on...topic: thoughts - instant
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
thank you, Hershey's
Your idea to make dark chocolate mini versions of your Krackel and Mr. Goodbar?
Best. Idea. Ever.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
mmm...
The best pizza in the world is from a little place in Ozark, Alabama, named DiFlippo's. And tonight, that's what we had for dinner.
My mom has told me that they might go out of business soon. The current owner is advancing in age, and his children don't really want to continue the business. So I like to have it whenever I come home if I can.
If I find that they really are going out of business one day, I think I'm going to ask them for the recipe for their sauce.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
maybe some time...
The really random thing I eventually want for our living room once we ramp up the process of redoing it (it's currently like number four on our list) is to eventually get my great-grandmother's mantle clock fixed. I like clocks in general, and it's a nice piece of history, so I'd like to get it working again.
Friday, January 4, 2008
it's so dark
It's so sad after all the houses in the neighborhood have taken down their Christmas lights. Just another reminder that the holidays are over...
Not to mention that our house is the only one on the block that doesn't have much outdoor lighting. In a way, it's kind of nice...you can actually look up and see stars. It's one of many ways in which the place where we live feels like we're out in the country when we're really not.
Not that I'm going out and looking at stars tonight. It's so cold, too.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
better than 50/50, I'd say
Is it just me, or is it an ironclad law that if a couple has ever had their marriage chronicled on a reality TV show, that couple will be divorced not too long afterwards?
Tuesday, March 8, 2005
another day...another 5 thoughts
- Why does "Oh, boy" mean good, and "oh, man" mean bad?
- Why do people call it a "hot water heater"? Wouldn't the water already be hot in this case?
- I don't know what's funnier...that a guy actually called every 867-5309 number out there, or that it didn't cost him anything to do it.
- Ooh...pretty...
- If I could own any fast-food restaurant, I'd pick either a Chick-Fil-A or a Subway. However, doing so would pretty much ensure that I'd weigh 300 pounds one day.
Friday, February 25, 2005
a few random workday thoughts
- Has there ever been a staunch liberal?
- Do you suppose that when Tony Giles needs a pick-me-up, he says to himself, "THIS...IS...TONY GILES!", or "Stand and deliver a 'Roll Tide'...for me!"? I would, if I were him.
- One of the things that have run through my mind recently: wondering how much a typical family saves by repairing items with Super Glue than buying new items.
- Is it just me, or could the lead singer of Five for Fighting and Dave Matthews switch places? No one would notice if they only heard them.
- Among the items on my desk right now: a Nerf football, a Rubik's cube, a foam boomerang, and a jar of M&M's. All have been used today.
Tuesday, October 5, 2004
random workday thoughts
Another random thought challenge game! Today, while I'm working, I'll try to put down thoughts that come into my head, of course, updating each time something new happens. Here we go:
- I don't know about you, but whenever I hear "Amazing Grace" on bagpipes it always gets a little dusty around my eyes.
- Sign #142 I'm in the real world now: it seems like around 11:00 in the morning I start thinking about lunch. It used to be that when 11:00 rolled around, I thought about breakfast.
- A lesson that I've learned three times in the past year: just when I think I know Java decently well, I find out I don't know Java.
- Okay, so this isn't producing that many thoughts. That's because I'm actually doing work. Aren't ya proud of me?
- One of work's cardinal rules: if, at some point during your workday, you do not encounter a feeling of helplessness, your job's too easy.
- Okay, so that's a knee-jerk reaction: today I've started about five different projects, and had the opportunity to complete none of them.
- Three days, sweetheart! I can't wait to see you!
Friday, May 7, 2004
thoughts at 2:30
- If Chris Berman's taking fan-suggested "Bermanisms", the one at the very top of my list has to be Hee Seop "Lovin' Her Today" Choi.
- Every now and then, it's just good to do yard work, even if it does result in you getting sunburned.
- I admit that my yellow driving clip-on glasses make me look like a dork, but it's so much nicer to drive with them on.
- Getting a birdie is very cool, but making a par "from the tips" is pretty good too, especially when one is not a very long hitter, or a very good golfer for that matter.
- The only thing worse for me than a long drive home at night is getting disconnected from my girlfriend on three different occasions during the trip for lack of phone service. A note to Cingular - your promise that callers don't go out of your "nationwide" range only has teeth if your coverage is truly across the entire span of the country.
- Sometimes I have to remind myself that as bad as things seem to me, someone else always is feeling worse, and for much better reasons than I have.
- A few days without my precious broadband...it's like going to the desert after living in the Amazon for the past two years.
- I think $ale of the Century is the most underrated game show of all time.
- I currently posess more change than a Vegas slot machine. I'm pretty sure I could at least buy a couple of new CDs with all of it. But it's pretty sad when your change makes up a noticeable percentage of your life savings.
- Why am I still up again?
- Give LSU their props, and USC...give the BCS none at all.
- You know, one of the nice things about having a girlfriend is that it's cool to have a stuffed animal in your room...as long as it was a present from her.
- My truck really needs its air conditioning fixed. It's already 80 degrees here again! In January! On the 5th! Can you sense the bitterness already?
- From the "Great, all I need is another distraction" Department": I am now the owner of a new Gamecube, and NCAA 2004. Oh, dear...it's a good thing I'm not enrolled in any actual classes...
- Then again: it doesn't bode too well for my qualifying test studying either, now does it?
- One of life's little pleasures for me this past semester has been watching the previews of Monday Night Football on ESPN for the "Jacked Up" segment and seeing how into it the guys get. It's quite funny hearing their reactions to the big hits of the week.
- I'm feeling a little pressure trying to come up with these on the fly...Kelly's looking over my shoulder as I type.
- Okay, so that's not completely true: she's looking from the side, not over my shoulder.
- You haven't gone to an 80's party until you've gone as Pac-Man, baby! Pics to come, for sure.
- My favorite "Real Man of Genius" is Mr. Pro Wrestling Wardrobe Designer. What's yours?
- Only for the Truly Geeky Dept. I now own the MST3K version of "Manos, the Hands of Fate." And, yes, I will get my apartment-mates to watch it one day. Everyone needs to see the worst movie of all time to truly appreciate good cinema.
- And speaking of which, I don't care whose feathers I ruffle by saying this, but the Lord of the Rings trilogy is the best trilogy of all time. I'm saying this without having watched Return of the Jedi, or 95% of the Godfather movies. And I'm saying that I don't need to to make that assessment.
- Is it really that wrong to miss your broadband connection when you're away on the holiday break? I mean, who wouldn't want to get espn.com in a second as opposed to 30? I'm from an instant-gratification generation, baby...pander to me!
- I am in the process of learning how to solve a Rubik's cube. I'm now pretty close to being able to solve it no matter what position it starts in.
- If you didn't think I was a geek before, that last statement should have cemented my status in your eyes.
- While I certainly don't condone the blog entry of Gregg Easterbrook (or as some reading this entry might know him better, TMQ), I'm not completely sure that I agree with ESPN's reaction, even if his comments were directed at the head man at Disney. Wouldn't an apology and an on-site rewording have been sufficient? Now, all loyal Page 2 readers lose what's most likely either their favorite or second-favorite (behind the Sports Guy) columnist in all of Page 2, and I'd be willing to bet that at least half will have no idea why.
- I think that I picked a pretty good game to go to Tuscaloosa to see Alabama play, given the current circumstances. And it was definitely good to get to see a lot of old faces.
- German's Third Law of Graduate School: everyone else's research always sounds much cooler than your own. Think I'm joking? Others agree...
- If I had to pick the thing I like the least about being a teacher, I'd have to say it's recording grades and regrading what seems to be all the time. Sometimes it feels like I'll never completely catch up.
- Sometimes it's hard to look myself in the mirror and realize that I'm over a quarter of a century old. I just got a cold shiver thinking about it.
- I'm in last place in my fantasy football league. I haven't had a quarterback break 30 points in a game yet; I'm the only team that's had this unfortunate turn of events happen to them. And yet, I still plug away, looking for someone on the waiver wire that will turn my season around (right). It's fun, in a beating-yourself-up kind of way.
- I will be going to bed in 10 minutes. It's the earliest I will have been to bed in about a month.
- You know, for a 25-year-old male, I don't have nearly enough tools.
- Sometimes I have to wonder about my TV's movie rating system. If "City of Angels" gets three stars, Shawshank certainly deserves four.
- I guess that if there's ever a time for the car to have its battery go out, it's during summer break when I don't have anything else to do.
- Corollary: In terms of pounds per square inch, nothing beats a car battery for heaviness.
- Saw Monsters, Inc. for the first time today, and thus far, I've got to say it's my least favorite of the Pixar offerings.
- That's not saying it's not better than 90% of the other movies out there.
- And speaking of which: does Steve Buscemi ever get tired of playing the creepy bad guy?
- I think it's the final step in completely missing one's girlfriend when you make a web page calculating the exact amount of time left until she's back.
- If you haven't gone to buick.com and seen the "Tiger Trap" video, and you like golf in any way, go. Watch. I'll wait.
- There aren't many things in life that cause more frustration than working on your research project for hours and getting nowhere with it.
- And finally: while I may never be a match for Mr. Goodwrench, I had a little Tim Taylor moment when I got my car started after putting in the new battery. Yes, I know it's not that difficult, but remember, we're talking about someone who scored in the 29th percentile of men taking the auto/shop portion of the ASVAB in high school. Anything more involved than putting gas in the car is a victory.
- Has anyone else ever wondered why the audience claps when someone finds a daily double on "Jeopardy!"? Does the audience realize that they're applauding pure luck? You'd think a "Jeopardy" audience would know better.
- One of these days, I'm going to calculate how many free 12-packs of Diet Dr Pepper I could get per year just by cashing in from recycling old Diet Dr Pepper cans.
- Speaking of which, I've got quite the pyramid of cans going on my end table right now. Okay, it's not a pyramid; more of a set of skyscrapers. I really need to clean my apartment...
- I realize now why I didn't get to play basketball on my high school teams and onward. It wasn't that I was too short. It's that I was too fundamentally sound. I tend to pass more than I shoot, so I was immediately disqualified.
- The bottled water industry has to laugh out loud every time they look at their profit margins.
- I don't know why, but in computer golf games, I enjoy making golf courses more than playing the game itself.
- One of these days, I hope to be traded from one university to another for the equivalent of 35 million euros.
- Less than a week until the 25th!
- A helpful hint for spammers: when giving your credentials, you don't have to say, "Dr. John Brown, PhD". That's redundant. And it gives me a really easy way to filter-delete you.
- After two weeks: June 25 looks a long ways away.
- In related news, the apocalypse was reported to be near: I finished my architecture project today, a day and a half ahead of schedule.
- They don't always bring me down, but: rainy days make me just want to stay in my apartment all day.
- And speaking of: The waterwall that I bought would rank among the best purchases I've made, if I had actually bought it instead of got it with a gift card.
- And finally: today's my father's birthday. Happy birthday, Dad!
- After a week's absence, it's nice for pressing on... to be back online.
- One of the more enjoyable tasks for me in all of the world has to be "break in new computer".
- Sorry, Kay jewelers: "Every kiss" begins with E, not K.
- I'm not sure that anyone has ever gone from hero to heel in such a short time as one Dennis Franchione.
- Being up for 30 hours straight is indeed about as fun as it sounds.
- There may be nothing more depressing than getting your Christmas tree up just like you like it, plugging it in...and finding that a strand of lights has gone out. Geah.
- Have I ever had a gift that I liked more or will use more than the one that I'm using right now? I'm starting to wonder how I ever got by without it.
- I have to say it: launching the palace in Tetris gives me a warm fuzzy.
- Bama-Arizona Final Four, anyone? I'm diggin' it.
- I didn't realize how much HP stuff that I had until I got the computer. Printer, scanner, digital camera...at least there shouldn't be any incompatibility issues.
- Mr. Guy will never see this, but he'd be glad to know that I don't get exhausted riding my bike around town.
- I hope my old computer enjoys its soon-to-be new life as a Linux box...I think I may throw the server version of it on this time.
- Three things I know.
- I'm 25 years old.
- I still watch A Charlie Brown Christmas and Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer every Christmas season.
- I don't have a problem.
- I kind of enjoy "Around the Horn", but doesn't anyone else think it's a blatant knock-off of PTI?
- One final to go, baby! Well, maybe. I might take an optional final on Friday. I have a (hard-earned) B+ in the class, but if I make a 20 out of 30 on the final (harder than it sounds), I can make an A. That would make my semester, regardless of what I do otherwise.
- My highest grade of my four midterms: 81.5. Number of A's: 3. Says a little something about grad school, doesn't it?
- When it comes right down to it, there's no poetry like teenage angst poetry.
- I've seen more of my computer than I care to think about this semester.
- I'm fighting a losing battle with my apartment on the cleaning front.
- About the haircut I got today: let's just say there's a reason why they call it "barber college".
- If I hit the "Caps Lock" key one more time on a Sun workstation keyboard thinking that it's "Control", I just might scream.
- It may just be me, but I think that it's a paradox when a prosecutor says that they wanted to prove that actors aren't above the law as far as a crime is concerned and then says that they won't seek jail time for said crime.
- If you'd have given me 11-2 at the beginning of the year, I'd have taken it in a heartbeat if you could promise me the two weren't Auburn and Tennessee. Now I kinda wonder what might have been...
- The Count of Monte Cristo is a pretty good film. My friend Jeremy is now 2-for-2 on Guys' Night movie picks.
- The weather should stay all year long like it's been for the past three days.
- I realize that Veterans' Day is about so much more than getting a day off, but right now I need the extra sleep and the time for my projects.
- I'm tired...so tired.
- I just came back from a costume party. I went as a cowboy. Someone told me that I actually pull off the look (cowboy hat and all) well, although it may just be because I'm in the minority down here in Florida.
- The singer of "Brown Eyed Girl" was right...Tuesdays are so slow.
- So, do you suppose that female 'Bama cheerleaders all inhale a tank of helium before they do their thing on Saturdays?
- Chunky Chips Ahoy now officially takes its place on the list of "foods that cause Brandon to experience Biblical gluttony", alongside Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Cheez-Its.
- Can you imagine me as a tenor? Because that's what I'm singing in the church choir that I joined this past week.
- Sign #178 that I'm getting old: the speaker at lunch on Tuesday asked us who was in college five years ago and I was the only one to raise my hand.
- It hurts to be a Tide fan so far from home with no TV coverage and no radio affiliate. Yeah, yeah, I realize that I can listen to the game via Internet broadcast. Let me complain, will ya?
- Diet Cherry Coke is now my favorite diet drink.
- That ESPN story about Vanderbilt's football team not being allowed to curse was at once one of the most heartening (I'm all for Bobby Johnson's idea) and funniest stories I've ever seen ESPN produce.
- Everybody needs a friend like Dr. Mike Burton. If you don't get this, you need to watch Ed.
- Was the sky just a little bluer this morning if you were a Bama fan, or was that just me?
- Is it okay to be happy with a 68 on a test if the class average was 50?
- You know, even though I haven't used it all that much, I'm really glad I've got my cell phone.
- It's almost November, and to me that signifies one big thing, at least: I can start listening to Christmas music again without feeling self-conscious.
- My sister and best friend are about to get their own houses, and I'm really having trouble not breaking the 10th commandment.
- The Burger King by the BCM is now closed down, and I am somewhat saddened by this.
- Then again, that means a lot more free parking for us for a while, anyway...
- In my free time (hah!), I've been working on making the site skinnable again...check out the ongoing process. Click one of the pictures at the top to change the skin.
- One of my term projects for a class is to make a four-player online Boggle game. I can't tell you how much happier this makes me than the command-line editor project that we have in another class.
- Hasn't the semester just flown by?
- Here's one that'll keep you up at night, raised by a friend: when is one's soul created?
- You know, Georgia's a pretty good ball club this year.
- You know, Florida's not.
- Brandon's really simple weight loss plan: ride a bike for 30 minutes every day out of necessity.
- It was nice to clean my apartment this afternoon and see exciting sights again, like my couch and my living room floor.
- All right, I'll ask: if Shaun Alexander got to play on ESPN Sunday night every week, wouldn't he have every record in the book by now? Someone needs to make this happen.
- If you'd have told me that Bama would be 4-2 this year, with the losses coming to the #2 and #5 teams in the country by a total of 12 (and should really be 5) points even with the loss of our starting quarterback and running back and the looming sanctions, I'd have told you that Coach Fran should be a candidate for coach of the year. And yet I bet he doesn't get a vote.
- My car's coolant system is the worst EVER.
- Speaking of which, sign #134 that I'm getting old: my car's 10 years old now, but when I say "a 1992 Blazer", it doesn't seem like it's that old to me.
- I fully believe that unless you're sick or injured, if you don't intend to stay the entire game, even if your team is losing by 29 points in the fourth quarter, you don't need to bother showing up in the first place.
- In the past two weeks, I have learned more about Java than I ever knew in the three and a half years previous.
- I haven't played bridge in over a year, and I'm slowly going mad inside.
- The new NFL fantasy league commercial may be one of the funnier ones I've seen. "The perfect fantasy team. All kickers, baby!"
- I still can't bring myself to wear an orange-based T-shirt yet. I don't know if I ever will be able to.
- It's down on the list, but one of the things that I miss about living with family is that the refrigerator's never empty.
- My new front-runner for best purchase that I've made in the past year (edging out my $10 rainsuit): a new printer. It's already paid for itself compared to the printing fees that I would have owed the CISE department had I printed everything I have in the labs...
- Get ready, Tennessee. The Tide's coming to town on the 26th...after we take care of a little business at home.
- Much as I like wearing shorts and a T-shirt just about every day, I miss seasons. The high is less than 70 tomorrow in Tuscaloosa. Sigh...
- Fall foliage is God's answer to fireworks. A much better answer, I think.
- One of the advantages of being unemployed is getting to learn so much new stuff. I've been learning XML and Javascript, and I'm actually helping Mozilla along by testing it some.
- The previous statement is not an indicator that I enjoy being unemployed.
- One of life's certainties: when rounding a steep curve or crossing a narrow bridge, there will be a car coming in the opposite direction, passing you at the most dangerous point.
- I think that God's lesson to me this fall has been patience. I'm pretty sure of this, actually.
- Alabama is a much better 3-4 team this year than last year, if that makes any sense.
- I miss my friends.
Monday, January 5, 2004
a few new year's notes
Thoughts while wondering just how long the trip from Gainesville to Boca will be this spring...
Wednesday, December 24, 2003
Merry Christmas!
From the pressing on... cast and crew (a.k.a., me), Merry Christmas to all, and may your season be truly blessed.
Wednesday, October 22, 2003
mid-October notes
Tuesday, June 24, 2003
more tidbits o' fun
Thoughts while contemplating if watching Wimbledon constitutes true boredom:
Thursday, June 19, 2003
thoughts approaching summer break
Saturday, June 7, 2003
off the top of my head
A few items to address, since I haven't done anything in some time on the site:
Wednesday, December 18, 2002
finals week thoughts
A few random snippets from the past few weeks:
Saturday, November 9, 2002
random thoughts of the week
Some scribbles before I go to bed tonight:
Sunday, November 3, 2002
I knew I could be an ad exec!
You may or may not recall that over two years ago I had what I thought was a brilliant idea for a car commercial.
I hadn't thought anything more about it until about 10 minutes ago, when I saw a Cadillac commercial that used my idea! Okay, so it was two big-rigs, but other than that...
All right, now, GM...where are the royalties?
Friday, November 1, 2002
another batch of random mayhem
Thoughts from this week...
Sunday, October 27, 2002
more random fun
Thoughts while I sit here in the computer lab:
Wednesday, October 16, 2002
my mom couldn't live in Gainesville
Why? Because the population of tiny lizards here is incredible. I see at least three of them run across the sidewalk as I ride my bike. My mom wouldn't be able to keep her feet on the ground.
Sunday, October 13, 2002
thoughts exiting the bye week
OutputStream consciousness = new OutputStream(Brandon);
Thursday, May 9, 2002
compliments for art's sake
One thing that I have a healthy respect for is the world of art. I'm not talking about actually understanding the meaning behind some of the pieces that have been created, although given enough time I can give you something more meaningful than the faux-classic "x, yet y" line that you always hear regarding the subjects of art and wine: "Bold, yet understated."
I'm talking about just having the talent to draw the subjects in the first place. Whether it be a masterpiece or a comic strip, still life or portraits, city skylines or rustic scenes, it's all amazing to me. Of course, I couldn't draw my way out of a paper bag; maybe that has something to do with it.
Monday, April 29, 2002
happy little trees
There aren't too many things that are more entertaining on television today than The Joy of Painting. Bob Ross is still the man.
Friday, February 1, 2002
Scary thought
They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. - John 16:2
Friday, November 30, 2001
Just a quick observation
Birmingham is one of a very few cities (Seattle's the only other one that I can think of) that looks better under gray skies.
Thursday, October 25, 2001
Thoughts going into the bye week
In no particular order of importance, just based on things that I'm thinking about right now:
Wednesday, August 22, 2001
One of life's little mysteries
Okay, I've wondered this for at least four years now, since the movie Masterminds came out.
Who sings that song "Baby I'm Ready To Go"? Can anyone help me out with this one?
Thursday, August 9, 2001
It's a sign!
Seen on a gas station marquee on the road traveling home today:
"When the pressure's on...press on!"
Thursday, June 7, 2001
The big 5-0
My father turns 50 today. To celebrate, he's going to take a half-day off. It's the first time off that he's had in five years.
My father is one of the hardest-working people that I know. I doubt that I know every sacrifice that he made for me, but I do know of some. One of the biggest was the time that he worked in another state during the week and drove down on the weekends to see us because he didn't want my sister and I to have to move during our high school years.
He means a lot to me as a father and as a role model. I hope that he knows that. Happy 50th, dad.
Monday, May 28, 2001
...
We remember.