Category: Andy Wonders

Will You Go Shopping on Thanksgiving Day?

Just in case you haven’t looked at a calendar lately, I thought I would remind you that Thanksgiving is in two weeks. It will be a day for family, for giving thanks, for football, and now a day for shopping it seems. The crazy day always used to be Black Friday, with wonderful stories of people being thankful they were able to trample over their fellow man to save $5 on a TV, but now we get to get our shopping on one day early, or at least it gives the women something to do while their men have fallen asleep in front of the TV with some post-Thanksgiving Day drool dripping down their chin.

The last two years we’ve been able to get all of our day-after-Thanksgiving Day shopping done online, with one year scoring a great deal on a drill and Christmas tree, and the other year it was a TV, but this year there is crazy talk of actually going to a store that is having a Black Friday deal so I might be forced to do some trampling. but we’ll see. The thing I do know is that I won’t be going shopping on Thanksgiving Day, ever (Okay, ever is a mighty long time, so I should probably state “I don’t think I’ll ever be going shopping on Thanksgiving Day”), but I plight: Will you be going shopping on Thanksgiving Day?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Do You Think Hillary Clinton Will Run for President in 2016?

As this year’s Presidential Election is now over, it’s not too early to start thinking about 2016, is it? Sure, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is poised for greatness in a few years if he wants it, what with the way he seems to be handling things after Superstorm Sandy, and wouldn’t he look sweet in the jacket that says “Chris Christie – President” on it? But the big question on most pundits minds, or at least somebody’s mind, is what will Hillary Clinton be doing in four years. She’s supposed to leave the office of Secretary of State, which means she’s going to be forced to spend a lot of time with Bill. Sure, they look happy when they are together, but do you notice that it isn’t very often? And also sure, didn’t Bill look like he was having fun running around the country stomping for Barack Obama? Imagine the good times he can have out there campaigning for Hillary?

I’m guessing that in the next couple of weeks the stories will all be about “Can Barack Obama do this?” and “Can Barack Obama do that?”, but I’m thinking that sometime before 2013 the first solid names will be launched in terms of candidate for President – 2016. With that, do you think Hillary Clinton will run for President in 2016?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

 

Is It Wrong to Vote for a Candidate Based on the Negative Ads of Their Opponent?

In Illinois Barack Obama pretty much is a lock to win its Electoral votes. No matter your political leanings, this leads to a little bit nicer TV, although there are enough other, well-funded ads to fill the TV space at times. On my front, though, it’s not about the TV ads that is driving me crazy, it’s about my State Representative race between Stephanie Kifowit versus Pat Fee. My problem – There are things I like about both candidates with the conservative in me liking the job Pat Fee has been doing, but the liberal side in me also sees some benefits to Stephanie and her track record as an Aldermwoman where I live.  It’s one of those cases where if you molded the two candidates together you would have my perfect representative. The problem is Stephanie’s ad campaign that is mostly negative flyers littering my mailbox seemingly every day with some of the worst Photoshop I have ever seen. It’s a campaign based on bashing of Fee, pandering to the typical “If you are a senior, Pat Fee will take away your money” message and superimposing Pat Fee’s head on another body, in a pose to make her look evil. Combine that with the fact that Kifowit also seems to be tightly tied in with the ultimate Superpower in Illinois, Michael Madigan, and the general Democrat in me is leaning to the dark side. Not that Pat Fee hasn’t run some ads with a negative message of her own, they just aren’t as pandering, nor as misleading, as the Kifowit mailers.

A Kifowit representative came to my door the other day (Hell, it might have been Stephanie herself), but I didn’t have time for her because Milo was barking his head off, and I had pork chops on the grill. The more I thought about it, though, I wish I had a minute to find out if it was her. Why? Because I would have liked to have told her that if she lost by one vote, that vote mostly likely was mine. In the end it wouldn’t be based on her track record, nor the job I thought she would do. Nope, at this point it is mostly being based on the fact that her ad campaign is exactly what I find wrong with politics today. And so I plight: Is it wrong to vote for a candidate based on the negative ads of their opponent?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Have You Tried Windows 8 Yet?

So last night I took the plunge and did something I didn’t think I would do, my being generally an Apple kind of guy now, but I decided “What the hell?” and upgraded my Windows PC to Windows 8. I’m not really sure why, maybe just my geeky need to have the “newest”, but I caved into the hype, and the discount, and even though Windows warned me I would need to pretty much reinstall every bit of software I had on the computer, I did it anyway. Most things went seamless, surprisingly enough, and although the screen layout takes a little getting used to, I’m actually kind of liking the “tile” format of the Start screen. I was also shocked as hell when I rebooted my computer and Windows fired right up, but I’m having one issue, and I don’t know if it’s just a coincidence with my Comcast internet connection, or if somehow Windows 8 now keeps blowing up my internet connection. In the simplest way to put it, with my PC running Windows 8 (at least that’s my initial synopsis), my internet connection keeps dropping.  I’ll be surfing to re-download some software and everything will slow to a crawl, I’ll see the lights do the rolling “disconnected” dance on my cable modem, and then things have to do the “reconnect” game.

For my scientific method I’m turning off that PC and going to see if my Apple keeps its internet connection, and if all seems to be running well I’ll fire up the PC again and see what happens. I suppose I’ll post an update later to let you know if it seems to be a Windows problem (I really hope not because so far the process has been seemless), or a Comcast problem, but for now I plight: Have you tried Windows 8 yet?

That’s it for this plight! I”m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Did You Eat Too Much Halloween Candy?

Halloween is over! Yay! Here at The Dude household we had a whopping goose egg number of kids coming to the door, and I have to say that I wasn’t totally disappointed especially as this year I opted not to go out and buy my normal two or three bags of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, instead opting to use some extra Rice Krispie treats we had lying around (and no, they weren’t expired) in case some little ones came a ringin’. The downside of this Halloween plan is that I don’t have my normal two or three bags of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups left over on which to overindulge for a few days. I suppose that’s okay, especially this year as I’m putting forth a greater effort to watch my girlish figure, but oh, how eating one always harkens me back to the commercials of old with “You got chocolate in my peanut butter!” and “You got your peanut butter on my chocolate!”, which of course just leaves to tasty goodness.

Myself not being able to overindulge, I’m sure there are a lot of stories of those of you who did, and so I plight: Did you eat too much Halloween candy?

 

Will You Be Dressing Up for Halloween?

Happy Halloween! It’s a day for ghosts, goblins, candy, decorating gone crazy, and maybe dressing up in a crazy outfit to break the monotony of the year. Me, I’m not much of a Halloween person, never really have been mostly because I’m too boring when it comes to a costume, or more likely more lazy to put something together. Where I live doesn’t help as we don’t get many kids at the door (last year I think the count was a big zero), which normally is a good thing because it leaves me a lot of candy, usually Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, as I generally buy something I know I’ll like to eat later. That’s not saying I haven’t dressed up in the past because as a kid I’ve had my share of costumes in a box, probably flammable, with the way-uncomfortable plastic mask, and I remember going out trick-or-treating for UNICEF in college, which was a great way to get a lot of free candy under the cover of fundraising.

My favorite costume idea, and it’s my go-to when people ask what they should be for Halloween, is “gum on a shoe,” nicely donned by the W.G.N. one Halloween. The costume is simple: You put an old shoe on your head and attach pink crepe paper (a la the “gum”) to it, streaming down around your body. So, if you’re looking for an easy costume, there you have it! As I will be boring again this year, I do plight: Will you be dressing up for Halloween?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Should Anderson Cooper Report from a Studio or On Location?

I’m watching the coverage of Sandy, the storm that might just be the precursor to the Mayan end of the world on December 21st, and mostly I’m watching CNN. They seemed to have the better weather guy doing a great job explaining just why New York City was screwed with this storm, and they had a variety of reporters in the field which is always entertaining as most people (including me) are hoping something wacky might happen to them, maybe be swept over by a big wave, yet we hope that it’s not bad enough to cause their demise. Piers Morgan was showing why he really shouldn’t be covering nature’s fury, I think it was Ashleigh Banfield in Battery Park in NYC showing the water rising, and then there was Anderson Cooper in Asbury Park, NJ, being battered around by the wind and the rain, his signal cutting in and out, and trying to host a show. I’m watching, fascinated, hoping for that TV moment, amused by him trying to hold an interview with the Mayor of some town where neither of them can hear each other, and my wife says “Why isn’t he in the studio?” I look at her like she is crazy and say, “Because he’s Anderson Cooper.”

Sure, it really isn’t informative TV. I mean we learned pretty much nothing from the interview with the Mayor that Anderson was talking to, but when compared to Rachel Maddow over on MSNBC, safe and sound in her studio and wondering how all of this was going to impact the election, on CNN we get entertained by TV feeds cutting out, reporters putting their finger up to their ear trying to hear the opposite side of conversation, misinformation telling us that the New York Stock Exchange is under four feet of water, and Anderson Cooper showing why he is more man that Rachel Maddow could ever hope to be, or maybe just a little more crazy. And so I plight, wondering if my wife might be correct: Should Anderson Cooper report from a studio or on location?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

Have You Ever Tasted Food Meant for a Dog?

I’m a fan of the show “Shark Tank.” If you’re not familiar with the show the basic synopsis is for entrepreneurs to come before a panel of five potential investors to pitch their projects and companies. If the “Sharks” like their business, or sometimes just have faith in the people, they will offer an investment in the company. There are four people who are the regulars as investors, namely Mark Cuban, Daymond John, Kevin O’Leary, and Robert Herjevec, with the final spot rotated by Barbara Corcoran and Lori Greiner. Each potential investor has their field of expertise and unique personality so for most of the dreamers on the show there is someone there, if the business seems like a good fit and the partnership seems workable, that they will get the mentor of their dreams, or at least a reasonable offer for the smart ones to take and the idiot ones to turn down.

With the show’s simple format, my love of seeing new ideas and projects, sometimes quirky personalities of the entrepreneurs, and the attitudes of the investors, its an entertaining hour of “Why didn’t I think of that?”, “That’s a perfect fit for so-and-so to work with them!”, “That person is an idiot for not taking that deal!”, and “Good for them!” comments. It was the other day that I saw something I never thought I would see, however, and it wasn’t Robert Herjevec dropping a dog. Nope, it was seeing Matt and Meg Meyer, two quirky dog lovers, with their business of frozen yogurt treats for dogs, getting the “Sharks” to taste dog food. Okay, technically it wasn’t dog food, it was doggie yogurt, but it is always fun to also see the investors “try” the products and this was no exception, especially the reactions of Mark and Robert. Matt and Megg didn’t get any takers for their business, as seems to be the norm for people pitching dog products (It keeps looking to me like it’s a bitch of a business to get into on a national scale), however, the episode did stir up an old plight idea I have had for a while, as every now and then, since we have a dog and sometimes see interesting treats for him (the cupcakes at Sprinkles seemed like the closest I would have gotten to do it), I sometimes wonder how those treats taste. I mean, his beef jerky treats don’t seem to be any different from some of the jerky you would find in the candy isle, his little cookies smell wonderful with their pumpkin aroma, and in looking at the ingredients for most of the things we get him, nothing looks that horrible, but I have yet to bridge that gap into dog treat taste-testing as the “Sharks” have seemed to now crossed. And so I plight: Have you ever tasted food meant for a dog?

If you have, I would also love your comments if you found it any good, or if your reaction was one of “Yuck” as was the reaction of the “Sharks,” but in any case…

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!!!  L8R!!!

Has a Google Search Ever Led You Down the Wrong Path?

This morning there are about 286 results in Google if you search tap-dancing militant islamic fundamentalists. Add quotation marks around the phrase and you end up with 286. (Go ahead, tell me you aren’t tempted to try the search and and see for yourself?) Some, but not many of you, may remember this “search” from the writings of Zay N. Smith who used to write a quirky column called “Quick Takes” for the Chicago Sun-Times, then for WBEZ, and now can be found on a “not so easy to find his writings” website called The Beachwood Reporter (His column may not always be that easy to find – but I highly recommend looking for it). I bring that up is because sometimes Google will send you to weird places or sometimes a site probably that’s not really what you are looking for based on what you search, and as happy as I was for the extra traffic to the web site, I was curious as to the spike in traffic to an old podcast posting when, during an earlier match-up between the Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys, all of a sudden our page titled “A Tee Pee, the Chicago Bears, Cowboys & Aliens, a Carnival, and Shooting Up in a Theater!” started getting a lot of visitors.  Sure, the page title had “Chicago Bears” and “Cowboys” in it, but as I looked at the stats for the day it appeared people were searching for “Bears pissing on Cowboys” and low and behold there the page was, a #2 rank in Google. As the page didn’t have the word “pissing” in it I can only assume that some magical Google algorithm intertwined “pee” and “piss,” not realizing the “pee” referenced in the article was combined with “tee” so therefore about a tent and not the act of urinating. With that, if you search “Bears peeing on Cowboys,” the page shifts to #1. In the search world I guess that makes sense, and from a quick perusal of the results it didn’t seem there was a page of images of bears urinating on cowboys, but with the mixture of words, our page ranks up at the top!

I suppose the two topics, the Zay N. Smith quest for “tap-dancing militant islamic fundamentalist” Google domination, and “Bears pissing on Cowboys” aren’t directly related, but in trying to figure out the increase in traffic for my website that day, for whatever reason, it triggered that old Smith “search” thought, and I was curious what the count was up to. For what it’s worth, if you do search for Bears pissing on Cowboys, being #2 out of 4,670,000 results isn’t that bad (Add the quotes around it and you only get 6, with this post being one of them). Anyway, if you remember a Google search that didn’t quite take you to that page you were looking for, please share in the comments, but for now I plight: Has a Google search ever led you down the wrong path?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Will You Watch the World Series?

As a Chicago Cubs fan, along with being a Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox fan although not necessarily in that order, I can’t say I was disappointed that the St. Louis Cardinals lost to the San Francisco Giants, but once again it’s a year when unless the TV people do their magic spinning I don’t think I’ll be watching the World Series. It’s not that I don’t like baseball, nor can’t get wrapped into teams I don’t really have an allegiance to, but of the many teams in Major League Baseball I can’t get excited about either the Giants or the Detroit Tigers being in the big game this year.

The thing I do know is that what might bother me the most is the fact that another sporting event I don’t care that much about might be screwing up my normal TV viewing. Yup, this summer it was the Summer Olympics screwing up my watching of “America’s Got Talent”, where it turned out that dogs have the most talent in America, and now I’ve got some baseball possibly interrupting Simon, Britney, Demi, and L.A. as yes, I’m getting sucked into “The X Factor.” I suppose I’ll survive and let me DVR plan my TV viewing (When does Real Housewives of Atlanta come back?), but I’m pretty sure FOX would probably prefer nearly any other teams fighting it out for the Commissioner’s Trophy, and the only people who really care are Giants and Tigers fans. And so I plight: Will you watch the World Series this year?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!