Dojo Info 2/28/06

1. Indy man helps rescue own sons from car thieves
   “I’m feeling like God had his hand on me and my family today,” said Tom Ardizone.
2. Yobs’ mums face sin-bins
   Your kids do the crime, you might share the time.
3. Championship Week
   We’re getting closer!!
4. NASA’s World Wind v1.3
   Dojo brother passes this hip interactive tool along.
5. Fellowship of the Ring – HD vs DVD
   Comparing HD with mouseover. Very kewl… but keep in mind that converting to .jpg kills quality in both formats.

The Bachelor, Paris: Finale

The little voice inside my head says, Let the better half write this post too and She’s twice as good as you’ll ever be. Then I turn around and find her looking over my shoulder. Just kidding honey, I know you’d rather take care of the Bear.

Final Rose

This decision isn’t like all the others that came before. Test driving a car is vastly different than actually signing the papers. So when the time came for Travis to choose between Sarah and Moana I had to take a close look at Travis the person.

Is he the kind of guy to make spontaneous, often foolish decisions? No.
Is he the kind of guy that puts his wants above others? No.
Is he the kind of guy that did whatever he wanted despite friends/family recommendations? No.

So I felt pretty good that Travis would make the right choice and choose Sarah. And Sarah was the right choice. Whatever allure that Moana held was merely that. Sarah is a the kind of girl you take home to Mom. And when he did, the answer came back, “She’s a good girl.” What more do you want? To his credit, Travis listened and made the right call.

Then he showed more of his maturity by postponing an engagement until they’ve had more time together. More real world time, not fantasy life in Europe. This relationship has a very good chance of going the distance. I’m happy for both of these kids. (So now they’re “kids” and I’m officially “old.”

At Least We Had Paris

Going into this episode, I really didn’t care for Moana. I thought she was moody, selfish and over-dramatic. “You have parts of me that I’ll never get back.” After the show those opinions didn’t change. But what did change is that I felt for her. I honestly believe she wasn’t acting and that the pain of this rejection was perhaps the most real thing she’d ever felt. My heart went out to her.

After a colossal letdown like this, Moana is likely to strike out in almost any direction, most of them not healthy. It wouldn’t surprise me a bit to learn sometime next year that she’s fronting a new death-metal band or has chosen to “live the real me” and join the homosexual lifestyle. I don’t wish that for her, but based on her behavior on this show, it wouldn’t be a leap. Here’s hoping she can learn from the experience and find her true soulmate.

Well, that does it for another season of The Bachelor. All in all, a pretty solid show with some stand-out crazies mixed in with the legitimate contenders. But the line I’ll remember from this season? “You just don’t want reproduction!”

You’re Asking the Impossible

Got this joke from my good friend Tracey. 8^)

A biker was riding along a California beach when suddenly the sky clouded above his head and, in a booming voice, the Lord said, “Because you have TRIED to be faithful to me in all ways, I will grant you one wish.”

The biker pulled over and said, “Build a bridge to Hawaii so I can ride over anytime I want.” The Lord said, “Your request is materialistic, think of the enormous challenges for that kind of undertaking. The supports required to reach the bottom of the Pacific! The concrete and steel it would take! It will nearly exhaust several natural resources. I can do it, but it is hard for me to justify your desire for worldly things. Take a little more time and think of something that would honor and glorify me.”

The biker thought about it for a long time. Finally he said, “Lord, I wish that I could understand women. I want to know how they feel inside, what are they thinking when they give the silent treatment, why they cry, what they mean when they say nothing’s wrong, and how I can make a woman truly happy.”

The Lord replied, “You want that bridge with two lanes or four?”

Survivor Panama: Week 4

Yeah, I was out of television when it came on last week. Never fear… the Internet is here! I just downloaded the episode from a new CBS service aptly named ondemand. For a $1.99 I was treated to an exciting 45-minute download. Thrills! Once retrieved, the quality of the video was quite good and no commercials. Remind me to send Al Gore yet another Thank You card.

La Mina

What a stroke of good luck! Send me to exile and I come back stronger than when I left. I had no idea it would be buried. Terry did a good job to find that puppy.

Sally got the right guy to go to bat for her in Austin. Things were looking dim but she’s held on to fight another day. La Mina better win this next immunity challenge though, or they’ll be down to 4 and easy picking once the merge takes place.

Still here. Still a nice guy. But letting apparently weaker players get the best of him yet again.

So far Nick is flying under the radar and could emerge in the finals.

Casper held true to his agreement and didn’t vote for Ruth Ann. I doubt it will matter as he’s still in good with Terry et al.

Casaya

Finally some fire out of this chick. Of course it was Shane that punched her buttons. How much do I need to send in for someone to finally smack Shane in the face?

*slap* *slap* *slap* *slap* *slap* *slap* *slap* *slap* *slap*

Courtney is a dork. I’m not sure what she brings to the table but Casaya keeps winning challenges so I guess I can’t be too hard on her.

How about Aras conjure us up some Roasted Duck with Mango Salsa?

Becoming my favorite member of Casaya because she can see what idiots surround her. Plus she’s still working hard. You go girl!

“I feel 10 pounds lighter.” –Bobby said after returning from their freshly installed outdoor commode.

If Bruce was on La Mina I’d love the guy but now he’s just guilty by association. They should introduce trades into Survivor. “We’ll trade you Ruth Ann, our machete, 2 fish hooks and future draft pick for Bruce?”

Voted Off

Poor gal. Didn’t really deserve to go but handled it well.

It’s never to late to join our Fantasy Survivor contest (The Dojo).

Dojo Info 2/26/06

1. Google unveils Web page creator
   With FrontPage on the way out, it only makes sense that a company that prides itself on ease-of-use, Google, comes out with their own Web page maker.
2. Think you got game? These tests will tell
   Are you one of those “demanding” parents (Hello, Mr. Woods & Mr. Williams) that wants to get your young ones on the road to Sport Supremacy at an early age? Might want to contact Sports Potential.
3. Sony unveils high-definition camcorder
   Due out in April for $1,700, only a few will be that interested. Until the prices come down, that is.
4. Study: Americans’ home Net adoption slowing
   Internet adoption rose a paltry 2% last year according to this study. Time for prices to drop!
5. NBC Olympics
   The Olympics are winding up and there have been some special moments, but I fear the shade of Bode-hype and his subsequent “I Party” mantra have tainted what would (could?) have been a fine two weeks.

Corporations Mapped

Someone should build on this idea. Build it with Flex and include more companies and let me filter them like NameVoyager. That’d be keen!

Oh What a Night!

The team manager for his high school basketball game finally gets into a game. Of course, it’s late in the 4th quarter and his team is up big. Poor guy hadn’t played a minute all year. First shot… airball. Never fear, he then proceeds to make drain his next 6 shots. He finished with 20 points in just over 4 minutes. Oh yeah, he has autism.

What’s great is the way the whole gym went increasingly ballistic after each basket. The joy of sport!

Survivor, Uh Oh

Our lovely cable provider misunderstood them when I asked to discontinue my Broadband Internet service and disconnected all of our services. Therefore, we had no television last night and I was unable to do my weekly Survivor post.

But I’ll check it out on my brother’s TiVo this weekend and post afterwards. Sorry for the delay! All complaints can be directed to Insight Communications. I’m sure they’d love to hear from you. ;^)

The Great Experiment

The states are great laboratories of democracy.

Have you heard that before? The Founding Fathers had wisdom beyond their own experience, I believe, as a collection of state entities has the opportunity to discover a more optimized process or policy.

This idea relates to what South Dakota is doing with respect to Roe v. Wade. Their new law looks to ban all abortions except those to save the mother’s life. Simply put, can the citizen of South Dakota and their elected representatives make decisions that effect their lives? Or, will the national set of judges step in and overturn the will of the people?

Kobe Owns You

Couldn’t wait for the next installment of Dojo Info for this News Flash from The Onion—Kobe Bryant Named As 2008 Olympic Basketball Team.

Mini Golf Simplicity

Some online games are too whimpy. Some are too difficult to learn. Some are simply novel but don’t have staying power. Then there’s Mini Golf II.

My first round.

AP comes back with.

Dojo Info 2/23/06

1. The Simpsomaker
   There’s no end to the Avatar generating ideas out there!
2. Valentine’s Day
   Every male in a relationship should read this Primer on Valentine’s Day. See? Men can still learn a few tricks from time to time.
3. THE #1 Song On This Date In History…
   Might want to bookmark this one, you know, just in case.
4. French Government Report Says No to same-sex “Marriage”
   It’s good to see the French understand the value of traditional marriage, especially to the raising of healthy children.
5. Best Student Sections, The top five, including the crowing of our No. 1
   Kentucky is #3 which is really kind of high considering we only have one lower arena endzone. The powers that be need to figure out how to get more students down around the entire court.

Downtown Arena in Louisville

I don’t agree with much that Rich Bozich has to say (or the way he says it) but he’s got this one nailed. Louisville needs a new arena and fast! In fact, so many in Louisville are pushing for it, I’ve already forgotten what the hold up is… oh yeah, people are too busy arguing about it to get anything done.

Hopefully, cooler heads will prevail… scratch that, I want the smartest choice to be made, whoever it’s from. Not that I know the answer. Heck, if it were up to me, I’d build the arena in the center of Metro Louisville, where the most people can get to it the easiest. That’s not “downtown.” How about buying that land right behind Oxmoor Mall?

Here’s a photo of one proposed design. For more visit Louisville Arena Authority.

The Family Truckster

Do you have a family that requires a roomy vehicle but don’t want to skimp on performance? How about this Audi RS4 Avant that has a V8 engine outputing 420bhp? That should do the trick.

Dojo Info

1. Nintendo DS machine to work as portable TV
   These devices must have an identity crisis. Phones behaving like camaras; games like TVs; computers like jukeboxes? Where’s it going to end? Answer: It won’t.
2. More people adopt kids with Down Syndrome
   Adoption is one of life’s most giving actions. Families who adopt should be applauded and appreciated. Adopting a child with any physical or mental defect should be especially praised. These people are true heroes.
3. Best Buy Receipt Check
   You know those annoying lines that want to check your merchandise against the receipt they just created? Well, you don’t have to.
4. Bye-bye, FrontPage in New Office, Says Microsoft
   Better late than never.
5. RIAA Says Ripping CDs to Your iPod is NOT Fair Use
   If you didn’t already know that RIAA was clueless, there should now be no question.