GMaps Pedometer

This is a website that Kevin, "the Commish", showed me. I've been trying to work out to get more in shape for a weight loss contest at work.

Gmap Pedometer references any Google map and allows you to plot out jogging paths. This lets you get more accurate paths that you travel then putting in addresses into Google Maps. You simply double click and then double click on a second point to get the mileage. This site is great for my neighborhood where I often cut through the middle schools parking lot when I'm roller blading. You could never do that with Google Maps because it was not a navigable way, but with Gmap Pedometer, you just have to chart it out.

The site also offers a calorie counter depending on your weight and distance you traveled (I never find those accurate), plus an elevation readout between two points (don't find it too accurate or helpful, I can tell more from my huffing and puffing that I have an incline).

You can also save your paths for later reference (I paste mine in a spreadsheet with the date and time of the run). It is a great little tool to get an accurate measurement of adventures off the beaten path.

Sopranos Finale

When Sopranos hit HBO, the station had only waded in the idea of "original series" and did not coin their phrase, "Its not TV, its HBO". In 1999, most people going to see Robert DeNiro and Billy Crystal in a comedy of a mafia hit man seeing a psychiatrist, didn't know the premise was already being done on HBO.

The story of Tony Soprano trying to live a normal life in an far from normal business has been told over the last 7+ years in classic HBO fashion (on 6 months, off 18 months). In a life style built on Hollywood cliches and media headlines, Tony lived to be the capo of a prominent New Jersey family, while trying to raise his family out of the f'd up mold he was casted in.

The 7 years have been a three ring circus of mafiosos, Hollywood elites and intertwining story lines that were picked up and dropped off as if they never existed. Sopranos didn't always deliver compelling stories or dialog, but like all HBO shows, gave us intriguing characters that we grew to love. Unfortunately most of them were killed, which gave us even more reason to watch. Who thought Jackie Jr would have gotten it. Thank god! But still, I thought he would walk.

Earlier, last year, they announced that Sopranos would write its final chapter and from the moment of that announcement the speculation began. Who will live, who will die, how will they live, how will they die and when is the movie!

The final chapter was broad casted this evening and like many other evenings I sat in front of the TV to watch. I missed a lot of season 3 in its initial airing but I've seen about every episode to date. The episode starts off at the apex of a family war pitting our "Home Team" the Sopranos against New Yorks Leatardo's. The episode follows through in standard Soprano fashion showing us how business is handled in the underworld during a war. The families are put into hiding and the guys mount up at a safe house. Slowly as the episode progresses the members are picked off one by one and movements are done to bring an end to the war. All the while Tony's family does everything in their power to make his life even more impossible.

To be the highest point of debate is and will be the ending. Again, the hype has gotten larger with every passing moment it comes to the end. Will he live. Will he die. Will the movie happen.

The last 3 minutes were by far the most enjoyable of the whole season. From the first time I watched the show in 99 to now I only knew a few people that watched the show. The fan base quadrupled when the DVDs were finally released but up until the finale I had never known that others were watching. The past week everyone was talking about who was killed, how they were killed, what they were doing, who were they banging. Now I knew a large chunk of America was watching and I could hear them salivating for blood.

But thats not the premise of the story.

Tony brought down the head of New York and brought order back to his rag tag army. All while managing a spastic wife, selfish dependent sister, care free know it all daughter, and suicidal son. Oh by the way, he's clinically depressed too. Tony brought peace and unity to his family as he did at almost every ending of every season. We all know it is hardly real. He didn't solve their problems, he just shut them up. He gave to his family and in return he gets a few moments real time with his family. And you want to see violence.

The roller coaster that Sopranos gave us for 7 plus seasons was great and the ending was more intense then the prior 88 episodes combined. We didn't know what would happen because Sopranos never stopped surprising. They didn't draw lines in the sand, just kept going beyon them. In the end, the idea of what could've happened to Tony's family was nerve racking. Will they all be killed? That was just a touch of what Tony goes through every day. Every time that door opens, every time an unexpected laugh arises from a crowded restaurant, every time a stranger passes by. We were on pins and needles the whole time and we were never going to be at the end of the barrel. But Tony only gave us a blank stare. Because thats just another day in the life of a mob boss trying to run a family, while running a family.


Though I loved the ending I do have........

Final thoughts:

1. I miss the ducks.
2. I think a special montage should be done of all the girls of the Badda-Bing. Over the years we saw them grow as the story did. They were the story behind the story. Whatever happen to Courtney (season 1) or Lulu (season 3)?
3. The cat was Adriana
4. Oh Pauli, you are a luck M'rF'r.
5. I don't care what ever happened to the Russian in the woods
6. The cat was Christopher
7. I really wish Christopher got busted on the blood stained note he gave his mom.
8. Adriana deserved it
9. Cats do lots of stupid things. Thats why they are cats. Let it be.
10. Best ending of a HBO series ever.

Work Web Cam

We are setting up webcams up at work so we can reduce movement when we have to talk to people. Here's a shot of the UltraCubes view. I'll get the other window when its not as foggy out to show you Miller Park.

Milwaukee River

Batman Logtistics

Many people know that I'm a big fan of Batman. I've always liked the look and style throughout the years, from the Golden Age to the Dark Age of comics. The many facets of Batman and the variety of stories have always kept me interested. The range of stories go from the campy battles with such characters as Joker, Tally Man or King Tut to the stories of internal conflict of Batmans true arch nemesis, himself. The Batman franchise has always inspired me and captured my interest.

Yes, the franchise has been bastardized in many many many ways. I will be the first to admit that and the first to march up to Shoemacher Castle with pitch forks and torches. Many people see the franchise as the campy Adam West adventure with his "boy wonder" and others believe that Joker killed Mr. Mom's parents. Over the years the American icon of Batman has been interperted by everyone into different entities.

To me it is about a man whose pain drived him to make things better and nothing, absoluting no one will stop him from a promise he made. When a story is fine tuned and it hits the right notes you see a solid premise emerge from the story.

What I enjoy more about Batman and the story is contemplating, debate and bicker about the world of Gotham City with people who enjoy it too. People who see the stories as more then just comic book adventures and enjoy talking about the storylines and possibilities of the franchise is always a good time. Not just talking about the material aspects of Batman (kick ass fighting or awesome explosions) but about the deeper things. The coolest part is that it is infact a "silly" character in a "fake" world. But when they weave in real issues and emotions, it disquises itself in its "comic book" way of telling a story.

While searching the internet for Batman pictures I came across a Science Fiction writers blog. Lou Anders' blog "Bowing to the Future" wrote the blog article "Batman Begins - Dressed to Chill". In the article he writes about his opinion of the Batman franchises various depictions of Batmans suit and the logistics and plausibility of a man to fulfill the duities and uphold the mantle of the Bat. He references almost all the movies from Golden Age Adam West Batman, Burton's Bat, Shumocker's Bat, Nolan's Bat, some of the cartoon renditions of Batman, and even Sandy Collora's Batman (read one of my earlier entries to learn more of his work)

Even though I didin't agree with everything he wrote on the different franchise adventures, I did enjoy his opinion and plausibility of the Dark Knight fighting crime.

Viking God Oden Down to Last 4 Worshipers

I always check the Onion Radio News for latest breaking news.

To add to this story the last 4 worshipers are Jim, Kevin, Kitzke and myself.

TTAC Lunch Directory

At work we try to go to new places every week. I created a spreadsheet of all the places we have gone and places we wanted to go. From there I found a feature in Google Maps that lets you make your own maps and mark only the places you want on your map. I created the TTAC Lunch Directory to help us choose where to go to lunch.


Some of the nice features Google "My Maps" gives is that you can select your own locations, give their own descriptions and use any of the well known Google Map icons. It is also a nice feautre to make it Public or Unpublished. By keeping it unpublished you can still send the link to friends. By making it Public it can be seen in search engines and such. Nice options.

Some things I don't like, but still learning to work out the tweaks, is that I can't reorder my locations on the left side. I would prefer alphabetical, or order of priorty but it only sorts in the order they were entered. It would also be cool to hide certain icons and only view other icons, making selecting locations easier.

Denver's Song is Colorado's 2nd Song

Well Stan, they got your letters.

Colorado makes "Rocky Mountain High" their official 2nd state song.

I don't know why they would make it the 2nd song. It almost sounds like a catch 22 of naming rights.

The Governor probably didn't want to piss off any of the Columbines lobbyist so instead of making "Rocky Mountain High" the true state song (as he wants to and knows it to be true) he makes it the 2nd State Song even though nobody knows any of the words of Where The Columbines Grow or why we even chose that for their state song. I mean, are their even Columbines in Colorado?

Eh, that theory is stupid. Who would do something like that?

Post

So I have been chastised for posting, now being chastised for not posting. Can't win. I will try to post more.

For my first post of 07 I wanted to show Kevin the new Scarecrow figure from DC Direct. Based on Alex Rosses Scarecrow, this figure will be part of Series 6 of his Justice League series (due out in mid Septeber 07)

I also added a twitter to my template.