Pronounce this: Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

Hippopo...WHAT?! Yeah..., if you are like most normal, you probably shouldn't be able to pronounce that word. Then again, if you feel a need to pronounce "Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia" instead of just saying "fear of long words" then you probably are not normal anyway. But enough about how abnormal you may or may not be!

The reason I brought this ridiculous word to your attention was to introduce you to a pretty awesome web site I happened upon-- howjsay.com. Howjsay.com basically teaches you how to pronounce words (it actually pronounces the word!), so you don't make a fool out of yourself during that wedding toast, thereby costing youself that hot bridesmaid's phone number, because she thinks you're dumb. All you do with howjsay.com is enter the word you're looking for in the search space at the top of the web site, hit submit, and voila! you have your word pronunciation. Sometimes, you have to hold your cursor over the word to have it pronounced. And of course, you'll need speakers to hear the pronunciation, so have them handy.

One other cool thing about howjsay.com is that your spelling doesn't have to be great for it to produce some results. As an example, I entered "kantankros" and howjsay returned "Cantankerous"...pure awesomeness. So, go out there and use some words that, until now,  you've been terrified to think about!

Thanks for reading, and please don't forget to subscribe if you enjoyed this post.

Reason to live on the Jersey side.

I have often wondered why people who could live in Jersey City, opt instead to live in Manhattan... .Jersey City is as close to Manhattan as you can get without encountering all the noise pollution, rats, angry MTA agents, and maniacal cyclists who want to run you over, or off the sidewalk.

Jersey City also boasts an amazing view of Manhattan-- if you're high up enough, or close enough to the Hudson river. These three awesome pictures of the view from Exchange Place in Jersey City should help convince even the most ardent Jersey-Basher that Jersey holds some treasures worth experiencing.





































Let me know what you want to see and/or read more of, and don't forget to subscribe!

Allow people to subscribe to your blog (On blogger.com)! Pt. 2

In my last post, I explained how to place an RSS link on your blogger.com blog... that sounds silly. In this post, I'm going to explain how to place an e-mail subscription form on your blog-- my personal favorite way of subscribing to blogs because I actually read the blogs posts I receive in my e-mail.

PLACING AN E-MAIL SUBSCRIPTION FORM
If you don't already have a feedburner account, please follow this link to set one up. THEN follow this link to my last blog post, and go through the Prep-work steps. Once you're done with the prep-work, it's pretty simple to get the e-mail subscription form.

On the feedburner landing page (see below), click on the title of the feed of the blog you want to create an e-mail subscription form for.

Click on the publicize tab at the top of the page (step 1), click on the email subscriptions link on the left side of the page (step 2), and finally, copy the HTML code that pops up about mid page (step 3).

Now make your way over to your blog and go to the "Design" view. Click on "Add a Gadget", and add a HTML/JavaScript gadget. Paste (CTRL+V) the HTML code you copied from feedburner into this gadget window. Don't forget to give it a subject-- if you want. Save the gadget, and you're done! Now hit "View Blog" at the top of your page, and admire your work.

And remember that there's no law that says you can't use more than one e-mail subscription box on your blog!

Thanks for reading. Please subscribe if this was helpful to you.

Allow people to subscribe to your blog (On blogger.com)! Pt. 1

I'm tired of finding a blog I like to read, only to realize that there's no way, or just one way (usually, the boring old atom/RSS link the template came with) to subscribe to it! Who the heck do you think you are (yes author-of-the-blog-I-like-to-read, I'm talking to you!)? Do you really think that because I have absolutely nothing else to do with my life, and because your writing makes me laugh, I will keep returning to your blog to read? The correct answer to that rhetorical question is, "No, Papi".

I do not have any awesome statistics to bamboozle you with (though I could probably whip some up if you want), but I can tell you from professional experience (and common sense deductions) that if the only means for people to subscribe to your blog is the RSS link that came with your blog template, you're in serious danger of having a bunch or "readers" who don't really read anything you write. Even worse, if have NO way for people to subscribe to your blog...well, I don't know what you're trying to do.

Anyway, because I'm awesome and like to share my knowledge, I'm going to show you how to:
1. provide your readers with a conveniently placed RSS subscription link on the side bar of your blog (as opposed to the default atom link that's usually placed at the bottom of your blog)
2. provide your readers with a way to subscribe to, and received your blog posts in their e-mails (this is my personal favorite)

Prep-work
1. Visit Feedburner and create a profile.
2.  Enter your blog's URL or feed URL in the space where it says "Burn a feed right this instant", on the "My Feeds" page. Hit next and follow the instructions.

3. Go to your blog's "Settings" tab (if you can't find it, leave me a message and I'll get back to you), and then click the "site feed" link underneath.

4.  Enter "http://feeds.feedburner.com/your blog's name" in the space where it says "Post Feed Redirect URL". You can also find the feedburner feed URL by clicking on the feed title (in feedburner) and hitting the "Edit Feed Details Link" (see image below). Copy the feedburener URL and paste that into your blog's "Post Feed Redirect URL" space. **If you have issues with this step, again, leave me a message, and I'll get back to you"

 - Now you've entered a whole new world of possibilities!

PLACING AN RSS LINK
Once you're all set up with Feedburner, it's easier than blinking to place your RSS link (see the second box to the left of this blog post). First, you have to click on the title of your feed on the "My Feeds" page. Next, click on the "Publicize" at the top of the page. Finally, click on the "Chicklet Chooser" link on the left side of the page. This page has a whole lot of icons you could use to represent your RSS feed to reader-- pick one (you can always come back and pick another later). Scroll to the bottom of the page, select (CTRL+A), and copy (CTRL+C)  the HTLM code in the box you see.

Now make your way over to your blog and go to the "Design" view. Click on "Add a Gadget", and add a HTML/JavaScript gadget. Paste (CTRL+V) the HTML code you copied from feedburner into this gadget window. Don't forget to give it a subject-- if you want. Save the gadget, and you're done! Now hit "View Blog" at the top of your page, and admire your work.


In my next blog post, I will complete this little tutorial by showing you how to enable people subscribe to receive your blog posts in their e-mail. Thanks for reading.

Limitless? Uh-uh.

[Spoiler Alert!] 

I recently saw the movie "Limitless".

"Ice age" and "A Bug's Life" are but two examples of movies that I believe have more substance than "Limitless". Seriously.

"Limitless" is a movie about a loser (lives like a loser; dumped by his gf because he's a loser; lost his wife weeks after being married because he's a loser; is drunk at 2pm because he's a loser etc.) writer who bumps into his ex-brother in law (who happens to be a drug dealer) one fateful day, is introduced to a new drug that makes you super smart, uses his super smarts to start and finish a book he'd been putting off for months, in 4+ days, and then goes on to become a stock trader, after which he decides to be a politician. Wait...! What?! Yes, that's "Limitless"...not in a nutshell. That's really it.

I was personally so unimpressed by that movie that I have nothing else to say about it...except that the 1.5hr+ long show was quite painful to sit through. So if you have a low tolerance for poorly developed GREAT ideas (because the concept of this movie IS pretty awesome), or unnecessarily long movies, please do not pay to see this. Or if you do, have a good remedy, like "post-bad movie" pan seared pork dumplings, for the massive headache that you will undoubtedly develop.

Happy movie going!

Places to donate for Japan relief

Please visit any of the links below to find a way to make a little donation to help Japan. Be blessed and have a great day!

•  https://livingsocial.com/deals/32115-5-for-10-donation-to-red-cross-relief-efforts
• www.billygraham.org/ChristianRelief
• www.savethechildren.org/JapanQuake
• www.nyc.gov/apps/311
• donate.worldvision.org
• ABC.com: More links where you can donate to Japan relief efforts

Kirk Franklin - Brighter Day

A beautiful song. Thank you Lord for my life, my family, and my friends.

5th and Washington

Everyone has a guilty pleasure; for some it's watching "Teen Mom 2", and for others it's watching someone who seems to deserve it get their butt kicked... . I fall into the later category *Devilish Smile*.

A good friend found this video while trolling youtube this morning, enjoy:



The moral of this ass wooping? Don't talk ShiNt you can't backup!

**UPDATE**:

Youtube didn't seem to find that spectacular a$$ whooping funny :). It was great while it lasted though *grin*.

Awesome world: atop Bear mountain, NY

Awesome picture of the day.

Youtube video => Youtube audio!

Disclaimer: This blog post is not meant to encourage people to steal, or in anyway misuse content that they don't own, or that they haven't been given express permission to use by the owner. This blog post is simply meant to...educate. If in the course of your education you break rules and get grabbed by the authorities concerned... tough noogies!

O.k, so if you're anything like me, you've probably come across a couple of videos on youtube with awesome (or hilarious) sound effects, music, or voices, that you wanted to use for something  e.g. a cellphone ringtone etc. The only problem is IT'S A VIDEO! So, how do you circumvent that little problem? Simple, find a way to "rip" the sound from the video.

Now, though there are hundreds of ways to rip sound from youtube, I always (like anything in life) prefer the easy, lazy, technical-free way. For that reason, I use this web site. The cool thing about this web site is that you don't have to download any software. You just place the url of the video you want to get sound from, follow 3 simple directions (click, click, click), and wait for the sound to be ripped! Then you download it to your PC. Another cool thing is that you have the option of ripping the sound as an mp3, ogg, wmv or wma file.

The only downside to the web site is that you have a maximum of 5 downloads a day.... which is probably not that big a deal unless you're doing something you're NOT supposed to.

SO anyway, now you know how to get sound off youtube using the awesome Media Converter web site, and I hope you are wise and honest IF you do use it.

While reading ghanaweb...

... I came across this article that claimed in it's title that one Dr. Nana Obiri Yeboah (a sociologist) had fired Michael Essien's father. "Oh" I though, "Michael Essien's dad [James Essien they say his name is] works with sociologists? Is he a sociologist himself? What, by the way do sociologists do in Ghana?" I quickly set upon the article and read it top to bottom.

27 paragraphs later (because I read all 11 paragraphs twice, then read the first 5 over again to make sure I wasn't missing anything), I still haven't figured out what "Senior" Essien does (nor sociologists in Ghana for that matter), when or why he was fired by Dr. Nana Obiri Yeboah, or why the editor of Ghanaweb allowed an article like this to be published.

I guess Ghanaweb is probably not the place to go for well reported nonfa-free news (lol), though for some reason I keep returning to it.One of these days I'm going to post links to alternative sites that provide decent news without the... well, nonfa.

Oh, and for you grammar Nazi's out there, you'll go slightly nuts over the article below.

Article Link

I put up this picture just in case the story disappeared

**UPDATE**

When I first read this story, I felt the "news" being reported was so unworthy of being called news that I neglected to offer my opinions on the issue. I still feel that way. I think the real (and only) story here is the discrepancy between the title of the article, and its contents. However, since I know some people might wonder what I think about all this (yes, i'm that important!), let me just offer my two cents..... LOL, I can't do this! This issue is just too ridiculous!

Why I'm NOT a Game Gbee!

I have been accused several times of being a nerd, geek or "game gbee". And yet, I come across videos like the one above (thank you techrepublic.com for highlighting this video to show what a real nerd is) and I realize I'm really not as far gone as people seem to think I am :).

on a side note, I think this is really awesome!

I know what I did last summer

Leaving the Fish Town dock

At some point during the past weekend, weather.com reported 57 degree weather... and it actually felt like 57 degrees outside. That was nice of them.


The weather reminded me of a blog I had hoped to write last summer about a pretty awesome backcountry camping experience I had (thank you Joanne!).

I spent four awesome days on North Manitou Island in Michigan with my girl friend Joanne. North Manitou is an island located in lake Michigan, about 1.5 hours by boat from the Fish Town Dock in Leland, MI (see below). Our journey started way out in Ann Arbor (approx. 5 hours away). We hit the road early on a Sunday morning, and were on a boat in Leland by 11am, ready to go cross Lake Michigan to North Manitou.

As you approach North Manitou, your begin to realize just how secluded you're going to be...it's awesome! The island is pretty huge if you try to hike the coastline-- approx. 21 miles of sand, rock, and dead birds. And with the exception of the 27 acres surrounding the ranger's village, there's no running water, formal camping grounds, or bathroom facilities anywhere on the island. We came prepared with a collapsible bucket, hand trowel and water filter...and out 40-50lb hiking packs.



View Larger Map

Approaching North Manitou

Once on the island (along with about 40 other people), we had a 30 minute chat/Q&A with the park ranger, and we were free to do whatever we wanted to do in the "wilderness" for the next 4 days... talk about feeling of absolute freedom. Oh, I forgot to mention that the boat that brought us only docked once a day. In the event that there was stormy weather, the boat would come the following day, so it's always advisable to bring extra food for about 2 days... just in case you're stranded. Anyway, we spent the rest of the day
hiking along the coast.

First night camp area

In the photo to the left, you can kind of see the coast turning to the north-east...that's where we came from. We camped to the left of where I was standing when I took this photo. We had dinner right by the water that night...the most peaceful period of my life ever! It was unbelievably SILENT. Except for the lapping of the water against the shore, and the wind, there wasn't any other sound! No honking, loud music, voices...nothing. It was so  great I was inspired to make  my version of the "Miles Away from Ordinary" video that Corona uses...I  just didn't have a Corona on me that day.

View from "dinner table"

 In the video below, you'll see Joanne relaxing and digesting her dinner, and right behind her, over the knoll, is where we camped for the night.

The rest of our time on North Manitou was pretty much the same as the first day-- warm and peaceful-- with a few exceptions. For example, we came came across several coyote tracks in the more remote areas of the southern part of the island. We also happened across some garter snakes, chipmunks, and saw a Piping Plover nest. I'm pretty sure I saw a piping plover too, but I never got a picture. I'll update this post in the future with a link to select photos from my trip to North Manitou.

Now I'd like to give some tips to anyone who is planning on visiting the island:

• Arrive in Leland at the fish town dock before 9am in order to pay your camping fees, get your ticket for the boat ride, your parking pass and your maps.
• Make sure to pack some REALLY STRONG mosquito repellent.
• Bring along a reliable water filtration system, and remember to ALWAYS fill up your water bottle(s) whenever you're leaving the coast. The maps you pick up from the ranger station and at the Fish Town dock may show inland water bodies that may not exist during your visit. Also, if possible, have an emergency water bottle always full.
• DON'T try to get apples from the various orchids on the island.... they're poison ivy traps.
• DON'T t get caught camping too close to the water. Read up on the rules of how close you can camp to the water, or risk getting a hefty fine.
• Learn everything you can about poison ivy (i.e. all the forms it takes, where it's most likely to be, and how to treat it). We were lucky not to have had an encounter with poison ivy, but it's all over the island.
•  PLAN your route carefully, but don't rush through the island...it's a beautiful place.

Please let me know if you have any questions about my experience, and I'll be more than happy to share what I remember.

**UPDATE**:
Here is a link to select photos from my trip to North Manitou Island. Please share your though

Life-y questions...

I've always done this... wondered what life's ultimate goal or purpose was. In recent times, my musings have grown... frequent.

I haven't found any answers. But I have found a few categories that I think most, if not everyone finds themselves in.

I've wondered: could the purpose of one's life be just to make another's possible/ bearable/ enjoyable? Kinda like Jesus Christ (for you Christian's reading this), or.....ummm.... well I was going to draw a parallel of Christ for another religion, but I can't seem to think of one... . Anyway, so could that be the purpose of one's life? Just for the sake of another's?

Could the purpose of you life be to change the world in a large and fundamental way, by developing the world's first working teleportation device (or maybe becoming America's Next Top Ponzi Schemer)? That would be nice...

Could you just be here to struggle and survive to the end by any means you can.... only to die when God or fate decide it's time? i.e. Life sucks and then you die...

Eh who knows...it's probably all the above. And that answer still doesn't help.

Ridiculous...

After this weekend's doughnut fiesta, I unfortunately fell woefully ill... no thanks to the filthy NYC subway system (which I might explore in some detail at a later date). The stupid yo-yoing weather couldn't have helped much either...It got so bad on Monday that I had to take a sick day.

Tuesday morning is here and I still fell like crap, so the question is: am I taking another sick day? Nooo! Of course not! Because I only have one sick day a month, and I happen to have already used up my stockpile from last year (and it's really not that easy to take them in advance). So, I have to come in to work. Now, I don't have a problem with work, but I think it's ridiculous that such a thing as sick days are "rationed". I know, some smarty-pants is probably already formulating an argument for why certain organizations have sick days-- and that's great and all, but I still think it's nuts to penalize people for being sick longer than their 12 day allotted sickness allowance.

See, now that I have to come in to work, chances are that every door knob, key board, mouse and phone I touch will be infected with sickness juice...and trust me, I touch a lot of those things. I'll leave the repercussion of this to be discerned by y'all.

What would I see done in place of this 1 day a month system? Nothing that isn't already being done by other organizations: let people take as much time as they need to get better for crying out loud! I think it's kinda logical to expect a healthy person to be more effective and efficient than a sick one...not to mention that a healthy person won't potentially send a whole department home on sick leave.

Ok, I'm going to finish a cup of blisteringly hot oatmeal, and chug a gallon of water and see what happens. Have a great week.

Tasty? Yes. Tears? No.

Today I was made to visit a tiny doughnut emporium in the LES. The main 'buying area' was no larger than 11' by 11', and I kept expecting Willy Woka or the White Rabbit to show up and lead us through the out of place metal door in the room, down a passage-way, and into some fantastical inner world where doughnuts were a mode of transportation and chocolate glaze run through the standpipes.

Though Willy Wonka or the White Rabbit never showed, it was still somewhat of an adventure mainly because I had never (and would never have done so voluntarily!) stood in a half-a-city-block long line for 15 minutes to get some doughnuts. The thought was, and still is a little nuts to me... I was assured that I would understand the reason for the long line once I tasted the doughnuts and cried tears of pure pleasure as a result....ummm....I'm still waiting for the tears.

I will say this though: the doughnuts are pretty damn good. I especially like the chocolate cake and triple chocolate doughnuts (oooh and the carrot cake doughnut too!). They're definitely worth trying at least once, if only to be able to say "I've had those!" when you read about the The Doughnut Plant in the NY Times. I'm however still pretty sure that I would never voluntarily get in that long a line to purchase them...it's just a matter of principle.

Ok, i'm going to finish my orange glazed doughnut with milk and then see what St. Patty is doing in Hoboken!

**UPDATE**:

There is apparently another Doughnut Plant location at the Chelsea Hotel, right on 23rd and 7th.

Ghana Talk

I just realized that I sometimes enjoy throwing a word or two of Ghanaian pidgin English into my long rants about nothing :). So I've decided to try to compile a little glossary of terms to which I will link whenever I catch myself using one of those very fun words or phrases. Ghana peeps reading this, please share your thoughts if you see/read me going waaay off. I will be updating this blog continuously for as long as I continue to use pidgin words in my posts. Here goes:

Capa: Energy, strength e.g. The boy has capa.
Padi: Friend
Padi-padi: Friendly
Game Gbee: Literally translates to game dog. Used to describe someone who has an insatiable appetite for video games.
Nonfa: nonsense, rubbish e.g. stop talking nonfa i.e stop speaking rubbish.

Friday 4th March

It's in my nature to talk a lot. It doesn't always make for coming across as Mr. Smooth-Short-Dark & Mysterious to the under 30 ladies at happy hour. But it works really well on the over 45 crowd who seem to unconsciously equate my intelligent, yet incessant conversation with sophistication (don't get me wrong, i'm pretty sure I am sophisticated and all that, but that's a conversation for another time). Anyway, I bring all this up to try to explain the reason for this, my third (and hopefully final) blog.

See, when I first came to the realization that I always seemed to have something to say about anything, I tried several times to put all these ideas down on....er....some blogs. The problem is, I could never really find a common thread on which to blog continuously, and the blogs quickly started sounding like someone with A.D.D.wrote them (maybe I have ADD?). Besides that, I realized I didn't have the capa to keep writing 3, 4, and 5 paragraphed articles for the reading pleasure of the masses (all 10 of them!)... not that my articles were anywhere near as engaging as my bar conversations....

Anyway, for some reason, I have decided to give this blog deal another go, and this time don't expect long, perfectly worded articles. This time around, I might blog in a single controversial sentence (If you don't like it, please write a book in the comments section and let's have a discussion), introduce you to The Annoying Thing, post some photos of my latest camping experience or just give props to people that I think everyone should aspire to be like...amongst several other things. Furthermore, I would appreciate, and will attempt to answer any questions posed to me by readers, so have at. That should keep things interesting...

I hope you enjoy this new blog, and I hope to be able to keep it, entertaining and somewhat informational for you.

Have a great Friday.