New Addiction

So, I've avoided this for a long time, but it's time to come clean.

I have a new addiction. I'm addicted to Starbucks. Actually, I should say, "My name is Johnny and I'm a believer who struggles with Lattes. And Espresso. "

I know that many of you struggle with similar Starbucks addiction. For me, it crept up on me, out of the blue. Sneaky Starbucks.

It started with coffee on Saturday mornings, a treat, an indulgence for me and Jeni. But things quickly spun out of control. Soon I was going to Starbucks alone, sneaking a latte at lunch, or in the morning before work.

Then it hit me. For my coffee, for just my drinks, I'm dropping 5 dollars a day. 5 dollars. For coffee.

I tried to resist this morning, but we're out of coffee at home. What am I supposed to do? I NEED coffee. So again this morning, 5 dollars.

For coffee.

Not exactly a Hero

I just got Guitar Hero 2 for my xBox 360 and I stink at it. I am not good. Very bad.

But it's so fun. I'm playing on easy whilst I get the hang of it. So far my best song was "Message in a Bottle." I rocked that one.

Rock on.

How Trendy

So, Google has a new service that's pretty cool. It's called Google Trends.

You can enter different phrases or words and see how many other people are searching for the things you're interested in.

Well, sort of.

You can see on a chart the popularity of your subject. There aren't any numbers attached to it. Just a graph. I think like most of the things Google does, it will be cool soon.

I don't really know any reason to use this, yet. But now I've told you about it and I can go to bed knowing I did my duty of reporting it.

This post brought to you by Google.

Time for a change...

So I wanted to change my blog a bit. Being that I have no skills all I could do was pick a different template. I don't like it.

Anyone out there have any designing skills and want to make me a cool custom design?

Awesome, thanks.

Corporate Sponsors...

Last week, Josh had a post about the NBA playoffs and corporate sponsors that you can read here.

Yesterday, the wife and I went to Disneyland to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary. It was a great time but one of the things that really stood out to me is that the Main Street Parade now has a corporate sponsor.

Really, Disneyland? A corporate sponsor for the parade? Really? What, you're not getting enough money from people coming to the park everyday? 50 bucks a person isn't enough to keep things going? Really?

I think I've officially had enough of corporate sponsors.

This post brought to you by Coke.

If you're anything like me...

You're a geek. You've accepted it, embraced it and moved ahead. You're ok that you've seen Star Wars too many times to count. Fine with it.

It's alright with you that you own more than 10 Star Wars books. (Maybe it isn't Star Wars for you. Comic books?)

You're fine with the fact that you've read and re-read all of the Harry Potter books. You don't care that you've got them all on your iPod so you can listen to them whenever you want. Same with all of the episodes of Heroes.

You're not embarrassed that you have "TFN" and "The Leaky Cauldron" in your favorites.

You may be slightly ashamed that you voted for Apollo on Dancing with the Stars but come one, that guy can dance.

If you're anything like me... welcome. Plus, you should get the book, "The Great Snape Debate." It looks at all of the Potter books and takes both sides, Snape is good vs. Snape is evil. It's a good read.

Enjoy it, Geek.

How do you...

Shake off disappointment? I hate it when I fight for something and I know it isn't going to happen. How do you shake it off?

I can't concentrate on anything while I steam. I want to know why a decision was made, not just the decision.

I know this might not make sense, but I'm steaming, and I'm finding it hard to focus.

So Rhapsody kind of rules...

Don't get me wrong iTunes, you're still my go-to-buy-music-and-download-to-my-iPod online music site. I love you. You make my world a little brighter. But for finding out about new music, Rhapsody takes the cake.

I subscribe to Rhapsody which means I can listen to music and even put it on my computer for like 15 bucks a month. (Note: I didn't say download on purpose. I think the correct term is "stream" but I don't know. If you need Rhapsody 101 ask Josh Warren.)

They have this genre thing where you can go through all kinds of music and hear things you've never heard of before. Here are some bands I was introduced to (not in person) through this service:

Rasputina: So, cello rock? Yeah, it's weird, and sorta "goth" but I love me the cello and they're pretty awesome.
Elliot Smith: So sad, but great music. I know I'm late on this guy, but hey, I never said I was cool.
Feist: I know I'm probably late here too. I like her very much.

There's a bunch more, but I can't remember them now. Plus, I learned the term baroque-pop. I like that. I'm going to try to use that in a sentence today.

So sleepy...

Chloe woke up at 2:30 this morning with a fever. I don't even know what time I finally fell back to sleep.

All I know is, I didn't get nearly enough sleep. A Diet Coke, cup of coffee, and Monster energy drink later, and I'm still tired.

I think a nap in an empty office would do the trick.

SNL in the 90's...

So, I don't know if you caught it last night, but NBC ran a special of highlights from SNL from what I consider the "glory days" of the show.

Now, don't get me wrong, I enjoy SNL even today. I like the digital shorts and I think this new cast is coming into it's own. But come on, Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Will Ferrel, Chris Rock, Tim Meadows, Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, David Spade and more on the same show? Can you beat that?

No. The answer is no, you cannot beat that. All in all it was a pretty entertaining two hours of tv. When I think about how much SNL has formed my view on pop culture and entertainment, it kind of blows me away.

I'd say, Star Wars and Saturday Night Live are probably more responsible for my world view and sense of humor than anything else.