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The engagement story

The news of my engagement should really not come as a surprise to those who know me. I have been contemplating asking my dear Lena for at least a few months, although I could never be sure it was the right thing to do. I also did not want to make the engagement trivial, nor did I want to partake in the request in any typical format. I devised pieces of a plan long ago in an attempt to be both surprising and unique, and I'm proud to admit now that I succeeded in these tasks.

Book review: "Crazy '08" by Cait Murphy

I wouldn't imagine a non-baseball fan would actually pick up a baseball book and read it from cover to cover. If there was a book I would recommend to a person who was interested in history but not a huge baseball buff, it's "Crazy '08" by Cait Murphy. And for a baseball fan, this is one book you wouldn't want to be without.

'The Developers' flying off the shelves!

I haven't quite made the New York Times best-seller list just yet, but copies of "The Developers" are getting their places in the sky. I've secretly placed a few books on Southwest airplanes, so if you are flying Southwest anytime soon, make sure to check the seat pocket in front of you. Sorry, I didn't include any drink coupons!

New U.S. government 'transparent' sites

Where do your tax dollars go? What data is being collected in this country anyway? Previously, these were difficult questions to answer, but the new administration appears to be making headway toward real answers.

Community website (like .comU) purchased by AOL

I found out the other day through an internal company email that AOL has recently purchased two companies as part of its local strategy initiative. I was immensely surprised when checking out one of them, Patch, which is essentially a community-based website geared toward providing info with a small-town flavor.

From the Archive

Search engines are funny

Since I put my site up in July, I've been keeping track of how many people visit, including what pages they view, how long they stay on the site, the color of their hair, etc. Looking at the web statistics report is pretty funny sometimes because you can also see what people searched on to get to your site.

If you can't beat bad drivers, get stuck in traffic with them

We live in a world where we expect things to improve and evolve, like finding cures for fatal diseases, building structures to withstand the fiercest storms and attempting to select a new singer for the band INXS. Yet, despite all of these advances (OK, INXS' original singer wasn't bad), the majority of people on the highway still have no freakin' clue how to drive.

Prove you're not as crazy as everyone says

A few years back, I created the Crazy Survey. As I received people's results from this largely non-scientific survey, I laughed, I cried and I pondered why there were so many crazy people in the world.

Actually, that's not true. I mainly wondered if anyone thought the survey could possibly uncover the secrets of humanity's desire to be unique, yet be similar enough to others to live in society. Up until now, I would have to say the answer has been a resounding no.

March Madness indeed

I typically don't use my website to profess my obsession with University of Louisville sports. But the end of the 2012 season is worth documenting, not only for me, but for the ridiculousness (Russdiculous?) involved.

In January, there was some discussion about attending the Big East Tournament. My stepdad, who splits time between Texas and Louisville, would already be there; my mom, who lives in Louisville, was assuredly going; my brother, who lives in Los Angeles, wanted to check it out; and my uncle, who was overseas until March, was considering as well.

Emoticons give deeper meaning to 'The Developers'

Some people love them. Some people hate them. Most people don't understand them, yet many people use them anyway.

While this could describe cellphones, I'm actually talking about emoticons. Even this program thinks it's a misspelled word. Fortunately, there is plenty of information online to give you the background on these wacky characters.

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