Welcome to tastypopsicle.com

I've decided to open up the weblog archive. At one point is was closed off except to registered members due to an incident, However, that company has since closed its doors so they can just eat it. Use the search to find something that youmight be looking for. Maybe you'll find it.

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The Cynical Traveler has an amazing sense of humor as he recounts his travels to various countries over the years. Definitely worth a good look at when you're feeling down and out. And while we're talking about cynicism, be sure to read the Cynical-C Blog where I'm certain many of the internet's really good memes get started.

"Where can I find a list of all sites that index torrents (like, for BitTorrent)?" I reply: here * Disclaimer: Actually, no one asked me BUT if some had asked me I still would have given the same response. So, does it really matter?

Although I never really put much thought into the group "Veruca Salt" or former co-founder Nina Gordon for that matter, my eyes went wide when I can across a post on BoingBoing today "Joan Baez-esque cover of NWA's Straight Outta Compton"

Nina Gordon, late of Veruca Salt, has recorded a mind-blowing cover of NWA's Straight Outta Compton, in the style of a Baezesque guitar folksinger. It's funny at first, then it's beautiful, then it's both.

100% on! N.W.A. - brings me back to my Junior High days in white suburban East-Syracuse, NY. Ahhh the memories. Which is why it's so funny at first but then the more you listen to it you realize that it's really, really good. Nina clearly has a great sense of humor to go along with that folksy voice and guitar strumming. You can have a listen to it here and you can visit her website's "Sights and Sounds" for some samples and some complete tracks from her allbums. Looks like I'm gonna have to get me some Nina Gordon.

I thought it about time to finally register edknittel.com For $8.99/year over at namecheap.com it's hard to not find a reason why. Until I decide to do something with it it'll just redirect to this site - tastypopsicle.com Just thought I'd share.

Yesterday Amy and I closed on our first home. We're now the proud owners of a 3 bedroom, 1 and a 1/2 bath condo on the northwest side of Chicago. While not a large home it is, we believe, suitable for our 2 person lifestyle and will allow us more opportunity to use our livable space a little better. The bedroom will be the bedroom and the office will now be the office. And the "rest" of our "stuff" will probably occupy most of the third bedroom - which is fine by me. Out of site - out of mind. The big move is this Sunday - our last day in the apartments of Versailles (I give it a B- but stay tuned for our fully disclosed report of this apartment complex) I'd tell you where we're moving to (I've already given some clues) but I don't know if I want you coming over yet. I gotta think about it.

The Polaroid-o-nizer is a site which uses a script wherein you choose a picture from the internet (it needs an http address - you can't upload your own) and it turns it into a fun Polaroid image. You can specify the background color (I chose R171,G203,B255 so that it would match the background color of my content box), the degree of rotation ( in this case 15° ), the X and Y coordinates so you can get the right crop, and the text that gets "written" underneath the image. The best part is you can either download the rendered image or you can just link to it like I did. Since it passes all of the data in the querystring it would be very easy to quickly do this to a lot of your pictures. Here's my example. To make your own Polaroids just go to http://polaroidonizer.nl.eu.org/ If you'd like, share the Polaroids you make. Just email me the link to the image you make and I can show you how to add it to tastypopsicle.

In 1986 Walter Fielding and Anna Crowley, played by the hilarious Tom Hanks (I miss that Tom Hanks) and Shelley Long, start looking for a new house - but there's not much they can afford! This romantic comedy (why does it seem like all of the comedies from the '80s are "romantic" comedies?), The Money Pit, is about a young couple struggling to repair a hopelessly dilapidated house. Except the house looks great on the outside. But as soon as they move in the trouble begins. We moved into our new home on Sunday. And while it doesn't really begin to resemble the home that Walter and Anna had it's got it's fair share of problems which I hope manage to "fix" themselves. The floors above us squeak like you wouldn't believe. So here's a tip: when looking at condos (my advice is the same if you're considering an apartment) if at all possible get someone to walk around on the floor above you while you're in the afore mentioned unit. We weren't afforded such opportunity but in hindsight I would have LOVED to have checked it out. [Quick story: In our previous residence the people above us had a 5 year old girl who loved to run around. "Stompy", as I grew to call her, and more importantly her parents had no sense of decency to think "Hey, running in an apartment is a bad idea." Here's a quick story: one day Stompy had some idiot friends over and they were having a wonderful time playing "Run around the apartment screaming" while the ignorant parents sat there. It got way too out of hand so I went upstairs, knocked loudly and told them to stop the insanity. Listen, When I was a kid, we weren't allowed to run indoors and we had a house with no one living below us.] Back to the squeaky floors - yea, so they squeak LOUD even after being told by the builders that the floors are well insulated. A second pit of advice: check out ALL of the appliances. No, no, no DO NOT do what we did which is merely turn them on and off and say "That works!". That's not what we do with appliances in the real world is it?! No we actually USE them to do things. Take for instance our brand new washing machine. During the final walk through we put the washing machine on for a full cycle to make sure it worked and drained properly. Perfect marks I must say. But we didn't test it in a real world situation. We didn't put any laundry in it. So, last night when I went to wash our sheets imagine my horror when it went into the spin cycle and the thing sounded like a monster was trying to break down the whole place! This wasn't just unbalanced this was OUT OF FREAKING CONTROL! Even a pillow case alone in there sent this thing into a fit of rage. My advice: bring a couple of items of clothes with you and throw them in with the washer. Then, if and when it works, you can throw them into the dryer to make sure it works too. I'll never forget this piece of my own advice. We have no problem with our toilet thankfully, but next time I will be testing that as well. Which leads to my final bit of advice: do not take for fact what the builder/landlord/owner says about ANYTHING in the place. Go in with a positive attitude but an open mind. Remember that they're trying to unload something they don't need or want for a reason. Unless you know whether the reason is for more than just money then they'll never tell you why. Does Stompy live upstairs? Are the neighbors loud as all hell? Does the washing machine not work?