The harBLOG

Happy Holidays 2007

2007-12-22T19:35:00.000-05:00

three days before christmas and i'm done all my shopping....first time in a few years. this year i did 90% of my shopping online. it only took one saturday trip to target to direct me to the web.

last week saw a host of holiday parties (both work and friends) and little sleep. today was a great day for catching up on some rest and gift wrapping.

one of the coolest gifts received so far (work exchange) was a flip video recorder.

so far it seems very functional, easy to use and delivers high-quality video...best of all, allows for quick/easy upload and makes it easy to house all video clips for use on youtube, revver, google video, etc.

back to work for a few days next week, then off to the beach for new years.

Funny Movie Clip - The Break Up

2007-10-30T21:27:00.001-04:00

When HBO and Cinemax have a movie in heavy, heavy rotation, it's hard to not catch the same clip 20 to 40 times over the course of a few weeks.

this clip from The Break Up is one of the more classic scenes..makes you wonder how much was scripted vs ad libbed...

Mazatlan Mexico Vacation Recap

2007-10-29T21:17:00.000-04:00

we took our annual week long vacation to Mazatlan Mexico a few months back. all in all, i would recommend it if you're looking to relax and enjoy an exotic resort where there is a lot to do within close proximity.

high-lights:
we stayed at the El Cid Marina Resorts...mainly because i was interested in doing some fishing. for a half day charter, we averaged about 35 dorado/mahi mahi. better yet, the marina restaurant was able to cook our catch to order.

before: after:

the daily two-for-one happy hour at the resort bar...including the mango margaritas. the dollar was strong, so most of our meals were very inexpensive. the quality of the food was four-star.

low-lights:
mazatlan has a strong timeshare community..and the airport/resort/some restaurant personnel take full advantage. it was not uncommon to be pitched a timeshare opportunity while checking in to the resort or waiting for your check. they wouldn't think twice and even tried to make you feel guilty in saying 'no thanks'.

on a jaunt to downtown, we decided to check out the mazatlan acquariam/zoo. while there were some interesting exhibits/species on display, it was a waste of time.

i would recommend you check it out. give yourself at least five days to enjoy.

i'm back in play after a short hiatus

2007-10-28T19:21:00.000-04:00

after a little over three months of hiatus, i'm back and ready to update. let's see, so much to catch up on...

> i was fortunate enough to attend to phillies final home game, which was THE 'must win' game of the year. it was a great moment in philadelphia sports history. i was hungover until the following wednesday.

> college football is in full swing. it's been a wacky season so far, and penn state is as dissapointing as ever. i am doing well in my college fantasy football draft

> i trapped/killed an unwanted mouse in the house....found another great use for peanut butter.

> work has been especially busy, considering that i work in retail and the holiday shopping season is ramping up.

> for our annual august trip, we traveled to lovely mazatlan mexico for a week with another couple. separate post with more details to follow.

with regained access to my personal laptop, i will be posting more regularly.

Crocs - Believe The Hype?

2007-06-16T12:31:00.000-04:00

with great suspicion and some anxiety, i decided to see what all the hype was about and get a pair of crocs. not the trend setting 'clog' style, but one that i could see getting some long term use out of...the athens (flip flop) model.

bottom line, are they as comfortable as they look and as what everyone has been saying? yes they are. granted, i have another pair of flip flops that are slightly more comfortable, but they certainly are not as resilient to odor and wear and tear.

i was also shocked to see what the crocs company was doing on wall street (CROX). for a company that cranks out footwear in various rubber molds, they recently hit a high around $90 then executed a 2:1 stock split. huh? believe the hype? guess it's hard not to at this point. just do a search on youtube or the web 2.0 engine of your choice.

however, with every footwear retailer cranking out knock-offs, give it a few months to see if this can sustain momentum...while you're waiting, you may as well get yourself a pair.

Phillies Phever

2007-06-10T12:35:00.000-04:00

decided to get a Phillies sunday ticket plan this year. aside from the dismal start, they seem to be turning things around...but trying not to get too excited. history will most likely repeat itself and the phillies will start dropping games right after the all star break...and end up one game out of the playoffs.

seats are fairly decent left field, and provide a great view of the action. to make it more enjoyable, we're seated behind a crew a college-aged season ticket holders. they provide a different kind of comedy (in addition to charlie manuel's coaching decisions) in the form of heckling the visiting left fielder...and sometimes, deservedly so, our own pat burrel.

a day at the ballpark is always entertaining and provides opportunity to experience some age old traditions; ballpark hotdogs, overpriced beers, smell of roasted peanuts, and in the case of citizens bank park, a schmitter sandwich.

if the phillies can't at least remain at .500, i'm not sure if even the environment will be enough to get us down there on a summer sunday. we'll see.

Retail Karma...Consider Yourself Warned

2007-04-28T10:46:00.000-04:00

few months ago, my wife and i visit Target first thing on a Sunday (highly recommended if you want to miss the crowds) to purchase our necessary batch of consumer products. we also end up getting a well-needed tv/entertainment stand. we get home and after assembling said tv stand, decide to look at the receipt to confirm how much we spent on the project that just took us 1.5 hours to assemble.

to our surprise, favor, it looked like Target failed to charge us for the stand. even thinking back to the check out sequence, we recall positioning the stand SKU panel so the cashier could scan...guess it was too early for her. at this point we decide to chalk it up to an oversight and continue to enjoy our new purchase.

a few weeks back, we revisit again for a few more things (new house always needs something). included in this trip was a 3-pack of v-neck t-shirts - size L. when i get home and open the pack, realize that somehow the pack of "L" t-shirts includes 1x size L and 2x size MEDIUM?

granted, cost-benefit ratio still favors us, and that we expected Target to get its revenge somehow, but found it eerie that of the piles of packs of T's, i grabbed the one mislabled or mis-packed.

keep in mind the next time the cashier misses a sku scan or that pack of soda underneath your cart.

So Far, So Good...

2007-02-14T17:32:00.000-05:00

getting settled in to the new house, new job, new neighborhood, new commute, new co-workers. the first six weeks of 2007 have flown by. is it spring time yet?

i can say with 100% confidence that my next home move will include hiring a moving company. we moved ourselves thinking we didn't have much stuff...we were wrong. boxes seemed to have multiplied when it came time to unload the truck.

in getting used to our new surroundings, we've had the pleasure of discovering the nearest WaWa, foodstore, gym, beer distributor, etc.

the greatest find had to be the local diner. we lived for years in our old area where the closest place for a half-decent breakfast sandwich was a 20 minute ride. this place is classic. open at 5am. closed by 2pm. max occupancy around 20. family owned. milkshakes from scratch. great diner meal for two under $15. if you haven't found one like this by you yet, start exploring. it's worth it.

Year End Free Time

2006-12-22T10:22:00.000-05:00

i recently resigned from my job. the reasons are not worth getting into, but i'm excited for my next career strengthening opportunity.

i didn't realize until today how timely this decision was. i basically have three weeks (two of which are paid) to decompress, catch up on holiday shopping, prepare for my next job and enjoy time with family and friends.

my wife also has off next week (she's a teacher), so we will also be able to prepare for our big move in mid January.

so let's see....in the coming weeks, i'll be experiencing a new job, settlement on a new house, moving/settling into the new house and my 30-something birthday.

think i'll take a nap.

Dogs On A Plane

2006-12-08T19:26:00.000-05:00

on a recent 4-hour flight back east, i had the pleasure of being on the same plane as, not one, but two screeching lap dogs.

based on recent policy changes by the airline related to traveling with pets, having tinkerbell flying in business class with the everyday business traveler, vacationer and crying baby is now status quo.

at first everyone thought the noise was a defective engine part or extremely whiny child, but after a few minutes it became clear that we were all in for a joyous flight.

after several passengers asked the stewardess what her 'plan' was, she emphatically encouraged us to 'write a letter'. she went on to explain that the passenger should have been made aware that her dogs had to be tranquilized for the flight...well, clearly she either missed that message or failed to pay attention.

once i realized that we were all in it for the long haul, i began wondering a few 'what ifs'...what if the dog had to 'go'?....what if one of them died?...what if they never stopped barking?

thank god for noise canceling headphones.

Home Search - Update

2006-12-08T19:13:00.000-05:00

Since the last post, a lot has happened. Our townhome is sold and we've found a new house. We've put in an offer and are in the post-home inspection phase. If all goes well, we'll be able to settle on both places on the same day...which means logistics are key to make sure all necessary parties show up.

I can honestly see why 'buying a home' is on the list of the top stressful events in a person's life.

Next up, finalizing the mortgage, coordinating the move, buying the furniture, meeting the neighbors.

The Joys of Selling/Buying a Home

2006-11-12T11:25:00.000-05:00

we've had our home on the market for the past three months. let's just say things are in line with what analysts are calling a 'slow market'. a slow market that benefits the buyer. a slow market that is tough on the seller...both of which we qualify for.

on average, i check about 120 home updates per day online; including new listings and updates to existing ones (usually a notification of a price reduction).

the objective is being able to sell at a reasonable price where we can still make a solid profit. then, put on the 'prospective buyer' hat and find an ideal house at an ever more reasonable price.

after reducing our price three times and hosting numerous showings, the 'interested parties' are starting to appear. we should have an offer in the next few weeks. but trying not to get too excited until there is something in writing and the inspection has passed. it will be a joyous day when the house doesn't need to be in staged condition 24/7. stay tuned.

Hunker Down - It's Holiday Time

2006-11-04T11:20:00.000-05:00

it's that time of year again. once the leaves change color (at least here in the northeast), you blink and next thing you know it's new year's eve. time to prepare for a gut-busting thanksgiving and endless reruns of A Christmas Story.

in addition to the normal stress associated with getting the right gift for that special someone, i'm in the process of selling my house. fun.

to kick the frenzy into high gear, WalMart announces that they're discounting some select inventory earlier than usual. So get your HDTV, xbox or digital camera now. WalMart claims that reasoning for this tactic was to offset an expected slow November. Who's going to suffer? BestBuy? Target? or you and i who will have to compete with larger crowds earlier than normal?

don't know about you, but buying everying online will be my m.o. once again this year. no lines. no hassles. find yourself a secure connection and give it a try. some smart retailers offer some pretty good deals (free shipping, exclusive discounts, etc) if you purchase via their online channel.

Howard! Howard! Howard!

2006-10-26T20:40:00.000-04:00

in an effort to reach more of the masses, sirius radio offered free service Wednesday and Today. Aside from access to 70+ of commercial free music channels, the big push is for the uncensored Howard Stern show.

Stern isn't for everyone. But if you thought his show on commercial ('terrestrial') radio was funny, it only gets better when there is no FCC to worry about.

Love em or hate em, you have to resepct his ability to monetize his raw talents in a much censored media world.

Interesting to see the relationship between Google searches/news references on 'Howard Stern' and 'Sirius Radio' over the past few weeks/months. Will be interesting to see if there are any increases once October data is updated..

Easy Web 2.0 Directory

2006-10-15T20:28:00.000-04:00

Online music storage. Open source blog platforms. Online calendars. Live, group note-taking wiki. Other tools for mashups. Find all your resources, tools and platforms here.

Give yourself plenty of time when visiting this site. You may be aware of some or all of these applications, but probably never had them all easily consolidated in one location.

College Football - Week 6: "Saturation Saturday"

2006-10-07T23:00:00.000-04:00

i'm a college football junky. if you too enjoy the college game, you can appreciate this post. if you're not, then check out some links to the right.

this was the first saturday i was able to block off 12 hours to focus on watching as many games as possible. some were worth watching...some not. i'm still trying to figure out how marshall blew that game on thursday night.

a few weekends back the number of ranked matchups warranted the annual 'separation saturday' moniker. i felt compelled to enpower myself to label this past weekend 'saturation saturday' for the following reasons...

it was a day of saturation that included:

* mark may's use of the phrase 'bottom line' (something he must have promised trev alberts he would contiune in his stead)

* several times when i asked myself 'what did he say?' whenever lou holtz opened his mouth

* several stupid questions by sideline reporters to coaches heading into halftime...e.g. asked to les miles of LSU...."what were you thinking as florida marched down the field to score right before the half?" les miles did his best to not tell this broad to go back to being someone's secretary.

* countless, stupid penalties by home teams that have no reason to be affected by crowd volume

* countless mentions of whether or not replay is 'working'..as well as how much oklahoma got screwed vs oregon

* player names that i swear must be made up...colt david, chase daniels, nate longshore, l.a. reed, kregg lumpkin, slick shelley, colt mccoy...are we watching college football or up-and-cummers vol. 8?..follow the 'name of first pet+first street lived on' formula, and i guarantee you'll find it on a ncaa roster.

* player names that seemed to adhere to no traditional rhyme/reason or disregard commonplace spelling practices...la-marcus, da-marcus, jaison, keiland, kregg, daitric...who knew? i have a whole new list of names to consider for my next of kin.

* exposing of parity among the leagues/teams. we all knew arkansas had a good team..but good enough to beat auburn at home? washington being one mental error (or officiating snafu) away from possibly beating usc at home (hahn may be on to something here). duke giving bama a close run? temple...yes temple...also giving kent st (the leader of the mac east..way to go brad) a close run.

* during the lsu/fla game on cbs, verne lunquist repeatedly failing to mention / acknowledge herbstriet and corso who were caught in the middle of live action when a few passes went awry on the sidelines...instead referring to herbstreit as 'the guy in the suit'.

* times i thought to myself...'why the hell is paul mcguire doing college football?'..he offers nothing..nessler and griese do fine job themselves

to that point, i needed some matrix or diagram to help figure out the new assignments of the broadcaster(s) from last year. blackledge now with espn. danielson now with cbs. mike patrick moving from nfl to college. don't know about you, but if i could select my own broadcast team (including sideline reporter), it would include:

> lead - brad nessler
> color - garry danielson
> just for sound effects - lee corso
> sideline - jill arrington (sorry jack arute)

anyone else?

any weekend you're able to watch 12+ hours of college football should be considered your own 'saturation saturday'..causing you to thank picture-in-picture technology and your local sports bar with half-price pitchers, two-dozen flatscreens and the espn ncaa game plan.

the saturation continues tomorrow as i head to lincoln financial field to bond with my Philly brethren in telling T.O. to go scratch.

Cool Web Tools

2006-10-04T19:27:00.000-04:00

Have you ever wanted to build your own search engine? Want to only scrub sites that pertain to certain queries? Check out Rollyo.

Did you have a better name for Google than...Google? Rename your own 'Google' search engine. It's always good to dream...

Three school shootings in the past 10 days. I'm sure there was an impact on web searches, but the question is 'how much?' Yahoo's Buzz Index has some pretty interesting stats. Whenever a celebrity provides some watercooler fodder, The Buzz Index is a good reference to see what the world deems search-worthy.

On that note, if you want to see how the "buzz" correlates to search volume over time, check out Google Trends. Check out results for Google vs Yahoo. For US based comparisons, it also provides breakout of popularity by city.

Know of any other cool web tools?

Family Guy = Brilliance

2006-09-26T08:31:00.000-04:00

Not only is The Family Guy one of the best shows ever created, it never ceases to provide side-splitting clips.

I'm sure there are many other snippets that are worth mentioning, but this one is at the top...

If you watch this and don't belly-laugh, then I guess you just don't get it...

Survivor - What Next?

2006-09-14T20:21:00.000-04:00

the thirteenth installment of the 'reality' show pioneer begins tonight. unless you've been living on Mars, you've heard that producers have decided to segment contestants by race. while the media is largely responsible for making this decision 'news-worthy', i'm still trying to figure out why all the hype and criticism; claiming the decision was supporting segregation among various races and communities.

watch any cbs morning news program on sept 15th, and you're guaranteed to hear from the first contestant voted-off and from your local asian/african/latino support group on how cbs played the race card to expose their 'people.' i can only imagine that cbs executives are patiently waiting for one race to refer to another race (or to one another) as something other than the PC version..or referencing/suppporting certain stereotypes. i'm sure the producers will be able to bake up a controversial situation to help spurn some animosity...i'm sure the media can't wait.

let's be honest, the name of the game here is ratings...which equates to ad revenue. last season contestants were segmented by age (young / old) and gender...apparently this wasn't enough to gain/maintain the ratings that make producers happy.

what's next? i guess it would be more like what's left? how about gay tribe vs. straight tribe. convicts vs. lawyers. probably a matter of how far can they push the FCC.

in another few days, this whole hype surrounding the idea of segmenting contestants by 'race' will be long forgotten and the show will most likely see ratings that fade over the coming weeks...forcing producers to think of how they can draw out the 'live finally' with some other twist.

in a fast evolving media consuming society, i don't see how this decision was seen as so controversial. if producers tried this sort of segmentation back in season two or three, it never would have made it passed the brainstorm session. i'd like to think that the other real life 'reality' news bits (teacher raping student, student shooting spree, that thing happening in iraq) help put things in perspective.

how long before we're watching a real life execution similar to the Schwarzenegger movie The Running Man?

What Ever Happened To...

2006-09-06T22:07:00.000-04:00

...that show on comedy central, 'shorties watchin shorties'?

some of the most classic stand up bits, by up and coming comics, animated.

just finished watching dane cook's vicious circle stand up act...if you 'get' his act, i strongly recommend it.

..which got me thinking that he had a few bits animated on that show...here's one of em..

Penn State vs. Notre Dame - The Rivalry Continues

2006-09-06T21:25:00.000-04:00

in a little over two days, penn state football will revive their rivlary with notre dame for a home and home series. the last game played was back in 1992...which was a battle in the snow that ended with some last minute pass. hope this one is as exciting, but ends in favor of the nittany lions. timing couldn't have been better..cause lord knows if this game happened in the last six years, it wouldn't have been worth watching since PSU was struggling at the hand of zach mills.

with 1 in every 700 pennsylvania residents being a PSU alumni, i would expect a strong showing in south bend. after next year's game, i expect each team to enter a re-building phase..regardless of casey clausen's little brother taking over for the mighty quinn.

here's to a good game...

Rainy Saturday = Starbucks

2006-09-02T11:02:00.000-04:00

what better way to start a saturday..tall regular venti and a wifi connection. sound serene and relaxing? it was until some woman decided to let us ALL involuntarily hear her cell phone conversation(s) about her trip to philly, how much she hates rain, how her carpet installation is going at home, her sump pump issues, what her kids think about grandma, and on, and on...SHUT IT!

forget about banning drinking during gametime at PSU, how bout getting a grasp on the 'cell yell'.

Are You Kidding Me?

2006-09-01T20:54:00.000-04:00

Penn State recently imposed a ban on drinking DURING the football game OUTSIDE the stadium. As a PSU alumni, I never thought I'd hear the words 'ban', 'drinking' and 'football' in the same sentence. Officials claim that this is in response to an increase in underage citations, destroying of property and an overall 'big drinking problem.' This is college. The atmosphere almost requires drinking as a habit. I don't get it.

So if you prohibit drinking DURING the game, I would assume that drinking consumption would increase BEFORE and AFTER? This situation creates a 'necessity' that will become the mother to the college kids 'invention'. Back in the '90's, kegs were banned...that led to buying cases. Then they passed a 'ban' that required all tailgaiting to shut down one hour after the game was over. Regardless of the attempt to curtail drinking, fans always found a way to have a drink (or seven) and enjoy themselves.

Tailgaiting is a religion at PSU. It's part of the overall experience. Imagine the thirty-something professional being told to 'dump that beer' while enjoying the game on a tv outside of his/her RV during the game. Regardless of the fine, I'm sure they'll be able to afford it and won't care.

Despite what officials claim that this is positioned to clean up the drinking, I can't help but think that this is another means to an end of generating more 'revenue' from the student body and the already cash-cow football program.

Here We Go....

2006-08-31T22:17:00.000-04:00

If you too are a fan of college football, today marks the start of 16+ weeks of starting every Saturday with College Gameday (anyone know where Trev Alberts is nowadays?). It also means checking bodog or sportsbook religiously for the right parlay, resulting in an occassional 8+ hour binge of watching espn2, tbs and even cn8 to see if your big east, c-usa or pac10 team covers the spread.

Every year I like to make things interesting by joining a season long college football draft , a weekly college football pool, and an placing an 'occassional' online bet. Thus, I care more about the MAC, WAC and SunBelt teams than the average fan.

May you enjoy the time you spend watching Chris, Lee and Kirk...and your favorite teams do battle.

Bugaloe Beach Bar - Aruba

2006-08-30T21:30:00.000-04:00

Recently came back from a week long vacation in Aruba. I thought i've experienced some pretty cozy beach bars in my day, but nothing compares to Bugaloe Beach Bar in Aruba. Located on a pier by the 'high rise' hotels, it is THE king of all beach bars...mainly because it's not even on the beach..but resides on a pier... Friendly bartenders and waitresses. Cheap Happy Hour prices. Great sunset views. Relaxing cross breezes. It's tough to not spend an entire day hanging out at this place. If you ever get a chance, stop by for a few Amstel Brites.