Lunar Adventures

NHL Hockey playoff overtime is amazing

I’m writing this post while keeping a watchful eye on the Dallas Stars and San Jose Sharks hockey game — it’s game 6, double overtime, 1-1. Stars up in the series 3-2, but game 7 (if necessary) is in San Jose. So they want to close this out.

I’ll be the first to admit that hockey [...]

Annoyance of Day™: Banner ads that talk

Advertising drives the internet. I understand that, and can deal with it — even this humble little site has an ad on it here and there. And with the rise of contextual advertising and niche marketing, I’ve even clicked on some ads because they were — get this — relevant, interesting, and presented a product [...]

Ceremonial first creepy-crawly sighting

I think now I’m truly officially a homeowner.

I was awakened a few minutes ago by the sound of something pitter-pattering across the hardwood floor. I had my suspicions, so I turned on the light and sure enough, there it was: a cockroach.

Now, a little background about me. I’m terrified of roaches. My top five fears, [...]

On measuring success

One the topics floating around here in Meadows administration is the topic of measuring success — specifically, how students define success and whether or not that changes throughout the course of their college career.

That got me to thinking, how do I define success?

Life-wise, that’s a tricky question. But career-wise? Easy.

Flexible hours, an office with a [...]

Annoyance of the Day™: Income taxes

It’s April 14 in the US, so what could today’s annoyance of the day be if not taxes?

Of course, calling tax time an annoyance is like calling a leg amputation a minor medical procedure. But the point stands.

The current system of taxing, deductions, and 9,000,000 pages of tax laws on the books is arcane. Do [...]

Important NCAA basketball bracket update

One of my pet peeves in life is when people talk too much about their fantasy baseball, basketball, or football team or talk too much about their bracket around people who aren’t in their league. Sure, amongst other people in your league? Talk until the cows come home. But among unconcerned parties? Spare us the [...]

On stubbornness

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a pretty stubborn cat sometimes. More often than not, really. Sometimes, it’s because I have a strong conviction and feel that I’m in the right and don’t want to compromise. But sometimes I’ll be sitting around minding my own business and having a stubborn moment all by [...]

Dirk Nowitzki is a lot of things - including tough

From the day Dirk Nowitzki was acquired by the Mavericks on draft day, one of the knocks on him was that he was soft. He’s been fighting that reputation ever since, which I think is a pretty unfair one.

He went ahead and proved that he is as tough as they come — and, as John [...]

Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson. Whatever.

I know I haven’t blogged in a while, but the whole Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson thing has me a bit riled up, so moments before the Cowboys and Giants kick off in round 2 of the NFL playoffs, I figured I would weigh in.

I understand that when two celebrities date, the paparazzi will show [...]

Things I learned about Dallas real estate on my way to becoming a home owner

So… it’s been a little while since my last post. The full time day job is keeping me busy, as is the burgeoning side business. I figured that wasn’t providing me with nearly enough stress, so I decided to enter the Dallas real estate market.

I did eventually find a house, after roughly six months of [...]

The Smashing Pumpkins reunion starts with “Tarantula”

I’ll be the first to admit that when I first excitedly started to listen to the Smashing Pumpkins new single, “Tarantula” (iTunes download), I was so disappointed I turned my pumped-up headphones down a notch to be able to get through the song.

But, after that first listen, I forced myself to listen again… and [...]

How Lost and Grey’s Anatomy mismanage having too many plotlines at once in unique ways

I’ll admit this up front — I love Grey’s Anatomy, and I love Lost. But watching the shows can be maddening: they just have too many plotlines going.

But, you have to hand it to ABC for managing to mismanage the number of plotlines differently in each show.

Grey’s Anatomy has too many plotlines that it tries [...]

My request for convenience stores everywhere: More drink choices

I wish 7-11 and the like would increase their drink selection. Maybe I’m weird, but I’m not a fan of most standard sodas — the Coca-Cola, the Pepsi, the Dr Pepper, etc. — they have too much sugar and are too high-fructose corn syrupy.

There are, however, a lot of drinks I am a fan [...]

AT&T and Cingular: Figure it out, people

This story is probably a bit out of date, but whatever. It still agitates me. It’s old news, but AT&T and Cingular are merging and are going to go by the name AT&T.

Memo to AT&T and Cingular: make up your minds.

Once upon a time, I was an SBC Wireless customer. They turned into Cingular and [...]

KFC high pitched “mosquito buzz” commercial creates a buzz with no substance

By now, many people have heard about this KFC commercial (available on the KFC website) and contest. The gist of it is they play a Mosquito tone during the commercial, and if you identify exactly when, you get a $10 KFC gift card or something.

Buzz marketing is all the rage — but I think [...]

Being attached to your cell phone

It’s 8:55am as I type this, and I’ve been at work for about 20 minutes.

I left my cell phone in my car.

And it’s driving me crazy.

I would just go down to get it, but it’s a bit of a walk to where I parked. That, and I’m curious to see how long I’m willing to [...]

Maybe I should become a chef

I ate lunch today at Genghis Grill — my first time to go. For those unfamiliar with Genghis Grill, it’s a stir-fry place. You go into the line with a bowl, put whatever meats you want into it (beef, steak, chicken, shrimp, other seafood, tofu, whatever). Then you pile on your veggies, lots of choices [...]

Why Deal or No Deal is annoying

I’m not sure why, but I’ve found my TV tuned to Deal or No Deal a couple of times of late, despite the fact that I find the show annoying on a number of levels. I guess there’s something entertaining or amusing about watching people gamble away serious amounts of money in the hopes of [...]

Spring is a time of change

A few changes in play:

First off, you&#8217;ll that in the about &#8220;the Adventurer&#8221; section over there to the right, the employment has changed.  I&#8217;m now working at my old stomping ground, Southern Methodist University, as a web specialist in the Meadows School of the Arts.  (My mother worked for [...]

How left-handed are you?

For the second time in about four months, I’ve broken my left thumb. It’s an annoying trend, I must admit. But I’ve decided to use this opportunity to try to catalog the things I do fairly exclusively with my left hand, despite being right-handed. In other words, things I’m struggling to do since my left [...]