Bow Before the Master

Yes! On September 3oth I made a BOLD prediction; and this week it appears to have come true.

Two weeks ago, after watching the season premier of "The Office," I predicted that Andy would date Angela (see http://thenewsun.blogspot.com/2007/09/office-prediction.html) and after this week's episode, it seems obvious that it will only be a matter of time.

Admit it... you are impressed.

Clustr Map Update

According to the Clustr Maps (featured to the right), I am getting serious hits in India.

Nice...

Hello Indian people.

Internet Specials!

I don't normally post about internet savings. In fact, I never post about them. But yesterday I purchased a 42 inch HDTV (in 1080p) for a total of $870, and I am feeling pretty good about it. So I wanted to share the deal with the world.

First off, if you don't use the internet to search out deals on expensive items, you are missing out. The military invented the internet for three reasons: to improve communications, to save money on consumer items, and to find pornography. If you are only doing one of these things, you are not using the internet properly.

The internet hosts a range of "hot deal" websites. My favorites are slickdeals.net and fatwallet.com. (A friend of mine really likes woot.com because it is funny and has excellent value, but woot only sells one item a day, so it is kind of a crap shoot.) NOTE: the websites I have listed don't actually sell you things, they just show you coupons, and direct you to official deals online or at brick and mortar stores. They aren't a sketchy underground operation... well woot.com is, actually.

Anyway, if you are looking for an electronic gizmo, rather than going to your generic "best buy" or "circuit city" website, you should be going to one of these websites and searching the forums, because there are a fanatic group of nerds who are extremely thrifty, who spend hours combing the world for outstanding value. Then they post this stuff so everyone can benefit. Sometimes stores mistakenly post the wrong price for items on the internet, and this is when they get worked into a feeding frenzy and you will literally see thousands of posts on a given thread. Like, once I saw a really nice Sony HDTV that was listed for about a third of the retail price-- and nerds were literally screaming in all capitals in their posts. Yes-- I said ALL CAPITAL LETTERS! The nerve! (Stores don't always honor these postings, mind you.)

You will notice that the thrifty people have their own little language. They say things like "YMMV," meaning "your mileage may vary," and "B&M" meaning "Brick and Mortar," etc.

If something says "YMMV" it generally means that you probably have to try to use a coupon that technically is not supposed to be used on the particular item you want. For instance, I bought an HDTV and used a 12% off coupon that said "cannot be used for items on sale." The price of the TV I bought had just been lowered that day to $990 and had a tag on it that said "On Sale"... BUT was it really ON sale? Would the salesperson reject my coupon? Would the computer reject it?

This is the essence of YMMV. And in my case, I told the guy at Best Buy, "I have a coupon," he scanned it, and everything went fine. So if you want to try to get the TV i just got... here is the link (lucky for me, VA takes some weekends of from sales tax, and it happened to coincide with my purchase--take that other states!):
http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=624397&highlight=1080p+hdtv


I will leave you with a few parting tips:
1) Good deal websites allow users to "rate" the deal. This is key. Look for deals that have good ratings.
2) Search the forums! Using the keyword search. For instance "HDTV" if you are looking for that.. should turn up dozens of great deals going on right now.
3) Sometimes these deal websites will link to suspicious looking websites (this is rare). Don't buy from them, and don't send naked pics to them-- no matter how persistent they are.

"Youngblood" -- Best Movie Ever?

I didn't plan to stay up until 4AM, it just happened. It happened because of the mesmerizing power of a film. A film full of gravitas, well-developed characters, and perseverance. Yes, I am talking about the seminal film "Youngblood" starring Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze.

If you haven't seen the film, you've probably heard it bandied about it locker rooms, or in some impressive twist during a game of six degrees of separation. IF you have ever met a pro hockey player, I wouldn't be at all surprised if he said, "I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for that movie." The same is true of me-- its 0405AM and I wouldn't be on my computer writing about the power of 80s cinema if it weren't for a film called "Youngblood."

The story weaves an epic tale of a farmer's son who dreams of playing pro-hockey. I was a bit confused by this initially, because farms usually exist in warm climates, and hockey players exist in cold ones.... but if you put this small gripe aside, you have a gem of a film.

Rob Lowe is truly in peak form. His stints in Tommy Boy, The West Wing, and as a real-life adviser to Governor Schwarzenegger (why does one actor playing a politician hire another actor who plays an adviser?) do no justice to this powerful performance. I have never been a Rob Lowe fan, per se. But this movie changed me. I now see why he was cast in all those other roles. I am sure someone in the casting department said "that guy from Youngblood wants a part in [insert name of film/tv-show]?... [insert excited expletive] Yeah! We will take him!"

Patrick Swayze also turns in an outstanding performance. I always thought Dirty Dancing was the pinnacle of his acting career (followed closely by "Ghost," mind you), but now I know I was wrong. Very wrong.

See "Youngblood" immediately, if it is the last thing you do.

Also, quick-note: whoever did the Youngblood movie box cover (featured above) seems to have used a digital camera from the future. Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze look absolutely identical to their modern day selves.

Grade: A

Alex Smith and the case of the Crushed QB

49ers Update:

Why oh why did Alex Smith have to get obliterated last weekend? I thought he was going to carry us to the playoffs this season... now it looks like he might be out all year with a separated shoulder. The 49ers got crushed last weekend (only scored 3 points.)

It took me the first three weeks of the season to convince my girlfriend to pick up some 49er players in her $40 fantasy league (Yes, you heard it, my girlfriend plays in big money fantasy football league. Impressive, eh?) Guess who she picked up in week 4? Alex Smith.

After a horrible showing last weekend, the 9ers are last in passing yards, last in total yards, and 27th in points.

Perhaps she is responsible for this whole mess.

Lucky for me, I can also cheer for the Redskins...

New Blog Visitor Update

According to ClustrMaps someone visited my blog from Indonesia!! (or Malaysia-- it's hard to tell)

We are going global!

Voice Recognition Software

Before reading this post--- read the post below it. It won't make sense otherwise. Today I decided to try this service call "reQall." Essentially you dial it up by phone, leave a voice mail, then it converts your speech to text and emails it to you (among other features.) However, it does not work very well. I used "reQall" to remind myself of the shampoo story this morning. Look at the text version they sent me, and compare it to the blog below:

Dear Craig, this is what you have just added to reQall

Task

I miss shower this morning and it occurs to me that I am out of shampoo but my dark shampoo is been there so I started using the dark shampoo and whatever this time doesn't seen my eyes etc. Shampoo work and pretty good that works. Says, Wow you really smell pretty good, what shampoo you are wearing. I pointed like Pantene Pro-v, Denim wild. And then she asked so if could see the bottle so that she could get that for her boyfriend. So I am not sure, sure, sure, Denim wild and I am going to buy a bottle of Pantene pro-v, and if she finds out a crazy person.

The Price of Smelling Nice

I ran out of shampoo today.

And conspicuously, there it was-- my salvation-- a bottle of dog shampoo in the corner my shower. I looked over the ingredients. Pondered it. Proceeded.

It didn't cross my mind again until late in the afternoon, when an attractive young coworker was enchanted by the smell of my "Premium Tearless Puppy Shampoo."

Her: You smell nice. What shampoo do you use?
Me: Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Pantene Pro-V.
Her: Really? I use Pantene. Yours smells different.
Me: (silent, shameful)
Her: What kind of pantene pro-v?
Me: The kind for regular hair? (spoken on the rising note of a question)
Her: Could you bring it in? I want my boyfriend to use it.
Me: Sure...

Then begins the morale quandary section of my day. Buy Pantene Pro-V for her, and continue using puppy tearless shampoo on myself? Buy Pantene, switch the puppy shampoo and pantene bottles? Honesty?

Obviously, not honesty.

Puggy Smalls

Yes, as Craig mentioned I did get the chance to visit DC over the weekend. Many events were thoroughly enjoyed, some more than the infamous Sanz improv (sanz humor?). Nothing, however, could match the chance to meet the Notorious P.U.G.

Puggy, I dedicate this link to you.
http://www.organicarmor.com/Products/Pets/index.htm

Clustr Map

Check out the glorious "Clustr Map" on the right hand side of the page. The map shows where people view the blog from.

The New Sun has very diverse readership, peppered across the US, and there is even a Swedish fan!