My next car

As any child would, I have inherited a few traits from my mother. Terrible Handwriting, a penchant for Ruth's Chris steakhouse, love for shoes and perhaps, most dangerous, a knack for buying cars.

Since graduating college 5 years ago, i have had 3 cars... and i've LOVED every one of them. But at the same time, I've always had the question in the back of my head, "what's next?". With a lease coming due in 9 months, I naturally have been considering my car options for some time now. I've toyed with buying another wrangler and will no doubt test drive the new ones when the time comes...Or perhaps I'll spring for that GTI i've always wanted (they don't make it in that metallic lime green anymore though.. tragic). I've thought about buying out my car when the lease is up. All kinds of ideas....

And somehow... one new model slipped under my radar. I recall seeing it mentioned in a magazine here or there.. then somehow forgot about it. The new BMW 1 Series.

So I built me a pretty one. I think we'll go with blue. Whatdaya think?

Finally, people will know...

I've been meaning to post this for quite a while.. but for the 2 people who read this blog, you may have realized that my posts come in very tiny bunches, few and far between. Anyhow... About a month ago, my brother Adam asked me to be the best man at his wedding next August when he takes the untraditional route in our family of MARRYING a doctor instead of BEING one. Anyhow... though I've never "officially" been the best man before, and really have no idea what the heck i'm doing, it certainly is a pretty sweet honor. And better yet, It's about time to plan a bachelor party... My typical attitude of "go big or don't go at all" will definitely play in here.

I'm now accepting bachelor party suggestions, or any other advice you'd care to give a first-time best man.

As my brother calls it, more "Nieblings"

Great news from the fam today. My sister and brother-in-law just welcomed a healthy baby boy (as my sister boasts "she knew it".. good job on those 50-50 odds).. tentatively named Gavin Something. He's uh.. seven pounds and change.. and loud and hungry already (much like my sister...).

Pics to come, I'm sure.

Mom's say the darndest things...

You may need to know my mom to find this funny... but I was showing her pictures from Live Earth and with my fuzzy memory, was unable to identify one of the performers from the picture i took from 42 miles away, up in the nosebleeds:



Me: That's not Ludacris... maybe it's Kanye West
Mom: That's not Kanye West. Is it Usher?

My Brother and I sat speechless for a few seconds, then just started laughing

Sweet Caroline now feels kinda wrong

Apparently Neil Diamond wrote Sweet Caroline about a young Caroline Kennedy. Who knew?

How many states have I been to NOW?

A while back, I posted about the number of states I've been to. At the time, i thought it was 37 -- Turns out I forgot i've been to South Carolina. Anyhow, with the recent trip across the country, I am up to 42 states (plus Washington DC). Not sure which of the remaining eight states could possibly be on the radar to check off next.




You can create you're own map here.

The End is Near: I've signed up for Twitter

UPDATE: As I lamented to several that I've signed up for twitter, it turns out more people than i suspected have no idea what twitter is.. so here's the summary:

Aside from being stupid and annoying, twitter is essentially a short-message journal of what you’re doing. It’s like a cross between blogging and away messages. You can use their website, Instant Messenger or Text Messages to sent short updates of what you’re doing, thinking about, or other random thoughts. And like most things web 2.0, you can follow other people’s twitters (or whatever) and they can follow you. You get a feed so you can put it in a reader or whatever…

In regards to Twitter, there are three types of people in the world:

1. Those (often in my industry) who thumb their nose at the utter ridiculousness that is Twitter. It's the Web 2.0 equivalent of calling the Monkees classic rock. This is Web Pop -- and that's why this embarrasses me. Until today, I was in this group.
   
2. Those who don't know what Twitter is, don't need to know and/or would never use it even if they did.
   
3. Those that are under the age of 20 or so and think Twitter is the bees-knees -- though to put that into perspective, people in this group also followed along when Abercrombie & Fitch (somewhat slyly) put out a new store called Hollister that is identical except for the name emblazoned across the chest. Lemmings.
   

So where does that leave me now that I've signed up? Not sure. But I do have a relatively good reason. I'm starting on a cross-country drive next week and thought this would be a 'fun' way to track it. Or, put another way, things get boring in a 2-seater after about 100 miles so... why not?

If you care to follow my road trip twittering (is that a word? did i just date myself?), check it out here or grab the feed:

http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/9625812.atom

I should start using it in earnest next thursday.

Great Commercial. Better Parody.

The original:



The Parody:

10 Rules of Trash Talking

Every year I join at least one fantasy hockey team. Partly because I'm a dork and partly.. well.. I guess that's the only reason. And every year, within the first week of the season, someone spews some trash talk and someone else gets all huffy about it and someone (usually me) needs to chime in to tell them to calm down. Trash talking is all part of the game. To put some of the issues to bed hopefully once and for all, here are my 10 rules.

1. Trashtalker can (and should) directly insult the mother of the trashtalkee. Penis size, Girlfriends, pets and unborn children are also fair game.

2. This seems silly, but the worse your record, the more trash you can talk. You have nothing to lose. If you have an impeccable record, trash talking becomes gloating and that's just rude.

3. Profanity is an artform. A well placed swear gives an insult zest. A poorly placed swear is like putting lipstick on a pig. Bad trashtalk is bad trashtalk -- without or without an F-bomb

4. Sexuality, Religion, Ethnicity, Gender... these are the things that you must not take into consideration when hiring and firing people. When trash talking though, game on -- with a caveat. Make sure everyone involved can handle this type of nonsense. It helps to over-indulge so the utter ridiculousness of the comment is easily inferred. The more stereotypical the comment, the better.

5. Extra points should be awarded for insulting someones real-sports allegiance in addition to their fantasy-sports allegiance. And yes, there is a difference. Hell, I'm a born-and-bred new englander, but don't think I'd hesitate to have Peyton Manning or A-Rod on a fantasy team. Calling me out on my man-crush on Peyton Manning is a good way to insult me and my inner patriots fan.

6. Watch your cop dramas. Everything you say while trash talking can and WILL be used against you. Insult someone's latest pick-up cautiously, as they will turn into a fantastic second half player.

7. Be creative. A simple, uninteresting comment like "Your Team Sucks!" really only embarrasses yourself.

8. In a trash-talking battle, admit when you've been beat and gloat when you have won. And believe me, you know when you've been beat b/c you put your fingers on the keyboard to type a response but you've got nothing to say. Don't try to force it. It'll only call more attention to your loss.

9. Talk too much trash and you're an asshole. Talk to little trash and you're a pussy. It always comes down to quality over quantity. A well timed zinger can knock someone down to size in one sentence. Never shut up and your trash talk quickly becomes white noise.

10. There's no crying in trash talking. But seriously.. don't take it seriously.

Every internet video you've ever been forwarded

Catching My Big Brother - And a Slighly Updated Route

Since i am at 37 states and Adam will be at 40 by next month, I need to pick a route that will add 4 states to my list. Most of my routes in my blog post below about planning a roadtrip add 2 states but that's not enough. So i altered my first option so I'd go through Kentucky and W. Virginia. This has the added bonus of letting me go to the Jim Beam Distillery.

Check out the new and improved "A little bit country -- not much else".

Also, to respond to Tracy's suggestion to go across Montana and Wyoming. That is DEFINITELY a beautiful drive and I would definitely consider it if i WEREN'T driving a convertible in November. I'd like to have the top down as much as possible; makes for a 360* panoramic view -- and also cuts down on the claustrophobia of being in a 2 seater for a week and a half.

13 states to go

Every once in a blue moon, the topic of how many states you've been to comes up and everyone in the discussion tries to name them all and no doubt fails miserably b/c that's just way too much information to rattle off the top of your head. But that's where the interweb comes in handy. A simple google search of "how many states have you been to" yields exactly what I wanted. A list of states. I check them off and it gives me this:




I'm pretty happy with this. Obviously there is a hole i need to fill and and I desperately need to Hawaii and Alaska but it's a beginning.

Try it out: http://douweosinga.com/projects/visitedstates

For the record, the criteria I chose to use for "Visiting a State"

• You must walk in it. Flying over it does not count, nor does boating in its waters
  
• Airports do not count as visiting a state. They are like embassies. Or like Switzerland. Whatever, they are not part of the state.
  
• I get a little fuzzy if you ask me if driving through a state counts. Fortunately for me, i've never driven through a state without stopping at least to , stretch my legs, fill up the gas tank or graba quick bite. So these are all states I've been in and done SOMETHING in.
  

Who said white guys can't dance

This has been keeping me entertained for far too long. Maybe it's just wishful thinking
http://www.davidbessler.com/pulldown/pipecleaner_dance3.swf

L.A. is going to be the new Boston

Pink is the new black. Ice is the new ice. Wanna know what else is the new something or another? All of these are SO true:
http://thediagram.com/6_3/leisurearts.html