Intentionally Random...

GAP vanity contest.

2009-10-09T11:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, so you try to get your kids to be famous by subitting their picture to crazy GAP contests:

So, go vote for my kids. 'Cause they are cute and you know it.

Oh, and vote for my friend, Sarah's kid, too (She really needs the vacation):

This guy doesn't know when to give in...

2009-08-20T17:18:00.001-07:00

... that's why I like him.

The full sordid story is on his website. Just another example why you shouldn't piss off people who are skilled at using new media. Which really could be anyone, so refrain from pissing any of us off.

I don't care what the green ones do, the blue ones cure the lame.

2009-07-28T08:36:00.000-07:00

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/5921266/Blue-MandMs-mend-spinal-injuries.html

My old Photos on Flickr

2009-07-27T06:56:00.001-07:00

Visit to San Deigo 2006 - LEGOLAND
Originally uploaded by Alfred jr

I have been uploading all my old Photos to Flickr. Eventually, I will be uploading new ones, but for the moment, you will have to be satisfied with 1993-2006--heavily focused on 2000-2006, the beginning of my digital camera age. I am up to 13,000 pictures or so, and I still have quite a few more to add!

This picture represents what you will likely see on my public Flickr page. Lots of LEGOs. Basically, we don't want every tiny bit of our lives broadcast to everyone, but we do want to share that stuff with our friends and family. So, that means you have to be registered on Flickr to see much more than LEGO stuff, and occasional family events.

Anyway, if you want to see the full monty, then send me a friend request on Flickr. (Just kidding, there are no nudes. Well, maybe some baby bottoms.) I am here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alfredspitz/

Tie Trash

2009-06-16T15:57:00.000-07:00

Well, my daughter, Joellyn had to do a "recycling project" where she makes something out of things that get thrown away. People who know me know that I am a huge Star Wars geek. So much so, that I am often accused of buying anything with a "Tie" theme, no matter how strange. (Like the Lego Tie Tank, which is ridiculous, but has cool tread parts.)

Anyhow...

The point is what Joellyn decided to make for her project:

Yep - a Tie Fighter. Look closely. That's Darth Vader right inside.

That's my girl.

Pringles are NOT Potato Chips!

2009-06-01T06:40:00.000-07:00

In my review of news today, I stumbled upon this item. It is interesting to see that it was P&G who was arguing that Pringles are NOT potato chips. I guess to get out of taxes. Just goes to show that tax attorneys are the ones who most aggregiously bend the rules of logic to try and get their way. But the most important thing to learn from this: Pringles are only 40% potato!!! I guess they are 60% OTHER CRAP. I guess thats why I hate them.

Who wants to bet the same lawyers were considering whether or not they could put WHOLE GRAIN on the boxes?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/01/opinion/01mon4.html

-Alfred

Star Wars sound mixing.

2009-05-15T08:04:00.001-07:00

Luke wants his friends to play along, but they seem to think the new sound mixer is silly:

http://www.starwars.com/games/playnow/soundboards/?sb=b9cquh3vze

Get Naked.

2009-05-09T14:52:00.000-07:00

So, I posted a comment to the Huffington Post, and tried to use their function to cross post it to Blogger. Didn't work. I think because I changed my google password. Anyway, I can do it manually.

The article was about stripping, from a feminist perspective, and I had a comment:

So, I would like to comment on the "masculinity" section of this article. I agree that American media is reinforcing a childish idea of masculinity, but I don't think its having as strong an effect as you seem to indicate. I really believe that one of the major influences on masculinity is from what women expect from men. Let me give you an example from my life.

My wife (she's awesome) is fairly feminist. I had always thought that her goal was to be the major "breadwinner" in the family, and for two years, she was all we had. I had been laid off, and we moved to a new state for her to take a job. I was still looking, but we had a 2 year old, so my job became Mr. Mom. Now, that was a great job, and very much harder than my current one, but that's not what I want to mention.

The thing is, the whole time I was "unemployed," I felt pressure to go get a job. I wasn't doing enough to help the family. The thing is, most of that pressure came from women--like my mom who was always asking me when will I get a job. "I have a job," was always my reply. "Same one you had when I was two." Even my wife put on pressure, though it was a different sort. Things were never quite good enough with my household duties. (Granted, at least half of that was really self inflicted. I think I was feeling the same pressures that many housewives felt about making a perfect home!)

The worst, however, was the "Mom's Club." Now, there were some really great mom's who made me feel very welcome as the only Dad to show up. However, it really didn't stop the uncomfortable feeling I got as many other women gave me peculiar stares. The fact is, I felt my masculinity challenged the most by these women. My guy friends are all computer geeks, and they could have cared less about my going to "Mom's club" meetings, as long as I had some time each month to hang out with them.

So, I guess what I am saying is, for many men, our "masculinity" is shaped by what the women in our life want from us. Ultimately, the appeal of the strip club is that these women only want money. We don't have to change our attitudes, or feel pressure of any kind to feel wanted by them.

Anyway, there you go.

See Shaun, I do post here. Ok, Shaun will never see that cause he doesn't read this. Oh well.

Musings on Earth Hour.

2009-03-28T19:43:00.000-07:00

Well, we decided to do Earth Hour today. It was interesting. Kinda like a hurricane or bad thunderstorm, without the scary.

Anyway, here is what I noticed:

- The carbon monoxide detector really hates Earth Hour. I think the battery backup was dead, so it wouldn't shutup. Good news is I changed the battery after it was all over.

- It's real quiet with the furnace and refridgerator off.

- The children were scared silly. They just can't deal with going to bed with no nightlight. I had to open their windows so the lights from our neighbors who were not celebrating could shine in.

- Kyla's still in a wetting the bed phase, and she let loose immediately. My first act after restoring power: Doing a load of laundry. I am pretty sure I used up any carbon benefit by that act alone.

- Earth Hour is not compatible with frantically trying to finish your taxes. Especially when you're using TurboTax. Oh well, I need to get the day care expenses on Monday, anyway.

- Cell phones still blink during Earth Hour. I had to tell Val, that using the cell phone violates the spirit of the thing.

- Val and I actually got to talk to each other (relatively) undistracted for about half an hour. Then she fell asleep before 10pm for the first time in a year. (No grading papers in the dark.)

Jon Stewart is better than 60 minutes...

2009-03-13T12:19:00.001-07:00

You have to watch him eviscerate Cramer.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=220533

Coke Cup Design...

2009-03-08T17:25:00.000-07:00

OOOOOooooohhh... I am so gonna win.

Best Star Wars Lego set... ever.

2009-02-05T08:25:00.000-08:00

So, my friend Jenn asked me and another NELUGger Dave to give our evaluation of the best Star Wars Lego set ever. Not sure why she asked, but it lead to me making my top ten list. Here it is:

In your opinion, what's the best Lego Star Wars set they made, ever? If you can't decide on one, top 5 will do :) Show your work.

Ok, well, I haven't built them all, so I can't really say. (I own nearly all of them, but many languish waiting for build space.)

I guess I can try to answer.

My gut after looking it all over is the Death Star set set 10188 .

If I were to make a top 5, it would look like this:

10188 Death Star - too fantastically and masterfully packed with cool figs and scenes to NOT be #1

7130 Snowspeeder - awesome representation, cool build, cheap set. Gateway drug

7150 Tie Fighter & Y-Wing - lots of pieces, great way to play with an iconic scene

8002 Destroyer Droid (yes, really) - awesome function. I was blown away when I built it

7676 Republic Attack Gunship - really cool, strong, and swishable

The next five would be:

4502 X-wing Fighter - great X-wing build, plus play bonus with Yoda

10030 Imperial Star Destroyer - Fun to build. Totally HUGE

7283 Ultimate Space Battle - Just fun to play with

10179 UCS Millenium Falcon - Valerie would be disappointed that $500 only gets you 9th on the list.

7161 Gungan Sub - this set, while reviled by SW fans, felt so much like a classic space build that I fell in love

I didn't really evaluate the 2009 sets, but then again, I suppose I did when I said I am not collecting ALL Lego Star Wars sets anymore. The 1999-2000 line remains my favorite because they did Star Wars in such cool Lego simplicity. I own ever SW set through 2008 (except a few at the end of '08 when it really became tiresome).

Now, I wonder what Dave is going to say...

If you break the law in California

2009-02-03T07:22:00.000-08:00

Go see my brother, Matt:

The Law Office of Matthew J. Speredelozzi is a solo law practice that offers comprehensive representation in the area of Criminal Defense in San Diego, Orange, Imperial, Riverside, and Los Angeles County. Please see the firm's ever evolving website for more information.

http://www.sddefensecounsel.com

Xmas Priorities

2009-01-02T10:21:00.000-08:00

Whose the turkey?

2008-12-04T17:27:00.000-08:00

Wayne wanted us all to post pictures of our turkey this year. I think he was going to make some weird collage of meat. Not really sure. Anyway, I totally forgot, so I don't have any pictures of it. Instead, I submit this picture, which includes at least one Turkey. I'll leave it to you to decide which one it is.

Jeb Bush: GOP Should Set Up "Shadow Government"

2008-12-01T16:35:00.001-08:00

Sure. But you have to admit it was an atrocious choice of words. In Europe, maybe they know what "shadow government" is, but here in the USA, its the secret government of crazy conspiracy theorists and the X-Files. Surely there were a million other ways to make this point without freaking these people out. That is the basic problem with the whole Bush family. No of them seem to be able to think about their words before they spew it from their heads.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

The Bailout...

2008-11-26T08:35:00.000-08:00

I found this amazing comparison today:

Big Bailouts... Bigger Bucks.

If we add in the Citi bailout, the total cost now exceeds $4.6165 trillion dollars.

Jim Bianco of Bianco Research crunched the inflation adjusted numbers. The bailout has cost more than all of these big budget government expenditures – combined:

• Marshall Plan: Cost: $12.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $115.3 billion
• Louisiana Purchase: Cost: $15 million, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $217 billion
• Race to the Moon: Cost: $36.4 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $237 billion
• S&L Crisis: Cost: $153 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $256 billion
• Korean War: Cost: $54 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $454 billion
• The New Deal: Cost: $32 billion (Est), Inflation Adjusted Cost: $500 billion (Est)
• Invasion of Iraq: Cost: $551b, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $597 billion
• Vietnam War: Cost: $111 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $698 billion
• NASA: Cost: $416.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $851.2 billion

TOTAL: $3.92 trillion

data courtesy of Bianco Research

Enter The HuffPost Election Forecast Contest

2008-11-03T11:20:00.001-08:00

My HuffingtonPost contest predictions:

Electoral College:

Obama 457

McCain 81

Popular Vote:

Obama 59%

McCain 38%

Senate:

Democrat 61

Republican 37

Independent 2

House:

Democrat 287

Republican 148

Minnesota:

Franken 49%

Coleman 41%

Barkley 9%
About Joe Lieberman
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Americans are still awesome...

2008-10-23T06:59:00.000-07:00

Republicans voting for Obama

My prediction.

2008-10-21T10:00:00.001-07:00

Crazy, sure. But it would be cool.

The Rainbow Conspiracy.

2008-09-25T10:56:00.000-07:00

What happens when my jobs take too long to run on the server? I find this:

Seriously, we DO have to ask ourselves, "What the heck is going on?"

W I T H

H E R

M I N D

Been trying to avoid these spam scams...

2008-09-25T07:04:00.000-07:00

This one, I think, is unavoidable...

Dear American:

I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.

I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.

I am working with Mr. Phil Gram, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transactin is 100% safe.

This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.

Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.

Yours Faithfully Minister of Treasury Paulson

Found here: http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Viral_email_forward_mocks_Wall_Street_0923.html

NO MORE Fig Newtons??!!??!!!!!

2008-09-17T10:56:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I got on another web surfing tangent. It began with Jen's grape EULA note, and ended with this:

Silly LOST Test.

2008-09-11T08:01:00.000-07:00

So, the Dharma initiative has asked me to make a test to judge the suitability of their volunteers. I decided to make one about Engineering. You have to sign up to take it, but I don't think ABC will spam you too much...

Patriots mini beach camp.

2008-08-11T20:24:00.001-07:00

So, last week we all went to a beach house on Cape Cod. Awesome time. Pretty relaxing--mostly spending time swimming and skipping rocks. At one point my brother, Jim, and I were throwing a mini-football around in the water. So naturally, we figured this would be a perfect setting for the Pats to do some extra training to get ready to win the next Super Bowl.

You just gotta think of it in a certain way...

Water up to your waist? Just think of it as the defense tackling you.
Sand shifting under your toes? Just think of it as someone trying to knock your footing off.
The ball seems awfully small? Just think of it as you have farther to throw.
Water splashes in your face? Just think of the defense getting in your face.
and on, and on...