Olympic Fever

Unfournately, I've been busy at work or else I would have shared some more information / thoughts on the Olympics. Since it is in my second home of London, I thought I'd share some comments from the first 4 days:

• Opening Ceremonies -- it ranged from amazing, cool to what the hell am I watching to, hey look, the English brought out Sir Paul who plays every major event.  The Swedes and the Danes tied for the most attractive team.  
• NBC -- after 4 days, the highlight has been McEnroe and Seacrest. The rest have been pretty bad and their choices of what to show at night are pretty poor. Even in Australia they showed most of the games on alternate channels - live.  Why not this year? Oh and I get it, I can stream it, but my flat screen TV is a tad nicer than my iPad or laptop.
• Gymnastics -- yeah, I don't care.  
• Dream Team -- really don't care either ... Forbes put out a list of the top 10 paid athletes and 7 were on the Dream Team.  Would be way cooler if Brett Blizzard or Dante Calabria were raining threes.
• Swimming -- Phelps looks like he didn't train as much and Lochte is an amazing athlete. Pretty sure he might not be a Rhodes Scholar. 
• Twitter -- the real winner of the Olympics - NBC should learn from Twitter. 
• Beach Volleyball -- love it every year.  I might consider watching it instead of the NFL and certainly more likely to watch than the NBA.
• Water Polo -- Armegeddenon in water. LOVE ... waiting for someone to drown.  
• China -- they cheat ... seriously.  Check out one of their swimmers - she has a bulge in her shorts and she's not a dude -- well maybe. At least she didn't get gender tested like the South African. Imagine showing up to work and they ask you to prove you sexuality. Awesome -- I'd sue ... a lot.  
• London -- the Olympics have really made me miss my second home.  It really is a magical place and I hope I win the lottery soon so I can have a flat in London to visit the one weekend in the Summer when the sun is out.  

 I'll be sure to share much much more as the week progresses and more importantly, as some other cool events kick off. 

Tuesday Song of the Day

Since I'm headed to NYC tomorrow, I thought I'd play some travel music.  5 days in the Big Apple in the Summer.  I'd rather be at home watching the Olympics. 

Leisure Batteries: Safety Checks You Should Carry Out to Ensure Your Battery Is in Top Condition

There are some safety checks that you should try to do so that you can keep your batteries in their best condition possible.

Quick Understanding of Leisure Batteries

Leisure batteries are also known as marine batteries or deep cycle batteries. They are created to provide any equipment or device with a stable supply of electricity for long periods of time. This means that you won't need to worry about having to face sudden battery supply outages because this type of battery is designed to maintain adequate electric currents that are able to withstand long periods of time. These products are often used in equipment and devices like television sets, boats and even motors. Here are some of the most important things that you need to remember about taking care of your leisure power source.

Taking Care of Your Leisure Batteries

First of all, you have to make sure that you don't leave your battery completely discharged for a long period of time. Storing items that are completely discharged can definitely cause certain damages. You can store the fully charged battery for a few months, but you cannot do the same for discharged or drained batteries.

Drained products can undergo a process known as sulphation which is a damaging chemical process. Suplhation will cause the formation of damaging lead plates within the battery. If this happens for a long time, you won't be able to charge the entire battery and you won't be able to use it again.

You also should make sure that you do not overcharge them. Overcharging the leisure batteries can definitely heat them up, thus causing their electrolytes to evaluate. This can greatly damage the battery plates and make them less capable of storing and conducting power. With this, you will not be able to use your battery as efficiently and effectively as before.

You also have to make sure that you are able to store them in the right environment, primarily with the right temperature. This will make sure that your batteries will last for a very long time and will not be damaged easily. You should prevent your leisure batteries from being exposed to extreme temperatures or to wet or moist environments.

These are some of the most important reminders that you should definitely know about taking care of your leisure batteries. If you are able to do this, you can ensure that your purchase for your leisure batteries will definitely be worth it. Leisure batteries, if well maintained, can be very efficient when it comes to providing power to various types of equipment and devices.

A video for my past

Before I met Retired Sorority Girl, this song / video pretty much defined my dating life. In fact, I was referred to as the doormat by more than a few of my co-workers ... and this video pretty much nails it because I can attest to doing some of these things and truly being a doormat. 

Sure makes me appreciate Retired Sorority Girl even more ... course, she did scratch a few of my blu-rays as well as she drinks Bacardi in the AM ... hmm, I wonder ... 

Wednesday Morning Ramblings

So it's been a couple of days so I figured I'd catch everyone up on a few things:

• Olympics starts this weekend and I noticed a few key sports are missing. Aside from Baseball which was removed purely because the rest of the world is tired of the US, couch vaulting is not on the schedule. I invited couch vaulting back in 2000 and while I never medaled in the sports I created, I sure broke a few coffee tables and pretty sure my wrist. Anywhoo -- couch vaulting is a highly skilled sports that requires balance, patience and tremendous amounts of alcohol.
• COME TO PENN STATE, errr, maybe not.  Things are so cheerful in Happy Valley and they won't be for quite some time.  No matter what their coach says, when you have 60 scholarships and no bowls, your not going to compete for quite some time.  Oh well, I was never a Penn State fan and my only thoughts are the NCAA kinda over stepped their role here. Course, I wonder if we replaced Congress with the NCAA if something would get done in Washington ... 
• Wedding planning -- its so much fun! I love it ... so much so that I retired from it last night. At this point, I think eloping is the greatest idea in the world, but alas, I have been over ruled.  Date, venue, etc. to follow at some date in the near future ... and no, it won't be in Vegas or in Westminster. 
• The news that came out of Colorado in the last week is absolutely horrible. I've intentionally not talked about it because its a horrible situation and I hate the way the pro / anti gun groups are flying into the debate.  Its tacky and they should both let politics rest for a while.  I did see it was amazing that Christian Bale quietly visited the hospital and the memorial yesterday to see the victims. No PR team, no entourage ... just a concerned person providing to support to those affected by the tragedy.  A real class act.   
• Speaking of Christian Bale, if you haven't seen the Dark Knight Rises, go see it now.  It's frickin amazing and actually connects back to the comic book. And yes, I was one of those kids that read the Dark Knight comic. Go see it ... the chanting and sound track will be seen at a college football game near you this Fall. Mark my words ... 

Happy Chipendence Day!

And to celebrate I'm at work ... and sober. Ugh, how getting old makes me unhappy. Have no fear, I'm going to throw a few down this weekend to celebrate and I'm clearly not going to do any more wedding venue visits. We haven't choen a place but lets just say I've seen every venue I ever want to see.

And to celebrate ... a little England hates Germany for you. If only we had this pride in our national team. 

Ladies and Gentleman, I offer you a horrible reporter

Nice job, Brian Ross and ABC. Dynamite reporting. Did you just google his name and start throwing out suggestions about Holmes?  Why didn't you suggest he was John Holmes.  Yeah, I've disliked this guy for a long time. Hope this gets him fired ... OH and check him out on twitter. Dr. Noisewater pointed out some great #brianross trending comments.

Friday Graph of the Day

If you add in the Hatfields & McCoys ... then this is spot on. 

Wedding Planning

As many of you know, Retired Sorority Girl and I decided to get engaged a while back. After a week (ok, 24 hours of celebrating) she dove straight into wedding planning.  Mind you, this won't be one of those posts that slams wedding planning or anything along those lines, but merely a quick overview to state some of the interesting things I've learned in the first three weeks of planning. Oh and no, we don't have a venue, date, or anything along those lines but we sure have visited enough places to know what we don't want:

• Chairs -- they are things you typically sit on but in a wedding, they are a high priced accessory that demands the scruity of all brides to be.  What I've realized is that the chairs are a back end gimmick by the man who is constantly trying to keep us down to keep us down. For instance, you can get the regular chair (the Romney) for $1.25 or the fancy French chair (the Obama) for $5.00.  Now, what they don't tell you, is by the time you paid for labor and covers for the $1.25 chair, it now costs over $5.  Seriously -- chairs. 
• Tables -- before last weekend, I knew there were high top and low top tables, but I didn't realize the number, types and colors that are available.  Did you know you can get marble high top tables? Amazing how I did not know that?
• Event Coordinators -- they come in two batches -- young, in their twenties and either planning their own wedding or recently married ... or they are late 30s / 40s, bitter as shit and almost impossible to talk to about anything other than chairs, tables and lighting.  Seriously, we met with one woman this past weekend that was so insanely unhappy that I checked the obits on Sunday AM to see if she ended it. I've met miserable people in my life but this one took first prize! 
• Fear of Fire -- I've noticed that all of the event staff / coordinators have an intense fear of fire.  Whether its the venue bursting into flames or a table cloth, they certianly don't want candles unless they are behind a nuke proof glass case and don't even think about sparklers. Pretty sure there are some dudes in tuxes hiding in the bushes with a fire hose in case you think of lighting up the sparkler. 
• Photographers -- I've learned that weddings have nothing to do with the ceremony, spending time with others ... its all about the pictures. Don't fool yourself, I've even learned that wedding locations aren't built for sound (because who wants to hear the vows) but more for pictures! Woo Hoo! Pictures. For the record, my father is a photographer and I've hated pictures of myself since he wouldn't stop taking pictures of me as a child. Pretty sure that nice cocktail of bourbon and xanax on my wedding day will make for some fabo pictures. 
• Disasters -- want to have fun with event coordinators, ask them what their plan is in case of terrorist attack or meteorite crash. Yeah, I've done that at a few locations and kept a straight face. I'm going to start taking pictures of their facial expressions when you ask if the building is Al Queda proof or if they have an issues with loaded weapons on the premesis. 
•  AC -- did you know, that in May, in the State of Ga, its really not that hot and you can do an outdoor wedding / reception with out AC?  It took every ounce of me to not laugh out loud at that comment from one wedding coordinator. Kinda like tying a ribbon on a terd and trying to sell it as a Twix candy bar.  No AC in May?  Ha ... I turn on the AC in February.  
• Gift Registry -- if these things aren't run by the Mafia, they should be. That's all I have to say about that. 
• Wedding Guest List -- Shockingly, I've found creating the wedding guest list a pretty entertaining experience but I was thinking last night that it should be a lot more fun. I'm actually considering holding auditions for our guest list. Think about it, if your parents want to invite a lot of their friends to your wedding and you're not so sure of it, have their friends audition for a role. Same goes for that co-worker or friend that you just aren't sure you should invite. Come up with entertaining criteria: can they dance, sing, make a special cocktail, funnel a 5th of Vodka, play a guitar, do they have a friend that owns a resort in the Caribbean, Do they have access to key sporting venues, Are they currently a gun runner, Do they know Ted, etc.  I proposed this concept to Retired Sorority Girl and unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears.  But think how much fun you would have making your guests try out for an invitation. Pretty sure this has appeared in an 80s movie and if not, it should. 
• Band -  For some reasons, wedding bands are stupid expensive. They way things are going and the costs I've seen, pretty sure we'll be able to get Nickleback for the same price as the local Glenn Johnson Quartet.  Anywhoo ... I just hope Retired Sorority Girl will come around and we get the Dan Band ... or Nickleback.  I really want an excuse to wear a leather wrist band.  

Wait ... is that a Southern, coherent version Mumford & Sons?

I watch a lot of terrible TV, but I don't watch American Idol, because its really terrible. Well, while stuck in some of the worst traffic I've experienced in years, Phillip Phillps new song, Home, came on the radio (course it was also played during the All Star game but as soon as I realized Nickleback wasn't playing, I didn't pay attention).

At first, I thought Mumford and Sons were drunk and playing with an Americanized accent, but then I realized it wasn't that crappy act yet some kid who won American Idol -- and he's from Georgia.  So there you go ... another American Idol from Georgia - what's that, two or three?

Anywhoo, I still think he sounds like Mumford and Sons but at least you can understand what he's saying and his lyrics don't whine and contradict each other. So I don't hate him ... yet.

It's late 80's / 90's Day

Woo Hoo ... Hold on tight, you know, she's just a little bit dangerous!

WWE Studios? Yeah ... this should be good.

This should be ... interesting??? So the burnette chic went from the 40 days / 40 night movie with Josh Hartnett to this movie?  I'm thinking porn was probably a better option for her.

Tents of the Central Asian Nomads

The tents of the Central Asian nomads are a very important part of nomadic life and provide the only form of formalized housing for the peoples. They are extremely durable and perfectly suited for use in the mountainous regions of Central Asia. Each tent itself is a work of art and takes almost 12 months to build using yak wool that is hand spun into yarn.

Building a Central Asian Nomadic Tent

The tents built by Central Asian nomadic tribes are generally mid-sized and are held up by handmade yak wool rope and eight to twelve (depending on the size of the tent) treated wooden poles. The hand spun fabric used to cover the tent is relatively thin and does let in a certain amount of light during daylight hours. The tent is built to include a large opening at the top of the tent that is used as a chimney or smoke hole to release the smoke form a central dung fire stove situated in the tent. During warmer months of the year these holes are also used to allow fresh air and warm sunshine into the living area within the tent. A multitude of Buddhist prayer flags are also attached to the outside of the tent.

The inside of most Central Asian nomadic tents are relatively basic with Spartan features and few belongings. However, there are a few basics that are generally found in all nomadic tents of Central Asia and these include sleeping mats, warm woolen blankets, a dung fired stove, a wooden table of some sort, clothing and food storage areas and religious symbols including a picture of the Dalai Lama and a Buddhist art thangka painting.

Directly outside of the tent traditional Central Asian nomads keep yaks and dogs tied up. The dogs are used as a form of security as well as companionship and the yaks are used for their wool and their dung as a fuel source that is burnt in the ovens found inside the tents.

Central Asian Nomadic Tents in the Modern World

The use of traditional nomadic tents in Central Asia is declining rapidly due in part to the urbanization of parts of the traditionally nomadic peoples of the area, but also because more and more of the Central Asian tribesman are starting to live in mud-brick homes. Currently the only areas of Central Asia that still have an abundance of traditional nomadic tents that people use as a residence can be found in the prefectures of Nagchu and Ngari in Tibet (known in China as the Tibet Autonomous Region) and in the Yushu and Ganzi prefectures of China proper.

Happy 4th of July

Expect to see me do this tomorrow ...

Another 4th of July, another 10K. I'm so not ready for this one ... way out of shape but what better way to get the ball rolling than a 10K.

If it doesn't go well, I'm going to make sure I take out the mascot at the finish line.

Wrongest.Movie.Ever

Yet ... worth every minute.  Make sure you go see it, but not with kids. Not like the family who brought their 6 and 8 year old and sat in front of us this weekend. Would love to see how Mom explained the "box" comments to her sons.

Anywhoo -- this may be the first movie I ever pre-order.

Ted: Restricted Trailer - watch more funny videos