Barnes and Noble

I hate this place. Why? All those flippin' questions they ask just to buy a 6 dollar book. Yesterday, I bought Alice in Wonderland. Never read the book and thought, what the hey, something different. Price was 6 bucks. Here is the list of questions from the cashier:

1. How are you today?
2. Did you find everything OK?
3. Do you have a membership?
4. Would you like a membership? You will save 10% on this purchase
5. The holidays are coming soon are you sure you do not want to become a member?
6. Would you like to buy a Gift Card today?
7. If you buy a gift card along with a membership you can get additional savings. Are you sure?
8. Would you like to give me your email address so we can send you valuable coupons?
9. Are you sure? The savings can be substantial
10. Would you like a receipt?
11. Just to let you know, you can come back with your receipt within 30 days if you change your mind about the membership. Are you sure you don't want a receipt?
12. Would you like a bag?

The best part was after all this was done, she sighs and says "People just don't get the fact that this membership lasts for the whole year". Wow, did I ever blow it.

Mental note: Plan Book reading list better so I don't have to go to Barnes and Nobel again. Order through Amazon.

Open Road

I have a lot of respect for this guy. First of all, is it really so bad to hop in a camper and head on the open road? Free from work and the day to day crap that we all have to deal with so we can conform to the norms of society? Now, top that off with a make-shift storage shed on top of the camper and BAM! A true home on the open road.

Sign Alignment

This is not a very big deal but it bugs me and therefore, must be posted. The Rock Creek Corner as it is now called is located on the corner of West Union and 185th in Portland. They recently re-sided the place and even put rustic metal awnings to portray a more, well, rustic theme. Here is the part that bugs me.... Along the roof line, Notice that the center of the two sides have a "step up" of the siding. (Click the picture for better view) Isn't THAT where you want to have your sign? That is what they did back in the old west. Anyway, for some reason they did not do this and to me it looks wrong. Therefore, it is wrong.

Good Pizza, though.

Swedish Fish

You all know the Candy. Basically, a Gummy Bear shaped like a fish with a unique flavor.

Guess what? I developed a cocktail called a Swedish fish and it tastes darn close to the real thing....

Ingredients:

1. Vitamin Water - XXX Flavor
2. Vodka

Mix to your liking. And Yes, XXX is an actual flavor of Vitamin Water.

I made the drink but I must give recognition to Kara for tasting it and coming up with the name. Thanks, Kara.

MTV

Does anyone remember the days when MTV played Music videos? How about the days that were absent of 15 minute commercial segments?

EVERY time I turn to MTV 90% of the time a commercial is playing. The other 10% is some reality show that I have never heard of.

I have another question. Does anyone even watch MTV anymore?

What does 'M' stand for in MTV?

Is the Wii Recession Proof?

Nope. Sales are down 30%. Still, the Wii is kicking tail over the 360 and the PS3.

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But, if you are one of the 50 or 60 people in the western world that does not have one yet, good news. The Wii dropped in price 50 clams. $199 is the new price. Bad news for Europe though. The prices are staying right where they are in the EC.

Diversity

Some of you closed minded people seem to have limited breadth of the definition of diversity. Please, lets all band together and celebrate all of the forgotten forms of diversity.

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http://www.peopleofwalmart.com

Eco-Sustainable Green

Please don't get me wrong with this rant. The human world is a wasteful polluting bunch that will tear up this planet if steady improvements are not made. I applaud the people that are making technological and lifestyle improvements.

But, I am getting pretty tired of seeing 'Eco' or 'Sustainable' or 'Green' EVERYWHERE. It is losing its value. doing a search on Google on the word "ECO" popped up an ECO web domain, ECO Mall, ECO Gifts, ECO Warriors, ECO Chess, ECO Card, ECO Marathon, ECO Lips, .... The word Eco or green has become such a big thing that it really does not ring home that much anymore. Can anyone say Overloaded Phrase?

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History of Eco and Green word use:

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1) Intial Use

"Wonder what this is all about. Why do I care?"

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2) Actual Products

"Pretty cool stuff but not at that price and it looks difficult. Lets go to Walmart"

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3) Proliferation

"That is made from Bamboo? That's cool and it looks great. Lets get it"

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4) Mainstream

"Lets consider the Eco-options first. It is worth it"

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5) Today

"Eco? Who isn't Eco Friendly? Take a product and slap a Green Sticker on it. Let's go to Walmart"

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Sigh

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Word Acronyms

You know what I am talking about. You take a word and take each letter of that word to for start another word to form 'key' words or mission statements, or goals or whatever. For some reason, people think that this clever play on words inspire people. I have yet to find one of any use. But that is my opinion. Here are some examples:

Safety
Tenacity
Unsurpassed Quality
Perfection
Idealism
Dependable
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or
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Suck up
Tacky
Unicorn
Petty
Ignorance
Defiant
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Either way, It's Stupid.

Nerd Alert!

Perhaps my title is a little harsh. Sure, Lego robotics for adults are for nerds. And yes, you all should be alerted of this information. But the excalmation point in the title went too far.

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These people are not our future... They are our Now and should be treated with respect. I bet security for these types of events is really tight.

Metric Rant

Ok, Now for my Metric vs "Standard" Rant....

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But, before we get started, check this picture out. I did a search on the web for a picture of 'metric' and this is what popped up. It is the band, Metric. Take a look at her arm swing. Nearly a meter long. And she is super skinny. Say 48kg?

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Either way, you can bet she is not swinging her arm the length of a yard and she certainly does not weigh 110 pounds.

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OK enough about this band called Metric that I have never heard of. My only tip is that she needs to motivate the rest of the band. They look lazy.

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Standard:

12 inches = 1 foot

3 feet = 1 Yard

5280 feet = 1 mile

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Metric:

10 mm = 1 cm

100 cm = 1 meter

1000 m = 1 km

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Which one makes sense to you? Not convinced Metric is the right way to go? How about this:

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Standard:

8 oz = cup

2 cups = pint

2 pints = quart

4 quarts= gallon or 128 oz

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Metric

1000 ml = Liter

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Why do we not Change?!? This is absolutely stupid that the US will not change. The only reason I can figure is that we are lazy. We tried sometime back with transitioning miles to km and everyone had a problem. WTF?

Timmy's Theorem of Strip Mall Restaurant Success....

This Theorem is another simple one and states:

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A Strip Mall Restaurant that adds a Soda refill price to the Soda fountain will inevitably go out of business.

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Lets explore this a little, shall we? We live in a country where inexpensive fast food with large portions rule. Chains like McDonald's, Carl's, Burger King.... meet that criteria. Guess what.... how much do they charge for refills? Exactly. A strip mall restaurant is challenged to compete with these chains and stay profitable. So, they attempt to recover some costs by doing this refill thing. But, here is the problem which seems to doom these strip mall eateries:

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Restaurant owner: "Wow, we are losing money.... We need to charge for refills"

Time Passes...

Restaurant owner: "Wow, the refill charging is not working. We need to raise the prices"

Time Passes....

Restaurant owner: "Wow, the price raising is still not working AND less people are coming in. We need to decrease the portions"

Time Passes.....

Credit Corporation: "You have 30 days to leave the premises"

Quantity people... Not Quality.

50k

Well, the ol' Dodge truck just crossed over the 50,000 mile mark (80,000 km for the rest of the world. Don't get me started on my rant why the US is not metric!). Anyway, this 2004 Dodge Ram has been very good to me. It tows ATVs and Dirtbikes, our camper for the family outings and has hauled millions of things including baseball equipment, fridges, chicken coop Lumber and the million trips to Home Depot.

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So, what did I do to repay her? I just dropped a hair under 1700 bucks for new tires and brakes.

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Happy 50k old friend!

WTC

In this case, WTC = White Trash Camping. However, It officially was not WTC because not all of us are considered "White". I think I should call it DTC (Diverse Trash Camping). Anyway, I digress. Back to the "Trash" component.... Here is Brad camping with us in the woods of Scappoose and Vernonia (Location not to be revealed). Brad decides it is much more comfortable to sit by the campfire in his seat from the minivan. That is definately a trash first in my book. Well done, Brad!

Coke vs Pepsi

I have done some extensive research regarding the Coke vs Pepsi debate. That means I drank a Pepsi the other day. Lets face it, Regular or Diet.... Pepsi just plain sucks.

Aviation Sink

Had a great vacation with 3 other families at Sunriver during the labor day holiday. Nice, large home. Pool table. Bunk house for the kids, separate apartment for us people who do not always appreciate the 6am dance recitals (actually I love them but at 9am), Big flat screen to watch certain Oregon players go on a rampage and punch a Boise St player, etc. etc. A great time. Take note of the sink in the main house. I took a look at this thing and immediately went searching for a manual or any indication that one must be licensed to operate it. However, after a few hours of studying it, I found out that all it does is put water into the sink.

Surf's up

Lookie here. Shot of my oldest boy surfing at Sunriver, OR. He took a couple of hard head pops but he finally got it. Most people do the boogie board. The braver go with the surfboard. The coolest, like me sits back and watches the excitement.

How was your weekend?

How was mine you ask? Busy. My youngest son played his first (exhibition) football game. That was pretty cool. He is in 5th grade and most of the kids have already played multiple years so he has some ramping up to do. But I think he did well. Could not make it to the Rose Garden for UFC 102 but managed to get about 5 or 6 people over to watch it on PPV. Most of us were Bachelors due to the Portland to Coast so we also have about 10 kids running around the yard. If anyone watched the event would of seen a knock out in 7 seconds. Dang! Fastest knockout in UFC history. Later in the evening, only 3 of my 4 chickens made it home. All the kids were concerned and they all got flashlights and started the search through the woods and in the neighbor's yards but with no luck. After an hour or so of looking we assumed that Popcorn (Seen here) is most likely in a tree roosting or in a briar patch hiding out. Sure enough, the next morning, Popcorn was waiting to get into the coop with the other ladies. Glad she was OK. Coyotes are roaming nearby lately.

Truth

To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And, at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between, plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing". This is truth, to me.

-Jack Handey

Praying for the Mantis

Look what I found on a concrete wall this morning. I am pretty darn sure that this is a praying Mantis. I have lived in Oregon most of my life and have NEVER seen one of these around here. Did a little search on the web and it appears that they do make an appearance up in these parts. I thought these things live in the more tropical, warmer climates. Which brings me to Global warming. It is predicted that the Praying Mantis will be calling Alaska and Greenland their home by November. The prediction is coming from me and can be considered highly accurate and reliable.

Free Money

Hey, I am sure all of you have had the pleasant moment when you put on a jacket and find a 5 dollar bill or putting on a pair of jeans and finding a 10 spot in the pocket. Well, How about looking through our mini camera bag and finding a 100 dollar bill in one of the pockets?!! Yup. That is exactly what happened to me last night! Patty is trying to take it from me but NO WAY. This baby is mine. We have no Idea how it got in there. Perhaps, emergency money when we went to Costa Rica? Don't know and Don't Care. Bad news is that I owe my Pops 140 bucks so this elated feeling of wealth is soon to be diminished. Thanks for nothing, Dad!!

Rumble in the Garden...

Well, I am not too sure how many of you like UFC. I am guessing not many but if you like it and you are not aware... A serious bout is 'bout to go down in the Rose Garden this Saturday. Couture, Silva, Nogueira, Jardine are not chumps you can pass off as some exhibition show that happened to pass by PDX. This is the big time and they don't come around often. So, if you are into this, it is worth heading to the Rose Garden this Saturday for the show. Should warn you though that the cheap seats are around 100 smacks and go up to about $1500 per seat. Don't worry though, the 1500 dollar seats are sold out. Pay per view will also have this for around $70 bucks but there is nothing like being there to watch the 'Interesting' people and not to mention the 5 or 10 fights that will happen in the crowd. Primal Entertainment at its best!

Smile

Say Cheese!

I am getting close

Well, Looking that the pictures, I am not at the level of Chihuly with his amazing Glass works like the flower you see here. But, you have to admit, I am pretty darn close! I took two Corona Bottles and using the Campfire at Beverly Beach (With Ken, Patty, and Sungwha) I made a make shift kiln. I managed to get one bottle twisted and warped while the blob you see is an entire Corona bottle folded into a rock looking thing. You have to admit.... I am definitely on my way to glass works stardom. Please no order requests at this point in time.

Gotta get one....

Everytime I visit India, I fall in love with these things. The Auto Rickshaw. Basic Taxi transportation that is suprisingly effective in the traffic congestion cities like Bangalore deal with daily. The real heros are the drivers of these wonderous vehicles. They manage to squeeze the units in places thought completely un-passable.

Anyway, these 2 stroke beauties complete with everything run around 78,000 Rupees or about $1500 US. However, you cannot get them in the US because they do not meet Street Legal requirements. If ANYONE knows how to get one in the US at that price, please let me know.

Do the Dew....

Anyone make it to the Dew Tour in Portland last weekend? The Portland Stop is the Wendy's Invitational. The top BMX, Skateboarding, and Freestyle Motocrossers compete for $$ and sponsorships. They hold the events in the Rose Garden, Memorial Coliseum, and an additional Stadium they set up for outdoor events. Funny thing is that the kids are almost more interested in the exhibit booths that are held on the complex. Wendys had Free Burgers and Frosties, Unlimited Mt Dew, All the Playstation3 playing you can handle. Mini Skateboard Park, Place to ride Yamaha Motorcycles, Nerf Gun competition arena complete with refs and scorekeepers, All the slim Jims one could eat, and a ton of freebies from Toyota, Verizon, Radio Stations, Dickies, Sony, etc. etc. 5 bucks for the kids and 15 for adults. Even if you don't care about the sporting events, the Exhibits are worth a day with the kids. It is definitely safe and kid friendly. The Tour makes pretty darn sure of it. Get to it next year.

Oh Deer!

7 of them. Side of the house. Note the fear in them as they saunter off at their own leisurely pace.

Wednesday

Happy Hump day! (snicker, snicker) Sort of lines up with a previous posting today, eh?

Engine what?

Train set with "Engine Recognition Technology"? This sounds pretty important. Hurry to kids.woot.com today before they sell out!

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(Remember to click the picture if it is hard to read)

Why not, it's Free!

Taken by Julie's Mom on the way to a Mariner's game.

Petting Zoo

Look at my boy enjoying the petting Zoo. Awww, isn't that sweet? Wait a minute, this is not a petting zoo, this is Nehalem Bay Campground! Turns out that Mama lost her baby. And this little thing would follow and snuggle up to anything it saw. We contacted Fish and Wildlife and they told us there is nothing they could do. BUT, they also said that the deer are very tame in the State park and Mama will eventually find this fella. Well, this little guy eventually took off but came back again at night. Sad. But it took off again later calling into the woods and it never came back. Seeing that predators are non-existent in the park, I am going to assume he found Mama.

Phallic protection

Something just ain't right here.

Full

The Pooper is full.

Sayonora Sparks

Sparks is out. Like I said in a previous post, Miller brewing decided to pull out the caffeine and the other energy drink components from their Sparks drink beverage.

Enter 'Four Loko'. 24 oz, 11.5%, packed with Caffeine, Taurine, Guarana, and other energy items. This is like 4 beers and 2 energy drinks in one. They managed to do it all without sacrificing anything except for taste. This stuff comes in four flavors including watermelon and grape but it takes some serious getting used to.

So, if you need to have a heart attack fast and taste is not a concern, Four Loko is for you!

Happy Friday

Yup.... It is Friday.

Hello

Beijing McD's. Why is the lady waving at me? Does she want to take my order? Does she want to welcome me to China? Nope. "No Pictures Please".

WT Camping...

Here is an interesting sight.... Ken and Pete chillin' at our camp site in Bend. What are they doing you ask? Look closely. Ken is holding a string that is attached to a stick in the BBQ. If you look below the grill you will see a chipmunk climbing up to the BBQ. Yup, they are Chipmunk hunting. And Yup again, we caught em. We caught a bunch of them to be honest. Now, the big question.... Did we eat them? Nope. We opened up the grill and let them go. We did this for a few hours and the chipmunks soon realized we were not a threat so when we caught one and opened up the BBQ, they would stay there and continue to eat the bait. WT Camping at its best.

No Idea...

This was taken in Scappoose. Ken actually noticed this and said "Hey Idiot, here is something for your blog". So I took it and here it is. Absolutely no Idea what it is about but let your mind wander. The fact that someone actually went to a banner store and said "We need a large sign that says "WE BEND"" tells me that there is something of critical importance here.

Happy Tuesday...

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

Ralphie

Not sure if I have already posted this or not but who cares. Here is to the best Ralphie imitation out there. Thanks, Miles!

I am not sure I can agree with this...

But, who am I to argue? Being different is what makes the world go round.

Taken at the 7-11 on Saltzman and Cornell.

BTW, what would of happened if the 9-11 disaster happend on 7-11? Do you think the convenience store would change it's name? Or, do you think the media would of called it something else because of the situation?

Beijing Olympics

Here I am at the Water Cube and the Birds nest. Michael Phelps won 7 Gs here. I was amazed that for about 5 or 6 bucks for each place you can go in and look around. The real amazing part is that they bring in thousands upon thousands of people into the stadium and the cube every day. The entire olympic park felt like Disneyland on Spring break. This is some serious bling to have people come in and look around.

Sky Suites

For those of you who are Jumbo Jet Enthusiats, I saw this beauty at the Singapore Airport. The MD380. Never got a chance to fly on it but dang is this things ever sweet looking.

The front part of the first floor contains 12 Sky Suites. What is a Sky Suite you ask? It is a private room that contains a fully reclining seat and a separate bed along with another chair so you can have dinner together with another Sky suite guest. Large Flat screen TV and the ability to completely close the door. I bet these are really popular as I bet the biggest complaint with the international first class clientele is that they had to get up so the staff can convert their large oversized chairs into beds. What a pain. Now they can just get up from their oversized chair and lay down. I have bypassed this problem altogether by strictly travelling in Cattle class. Cost for a sky suite? I just priced it online and got a price from Singapore to LAX at $28,000. They don't get to LA any faster but I bet it sure feels good.

Are you kidding me?

Here is something I found in the A&E (Oregonian) a few weeks back. In case you cannot read this:

"Bring in your current unemployment check stub for sales associate to verify and receive 10% off your purchase."

I think the add speaks for itself

What day is it in China?

Ever been to a foreign country and did not know what day it is? Well, at the Shangri-La Hotel in Beijing, they have solved this problem. Every day, someone goes and changes the carpet in all 16 elevators with the day of the week displayed. Now that is all class!

Anti-Blogging

Well, I have been in China for about a week and had every intention of keeping Timmyopolis updated. So, I head into blogspot to put in my entries and and cannot get in. Hmmm. It keeps on failing. I also noticed that I could not get to facebook either. Other sites worked but not these two. So, I go and google "Blogspot in China" and find a whole bunch of sites on how to work around the China State firewall that prevents access to blogging sites. Wow. apparently One cannot blog in China. I was not planning on bypassing the firewall as I have no interest getting into any trouble in China. So, now that I am in Singapore, timmyopolis comes right up with no problems.

What a shame...

Anyone who lives in the Bethany area has probably seen this as they head up Kaiser towards Germantown road. Its a shame to see the exhaust headers of this mailbox go to pot like this.... Now it just looks trashy.