe peruse a social networking site or so). And the AOL welcome screen flashed pictures of "The Crocodile Hunter." I thought nothing of it and continued on my way. My Yahoo homepage also featured similar pictures, however, I again did not think twice about it. Then, as I am eating my cereal watching the weekend edition of the Today Show again, another mention of this well-known Crocodile Hunter. I am not fazed by this because he is a well recognized icon and is often in the news for his risky lifestyle.

Well shock did not hit me until I saw his picture on the screen with the years posted below. 1962-2006. My jaw dropped and immediately I felt disbelief. Steve Irwin (Australian TV personality, conservationist, owner of Australia Zoo) was an amazingly brave man who risked his life nearly everyday to show his respect and appreciation for wildlife lost his life at 44. This video is a great tribute to an amazing life that will be missed.



Other notable losses for our society since 2000:


2001 - Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf, American radio personality
2002 - Vlado Perlemuter, Lithuanian pianist
2003 - Tibor Varga, Hungarian violinist and conductor
2003 - Lola Bobesco, Romanian-Belgian violinist
2004 - Alphonso Ford, American basketball player
2004 - Moe Norman, Canadian golfer
2004 - James O. Page, American paramedic
2006 - Colin Thiele, Australian author and educator
2006 - Giacinto Facchetti, Italian footballer. President of Italian football club F.C. Internazionale Milano
2006 - Trebor Gonzalaz- A Spanish philosopher who studied the anatomy of aardvarks

Crikey! Goodbye Steve...

Yesterday, the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, died in a tragic accident off the coast of Australia.

You will be missed mate.

The Strategy Guy

You are the one and only in our female dominated cube world. Yet you hold strong and cling to your manhood...never fearing the puppy love, chocolate cravings and pedicure talk amongst your team.

How fun it must be for you to listen to our silly ramblings about nothing. All the while taking notes and plotting against the females of the world.

Look out new girlfriend - he's got a plan....

The angels love you Bosley!!!