mrchnd

My ramblings from the past week 2010-03-07

chris — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 09:30:00 +0000

#whatdowedonow http://www.katg.com/book #
Avatar or Pocahontas? How about both? http://bit.ly/9IZkoy #fb #
Remember the game Mouse Trap? That was an example of a rube-goldberg machine. Here is a better one, with music. http://bit.ly/bKVtQc #fb #
“A Serious Man” was a terrible, boring movie http://bit.ly/adVkwY #
Looks like Apple has its anticompetitive pants on today - http://bit.ly/a15M2u #
Presidential Reunion. Former Presidents visit Barack in a dream. http://bit.ly/c65IjS #fb #
Oops! - RT@benlerman : Anti-Gay Lawmaker At Gay Club Before DUI Arrest - http://bit.ly/bhvSJm #
All Your Gadgets are Belong to us #
Who Like Kielbasa? http://bit.ly/agt3pK #
test http://j.mp/cbilrv #
Purple http://j.mp/aH6SbX #
Remember the star wars kid that was on youtube? Apparently he's doing okay and will soon become a lawyer. http://j.mp/aHbrvq #fb #
Route 68 in Durham has been a mess with potholes lately. This resurfacing project is a totally needed. http://j.mp/aJl5PN #
Anyone want to buy Bioshock 2 from me? Cmon, you know you want to. Awesome but used condition. http://j.mp/cJrztz #
I'm also selling Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Equally wonderful condition. http://j.mp/cucmqP #

Who Like Kielbasa?

chris — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:06:52 +0000

--
- Chris

Posted via email from Christopher's posterous

“A Serious Man” was a terrible, boring movie

chris — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:05:04 +0000

photo props - Adam Foster | Codefor

I've always liked Coen brother's films in the past, with the exception of "No Country For Old Men". "Fargo" was probably my favorite closely followed by "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" I thought I enjoyed dark comedies and I thought I enjoyed the Coen brothers. Apparently not anymore. "A Serious Man" was nominated for an academy award I think, but not sure why. Don't get me wrong. Some parts of the movie aren't so bad. I liked how the movie was a period piece of the 1960's. The neighborhood reminded me quite a bit of my own. The nagging phone call's the main character received were nicely awkward and uncomfortable. Actually...they were a lot like the ones William H. Macy received in "Fargo", a movie in my top ten. Dammit, the more I think of "A Serious Man" the less I hate it. I had the exact same reaction to "No Country For Old Men"

I hated "No Country For Old Men" immediately after watching it. There were a lot of good aspects to the film, specifically the camera work and creepyness of Javier Bardem. I hated the ending though. I saw it on opening weekend so I continued to see trailers on TV for a few weeks after seeing the movie. I'd see a trailer and think, "that part was cool" and I'd see another and think the same thing. The more I thought about it, the less I hated it. I have the give Joel and Ethan Coen a ton of credit because no other movie inspired the strange reaction. It's strange, like a waning hate of a movie...I don't know.

5 Movies out of my top 10 in no order:

1. Gone Baby Gone

2. Iron Man

3. Arrested Development (not a movie, I don't care)

4. The Big Lebowski

5. Rocky III

I just realized "The Big Lebowski" is another Coen brothers film I really like....See, I want to like their newer stuff but I like their older stuff way more. I tried re-watching "No Country for Old Men" a few months ago and had to turn it off. Too goddamn boring to justify for a few good scenes.

Posted via email from Christopher's posterous

My ramblings from the past week 2010-02-28

chris — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:30:00 +0000

My ramblings from the past week 2010-02-21 http://bit.ly/alWqHJ #
Apple makes another boneheaded move. No apps with any hint of sexuality. Only 11 months left on my contract. http://bit.ly/9yEBot #
I want to know how much it actually costs to manufacture razor blade cartridges. It seems like price gouging to me. http://bit.ly/csQaRF #

Does anyone know if it is better to pop my google apps email or forward it to my vanilla gmail account? Maybe @ginatrapani knows... #
RT @elvisrico: Does life suck that bad? You fly "YOUR" airplane into a IRS ofice killing yourself and others...now that's an ASSHOLE... #
10 reasons to avoid talking on the phone via the @oatmeal http://bit.ly/c797DV #
The Wallingford town hall sounds like a terrible place to work...much hostility. http://bit.ly/aIFAV2 #
Is it me or are people throwing around the term "social graph" WAY too much? It seems very "buzz wordy" ( no pun intented, google ;p ) #
Why do I keep bumping my head today? F My life #fb #
Does anyone know how to have facebook updates end up on buzz? #
Report: Initial iPad demand greater than iPhone's - I think interest may be high, but not demand. We'll see. http://bit.ly/bvilb6 #
Acad. of Pediatrics wants to change the shape of hotdogs due to choking hazards. Just eat baloney instead!!!!! Idiots. http://bit.ly/cRuiKh #
RT @JimBlockbuster: He's so stupid he probably doesn't know the difference between Tawny and Ruby Port #middleclassinsults #
@TheJunkenstein As an American, I chuckle at "Gov Schwarzenegger" too. I think most of us do. in reply to TheJunkenstein #
Anyone else watching this Bloombox thing? http://bit.ly/c7QV1P #
@marcmaron What do you use to make your coffee? I picture you as a french press kinda guy am I right? Or do you keep it real with the drip? #
The comments on topix.com are a gold mine of hilarity. They rank up there with youtube and local newspaper comments. #
RT @fcn: Today only, free movie from Blockbuster Kiosk with code: 212A4 #
@BTLSRadio Dude, your hacked. #

How I deal with the Google Apps vs “Vanilla Gmail” dichotomy

chris — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:30:55 +0000

I was reading Gina Trapani's site, Smarterware.org and was pleased to learn that many other people have the same problem I do.

A few years back I signed up for gmail. I always liked the idea of a permanent, free email address that wasn't tied to an ISP. Everything was hunky dory for a while. About a year ago, I decided to start my hugely popular blog on my own domain. I wanted to score my last-name.com so I could offer my family email addresses that I though were cool. Well, my last name was taken so I did what all the cool web 2.0 kids were doing and dropped the vowels. Mrchnd.com was born.

Anyways, I moved all my email, contacts and calendar to my new domain powered by Google apps. Again, everything was fine for a while. My contacts and calendar could still sync to my iPhone and I was happy. One thing that bugged me though was Google reader. I couldn't log into reader with my mrchnd.com address. Then Google voice came out, I got an invite....and couldn't log in with my mrchnd.com address. Then Google buzz came out......guess what? I couldn't log in with my mrchnd.com address either. To quote G.W. Bush; "Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."

I've had enough of google's split personality. I migrated everything back to my "vanilla gmail" login. Absolutely everything. I setup my "vanilla gmail" to pop my mrchnd.com mail and send using that address. Now I have everything under one account and my vanity email address. This should also set me up nicely for when I get an Android phone. Only 11 months left on my iPhone plan....not that I'm counting the days or anything.

The drawback? Now I have a lag when receiving messages because "vanilla gmail" needs to pop my domain gmail. Would I be better off just forwarding from my domain to vanilla gmail? I'm not sure.

Props to anonymonk for the picture!

Posted via email from Christopher's posterous

My ramblings from the past week 2010-02-21

chris — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 09:30:00 +0000

Remember detention in School? http://is.gd/8qe1b #
Google buzz has potential to change the way we drive. Imagine an app, powered by buzz that alerts you of speed traps via crowdsource. #
Flaming Anal Rat Canon #
Is it supposed to take 8 hours for a tweet to make its way to buzz? #
Good morning, snow. #fb #
#cttraffic on 91n thru Meriden barely inchworming along. http://twitpic.com/13ksgh #
Today is Paczki Day - Happy Paczki Day to all my Polish Inlaws! http://is.gd/8vm7D #fb #
Nice job Apple. This makes the open nature of Android look even better. http://is.gd/8vuDa - These aren't malicious hackers. #
BOO to Arvato digital services for requiring Internet Explorer when when ordering Windows7 upgrade discs. http://is.gd/8vKDW #
Internet Explorer just crashed - what a p-o-s #

Is there really a scarcity of bandwidth? I don't buy it considering all the dark fiber that's out there. http://is.gd/8vUlJ #
@keithandthegirl Cool article, first thing I saw were Jesse Joyce's laser eyes staring into my soul! I almost dropped my coffee. in reply to keithandthegirl #
The 28 day lag of DVDs to redbox / netflix still wont make me buy them. Ill just wait a bit longer. Strategy is futile. http://bit.ly/9BR0MF #
Awesome! Good for @ginatrapani all helping the govt. and stuff. I feel super proud even though we never met http://bit.ly/99dS1a #
I'm switching my url shortening service from is.gd to bit.ly because of its ability to analyze the clicks my links get. #
BBC article: Why does the West love the Dalai Lama? My question is, 'Why does China hate the Dalai Lama?' http://bit.ly/d606Ln #
Perhaps I'll have my "coffee table" tablet just yet. HP may undercut iPad's price. Competition FTW - http://bit.ly/dpABVd #
Another reason why I cant wait to switch to android. Google Listen, over the air podcast sync, no clumsy iTunes needed. http://bit.ly/bFYRmk #
@keithmcnally you're only halfway done if I remember correctly...awesome game. Playing the sequel right now, seems okay so far. in reply to keithmcnally #
@keithmcnally I've always enjoyed longer games. I play one at a time, pick away at it until I beat it then sell it. Not familiar w/ portal. in reply to keithmcnally #
Oooh, a new penny design? Drop the penny I say! Round everything to the nearest nickel I say...no one listens though http://bit.ly/9VM3g0 #
I havent been watching the olympics but whats with the time delay NBC? Arent they supposed to be live? Seems asinine. http://bit.ly/b6qNIE #
FCC does something cool, wants 100Mbps internet speed. US avg internet speeds currently 19th in world. National pride? http://bit.ly/cvbVzK #
T-Shirt War, seriously cool stop motion video. http://bit.ly/9rTxe6 #fb #

A Snowstorm’s Payoff

chris — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:03:26 +0000

This is why I like the snow so much. I deal with the shoveling and slow driving for this. The morning after a heavy snow is easily one of my favorites. The plows haven't had a chance to dump their ugly brown sand all over. The snow is still clinging to tree branches before the sun melts it.

Other nice mornings:

First brisk morning of the fall
The sunny morning immediately following a bad thunderstorm in the summer
The deafening silence of a blizzard at 5 or 6 am
One with coffee that is strong

Posted via email from Christopher's posterous

My ramblings from the past week 2010-02-14

chris — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 09:30:00 +0000

Stupid Oregon woman burns herself from a McDonalds hot coffee....wants money....asshole - http://is.gd/7SmOu #
New blog post: Taking Chance Movie Review http://mrchnd.com/2010/02/taking-chance-movie-review/ #
Huzzah! New wordpress theme! I'm 100% happy with the layout of my site now thanks to Andrei Luca for his Lightword Theme. http://is.gd/7SECa #
Sarah Palin is a dumbass - http://is.gd/7SP5D #
My home in Yalesville, Wallingford shook from the explosion in Middletown! #
New blog post #fb Tonight's Game Time Snack http://mrchnd.com/2010/02/tonights-game-time-snack/ #
The Who sounds terrible! #
I'm quite a fan of google but I gotta say that ad was lame. #
@fcn the dumb godaddy commercials are why I went with hostgator when I started my blog last spring. in reply to fcn #

Apple's blocking location based ads. I may be wrong, but doesn't the Pandora app use location based ads? http://is.gd/7W4lH #
#MusicMonday - I can't get enough of "Ambling Alp" by Yeasayer & "Horchata" by Vampire Weekend! #mm #
Facebook lite has been dragging for me the last few days. I'm using chrome. Anyone else? #
The Last Airbender Looks pretty badass, I gotta say. http://is.gd/7WC9i #
RT @WTNH: Hayes' lawyer described his client as "actively suicidal", @ErinCox8 reports. - Good. #
RT @ginatrapani: GoDaddy SuperBowl commercials make you want to take your domain business elsewhere? http://bit.ly/c1enbO #
We need net neutrality - ISPs should not be able to block specific sites - Verizon is allegedly blocking 4chan - http://is.gd/7Xhnp #
Check out my fresh Twitter Tim.es newspaper http://twittertim.es/mrchnd #
RT @peterjamesfreer: Understanding Html5 And Why It Matters http://bit.ly/b0Y3P8 #
Let the "I hate the Facebook!" posts begin! #fb #
Looking forward to Google's announcement regarding integrating social media into Gmail - email is a social thing right? http://is.gd/80fhl #
Sonic Drive-In approved in Wallingford! - First in CT! - http://is.gd/80cG2 #fb #
Steve Jobs sounds like a douche - http://is.gd/80zrF #
@JonStrickland at about the same time you start feeling guilty for not working out. in reply to JonStrickland #
Google unveil's Google Buzz - Social Gmail - http://is.gd/81JEm #
buzz.google.com is live, but not enabled in my gmail as of yet..even though I clicked "Try Buzz in Gmail" patience..... #
This could be better than facebook as long as people embrace it. Google Buzz - http://is.gd/81RLT #fb #
All my labels have disappeared from Gmail....hopefully they come back soon with some Buzz action. #
Grrr....still no labels in gmail! #
@WTFpod Excited for this one. Should be good considering your seemingly different stances on many issues. At least that's my impression. in reply to WTFpod #
@WTFpod maybe "issues" was the wrong term. stances? I dont know. Im a fan of both you guys so its not like Im trying to get anyone riled up. in reply to WTFpod #
@WTFpod nice. If you can, how about a "no this jew stuff" one of these days? I dug those. Any plans to head out to the Northeast? in reply to WTFpod #
Gmail not showing your labels? Here is the fix. - http://is.gd/89jF6 #
Red light cameras are a lazy way for New Haven to milk money out of residents. They should be outlawed. Hire more Cops - http://is.gd/8dZ2c #
Sexist Vintage Ads - http://is.gd/8dZFe #
I'm with George on this, Let liquor stores decide if they want to be open on Sundays - What an archaic law! - http://is.gd/8e0j9 #
This is the best weather map I've ever seen - http://is.gd/8gdxF #fb #

Little Italy Gourmet Market & Pizza

chris — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 14:52:41 +0000

View Larger Map

Last night we had takeout from Little Italy Gourmet Market & Pizza and as always it was great. They seem to do a great business over there considering how busy it was at 7:30 pm on a Friday. I had the italian cold cut combination sub and my wife got the veal parm sub. How can you go wrong with capicola, I ask? My favorite part about their sandwiches is their bread. A little sign behind the counter says that it's freshly made everyday, maybe that's why I like it so much. Their sub and hard rolls have a good crust on them that I'm crazy for.

Although I didn't have it last night, Little Italy's pizza is also wonderful. It is nice and thin with a crispy crust like a real pizza should be. Don't get me started on thick crust or greasy pan cooked pizza. That stuff in Chicago is rightly called "pie" because it is in now way pizza. Little Italy's pizza is cooked in a brick oven right on the stone, no pans for these folks.

Over the few years they've been open I've sampled many of their menu items. The stuffed bread is good and is so big, it makes for a nice breakfast the next day. I've never had them before trying them at Little Italy but their arancini (rice balls) and potato croquets are delightful. They also bottle their own sauce that it quite good. I'm partial to the one with little bits of prosciutto in it. I could probably eat it with spoon right out of the jar.

In doing my "research" for this post (simply googling their name) I stumbled upon their website. They offer online ordering! I've never seen a local business do that, so that's cool. I may try it next time.

Why Little Italy is good:

Good bread
Thin crust brick oven pizza
Tasty sides (arancini)
Pasta fagioli
Nice staff
Foxon park sodas
Around the corner from my house
Pizza by the slice

Find them in Wallingford CT on rt 150 in Yalesville

Posted via email from Christopher's posterous

On Net Neutrality

chris — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:46:16 +0000

Many people, including myself, are tired of being under the thumb of our cable or telephone companies when it comes to choice of internet providers. I do not trust they will uphold an open internet with free access to any service. Phone and cable companies have a vested interest in packaging their product as more than a pipe to the internet. This provides them the opportunity to give priority for their services over independent ones under the guise of perceived value. This occurs even when their product is inferior to that of their competition. For example: If I wish to watch Netflix instant streaming content, the argument could be made that Comcast or ATT is losing business because I have chosen not to go with their on-demand offerings. It is only a matter of time before they begin to limit the bandwidth to sites offering video or competitive content.

The thing is, all people really want is a unfettered pipe to the internet where your provider is neutral to what you consume. It's the ISP's responsibility to provide people the internet with no strings attached. It's the people's responsibility to exercise freedom of choice to enjoy whatever content they wish.

Thanks to: balleyne for the image!

Posted via email from Christopher's posterous