Just a quick note to say that I had a blast at the zoo yesterday. The camera was taken along (of course), so expect animal photos and Picture Yourself photos some time in the (hopefully) near future.

Will return later when not so drunk.

.: 44 words at 08:47 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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Steven and I took the day off to go to the Houston Zoo. He's never been to it despite living here over twenty years and it's probably been about six years since the last time I went. I totally love the zoo and the weather is absolutely gorgeous today. Should be perfect animal watching weather!

.: 56 words at 12:45 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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This post by Camille reminded me of an amusing story about the last Sephora catalog I received. It came addressed to Kymberlick McBoink. They must think I'm a p0rn star!

.: 30 words at 03:12 AM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (7) :.

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I almost missed it, but today is Tasha's birthday. Go give her some late birthday lovin'! Happy birthday, Tasha!

.: 19 words at 11:35 PM in Linky Love, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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I've noticed how a pervasive theme out in the blogosphere right now is how everyone is enjoying the weather, putting down their sunroof, windows, or convertible top, and blasting their music while they drive. I've always loved having good driving music, so inspired by some spring weather and Alison's CD Swap, I've decided to do one of my own: Burn It - The Spring Edition.

The Theme:
Music that makes you want to roll down your windows/open your sunroof/put down your convertible top and sing along at the top of your lungs. It's spring time and I want music that makes you feel good. It doesn't haven't to be a happy song, but it does have to be great music to drive to.

Here's how it works:
After the signup period, people will be put into groups of 4. You will then receive an e-mail from me telling you the names and addresses of the people in your group. You burn 4 identical CDs. Keep one for yourself and send the other three to the other people in your group. You should then receive three new CDs from the other three people in your group.

The rules:
- You should have a blog. I would like this to be a fun way to connect people in the blogosphere. If you don't, go over to Diaryland or Blogspot and start one for free.
- If you're not going to follow through and make your CDs, please don't bother signing up. It would be a shame if one or two people ruined this for their group.
- You must live in the US or Canada. If there's a intrest in this in other areas, I may do a swap at some point down the road that includes other countries, but since this is the first swap, I'm going to limit it to the areas where I know most of you guys live.
- If you live in the US, you should be willing to ship to Canada. If you live in Canada, you should be willing to ship to the US. The postage is a teeny bit more, but nothing that's going to break the bank.
- Remember that most people can't play mp3s in their car, so make sure they're something that will play in a standard car stereo. I tend to use cda or wav files.

Guidlines on creating your CDs:
- Include a track listing. If someone like an artist, they might want to buy more music by them. Let us know who it is.
- Fill up the CD as much as you can. There's 80 minutes on a blank CD. Don't half-ass it and make a 30 minute CD.
- You should definitely use a jewel case when sending your CDs to protect it during mailing. You can get them cheap anywhere.
- I know a lot of people are graphically inclined, so feel free to make your CD a work of art.
- Don't be afraid to put on "cheesy" music. If you like it, others probably will too.
- Don't be afraid to put on music that no one has ever heard before either. Billboard or MTV may never have known this music, but you did, so that's what counts.

If you've gotten this far and you still want to sign up, send an e-mail (change the AT to an @ in my e-mail address) to me and make sure you reference the swap in the subject line. You must include the following information:

- Your name
- Mailing address
- Your blog URL

Signups will continue through Monday, April 21st. By Thursday, April 24th, I will send e-mails to everyone letting you know who is in your group. You should have all of your CDs burned and in the mail NO LATER THAN Monday, May 12th. This gives you at least a full two weeks to create and ship CDs to your three group partners.

Please spread the word! More people equals more music! Just be sure to link to this URL, because eventually this entry will cycle off the main page.

If you have any other questions, you can e-mail or leave a comment.

Special thanks goes out to Alison for both the inspiration and allowing me to use most of her rules and guidelines.

.: 723 words at 12:24 PM in Burn It, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (20) :: All the Voices Say... (15) :.

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Ever since Christine mentioned going to Enron Field Minute Maid Park to see the Astros play, I've been jealous and whining to Steven that I want to go to (his boss gets seats from a lawyer he knows that are just about the best in the house).

It seems that my whining paid off because one of Steven's co-workers who had tickets to tonight's game has gotten sick and we're getting his tickets.

Christine's going to be there, so we're going to try and hook up so I can give her some DVDs that I wanted to get rid of.

I think this whole things means that I'm evil and I probably cursed the guy, but who cares? I'm going to the game.

.: 123 words at 05:35 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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I changed my default RSS template to have both posts and comments. If you prefer the posts only feed, you can get that here.

As always, all versions (including WAP) can be found in the sidebar under In the Bowl.

.: 41 words at 02:45 PM in Geeky Things, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (1) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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Today is Julie's birthday (we're the same age now), so go give her some sweet birthday love. Happy birthday, Julie! Hope you have an excellent birthday!

.: 26 words at 11:10 AM in Linky Love, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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This is one of the coolest commercials I've seen in a while. It's British, so go watch it if you happen to live in The States like me.

(Link courtesy of Christine)

.: 33 words at 10:24 AM in Entertainment Value, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (1) :: All the Voices Say... (3) :.

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I was admiring the gorgeous photo that Ste has up currently on his homepage and noticed the little line under it that said "Lomo-ized for your pleasure."

I clicked the link and was lead to a tutorial explaining how to make your photos look like they were taken with a Lomo.

I've always admired the wonderful photos that Lomos produce and I am pleased as punch to find a way to make my photos look like they were taken with one. I'm so going to have to try this out.

.: 91 words at 02:20 AM in Geeky Things, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (5) :.

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About 350 girls will be able to attend their prom in style thanks to donations of dresses, shoes, and other accessories.

I remember my prom as one of the most magical nights of my life. I looked beautiful, my dress was gorgeous, and Project Prom (a lock-in at my school with all kinds of great food, games, prizes, and fun) was a blast. Everyone should get to go to their prom. It was wonderful to see how happy these girls are to go to theirs.

(Link courtesy of Shelli)

.: 91 words at 12:12 PM in Notable News, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (3) :.

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There's been much talk lately about RSS feeds and comment feeds and all sorts of other things. I was thinking about doing a comments feed, but have been too lazy to investigate it. However, Jennifer was wonderful enough to post her RSS template with full posts and comments, so I made a copy and added it to the sidebar if you prefer to read Neurotic Fishbowl that way (or just click here).

I haven't tested it in a newsreader yet myself, so let me know if you see anything wonky.

.: 92 words at 10:44 AM in Geeky Things, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (1) :: All the Voices Say... (4) :.

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Sometimes I feel like I'm cursed when I try to get something to eat.

When I used to go to the Popeye's Chicken by my parents' house, they were out of chicken breasts. The Pizza Hut up the street has been out of personal pans, which I completely don't understand. They have the pans and they have the dough - how can they be out? I've even been to Taco Cabana when they've been out of tacos!

Today I was trying to find something for lunch where I could use my credit card and have some leftovers to bring my buddy Dan. After much thinking, I decided upon pasta fagioli soup and toasted raviolis from The Olive Garden.

I've really worked myself up for this lunch so I drive the two minutes over to the restaurant and get seated. The waitress comes over to take my drink order and I tell her I'm ready to order everything. I say toasted raviolis and she goes, "Oh, we're out of those."

I always want to scream at the person, "How can you be out of such and such?" but I just picked up my stuff and had an unsatisfying lunch at James Coney Island. I hate wanting something and then not being able to get it. Nothing else tastes good after that.

I know this isn't anything serious to bitch about, but it seems to always happen to me. Grrrrr.

.: 238 words at 08:53 PM in Rants, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (7) :.

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Matt has created another blog award that the world can't live without - The Anti-Photobloggies. You can submit two different types of categories - site (Best Pet PhotoBlog for instance) or individual photos (Best Picture of a Mushroom; I'll have that one sewn up, I tell you).

Get over there, nominate your own ideas, and spread the word!

.: 59 words at 02:32 PM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (4) :.

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Yesterday my brother Russell, his friend Shelby, Steven, and I went to what is probably Nirvana for geeks - the Houston Area Arcade Group Expo. Tons of pinball and video games from the seventies and eighties all set on free play.

I played games I hadn't seen in years - Rootbeer Tapper, Pinbot, Getaway II, Zaxxon, Congo Bongo, Mario Brothers, BurgerTime, Addam's Family Pinball, Millipede, Space Invaders, Dragon's Lair, Robotron, Tron, and more. Highlights for me included scoring almost 55,000,000 points on one ball on Getaway II and getting 175,000 points and to level 22 on Galaga.

Funny enough, I also ran into Doug Ball, a friend of mine from high school who was our drum major in band. It was great to get to see him again, though we didn't get much time to talk.

I am so going to each and every one of these expos. We went in the early afternoon, so it wasn't that crowded, but a lot of the games weren't there by the time we left about three hours later.

You know, my forearms are killing me. Guess I should have stretched before playing so many games!

.: 194 words at 10:11 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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