FIQL - I hope I haven't discovered this before

This afternoon I discovered a site called FIQL - pronounced (by me) as fickle - that allows people to upload playlists. These playlists are just songs that fit a certain theme, or none at all if that's what a person wants to upload.

For instance, if you want to see a list of someone else's 20 favorite songs, you can find plenty of such lists. Alternatively, if you're looking for upbeat music you can sort the playlists by mood. The playlists aren't organized well enough to fit a mood exactly, but it's pretty close.

I've been coming across songs on my ipod (all 6 gigs of it) that have been out of the rotation for a while, and I keep meaning to throw them on a themed cd. The one I've been wanting to create for a long time now is a driving music CD. I'll hear a song at work and think, I need to add this to a playlist for a driving music CD. I may even write it down, but will forget that I wrote it down and that sheet of paper will end up with the odd sock somewhere where I will never find it.

After hearing another song today, I thought that an online repository for playlists would be a pretty good idear... an idea that's about 6 months overdue for me. That's exactly what FIQL will do for me. I can start keeping track of my mix cd's as I find songs.

Anywho, the last point worth making here is that the site isn't a music retailer - you don't buy the music there. It's only there for people to be able to share their playlists. So, you can search for an artist or song or mood, find songs other people associate with that and then try to track those songs down and listen to them. It's given me something to do tonight... tracking the songs down is the time consuming part.

Givin' him the business!?

Here's a penalty from this weekend's college football games that you don't hear every day.

Buffalo, Crocodiles and Lions mixing it up

This video is absolutely amazing. Be patient, and watch all the good stuff that happens.

Time Off Work to Cook and Relax - Chicken Tikki Masala and Chocolate Pie

Photo by: 2create

I've had the last two days off, and will have the rest of the week off as well. I was getting distracted at work... I guess burned out would be a more appropriate term. I think I've still got just under two and a half weeks of time off for this year left. Last year I hardly took off and only called in sick once, and this year I took a week off and maybe two other full days... haven't called in sick yet this year. Anywho, I've been working a lot for a long time without a breather.

So, the last two days have been a welcome break. I cooked breakfast both mornings, watched cartoons (spongebob is awesome) and played fetch with pluto. That's a good way to start off the day, I gotta tell ya.

Since I had free time, I also wanted to try my hand at cooking a couple of dishes that I enjoy - my grandmother's (Mammaw) chocolate pie being the first and chicken tikki masala being the second. I started last night with a pre-made crust, whipped up the filling, literally whipped the mirengue and baked the pie. It turned out to be delicious, just like Christmas with Mammaw.

Tonight came the more adventurous dish, inspired by the Chicken Tikki Masala at India's Restaurant in Shreveport and their tasty, tasty lunch buffet. I marinated the chicken overnight with cinammon, cumin, yogurt, lemon juice and a few other ingredients, then browned the chicken today and mixed together the sauce... and garnished with some cilantro (too much, in my case). This, as well, turned out extremely well. It was much spicier than either Katie or I am used to, and much saltier than it should've been, but still great.

If you're interested in trying the Chicken Tikki Masala, go to recipezaar and check it out. Cut the salt in half (or exclude completely) and de-seed the jalapeno :).

The dog and I got to spend some quality time together, and he's a much better dog when people are around all day. He just gets anxious and has too much energy to burn being left in the kennel for 8 hours during the day. I took a pic of the pup today, and it pretty much sums up the way he and I have been feeling for the last two days... nice and relaxed.

I Hate Self Checkout Kiosks

Photo by: Annethelibrarian

The first exposure Katie and I had to self service checkout stations was at the Walmart in Ruston. Since they were new, Katie and I tried them out once or twice. For those who haven't tried a similar system at their local grocery store, here's the basic process.

You scan each item you want to purchase over the little UPC barcode scanner that normal checkout counters have. When the machine scans the UPC code, the price and a picture will show up on the screen and tell you to place the item in the bagging area. You then take the item and put it in a bag to the side, and the computer compares the weight of what's in the bag with the weight of the item you purchased. Once each item has been scanned and placed in a bag (if it will fit) then you click "Finish and Pay" and you feed the machine cash or swipe your credit card. This is how it's supposed to work.

In reality, you scan your item, place it in the bagging area and the machine will tell you to place the item in the bagging area. There's no button that says "I already did that, you stupid machine". So, you look around fruitlessly for some kind of icon on the screen to re-scan and re-bag the item. There's none to be found. So you flag down an employee standing nearby (the one who's been watching you like a hawk making sure you weren't a dirty theif like Wal-mart knows you are). She comes over and presses a few buttons, gives you a looking over, and decides to tell the machine that you are not, in fact, trying to pull "a fast one". This continues endlessly until you decide to leave your last few items on the counter because you're not supposed to be doing so much work in order to give Walmart your money. You pay (which does work rather well), then as you're leaving, another Walmart employee checks your receipt because you are most likely trying to steal vegetables.

Sounds great, doesn't it? Well, this morning the local news was reporting that more fast food restaurants are going to have self service checkouts... oh, and the machines will now try to "upsell" to bigger ticket items. Apparently, people are more willing to accept obnoxious questions from a machine, leading to a 30% increase in "upsells" compared to normal checkout workers.

Every time I go to Home Depot and Walmart, Katie and I will walk by one and Katie will say "let's use one of these...". And I'll say "No, I don't work here." and we'll go to one of the human checkers. I guess this is my point of the whole post... I won't be doing more work at checkout so that Walmart can avoid paying an employee to work. Offer me a discount, or make the process so effortless that it actually does save me time compared to the longer checkout lines. Just don't put these things in to save a dime per hour and expect me to run to them every time though... just think, big random, unfeeling corporation. That's all I've ever asked.

I have no superpowers

Photo by: Martin LaBar

I have no superpowers. This isn't the first time I've had this epiphany. As a boy, my brother and I both had superman pajamas, cape and all. We'd jump around on the furniture, and no matter how high we could jump we never flew, saw through walls or had ice cold breath (smelly breath is apparently not a real superpower, more of a hygiene issue).

Last weekend I had the same sad realization again when I didn't gain superpowers after I was bitten by a spider. I was half hoping that the bite would result in my gaining some kind of power. I would've settled for a tingling spidey sense, increased strength, the ability to stay up past 9:30 without being tired... but I got nothing. Just a big red mark on my finger and a good scare.

One minute I'm outside trimming the bushes out in front of our house and the next minute a half-dollar size spider is gnawing on my hand like I'm a chew toy. After the bite, I try to find the spider and make sure I know it's whereabouts (that it hasn't jumped on my pants) and its appearance and then promptly head inside to search the internet and become an expert on poisonous spiders. What does a black widow actually look like.... ok, what about the brown recluse? Is it actually brown? Cause this spider was green... and very angry. I think it actually turned out to be a green lynx spider.

It seems fair that if you go through something risky or difficult that there should be a reward. College, work, the stock market... all good examples of this. I think spider bites should be the same. All I'm saying here is that I think a little super power would've been justified. Is that too much to ask? On second thought, maybe I should just be happy that my finger is still attached and that I'm alive.

Ripe for the Pickin's

Photo by: Il conte di Luna

Katie's asleep in the bedroom at the moment. Normally, this would mean that I'd be in the back yard playing fetch with pluto or getting a start to a breakfast of bacon, sausage and biscuits. This morning, however, I got up so that I could wander over to sears for their doorbuster sale, which included a Sony Bravia 46" LCD at an $800 discount.

I figured that since I didn't want to brave the pre-dawn crowds on Black Friday, and since there wasn't all that much press on today's sale that it would be a pretty safe deal. I'd get up at 6, head to Sears, snatch up my 46" Bravia LCD (720p) and be home in time for another 30 minutes or so with pluto and some McDonalds coffee before Katie woke up.

Things went pretty much as planned, however I wasn't able to pick up the TV today. They didn't have any in stock at the Bossier mall sears, but could order it from the warehouse to be picked up on the 21st. Sears, as I expected, was absolutely deserted. I had to make two passes in the parking lot before deciding to go in because there were so few people in the parking lot... I thought maybe our sears wasn't participating and I'd snuck up on workers arriving early. Anyway, it gave me a little time to talk to the salesman and make sure I was ready to fork over that much money for a TV (especially after chickening out this past weekend on another TV bargain due to sticker shock).

So, that takes care of my Christmas (and according to Katie my Birthday and Valentine's day and another Christmas too). Now, I'll be free to shop for everyone else on Black Friday, without having to worry about camping out somewhere to get the absolute best deal I can find. We're in the process of putting together our Christmas list for everyone, but every year brings more difficulty in finding the right gifts... so we're not that far into it.

The ol' switcheroo

Photo by: gisarah

Last weekend Katie and I did something spontaneous after Sunday lunch with the fam... we went to an open house and made an offer on it the next day. There's nothing wrong with our house, and we'd had no plans to move. We'd only chattered about the long commute and how nice it would be to be closer to work... and also to have an older home with "character" as Katie puts it.

The controlling factor of our last week has been the offer we made, which was contingent on selling our new home in Bossier in 60 days. So, we've been planning, buying signage and reading up on how to proceed with For Sale By Owner sales and open houses. Yesterday, we dern near killed ourselves getting our house in a sellable state. I mowed, cleaned, swept, scrubbed, shimmied and shook until I was ready to drop.

So, that brings us to today. We've only had two couples come by so far, but then again we only have one sign (we're learning here...) and just put it out at 10:30. However, the first couple seemed interested and the couple that's here now knows Katie and are being given the grand tour.

If all goes well, we'll be moving here at the end of December or beginning of January.

but he's just a kid!

I was talking to a co-worker today about the 10 year old kid who started one of the fires out in california, and what the consequences were going to be for him (and his parents). Well, it turns out that time magazine is on the case, writing

"Though too young to be charged as an adult, the boy could still face millions of dollars in fines, removal from his home and possible detention as a ward of the state. For now the boy's fate - and that of his parents, who would be partially liable for any restitution payments he would have to pay - rests with Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley"

Thank goodness there's a chance for someone to smack this kid around. He's a kid and all, but he shouldn't have been playing with matches, and childhood is no excuse to avoid paying for knowingly doing wrong.

I'm sure it won't take long for there to be an outcry of support for the letting the kid of the hook. After all, he's just a kid... and he only burned 300 square miles of land. Kids... what can you do?