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Below you will find my weblog, or just blog. The name may not strike you right away, but you'll get it after I ask you one question: How many letters are there in the alphabet?

I use these twenty−six letters to share moments I experience, thoughts I come upon or ideas I have that I don't feel like keeping to myself. Writing them gives me the ability to share with you.

Maybe you'll laugh, maybe you'll swallow hard, maybe you will learn something about me that you didn't previous know, or maybe you'll relate the words below to something in your own experiences. You may even know the subjects I allude to between the paragraph tags.

So much that I will often write without proofing. If I offend you, it is nothing personal, simply my opinion. I'll complain about things that bother me, things I find offensive and just random thoughts I hold onto long enought to transfer to my blog.

The only thing you need know is that I love to write.


Make Some [Nature] Noise

September 3rd, 2010

Arrived to work early this morning for a meeting, (difficult enough in its own right), but especially so in the rain, because Texans transform into Sunday drivers when clouds spit.

I was early so I did some freelance browsing while I waited and found something fun. After playing with it for a few minutes, I left for the meeting.

A little over 30 minutes later I returned to a closed door. I did not shut my door, so this arouse my suspicions. Apparently, someone was not fond of the flailing loon I left looping on my laptop.

Relax, relieve some stress, or just freak out your entire office (like me). Setup a soundtrack for your nine-to-five at: naturesoundsfor.me.

Grossly Strong

September 2nd, 2010

Earth’s strongest creature meets its mate in a pile of shit. Talk about a turnoff.

It is estimated that the appropriately named dung beetle, or Onthophagus taurus, can pull 1,141 times its own weight. Mind boggling.

Why would anything need to pull that many times its own weight?

Female dung beetles will burrow into a pile of excrement and wait for a horny male looking to mate, (see photo). The male will then crawl down her poop canal in order to proposition her.

What if another male is encountered on the way down the shit shaft?

The outermost dung beetle will try and pull his competition from the brown tunnel of love. Gross. Hence the term “start some shit.”1

Smell ya later.

1 Not actually how that term was derived.

Brand Boutiques

August 31st, 2010

Pop Tarts recently opened a bakery, (if that’s what you call it), in New York. You can visit a Mr. Clean car wash in Ohio, Atlanta and Texas and now Tide is entering the dry cleaning business with three stores in Kansas.

A product/brand-specific boutique is brilliant marketing and a great way to boost brand/product presence in social media. Why?

  • Consumers can see realtime the product’s life cycle from start to finish
  • Brands can demonstrate product applications in unique ways
  • A physical market presence outside the aisle strengthen the brand, reinforces the products value and gives consumers a way to connect on a whole new level.

Using location-based updating services (Twitter, Gowalla, foursquare, and now Facebook) these brands can have people check-in, invite friends and share the experience with their social circle.

I propose a restaurant where, in place of typical tabletop catsup and mustard, you find Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing…chilled of course. They could call it “The Ranch Ranch,” or something.

I love Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing. On everything. I could come up with a list of 100+ simple recipes that include HV Ranch.

The folks at Hidden Valley know how to condiment my food. Pizza, veggies, salad, steak, pommes frites, etc. I could go on.

I hope someone important at the HV Foods Products Company reads this.

See What I Did There?

August 28th, 2010

Social networks make it easy to share anything and everything with the world. That’s why Vegas’ branding statement has been (unofficially) rewritten to: “What happens in Vegas ends up on Facebook.”

The appropriate moments captured are a perfect way to share with friends and family, (and sometimes co-workers), the amazing time you had – what you did, saw and experienced. You can’t take everyone on your vacations and sometimes the diatribe doesn’t quite tell a story like a photo can.

Some things are not for sharing.

The inappropriate moments captured are for those present in the situation. They are perfect for embarrassing someone, getting in a healthy laugh, remembering what you wore (or didn’t wear), and/or reminding yourself that you’re no longer in college.

You don’t invite all of your Facebook friends to a birthday/bachelor/bachelorette party for a good reason. A party, by default, involves the act of partying, and while you may love your family and many of your friends, they all define the act differently.

Growing up I made mistakes; but, that’s how you learn and (hopefully) grow. During my formative years, my dad told me: “If you’re doing something you wouldn’t do around me, then you shouldn’t be doing it.”

At the time, I listened and nodded. Over the years though, I’ve thought more about that lesson and while I understand what “somethings” he was referring to, I have to come clean…

Dad, I’ve done and am going to do many things I would never do around you (or anyone else) and those things are not bad, nor are they wrong, but I really hope you never see pictures of any of them.

Please practice social networking responsibility.

Some Fun Shirts

August 25th, 2010

Clothes can be a great way to express yourself … how you’re feeling, the team you support, your religious or political affiliation – these are just a few of the ways clothing can define the wearer, or express his/her opinion.

If you’re looking for some new threads, check out some fun t-shirts from Threadless.

Wishing Well

August 24th, 2010

Think of all the occasions we append with wishing…

  • birthdays
  • losing an eyelash
  • tossing a coin to where the Goonies dwell
  • 11:11 a.m. / p.m.
  • upon a star
  • before (and after) a test
  • splitting the wishbone
  • rubbing a genie’s lamp (I still have yet to find one)

To preface the following suggestion, I will say that I enjoy making a wish. Even if those eyes-closed, breath-held, fingers-crossed internal thoughts are far-fetched and highly unlikely…(because, absurdity is encouraged when making a wish).

The more outrageous my wishes, the more purposeful the moments are in between, when my eyes are open, my fingers un-crossed and I’m breathing.

Think about how many wishes you come up with in your lifetime. If your wish doesn’t come true, where does it go?

Most of mine joined geometry and my (once impressive) knowledge of the periodic table in a dark corner of my mind. That doesn’t mean I don’t still make the occasional wish; it just means that like all wishes, it’s really up to the wisher to make it come true.

Which is why when I wish now, my fingers aren’t crossed and my eyes are open. Otherwise, when my time is eventually up, I’ll just be wishing for more.

Over My Head

August 20th, 2010

A couple weeks ago, I spent about two hours on my balcony with a good friend scanning the sky, trying to distinguish planets from stars. It’s much harder than you think.1

Wine + stars = deep [red] conversation.

Discussion topics included:

  • The Universe and everything that’s out there.
    For the record, “out there” is a big place. As comparison, “out there” is greater than, or equal to all the stuff that “she says” … and “she” says a lot (mostly inappropriate).
  • Energy transfer.
    Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, and as our Universe expands, less energy per-(measurement of area) is available for transfer.
  • Chupacabras.
    Enough wine will cause a raccoon, medium-sized dog, or a large cat to appear as if it is a chupacabra.
  • Life.
    It’s too short.1

Grab a friend, grab a bottle, (telescopes are a plus), and grab two glasses…cheers/here’s to the stars.

1. probably something she said

Ross Is Near A Computer

August 19th, 2010

In addition to your [Facebook] friends and family knowing what’s on your mind, who you’re friends with, (and a handful of other info), you can now keep them apprised of where you are, using a service other than Gowalla and/or foursquare.

If you don’t already use foursquare or Gowalla, then you are like me (and anyone else who has plenty of good reasons for not doing so).

For those that do use a ‘this-is-my-location-come-stalk-me’, or an ‘I’m-currently-away-from-my-house-please-rob-me’ service, and actually want people to know the “where”, check out the new feature from Facebook – Facebook Places.

In-Flight Purrrchase

August 18th, 2010

I once heard that the majority of sales revenue from in-flight magazine purchases is generated from pet-related products.

Most people are without their pets while on vacation, so they miss them and think, “Oh, that padded stepladder for Mittens will help her get hair all over our clean sheets!”

Or, “Baxter will love that modern dog dish set, just enough to never notice the difference between it and an upside-down frisbee.”

So, what did my first in-flight purchase between Austin and O’Hare yield? A wine breathing carafe that aerates a bottle of wine in minutes!

That’s right. I miss my full-bodied red wine collection. Enough to order the carafe and wait three months for it to be delivered.

I’ve shared the phenomenal difference between how a wine tastes, before and after aerating, and they (only one person) agree that it was a solid purchase.

Not only because it is made out of hand-blown glass, but because it really does treat the tongue to a full-flavored vino.

I recommend the Wine Breather Carafe by Menu to anyone looking to open up a bottle of red wine and then really open it up.

Pee Green[er]

August 18th, 2010

Looking for a way to reduce your impact on our planet? Now you can! Wash your hands with toilet water! That’s not a serious statement, but its technically accurate! Keep reading!

Pee greener. No, not from dyed St. Patrick’s Day beer, but by utilizing this combination sink/toilet that recycles the waste water from washing your hands and uses it to flush your potty and paper.

Granted, you have to straddle a toilet to wash your hands, but we have made bigger sacrifices in the name of being sustainable.

While this is a great green invention, it may not be for everyone. I, for instance, already own a combination sink/toilet…it’s called a shower.

Take a closer look at the Caroma Profile Smart.