And the sign says

I read the following story today:

Yard sign supply for Obama, McCain dwindles in Dallas-Fort Worth area | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Dallas-Fort Worth Politics | The Dallas Morning News

And it got me wondering. What effect do yard signs have on voting? The family four houses down who I have never talked to has a McCain sign, yet the dude across the street who I waved to once is supporting Obama. What do I do?

In other words: I couldn't give a shit who any of my neighbors vote for, unless the country goes to pot. Then I can blame them for voting for the son of a gun in. I really can't think of any purpose they serve other than providing the news stories about running our, or "funny" stories of people having their signs stolen or vandalized.

Maybe I am wrong and they sway a bunch of people, but I am betting I'm not.

Games I have been playing

City of Heroes: This is till the MMORPG I play the most. I have been playing longer than I did the first time when I quit, and I have been back longer then I was away. I chalk that up to my friends and I getting together to play regularly, and keep our characters in the same level. When they come out with new updates it just kills other games in what new material they bring. Of course being superhero based, it appeals to me more than other MMORPGS out there.

Warhammer Online: I hated this MMORPG. Some of the worst PvE I have ever played. I could stay in the same spot and grind out XP for over an hour. I would know what would respawn, and when it would respawn without ever having to move. Speaking of respawn: the rate of respawn is way to fast. It says something about a game were I would rather die and pay the penalty then try to get back to the mission provider by running back.

Very lackluster character creation. Just so blah. I have numerous other complaints about the game: Unbalanced RvR (realm vs. realm), no official forums, crappy running ability, etc. But I already cancelled my account. Another friend of mine cancelled his in less than week he disliked the game so much.

Age of Conan: Another fantasy MMORPG, and I like this one much better. Awesome graphics. More adult oriented, definitely not for kids. More interesting classes to play. Combat is a ton o' fun. It just blows the Warhammer game out of the water in my opinion. I have heard there isn't much end-game content, but that isn't something I am too worried about as the level caps at 80 and my highest guy is 26 or so.

Guitar Hero World Tour: I admit I am a fan of playing a video game and being in a fake band. This game is just a good time and a total time waste. I will say that the drum kit on this so superior to the one from Rock Band 1 (I haven't seen the new one for Rock Band 2 yet, so I'm not sure). It cymbals are elevated like a drum kit, and you have more than just the one snare to beat on.

So there ya go. I am just a typical nerd. After staring at a computer all day at work I come home and relax by staring at a computer.

Serial Cereal Reviews

I wouldn't say I was never a fan of the Fiber One brand of cereal. I had never even tried their cereal before. Whenever I looked at the box on the original flavor. It looked like little twigs in a bowl, and it of course just reminded me of the old Saturday Night Live faux commercial for Colon Blow. Not too long ago I got a coupon for Fiber One, and they were advertising a new flavor. The one on the right: Caramel Delight.

It is a decent cereal. Obviously it had some sweetness to it, and the caramel taste is there but not overwhelming. Which for me is fine, as I don't want a strong caramel flavor in the morning. It also stays pretty darn crunchy in the milk. Even once I got to the bottom of the bowl it wasn't soggy. That was a pleasant surprise to me.

Nutritionally it is the weakest out of the Fiber One line. Tied for the highest calories per serving (220 with milk compared to 100 from the original flavor). It also has the least amount of...uh.. fiber out of all four flavors. Still a pretty good cereal. I give it 3 out of 5 bowls

What I Believe...maybe

My friend Howard had a list a of beliefs that he had written, and challenged others to participate. I am glad to so. My list is fairly superficial, if you want deep read Howard's, or Jeff's, or Mike's.

1.I believe...if you are going to talk on your cell phone while driving, at least go the speed limit. Driving 5 miles per hour below the speed limit in the left hand lane isn’t any safer than going the speed limit. Not paying attention is not paying attention.

2. I believe...that God has a sense of humor, and he finds me really funny.

3. I believe...everyone should work retail for one year. Then maybe some common courtesy would return to the world, and there won’t be such a sense of entitlement.

4. I believe...everyone should know how to cook one dish really well. Something so good that people say, “You should sell this.” That go-to recipe to really impress that guy or gal.

5. I believe...it is good to be selfish sometimes. By that I mean with your time. Everyone needs some "me" time to do whatever they want. Watch a crappy movie, play video games, whatever to blow some steam off. Get away from work, the spouse, kids, responsibility, etc.

6. I believe...the customer isn’t always right, in fact the customer is hardly ever right.If you were my customer a few years ago I would have let you know it.

7. I believe...there are such things as stupid questions. Like my friend who asked me why I locked the front door to the house.

8. I believe...my Dad could still kick my ass, no seriously.

9. I believe...I ran out of stuff to say after #3

10. I believe I can fly
I believe I can touch the sky
I think about it every night and day
Spread my wings and fly away
I believe I can soar
I see me running through that open door

I believe I can fly

Thanks R. Kelly for helping me finish my list

Life is just a bowl of Life

We delve into another cereal, and this time it is Life Chocolate Oat Crunch. I am a big fan of the Life brand of cereal. It is sweet without being too sweet. This continues that trend, and provides us with a kiss of chocolate to the cereal.














The chocolate oat cluster thing is a perfect little nugget of chocolate that really enhances the joy of eating Life. there are enough to add to the cereal, but they don't overpower it. The only problem is this:

See the problem? It looks like some sort of rodent turd. Very unappealing. The taste is excellent though. I will give it 4 out of 5 bowl.
Oh yeah, and don't bother looking for the cereal either. They quit making it months ago, the picture of the rat turd is old.

Space Tadpoles Signal Black Hole Mergers

Do I know how to antagonize people? Friday I wore my Wake Forest cap to work (no, I didn't go there) trying to get a reaction from my boss. Wake Forest had beat Clemson the night before in football, and my boss did go to Clemson. As I told the people at work, "Don't let the fact that I haven't worn this hat in 12 years is any reason why I am wearing it today." I can't help myself sometimes, I have to needle to people.

Thank you, sir. May I have another? It was so delicious to watch the Texas-OU game Saturday morning, and watching the Sooner lose. Definitely, the best game I have seen all year. It was great to have a game live up to all of the hype (I'm looking at you Florida-LSU). One versus Five. Big 12 championship on the line. Potentially a National Championship on the line.

It is amazing to see the difference in OU's offense from when they got into rhythm after a first down, and when they didn't. When they got into rhythm they simply looked, and usually were unstoppable. When they didn't they looked so very average. I've never seen an offense look so different in a game.

Does anyone wanna win this? On the other side of the spectrum is the Cowboy game from yesterday. Both teams looked horrible. Neither the Cowboys nor the Cardinals seemed like they wanted to win this game. A ton of mistakes from both side, with the Cowboys making the final one. They lose in overtime on a blocked punt recovered for a touchdown. If the guy who blocked it had somehow missed, there was another dude about a foot behind him who would have gotten to the ball. Some of the worst special teams I have seen in a long time was played by the Cowboys yesterday:

1. Opening kickoff returned for a touchdown.
2. Missed field goal at the end of the first half
3. Blocked field goal that they fortunately got to kick again, because the Cardinals called a time out.
4. A block in the back on a punt return.
5. A kickoff out of bounds
6. And of course the blocked punt to end the game.

Pathetic!

Finally, a video as to why I love the Sports station I listen to:

It's like trail mix...in a bowl!

This time we delve into a new product by the Post cereal company. It is as you can see by the pic on the left, Trail Mix Crunch, cranberry vanilla flavor. This isn't a cereal I would normally get, and when I first saw it, I thought it sounded kind of disgusting. Why would I buy it then one might ask? I had a coupon for it.

Once I actually tried it though, it was pretty damn good. A lot better than I ever thought it would be. Since it was made by Post I was half expecting it to be Grape-Nuts crunchy. It was crunchy, just not that crunchy. I'm also not much of a cranberry fan, but this time it actually worked. Maybe, if I had cranberry in cereal more often i would be a bigger fan. This is definitely something I will try again.

They also have a two other flavors Raisin & Almond: which I am lukewarm about. As well as Maple Nut and Brown Sugar which appeals to me more, but I have never seen at the grocery store. I give it a very respectable 4 out of 5 bowls

I'd also like to thank Radiodad for encouraging me to do more of this.

Hitting the bowl again.

As I have mentioned before. I love cereal. Even if I don't have it for breakfast I will usually end up eating a bowl some time during the day. Now Kellogg's Smart Start line is a pretty good group of cereal. They recently came out with a new flavor: Strawberry Oat Bites.

The verdict? This cereal sucks. The main problem? The strawberry flavor seems to be more theory than reality. You really can't taste it at all. They need to get more flavor in there. Like Frosted Mini-Wheats. Also, when you compare it to other Smart Start cereals it slightly lacks the nutritional punch you get from them.

I give it 2 out of 5 bowls.
Don't ask me why I decided to give it a rating...it just came to me.