happy birthday!!!

today is my lovely wife’s birthday. she’s the best and i wish her all things good this year and all years to come.

あいしてるリンちゃん！！！

benihana founder dies

rocky aoki, founder of the popular japanese restaurant chain benihana, died last night. while no fan of his restaurants, save for when they had the guady bars, i have to admit the man made something of himself here in america.

glass speaks

great advice from ira glass (this american life) on how to tell your stories. yes you, all you vloggers and bloggers. and yes, obviously, i’m the one who should listen most, so save all your wisecracks.

segway crashes

i’ve always pretty much hated the segway since it’s inception. since then i’ve grown to despise the smarmy attitude of people i see on them. luckily the new craze on youtube is videos of people biting it on their segways. brings a smile to my face.

and the reason i don’t feel sorry for any of these people is summed up by this gem.

excuse me while i go vomit.

memorial day

while most of us are enjoying our day off, bbq’ing, watching a ball game and celebrating the unofficial start of summer, we should all try to remember the true meaning of today’s holiday; to honor those who lost their lives in battle. it is particularly poignant as these recent years pass, as many of us know a soldier or know the family of a soldier who has died in iraq or afghanistan since the start of those wars. no matter your personal politics, we should all set aside a moment to reflect and honor all the men and women who’ve lost their lives in the theater of war and think of the families who’ve lost their loved ones as well.

welcome to the northern plains of mars

nasa’s spacecraft mars phoenix landed safely yesterday on the red planet. after traveling 423 million miles and after the engineers and scientists were on the brinks of heart attacks i’m sure, the phoenix slowed from 13,000 mph to landing in about 15 minutes. pretty remarkable stuff. a big ol’ tip o’ the chu hi to the phoenix team!

photographer impaled

this is kind of awesome. the photographer got impaled by a javelin at a track meet (it was through the fleshy part of his leg and he’s ok) and photographed his own rescue. well done!

vintner mondavi passes away

the man who made california a player in the wine game, robert mondavi, died today at age 94. i’ve enjoyed his wines for years, even before he sold his interests in the winery a few years back. sympathies to his friends and family.

bernie ward going to the big house

well, ward’s plea of guilty to distribution of child pornography is going to guarantee him 5 years in prison, minimum, possibly 9 at the long end. however, his plea lets 2 other counts be dropped, possibly saving him years. listening to the news on the radio today, they said he seemed in good spirits prior to the formalities. his lawyer explained that ward basically maintains some sort of innocence in that it was research related (the porn), but wants to spare his family and friends the hurt that may come from a prolonged trial.

i really don’t know how i feel about all this. i wasn’t a huge fan of the guy, but enjoyed his god talk show for a couple of years (i drive a cab on weekends and would listen to kill the dead time on sunday mornings). the guy’s done a lot of good things for people. but those transcripts of some his communications with the dominatrix were pretty disturbing. i’m open minded about what people do in their private lives, but connected with the kiddy porn, i had to take a step back. it’s a little too coincidental.

hopefully the guy will figure out whatever has got him to where he’s at while he’s in prison and come out a better person.

fritzl claims bad press

the incest dad says he’s not a monster and is the victim of bad press. sorry dude, you are.