Celebrity Apprentice

A former boss helped get me hooked on the Apprentice. I enjoy watching a show about business. I know...it is crazy.

Anyway, there was a very funny part of the show which is shown below. Please watch and return.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4DyA0BSvyk

I love the level of disgust in his voice..."wheat grass juice". I watched many times and laughed harder each time (and am laughing now as I write). "I will never get that time in my life back". Classic.

Aloha.

War's Cost

So, the total casualty count is up to 4,000. Please review the link below:

http://gung-ho-man.blogspot.com/2006_12_01_archive.html

Also, here is a link to the question "How many people died on D-Day":

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_people_died_on_D-Day

Finally:

"When dark days in U.S. history are recalled, they usually include Pearl Harbor and the September 11 terrorist attacks, both of which killed about 3,000 people.

But the single bloodiest day in American military history occurred in 1862, in the battle of Antietam, near Sharpsburg, Maryland. Forces of Union General George McClellan and the Confederate troops of General Robert E. Lee met in a daylong pitched battle. By its end, more than 23,000 soldiers had been killed or wounded."

So, we are up to 1.6 D-Days and (using the 56% avg. KIA vs WIA Civil War figure and assuming 16 hours of combat) about 5 hours of Antietam.

Or, we are up to the first plane on Sept 12.

PER...SPEC...TIVE. PERSPECTIVE.

Aloha.

My drive home today

I went in to work some of the day today. We had the day off, but I had some billing to catch up on and had moved my office somewhat on Friday and wanted to finish that.

My wife also went into GR today to do some shopping. She left town at 12:00 (when it had just started snowing in GR) and got home in the usual time (about 25 minutes). I left a little over 2 hours later, calling her at 2:11 to let her know I was on my way home. It had been snowing for only 2 hours. I walked in the door at home just after 5:00. It took me almost 3 hours to get home. At times the expressway was stopped, many times it was crawling at 3 mph. When we got up to 35 mph, I was very happy.

Truly amazing how quickly the weather can change driving conditions. In 2 hours the roads went from clear and dry to parking lot.

Wow.

BTW, I did call my wife 2 other times through the process so that she wouldn't worry. In one of those conversations I said "I would be happy if I was home by 4", to which both of us laughed, thinking that that would be very late.

Aloha.

Oh Danny Boy

As performed by the Swedish Chef, Animal and Beeker:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCbuRA_D3KU

Aloha.

Personality Quiz

I took another personality quiz. I think it is dead wrong. Here it is:

Egghead:

The Egghead exists exclusively online, playing World of Warcraft, working on their (fake) MySpace page, or taking stupid personality tests. They'd rather text than talk, even if the person they're texting is sitting right next to them (Ms U, lov U, alw thinkN of U).
Aliases: Nerd, Dweeb
Diet: Pizza, soda, anything deep fried
Aniamal: Computer Mouse
Friends: Creepy Loner, Suck Up
Habitat: Wherever there's a WiFi signal
Color: 2560X1600 (4096k)
Call: "OMG! LOL!"
Enemies: Party Animal, Bully

What do you think?

Aloha

Gary Gygax dies

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/03/04/obit.gygax.ap/index.html

Some history: As a child, I wasn't interested in school. Quite frankly, it was too slow and boring. As for reading, what's the point. TV is better.

Then, one summer (between my 3rd and 4th grade years), my cousin from Washington state came to stay with our grandparents for the summer. He introduced me to Dungeons and Dragons (D&D). I was 8 years old. The books were for ages "12 and up". A lot of that rating had to do with reading level. Because my older cousin was interested, I was hooked. I discovered a reason to read. And I read up a storm. In 3rd grade I was in the middle/low end of the reading group spectrum. (Funny, they tried not to tell kids where they rated by calling the groups different colors. However, it was obvious when you progressed from one group to another, what the ranking was.) By the 4th grade, I was in the top reading group and never looked back. I would regularly be at the top of the top reading group. I attribute this change entirely to D&D. I believe my entire academic career was impacted by that important change.

Back in 1974 (the year I was born), Gary Gygax created D&D. If it weren't for him and his creation, my life would be very different. This complete stranger had a profound, positive impact upon my life. I am sad to see him go.

Aloha.