My musical tastes should be locked up for bad behavior

My latest half-baked idea involved my vast but scary CD collection. Due to having a 15 month old in the house, the generally alphabetized nature of the collection is in a state of complete mayhem but that very mayhem lead me to this somewhat terrible idea.

My CD collection started around 1994. I spent too much money ammassing it and looking back it proves that my musical tastes have a bit of a checkered past (hey, I was young so shove it hipsters). Alright, my musical tastes sucked. But those terrible tastes make this latest idea that much more awesome.

One CD per day chosen at random from the somewhat massive CD shelving unit. The first CD I chose, after announcing my plan to my less than enthused wife (because I suggested that she participate as well) the first CD I chose - with a little help from the daughter - was by the world renowned band "Rednex" with the disc entitled "Sex and Violins". A classic in its own right.

Okay, so it's about as far from classic as anything could get but I look at this idea as making good for all the terrible music choices I've made in the past. It's sort of my musical pennance from the days before my musical tastes were refined and more accepted by fellow humans.

By the way, if you're unfamiliar with the band name "Rednex" but were near a radio in the mid 1990s and heard a song called "Cotton Eyed Joe", that's them. I apologize both for writing this and for buying that particular CD. Now I probably won't make it through my entire collection nor will I write about the boring details of each disc but I'll definitely point out the worst of the worst because it makes me that much more honest and relateable.

Both this blog and MinnPics took yesterday off but expect new photos at MinnPics at some point today because I love showcasing the best of the best in Minnesota photos!

The incredible shrinking Danish nuts

The testicle size, along with other trends such as decreased sperm count, has been on the decline for males born in Denmark - especially when compared with residents of nearby Finland. While this is troubling from a sexual and health standpoint, it's even more an issue of pride.

For women reading this, don't jump to the conclusion that every guy you pass on the street has unbuttoned his pants in the office restroom and, for lack of a better phrase, compared notes with his male co-workers. Sure, at least some guys have pulled out their package and unabashedly compared cock size with their counterparts but those who do aren't focusing on the health side of the comparison and what is happening to those poor Danish folks - the decreasing size of the nuts, balls, dangly bits or testicles.

Chalk it up to exposure to a witch's brew of chemicals in the environment during the first trimester while in the womb. Scientists have seen it by way of feminization of fish from many of the same chemicals so it makes sense that, to a certain extent, it's happening to humans as well. Now having smaller testicles (nuts from here on out) does not make for a lesser man - though I did hear an argument from a male friend standing naked from the waist down at the kitchen table during a New Year's Eve party nearly a decade back that his huge nuts made up for what he was obviously lacking in the penis department - but smallish nuts do not make a difference in the grand scheme of things. Unless the smaller size relates to a decrease in testosterone production.

That, unfortunately, is one of the problems being reported with all of that scientific research surrounding the nuts of the Danes. Could our overuse of chemicals lead to a world of borderline sterile males? Hey, anything's possible and this is an especially important topic to me because I'm only the second generation of my family born here in the good ole U.S. of A. Yep, my grandpa immigrated here from, you guessed it, Denmark. Now I'm sure that times have changed because he fathered 11 children and, based on the translated letter between a relative here in Minnesota to a brother of his in Denmark written in 1945 which I received via e-mail yesterday, that number (with only 5 or 6 kids born at that time) even in 1945 was incredible.

By virtue of my own lineage I shouldn't have much to worry about but with evolution what it is we could face a world (someday) filled with women. So maybe the future will be one where lesbian relationships are more the norm than the exception. After all, too much of a swing away from a near balance of genders would lead to either many more same-sex relationships (in this case lesbian) or polygamy becoming not only accepted but necessary for our species to continue our dominance on Earth.

Now that I've spouted off about my lack of scientific knowledge, go check out something I may actually know about - photography. The photos from all over Minnesota at MinnPics want you to look at them, they cry if you don't give them attention!

A penny for my thoughts about the penny

If it wasn't for the radio - yes the radio - I wouldn't have known about the redesign of the penny - or the one cent piece if you're all old-timey. If it weren't for the internet, though, I wouldn't have known just how terrible its new design was.

Which leads me to an actual point. Where do most people get their news? It's been studied and rehashed on an almost daily basis. Newspapers offer up a text and photo-based approach but once a day but to get that particular breed of news in a format you can hold in your hands costs a quarter or two each and every day. Sure, you can get basically the same news as you'd get in print for free on most every newspaper's website but newspaper websites are a pain in the ass to navigate through without using their lousy search functions.

The internet is available, if you don't mind looking over your shoulder, while at work to plenty of office workers. The most accessed time for many news websites in this particular corner of Minnesota is between 11 AM and 1 PM which correlates with lunch time across the different timezones of the United States. But what do you do if you don't want to or can't access the internet for news while at work?

If you're like me, you have a crappy, barely together radio sitting at your desk. My trusty $5.99 earbuds from Menards attached to either it, my iPod or the headphone jack of my computer I keep myself not only entertained/distracted from the outside noise of the office but informed, too. Getting that information/entertainment mix is a bit of work here in the Twin Cities. I can't find a radio station I could tolerate for the course of a workday so I mix it up. I have appointments with certain stations on various parts of the dial but I actually seek out the 4:20-ish news update with Bob Collins on 89.3 The Current. Maybe it's because he has an attitude about the world that matches mine (we're all doomed) or maybe it's because his banter with Mary Lucia is genuine but whatever the case the news he mentions during those few minutes - while not always the biggest headlines - seems almost tailored to my tastes.

And without that newscast and his daily mention - via Lucia's asking - about what's on the News Cut blog, I would have never known about the morons in government with nothing better to do messing with the U.S penny. Screwing with the design of a coin which nobody already gave a damn about is equal to tax forms using a font size 1/2 point smaller than they did previously. Nobody's going to notice! Way to waste money, geniuses! And thank you Bob Collins because without your blog post mentioned on The Current, I would have never known about something most would see as trivial but something I see as wildly maddening.

The only thing more maddening that a new design for the penny is missing an update of MinnPics. Don't miss the kick-ass photos from all over Minnesota including recent name-dropping of Olympic sports. Go now and check it out and subscribe to the RSS feed or I'll write another blog post about curling.

My old lady's obsessed with curling

In the ten or so years I've known her, I've never seen her get so obsessed with a sport that she neglects her everyday tasks. It's both humorous and sad but I'm impressed by her new devotion to the U.S. Olympic Curling Team. In a mere three days of watching the U.S. Olympic curling team on CNBC for three (or so) hours per day she has picked much of the terminology of the sport. She knows who the team captains are and she is very much a U.S team backer.

Last night, after I arrived home far too late for my own tastes, I found my old lady sitting on the edge of the couch nearly screaming at the TV while the toddler sat in her high chair throwing her supper on the floor. "You suck! How could you miss that? You HAVE to stick it on the button! You can't give up another point to DENMARK!" I thought I had walked in to a very unpopular sports bar but upon further inspection it was most definitely my house and the yelling was that of a rabid curling fan.

But for every rabid fan there's a detractor who just doesn't get the sport of curling. I listen to KFAN for 2 or 3 hours each day and Dan Cole has called curling boring plenty of times but has also admitted to watching men's figure skating because it's on during the primetime Olympic broadcast on NBC. Maybe my household is more of a niche household. Maybe if the networks paid more attention to supposed niche households like mine, curling wouldn't be viewed as boring. It would be a widely understood sport. Curling clubs would outnumber bowling alleys here in the great frozen north known as Minnesota. Maybe instead of viewing my old lady as an obsessed curling fan I'd see her as a normal American because she'd fit right in.

Nothing's more American than photos so check out the spectacular photos of Minnesota at MinnPics!

Where's "White Entertainment Television"?

Jason DeRusha, Good Question guy for Minneapolis CBS affiliate WCCO, had some choice words for what I would refer to as internet trolls asking him why, when February is Black History Month, there is no White History Month. (via)

It’s not like during February, schools across the land stop teaching the history
that involved white people. Is there really anything wrong with taking a
part of our nation’s history that’s been largely ignored (that of black
Americans) and taking note of it? Why does it bother people so much?
If you don’t care for it, ignore it. It’s not a Good Question. Try harder.

Sometimes DeRusha ventures in to the "wacky" side of the Good Questions he gets and other times he takes the serious route. This, though, is one of a very few - if not the first times - I have seen him rather publicly decry the stupidity of some obviously racist and ignorant internet users who cower behind their keyboards submitting ridiculously lowbrow ideas and comments to a genuine journalist.

DeRusha isn't alone in dealing with comments of that nature. I have one friend in particular whom I'm fairly certain is serious when he asks why when there's a cable channel named BET (Black Entertainment Television) there isn't a cable channel geared exclusively towards "whites". It scares the crap out of me that I have a friend who (apparently) thinks at such a simple level. I've answered his question numerous times by telling him to use his remote control and flip through the channels. Basically EVERY DAMN CHANNEL could be billed as television for whites.

I kepe hoping that he uses this comment to inflame me and get a reaction (I'm good at reacting) but the rest of what he says isn't exactly the sharpest of comments either so I tend to take it at face value. I guess I'll have to take things to the next level. Maybe I'll suggest that he try our Spike TV because the dreck they air screams TV for dumb white guys.

Ah, hell, why can't people just zip it when they have the urge to utter something incredibly stupid? Of course without them, who would A.) work at Walmart and B.) I blog about?

For a more refined approach at blogging, check out the amazing photos from all across Minnesota at MinnPics!

Too fat to fly?

Over the weekend, actor and director Kevin Smith raised a ruckus online due to the fact that he was essentially escorted off of a Southwest Airlines flight from Oakland, CA to Burbank, CA for being too fat. The only problem is that he passed their "fat test". He was able to sit in his seat with the arm rests down. He raised a stink about his removal from the flight and he was right for doing so.

Or was he?

I love most everything Kevin Smith has done theatrically speaking. I don't claim to know how much Smith weighs but he is just big. He doesn't appear to be anything near morbidly obese. If I had to venture a guess, I'd say he tips the scales around 280 lbs. Not exactly fit as a fiddle but not to the point of needing a motorized cart at Walmart. He could probably stand to substitute a salad every now and then but most every one of us Americans could do that as well.

So he bought his ticket and got in to his seat.

It's something a friend of mine does on a regular basis. The friend I'm speaking of travels a decent amount of the time for work and he's a big guy as well. He tips the scales at a bit over 300 lbs. He carried it well by being rather barrel chested and I think it's a safe bet to say that he flies coach when he travels because there aren't many employers willing to foot the bill for a first class ticket.

Now if my good buddy can fit in to a coach seat all the time, why was there such a ruckus about Kevin Smith? Did Smith raise such a huge stink over the situation to make an example out of the airlines in America? I'd like to think that his reasoning was just that. I'd love for Kevin Smith to be a vigilante for plus-sized Americans who fly but I think he used his celebrity status to prove a point. His point being that weight discrimination knows no boundaries. He has proven himself to be hugely successful without his weight being a hindrance until that one day when, on his return flight, he was suddenly deemed too fat to fly - even though he was fully seated with the seat's armrests down.

In a perfect world, every guy in America would be a svelt 180 lbs. and this kind of shit wouldn't happen. I would have to be the guy stuck between two large fellas on a flight to Atlanta but, in case you haven't noticed, the world is about as far from perfect as you can get. And if you can get your armrests down, I'll just have to deal with my cursed middle seat.

If you'd rather have a photo tell the story, check out MinnPics - chock full of kick-ass photos from all corners of Minnesota!

Your complete Olympic Curling TV schedule

Face it Americans, Curling is the only Olympic sport that anybody really gives a damn about but it's a bitch to dig through hundreds of pages of Olympic broadcast schedules to fine out when Curling is being televised. But look what I've done for you - I put all the info (local to the Central timezone) right here for your enjoyment. Now you can sit back and watch those heavy, polished stones glide down the long span of ice as the teams jockey to score the most points and bump their own stones closer or bump opponent's stones out of contention. God, I love this sport!

Tuesday, February 16
11:00a - 2:00p USA - Men's Curling
4:00p - 7:00p CNBC - Women's Curling

Wednesday, February 17
1:30a - 4:00a CNBC
2:00a - 4:30a MSNBC - Men's Curling
11:00a - 2:00p USA - Women's Curling
4:00p - 7:00p CNBC - Men's Curling

Thursday, February 18
1:30a - 4:00a CNBC
2:00a - 5:00a MSNBC - Women's Curling
11:00a - 2:00p USA - Men's Curling
4:00p - 7:00p CNBC - Women's Curling

Friday, February 19
1:30a - 4:00a CNBC
2:00a - 4:30a MSNBC - Men's Curling
11:00a - 2:00p USA - Women's Curling
4:00p - 7:00p CNBC - Men's Curling
9:00p - 12:00a CNBC - Women's Curling

Saturday, February 20
2:00a - 5:00a MSNBC - Men's Curling
11:00a - 2:00p MSNBC - Men's Curling
4:00p - 7:00p CNBC - Women's Curling
9:00p - 12:00a CNBC - Men's Curling

Sunday, February 21
2:00a - 5:00a MSNBC - Men's Curling
11:00a - 2:00p MSNBC - Women's Curling
4:00p - 7:00p CNBC - Men's Curling
9:00p - 12:00a CNBC - Women's Curling

Monday, February 22
2:00a - 4:30a MSNBC - Women's Curling
11:00a - 2:00p USA - Men's Curling
4:00p - 7:00p CNBC - Women's Curling
9:30p - 12:00a CNBC - Men's Curling

Tuesday, February 23
2:00a - 4:30a MSNBC - Men's Curling
11:00a - 2:00p USA - Women's Curling
4:00p - 7:00p CNBC - Men's Curling
9:30p - 12:00a MSNBC - Women's Curling

Wednesday, February 24
2:00a - 4:30a MSNBC - Women's Curling
4:00p - 7:00p MSNBC

Thursday, February 25
2:00a - 4:30a MSNBC - Men's Curling
11:00a - 2:00p USA - Women's Curling: Semifinal
4:00p - 7:00p CNBC - Men's Curling

Friday, February 26
2:00a - 5:00a MSNBC - Women's Curling
11:00a - 2:00p USA - Women's Curling: Bronze Game
5:00p - 8:00p CNBC - Women's Curling

Saturday, February 27
2:00a - 4:30a MSNBC - Men's Curling
11:00a - 2:00p USA - Men's Curling: Bronze Game
5:00p - 8:00p CNBC - Men's Curling Gold Medal Match

So there it is, two solid weeks of Curling goodness. Grab your popcorn, a few bottles of beer and throw kepe your remote handy as you hop between three obscure cable channels to get your Curling fix. Hey, at least most of these broadcasts will be live so when America brings home the Olympic Curling Gold Medal we'll know about it before it hits Twitter. Unless NBC drops the ball like usual and fucks us all.

For photos of Minnesota where curling, beleive it or not, is wildly popular check out MinnPics!

Lady Gaga rocks face pearls, cameltoe?

I'll be damned if Lady Gaga didn't strike again at give America an entirely new look to critique. I'll give her credit for braving what New Yorkers are calling a "blizzard" wearing fishnets, a bikini, about 8 inch tall platform boots and a shitload of pearls glued to random areas of her body.

Sure, this is about as far from news as things can get but no matter what people think, she hasn't gotten to the top of the popular music mountain by being a talentless hack. Her music, while not for everybody, is legitimately popular. She sells singles via iTunes better than almost nobody else and she has dominated radio for the past year without taking a break.

The best I can come up with is that she's a distraction. During times like these (dank, cold weather following nearly endless snowfall; shitty economic situations; etc.) we would rather be distracted than reminded about our own pitiful lives and if that means visiting Huffington Post to look at Lady Gaga - a performance pop artist - and critique her latest "holy shit" fashion moment then so be it. I know I'd rather take a break and check out an attractive woman - yes, she is normal underneath all the make-up and bizarre outfits - than focus on the fact that my needs hundreds of dollars of repairs in the near future. Factor in that either Lady Gaga's sporting some camel toe or her pearl bikini bottom is somewhat wrinkled and awkwardly positioned and the photo above is the most perfect blogosphere fodder yet this week. (Take that George W. Bush billboard in Wyoming, MN!)

If you love photos - and who doesnt? - check out the best photos Minnesota has to offer at MinnPics!

My newest gripe: gas stations

First off, they haven't been simple "gas stations" since the 1970s but that's another story for another day. Today it hit me as I stood alongside my car filling it with rather costly gasoline: gas stations are really annoying. It really hit me while at this particular Kwik Trip as I was barraged with obnoxious music fit best for a slow ride on an elevator bound for hell.

I don't quite know when it became the norm for mega convenience stores to assault our auditory senses in this fashion. I know that in the past couple years that too many Twin Cities-area Holiday stations have added those annoying as hell televisions at their pumps so we can be punched in the face with messages from KSTP-TV and KARE-TV about their breaking news and endless loops consisting of promos for their respective network's shows which I care nothing about.

But in the end the music coming over the speakers sealed the deal for me. I might actually seek out backwoods-type gas stations totally lacking in technology, ambiance and general safety to avoid this full-on assault on my senses just to avoid hearing ultra-shitty and non-offensive soft rock hits, the store's latest specials and a clerk announcing which pump is clear for takeoff - please pay inside when done!

Cut all the crap. I'm here to fill my car with gas. I don't give a damn about being surrounded with music so knock it off. I don't want a damn "experience". I want my fucking gas so I can get back on the freeway and find something else to think about writing here because it seems like more and more of life's conveniences aren't exactly pleasing. Maybe I should start scouting out land in the middle of Montana and get the hell away from civilization before a crosswalk/stoplight with a timer sends me completely off the edge.

One of the few things keeping me sane is MinnPics. The photographers populating Minnesota create some amazing photos and I'm lucky enough to be a part of the further sharing of them so go - now - check them out!

Lindsey Vonn's ass looks yummy

It's not ever day that a local girl makes the cover of Sports Illustrated but U.S. Olympic ski-team member Lindsey Vonn from right here in the Twin Cities has done just that. And she's garnered plenty of attention -- and controversy -- for looking damn fine in the process.

Now to a casual magazine reader, you'd think that it's just another magazine with an athlete featured on the cover. But with a rather rabid blogosphere eager to analyze every photo of anyone even mildly famous, it was only a matter of time before everyone with far too much time on their hands picked apart the soon-to-be-infamous Lindsey Vonn Sports Illustrated cover photo.

Now being that I'm a red-blooded American guy, I think she looks hot as hell. Being that she is basically a professional athlete, she has an incredibly toned body. She could probably kick my ass and, you know what, I'd let her. For one, it's not cool to beat up on a woman but secondly, she's a knockout and that pose was done intentionally.

Yeah, I know it's a typical skiing pose for downhill skiing but she isn't moving. There's no illusion of motion in that photo. She's just made to look like she's screaming down a snow-covered slope somewhere. And then there's the positioning of her rather taught rear end over the magazine's masthead. That's just another intentional move for a magazine geared at guys.

I could go on and on about the obvious layering of photos - one for the mountainous background, likely one for the setting sun and cloudy sky and a heavily airbrushed Lindsey Vonn. Nobody gets that dolled up to take a run down a ski slope and while I know that this was a photo shoot, the level of digital altering is bordering on ridiculous.

But in the end it's sex that sells. It sells everything and while I wouldn't buy Sports Illustrated just because Lindsey Vonn and her awesome ass graces the cover, millions of other guys would and while I criticize moves like this solely to sell a magazine, my job is much the same so I'll shut up now and do the right thing - drool over the curves and protruding, smackable ass of Lindsey Vonn.

If you feel dirty for reading this, check out the classy photos of Minnesota at MinnPics.

The idiocy of Minnesota's schools

My day began in the small Minnesota River Valley city of LeSueur. Of course I had to drive there to begin with which sucked but driving back to my office in the metro sucked much more than I can even begin to describe here.

I busied myself, trapped behind a three-wide MNDot snowplow assault on U.S. Highway 169 for 20+ miles, by endlessly scanning through the FM radio dial. Stopping at one point, I heard a Mankato FM station (Hot 96.7) rattling off a few school closings. I was on the road heading back to my office between 9 and 10 AM and the majority of these school early releases being aired were before noon.

Assuming that most schools begin between 8 and 9 AM, this boils down to a nice half-day for kids in many parts of outstate Minnesota. The confusing part was that more than a few of these early closings were around 9:30 AM! Yeah, that means that after the wheels on the bus went 'round and 'round on roads that were already fairly shitty, they have to turn around 90 minutes later and slip and slide down barely visible country roads to take the little brats back home.

What the hell changed so much in a mere 90 minutes to change the mind of school administrators in these mainly small towns? Did the near-whiteout conditions become a total whiteout? Did they actually listen to a weather forecast and hear the part about another 6 or so inches of snow falling throughout the day complete with some wind to further fuck up the already sketchy situation?

The point is that these schools get at least some money for bringing the kids in to the buildings for even a partial day. And some money for the day is better than none. But isn't the safety of kids, which these school are entrusted with, the highest priority? Shouldn't safety trump money any day of the week? What happens when someone makes a bad call and sends the kids home too late and a bus rolls over on an icy, unplowed road and all 38 kids die? Wouldn't it have been a better call to keep the kids home if the weather already sucked before sunrise and was predicted to keep getting worse as the day dragged on? And, really, how many schools a mere one county south of the Twin Cities will actually stick it out and keep the kids in class for a full day?

But all of the Winter weather makes for interesting photos at MinnPics. Check out the stunning photos of Minnesota today!

I hate Bob Costas

This post has been years in the making. I've witnessed Bob Costas as a play by play guy in the booth for NBC way back when they used to broadcast Major League Baseball games. He, in my opinion, was one of the best men in the booth in modern times. I'd like to see him take Joe Buck outside Insert Corporate Name Here Stadium and kick the living shit out the talentless hack that is Joe Buck. Bob Costas is genuine and unbiased and he's a genius when it comes to baseball.

But that's where it stops.

NBC, being a one-trick pony, has always seemed hell-bent on exploiting Bob Costas' talent and natural on-air likeability factor. NBC ruined Bob Costas for all of America.

It started when NBC began using Bob Costas from time to time when they used to broadcast NBA games. Now I'm sure that Costas knows his way around the basketball court but seeing him talking and analyzing professional hoops was like Jesus Christ admitting that the marks on his wrists (or hands) weren't from being crucified but instead from a knife fight with his best buddy Jebediah back when they were freshmen in high school. It just wasn't right. Bob Costas talks baseball and dammit that's where he belongs.

Now NBC must have signed Bob Costas to some sort of lifetime contract for far too much cash because it seems that they now own the soul of one Bob Costas. They are now free to exploit him in any way possible. They can dress him up in douchey sweaters (or polo shirts depending on the season) to broadcast puff pieces passed off as personality pieces on Olympic athletes during the Olympic games every two damn years. And the viewers suck this shit up. They, for whatever reason, believe that Bob Costas - former baseball broadcasting God - has some sort of vast, encyclopaedic knowledge of the Winter Olympics and has a buddy-buddy relationship with the entire Finland bobsled team. Shit, I am fairly certain that the Finnish bobsled team doesn't even speak English which makes this whole charade even more ridiculous. And as a 30 year old living in Minnesota, why the hell do I even care about the heartwarming bullshit NBC is making Bob Costas peddle about the underdogs of the Finnish bobsled team. I know the general location of Finland but I couldn't pinpoint it out of those three northern European countries to save my life.

But I don't place the blame solely on NBC for this debacle they are broadcasting. The Olympics are pointless. These are people who found a way to be famous by doing something most of us would regard as a form of recreation. These Olympic "sports" exist only for the Olympics. Is there a league of professional bobsledders or lougers trekking across the country selling out bobsled tracks with thousands of adoring fans seeking autographs? Is there a Wilt Chamberlain of the bobsled world racking up women faster than the national debt? I doubt it. And I doubt that Bob Costas gives a gosh darm golly god damn about the Finnish bobsled team. He's cashing a paycheck. And by doing just that he's also destroying his credibility he had racked up during his time as an actual pro sports broadcaster - mainly a baseball broadcaster. That's what makes Bob Costas suck. There, I said it, Bob Costas SUCKS. Bob Costas sucks. BOB COSTAS SUCKS!

Hopefully the sellout that is Bob Costas won't be interfering with the coverage of Olympic curling because, as much as I hate all things Olympic, I love to watch curling. Even Bob Costas wouldn't touch curling - unless there's some wishy-washy story about how one of the member of the Cuban curling team overcame the loss of both arms to be a world-class curler. Then all bets are off because I will find you, Bob Costas and I will smite you and I'll choke you with those ridiculous sweaters that Dick Ebersol (ass) dresses you in.

Angry now? Cool your jets with the soothing but still awesome photos of Minnesota at MinnPics!

This post, while simple in theory, deserves some credit - it goes to a local blogger who tweeted about her very own Bob Costas blog traffic earlier today. I haven't read her post, probably should have because I'm sure it was totally awesome but it's often instances like that - simply seeing a person's name mentioned - which inspire my writing here - for better or worse.

The state of the internet

The state of the internet


(via) (h/t)

To break down the infographic in a few words, it's not surprising that the biggets internet users are twenty-something with a college education and money in their pockets.

The disturbing part comes in at the average broadband speed area. Japan's broadband is a whopping 12 times faster than that of our country's broadband. If there were one technological advance I'd love to see, it's the goverment downright forcing American cable companies to speed things up while simultaneously lowering prices. $50+ per month to stay connected to a constant flow of information sounds like a damn good bargain on the outside but when you consider the annual costs of a big-market daily newspaper - usually consisting of at least 50 pages - is next to nothing compared to the $600 yearly outlay for internet access.

Sure, online access gives us streaming video, streaming music, photo hosting, social networking and access to not just one newspaper but hundreds of thousands of them from around the world plus millions of blogs - 100 or so of which are actually worth reading (this is one worth reading if you were curious). But for basic usage of those items, users don't pay a dime for access these websites. Unless you factor in the internet access charges - but those funds go to the people who own the wires, not the website owners.

So the real winner is the cable companies. The websites are right there, all we need is a way to view them and that involves access to the internet. Maybe internet access would best be treated as another essential utility like electricity or municipal water. Should we be stifled with relatively slow high speed access and expect to be on the same technological footing as advanced countries (such as Japan)? It's much like expecting a fair race between Dale Earnhardt Jr. and an Amish man from Harmony, MN. The advantage obviously goes to Earnhardt and in this convoluted comparison Earnhardt is Japan and the Amish man is the USA.

We, as a country, can never be competitive against the rest of the world with this disadvantage pillaging our wallets each month.

On the flip side, though, internet access does give you cool blogs to view such as MinnPics. It's a critical favorite which means it's lacking viewers so check out the photos of Minnesota right now!

In which I confess my nerdishness

I've been battling it for the better part of two decades. Sure, I've had glasses since I began 6th grade but I chalk that one up to genetics because when everyone of my aunts and uncles on both sides of my family - as well as my parents - has glasses it's inevitable that I'd eventually have them too. But having vision problems does not a nerd make. I also have a rather odd - to some - collection which my old lady has relegated to an upstairs closet in the far back of the house.

That collection consists of hundreds of miniature collectible tractors (cut me some slack, I'm a farm kid at heart - remember?). It took me 10-15 years to amass that collection and nearly weekly she asks me what I plan on doing with all those damn toys in the future. First off, they are not mere toys, I don't play with them like I would Legos if I was still in possession of Legos. The rowdy nephews don't get to play with my collectibles when they come by to visit and generally messy-up our house. And finally, they ARE NOT TOYS. They are worth more than my old car which she urged me to sell last fall. They are worth more than our shitty couch in the living room. Those fucking MINIATURE FARM COLLECTIBLES are an investment as well as a hobby. And when I finally hit the big time and we can build a house to our liking in the country so I can have my very own anger shed (a topic for another day) those collectibles will have their proper display room. But until then they'll have to reside in that dark closet where their beauty goes unappreciated.

Of course my oddness also extends to TV. Sunday night, when I should have been tidying up the living room and heading upstairs to brush my teeth, I found a documentary of sorts on CNBC about MacIntosh/Apple Computer. Yeah, I was actually watching something on CNBC and I sat for 45 minutes fixated on this rather compelling story about why there is such huge fandom surrounding Apple Computers. And I totally got it. I understood where the people interviewed were coming from. I could actually relate to these relative outcasts of society. Now I wouldn't camp out waiting for an Apple Store to open but I would love to attend MacWorld even now that Apple doesn't exhibit there or unveil products during the show each year.

And even more on the TV front, I own the complete series DVD box set of "Sports Night". Do you remember that show? It wasn't quite a drama but it was 30 minutes long but it also wasn't a comedy. It was a genre-bending masterpiece from Aaron Sorkin. It featured Felicity Huffman before she was a desperate housewife. It was relateable because it let viewers decide when to laugh because unlike its late-90s counterparts there was no laughtrack or studio audience. That series was like scripted gold.

Then there's "Lost". I can't take full responsibility for what became an almost obsession with that series. I didn't even watch the first couple of episodes of "Lost" but bored for something to unwind to, my old lady - soon after our wedding - sat down one Wednesday night in our smallish apartment to watch whatever was on. Being as I had no cable TV at the time, the offerings were limited but we caught a repeat of the premiere episode of "Lost" and I haven't missed an episode since. It's a given that nothing will get done around the house when "Lost" is on. I've collected each of the five seasons on DVD and am currently nearing the end of the second season as I try to pack in as much viewing as possible before the series ends in May. It's captivating because the story hops all over the place and spans not just thirty years but a couple of centuries as we found out at the end of the fifth season. The mysteries have me nearly obsessed the day after the show airs and while plenty of people will try to replicate this series, nobody ever will because it's the original and you can never beat the original.

And to further expand on my nerdishness, I also blog. Not just here but also maintain MinnPics which features awesome photos from around the great state of Minnesota.

Purging is a lot of work

I'm doing something I haven't done in quite some time. Purge. No, not in the "I have an eating disorder way". I am purging myself of stuff.

If you asked me five years ago if I ever thought I'd see this house which we had just purchased feeling rather full, I would have said "No" and left it at that. But that's just what has happened. It took five years and I'm pretty sure that adding a kid over a year ago played a big part in it but we've managed to make this house which seemed rather huge - 2,100 sq. ft. plus a basement adding just over 1,000 sq. ft. - feel rather tiny. Maybe it's just because it feels very much "live in".

We have stuff in every closet. As I sit in the office, which doubles as an art studio, I can see with the open closet shelves from floor to ceiling nearly completely full of boxes. I've deemed the contents of each of those boxes necessary at some point in time but I'm sure if I could sort through them during this busy week I'd be left with an overflowing garbage can and some more space.

Some of the stuff is just stored away. It's stuff we've used in the past and may very well use again. We are slowly accumulating clothes that the rapidly growing little lady of the house doesn't fit in to any longer and just in case we'd need them down the road, we have them. Of course on the flip side, I found the old mirror from our pre-remodel bathroom stuffed away in the same closet which was home to a nicely framed Ferarri poster I accumulated during a tour of some printing company in the Twin Cities when I was in college. Those items will be curbside as soon as possible.

It's that never ending battle of deciding what is worth saving and what has served its purpose that we must all fight or risk becoming an episode of "Hoarders". I've seen what living life attached to possessions far beyond their usefulness is like. I helped that couple move last summer from a 2-bedroom apartment to a five bedroom house. All their crap, and most of it was just that, didn't even fit in the house. They still can't use most of their garage because if they bought it, there must be a purpose for it and they'll surely need it - eventually.

But I won't live that way. I've been busy, using free minutes here and there, shredding old papers from my hulking filing cabinet. It's step one in my purge. When the weather thaws the shed out back gets the same treatment and if the couch keeps misbehaving it, too, could very well end up curbside on spring cleanup day. Am I alone in this process of heavy purging from time to time or do most people do light purging more frequently? Is it a yearly thing or have I let things - mainly my filing of documents - go three years too long?

Or should I just close the door and focus on updating MinnPics? I think we all know the answer to that. People would much rather look at the pretty pictures of Minnesota than read this drivel!