Today I was just breezing through the news feeds, when I came across a interesting article on CNN. It reminded me of all the talks I have had with Christine when it came to how guys view the fairer sex. Well, at least guys like me, since everyone’s different. She’s always had the assumption that most guys always will prefer “hotties” with big breasts, skinny waists and not much in the intelligence and common sense department. I’ve always had to prove her wrong, at least as far as I’m concerned; I need to have/date/marry a girl that can challenge me intellectually as well as physically. We always brought up Anna Nicole Smith as an example (God rest her soul). Christine admired ANS for her beauty and thought that if I were in a bar and saw this woman and spoke to her, that I’d want to try and have a chance with her. My response: I found ANS so damn annoying (apologies to all Anna lovers everywhere), I’d be hard pressed to want anything to do with her, let alone a one-nighter!

Anyways, check out this article on CNN.com: “Actress Danica McKellar: ‘Smart is cool’”

It’s gratifying to know that there’s still a few “child-stars” out there that can demonstrate common sense and intelligence. Even more gratifying is the fact that Ms. McKellar wants to set a positive example for all the younger girls everywhere, to offset her contemporaries like Lindsey Lohan and Paris Hilton. Granted, she’s a few years older than the aforementioned bimbos women; Lohan just turned all of 21, fer cryin’ out loud! However, there’s no excuse for adult women, even big-name stars, to consistently act like 15 year olds that got loose in daddy’s liquor cabinet. Heck, my younger-than-15 cousins (three girls, plus two boys on my wife’s side) act with more maturity than what Paris and Lohan have displayed!

That being said, I remember a survey that asked a bunch of male Hollywood and music stars just what turned them on in a woman. What qualities did they look for? I believe most of the men surprisingly put intelligence before beauty, if not on par with each other. Some stated that the girl has to challenge them intellectually, others said they want a woman that simply has a good mind behind those pretty eyes. As for me… well, I’m very happy with my wife. Christine is a college grad with an Associates and a Bachelors degree, loves to have intelligent conversations (though she’s not good with words) AND she’s just so damn cuuuuuute! Just a few reasons for my love for her.

Cheers!

(Edited later: originally said five girl cousins, but two of them are way older than 15. Apologies to those other two lovely cousins!)

(Another edit to say: Hoowaah! Fellow blogger Wil Wheaton wrote up a similar article yesterday about this. I didn’t see it before, despite subscribing to his feed. Awesome post, Wil!)

I wanted to do something different with some of the pictures that I had laying around in my Fun Pics folder. These are pics of myself in various situations throughout the months and I used a couple of them so far in the header graphic for the blog. Sooooo… I found a cool plug-in that lets me randomize assorted pictures anywhere I want on the site. Of course, I had to choose my usual spot in the right hand side of the header graphic! Whenever you refresh the page, a different picture of me (or some other goofy pic!) will be shown every time.

After that, I found a way to do the same thing to the header graphic itself, without using a plugin, and the effect is less random. However, it gets the job done nicely, since I don’t want to change header graphics much and I won’t have a whole lot to choose from. It’s a good effect, though! I have a set of three of the vinyl graphic headers, one original and the other two are red and green, randomly popping up on the top of the blog. Maybe in the near future, I’ll create some holiday-themed sets to switch off on!

I’ll have to give proper credit for the authors of the script and plug-in that I had to use for this. Two great ways to achieve a neat rotating image effect!

Here’s where I get to compile some blurbs on what’s been going on since my last few postings.

Ok, where should I start… hmmmm…

Well, let’s get work out of the way. Work is hell. The facility I work at is going through the yearly inventory soon, and this throws all departments into chaos. Mine is no exception. I used to work in Auditing, where inventory affected me the most. Now it’s not so bad, but there’s a lot of increased stress and pressure to get my area cleaned up. This is going well, but not without a stressful price. As you can see from my entries six months ago, I acquired an area that nearly fit the “disaster area” label. Getting it back to a somewhat manageable clutter, between myself and my partner, has been a great challenge. The big learning curve we both had to overcome in the meantime didn’t help much!

The new home is coming together very well! I’ll have to remember to make a new video soon so you all can see the progress we’ve made. The guest room is the last major project I have for unpacking. Mainly lots of books for the bookshelves, and I may have to seriously think about investing in another bookshelf, in addition to a bed and desk.

Because the situation here has slowed down and we’ve settled into the house and all the new responsibilities (somewhat!), I’ve been able to get back into maintaining the Arizona Seed Crackers site. Last weekend, I did a major overhaul to the site and completely changed the interface. The reaction this week was immediate and glowing. The bird club loves the new look and feel, and a couple members sang praises about the new features. I rebuilt the core of the site using WordPress, which is what I’ve been using for this site and, since it’s really made me very visible on the ‘net, I figured the club could really benefit from it. We went to the meeting last night and took some pictures, which I’ll post on their site soon. Click here to check out my handiwork!

In other ‘net news, I belong to a networking site called Orkut. It seems that, because of the forums I frequent and post advice and dissent to on there, I’m becoming quite noted for iPod advice. Unfortunately, it’s attracting a lot of users to message me about iPod problems that, if they did their research, they’d be able to find the answers on their own. This is telling me that most people nowadays don’t want to take the time to educate themselves; they want the fish, but not the fishing rod. Aaaaarggghhh!! I’m just too nice of a guy! Help save me from myself!

Also, today I took the plunge and made a little virtual representation of myself on Meez.com. I’ve seen these little Meez characters on various friends and other people’s Myspace and other pages. Well, I thought it’d be cool to make one for myself… you can see it in the sidebar if you scroll down the page a bit. Making one was fun, though you do have to go through the slightly tedious process of creating an account, which is free. However, some of the items you may want to use cost some points, which cost real money. Since this is a “beta” service, I got on their forum and noted my objections to them charging people in a beta service. Maybe I’ll be heard, maybe I won’t… hmmmm….

On Stickam.com, I’ve been frequenting chatrooms and making new friends. Of course the biggest appeal to this friend service is that you can see who you’re talking to live on cam (that is, if they have a cam!!). Well, one of the rooms I frequent the most is the “Together 4 Peace” room. I quickly found out that this room’s name means that it’s a place for Christians and non-Christians to meet on neutral ground and talk and debate in a friendly fashion. This has, suprisingly, enabled me to grow as a Christian, since some of the debates have strengthened my faith. Also, it’s been gratifying to talk to non-Christians without being heckled and prodded. Hey… we’re all fellow human beings, after all! Sure, some hecklers show up, but they’re looked down upon by everyone and dealt with accordingly.

One more thing! We normally don’t watch TV very much. Lately though, we’ve been getting into the newer Doctor Who series. This is bringing me back to the old days of being looked after by my great-grandpa and watching the early 80’s Tom Baker episodes (He was the Doctor with the scarf, I believe!) on his little television. The new Doctor is awesome, and there’s some great storylines that are presented. I’ve become a Who-vian again!

Well, I gotta do some other stuff, so I’ll end my long blurb here. Cheers, everyone!

The True Cost of an iPhone? by Brett Arends

All I can say about this article is this: I hope none of my friends or family ever hires him as a financial advisor!

Like the picture? I took it while going northbound on AZ 101 at, oh, around 80 mph! I had the headphones on because I forgot the iPod FM transmitter at home. I was listening to a bunch of Rush songs on the trip to and from the bird shop, getting much needed supplies. They put me in a good enough mood to do something really quirky, such as making a high-speed pic!

Speaking of that awesome band, the gift I was mentioning in the last post finally arrived today. Mom sent it, and there was a mixup at UPS, and it got put on hold, and she got worried that I wouldn’t get it in time… Well, it’s a day late, but who really cares? I’ll post a picture of it right here:

This is what got me in the mood to listen to Rush, after a long time of immersing myself in all sorts of metal music. When I first opened the package, I couldn’t believe how heavy it was! Through the bubble-wrap, I could clearly make out the inscription on the spine, “RUSH 1977 – 2004″. My first thought was, “Wow! Did she send me a box set!?” No, no… It wasn’t something like that, but it’s something a Rush fan would treasure nonetheless. It’s a book featuring all the reprinted tourbooks from their tours, complete with other little historical tidbits and a introduction by Neil Peart! It’s quite possibly one of the coolest coffeetable books I could think of… except, we don’t have a coffeetable, but we’re working on that eventually!

So far, I’ve been leafing through it and it’s a fascinating read, not only through a Rush fan’s perspective, but from a musician’s perspective as well. Also, the three mega-musicians inject some of their brand of humour and merriment in almost all of the “chapters” of their tour history. I’ll be enjoying this one. Thanks, Mom… from one Rush fan to another!

Cheers!