I ran across this site and I’ve enjoyed it so much this morning I though I’d share it with you all.
http://www.improveverywhere.com
They perform *missions* with small or large groups of people and document the results with hidden cameras. Some are funny and interesting while others are strange and more on the experimental. I suggest you check out the latest mission: Slo-Mo Home Depot, Best Buy (50 people dress similar to Best Buy employees pretending to shop while helping out customers) and McDonald’s Bathroom Attendant.

that you probably can’t use!

Introducing The Giant Knife Version 1.0:

It weighs 2lbs 11oz, is 8.75” long, contains 85 tools and costs $1200. Even the marketing director for Wenger (makers of many other *Swiss Army* Knives ) said “This is not exactly going to win any awards for lightest, smallest or most efficient tools…” and I’d have to agree!

If you know me, then you know I love to BBQ. When we first moved into the apartments I was excited to see we had access to 4 BBQs… however, the more I used them the more I became disgusted with them (dirty fish remains often left on the grill by the Tilapa / Football fish cooking lady) and most of the grills had weak flames or didn’t work well. I finally decided we just needed to get our own grill and put it on our balcony. The problem with our balcony is that it’s small. So when looking for girlls I ended up buying a Weber Q grill.

BBQ’s Galore and bought a small grill (which was on clearance!) and I put a few ceramic bricks under the grill to raise above the standard grill.
Finally I added a small smoker box which I could load up with different wood chips to produce distinct smoke flavors (and fantastic smoke smell). The result is finally allowing me to slowly cook roasts while adding *natural* smoke flavoring

I guess the biggest reason why I wrote this post is to introduce my new section Food where I plan to document different trials at cooking on the grill. To start, I’ll probably post my photos, recipe and methods/experiences on cooking a Beef Brisket last Sunday. More to come!

I am using MediaPortal as the Media Center / front end and to play video I’m using the highly configurable ZoomPlayer. It does take a lot of configuring to get DirectShow filtes to work with all the various formats out there (MKVs are such a huge PITA, it’s the encoders fault really, most don’t tell you what codecs they use!). I have been able to get all surround formats to output true multi-channel sound (my receiver decodes WMAPRO 9 so it’s just a pass through).

It’s nice using my TV as a monitor for reading the news / RSS feeds, watching watching the latest (HD) Apple trailers with surround sound and full screen video, browsing the low-fi youtube videos or *testing* N64 emulation. Eventually I’d like to build some kind of lap or tabletop friendly set of modular arcade controls to further enhance MAME *testing*!

Looks like it’s time to retire the old Snazzi Netcinema HD, though it did a great job This computer can do far more.

Lori left this morning for Utah and she will return Friday evening. This will be the longest time we’ve spent apart since being married. I will miss her but I am glad she is able to spend some time with her good friend Kelsey. What will I do while she is gone? Tonight I go to a Dodger game with Donovan and Nicole and the rest of the time I will work during the day and probably play video games or watch some *man* movies (you know the ones the wife doesn’t like because they’re too loud or violent) in the evening. So, if you’re feeling like doing either, call me up I’ll be around.

We’re back (I’ve been busy) and I’ve posted some photos of our trip and here are a few highlights:
**(I brought my GPS and marked some of our POIs… so for my GoogleEarth / nerd readers, click here to download/open this KMZ into GoogleEarth to get a geographical feel of where we vacationed.)**

• We spent two nights camping along side a small Coeur d’Alene river tributary creek.
• We rode the world’s longest Gondola (located in Kellogg) up to the Mountain Haus, jumped on the the chair lifts and made a short hike up to the Kellogg Peak Lookout.
• Drove to Montana, stopped at the crappy tourist trap/gift shop/mini casino: Lincoln’s 10,000 silver dollar bar (currently up to 46,785) and on our way back we saw a Moose.
• We hung out at the beach (on Lake Pend Oreille) and had a nice picnic.
• We played frisbee golf, were interrupted by a deer and we cooled off in the sprinklers, because it was HOT!
• Made a few trips to Spokane to go to some unique (ethnic food) stores.
• Played many a games of Blokus (Lori’s new favorite).
• Ate a lot!!

We sure did a lot of stuff but there was also plenty of time to relax (cook dinner, watch movies and play games) with our friends and just enjoy being on vacation. I had a great time and look forward to returning there for vacation again.

A HUGE thanks to our hosts Julie, Ian, Haile, Ren and the Dogs (Josie, Dooley & Maggie).