Over 10 million views in less than a week and embedding is disabled by YouTube so some or most of you have seen this - those that haven't, you are in for a treat.  Simon Cowell is actually shocked.

Susan Boyle on Britain's  got talent.

Tagged by azbearchaser79 

It's been a while since I posted so I guess this is as good as anything -

THREES:

THREE NAMES I GO BY
Kitty
Daddy
Bossman

THREE JOBS I HAVE HAD IN MY LIFE
Gardner
Amex Card Rep
Development Director

THREE PLACES I HAVE LIVED
Pacifica, CA
Austin, TX
Phoenix, AZ

THREE TV SHOWS THAT I WATCH
CSI (any)
Law & Order (any)
Star Trek (any)

THREE PLACES I HAVE BEEN
Mexico
The Bahamas
Newland, North Carolina

THREE PLACES I WANT TO GO
Ireland
Australia
Brazil

THREE OF MY FAVORITE FOODS
Pizza
Chicken Mole
Chicken Vindaloo

THINGS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO
Getting a real job
Getting my PM certification
Settling unfinished business

THREE PETS THAT YOU HAVE OWNED
Samantha and Darren (Hamsters)
Dixie (Dog)
Logan (Dog)

THREE FRIENDS WHO WILL REPLY (for sure now)</a></b></a>avebeno
sabin 
thepup 

THREE FAVORITE BANDS / RECORDING ARTISTS
Barry Manilow
Duran Duran
Abba

THREE FAVORITE THINGS TO WATCH
Waves crashing on the beach
Wind and Rain in a storm
Sunset in the ocean

THREE FAVORITE DRINKS
Iced Tea
Ice cold beer
Bushmills Whiskey

Not much of a story actually - I used to IRC back in the day and I initially picked Tazz as my handle, but soon found out there were other Tazz'es out there and one was a dick and an admin and if he got kicked because another Tazz logged on then he use his authority to kick you off and make your experience a pain in the ass.  So, after more losses than victories in this battle, I added 602 for the area code and have used Tazz602 for some online personas. 

I found out this week that my Uncle Gayle passed away on Monday, he was married to my father's sister, my Aunt Jeanne.

We were never close to my father's side of the family, that was mainly due to my mother which is another story I won't go into.  For the last 18 months of my father's life when he was battling cancer I did make a concerted effort to make a connection again with my aunts and uncles that I never really knew growing up except for a couple trips when I was very young.  Fortunately I was old enough to at least have some memories of his family and our cadre of cousins.

During that time we found out they were wintering in Yuma, they were snowbirds, and after my father's passing I made a few trips out to their desert house during the winter just to visit and spend time.  It was always a good visit, they are awesome people.  I only wish I had known them better growing up, the family up in Spokane is very close, small town kind of thing and everyone knows and helps each other.  I wish I had known at least part of my life like that.

Due to time constraints and money and other issues I will not be going up for the service but I did send a very large and fabulous arrangement from all of the family down here.



Your in God's hands now Uncle Gayle, keep an eye out for us still walking the earth. 

I'm wondering if "You Know Who" (stpbear ) got another Bag of Crap from the Woot-Off that was going on yesterday and today.  I missed it by minutes. 

But I got the usb talking Stewie - yeah!!!!!

Actually exactly the opposite - I am kinda manic today and in an awesome mood!!

Retired lottery winner.

Always been an early riser - I like to get a start on the day and get things done. 

Both - Love it because it is my birthday - but hate it because it is my birthday and I can never have a party or celebration on that day because everyone else is with their spouse/sig other.

Seen this on a couple people - doing mine now -

Fill this out about your SENIOR year of high school! The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be!! Thought you all who knew me back then might get a laugh out of some memories! Share yours!

1. Did you date someone from your school?
No - I knew I was gay but deeply closeted - I had a huge crush on the older brother of a classmate

2. Did you marry someone from your high school?
Nope.

3. Did you car pool to school?
ummmm - No - hoofed it

4. What kind of car did you have?
First car my senior year was a 1963 Rambler station wagon

5. What kind of car do you have now?
Ford Escape Hybrid

6. It's Friday night back then...where are you?
I was a boring kid - at home with the brothers and sisters watching TV downstairs.

7. It is Friday night now...where are you?
At the bowling alley.

8. What kind of job did you have in high school?
Groundskeeper for a local church.  McDonald's in my Senior year.

9. What kind of job do you do now?
Software and Database developer

10. Were you a party animal?
Hardly - partying in my town was smoking pot and drinking in the hills.

11. Were you considered a flirt?
Hell no - didn't know the first thing about flirting.

12. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir?
Did the choir one year.

13. Were you a nerd?
I will admit it - yes.

14. Did you get suspended or expelled?
Hell no - my mother would have killed me, I was the "good" son

15. Can you sing the fight song?
No

16. Who was/were your favorite teacher(s)?
Mrs. Potter (English) - she was tough in a subject I hated, but she challenged you and I liked that


17. Where did you sit during lunch?
Usually with friends outside of the cafeteria.

18. What was your school's full name?
Terra Nova High School

19. When did you graduate?
June, 1981

20. What was your school mascot?
The Tiger

21. If you could go back and do it again, would you?
ONLY if I could give myself some sage advice - relax, be yourself, enjoy the friends you do have and stay in touch, and have FUN!!

22. Did you have fun at Prom?
Didn't go - sold my ticket.

23. Do you still talk to the person you went to Prom with?
n/a

24. Are you planning on going to your next reunion?
Not sure - next one will be 30 years - but it will be back near San Francisco - hmmmmmmm
The 20 year reunion was the weekend after 9/11 - so you can imagine that was a bit of a bust.

25. Do you still talk to people from school?
Well - one is now a contact in Facebook - that's about it.


Final notes -
I had to pull out my annual for the answer to a couple things - wow - as much as my memory of High School is so bad - reading some of the comments from the people that wrote in it, well, there are definitely a few people I would LOVE to find again and see what they are doing, I did find one on Facebook and he is doing now exactly what he said he wanted to do then, play in a band and make music.

And in looking at some of the staff of the school - DAMN - we had a few hotties, I know where some of my tastes come from.

An LJ thread in a new contact's journal (GordReece) got me thinking. Why are people so quick to vilify something that isn't there? Case in point, a picture was posted of an 18 yo with braces in a porn movie. People all of a sudden asked if he was sure he wanted to post something that LOOKED like child porn, and then the discussion erupted and went into several tangents.

So my question is this, have we become so uptight and scared of any shadow that looks like something people can attack that we are now finding ourselves forced to distance ourselves from it? Are we unable to see it for what it is and say "ok, so what"?

I can't help but wonder if this mentality is part of a general misguided "righteousness" and "political correctness" that gets an elementary school kid kicked out of school for kissing a girl and called harrassment, teenage kids shoing their privates on cellphones to each other are branded sex offenders, a teacher gets in trouble for touching a childs shoulder in encouragement and it's impossible for well meaning teachers, counselors and priests to counsel anyone behind closed doors just because a few have misused their trust.

Maybe I'm too far in left field, but as even Freud said, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

I dunno, have we become a paranoid society? Are we unable to relax and therefore must raise a "red flag" at every little thing that appears like it has the potential to be bad?

Thoughts?

This was my favorite Superbowl Commercial - if only because it's how I feel sometimes these days and the Koala getting punched caused D to fall to the floor in laughter.


My vote for hottest cub and future bear - Ben Rothlisburger

Hottest man I want to ravish me in a dark alley - Larry Fitzgerald.

OK - for those that know my G1 took a dive into some water  (ummmm, yeah - that water)  D tried to give me his but I wouldn't deprive him.  He uses the text and internet alot and it would definitely not be easy for him.   So I was back on my Blackberry Curve, updated the OS, got a few extra things I didn't have before and thought that was OK.

After a few weeks I wasn't sure if I could live with slow EDGE and a small screen again, but I was NOT going to pay another $400.00 for the friggin phone, my mistake, I'll live with it.

After some net trolling and coming to realize TMobile was not going to get the Blackberry Bold and Verizon had an exclusive lock on the Blackberry Storm - I started wondering what I could do.  I was locked out of any other 3G phone I felt was viable for what I wanted.

I turned to Craigslist.

Now I had gone into CL before - but to be honest - it was fun  (and sometimes tragic) to browse the personal ads with pics, you might see something good to ogle.  And yes, it was really funny to take a look at the "Erotic Services" and in there find a person here or there that I know (should I tell the guy he used to date??)

I did a search and sure enough there were local people unloading their G1s.

My suspiciously over 40 yo mind immediatly goes to "How do I know they are telling the truth when they say 'Mint Condition' or that the phone was not stolen?"  Well, last night while eating dinner I sent an email to one that sounded appropriately sincere, she emailed me back and by the time I got home I had a date to pick up her little used G1 that she got as a gift but was moving to an area that didn't have 3G. 

So how do we coordinate this?  I'm sure she doesn't want some stranger coming to her house, if she does, I should be wary.  So I suggested a public place, the sandwich shop in Tempe owned by my brother in law.  She, thinking like me, suggested Tempe Marketplace in front of Best Buy.  I said yes. 

The exchange was to go down at 9AM - I was running late after getting D and I some coffee from Dunkin.  I had my cash and thinking, "I should have had D come with me, just to be sure"  I pulled into the parking lot - she was there with a guy (her boyfriend? - I could take him if I had to I guess, or get a shot in) - the store wasn't open yet.  There were two workers out front talking and a big Mall Security SUV in the middle of the parking lot.  I walk up, she let me see the phone, I take it out of the box, turn it on and inspect it, I say it's good and hand her the money, she counted it.  We said "Good-bye" and she and her boyfriend went one way and I walked back to my car.  I was well aware that the Best Buy workers were watching me walk back to my car, probably wondering what just went down. The Mall security van stayed there while I sat in my SUV getting the phone set up with my sim card and memory.  I realized I better not raise anymore suspicions and drove out of the lot and went home.

I'm not sure how these things off CL are usually done, but that was kinda fun in that in a way it felt illicit and yet it wasn't.  I think next time, if there is one, and it's in Tempe again, I will use the sandwich shop.  The reason? - he know LOTS of Tempe police and at least one is usually there.

Oh well, that was the highlight of my day - after that it was several hours getting the apps installed to the phone, setting things up the way I had them.  I'm missing one app that I loved that is no longer in the Marketplace.  Oh well.  But I'm back on 3G, I have a full browser and net at work so I don't have to worry about the internet monitoring which is going into full force soon.

Have a good weekend all - and oh - for those in Arizona - GO STEELERS!!!!!!!!!!!

Please forgive me if this counts as SPAM - but I love OutQ and it's my favorite channel on Sirius - especially when they get twisted and demented. 

To everyone that has XM - Sirius OutQ 109 will be also on XM 98 starting Monday!! Start your morning with the Morning Jolt with Larry Flick, kill some brain cells with Frank Decaro, then get them back with Michaelangelo Signorile and then end the day with a BANG with Derek and
Romaine - (Do I sound like an advertisement?)

Got my G1 back, well, not mine, found a little used one on Craigslist from someone that was moving to a non 3G area. Lot less than $400 for a new one.

I knew CL could be good for something other than getting off on the personal ad pictures, LOL

If I'm gonna switch then I'm going for the gold, Angelina Jolie, Move over Brad - or you can just join in!!!!

Well, it's 2009 - long overdue for an update.

This is kinda long - and may be boring - read at your own risk.

2007 ended and 2008 started with job turmoil. ( Read more... )




 

Why haven't I updated in a while, not much to say really.

But today, I guess I should say something.  I waited for this day for so long as did many Americans.

Why do I believe people are sincere when they are just dangling a carrot in front of my face?

Why am I disappointed when what I already knew in the back of my mind turns out to be true?

Why does it piss me off when people take advantage of my trusting nature?


New Years Resolution #1 - stop trusting and believing people I have no reason to trust and no foundation established for trust to be expected.

As happy as I was to see 2007 go, I think I will be just as happy to see 2008 go, at least no one I knew died this year so that is a step up.