100 Days for Obama, 100 days for Fox News...

WakeMed Helicopter Landing @ Apex, NC (4.27.09)



Thanks, WakeMed, from everyone in Apex, NC Cub Scout Troop 218! Was an amazing sight to see, and bonus points for letting all of our boys climb inside and out of this life-saving machine.

World's Largest/Heaviest Amateur Rocket Launch (4.25.09)



Details are all here... Wow. "Steve Eves broke two world records when his 1/10th scale model of the historic rocket lifted off from a field on Maryland's Eastern Shore. The 36-ft.-tall Saturn V rocket was the largest amateur rocket ever launched-and at 1648 pounds, also the heaviest."

Jimmy Buffett in Concert
Several Songs @ Raleigh, NC

Auto-Tuning the News



Don't miss the Katie Couric 1:20 onward segment on arctic ice -- funny stuff. Auto tune is a program performers have been using for some time to make their live performances sound better. Some are cranking it to 11 to get these kinds of effects.

Jimmy Buffett Covers Bob Marley's "One Love" @ Raleigh Concert

Tim's Jimmy Buffett Photos @ FaceBook

Jimmy Buffett 2009 Prep

The Herd: 2020 \ NSFW Language



Lyrics:

It's not as if you didn't get the warning
You got the transcripts and the recordings
History has a way of signing us up in the morning
You're a late starter make it
Easy to ignore it
Later not record it
You un? access to the back
But the back is your back
As soon to the eyed less
Looking like 'umping
In the crash
Just to help you make your mind up
Unknowing the young sign up
The enemy of our enemy is still our enemy
So why are you umming insist on this insanity?
Thats how the Talliban began
What you're mosely doing around?
An there ain't no weapons that aren't Americas.
How does it feel to be a widow-maker
Taker with the father with the family
You tried to be pursade
knives and stakes
Saigon link
Flash those pearlies
Take us way past the frown
And we you knew you would froze
All was we went to war
Nothing could be said to promise you
We'd already seen it before
It's not as if you didn't get the warning
You got transcripts and recordings
History has a way of signing us up in the morning
But you're a late starter make it easy to
ignore it Later not recall it You had
unfettered access to the facts
But the fact is your back is turned to the atlas
....

Head Cold > Die!

Been a tough two days here at Chez McLain -- nasty head cold had dropped into my, well... head. Not that you can't semi-tell from the pic today.

Decided, looking back, that I haven't taken a real rest period in a few cycles of P90X and ChaLEAN Extreme + burpees, so, have had two solid days of non-exercise. Feels good, but a feeling a touch guilty.

Thankfully, my pounding stuffed head has taken the edge off that feeling -- ugh.

Anxiously awaiting the arrival of Ben and Julie for our second Jimmy Buffett concert experience at Walnut Creek tomorrow night. Bring it on!

And by the way, Happy Earth Day! Here's a NASA video to celebrate/explore our Mother Earth.


Click the HQ button on this, and ALL YouTube vids, to get "H"igh "Q"uality. Or click in its center to get a larger video at the source.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - Stressed Position
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Gay Marriage Commercial

The Wail of the 1%

Excellent article @ NYMag.com, worth a read all the way through. Puts an enormous amount of detail around what's happening on Wall Street these days.

Some excellent comments by readers:

Let's get this straight now. If you went to Columbia or Wharton, you are ENTITLED to a certain level of pay. On behalf of everyone who has ever said "nobody owes you a job" I'd like to say the word is "hypocrite" and right about now it's written in letters made of brass that cast a shadow.

The answer to the Citigroup executive's question is very simple. The guy in the shiny truck does a better job of efficiently providing what people are willing to pay for. Explaining the relation between the executive not understanding this point and the current condition of the business is left as an exercise for the reader.

[Wall Street] hasn't really served any useful purpose for over a decade. Electronic trading made its primary reason for being redundant, and trading stocks in decimals instead of fractions took away one of its primary methods of making money. So they lobbied to deregulate markets so they could come up with complex financial instruments like derivatives that serve no useful purpose to society. Wall Street has become Las Vegas, but with other people's money and in granite instead of neon.

These people are no smarter than any professional, in any job, doing ANYTHING. They have the personal defect of greed. Delusions of grandeur does not make a valid case for 5%-15% tax rates. If someone really thinks you are worth the money, fine. Just don't ask me to pay 28% taxes while you pay 15%.

Glands = Humorous?

And the OT is over... Sigh.


Good things come...

...to those who, well, wait and don't even know they're waiting. Right?

So I'm winding down my weekend last evening, Tiger Cub den meeting done, dinner over, William feeling a touch under the weather but OK, Deb about an hour from putting him down/her night, when the phone rings.

It's good ol' Dave P., and... well, he had two tix to the Canes semi-final game at the RBC Center, starts in an hour. Needs a wingman, would I go? I'm a YES man!

Those most crazy, rabid Canes fans had been camping in the lot for hours, and were fired up with their thousands of white towels -- the volume, the screaming, WOAH. It was an intense game all around, had an amazing time. David, you're the man -- thanks again.

Got up today feeling a little off, did my ChaLEAN, but zero energy left for burpees. As the morning wore on, ouch, feeling spacey and under the weather all around. Hoping it clears soon, don't want to truly give in and be a sicko. Will's home today, coughing his little lungs out, singing in his room, reading. Too cute.

Fitness Challenge - Anyone?



My personal fitness challenge = adding 100 burpees daily post-ChaLEAN workout. So it's double duty. Yea, Sunday is supposed to be a rest day, but missed my burpees yesterday, so got up early today, warmed up, and did 200 burpess in approx. 45 minutes. All good.

Pay Attention: Education

Baby T-Pain: Silly Stuff



Tonight, we dine, in CLEVELAND... NSFW/Language

Will got a... MOHAWK...

Not sure...

Tax Day has come and gone -- and saw this tweet from a good pal of mine. If you do the math, this makes perfect sense:

"Confused about the Tea party; whatcha protesting? US taxes are the lowest in the 1st world countries; stop whinning & just make some more money! there's plenty to go around."

Well, not sure about the last part, but the tax rate over the years shows that we're paying the same ratio of taxes/yr. as we did 30 years ago.

Death & Taxes Day

You ready? Hope so... Me, I'm still waiting on my NC refund. Weeks gone. NC facing a $2B shortfall, paying refunds only w/incoming dollars from other taxpayers. Interesting.

Onward to Tuesday...

Week continuing, nothing all that new to report. Enjoyed our Easter weekend, on target w/ChaLEAN and burpees workouts, everything in bloom as spring has 100% sprung down south here in NC.

Proud to say that I studied hard and passed my Online Marketing Connect Institute, Online Marketing Essentials Certification.

One of the first to go through this program, very thick binder with lots of hands-on, actionable tips to put into practice at ProQuest and proquestk12.com -- and, personally, nice to get one of my first post-college professional certifications. More @ http://is.gd/snhb.

The Brits Analyze Fox News



Hilarious, esp. since the GOP finally admitted that it owns Fox News outright. Add a call to burn books on Tax Day at the many Tea Parties, and it's going to be a week to remember. Amazing.

New Week, Free ProQuest Access, Good Workouts...

Proud to sat that today marked my 15th day doing 100 burpees daily -- 1,500 down on the road to 10,000 over 100 days. Pushing through some basic shoulder pain, the only result, beside some obvious changes in my arms muscle-wise. Nice, esp. w/bathing suit season here in a hurry! Not to mention my ChaLEAN workouts Mon.-Sat., feel like I'm over-training a bit?

Had an uber-fun Easter dinner in the McGramerlock cul-de-sac in Preston, lots of families all together for a potluck/kids easter egg hunt. Nice.

Kicked off National Library Week with open, free access to three of the big products we offer to schools and libraries @ ProQuest -- eLibrary, SIRS Discoverer, and CultureGrams. Don't miss your wide-open chance to dive deep into this quality content -- visit http://www.proquestk12.com/go/celebrate today to login. No username/password necessary through 4/17.

Rock your week!

Happy Easter 2009

Amazing Tornado Video: Unedited

Warning Unheeded:
Eisenhower is rolling over in his grave...




JFK also has some prescient things to say about today's reality...

Will's New Pets: From... School?

Bookmark this page - dive into deep, quality information from ProQuest - 100% free of charge 4/13-4/17. Use eLibrary (general reference, photos, videos, Flash multimedia), CultureGrams (200+ full country reports written by local experts, much deeper than CIA World Factbook), and SIRS Discoverer, (perfect resource for youngsters doing homework.)

read more | digg story

Kodak's New Printers: I Want...

Read more. Wishing...

How Your Taxes are Spent

See full set of graphics, scroll down...

Chilly & Worked-Out

A mini-late-Winter push of cold air will get us up to 59 today... Yikes.

Ahh well, lots to do inside. Hit the ol' 100 burpees after a full warm up and some ChaLEAN, not too much, on the proscribed Tuesday rest day. Not so much.

Hope you have an excellent Tuesday wherever you are!

And now for something complete different -- from the last Great Depression...

Pollen Season



Took some quick video this morning outside my front door -- you can see why Will and Deb are sneezing these days. The pine trees, I understand, are to blame for this in the Spring. With the rain, you can see these green puddles and rivers filled with pollen.

New week, did the usual workout, up to 800 burpees total, feeling fine...

So this is what the Soja's see everyday coming into San Francisco from Tiburon... Really miss Northern California, can't wait to visit in July. :)

Burpees Weekend

Hit 100 burpees this a.m., plus the ChaLEAN cardio -- off to all-day Cub Scout leader training in downtown Cary. Better late than never!

So Saturday and Sunday, a combined 200 more burpees and some lawn mowing/relaxing.

Is it possible to feel blessed for all the above? I do.

TGIF...

Ahhh Friday. Long to-do list, but some fun things thrown in there work-wise. ChaLEAN done, 100 burpees in the can, excellent bfast, and on to the day.

Den meeting this weekend, sunny morning/70 today or so, all good. Also seeing the green sandy pollen starting to flow in the rainwater/collect on outside items. Spring is here, watch out allergy sufferers! Me, no problem. Deb and Will, sneeze-city.

Heck, I'll admit it -- I'm pretty jazzed about the new Star Trek movie coming out. Looks like a pretty interesting rebirth of this series. Get some behind the scenes insights into the production.

Rainy Thursday

...but, still got a ChaLEAN workout in this a.m., and saved my burpees (video below) for the evening. Still a sweaty business, really feel it once I hit 100. All good.

April Fools Day on the Web

Hump day has arrived, along with the start of April. The grass is over-growing, the temps are in the 60's, and the pollen is starting to visibly coat our cars here in NC. Excellent.

Also, day three down of my usual workout paired with a solid 100 burpees. (See video below.) What can I say -- wow. Sweaty goodness in sets of 10. My right shoulder is a bit tender post-killer-moves today though.

Reading a new study that's saying drinking a cup of coffee before a workout can help with workout aches and pains. Might give it a go. Why not?

Digg.com Pop-Up Craziness