One of my favorite Dire Straits songs - from 1980 - featuring the newly released Walkman

Sometimes I should not answer my emails, then again, sometimes I should not post items to my blog. Then again, that is the purpose of this creation.

A “so-called” friend sent me a link on Top 10 Drinking Achievements Before You Die and asked a simple question; “How many have you completed?” When I reviewed the list, I laughed. Yes, I have done all of these. Some of them, many times. I am a professional half mind and barstool tester. So I guess I can die.

But wait, let us first review the list:

• Case In A Day - 24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I prefer to think not. You need to sit down with a couple of friends and a couple of cases and power through the day and the case. People that have never done this think it’s easy and the people that have, know it’s not. Added Difficulty: Keep a hand written journal of what you are doing each time you crack a beer. Bonus Points: If anything is legible after beer 17.
  • Good God - Hello? Yes, I have done this.
    
  • Legible after 17? - hell, I watch football Sunday and read the freakin stats easy!
  • Now if I admit that I have driven, then I would be admitting to a crime. Where is my lawyer?

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In the distant future, a small waste collecting robot that slowly begins to become sentient inadvertently embarks on a space journey that will ultimately decide the fate of mankind.

Generally kids movies are not my thing. The only time I watch them is when THE NIECE or any other of the semi-related offspring spend time at Casa de Bananaverse. So since their all are here this week, I took the visiting house apes to the movies tonight which is always a mini-adventure to get two nieces and two nephews plus my better half all in the same place at the same time. We all arrived at the Scotts Valley Cinema at 6:25 pm, just in time for the 6:30 pm showing of Pixar’s WALL-E.

It has been a long time since I had been at the movies, so the pricing of $9.25 for adults and $6.75 for children under 11 sent me scrambling for an ATM so I could get popcorn and soda for the group. Jeez, I did not realize the pricing had gone up that much. No wonder I rent movies. And please do not get me started on the popcorn and soda prices.

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Summer arrives and what to do with the kids?

Growing up, part of my summers were spent at camp, overnight and day types. Some were up in the mountains, such as Catholic Youth Organization, while others were at local school such as the soccer camp at Santa Clara University. Some were overnights, while others were day visitations, and let me tell you, the overnight ones are tough the first time. Each one of these “summer camp” adventurous remains with me to this day.

Over the past few years, my better half and I have been sending one of our nieces to summer camp, or as we reference her as “THE NIECE.” The first couple were day ones up to a multi-activity, get-out-in-the-sun types. As usual with my niece, she being very shy at eight and nine years of age, the process of getting her to camp was wrought with tears and fears. THE NIECE was worried about not knowing anyone and the usual concerns about making friends. By the end of camp, she wanted to stay and do it again, and we “had to meet” all of her new friends.

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I hear that NBC is clamping down on anyone trying to write about the Olympics, but let them write me up.

One of the great concerns about the upcoming Olympics in China is the issue of pollution, notable air and water.  The latest news is about water problems in the city of Qingdao where news about the Sailing Regatta having issues is starting to make headlines.  From today’s International Herald Tribune:

With less than six weeks before it plays host to the Olympic sailing regatta, the city of Qingdao has mobilized thousands of people and an armada of small boats to clean up an algae bloom that is choking large stretches of the coastline and threatening to impede the Olympic competition.

Local officials have initiated an all-out effort to clean up the algae by mid-July. Media reports estimate that as many as 20,000 people have either volunteered or been ordered to participate in the operation, while 1,000 boats are scooping algae out of the Yellow Sea. The official news agency, Xinhua, report.ed that algae currently covered a third of the coastal waters designated for the Olympic races.

Read the entire article here

Sorry, having been in China a few times, I am expecting these stories to become more and more frequent.

Regular readers of Bananaverse might remember the tragic end to my beloved 1989 Toyota 4 Runner back in March. Since then, I have attempted to live without a motor vehicle by ridding my bike, or public transportation like buses and trains, occasionally getting taxi’s and bumming rides from friends. On the occasions that I needed transportaion, I just rented a car. It was a great plan, except it got old real quick.

Now with the pending visit of THE NIECE, I recognized that a motorized transportation was a necessity. Now being an old cheap bastard, I thought I could just pick up some cool old pick-up. How wrong I was! Anything old had one of two issues; either to many miles, or two expensive.

Meanwhile in Bananaverse, my better half’s 2003 Volkswagen Passat decided that it wanted to act up. And by acting up, I am not talking about little problems, but major ones. In fact, it the Passat was starting to spend a good amount of time at the repair shop and put a huge dent into our savings. So my better half needs a new car.

So it was decided that today we would go look at a Toyota Prius for her commute and that we would look for a good deal on a used truck. Turns out there is a 4 month waitting-list for the Prius and every freakin good used truck was only a few thousand dollars cheaper than a new one.

So this afternoon, I purchased a silver 2008 Toyota Tacoma with Access Cab. It is one of the best selling compact pick-up trucks available in the U.S. and is manufactured at the NUMMI plant in California. So at least it is somewhat American.

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Old school AC/DC - damn, I wore this record out

Disclosure: I am a contractor for Cisco Systems and I develop their Second Life Virtual Campus. My opinions are my opinions!

Yesterday, Tuesday, June 24, I was at Cisco Live! SL all day. Lots of very well attended events going on throughout the days. Here are just three highlights:

11:00 am - John Chambers, CEO of Cisco, Q&A

There were avatars camped out of this sim busting event as early as 8:00 am, eager to hear from THE MAN. Held at Cisco’s Bandwidth Stage, which straddles two simulators. the capacity for avatars was 100 in order to have a good presentation experience. And there were over 100 avatars that attended the event.

Once again, Mr. Chambers demonstrated his considerable brain power and his ability to connect technology terms with users’ needs. The questions from the those attending were insightful and relevant.

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Crap Mariner has undertaken a wonderful effort to create a series of interview podcasts of Second Lifers who are doing a podcast and / or have done a podcast. The list of those interviewed is amazing.

Here is his show notes:

In honor of the Fifth Birthday Celebration of Second Life (blah blah blah trademark symbols, etc and so forth), Crap Mariner interviewed a bunch of podcasters from Second Life to get a sense of why they’re there, what they’re doing, and all things under the virtual sun.

Website Link

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photo by Crap Mariner

I am multi-tasking today but I made sure I was tuned into the 10 am PST / SLT keynote address by Philip Linden (Rosedale) and the new CEO of Linden Lab - Mark Kingdon which is the start of SL birthday bash.

As keynotes go - BLAAAAAHHHHHHH - Are you freakin kidding me? This is your leader?!? Abandon ship. Fire!

There are NO highlights to report - just a huge waste of time and bandwidth.

Note to M Linden - monotone drivel and lack of inflection and general mumbling, let alone a complete lack of any significant announcement is NOT a keynote address. GET A SPEECH COACH BEFORE YOUR NEXT SPEECH!