I got my hair cut for the first time in what seems like forever Saturday morning. My hair is very thick and uncontrollably wavy, and because it’s summer, I decided to just get buzzed. My wife informed me that I actually look like somebody. Guess who? She thinks I look like Chef Robert Irvine from the Food Network’s Dinner Impossible. What do you think? Below are the chef and me. Guess which picture is him, and which is me. Hint, I’m the one taken in a dark computer room with a 1.3 megapixel Pocket PC Phone camera. I just wish I had the chef’s trunk-like arms.

I’m really knocking out the posts tonight. I guess since I haven’t had a chance to blog lately, I have a lot of pent up posts. Over the weekend, I was scrolling through the DirectTV program guide at my in-laws’ house. I came across the last couple minutes of the UK edition of Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. I always wanted to see that one. I enjoyed the US version last year. I hope it comes back. In any case, the few minutes of the UK edition didn’t really do much for me. I guess I’m used to the US edition. There is just something about American pride and arrogance that makes for better TV. You know, the kind of “OK, chef Ramsay, who the hell do you think you are to tell me what to do in my restaurant, despite the fact that I’m failing and you’re like a world class chef and owner of 3000 successful restaurants and a celebrity and a respected authority and all that? Who do you think you are to tell me what to do?” Really, it does make for good television. It’s almost like listening to people call Dave Ramsey to tell him that they have a better idea for paying off debt and want to buy a new car and buy a house on an interest-only mortgage. Dave always asks something along the lines of “How many millions of dollars do you have on that system?”

I’m looking forward to the finale of Hell’s Kitchen tomorrow. For some reason, I like that show too.

I haven’t thought about MySpace in a long time. I rarely think of it, except for those rare moments anymore when I get a friend request that I need to log in and check out. I had a slow day a while ago, and started reading Wikipedia. I drifted through various topics, and came across Deadliest Catch, a show I have enjoyed watching for several years. For some reason, the show didn’t resonate with me the first season, but by the second season, I was hooked. For some reason, I’ve always considered the Northwestern my favorite boat, although I’ve come to enjoy all of the boats, captains, and crew members involved. I guess like watching Ice Road Truckers, Deadliest Catch portrays one of those jobs we would love to be able to do, but can’t or won’t for whatever reason. Having been in the Navy, and seen some seriously bad seas (I can remember taking a 36 degree roll and looking straight down at the ocean) I can appreciate the Bering Sea storms from the safety of New Jersey.

When I started reading about Deadliest Catch on Wikipedia, I learned that most of the boats involved have websites, like the Northwestern, Cornelia Marie, and the Wizard. The Cornelia Marie and Wizard have blogs, which I subscribed to. Most of them now have stores selling merchandise. I have to admit, these guys have done a great job of capitalizing on the success of the show and building bridges to their fans.

Back to the subject, I even found myself this morning before work searching for sites on MySpace. I sent friend requests to a couple of them.

When reality TV first came out with Survivor, I hated the entire concept, but I have definitely found some reality shows I enjoy. The only one I should enjoy, but don’t for a funny reason, is Tougher in Alaska. I’m sorry, but the first time I watched the show and it cut to a commercial break and I heard “Tougher in Alaska is brought to you by… Viagra,” I have been unable to even think of the show without laughing. I seriously wonder why the History Channel seems to think it’s main demographic is men with erectile dysfunction (otherwise referred to as ED.) It’s starting to make me ashamed of watching the History Channel. I don’t want to be lumped in with guys who have a problem that I wish would have remained unmentionable in the company of other men. Why can’t we just go back to the good old days when if a man’s “stuff” didn’t work, other men didn’t have to hear about it? Oh, that’s right, pharmaceutical companies. Doh! I’m getting tired of hearing politicians bitching about “big oil.” Seriously, why not go after “big drugs?” Starbucks coffee costs like $54 a gallon. Go after big coffee.

I couldn’t resist this one. When I first saw the title in my RSS feeds, I got a little apprehensive. When I started reading, I thought “Surely, this is going to frustrate me.” Then I crossed the line in the post when I realized it had to be as far from “serious” as possible, and I was able to sit back and enjoy the read, even though it is on a topic that I frankly couldn’t care less about.

From the blog:

Nearly 2000 years ago the Apostle John wrote the apocalyptic writing we know as the book of Revelation. This book has been the center of theological controversy for nearly two millennia. The interpretive difficulty of this writing has spawned a plethora of biblical doctrines to unfold. Perhaps the most controversial section of these writings has been chapter 20.

Well, I'm delighted to say that after all this time it has finally become clear as to what the meaning of part of this chapter really is. Let us observe together by evaluating a few verses, namely 7-10.
In chapter 7 we read, And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison. The thousand years here is clearly metaphorical. What John is saying here is not a literal thousand years, but rather only a few years. To be more specific, he is really only speaking of a period of 4 years, bare with me on this. As far as who Satan represents, well, because John is speaking in metaphors, he is not speaking about the spiritual nemesis of God. Rather he is speaking of the long awaited entity knows as the Los Angeles Lakers. The four years represents the period of time from 2004 to the present, 2008.

I will merely say that I endeavor to take the book of Revelation seriously. Sure, there’s some symbology, but every single sign is explained elsewhere in the Bible. I fail to see how God could make things so clear, then release a book into circulation that we’re not meant to understand in any possible way. I know a lot of Christians who stay away from Revelation. Some are afraid of it. Personally, I’m not afraid of the book, nor am I afraid of the conclusions that one can be drawn to by taking the book seriously. I’m far more afraid of the fights and contention this can cause with Christians who have other views of Revelation than I am the conclusions I have been drawn to by it, in it’s proper context.

In any case, I enjoyed the “conclusions” the blog I linked came to regarding Chapter 20.

I can't remember the name of the movie, but around 1999 I saw a Robert DeNiro movie with some friends. The premise of the movie is that DeNiro was a former special agent of some agency or other, and he was hired along with other former agents in Paris by an unknown employer for a mission. About all I remember about the movie is some car chases in those small European cars and at the end DeNiro and company retrieved a briefcase. Part of the suspense of the movie is that we never did find out what was actually in the briefcase. I also remember the sound quality being very poor. Here's how you can tell: if a character smokes, pay attention when he or she lights up. If a Zippo lighter is pulled out, remember that a Zippo has a very distinctive click. If the Zippo doesn't make a sound, that means poor sound quality. It also means a lack of attention to detail as professionals typically add those sounds in later. DeNiro's Zippo was silent, and for some reason I remember that to this day rather than the title of the movie. Back to the original point to this post, the next day I told my roommates about the movie. The asked what I thought of it. I said "I didn't think it was that great. I just wish I knew what was in that damn briefcase." My roommate's fiance (now wife) suddenly became very angry with me. It turns out that they were on their way out to see that movie and I just "spoiled the ending" for her.

I have honestly never had a problem with knowing how a story ends before I begin it. I don't mind movie spoilers, and with the exception of the Bible I don't read the last chapter of a book out of sequence yet still don't mind hearing discussion of the end before I begin. I have always been like this. I believe it is because I focus a lot on details, so knowing how the story ends frees my mind up to focus on how the story actually gets there. In the case of a good story for me knowing the ending does not ruin the outcome. Some TV shows are a case in point. Take for example the show House. How often has House been on the verge of a firing or serving time in jail? We know that unless Hugh Laurie is leaving the show or the show is being canceled, the likelihood of House being fired or thrown in jail is about zero, but the stories are constructed well and we still feel the suspense even though we know the ultimate outcome.

Also consider the Star Wars prequels. We all know how the story was to end with Episodes 4, 5, and 6. We all know that Luke Skywalker wins, and Darth Vader dies. But, we watched Episodes 1, 2, and 3 and endured the idiocy of Jar-Jar Binks because we wanted the gaps in the story filled in. We all knew how the story was to ultimately end, but we were along for the ride.

For me, for whatever reason, the "journey" through a story has always been more fun than actually getting to the end.

My approach to life is similar. My wife and I have been trying to sell our house for about a year. We started working on it a year ago, although we didn't get on the market until the end of June 2007. I wish I knew how this would eventually work out, so I could concentrate on the finer details in the middle.

What about you? Do you prefer not to have the ending spoiled, or like me, does it free your mind to pay attention to the path the plot of a story takes in getting to the end?

This prospective blog post has been sitting on my Pocket PC for months. I figured it's time to publish it. That's why I've been testing One Note publishing. I can't get MS Word to publish with pictures, so I'll have to compose on the go with Pocket One Note, then transfer to Windows Live Writer when I get the time.

Last October, my wife and I went to the food and wine festival in Atlantic City. We met some food celebrities like Tommy and Adrien from last season's Food Network Star, and we had our picture taken with Guy Fiere. We sampled some good food and wine and beer. I found a new restaurant to go to the next time we're in Lancaster County.

The celebrity chef was Chef Morimoto. I felt very bad for him. For whatever reason, nothing worked. Here was a world class chef who did not have a properly set up kitchen or a microphone, his sound crew was horrible, and his cameraman did a slightly less professional job than a fifth grade audio/visual club could have done.



The picture was taken by my iPaq 6945 Pocket PC. I'm was just trying to show how bad the quality of the camera work was. You'd think a competent cameraman would have centered the picture on what Morimoto was doing with his hands, but this guy did not.

I wish I had put together this post sooner, while the experience was fresh in my memory. When we watched Morimoto, I had just finished my classes at the University of Phoenix, so I was especially sensitive to the unprofessional work of the camera and sound crew. I'm sure a world class chef like Morimoto would be used to showing up and finding nothing working, and he did a good job of working around it.

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