The wisdom of Larry the Cable Guy......

Got this via the Internet :-)

1. A day without sunshine is like night.
2. On the other hand, you have different fingers.
3. 42.7 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.
4. 99 percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name.
5. Remember, half the people you know are below average.
6. He who laughs last, thinks slowest.
7. Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.
8. The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the Cheese in the trap.
9. Support bacteria. They're the only culture some people have.
10. A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
11. Change is inevitable, except from vending machines.
12. If you think nobody cares, try missing a couple of payments.
13. How many of you believe in psycho-kinesis? Raise my hand.
14. OK, so what's the speed of dark?
15. When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
16. Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now.
17. How much deeper would the ocean be without sponges?
18. Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.
19. What happens if you get scared half to death, twice?
20. Why do psychics have to ask you your name?
21. Inside every older person is a younger person wondering, 'What the hell happened?'
22. Just remember -- if the world didn't suck, we would all fall off.
23. Light travels faster than sound.. That's why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
24. Life isn't like a box of chocolates, it's more like a jar of jalapenos. What you do today, might burn your butt tomorrow.

When is 4+4 < 6?

When buying Nuggets at McDonalds apparently.

My kids are growing up and have, for the most part, outgrown the Happy Meal portion sizes at Mickey D's. My eldest has started enjoying healthier fare (a side salad and a chicken Wrap) while my middle child has at least graduated to more Nuggets (2 four-piece packs).

When we stopped for lunch while out running around on Saturday, I ordered a little out of my usual order and got confused, missing my sandwich entirely. When I got back to the table, I realized my mistake and went back to order something for me. I wasn't very hungry and the nuggets smelled good for some reason so I decided to get a 6 piece for me. At $2.99 it seemed a little pricier than I expected, but I realized that prices had gone up lately so I just paid and went back to join the family.

I knew that the four-piece Nuggets used to be on the Dollar Menu, but checking the original receipt, the price had raised to $2.58 for his two packs of four ($1.29 each). Checking my receipt, it showed $2.99 for 6 pieces.

Hmmm... Eight pieces for $2.58, but only six pieces for $2.99? That didn't seem right. Perhaps they charged me for a small meal instead (and forgot the rest of the items). It's so hard to tell individual prices nowadays because they don't list all of the "ala-cart" items on the menu any more.

When I questioned the manager, she stated that the rationale was since the 4-piece was on the Dollar Menu, but no longer is, they were incrementally raising the price back to what it was beforehand as opposed to raising it all at once. I could tell as she was trying to explain this to me, and looking back and forth at my receipts, she was trying hard to make up something that she thought I would believe, as opposed to "an official Corporate statement."

I know it's only a few cents in this case, but I can't think of a justifiable reason for this price discrepancy.

With 3 kids and a busy life, we spend hundreds of dollars a year at McDonalds. It was only by chance that these two items ended split enough for me to really catch the price difference.

What's the rationale for this pricing scheme? ("As adults, we expect to pay more for the same stuff we buy for our kids." "We thought you wouldn't notice." "Pricing is a store by store decision and we stay out of it." "Most people can't afford the 6 piece Nuggets anymore anyway, so we're trying to earn a few more cents occasionally." "Oops, there must be something wrong...")

It may seem like a little thing, but it's the little things that can make a big difference these days.

Mickey, you got some splainin' to do...

Bailout Rap

Ok, who said the rappers don't know what's goin' on?

1,474 megapixel inauguration photo! Now THAT'S BIG!

David Bergman is a photographer. Well, that's like saying that the ocean is made of water. This guy made an INCREDIBLY HUGE (and incredibly detailed) picture of the Obama inauguration.

Using special software and 220 pictures he took while there (and 6-1/2 hours of processing), he turned out this incredible picture of the event, complete with zoom and pan controls so you can enjoy the full effect.

And now, a history lesson...

Miss him yet?

Welcome Home Mr. President

This official presidential portrait marks the first time that such a photograph has been taken with a digital camera. It was taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II on January 13th, 5:38pm (according to the pic properties), by Pete Souza, the official White House photographer. How's that for transparency of the new administration :-).

History worth keeping

If you, like millions of people around the word, intend to collect some mementos of today's inauguration, one site you might want to look at is Newseum.org. I've mentioned it several times before here, but it's not one that most of us would visit except on days like today, so it's worth repeating.

They've added a number of new features to their site, like the Top Ten Covers page I discovered today.

Check out the current date's gallery or browse the archives. A little URL hacking (just change the date at the end of any of the links in the archive) will get you covers from any date they've got.

You can save any of the covers to keep for posterity, scrap booking, etc as well.

Truly a valuable resource.

Young Presidents

My kids and I were having a conversation on the way home tonight about how young Barack Obama will be when he takes office. We knew that he would be young, but knew he wasn't the youngest. A little Google-ing shows that not only is he not the youngest, there were several younger...

Theodore Roosevelt, 42
John F. Kennedy, 43
Bill Clinton, 46
Ulysses S. Grant, 46
Grover Cleveland, 47

Barack Obama will be 47 when takes office.

Site translation bookmarket

I was gonna build my own (see previous post), but I found one that worked while looking at other bookmarklets today!

Simply create a favorite (on your link bar for ease of use) and use the code below as the URL. You'll likely get an alert, but just click OK and proceed.

javascript:location='http://translate.google.com/translate?u='+encodeURIComponent(location);

Then when you visit a page not in English, simply click the bookmarklet (favlet), and the page will re-appear in (machine-translated) English, courtesy of Google!

I would LOVE to see these guys in concert!

See more Blue Man Group videos...

How attentive are you?

The world is a busy place. Your brain processes millions of pieces of information every minute. I won't blame you in you miss a few clues here...

Home Depot

This weekend is another free kids event at Home Depot -- first Saturday of every month, 9am-noon usually. The projects are usually pretty cool and usually only take about 15 minutes or so, but it's a fun time and the kids get to practice their carpentry skills as well. We've been going to these for several years now (Lowes tried to copy them, but are of no comparison at all!) and have really enjoyed them. Did I mention that they're completely FREE?! My youngest has been participating in them since he was 3 and went with us even before that.

On a similar note, isnoop.net has a blog post about his recent Home Depot experience. It points to the excellent customer service that Home Depot is working even harder at now. It's paying off. Way to go Home Depot.

I resolve...

...to not make any New Year's resolutions this year :-)

What is...

10:02, 10:27, 10:36, 11:15, 11:42, and 1:15?

• When my youngest fell asleep tonight. I'm surprise he made it that long.
• When my wife fell asleep tonight. I knew she wouldn't make it.
• When my middle child fell asleep tonight. That surprised me. He made it last year without any issue.
• When my oldest child woke my middle child up tonight. He went right back to sleep.
• When my oldest child fell asleep tonight. Oops. Not gonna see the ball drop this year...
• When I'm going to sleep tonight. Happy New Year!

Another One Bites the Dust!

Happy New Year!

Here's hoping the New Year is better for all of us!