Behold The Baby Birds

I heard a lot of commotion outside my window earlier this week and the cat was more interested in that particular area than usual. As I suspected, the robin eggs have hatched. I hate to say it, but these birds are pretty freaking ugly when they first hatch. Unlike ducklings and chicks, robins and other similar birds hatch out at an early stage of development, which is due to their nesting in trees Ducks and hens nest on the ground, necessitating that they hatch in a much less helpless state due to predators. So, ground nesting birds incubate their eggs a little longer so that, when they hatch, the babies are strong enough to follow the mother out of the nest. It also results in them looking cuter.

Yahoo Purchases Tumblr

I have to admit that I don't know all that much about Tumblr. Aside from being a weird mix of micro-blogging and social networking, it just seems to me to be a site that middle-schoolers use before bedtime. It's often billed as a competitor to Instagram, but, even though their user base has been expanding, there have been a number of reports that Tumblr has been teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Now, with Yahoo's recent announcement that they've acquired Tumblr, it seems that the Tumblrsphere is up in arms and doesn't know what to expect. This is just pure speculation on my part, but here's my take on the situation:

What To Expect From Yahoo Buying Tumblr:

• More ads: Tumblr was making around $15 million a year, and Yahoo acquired it for $1.1 billion. They're going to want to make that money back as quickly as possible and ad monetization is the most obvious way to start doing it.


• No more Porn: Tumblr is notorious for attracting porn bloggers who host adult content and use referral links to paid-content sites to make money. Yahoo has a pretty strict policies against explicit content and is almost sure to enforce them on Tumblr despite saying that they'd run it as a separate entity. 


• Cracking Down On Copyrighted Content: One of the big attractions of Tumblr is its ability to quickly re-blog something. Most of the time, that's done without permission or credit. There's no way Yahoo will allow this to continue, even though this is what accounts for most of Tumblr's content. 


• Interface Tweaks: At the very least, you can expect a "Sign In To Tumblr via Yahoo!" button on your Tumblr dashboard to come along. Yahoo will obviously want to put its own spin on the Tumblr interface, but there's still some hope that they'll keep from totally ruining it. From what I have seen, Tumblr has an interface that is elegant in its simplicity, making it a perfect for use on your mobile device. Yahoo would do well not to screw that part up.

The Bird Is The Word

The previous owner of my house gouged out one of the bedroom windows and mounted a wall unit air conditioner in it. I went to replace the unit with a new one the other day only to find that the air conditioner was once again being occupied by a robin's nest. I couldn't in good conscience remove the nest, so it looks like I'll have another bird nest on my air conditioner for a while. I'll see if I can get some pictures of the eggs at some point.

A Review Of Picaboo Photo Products

With today's technology many of us take photos everyday - whether it is on our smartphones or digital cameras - and I would venture to guess you have hundreds of photos on your computers now. May and June are full of opportunities to show someone how much they mean to you or how proud you are of them - and what better way to show this appreciation than a one of a kind Picaboo photo gift created from those photos you already have. A photo book is one of the best ways we have of documenting and preserving our most cherished memories.

If you are looking for a place to design a photo book online, Picaboo is the place for you. Picaboo is a photo book service that excels when it comes to creative control and ease of use. The publisher delivers a wide range of design tools and layout templates that help you create an eye-catching and completely custom photo book. And, with Father's Day coming up, you can  Preserve Dad's favorite photos in a Picaboo classic photo book worthy of display in his office.

Picaboo provides all the essential features necessary to make a photo book online. Its web-based book editor has basic photo editing tools like brightness adjustment and cropping tools. The free online storage allows you to save your in-progress projects on the Picaboo website. Picaboo gives you the flexibility to design a photo book from scratch, or you can choose from dozens of themed templates. The service has a template for virtually everything, ranging from event-based themes to seasonal layouts and various aesthetic styles. Once you select a theme, Picaboo makes it easy to insert additional pages anywhere in your book. Additionally, the service allows you to switch a photo book's size and style while maintaining the interior layout. The BookGenie feature, which automatically creates a photo book for you, has played an important role behind its popularity. This is a great option if you are short on time or have too many photos to sort through and place individually.

Picaboo delivers good photo and binding quality. The service enables high-resolution uploads, so your photos are sharp and vivid after printing. Each photo book is printed on thick, premium paper, and some book styles include lay-flat pages. As the name indicates, these pages lay completely flat without you having to crease the paper at the binding. The editor's interface is intuitively set up, with one-click navigation between book pages and easy access the service's many features. If this is your first time creating an online photo book, Picaboo's user friendliness makes it a great service to consider.

Picaboo only offers five sizing options, but its selection of cover options is impressive. Its classic covers include standard hardbound, softbound and linen options. You can also customize any hardbound or softbound book with a photo. The service really stands out for its best-selling Classic Custom book, which combines affordability with quality. Also notable is Picaboo's premium velvet, leather and two-toned linen covers.

With high quality printing and multiple book styles to choose from, Picaboo is a good option for creating online photo books. You can simply create an account and start working on your photo album. You can also get their coupon codes in order to create fascinating photo albums with less hassle.

Picaboo makes it simple to take those digital photos and turn them into high quality gifts right from the comfort of your own desktop. You can create a free Picaboo account and give it try first if you would like, and right now get 50% off Classic photo books, canvas prints, and calendars at Picaboo.com with the code DERBY50

Frost Boss Cooler Review

We've all been there before:

You have a case of your favorite canned beer or a 12 pack of soda and you're thirsty. Trouble is, you don't want to have to wait 45 minutes for the fridge to do its job or wait 15 minutes for the freezer while risking an explosion. And you certainly don't want to water-down your soda or beer with ice like a pleb. There has to be a way! This is America! If we can put a man on the moon, surely we can find a way to cool down a frosty beverage in a reasonable amount of time.

That's where the Frost Boss Instant Beverage Cooler comes in.


The Frost Boss is spins a regular 12 oz. can around a hopper full of ice and via thermal induction, cools a warm can to ice cold in two minutes. And once the Frost Boss is done spinning, you don't have to worry about the contents of the can exploding out when you open it. I picked one up for myself recently and gave it a quick run-through and a review. Below, you'll find my video review of the Frost Boss in action.

Now, this isn't a new concept by any means. I seem to recall there being a similar contraption being marketed a few years back called the Blitz Chiller. If memory serves, the Blitz Chiller was bulkier than the Frost Boss and it had to be plugged in whereas the Frost Boss is battery powered. The feature that wins the game in the Frost Boss vs Blitz Chiller debate is that you can separate the Frost Boss spinner from the hopper and use the spinner against anything that holds ice (like your cooler). That makes the Frost Boss much more portable.

The only real issue I have with the Frost Boss is that it only supports a standard 12 oz can. So, if you're using the new Budweiser skinny can or the old Heiniken keg can, you'll probably be out of luck. And I'm pretty certain a beer bottle won't work with the Frost Boss. Maybe they'll remedy that in future versions.

The Frost Boss usually costs you about $30, but they run a lot of sales on the website, so you might be able to get it cheaper. Head on over to FrostBossCooler.com for more info.

A Four Panel Comic

I had an idea for a four-panel comic recently and went about having it drawn up. Here's the result:

I Miss My Physical Keyboard

Technology moves so fast that consumers can’t even catch up the latest trends.  There is so much hype and exposure to the latest gadgets and gizmos, that we have forgotten the simplicity of technology.  Every time you flip on the television you are exposed to new types of digital hardware especially smartphones.

Smartphones have conveniently come a long way with added capabilities and firmware upgrades.  Their network connectivity is rapidly evolving, making these new conveniences become nested into our daily lives from maps, to talking to texting.  Even though these devices are handy, there is one thing it is lacking that we need on our smartphone: the keyboard.

One of the things that drew me to my first smartphone, the original Motorola Droid, was the slide-out keyboard. It made the lap from Blackberry to Android that much easier. When it was time to switch out of my original generation Droid to something new, I searched for an Android Phone that also supported 4G but was unable to find one. So, I sucked it up, went with the Droid Bionic and dealt with the virtual keyboard. Two years later, I'm still agonizing over it and physical keyboards on smartphones are becoming harder to find.

What happened to the keyboard on smartphones?  Don’t cell phone companies understand that having a physical keyboard on the phone is more safe and practical than virtual keyboards?  The sensitivity of Android OS makes people spend more time correcting “fat fingered” messages than what it’s worth. Not too long ago, while discussing Tropico 4 via txt to a lady gamer friend of mine, I explained to her about how big my virtual city's dock was. "You should see how big my dock is and what I'm doing with it right now", I txted. But I didn't say "dock". I accidentally txted something much worse. And then there was the follow-up txt about big shitments my dock was handling.

If smartphone users don’t have the ability to correct messages with a hard keyboard, they are setting themselves up for failure.  The reason is simple, people take messages out of context and if the wrong word is inserted into a text then the recipient will receive mixed messages.  Unfortunately people have become depended on text messaging, when in reality, they should just speak on the phone instead of had jamming text messages that auto-correct words and send the wrong message.

Virtual keyboards are cool, and nice to have but pose the treat of miscommunication all the time.  One main reason is the way the virtual keyboard blocks other information on the phone.  How can you read a text message dialogue and provide valid responses if you can’t read the full text message.  The virtual keyboard is a visual distraction that doesn’t give the user full visibility to information published behind the virtual keyboard.  That’s why having a real QWERTY keyboard on a cell phone is better.  You can type and hit letters and expressions accurately without visually blocking the dialogue of multiple in and outbound text messages. 

Virtual keyboards sometimes have a mind of their own and will send the message at the wrong time.  This can cause a huge miscommunication and potentially break a business relationship or offend the other party.  The biggest problem is the sensitivity of virtual keyboards.  They will fire of premature and incomplete text messages and the text conversation doesn’t’ flow like a natural conversation and the participants are always in a scramble to find out if they are “on the same page” with each other.

Virtual keyboards are also not trustworthy because you can type a message and accidently send sensitive information to the wrong recipient, again causing a communication disaster.  Hard keyboards offer more securing and minimize error over virtual keyboards.

Currently, Verizon only offers one smartphone that has both 4G and a physical keyboard: The Droid 4. It's over a year old, though, and the general consensus is that there won't be a Droid 5.  It looks like the mob has spoken and virtual keyboards shall rule the smartphone galaxy.

Some Truck Driver Really Loves Little Caesar's

After work on Friday, I stopped at the local Little Caesar's hoping to try their new deep dish pizza. I was hoping that it would taste just like old school Little Caesar's, so I was anxious to get in line and put in my order.

There was a pretty good sized line waiting when I got in there, mostly filled with college kids who were trying to get something to soak up the beer that was was still floating in their stomachs from 4 O'clock club. I waited patiently and soon I was third in line. As the latest customer was paying for his order, a redneck type burst through the doors.

"I'm going to go ahead and cut in front of you two" he said to both me and the guy in front of me

"Okay," I said, recognizing by the guy's demeanor that he was in a hurry. "But you're going to have to pay for our orders too".  

"I can't do that. I only have $5.50"

"Then, I guess you're going to the end of the line."

"No, you don't understand. I'm illegally parked. The cops don't like it when I park like that."

I figured that he meant that he had parked in a handicapped spot, so I looked out to the parking lot. Seeing no cars in he handicapped spot, I gave the line-jumper a quizzical look

"That's my semi out there across the street".

The guy had apparently seen the Little Caesar's, parked his semi in the middle of the busy street and ran across three lanes of traffic to get himself a pizza. For a moment, I thought that I should yield my spot in line in recognition of his rabid Little Caesar's fanhood and in the interest of traffic safety. But, no, I was resolute.

"I really wish I could help you, but it's illegal to aide and abet illegal parking in this city", I said.

"True story!", said the guy in front of me as he stepped up to the counter to  put in his order.

The truck driver reluctantly got in line behind me and started hopping around as if he had to take a massive piss. I stepped up to order my Little Caesar's deep dish pepperoni and was told that it was already Hot and Ready.

As I was getting a two-liter of soda out of the fridge, the truck driver stepped up to order. He asked for a Hot and Ready sausage pizza. The clerk told him that Little Caesar's only has pepperoni Hot and Ready. The truck driver said he'd settle for a pepperoni then. He was told that the person who just left had gotten the last one and that they'd have another up in 5 to 10 minutes.

The truck driver screamed out some intelligible set of curses, turned and bolted out of the store to his truck.

TommyMac The Genius

People from around the globe are celebrating my genius. It all began in a humble photography shop where some old dude saw a picture of me in my Iron Man arc reactor shirt. From there, the photo went viral and people everywhere are curing their Beiber-fever with a healthy dose of TommyMac.

Jelly Bean Comes To The Droid Bionic

It seems that every time I'm ready to get rid of my Droid Bionic and replace it with something else, Verizon gives it a major update and I feel like I've got a brand new phone. Late last week, Verizon started sending out an OTA update for Droid Bionic users that upgraded their Android OS to 4.1.2 which is a flavor of Android called Jelly Bean. So, for those of us who were using Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0) with the Bionic, what's the difference? Well, aside from some aesthetic differences (new display fonts, face recognition animation etc) there are a few things under the hood that will make you glad you decided to allow the update

Jelly Bean vs Ice Cream Sandwich

• By most accounts, Jelly Bean runs much faster on the Bionic than Ice Cream Sandwich does due to a number of performance improvements. 
• Jelly Bean comes with an updated version of Google Now which includes the use of informative cards that are designed to help you manage your daily life. A voice will now respond to certain queries. It still won't call you "Rock God" if you ask it to, though. 

This latest update for the Droid Bionic has convinced me to keep the phone for another few months. We'll see how I feel about the Bionic at the end of the Summer. 

Scrapping The Old Shed

When I purchased my house several years ago, the backyard hosted a medium sized wooden shed and a smaller sheet-metal lawnmower shed. The wooden shed was close to falling apart partially due to the previous owners using it as a means to dump about four years worth of garbage.  It had also served as a shelter and breeding area for many of the neighborhood's stray cats. Not six months after I had moved in to my house, I cleared out the shed, took it apart and had everything hauled off.

I never did bother with the lawnmower shed because I couldn't find anyone who would be willing to take the whole thing. It was a pretty small shed to begin with, so I figured it wouldn't be worth the effort to pull it apart and get rid of it. So, there it sat, haunting my yard. Last year, it was finally engulfed by the overgrowth of the yard belonging to my neighbor behind me. Last week, I had enough and hacked my way through the overgrowth to get at the shed. I spent this past weekend tearing the shed apart into manageable pieces.

How Do You Get Rid Of Scrap Metal?

I have no idea exactly what the shed is made of or how much it would be worth to a scrapper. It's rusted over really bad and is caked in plant matter, so I have to wonder whether or not its even worth the gas money to haul to my local scrapper. I recall a few years back when I was switching out some broken windows from my metallic screen door, I had laid the window panes against my house for about three hours and came home to find a scrapper kicking the glass out in an attempt to claim the panes. I chased him off because I wasn't done with them, but, it left me with the impression that there are folks in my area who are willing to pick through what I've got.

So, for now, I've put it in the front yard, inviting local scrappers to take it. If no roving scapper takes it off my hands within the next week, I'll call someone to haul it off.

Let's Hope This Pile Attracts Scappers Rather Than Lightning Strikes

Dogs In Home Depot?

I was putting the finishing touches on kiddo's new bedroom this weekend and decided to visit the local Home Depot in order to pick out some new faceplates for the room's electrical fixtures. While browsing through them, I felt something crash into my thigh, making me drop the faceplates. Was it a midget? A giant duck? A dwarf horse? A giant midget dwarf duck-horse? No. It was a dog. A big, slobbery, dog who was acting as if he either wanted to play fetch with me or devour my forearm as if it were a Pupperoni.

Having been attacked by dogs on several occasions and having been sent to the hospital in the majority of those cases, I'm very mistrustful of dogs that are too large for me to punt across the room. I looked over at the dog's owner who was holding his leash taut and asked her to restrain the animal.

"He just want to play!" she said. I had heard that story many times before. It usually ends with me getting stitched up in the emergency room.

"Well, I don't want to play", I said, "and Home Depot is no place for a dog".

"I can't leave him in the car. Besides, Home Depot is dog friendly.", she insisted. And her statement about Home Depot being dog friendly was tacitly confirmed by the nods of two employees who had come over to observe the altercation.

I realize that chocolate labs are good dogs and, if you want an affectionate, dumb, easy going dog, chocolate labs are the best. Still, I don't want to be slobbered on by a strange dog in a home improvement store. Just because Home Depot is dog friendly doesn't mean I have to be dog friendly simply because I'm shopping there.

I backed away from the dog and retrieved the dropped faceplates. As I moved to leave the aisle, I noticed the dog had taken a sizable crap on the floor. "Clean up in Aisle 3", I said to the two employees there. The dog owner gasped in shock and ran out of the store with her dog without even offering to clean up the mess.

Big "Bender" Statue

I mentioned the character Bender from Futurama in a recent post. Coincidentally, Jason was working on a project near St. Louis yesterday and happened by a statue of Bender in Dittmer, MO. The statue is displayed at Dittmer Auto Repair wearing a peace sign medallion which appears to have been made from a tire rim. It's about 10 miles off of Route 66 which is appropriate considering the kitschy nature of the statue.

"I Am Bender! Please Insert Girder!"

A Simple Sermon On Moving Mountains

I am not much for giving sermons or evangelizing, but, every so often, my status as an ordained minister is discovered by a religious friend and I am invited to speak to a small congregation. I don't take those opportunities unless I have something inspiring to say. Here's something I came up with recently.  

I woke up one Monday morning after a particularly bad nightmare (I need to stop watching "The Walking Dead" before bedtime). In my startled state, I slammed my right hand against my nightstand hard enough to knock the jewel out of the ring I always wear. The ring is made from titanium and featured a small jewel suspended by two little prongs. Since I destroyed the prongs and there was no way to set new ones into titanium, the ring could not be fixed.

I was pretty upset. I've worn that ring for years and it carries a lot of sentimental value since it was a Father's Day gift from my former step-daughter. It was considered a pre-divorce "you're still my dad"gift. I simply couldn't believe that we as a society were technologically advanced enough to put a man on the moon but we could not cheaply manipulate titanium in such a way as to allow it to have two new prongs inserted into it so that I could have the jewel re-set. Then I turned to the last refuge for a scoundrel like myself: Prayer.

Matthew 21:21 says

If you have faith, and do not doubt...if you shall say unto this mountain, "Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea"; it shall be done.

And why is this? Why not simply reach down and throw the mountain into the sea? An episode of Futurama put it best: 

God Entity: Bender, being God isn't easy. If you do too much, people get dependent on you. And if you do nothing, they lose hope. You have to use a light touch, like a safecracker or a pickpocket.

Bender: Or a guy who burns down a bar for the insurance money.

God Entity: Yes, if you make it look like an electrical thing. When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.

The day after ruining my ring, my girlfriend presented me with a new one. It's a gorgeous tungsten ring that carries with it all new sentimental value that is similar to what the old ring brought. Both are thoughtful gifts from someone whom I love. In both cases, though, the physical ring isn't nearly as important as the emotion attached to them or the emotion that inspired the gift in the first place. So, as far as I am concerned, the giving of the new ring and the remembrance of what the old ring was given for has moved this mountain of a problem into the sea.

Really, Family Video?

My local Family Video had a very unique way of encouraging people to support the local blood drive. Considering that the blood drive coincided with the release of Breaking Dawn Part II on DVD, I can understand how they came up with the idea. I just can't decide if I find it clever or if I find it tacky.