Better Than Thriller?

Okay, so maybe not better than 'Thriller', but definitely better than 'Sledgehammer'...

Cremo Cream!

Like most Heffernan men (and probably Heffernan women too, for that matter) I have taken to shaving in the shower. Shower shaving is a great time saver and saves on the whiskery mess normally made in your sink. However, all the moisture and humidity makes it nearly impossible to use a traditional shaving cream or gel in the shower, and my boyish good looks would suffer from using something as pedestrian as soap. This *points to face* is my money-maker. Enter, Cremo Cream!

I found this stuff at a local Wegman's the other day and have been using it to great result. The directions actually say it's best used in the shower, so that's a bonus right off. It's easily applied. It smells great. And it made a 3-week old razor blade feel brand new. Who knows, I may even try going against the grain when I pop a new blade on. I LIVE ON THE EDGE!

And for you lady readers - Lady Cremo!

It comes in an attractive and feminine pink theme so as to not be confused with the masculine red. Because no man wants their lady to get confused and smell like a man, which would only succeed in confusing the man. I'm sure it works just as well on legs, pits, and other unmentionables as the fella version works on faces.

Astronomy 101

So Ali read my mind and got me a kick ass telescope for my birthday this year, the Orion XT6. Something I have always been interested in, but I never really followed through. The telescope is awesome, but like buying a new DVD player that comes with crappy cables, the telescope comes with a very basic eyepiece that gave me okay optics at 48x power. Initially, this eyepiece was great, as I saw all kind of cool stuff. However, after a bit of research, I just bought a fancy new zoom eyepiece that is considered the best available zoom. It goes from 50x, 60x, 75x, 100x to 150x. I also got a magnifier attachment to double each of these powers. Below is pictued the massive new eyepiece on the left, with the right eyepiece similar to the one I have.

So tonight was the first clear night since I got my new zoom. I took a nap, and then stayed up late to test it out. It was nothing short of amazing! I had great views of Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter. I looked at some moon craters CLOSE UP, and even saw a few shooting stars. My big failure was trying to find the Andromeda Galaxy. I'll keep working at it! From time to time, I will share my cool pics with you as I learn how to do it a little better. Here's my first few. Click on each pic for the original sized photo.

This first pic was taken in May with my original eyepiece at 48x. The rings of Saturn can clearly be seen. Right now, they are edge on to Earth, so they are not as dramatic. I couldn't take a picture of Saturn today with my new eyepiece because it set too early in the night.

This is my new eyepiece at 100x. Look at the cloud detail!!! The colors are amazing. The Great Red Spot is on the opposite side to Earth right now, so you can't see it.

The second pic, I tried to really zoom in at 200x. Gets a little blurry because it's so hot and humid, making the atmosphere thick. When the weather cools off a bit, it shoudl be crystal clear.

This last pic is at 60x. If you click it and look closely, you can see a little blip next to Jupiter. That's the moon, Io, rising over the planet! They didn't show up in this picture, but I could clearly see Calysto, Io, Europa and Ganymede lined up in a row around Jupiter.

Catholics vs. Convicts

I've got to stop choking at work while reading the internet! Yet again, a shocking moment while I eat my lunch. Notre Dame and Miami will renew their awesome rivalry starting in 2012 in Chicago. A home and home will follow in 2016, 2017.

Can I be the first to say "shut the F up" to all the lame ND fans and detractors who said ND was afraid to schedule tough opponents? We now have scheduled series with USC, Michigan, Oklahoma and Miami now and in the very near future. The timing is great too. Kelly should have his system in full-effect by the time we start taking on some of these big boys.

I know we have been kicking around a family trip to Ireland for Navy in 2012. I am still hoping we can do that. However, if circumstances prevent that, may I suggest a family trip to Chicago for the October 6, 2012 game against Miami at Soldier Field???

On a related note, I still have my tattered Catholics vs. Convicts III shirt somewhere in a closet. I will wear it!

Internet Advertising Hits All-Time Low

I almost choked when I loaded up CNN.com a few minutes ago. Check it out and be ready to vomit.

Don't worry, no spam or viruses. It's a new low in the endless internet advertising wars. Verizon has a banner on the left side of the page, pushing all content to the right - actually shifting info off the screen on a normal PC 19" monitor!!! I can't believe these A-holes! The page is unreadable! Anyone with a Verizon phone, I hope it spontaneously combusts - of course safely away from you or anything valuable.

Internet ads started out as inconvenient, with a banner. The next big thing were pop-ups, which we quickly learned how to manage/block. Then, the fancy video and animated ads started to take over. The intermediate ad page is always annoying, but at least you can click to skip it. I recently have become annoyed by the "exploding" ads that move the page down, before the ad collapses back to a normal banner. I can't click the right link while it's moving!

However, this new style of ad has become a SITE-KILLER for me. There is no way that I will be scrolling to the right to read CNN anymore. My primary source of news will now be changing if they continue this trend. If other pages start doing this, I see my internet usage time going WAY down. Man this pisses me off!

These Aren't the Droids You're Looking For

Well... disregard my last post because according to Steve Jobs there is no antenna issue with the iPhone 4. Apparently it was all just a misunderstanding that got blown out of proportion. Every mobile device has these kinds of issues, man. Just relax and bask in the awesomeness that is iPhone 4 - provided you use a bumper or don't hold it just like so.

On a separate note, I wonder how rich I have to be before I can tell people the sky is not blue and they'll believe me? $10billion? $20billion? Steve Jobs is officially f**k you rich.

Ouch.

Well, at least it still has the "wi-fives".

Mom and Dad - I officially rescind my recommendation that you get iPhones. Unless, you're fans of duct tape-chiq...

The Instinctive Drowning Response

As a father of two(2), this is just about the most terrifying thing I've ever read.

Maybe we should consider our family vacation in Nebraska somewhere rather than the beach for next summer...

Template Update

I got a little tired of YouTube videos and images always getting cutoff because our blog template only allowed a woeful 485 pixels for the content section and 740 pixels overall. So I boosted the overall size to 960 pixels and the content area to 705 pixels, which should accomodate YouTube videos (default width of 640px) nicely.

Let me know if you have any problems with the update. I'll be looking to upgrade the template in the next few weeks as well as we're a bit behind the times with Blogger...

Apple Idiocy

Predator

Raise your hand if you love Predator. Raise your other hand if you own some copy of Predator, be it VHS, DVD, pirated video or Blu-ray. If you're like me with both hands raised (yet I am still typing), I have some exciting news for you. The new Predator: Ultimate Hunter Edition Blu-ray was released this week!

So let me just start by describing my love for Predator. This was the first R-rated movie I ever saw in the theater. This is back in 1987. Ian and I had just lost the MSA Championship soccer game and were pretty bummed. Dad was our coach, and was probably bummed too. As we were leaving the field (I was probably crying), Dad said, "Let's go see Predator!" Now there are tears of joy, and Ian and I probably forgot we even played a soccer game!