Update: 8/30/07

Hi Tara! (Darren made me say that)

As some of you may already know, I am transitioning to a new career opportunity in September. I am very excited about the new job, and grateful for the time and friends from the old one.

My friend and mentor Chuck once told me that every new job is a lens with which to view all of your past jobs. I think it's very wise advice, and my latest lens is a positive one.

I am incredibly lucky and blessed to have come down to Charlotte to work here.

What could be more fitting for closure than Mexican food with the old co-workers?

Today at lunch we enjoyed burritos, chips and salsa at Cantina 1511. All in all it was a good time with great company. Laura was happy to tag along too, since she already knows everyone.

See you guys around!

Update: 8/27/07

Hey everyone I have a big announcement to make!

My mom's website www.playonwords.com has had a major redesign. My brother Peter did the job, and I think the results are exceptional:

Check it out. My mom is on the net. Pretty cool.

We are all so proud of you.

Update: 8/26/07

As my buddy Adam will be quick to tell you, for all the talking I do about the Internet, there are some trends I completely miss on the first turn. I just got into Flickr and photo pools, and it absolutely rocks.

And now I've discovered the power of Itunes. Some genius in marketing over at Apple realized that if consumers can flick through album cover images instead of a song list, they'll buy more music for their virtual jukebox.

Update: 8/26/07

This morning Laura gave me my second "in home" haircut. The idea dawned on me when I tendered $13 for my last buzz cut at Great Clips. For the same price I could purchase a clipper and have Laura do it.

When she asked "Will it be romantic like the movie Ghost?" I had a hard time keeping a straight face. For those of you unfamiliar with the scene in reference, a certain supernatural Patrick Swayze romantically appears to his widowed wife and guides her hands as she makes a clay pot.

My haircut this morning, I realized after the bleeding stopped, was more like two monkeys grooming eachother.

Less romance, more symbiotic teamwork:

The side burns need a little work. But all in all she's a good little barber! The dogs loved to watch too. Before we started, Laura put the plastic smock around Holly and let her run around the yard. It was quite a scene.

On a much more important note, we've got a new blog friend on the scene: Printers Row Poet, by Holly Wehmeyer. We've added her to the top 20 blogs, and hope you visit.

The last time I saw Holly it was at the Chicago Symphony... she's in the background of this lovely pic of Laura. That's Holly tearin' it up at the symphony!

Update: 8/18/07

For those of you out there in suburbia, do you ever feel like your part of the neighborhood is like your own little planet?

Here's what ours would look like:

This morning I thought it would be fun to make my own stereographic photo of our neighborhood cul de sac. It took about 82 pictures, all stitched together and a Photoshop filter called "Polar Coordinates" to bring this to life.

My neighbor Greg was pulling out of his driveway while I was taking the photos and said "Do I even want to know what you're doing?"

I just emailed Greg the final product. I think it came out OK, still not as good as the stuff on Flickr. Check our this one of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

It's doubtful that I'll do it again, it's extremely time consuming. It was fun while it lasted!

Update: 8/12/07

Look how big Will has gotten!

This weekend we drove down to Wrightsville beach to see my brother Peter and his family. This is the first time we've seen their home and Laura and I were very impressed.

We only had about a day to hang out, so we made the most of the beach and the surrounding water so we could cool off. It was super hot.

Will took the time to take a stroll in his covered European motor boat:

Peter and I took out the road bikes and cruised the beach area. I mustered a few quick inhalations to try and trick my body into a more fit appearance. The stark white/black contrast of respective flesh and hair was no match for the beach goers. But I pedalled through the awstruck crowds to get some air into my lungs, and dare I call it, a tan.

Later that night, we built a fire. Obviously this was not to add any heat to the situation, but we just wanted to sit around and burn something. Evidence of success in this venture is the picture below of Peter's backyard Chimnea, still smoking from the night before. Isn't his backyard cool?

I Also wanted to post this pic of the rug that mom sent from Connecticut. We decided to leave it with Peter and Katie and it looks great:

All in all, we really enjoyed visiting the Southern Artemenkos, and now we're happy to be back at home with our crazy dogs.

Update: 8/09/07

A big shout out to Oreo on his 3rd birthday. I'll be the first to admit I wanted to give him back shortly after picking him up at Puppy Lovers in Skokie Illinois. It was a cold November day in 2004 when I entered that strange looking, even stranger smelling puppy store.

That decision was locked and bolted after I saw Laura's face when I picked her up from the Waveland L Stop with Oreo on my lap, holding himself upright by balancing on the steering wheel.

I was seriously thinking "this dog is way too much." My uncertainty was solidified when I was handed his pedigree papers "Your new dog is the child of "Circus Man" and "Ri Ja's Princess Deville."

I mean, the first thing this expensive dog did was defecate in our kitchen.

I'd never trade him in now. He's a great dog and a true member of our family. Happy birthday little man!

Also please note a new Top 10 blog has been added! Please welcome Bri and Michael's Blog! It's called "Baby Steelers Fan," I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Now on to other things... I finished my latest book. At a pathetic 80 pages, this book proved to be a small mind grenade. It's called "The Dip" by Seth Godin, and I borrowed it form a friend at work.

This mini tome is advertised as teaching people how to quit. My personal take on it was a little different, because I read it as teaching people how not to be average. I found a great deal of meaning and motivation from this book when I realized a simple fact -- being average means that in some market at some point, a profit is being made from your being average.

Netflix gives you an unlimited number of DVD rentals a month, postage paid, for $10. How can this be? If you watched a movie the day it came in and sent it right back, you'd get to see at least six movies for $10. Of course, the key is that for every person who sees six, there are plenty of people who lose interest and see one movie, or even no movies, a month. These people subsidize the comitted members ... the economics of the entire business would fall apart if it weren't for the uncommitted users who just dabble.

I know that's a long quote but I wanted to hammer the point home. Every fun activity eventually gravitates toward a dip which causes pain or uncertainty. Pushing through that dip makes you better than average, a scarce, valued commodity. If this sounds interesting to you, here's a book summary I found online.

I rest my case, why settle for being a profit center for anyone other than yourself? I find that conclusion exceedingly motivating.

Here's your completely unrelated Friday video.

Update: 8/04/07

Here's a neat trick I use at the grocery store to make choices between similar products. This may not work at all grocery store chains, but it works for anyone who regularly visits Harris Teeter.

It's a simple number you look for on the label just below the product which lists the item price. The number to look for is in the upper right -- see the red arrow pointing to it below (22.8):

This is the average number of units sold per week.

Typically this "trick" comes in handy when selecting products of nebulous quality like wine. And it's interesting to note that the highest number of units sold per week does not belong to the item with the lowest price.

Another thing to keep in mind is local merchants buying in bulk. This might inflate the average. A good number to shoot for is over 10.0 bottles of wine sold from the grocery store per week. Anything drastically over that number (i.e. 50) could mean that local restaurants are filling the reserves of their house wine, beans, eggs or whatever product you are looking at.

It's also fun to see how this plays out between brand name and generic products. You'll be surprised!

Update: 8/03/07

Thanks to my friend Dana, we actually made a decent DVD rental this week: Mel Gibson's Apocalypto. None of the actors are recognizable, and speak in an ancient Mayan dialect for the entire film.

The whole subtitle thing didn't bother me at all. I really enjoyed the story.

It reminded me of Spanish class in college where we were quizzed immediately after watching Spanish soap operas. Visual acuity was key, particularly for the weaker language students like myself. The picture below is not from the Spanish soap opera.

I digress. This movie is easy to follow because the dialogue is basic and the pace is fast. My glowing review is the result of a story that's slightly different from the usual archetypes. It's about a captive making an epic escape.

I'd say Apocalypto is second only to Pan's Labyrinth in terms of movies we've seen in 2007. Laura and I really enjoyed it.

Is it historically accurate? I have no idea. But I can tell you this, I'd never have be able to recreate this kind of imagery from reading a history book... fact or fiction.

A note to mom. It's violent in the beginning, but hang with it.

On the advice of my friend Benjy, I'm going to download the Valve Steam client and hop back into the world of Half Life 2 at 433 kb/s. That's nerd speak for, I'm going to fire up some old video games because it costs a lot less than buying new ones.

Laura is not going to be happy about this, but if you could classify video games as a vice, there are far worse things in which an individual could get involved.