#5 BABY

Thank you Dallas, your implosion has given the Eagles their 5th Division title in 6 years. WHEEE!! It will be interesting to see if Andy rests the starters in the second half of this game.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!

Holy crap I may have been right

For those of you whom I have spoken to endlessly about football may remember, I made a preseason prediction that the NFC-East would claim 3 of the payoff spots and that Washington would not be one of them. It isn't 100% official yet, but it looks like I was right. With Philly and Dallas vying for the Division Title (the loser taking a wild card slot) and the Giants apparently filling the other wild card slot, it seems that my predictions have come true.

I would feel smart, but the fact that NY is making it in with an 8-8 record is not impressive. What the hell is wrong with the NFC this year. It seems to be a case of who can suck the least instead of there being clearly dominant teams. I keep hearing about how the AFC teams that are just missing the playoffs could run roughshod all over the best in the NFC. The sad thing is, there is a grain of truth to this idea, but I would say that there are three teams in the NFC that when playing well could beat the best in the AFC: Eagles (of course), Saints, and Bears. These are all teams, that when clicking, play amazing football.

All in all, it is shaping up to be a fun post-season for football lovers. Both conferences have teams that can upset the top seeds. The Patriots are always dangerous, and many football types (including Hall of Fame Cowboy Bob Lilly in an interview on NFL Radio) have said they could see Philly in the Super Bowl because of the way they have been playing (please, please). I always like it when the outcome isn't obvious.

Check'm out

There are a couple of songs that have been getting decent rotation on the alt channels, and they grab my ears and make me listen.

"Le Disko"-Shiny Toy Guns-Could be described as New Order reborn with a hot female lead singer. Best listened to loud, this song is funky and a great example of what happens when techno goes right. The video is reminiscent of From Dusk Till Dawn, in so far as the silly humans are lured into a place with hungry creatures wait to feed.

"No Control"-Pepper-This song is old school punk filtered through Red Hot Chili Peppers and Sublime, you can view a pixely video here. I enjoy the theme of kicking the bimbos off the air.

Found this nugget while You Tubing- RHCP covering "Brandy"

Another PS3 failure

One of the guys that works for me has ditched his PS3 in order to get a 360. What finally drove him to see the light? I think the controller had a lot to do with it. Apparently the Bluetooth kept dropping the signal. He apparently became tired of his boxer standing there and taking a punishing, or his soldier getting shot up while standing there like a mannequin. He was also unimpressed with the battery life for the controllers. Apparently, in his experience, it is much shorter than the 30 hours that Sony estimated per charge. Since Sony locked up the batteries, he was tethered to the short little cable provided. He didn't mention the directional lock problem, though. Oh well, at least he won't have those problems anymore.

It is also fun to note that discount site WOOT! has been credited with a major PS3 pimp slap.

Sony and Toshiba can kiss my butt.

As many of you are aware, Sony has launched themselves into another format war (the ones that brought you Betamax, MiniDisc, Memory Sticks, and Super Audio CD). This time with Toshiba. Sony is backing a new High Definition video format called Blu-ray and Toshiba is backing HD-DVD. Why is this mess happening, simple, greed. Sony wants all that fat tech-lincensing money. Here's the kicker, both formats essentially provide the same result, a beautiful picture; the major difference is Blu-Ray has more capacity (right now).

I was in hopes of there being a Dual-Disc player out by now, but apparently it isn't going well and perpetual rumors of Sony refusing to license the tech for this purpose exist. I refuse to over a thousand dollars to have both of these players to be able to watch either formats limited library. So what is a tech-junkie, HD monkey like me to do?

I bought a nice Hi-Def Conversion DVD Player. These DVD players up convert the signal to 720p or 1080i, which are HD resolutions. This allows me to view near-HD quality while watching the movies I already have. The unit I purchased is a Samsung DVD-HD860. I also bought one for my dad. This player and others like it are a must for anyone with an HD-set. NOTE: Most of these units require HDMI or DVI connections to receive the up converted signal.

I wasn't dreaming.

Now that I went to bed, and woke up to find it is still true, I would like to say, "THE EAGLES ARE GOING TO THE PLAY OFFS, THE EAGLES ARE GOING TO THE PLAY OFFS, THE EAGLES ARE GOING TO THE PLAY OFFS!"

Some Holiday Cheer

Creature Comforts Christmas


"12 Days of Christmas"-Taking Back Sunday

Happy Christmas Eve Day

More cool stuff at YourCoolProfile.com!
We have had a nice, but too short visit with Jodi and Phil. They gave Addy and Erik their gifts yesterday afternoon. They gave Addy a nice pair of black boots, to which she exclaimed "Little boots for me." She obviously remembered tromping around in Jodi's boots in October.

Erik is currently painting the nutcracker that he received. He had been asking to do it since yesterday afternoon. He also received what can best be described as Magnetix on steroids. He immediately put them together to make mics, handed one to Phil, Jodi and me, and tried to conduct us as a chorus. It didn't work to well.

After visiting with Phil's mum and step-dad, they returned for some more gift sharing. Ellyn received a pair of Toms Shoes, or rather a gift cert to choose a pair. She is still undecided.

I got something I was hoping for, a Murloco's Fish Taco's Shirt. I also got an uber cool Atari Flash Back 2. It is safe to say that Phil and Jodi, definitely know their audience.

After we gifted, we chilled, talked, Ataried, nachoed and had a good time, until way too late. This morning we (D, E, E, A, Phil, Jodi, Mum, Dad, Steve, and Melissa) met at Slopes for brunch, a good time was had by all. Unfortunately for us, Phil and Jodi are headed to Portland to do some Christmas type things with her family. We never seem to get enough visit time.

In a few hours we shall begin the gifting in earnest. We usually give the gifts to each other on the Eve, and Santa's stuff on the Day. It breaks things up for the kids and makes it easier to have a meal. More on all that later.

I hope you are all having a nice day, and that your teams are doing well. Merry Christmas.

PB&J for lazy people?

I don't even know what to say about this Peanut Butter & Co Sandwich Shop

Arianna's Christmas List

A sad yet funny post by Arianna Huffington, in which she composes her gift list for some of the people that helped make 2006 the cess pool that it was; and for some who tried to help. I would like to add:

Dick Cheney- A hunter safety course.
Rush Limbaugh- A nice frying pan for all that crow and a nice debilitating disease.
Jon Stewart- Another Emmy
Ann Coulter-Padded cell, seriously, she is quite insane.
Tom Cruise- A bigger closet for his new studio.
RIAA- A nice Monopoly set.
Dr. Phil- A pin to pop his head before he can't fit through the doors.
Dr. Bill Frist- A medical textbook
Karl Rove- A framed orange jumpsuit as a reminder of where he belongs.
John Kerry- A tattoo on his hand which says "NEVER NEVER NEVER TRY TO TELL A JOKE."
Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, William Kristol, and any one of their ilk- Lip balm, their lips have to be sore from all the Rusty Trombones they've been giving the Bush administration.
Bimbo celebrities-The screaming case of Herpes they all deserve.
The Christian Right- The insight to see that they have been neither.
Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell- A hunting trip with Dick Cheney

Good day for friends.

Today is a good day for far flung friends (alliteration: a sign of quality literature). I had the chance to talk to both Paul and Brice today.

Paul is doing well. Aaron and Jen (pic) are doing well. I really enjoy talking to Paul about his son, you can hear the love in his voice. There also seems to be a little awe. Paul has been working 12 hour days as a seasonal UPS driver, but now he is spending the next few days getting as much family time as possible, he leaves for Alaska on Christmas Day. I know he will miss them so much.

Brice and Tracey are also doing well, if a little overworked. Brice sounds happy, he sold one of his pics to a company in Hawaii for promotional use. I like the idea of him using his creative talents, he was always artistically inclined. They will be spending Christmas, at home, together, as newly-weds should.

Northern Maine Photos

Here is a link to a site of pics by Northern Maine photographers, some of them are quite stunning. You can also purchase the prints you really like.

One of the many reasons I like Donovan McNabb

Donovan has done an ad for the UN about Darfur Sudan.

DVD is the new cock in the henhouse.

In this Engadget post we find out that more US households have DVD players than VCRs. I bet it has something to do with DVD players being cheaper than VCRs and the fact that most studios no longer support the Video Cassette as a format.

Customized ads used by Wendy's

I am not so sure I like this idea (NY Times,free reg), especially the use of marketing lists. I can see a world where they data mine your PC and now the visiting in-laws know all about your hemorrhoid and erectile issues. Yikes!

Of course I am bleeding.

I always get a kick out of the dental hygienists. "You need to floss more, your gums are bleeding." they say. In my head I scream, "Could that have something to do with the stainless steel pick you were just stabbing into and pulling at them with?" Out loud I end up saying, "Okay." I probably should be more diligent with the flossing, but I am sure that my gums would still bleed thanks to their efforts.

Breakfast with Santa

Erik and I are off early to have "Breakfast with Santa," at Pine Street. This ought to be interesting, what with the cafeteria food, and the screaming kids. Oh well, the things we do for our kidlets.

COMBF Photo Contest

The winners for the 2006 Crown of Maine Photo Contest are now posted at http://www.crownofmaineballoonfest.org/crown_of_maine_balloon_fest_2007_011.htm

Working out the glitches

Now that I have poked around the settings, I have made a change. The comment section no longer requires you to be a member to post, so the other one of you who isn't Phil can make comments.

By Request

I have had a request to get off my lazy butt and post some COMBF photos so please go look at them so I feel useful.

New home for pics

Hi folks I have also put pictures in a new place. I have put them on Flickr .

Bored now.

After 3 months of running Kursplatistan as a stable nation I have decided to see how quickly I can tank it. Please enjoy the decline.

New Digs

In and attempt to simplify posting I have moved here from my old site. To view posts older than today please visit http://mysite.verizon.net/vze6yryb/cursedmonkeypaw/index.html