Remastered...

On the occasion of my 20th high school reunion I have taken it upon myself to digitize and remaster my high school movie. For those who are not versed in the tale, it goes something like this...

The Obese Beast

Basic plot summary:

The Obese Beast (seen above) escapes from prison to find Hostess Ho Ho's. In his pursuit of the snack he goes on a murderous rampage. The police investigate his escape. Much mayhem and hilarity ensue.

Being interviewed by the cops

I estimate a spring release of the remastered all digital version of the Obese Beast, with perhaps an exclusive screening at one of the upcoming film festivals. There is no distributor under contract for this film.

- ND

The dead pool...

For any of you that catch the mainstream media on the average day, you will by now have taken notice of the incredible number of celebrity deaths in the last several days. Being just the third week of January, the numbers seem out of place. Pleshette, Fischer, Renfro, Ledger, and Hillary, being a less then comprehensive list.

At this rate, will there be any celebrities left at the start of 2009? Will Paris and Lindsay be the only two celebs standing? All I can say is this... who cares.

If anyone has interest in creating a celebrity dead pool I'm in. I'll find a way to add it to the site. If things keep happening at this rate, any guess is a good one.

We live in a sad culture.

- ND

New feature...

I've added a new feature on the blog. It's a "how much I've saved by not smoking" counter. You will notice it right below the time counter on the upper right of the page. I have been looking for something like this for quite some time, and really haven't found anything that was what I wanted. That's still true, but I have settled on the one that is currently on the page.

Anyone who wants to write a little client side Javascript for me is more then welcome to get in touch. I never learned to code, and I don't intend to start just to put a counter on my page. If you're reading this and are a wiz-kid web author or hotshot Java monkey and you feel compelled to help, I won't turn you away.

I'm sure someone will be beating my door down any second to get on board for the project.

- ND

Nothing like a cold drink...

I had an experience the other day that took me back to childhood. I filled a big glass of ice water and immediately started to it chug in an attempt quench a monster thirst. As I downed the pint glass of water I noticed that as I reached the end of the glass the water was much colder then the original few gulps. Immediately I was drawn back to a moment in my youth.

I remember many times as a kid having a glass of kool-aid on a hot summer day. Often the kool-aid was warm and the attending adult would add a few ice cubes to cool the drink down for me. When I was young I required immediate satisfaction when I was thirsty, and typically gulped the small glass of liquid down in a few large swallows. I always noticed that the last gulp was cold and the first was warm. I remember, even as a child, that I scolded myself for not being more patient in drinking my kool-aid. If I just had the patience to wait, the first gulp would have been as cold as the last.

As an adult who understands the way things work, I can't help but look back at childhood and smile. Adults recognize that the quantity of liquid and the surface area of the ice play a direct role in the temperature of a liquid. Less liquid over more ice makes for a colder beverage. More liquid over less ice has the opposite effect. It's a simple rule of nature. As a child who has no grasp on the mechanics of how things work in nature, I blamed my warm beverage on haste.

So many things change as you age. You gain wisdom, and patience and come to understand the mechanics of how things work. You lose the the simple ideas and solutions that a child creates to explain the nature of things. Some things never change... like the desire to chug a beverage to satisfy an overwhelming thirst.

- ND

The first act...

Today officially begins the presidential race with the Iowa caucus. It only makes sense that the most ridiculous and least democratic method of selecting a candidate should be the first of all of the primaries. (please find no sarcasm in the last statement) Today, a handful of Iowa's eligible electorate will attend the caucus for the Democratic and Republican candidates. These caucuses are separate events for the Democrats and Republicans, and have different rules about how delegates for candidates are chosen.

For a full primer on the event visit visit npr.org

With a population of about three million, Iowa will likely have less than 200,000 people attend its caucus. Being the first event of the primary season, the media coverage of the event will be disproportionate to the value of the delegates gained through the process. The coverage will create the front runners for both parties and eliminate the stragglers. The cash to the candidates who don't appeal to the Iowans will dry up, and the rest of the nation will have fewer choices for our leadership. All from a couple hundred thousand Iowans who participate in a process that eliminates a fair segment of the potential electorate by its nature. Somehow I just can't get my arms around why we pay attention to this mess.

For those of us that actually follow politics, this is the start of an interesting year. Unfortunately, it will start with a process that doesn't make sense, and will limit our choices in the future. Keep in mind if you watch the news tonight, that there are candidates for this country's highest office that might not be around next week because the Iowa Republican and Democratic parties insist on being glactically backward in how the elect their delegates. If it's not your candidate then you probably won't care. If it is your candidate blame Iowa. More specifically the less than ten percent of Iowans who will make it to the caucus today.

I'll be watching, and I'm sure that tomorrow I'll have a stiff neck from shaking my head in disgust. When will we finally understand that good government involves the participation of the people.

- ND

Site updated...

I suddenly realized that I was constantly giving the latest update on days since I quit smoking. While the achievement for me is a significant one, I don't think that it needs to be a daily topic for posting.

I implemented a new feature on the blog today. Just below my profile on the right, I inserted a counter to track the days since I quit. Hopefully this will limit the updates to topics that are not about quitting, or topics that are about quitting but somehow insightful.

Thanks to everyone for their continued support.

- ND

The battle to spend the FSA...

Much like last year, I had a bunch of FSA dollars left to spend in 2007. Here is the breakdown of the stuff I purchased "tax free" this year...

1 hypnosis session to quit smoking
2 new pair of glasses
1 prescription for smoking related meds
1 huge purchase from drugstore.com

The glasses are a last minute decision. I didn't know how to kill some of the remaining dollars, so eyeglasses are always an easy choice. This year I went with some rimless glasses for daily wear, and a new pair of prescription shades.

Drugstore.com probably had a record day. I purchased enough stop smoking stuff (patches, lozenges and such) to get me through an extended nicotine dependency. That wasn't quite enough to eat all of the funds, so I purchased a bunch of stuff that I probably will use throughout the year. Antihistamines, band aids, antacids and a variety of other regular use items. Nothing is cooler then creating your own personal "everything is 30% off sale" at the end of the year. (thanks to the pre-tax nature of the FSA)

keep an eye out for the new spec's I'm sure that I'll be looking good!

- ND

Bert exposed...

For the person who has never seen the evidence...




The truth is out there...


- ND

Image courtesy of Bert is Evil

Ringing in 2008...

Happy new year to everyone. I hope you all had the opportunity to spend time with your families and friends over the holidays.

Tomorrow begins the third week of being a non smoker. One of my friends told me today that he was proud of me. I didn't thank him, but I probably should have. It hasn't been the struggle that I anticipated. I haven't had to constantly fight the battle of "my will is stronger than the addiction". As such, I'm happy he's proud of me, but I'm not sure that I have earned the praise. If I had known that hypnosis and the patch would have the effect that they have had, I would have tried this years ago.

- ND