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| BrendanMcKillip.com brendan mckillip's daily journal |
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daily journal
LIFE on Google I've been very busy at work and at home, leaving me little time to put together even mildly interesting posts. Hopefully as this project enters it's final stage, things will open up and I won't be working quite so much and can spend more time writing. In the meantime, I found this bit of news so interesting that I couldn't not post about it. LIFE magazine is working with Google to make all of their photographs available online, and they have a fair amount of the images ready to be searched on.  The catalog of photographs include those that were published in the magazine, and plenty that never made their way into the magazine. I've had fun just randomly searching through the catalog of photos. Tons of great images and photographs. posted by Brendan | 10:54 PM | permanent link |
Celebrating Zoolander Style It's been years since I saw Zoolander, but I vaguely recall a scene similar to the one below. Obviously someone else had a much more vivid recollection of the film and decided to have some fun with it.  Every time I look at the Joe Biden face I laugh. I don't know if it's the goofy-ass smile alone or the combination of that cheesy smile and the motion of the body. There is also a version based on The Dark Knight. It's not as funny as the Obama Fun Machine, but I offer it up because I love the move.  Labels: Batman, Fun, movies, Politics posted by Brendan | 11:27 AM | permanent link |
Winter Classic  This New Year’s Day the Blackhawks and Redwings face off in Wrigley Field for the NHL’s 2009 Winter Classic. Hockey outside at Wrigley field featuring two of the “Original Six” NHL teams. That is classic.Season ticket holders and "NHL Winter Classic partners" get a first crack at seats. After that, how tickets will be distributed to the rest of the public is going to be left up to a lottery. Registering at www.chicagoblackhawks.com between now and 10:59 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 28, 2008 enters you in a drawing for the opportunity to buy tickets. You can enter only once and the league hasn’t said how many tickets a lottery winner will be allowed to buy. I’ve signed up. Now I expect my dad, sister, brother, brother-in-law, and wife to sign up so we can pool our resources and increase our chances of landing some tickets. Labels: Chicago Blackhawks, Family, Sports posted by Brendan | 3:09 PM | permanent link |
100,000 Baby! Yesterday evening around 6:30pm our Neon hit the 100,000 mile mark. This is the first car I've ever owned long enough to knock out that many miles. Even the used cars I had in high school and college never rolled over one hundred miles. I waxed poetically enough about the Neon when the car passed 90,000 miles on November 26, 2006 that I don't feel like I need to say anything more about the durability of our little Neon. Just go read that post again. I'm just surprised it has taken almost 2 years exactly to tick off those last 10,000 miles. It's almost a little freaky.  Considering the condition of the car, the slow rate we are putting miles on the vehicle, and the good gas mileage the Neon gets, I might be driving this vehicle a long, long time. Maybe it's time to get the radio that crapped out in 2000 finally fixed. Labels: General posted by Brendan | 10:33 PM | permanent link | Happy Birthday Dad You're 62 today. I was going to drink a 6-pack of Stroh's beer and fall asleep on the couch watching some random sporting event in your honor, but I couldn't find any Stroh's and frankly, I'm just not that tired. Don't know how you do it. You're a unique guy.  Labels: Family posted by Brendan | 10:28 PM | permanent link | Why I Never Went Into Logistics  We ordered new water filters for our refrigerator from a company online because 1) Sears no longer carried the filters in their store and 2) we could get them cheap by order in bulk from a trade supplier.The company supplied a tracking number for our shipment, which I have been clicking on daily so I can see where our filters are. (I totally geek-out on the use of tracking numbers. Check them constantly. Call Heather when I know the package is about to be delivered. Yes, I’m a dork.) What I can’t figure out is why something leaving Indianapolis, IN would go all the way up to New Berlin, Wisconsin – a town 26 miles west of Milwaukee – when its intended destination is just outside of Chicago - a town 100 miles closer to Indy than Milwaukee is. They drove right past us.  I’m sure FedEx has worked out all the logistics of shipping and there’s a reason our package didn't stop in Chicago, but it’s a mystery to me. Ultimately I don't care, just as long as Heather and I get our water filters.Labels: Fun posted by Brendan | 10:12 PM | permanent link |
Open Letter to Chicago Media Outlets I think we both agree that the majority of the people in Chicago are probably excited about Barack Obama's Presidential victory.  Whether it's because he's our first black President, a hope for real change in government, a local Chicago boy, or just anyone other than George Bush, there is an angle there for just about everyone to be interested in what an Obama administration has in store for the country.That being said, do we really need to have every aspect and movment of the Obama's life between now and January 20, 2009 documented, photographed, analyzed, and reported? I understand that it is exiting to have someone from Chicago preparing to assume the top office in the country and Obama and his family are an interesting topic, but in just seven days you have hit a a fever pitch in your coverage that I' m not sure is sustainable for the next seventy odd days.  What concerns me is that you are working your damnedest to do just that - fill every day from now to the Inauguration with as much Obama-ness as possible. Which I can only imagine means more stories about where Barack and Michelle had dinner last night or psycho-babble about why we might be jealous of Barack.If people thoughg the press fauned over Obama during the Democratic primaries, then in comparisson what you guys have done over the last seven days could be described as obsessive stalking. I think the guy is great. I' m excited and interested in seeing what he does as President. But you are on the verge of killing that enthusiasm with your constant reporting on every movement, speech, thought, and breath taken by Barack, Michelle, and their two daughters. He's going to be President for four years. Pace yourself. Thanks, Brendan posted by Brendan | 10:21 PM | permanent link | Animaniacs I miss the Animaniacs. Considering how much Ian, Emma, and Zoe love the old Bug Bunny cartoons, I think they would eat Yakko, Wakko, and Dot up. We should really look into getting some of the DVD collections of this wonderful cartoon series. Labels: Animation posted by Brendan | 9:27 PM | permanent link |
I Miss My iFM One of the great flaws of the iPod was Steve Job’s refusal to include an FM tuner in the ubiquitous little media player. It was why I had loved my Griffen iFM so much. That little device gave the freedom to listen to live radio through my iPod when I grew bored with my collection of music and podcasts. It was always refreshing to turn over the programming to someone else for awhile. Not only could I be surprised by the songs I would hear while listening to the radio, I might hear something completely new. There are plenty of current residents in my iPod’s music collection that ended up there only because I discovered them first on the radio.  So it was with great dismay last week when I realized that I had left my iFM on the train. I had taken it out to use while riding the train home for a dentist appointment, and didn’t realize until the next morning that the device had never made it back into my bag.I checked both the lost and found offices at the Aurora train station (where that afternoon train I was riding finished its run) and the main lost and found office downtown at Union Station. Bumpkis. My iFM is gone. But even though I still love listening to the radio, do I need to replace it? It’s true that I hadn’t been using the iFM as much since Steve Dahl switched from afternoon drive-time to a morning slot on the radio, but I was still pulling the iFM out a few days each month to either mix up my listening options or to make use of the convenient iPod control the iFM also provided. But does that really define a need? Could I not continue to get by with just the songs and podcasts on my iPod and save the radio listening for at home? Possibly. I found a lot of places selling the iFM online (new and in-box), and fairly cheaply too. Heather’s parents just gave me some money for my birthday that I was looking to splurge with a little. So there would be some guilt free cash I could free up to buy a gadget like this. Heather suggests I wait a week or so to see how much I really miss the iFM, then make a decision on buying a replacement or not. However, in the week since I left the mini-radio on the train it isn’t not having the iFM to listen to that I am missing. It’s not having the option of being able to listen to the iFM that I am missing. I just want to know that I could listen to the iFM, regardless of whether I do or not. I guess I need to figure out if I want to pay money for the option of doing something or if I learn to live without that option. posted by Brendan | 11:23 PM | permanent link |
Autumn 2008 Photo Parade The parade is short, but there are some fun photos from activity we were involved in over the last few months. Make sure you take a look at all of the photos. posted by Brendan | 11:47 PM | permanent link | |
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