Jesus loves geeks
…because someone needs to.
Target Sale Price $0
Dec 19th
Sale Price $0, originally uploaded by justadrumer.
I was at Target Monday night and saw that target was having a great sale! I had my camera phone so that explains the crappy pic…I wonder how odd it would be to walk around Target with my old SLR…hmm…
Needless to say it gave the cashier a good laugh but she did not honor the price on the tag. =\
Get Over It – Whales and Santa Hats
Dec 18th
Call me insensitive but this will be my “You really have to get over it” moment for the day. It appears that animal activist are all in a tizzy because a Japanese aquarium (an aquarium in Japan for the lay person) is putting Santa hats on White Whales.
“It’s a scene that brings laughter and cheers from visitors to a Japanese aquarium – two white beluga whales wearing Santa hats…. There’s even a chance to receive a wet kiss under the mistletoe from a yuletide beluga.” ~from the article
I mean shouldn’t the promise of a kiss from a whale (I wonder if they use tongue?) be enough to make even the most starch Animal rights activist happy? But no!
Now on a side not I wonder if the Activist, shoppers, and whales prefer to say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays?…hmm… food for thought.
Here be ye a jolly link to the full article: link
Dr. Jan Itor tops rateyourdoc.org
Dec 6th
K…It’s the second commercial break of Scrubs but I had to check our rateyourdoc.org. The site was mentioned on tonight episode of Scrubs titled My #1 Doc. 
I love it when shows do things like this. Some other great examples are thetoddtime.com from Scrubs and marshallandlilywedding.com from How I Met Your Mother. Currently Dr. Jan Itor has taken a commanding lead atop the board ans the highest rated doctor as Sacred Fart…er…Hart… (that’s always funny!).
Tonight’s episode I though was very good, I laughed way too hard at times. My favorite quote from tonight was “Lie Forever! It’s the natural way of communication between men and women.” by Dr. Bob Kelso. While I laughed at it I did happen to get some menacing looks from my wife….something tells me she didn’t think it was as funny. hmm…
rateyourdoc.org has several links off the site. Like the Janitorial newspaper (pdf) or the section where you can actually rate your favorite doctor at Sacred Heart (…fart…). Do check out the site though. I mean seriously, how often do shows do stuff like this? And with this being the final season of Scrubs who knows how many more chances you will get.
Until later, be awesome.
Mall Shopping at Christmas
Dec 6th
“Once again we find ourselves enmeshed in the Holiday Season, that very special time of year when we join with our loved ones in sharing centuries-old traditions such as trying to find a parking space at the mall. We traditionally do this in my family by driving around the parking lot until we see a shopper emerge from the mall, then we follow her, in very much the same spirit as the Three Wise Men, who 2,000 years ago followed a star, week after week, until it led them to a parking space.” ~ Dave Barry
Here is something to think about… As we all know, henceforth referred to as “common knowledge”, Malls around Christmas time can be quite crowded and annoying. In fact, most people I talk to say they would never shop at a mall during the Christmas season…now assuming that the people you know are even slightly like the people I talk to, I would like to know who are all theses people shopping at malls during Christmas? If no one wants to go there at this time, then why is it still crowded?…
I personally believe that people lose their bloody minds during this season. Maybe it’s a great sales on pants…
Who knows.
Scrubs – My Growing Pains
Nov 29th
First off..was caramel bear Efren Ramirez the actor who played Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite? Just curious..that did make me laugh. The episode tonight was pretty decent. Kind left you feeling a little sad…though maybe I just feel like that because it’s coming to an end this season… hold on I need a moment….
….
……………<ahemmmm>….
Thanks, back now. I did think the way that Kelso’s age will play into him not being chief of Medicine anymore was pretty obvious. As I found out afterward from my good friends over at the tv.com forum, this was a spoiler from earlier… I really should read those sometime. No serious…I usually do read those, how did I miss that? Anyways. I’ve always loved Dr. Kelso (Ken Jenkins). I can’t imagine anyone playing the character more perfectly.
I do think they missed an opportunity by not having even a mention of Ben since Dr. Cox was having to tell a kid about leukemia. I heard the writers were going to try to bring back most of the guest stars from the past, so I thought (since Ben is now dead) that would be a good way to include Brenden Frasier. I suppose you only have so much time to get stuff in. And it now seems there could be even less time for Scrubs (article link). With only 12 of the 18 promised episodes written who knows what will happen with scrubs. Ideally, the strike would end soon and things would go off without a hitch. Optimistic Aaron would hope that if the strike didn’t end before the next script get written that Scrubs would have to go a whole other season to finish up. Realistic Aaron, on the other hand, realizes that that probably wouldn’t happen. Let’s just hold out hope that things go well and the Series at least get a sound and resolved ending.
…oh. And Hooch is crazy.
To mention:
If you love the music of Scrubs as much as I do check out this post: the Music that Makes the Show
Dell Star Power Commercial – Your Not Famous
Nov 26th
I love this new Dell commercial with Burt Reynolds (aka. the Bandit). Make me crack up so hard. In case you haven’t seen it here you go. “I’m sorry. I can’t hear you because your not famous”. If only they were pushing Ubuntu and not Vista (yuk!). Enjoy
Auburn wins 6th straight against Alabama
Nov 25th
You gotta love in-State rivalry. For those of you just tuning in I am an Auburn fan…I’ll explain why but maybe at a later date. I was EXTREMELY happy tonight to see the Auburn Tigers with their sixth straight Iron Bowl against the Crimson Tide of Alabama…are you sure an elephant never forgets because I doubt I hear a lot of people brining this up to me Monday at work. At least I’ll get bragging rights for the rest of this year as it seems I am the only Auburn supporter in a sea of Crimson Red that work with me…I get so sick of hearing “Roll Tide!” on my way in…
Anyways, it wasn’t the complete and total humiliation I was hoping for but 17 – 10 was enough for the win. ESPN has the highlight video here. Did anyone else see the security dog bite Powers’ hand in the end zone? Bizarre…they shoudl have to keep all those Alabama fans on a tighter leash…
Congrats to my boys at Auburn (also to Arkansas on pulling that out against LSU…sorry I doubted you!)
Live Free or Die Hard
Nov 24th
I just finished watching Live Free or Die Hard (Die Hard 4) and I must say I thought it was a great movie. I mean I really liked the previous 3 Die Hard movies and have most always been a fan of Bruce Willis…well his acting at least. The movie over all was very good I thought. Good casting. Action throughout…thought this does lead me to thinking, “Have geeks become the new action star?” I mean I don’t mind but it deems most every film now has a “hacker” of some sort with these amazing 1337 skillz (Lord of the Rings didn’t have hackers, as far as I remember, but then again it had wizards so I suppose that would be a cooler skill). Just interesting.
I was wondering though if Justin Long would be doing all his hacking on a mac because of contract complications with apple, hmm…btw, I do hope you people get understand the term sarcasm by now. I did notice, in the movie, him say he had been “white hat” for the past few years but had been a black hat hacker in the past. Seriously though..is it just me or does pretty much every movie now a days have some 20 something-ish computer geek who can break in to the NSA’s network in just under the time it takes me to sigh and say “sheesh, this again.” ..but I really should digress.
Like I was saying earlier, very good movie. A bit predictable but then again you don’t go see most action films for the suspense, twists and surprise endings. Me personally, I watch actions films for guns, explosions, cheesy one liners (yes Willis did get to say “Yippi-kay-ay, motherfu -”), and absurd situtaions and stunts that could only happen in…well… a movie. Either way, definitely take the time to check it out. I don’t know if I could say honestly it was the best Die Hard of the 4 but it would be a close race.
Cheers for now
Online Drum Lessons
Nov 13th
you liked that little rhyming title didn’t you?
I have been playing drums for about 14 years now. I should be a professional drummer by most standards now, but I have 1 weakness. I rarely get to practice. And what is more..even when I do sit down for some “quality time” with my set I have trouble coming up with new beats or exercises to practice. Evidentially, I am not the only one. It’s a common thing for Drummers to get stumped on practice material. <sarcasm>Well, in the last few years I have discovered this cool thing called the internet. </sarcasm>The internet, also know by some as a series of tubes (will that joke ever get old?), is chocked full of great sites and resources for us, the tapped out brain dead drummers who just want to practice something new, here forth known as the TOBDDWJWPSN…maybe we should form a Facebook group… I digress.
I have found a ton of sites, video lessons and such that I think will help, but I want to highlight a few of those…I suppose what I would consider the best of the best. And by all means, if you come across another great site that would fit in this category drop me an email or post it in the comments.
First off, you need to know 3 things…1. A decent metronome is a must. I recommend the
Tama Rhythm Watch. 2. Get an iPod or a portable cd player would work, and jam out to songs you like (i would think this is a no brain-er, but I am constantly surprised at what I hear people say) 3. YouTube is your friend. And you can find a lot of great lessons on there…and a lot of crap. Check out these drummers below for some great practice material.
- Mike Johnston of “the Drum Lab” in Sacramento, CA.
www.mikeslessons.com or www.youtube.com/user/drumteacher76
I can not recommend Mike’s lessons highly enough. He is for all practical purposes “the Man.”You would be a fool not to check out his lessons…now onward.Mike has toured the US and Europe with Simon Says and FILTER. He has been doing private lesson’s for over 10 years. Mike also has insane foot speed and is often accused of playing a double pedal when he does not. Mike constantly comes out with fresh fresh lessons and seems to take a lot of pride in showing off not what he can do (which is amazing) but how good his students are. He has a wealth of knowledge and practice material on his YouTube account and on his main site offers iPod download for a small (but very worth it) fee. Here is a great lesson Mike did on improving your bass speed:
- Derrick Pope
www.derrikpope.net or www.youtube.com/user/djp132
Derrick constantly produces great lessons and does his best to respond to questions that viewers have about his or sometime other’s videos. Derrick competed in numerous local and regional solo drum set and snare competitions, winning so many that he was eventually banned from several of them. I also love his site slogan, “Drum non stop.” You can get directly to his lessons page here or a lot of them are featured on YouTube as well. Derrick teaches with a very unique style and explains very in depth but in a way that anyone (even stupid drummers like me) can get wisdom from his lessons. Check out this lesson Derrick did on Double stroke technique:
- Drummer World
www.drummerworld.com/drumclinic.html
This site has tons of short video clips and lessons. Topics including brush lessons, percussion, drums set, technique..and you get the picture. This place is a wealth of knowledge.
- Dan Britt
http://www.dannybritt.com or www.youtube.com/user/DrumTVShow
If I can say nothing else about Dan and the way he teaches, I would say he does it with enthusiasm. On his YouTube channel, DrumTVShow, Dan welcomes lessons from lots of different drummers, making it packed full of lessons and exercises to keep you busy for weeks. Jeff Indyke (also another great teacher) has several lessons up on DrumTVshow. While the talking is sometime muffled and hard to understand, the advice is excellent. Definitely stop by and check out Dan’s lesson on Hand Technique Speed & Power in Drums.
I realize there are a lot of great lessons out there and probably some I need to know about. I would love to highlight some more on my blog but for now these are some that I watch, use often, and truly respect for their teaching ability and their willingness to help fellow drummers. If any of the teachers above happen to read this then let me say this..Thanks so much for helping me be a better drummer (I’ll stop before everyone gets misty…if you need a tissue I would suggest checking out a restroom.) Seriously, cheers to these teachers and those like them. More to come sometime soon.
File for a divorce online…sheesh.
Nov 12th
Should there be line drawn for “convenience”? Pay my bills online great. Shop for a present, nice (especially if you want an awesomeness motivational poster…sorry for the shameless plug). But now it appears Broward County in South Florida has made it even more convenient to get a divorce…online. Check this article for specifics.
Now I really don’t want to go on a political rant…mainly because there is way too much wrong, complaining would only get me frustrated and taking a look at pretty much any leader in this country tells me they won’t do anything to fix it… However, how stupid is this? Divorcerate.org shows that :
The divorce rate in America for first marriage, vs second or third marriage
50% percent of first marriages, 67% of second and 74% of third marriages end in divorce, according to Jennifer Baker of the Forest Institute of Professional Psychology in Springfield, Missouri.”
Is it just me or does it seem less and less people (especially those supposedly providing leadership) care at all about marriage? I digress from my small rant…. you can to back to being awesome now.
