Life Starts Out Small

For something as big as a panda bear...and to see it start out as small as a mouse, this is awesome. See all the pictures in the article link below. Now only if they had these at the pet store I would end up with a pretty cool roommate. Pictures borrowed from the article...Development of a new born Panda Dave, hope you enjoyed National Treasure 2 on Friday, and it won't be but a week or two until SR has you running around like a madman in Florida. Enjoy the perks buddy and show 'em what you're made of. Even though not as cute as the panda to the right, they do deserve some big credit as the Tarheels rolled over Valparaiso tonight. It wasn't pretty at first, but UNC comes out in the second half and doubles all points that Valpo put up on the board(54-27) to finish 90-58. Their next game is on Wednesday against Kent St on ESPN.

Final weekend 2007

Today after work I will be heading home for the weekend...mostly to celebrate mom's birthday, but also to hang with Dave(because he wants to retire early down in Florida for some reason...oh & by the way, I am going to steal your iPod Touch too) & friends. I'll have some pictures up later sometime this weekend of the past few shots. Hopefully your Christmas was just as fun & fulfilling as ours in China Grove & Pilot Mt.

GMail users: beware of thieves...

For any of you, like me, that use GMail as your email client, make sure you read this article: WARNING: Google’s GMail security failure leaves my business sabotaged. It's a developing story of why you need to check your GMail settings right away to make sure no one is seeing or forwarding any of your private information to another email account without you knowing it. Make sure to check your settings on your 'Filters' & 'Forwarding and POP.' Any forwarding or filtering that sends any messages to unknown email addresses look at carefully and delete if necessary. Also make sure you recognize all of the email addresses entered into the filters. GMail has fixed this issue, but the fix does not delete any issues that could be in the Filters & Forwarding settings.

Also, if you have personal information saved in GMail, think about saving it on a thumb drive to keep on you physically instead of having it on the internet. Keeping a passwords file, personal information, etc...on GMail is not a good idea.

Bad Day at the office

This is beautiful!

Christmas Schedule

Merry Christmas(No Happy Holidays please). So the schedule for this coming week isn't so bad despite having to work half a day on Christmas Eve. After work I'll be flying(not literally, just fast in the car) home then heading up to Pinnacle, NC for some Christmas festivities. The next day on CHRISTmas will be all in China Grove. Unfortunately I have to work the 26th but have the 27th & 28th off. Maybe I should start wrapping presents now? Maybe so.

By the way, the Carolina Tarheels just finished their Saturday game to stay at #1. They are 11-0.

Texas Pete Hot Sauce commercial

Hahahaha, Genius!

Poor lame Duke

Worthy of its own space on the internet(here), I had to post that Duke lost last night to a lesser ranked team(Pittsburgh Panthers). See to the right as Jon "Lamer" Scheyer(misses Duke's last two chances to win the game) whines as they lose the game. Just watching the game and how Duke's head coach has always taught his players to "act" out a touch foul in the most extreme makes anyone mad. But, seeing them lose their large lead in the second half and get a little behind was worth it. Duke losing = priceless!

Sorry Ab, it is true.

I've watched the actual show a few times, Man vs Wild. It is interesting for a few reasons, but nothing to be taken to seriously. After all, it is just another "reality" show that tries to pull in more and more of an audience. But, the truth is, and Sorry Abby & Charlie, it is not real.

To live up to his public image of a rugged, ex-SAS adventurer, it must have seemed essential for Bear Grylls to appear at ease sleeping rough and catching his own food in his television survival series. But it has emerged that Grylls, 33, was enjoying a far more conventional form of comfort, retreating some nights from filming in mountains and on desert islands to nearby lodges and hotels.

Now Channel 4 has launched an investigation into whether Grylls, who has conquered Everest and the Arctic, deceived the public in his series Born Survivor. The series, screened in March and April and watched by 1.4m viewers, built up Grylls’s credentials as a tough outdoorsman. In a question and answer session on Channel 4’s website, he recalls how station bosses pitched the venture to him stating: “We just drop you into a lot of different hellholes equipped with nothing, and you do what you have to do to survive.”

But an adviser to Born Survivor has disclosed that at one location where the adventurer claimed to be a “real life Robin-son Crusoe” trapped on “a desert island”, he was actually on an outlying part of the Hawaiian archipelago and spent nights at a motel. On another occasion in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains where he was filmed biting off the head of a snake for breakfast and struggling for survival “with just a water bottle, a cup and a flint for making fire”, he actually slept some nights with the crew in a lodge fitted with television and internet access. The Pines Resort at Bass Lake is advertised as “a cosy getaway for families” with blueberry pancakes for breakfast.

In one episode Grylls, son of the late Tory MP Sir Michael Grylls, was shown apparently building a Polynesian-style raft using only materials around him, including bamboo, hibiscus twine and palm leaves for a sail. But according to Mark Weinert, an Oregon-based survival consultant brought in for the job, it was he who led the team that built the raft. It was then dismantled so that Grylls could be shown building it on camera.

In another episode viewers watched as Grylls tried to coax an apparently wild mustang into a lasso in the Sierra Nevada. “I’m in luck,” he told viewers, apparently coming across four wild horses grazing in a meadow. “A chance to use an old native American mode of transport comes my way. This is one of the few places in the whole of the US where horses still roam wild.”

In fact, Weinert said, the horses were not wild but were brought in by trailer from a nearby trekking station for the “choreographed” feature. “If you really believe everything happens the way it is shown on TV, you are being a little bit naive,” he said. Channel 4 confirmed that Grylls had used hotels during expeditions and has now asked Diverse, the Bristol-based production company that made the program, to look into the other claims. “We take any allegations of misleading our audiences seriously,” said a spokeswoman for the channel.

The latest suggestion that Channel 4 may have breached viewer trust comes as the broad-caster’s supervisory board prepares to issue new editorial guidelines to suppliers in order to stamp out alleged sharp practices that mislead viewers. “Born Survivor is not an observational documentary series but a ‘how to’ guide to basic survival techniques in extreme environments,” the spokeswoman said.

“The program explicitly does not claim that presenter Bear Grylls’s experience is one of unaided solo survival.” Nevertheless, the disclosure is likely to disappoint fans of the Eton-educated adventurer, who at the age of 23 became the youngest Briton to scale Everest. Just two years before that he had broken his back in three places after his parachute ripped during a military exercise. On screen he has emerged as a natural performer, with stunts such as squeezing water from animal dung and sucking the fluid from fish eyeballs. Grylls could not be contacted for comment this weekend as he was trekking in the Brecon Beacons with his four-year-old son.

Article from Times Online

Another short video of Bear wearing a life jacket during a fake shot of him "roughing it."

Gotcha Gift Box

These are very cool, cause who wouldn't want to add 5+ pounds to a hat they are wearing or have a huge whisk set for your kitchen(professional set at that, haha)? I know I would! Check out all three below.

Close call

Definitely!

1 week remaining

After a pretty busy weekend I'm back in Fayettenam...There was a required drive from Wilmington to get back home, but worth it. I had a fun time over the weekend, seeing I Am Legend(good movie, needed a better ending or a sequel would be nice) with "D-Money" & watching some college volleyball with G-pa Cress. Scott, good seeing you at the mall. Little Lauren is getting big.

Tonight was the Christmas concert at my church here in FAY, which was awesome, but nothing close to Ab's 300 seat choir at The Summit. All in all, throw out the lame sense America has put into the Christmas season and forgetfulness and it would be a lot better.

Also, tonight's Tarheel game went as expected. They win big, even though Hansbrough was hurt in the 2nd half. The funny thing to me was hearing all the Tarheel fans in the stands OVER Rutger. You could hear the obligatory "Tar" pause "Heels" over the TV commentators.

For Christmas, around 8 days left and I have 99% of the lame shopping done with. The 1% is waiting for the shipments to arrive.

Intel announces industry's smallest SSD chips

The picture says it all, Intel's going crazy small with its latest SSD chips, but it's certainly not leaving capacity behind. The new Intel Z-P140 PATA SSD chips come in 2GB and 4GB capacities, are extendable up to 16GB, and weigh less than a drop of water. We're already impatient for phone manufacturers and DAP makers to start cramming these into their devices, and the RAID opportunities are really sinful. Intel should be showing the chips off at CES in January, no word on when we'll see 'em hit the market.

The Laziest Cat In The World

Priceless...View here.

Oh bye the way, since it is the day, I'm heading up to Charlotte in just a few minutes to see I Am Legend. Sweet!

I Am Legend

This coming weekend I'm super excited to see I Am Legend, a semi horror film with Will Smith as the last man on earth. If you haven't seen the trailer, check it out here.

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On the funny side, this mp3 has been spotted across some drug stores and is just hilarious to see compared to the size of the iPod Touch. It's 256MB of space is double funny.

Christmas Concert/Shopfest

So last night me & dad attended Ab's Christmas concert put on at her church(The Summit). It was awesome, especially seeing a 300 person choir. The 1200 people there had to of been impressed also. Since mom was stuck in Charleston she had to wait until tonight to see it. So, she was able to finally make it out to my new place here in Fayettenam and visit my church before heading to Raleigh for the Christmas event.

I made some headway on the Christmas shopping frenzy today and will hopefully finish most of it tonight after church. Despite the lame influence Americans have had on making Christmas a full out shopping holiday and forgetting why there is a Christmas, I have to head out in the madness and buy stuff. On the plus side, this will make it two years that the Cress side of things are giving money to a needy family. Anyway, Dave, I'll be in town on the 14th...and since you are leaving NC for a nice imaging job in Florida we'll have to make the best of it. Still though, I'm sure it's a huge Christmas gift to you that you have a definite position before you have even graduated...something huge to look forward to at the beginning of the year. You're the man Dave!

Oh and Tucker is pretty excited about Christmas. I'm sure.

Nice to hear

I ran across this company today that is based around making speaker systems for audiophiles, Perfect8. Anyway, their products look extremely interesting but wouldn't be something set in an area for children to play on of course. From the site it looks like they are based out of Sweden...so most likely I'll never get to hear them in action unless there is a trip planned to Europe sometime. We'll see.

This weekend...possibly be heading into Raleigh on Saturday to see Abby's Christmas concert at The Summit.

Christmas Dinner: Blendtec Style

Earlier this year someone showed me this site (Will It Blend) and it is just fun. So, just in time for Christmas dinner, enjoy the blending!

The Guys' Rules

At last a guy has taken the time to write this all down. Finally, the guys' side of the story. We always hear "the rules" from the female side. Now here are the rules from the male side. These are our rules! Please note... these are all numbered "1" ON PURPOSE!

1. Learn to work the toilet seat. You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down. You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

1. Sunday sports. It's like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let it be.

1. Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way.

1. Crying is blackmail.

1. Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one: Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say it!

1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.

1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1. A headache that lasts for 17 months is a problem. See a doctor.

1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 days.

1. If you won't dress like the Victoria's Secret girls, don't expect us to act like soap opera guys.

1. If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don't ask us.

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one.

1. You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

1. Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say during commercials.

1. Christopher Columbus did not need directions and neither do we.

1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.

1. If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that.

1. If we ask what is wrong and you say nothing," we will act like nothing's wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, expect an answer you don't want to hear.

1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine...Really.

1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball, the shotgun formation, or monster trucks.

1. You have enough clothes.

1. You have too many shoes.

1. I am in shape. Round is a shape.

1. Thank you for reading this. Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight; but did you know men really don't mind that? It's like camping.

3D coolness

I went to see Beowulf in 3D over the weekend...very cool. As always, I can't help myself when a soldier's sword or spear is coming out of the screen and I have to see if it is real, haha. And, we got to keep the cool ultra ugly 3D glasses.