Utterly, Completely Busted

Let's just state a fact for the record - I totally suck at predicting the outcome of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. As evidenced by my standings in two(2) separate bracket polls this month, it would be difficult for me to perform much worse.

Woof! 40%...


12.5%? Is that a joke?

Every year I lament this public proclamation of ignorance. I devise radical selection strategies - always pick the high seed, always pick the low seed, pick the team with better uniforms, pick the team a better mascot. They all fail. I scratch my head as participants who watch zero college basketball all season and who typically don't pay attention to sports in the least crush me. It's truly agonizing. I like to think myself pretty competent when it comes to college athletics. I could probably tell you the better players on each team with a 10 seed or higher and potential sleepers from mid-major conferences. Yet when it comes to predicting which of those teams will actually advance, I fold faster than Superman on laundry day. At this point I'm almost starting to believe my picks actually influence the outcome of the tournament.

Next year, instead of talking myself into thinking I have any real chance of winning anything (never in almost 20 years of bracket picking have I ever won), I'll consider myself a public service to family and friends. I'll be completing my bracket the night of the tournament selection and making it available to all comers. Use it for reference. Learn from my mistakes and inaccurate prognostications. Your best bet will likely be looking at my picks and picking the exact opposite across the board. I'm the George Costanza of NCAA brackets...

Photography Tips

I think everyone knows the benefit of having a good digital camera. However, sometimes it's tough getting good indoor photos. Here is just a little comparison to show the value of a good flash...

Without Flash

With Flash

Wii Would Like to Play

This past Christmas I didn't really need anything, so when Steph's family asked what I wanted I defaulted to my good old standby - BestBuy gift cards. Later that day at Steph's aunt and uncle's I was introduced to the Nintendo Wii for the first time. I just played Wii Sports, but was instantly hooked. I vowed the gift cards would go towards the purchase of my very own Wii. Unfortunately, the were out of stock everywhere and repeated trips to BestBuy left me empty handed... until yesterday. I headed over early, waited in line for about 40 minutes and got my Wii. Fortuitously, on this same day BestBuy had also received a shipment of the very-hard-to-get Guitar Hero 3 for the Wii. So I also picked up a copy of that along with an extra controller.

Let me just say, WOW! I've never been a very big fan of video games, mainly because I lacked the dexterity to be any good at it once they added more than two buttons to the controllers, but Colin, Steph, and I must've played Wii for about 6 hours yesterday. It's the coolest toy I've purchased in years. My arms and back are actually sore from repeated boxing and tennis matches. It's super simple to play and you don't feel bad for playing for a few hours because it's a full-body workout. I also like it because it's so inclusive, i.e. it wouldn't be fun playing by yourself like a Halo-type game.

I know Kevin and Ted, die-hard Xbox and PlayStation proponents, will give me hell for this purchase because it's simply a game system and doesn't have any additional features like HD-DVD or Blu-Ray, but what can I say? I'm man of simple pleasures. Plus, I can purchase and play the original Zelda and Super Mario trilogy (and Metroid and Kid Icarus and Castlevania and Excitebike and every other awesome NES, Super NES, N-64 (including Starfox) and Sega Genesis game out there) through the online store. I can even get Donkey Kong and film my own documentary (see post below).

Anyway, I'm sure it'll get some heavy use when everyone is in town next month. And for anyone who's in the market for a new game system, I highly recommend it.

The King of Kong

Okay, last movie post I do for awhile. I had been wanting to check this flick out for a long time. I had heard amazing reviews, and I loved the other documentaries in the genre: Spellbound and Word Wars. If any of you haven't seen these other two, go out and rent them too. All I can say is one of them features a MUSICAL ROBOT! You will cry laughing. I also recommend a few friends and a 12 pack of beer to increase enjoyment.

Anyway, back to The King of Kong. The subtitle of this movie is A Fistfull of Quarters, so you know it's going to rock! This movie is essentially about two guys competing to become the best in the world at Donkey Kong. It pits lovable loser Steve Weibe against video game legend Billy Mitchell. If you have never heard of these guys, you probably have had sex at some point in your life. Mitchell is the all-time record holder with an untouchable score that he set in 1982. Weibe decides he can beat it and sets out to do so. What follows is one of the most compelling documentaries, no movies I have seen in a long time. You will find yourself cheering.

I also love the look at competitive video games. It focuses on the old school games and not this crazy Halo/Warcraft stuff that dominates today. This is one that EVERYONE MUST SEE! If you have Netflix, you can watch it instantly online. Otherwise, go out and rent it. You won't regret it.

Holy Poop!

I've been out of touch for the last week, in England on business. So what a unbelievably awesome surprise I was treated to this morning when I was checking my usual web sites and discovered Nine Inch Nails had released 36 new instrumental tracks for FREE on the internet. You also have the option to pre-order actual discs and paraphernalia, which I did since I'm such an NIN uber-dork, but even that only costs $10. Anyway, if you're any sort of a fan of music you need to a) give Trent some money for this effort and b) download the CDs immediately! Whether you're a fan or not, you have to admit Trent Reznor continues to push the envelop on music in all ways and shapes. Whether it's his actual music, his disdain for the record companies, or now his approach to delivery he's an innovator. You can find all you need to know here: http://ghosts.nin.com

Sanders and jigsaws and drills! Oh My!

Teresa and I "inherited" Uncle Harry's living room furniture, and while most of it is beautiful and in pretty good shape, the chairs were in serious need of repair. Namely, the seats of the chairs. They seats were supported by what appeared to be some sort of sack-cloth, very old metal springs, and various other things (e.g. random pieces of wood, 1987 "Sailing World" magazines) because the cloth and metal springs had begun to give way. In addition, the padding for the chair seats, upon removal, felt more like fiberglass insulation than padding (my boogers are still very gross from breathing too much of it).

So I endeavored over the weekend to fix the problematic chair seats. In lieu of the metal springs and sack-cloth supports, I was going to cut a 1/4-inch-thick piece of MDF-board to size for each of the chair seats. In order to cut the MDF-board, I needed a new jigsaw. Grandpa Trinkley had given me a jigsaw, but the base had come detached, and I was as like to cut myself as I was the MDF-board. So Teresa and I took a trip to the Home Depot after Church on Sunday (we had a nice little Sunday planned) and picked up some supplies. I bought a Ryobi jigsaw, 5.5 amp, because it was $20 cheaper than anything else (all of which were either 5.5 amp or heavy-duty items), and its features were much better (laser-line site, base swivels 60-degrees, the blade rotates 45-degrees, and it had a great case!). With the new jigsaw, the job was easily accomplished in the afternoon and the chair seats are ready for Teresa to cover with new padding and fabric.

When I was putting away my new jigsaw, I looked at my power-tool collection and smiled. I finally feel that I have the tools for nearly any home-improvement job. But almost all are of different brands. However, after using Ryobi, DeWalt and Black & Decker products, I can happily say that so far each has performed the job I required from it, and I've not had a problem with any of them. Also, with the exception of the details sander, all have come with a case which helps with storage and preservation of each of my power tools. I can still see dad's pile of power tools on the basement shelves. Oh, and dad, just let me know if you need to borrow something.

Ryobi Jigsaw - extremely useful

Ryobi detail sander - not very useful, but only $20

Black & Decker cordless drill - the best tool I've got

Craftsman circular saw - I haven't gotten to use it yet, but am impatiently waiting

DeWalt power sander - power sanders rock!