Cincinnati Reds

As promised here are some pictures from the game Saturday night. The Reds were playing the Chicago Cubs and as can be expected there were almost as many Cubs fans at the game as Reds. Chicago is only about 4 hours away.


I hadn't been to a Reds game in a long time. The last game was probably at Riverfront Stadium which has since been torn down and replaced with two new stadiums. One for the Reds and one for the Bengals. I have no doubt that the Reds' new home will go down as one of the great American ballparks in the major leagues. No really, it will.


It was going to end up being a sold out crowd, but since we got to the park about an hour before the game we had no problem getting seats, even if they were nosebleed. I guess the Reds had been playing on the road for a couple weeks and this was their first series home from that trip. The park has a pretty smart pricing system. The seats we got are normally $10 but when they know they are going to be a near sell-out the price goes up to $25 or something like that. Not good for us but someone has to pay for those salaries.

One unexpected bonus. We learned that the game had been declared "70's Night." How could you tell? First, because they kept announcing it, but second, because the guy who played Greg Brady was throwing out the first pitch and he kept showing up on the Jumbotron. That's OK I supposed. It would have been better if they rolled back the price of beer and hot dogs to the 70's. Now there's a hokey marketing gimmick I want to be part of! $6.25 for a 16 oz beer and $4.75 for a smoked sausage. I learned that baseball games can get pretty expensive for a guy my size.

Another unexpected bonus...free Cincinnati Reds Slinkies for the first 20,000 fans who came to the park. Score! Here you can see them getting handed out just inside the gate.



Slinkies in hand we walked about the stadium for a little while. There were some really nice views from the upper level. The suspension bridge you can see in the last photo was the prototype bridge that the architects and engineers built before building the Brooklyn Bridge.






The game was a total blast even though the Reds got pretty well crushed by the Cubs. That's ok boys, you'll get 'em tomorrow.

Who Do You Like For President?

I was thinking about throwing my hat in for Bloomberg (if he runs), but now I don't know.

Mysterious Congressman Challenges Leading Candidates To Debate At Dawn

WASHINGTON, DC—From atop the broad back of his steed LaFolette, the Mysterious Congressman (D-WI) warned of his intentions to confront opponents with deadly wit.

Warm Wet Welcome

Just got back home again. I feel like I keep posting that line this summer. Had an amazing trip again to Cinci. Got some work done and had a ton of fun. The highlight was going to the Reds game last night and then hitting the Newport, KY riverfront for a taste of Cinci nightlife. We had an absolute blast.

I was happy to make it home without too many mechanical delays. I have a love-hate relationship with the ARY this week (Camry minus the C and the M which fell off years ago). I hate that it has been giving me a lot of trouble this week, but I love how much I'm going to appreciate the next car.

I have some great pictures from the game last night which I'll post tomorrow, but for now I'm busy trying to fend off my huge damp and aggressive black cat. When I got home I just wanted to sit here in the kitchen and set the laptop up on the island. My cat is acting like he's never been more excited about stepping on the keyboard. I know he's not supposed to be up on the counter, but after driving all day I kind of enjoy the attention. I can't believe how humid it is tonight. James told me that it has been raining for 2 days. I'm sorry I missed all the lightning. I mean, I like lightning, the sound and the feeling of strong lightning. I didn't want to give the impression that I'm trying to be stuck by it.

Fridge Magnets

We we did our most recent renovation my old beer fridge got demoted to the garage for storage. There's no current plans to bring it back though I have been thinking about making it into a kegerator. But when it does come back I found this cool site with lots of funny magnets. I think they're suitable for a beer fridge.


See more funny magnets at:
http://www.stickergiant.com/page/sg/CTGY/magfunbee

Simpsons Movie Released Today!

Well the big day is here! However, I'm going to hold off and wait for Liz to get back into the country and go see it next week. Of course I could just go see it anyway tonight and then not tell anyone....I am so smart!




Evidently there's even bigger Simpsons fans out there than me. It's not suprising I suppose since I don't really have much Simpsons crap around the house. I don't even watch new episodes anymore. These people are true fans. I love the idea of the Simpsonian. And having S-M-R-T for a license plate....brilliant!

Ghost Talk

So I had this off the wall thought the other day. It's not really anything out of the ordinary. I have lots of off the wall thoughts. Some of which I can't write about, but this one I can.

Someone I was hanging out with was talking about ghosts and the things they say and the situations in which they present themselves to people. One person was saying that ghosts only appear to people who are "ready" to see them. I suppose that means they believe in them.

I just couldn't believe that this would be true. First, realize that ghosts (if they exist) are really just people. As a result, you have to assume that they think and feel like people as well. So now picture ghost A talking with his/her/it's friend, ghost B.

Ghost A: "Hey man, you feel like appearing to some humans tonight? You know, just for fun?"
Ghost B: "Sure dude. I got no plans tonight."
Ghost A: "You never have plans."
Ghost B: "Lay off me you jerk. You know I was single when I died."
Ghost A: "Easy there Casper...I was just pulling your sheet. Anyway, do you want to appear to the humans who are "ready" or to the ones who don't think we exist?"
Ghost B: "Do I have to even answer that question? You know the latter is ALWAYS more fun!"

So there you go. Clearly you don't have to be "ready" to see ghosts....if they exist.

Lindsay "The Infidel" Lohan

First an update on my Technorati ranking. You can see at the right that I make the claim of being the 924,205th best ranked blog. Well my friends, I have an update. I just checked it tonight and my ranking is now 1,369,602. Hmmm. Does that mean that there are now almost 400,000 more blogs that are better than mine? Clearly I have a lot to learn.

The good side is I don't have to worry about posting a link to one of today's headlines about Lindsay Lohan being arrested again in hopes of actually educating my readers. Being that I'm the zillionth ranked blog and you are actually reading this means you are probably web savvy enough to get your news from other top ranked sites first thing in the morning and then only come check this blog out because A.) You're a friend. B.) You're related to me. C.) You're hopelessly lost on the internet.

But here's my Lindsay Lohan link anyway. I usually get my news by going to news.google.com Underneath the headlines you often see a link that says all 632 news articles. If I click on the main bold headline but the article isn't any good I'll then click on that link to show all the articles. While cruising the Lohan stories I just had to click on the following. The title was just too compelling.

http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/article_22268.shtml

Gotta love those Iranian newspapers.

Fun Weekend

Not a ton to report from the weekend. Had a good buffet night Friday with K at Ryan's and then my brother's surprise birthday party on Saturday. Both were great fun with this incredible weather. It's been in the mid 70's, low 80's for a couple days now. It's got to be the most comfortable weather I can ever remember in July.

Tomorrow I head back to Cincinnati for a couple days before returning to pick up Liz on her return from Rwanda.

Solving World Problems...Or Games

Our world has so many challenges to overcome. Al Gore reminds us that we will all be living in a hot and steamy world swarming with hurricanes and snow capped mountains will be a thing of the past. Iraq is a mess. People are still going hungry. AIDS is still a big problem and Saturday Night Live is no longer funny.

However we as a planet have solved some things. Our ipods can now hold more music than we will ever listen to. GPS lets us never again ask for directions. And you can buy robots that will clean your floor at Wal-Mart. And now scientist have finally solved that age old problem of beating checkers. That's right. Checkers. No, not the fast food chain, I'm talking the "King Me!" version. But isn't it kind of a let down. Can you imagine teaching checkers for the fist time to a child and warning him..."remember, that no matter how good you get at this game you cannot ever beat the checkers computer." Theoretically you can tie if you play perfectly, but there's never been much satisfaction in a tie.

You can read about here:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070719143517.htm

Warning! - Proctect Yourself From This Scam

My cousin Julia sent me this today. I thought I would pass it on as a service to the public.

Police are warning all men who frequent clubs, parties & local pubs to be alert and remain cautious when offered a drink by any woman.

Many females use a date rape drug on the market called "Beer." The drug is found in liquid form and is available anywhere. It comes in cans, bottles, or from taps and in large "kegs."

Beer is used by female sexual predators at parties and bars to persuade their male victims to go home and sleep with them. A woman needs only to get a guy to consume a few units of Beer and then simply ask him home for no strings attached sex.

Men are rendered helpless against this approach. After several beers, men will often succumb to the desires to sleep with horrific looking women to whom they would never normally be attracted. After drinking beer, men often awaken with only hazy memories of exactly what happened to them the night before, often with just a vague feeling that "something bad" occurred.

At other times these unfortunate men are swindled out of their life's savings, in a familiar scam known as "a relationship."

In extreme cases, the female may even be shrewd enough to entrap the unsuspecting male into a longer term form of servitude and punishment referred to as "marriage."

Men are much more susceptible to this scam after beer is administered and sex is offered by the predatory females. Please! Forward this warning to every male you know.

If you fall victim to this "Beer" scam and the women administering it, there are male support groups where you can discuss the details of your shocking encounter with similarly victimized men.

For the support group nearest you, just look up "Golf Courses" in the Yellow Pages.

For a video to see how beer works click here:
Beer Demo <http://www.brackenspub.com/beer.swf >

Spider Pig

I so can't wait for the release of the Simpsons movie. My sister Louise came over to the house the other day and told me how the family was going to go see the midnight premier of the latest Harry Potter installment. I'm sure they had a fantastic time, but I really didn't see myself being that excited about ANY movie. But as the release for Simpsons gets closer I may have to re-evaluate that non excitement. Here's a clip.

Cincinnati Trip 1 Complete

It's nice to be home again. (I feel like I keep saying that.) Had a great lunch with my cousin yesterday in New Richmond, Ohio down at his restaurant. I had planned on driving back to C-Town afterwards but I wanted to mix up the route a little bit so I took US-52 all along the Ohio River through a couple old and somewhat depressed river towns. Towns like Ripley, Ironton and Portsmouth. The views were fantastic and I had plenty of time to enjoy them since I had no cell reception for most of the trip.

Then I took I-64 east through Huntington, Hurricane, Charleston and Lewisburg and caught I-81 over on the Virginia side. The total trip took about and hour longer than usual but it was well worth the exploration factor since I have never taken that route from Cincinnati before.

The thought occurred to me that it would be really cool to live on a big river. Watching the barges slowly creep up and down carrying mountains of coal. It makes me want to build a raft and float to New Orleans....well maybe not build a raft....renting a boat is probably more practical. Anyway, back home for a few days then probably back to Cincinnati next week.

Bluegrass Festival Video

Here's a short video we took at the festival. I wasn't going to bother posting it since the quality is so poor. It was shot on a digital camera and the sound cuts out when you zoom in or out. But then I noticed the face of this woman that was sitting in front of me and I just couldn't resist sharing. It reminds me of childhood stories that you shouldn't make sour faces because the wind could change direction and you'd be stuck with that face forever. Actually, maybe I'm mixing up my lore, but in either case it's true that if you make a funny face you could end up on youtube.

Bikinis, The Pope, and Star Wars

This article wasn't at all what I thought it was going to be about. Never the less, I whole heartedly support bikini journalism.

And now for something completely different.

I never knew how much the Pope and Senator Palpatine looked alike.

http://kazimskorner.blogspot.com/2005/04/separated-at-birth.html

Invisible Rope Speed Bump

My brother sent me this. I think it could do wonders out at the farm to slow down traffic and save the lives of tractor drivers, hay bailers and river tubers...

Time To Grass It Up!

Dad and I had been noticing these little "Bluegrass Festival" signs springing up around Bethel and Amelia the last couple days. Dad said he'd never heard of it so we decided to go check it out last night. Actually we stopped by in the morning to see what time the music started and they told us it would go from 1:00 till 11:00 but it could go much later... Sounds good to us! It was held at the Bethel American Legion Post 406 and it was the 2nd annual festival. I guess last year they had a small turnout since it was held in the autumn and it was unusually cold. Made me think of painting windows at the bower in mid October when the temperature was in the 40's and 50's during the day. Anyway....so we got some work done at the apartments and then headed to the festival around 5:00. Perfect timing. They had just gotten the second set started and we got to listen to almost all the bands. It was a banjo pickin' fiddle playin' mandolin and guitar strummin' extravaganza. We stayed until till 11:00 and filled up on hot dogs and funnel cakes and a few cold ones. I think we would have stayed even longer if the music had kept going. I knew that I liked bluegrass music, but I had no idea I liked it so much. I don't think there were more than 5 people there my age so I need to remember to take people that I can hang out with, but I'm all over another bluegrass festival in case anyone wants to take me to one.

We bought one cd from this band called the Radio Ramblers. Here's one of their tracks called Brand New Man. You may have to save the file to your computer first and then listen to it.

Other bands included Old Path, the Dixie Ryders, Chain Reaction, Wild Wood Valley Boys and Melvin Goins.

One And Only You

Every single blade of grass,
And every flake of snow...
Is just a wee bit different...
There's no two alike, you know.

From something small,
like grains of sand,
To each gigantic star
All were made with this in mind:
To be just what they are!

How foolish, then, to imitate--
How useless to pretend!
Since each of us comes from a mind
Whose ideas never end.

There'll only be just one of me
To show what I can do--
And you should likewise feel very proud,
There's only one of you.

That is where it all starts
With you, a wonderful unlimited human being.

James T. Moore

Spam Thursday

The world spam index must be increasing or something over the last couple weeks. Seems like I'm getting more than usual. Some are old ones, but others seem to be new and they are coming in droves.

Of course I'm still getting the old "We want to send you a billion dollars and you keep a percentage as our middle man and we will send someone to your door to collect the rest thereby saving us tax money." Here's a recent example. This one is a $49 million dollar deal. That's awesome! They will send me $49M and all I have to do is give them my bank account number, address, company name, and all my contact numbers.....including fax. Better get that fax number.....can't trust someone unless they give you their fax number.....I understand.

Dear friend,

First, I must apologise to you for using this medium to communicate to you about this project.I am a highly placed official of Government of Nigeria and also a founding member of the ruling party in Power now,the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP).

My committee - The Niger Delta Development Commission(NDDC)-which is in charge of managing and supervising the disbursement of oil sales revenues for the Nigerian government which covers payment to foreign and local contractors who has executed contracts for our country.The revenues under our control runs into several hundred of millions of dollars monthly.My self and other colleagues in the NDDC are currently in need of a foreign partner with whose bank account we shall transfer the sum of Forty Nine Million Five Hundred Thosand United StatesDollars($49.5m).This fund was accrued from various over invoicing of foreign contractors payments made over the years.

However, by virtue of our position as civil servants and members of the NDDC, we cannot acquire this funds in our name. This is because as top civil servants, we are not allowed by law of the land to own or operate bank accounts outside our country for now.

I have been delegated as a matter of trust by my colleagues,to look for an overseas partner in whose account we would transfer the fund Hence the reason for this mail.We shall be Transferring the money to your account with your company as the beneficiary and you are been paid for a contract which you executed for our country through the NDDC and any other Federal Ministry that we decide to use to siphon the funds through.

For your support and partnership,please reply me to negotiate your fees or the percentage you wish to be paid when the funds arrive your bank account.You must however note that this transaction, with regards to our disposition to continue with you, is subject to these terms.

Firstly, our conviction of your transparency. Secondly, that you treat this transaction with utmost secrecy and confidentiality. Finally and above all, that you will provide an account that you have absolute control over.The transaction, although discrete, is legitimate and there is no risk or legal disadvantages either to ourselves or yourself now or in the future as we have put in place perfect machineries that will ensure a hitch free transfer into your account upon acceptance.

The transfer will be effected to your account within ten-fourteen (10-14) working days as soon as we reach an agreement and you furnish me with a suitable bank account and company name and address with all your contact numbers including fax number.

I am looking forward to doing business with you and do solicit your confidentiality in this transaction, Please mail your response to me.

Yours faithfully,

Williams Oje

Also, I've learned that I am perhaps one of the luckiest people on the planet. Winning the lottery is usually a never-in-a-lifetime event. However, I have won over 10 lotteries just this week all totalling over $20 million. And that's just this week! I have won over $100 million in the last month! Here's an example:

Dear Lucky Winner,

We are pleased to announce your email address as one of the 200 lucky winners in the Free Lotto draw held on the 10th July 2007. winning addresses were randomly selected from a batch of 100,000,000 {ONE HUNDRED MILLION} international emails addresses.

Consequently, you have therefore been approved for a total payout of GBP 1,000,000 (One Million Great British Pounds Sterling) only. Your email address emerged along side with 199 others as a category of winner in this year's Annual Draw.

The world cup free lottery draw is held once in every four years interval. And is also organized to encourage the use of internet and computers.

Fill the form below:

NAME:
ADDRESS:
PHONE NO:
OCCUPATION:
AGE:
SEX:
COUNTRY:

NAME; Mr Anold Still,
EMAIL: worldcup2010lottery_award@yahoo.co.uk

Sincerely,
Mrs. Larisa Hull
Promotions Manager


That is so cool. So now I have all the money I could ever want. But what if I don't have anyone to share that money with? (I'm married so this is only a hypothetical question.)

I just got the following message from a girl named Loren last night:

Hello! I am tired tonight. I am nice girl that would like to chat with you. Email me at qbwrm@docmaildirect.info only. Will send some of my pictures


She seems like a nice girl. I'm touched by the thought that she would email me even though she is tired. I don't mind chatting...as long as she doesn't chat way too much. And she's willing to send pictures so she definitely not trying to hide anything.

So you see I'm having a great week. I have millions of dollars coming to me and women are throwing themselves at me. It doesn't get any better than this....although winning some kind of beer contest would be cool.....and so would a buffet lottery. Ahh, it's good to always have goals to be stretching towards.

Hometown

Made it to Cincinnati yesterday with no problems. It's nice to be back in my hometown. I really haven't spend much more that a few days here in the last 10 years so it will be really nice to spend a couple weeks here. Even if I am living underground and sleeping on an air mattress. I'll show you what I mean later.

Bob Proctor - Mind And Money Strategies

Just listened to this last night. It's pretty good stuff. He's pretty old so the part where he talks about the world changing is pretty funny. He talks about going from an actual chalk board in his presentations to using a laptop. I'm like, yeah, the world is definitely changing.....my old digital camera was only 2.2 Megapixels. My new one is 5.0 Megapixels.....wow...pretty soon Megapixels will be out of date and we'll all be talking Uberpixels. Not as dramatic as his chalk board example. Anyway, main thing of his talk is all relevant information. (Hint: it has been relevant for thousands of years.)

Men Talk As Much As Women?

I find this hard to believe, but perhaps that's just because I've been buying into an urban myth for too long. It does make me wonder if they just happened to study sanguines only. There's no way I come anywhere close to 15,000 words/day.

Farewell & Good Luck

To Liz and Christine and the other ladies that are joining them on their trip back to Rwanda for WomenForWealth.com May your flights be safe, your mission a success and your return triumphant.

iPhone TV Shows

This is a pretty cool site for iPhone downloads. Supposedly you can get as many Movies, Music, TV Shows, Games and eBooks as you want for about $50. I'm not sure if it's legal, but I'm always a bigger fan of "download all you can" instead of paying for each individual track.

I would list out all the benefits/features but I can't seem to be able to copy paste it and so just click the link to see for yourself.

It's Right In Front Of You

The poem starts off chapter 4 of Bob Proctor's book, You Were Born Rich

The Promised Land

No more shall I look to the far skies
for my Father's loving aid;
Since here upon the earth His treasure lies,
and here is His kingdom laid.
No more through the mist of things unknown
I'll search for the Promised Land;
For time is the footstool of His throne,
and I am within His hand.

The wealth that is more than finest gold is here,
if I shall but ask;
And wisdom unguessed and power untole
are here for every task.
The gates of heaven are before my eyes;
Their key is within my hand;
No more shall I look to the far skies;
For here is the Promised Land.

Alva Romanes

The Great Flydini

What a wild and crazy magician....

Happy 4th And Intellectual Property

The other day Liz was reading an article about Microsoft and the Free Software Foundation going at one another over patents and intellectual property things. The she called out to me saying "Hey, do you want to see what Jim would look like if he had stayed in California?" I'll give you a hint, it's not the guy on top.

A New Financial and Economic Glossary

Recently I've decided to launch a new website. MoneyGlossary.Info

It's going to be a resource for easy to understand financial and economic definitions. The main revenue stream will come from pay per click ads.

Independence Day Celebrations

In honor of the birth of our nation millions of Americans will light off colorful explosives, cook tons of hamburgers and drink millions of beers this week. We got started Saturday and it looks to continue at least until Thursday. I think this is a fine way to express our gratitude as long as we remember what we are thankful for.

Be thankful for living in this country and all of the opportunities it affords those who are ambitious.

Be thankful for our forefathers for risking their lives to create our nation.

Be thankful for the thousands of young men and women who are risking their lives on a daily basis to serve our country.

Be thankful for freedom and security.

A lot of these things we may not think much about because of our daily life here in the states. Last week I had a chance to sit down with a business partner of mine and ask him about his experience here. He grew up, trained as an engineer and started a family in South Africa. At the age of 47 he sold his business and moved his family to the States and essentially started over since he could not take most of his money out of South Africa. (The government there does not allow it's own citizens to take money out of the country.) I asked him about the transition to life in suburban America and he talked about lots of little things you just did as a matter of fact in South Africa that you don't have to do here.

If you are driving home to your house and you don't see the dog come running out when the gate opens then you know it's not safe to drive in because someone is waiting to ambush you.

You never drive around town with your window open and sunglasses on. If you do, someone will snatch your sunglasses.

If you come to an intersection that is relatively deserted, never stop at the light. Ambush again is likely.

If you are driving down the road and someone is trying to stop a car in front of you it is better to just ram the car and create an accident scene because then you are less likely to get ambushed because of all the commotion.

When you're eating or hanging out in a pub or restaurant you are constantly looking over your shoulder and scanning the room to see where people are and what is going on. You must always have your wits about you.

You never have anything in your back pocket.

These are just some of the things that he said he didn't even really notice that he did in South Africa. It was just how you lived and everyone else did the same. He is almost an American citizen now and he is absolutely excited. He thinks this is the greatest country in the world. I couldn't agree with him more.

Pimp My Old Ride With Burgers, Babes, Brew and Fireworks

Well, the two days off from the blog are now officially over. Time to get off my duff get something posted. This blog is starting to smell funny.

Speaking of duff...ever wonder what a "duff" actually is? No? I understand you probably have way more important things to wonder about rather that what a "duff" is, but here's your answer anyway.

Here's some other funny / oddball things I saw on the road.

Ever seen one of those "Sign My Ride" old cars? Seems like a great idea to me. Why let an old car rust away to nothing before ending up in the recycle bin? Give it a chance as a whole new car with a new purpose. This one was at a Tennessee rest stop.


I had stopped somewhere for gas (again in Tennessee) and saw this new take on the Hooters restaurant concept. It must have been especially designed for the local market.


For some silly reason we can't buy cool fireworks here in West Virginia so I had to stop at the local fireworks store. I'm not sure what it's called but you know how sometimes they make a building look bigger than it actually is? I think fireworks stores invented that concept. This building was about the size of a 7-11 once you actually got inside.