Since it's Basile's birthday today, I will help him get the word out about Rejected.

You too can waste 10 minutes of your life watching this short film-- just stop by our apartment and Basile will be more than happy to show it to you.

"In the spring of 1999, the Family Learning Channel commissioned animator Don Hertzfeldt to produce promotional segments for their network. The cartoons were completed in five weeks. The Family Learning Channel rejected all of them upon review, and they were never aired..."

The first scene from the Rejected cartoons:



"My spoon is too big. My spoon... is TOO big!"
"I am a BANANA!"

Happy moment of the day:

Getting a book and a CD wallet on Amazon.com for a nickel.

The $30 promotion was for signing up for the Amazon.com credit card, and the Super Saver discount is for slower shipping.

Order info:

Case Logic CDW-128 CD Wallet (128-Capacity, Nylon, Black)- $17.84

Baseball Prospectus 2005- $12.21

Items:	$30.05
Shipping & Handling:	$7.16
Promotion Applied:	-$30.00
Super Saver Discount:	-$7.16
Total Before Tax:	$0.05

Order Total: $0.05

Total number of external links on my blog: 193

Blogs/xangas: 140 (55 blogs, 81 xangas, 4 others)
Picture sites: 40
Websites: 13

Blogs/xangas from class of 1999 & older: 5
2000: 9
2001: 12
2002: 10
2003: 26
2004: 28
2005: 15
2006: 35

Random notes from my day at the Berkeley career fair:

-Thanks to everyone who dropped by, and even the people who wanted to drop by (Woody).
-Standing and talking with people for 6 hours is very draining.
-Danny Park is a hawk for free stuff. He ended up with this 8 inch American patriot bobblehead from Raytheon.
-I finally picked up my diploma!

Shopping, Country Music, The New York Yankees, Rain,...

What's next in the sequence?

There's more than one right answer, but there's one answer that sticks out in my mind.

[edit] Hint: This can be solved by anyone in America (and so it has nothing to do with me.)

As I've already mentioned during a previous post, I'll be representing Fair Isaac at the UC Berkeley Career Fair this Wednesday from 10-4 except for a lunch break.

The career fair is in the Pauley Ballroom (3rd floor of the MLK Student Union building on Bancroft & Telegraph). Even if you're not recruiting, you can pick up free stuff from all the tables.

And I'd definitely appreciate it if you stopped by and said hello.

Fact of the day, thanks to the Daily Show with Jon Stewart:

During President Bush's 21 minute inauguration speech, he used the word freedom 27 times and the word liberty 15 times.

The 42 references of these two words came in only 103 sentences.

Picture of the day:



Darth Tater will be in stores next month

What do these 2 pictures have in common? Find out here.





I've been told that this is real. But even if it is, how does someone come up with an idea like this?

I have a co-worker who reminds me of Pastor Eugene:

Similarities:
-Single, Asian male in his early 30s who wears glasses
-Analytical engineer
-Comfortable with public speaking and leading meetings
-Has body parts that are breaking down
-Likes to make fun of people
-Enjoys sports but isn't obsessed with it

Differences:
-Non-Christian
-Loves yoga and swing dancing
-Home-owner
-Drives a pick-up truck, and not a motorcycle

The top 10 innovations of the last 25 years, according to CNN.com:

1) The Internet
2) Cell phone
3) Personal computers
4) Fiber optics
5) E-mail
6) Commercialized GPS
7) Portable computers
8) Memory storage discs
9) Consumer level digital camera
10) Radio frequency ID tags

Worst movies since 1990, according to imdb.com (minimum 5000 votes):

1) From Justin to Kelly (2003), 1.7
2) You Got Served (2004), 1.8
3) Glitter (2001), 2.0
4) Gigli (2003), 2.2
5) Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000 (2000), 2.4
6) Rollerball (2002) , 2.7
7) Spice World (1997), 2.9
8) Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997), 3.0
9) Street Fighter (1994), 3.0
10) Barb Wire (1996), 3.1

This was the fortune in my fortune cookie today at lunch:

"You are next in line for promotion in your firm."

I guess that made me smile for a minute, but I doubt I would've ever gotten a fortune that read,

"You are next in line to get laid off at your firm."

I just found out that I get to skip work on Wednedsay, January 26 and go to the UC Berkeley Career Fair. Of course, being at the career fair will probably be harder work than I ever do, since it means a lot of talking and not too many breaks.

So if you're on campus that day, stop by and say hello. I'll be at the Fair Isaac table all day with the exception of a lunch break. It'll be nice for me to talk about something other than my job.

And hopefully I'll remember to pick up my diploma...

Random word facts:

-There are no words that rhyme with orange or silver.
-Dreamt is the only word that ends in 'mt'.
-Bimonthly can mean either twice a month or every two months.
-There is no singular term for cattle of an arbitrary sex. Female cattle are cows and male cattle are bulls.
-Bookkeeper (and other forms of the word) is the only word with three consecutive repeated letters that does not require a hyphen.

ING Direct's 2.35% savings account interest rate is so much better than a regular bank's (Bank of America's is 0.25%).

There are no fees, service charges, or minimum balance requirements, and you don't have to switch banks. The only catch is that your money is slightly less liquid (you have to wait a few days to access money), but everyone has a checking account for that anyway.

I canceled my BofA savings account and started up an ING Direct account, and I'm looking for people to refer (so that I get a referral bonus, of course).

Let me know if you're interested-- I can tell you more about it if you want.

VH1's Most Awesomely Bad #1 Songs Ever:

1) Macarena, Los Del Rio
2) Ice Ice Baby, Vanilla Ice
3) That's What Friends Are For, Dionne Warwick
4) Physical, Olivia Newton-John
5) Eye of the Tiger, Survivor
6) Believe, Cher
7) Blame It On The Rain, Milli Vanilli
8) Kokomo, The Beach Boys
9) The Sign, Ace Of Base
10) Hello, Lionel Richie
11) Wannabe, Spice Girls
12) Stuck With You, Huey Lewis
13) I'm Too Sexy, Right Said Fred

I actually watched this show, and learned the following random facts:
-Kokomo is located in Indiana, and not in the Florida keys (but of course, some people started businesses named Kokomo in the Florida keys after the song was released).
-Macarena was the #1 song in America for 14 weeks. It was in the top 100 for 60 weeks, the longest run in music history. Yes, hell actually froze over in 1996.

4 tips if you want to donate money toward tsunami relief:

1) Give to an established charity
2) Designate your gift specifically toward tsunami relief efforts
3) Avoid telemarketers
4) Research and follow up

My New Year's Resolution this year was to get to work before 9:30 everyday.

On Monday, I got to work at 9:40.
On Tuesday, I got to work at 9:30.
Today, I got to work at 9:50.

This is why I usually don't make New Year's Resolutions.

Most memorable quote from our class get-together on New Year's Eve:

"The trend is fat"
-Sol Kim, talking about how most guys gain weight after college

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim? That doesn't make any sense. What's next, the San Francisco Raiders of Oakland?

Baseball is a business, so I can understand changing ownership every five years.
And I can handle changing the uniforms and logos every five years.
But do we really have to change the name of the team every five years?

The past 3 days have been very painful as a Cal football fan. (I was rooting for Texas to lose almost as much as I was for Cal to win.)

Moment I will never forget:
Cal fans formed a walkway from the players' hotel rooms to the bus that took the players to the stadium. I was 3 feet away from Geoff MacArthur as he walked by with a tear rolling down his cheek (he wasn't able to play in his final collegiate game because of an injury.)