My new name

It's not technically a new name, but more like a new blog. A blog that is unrestricted in content, and only available to a few select people. If you've been following this blog over the years, you should have noticed a drop-off on the "personal" blogs. This has been intentional.

The focus recently has been humorous stories, social experiments, and random information about the latest technology I find interesting. I will continue to post stories like that here, but everything else will be put on the new blog. That way my anon stalkers won't have any fuel for their ever-burning fire, or something like that.

Anyhoo, if you would like to be included on the list of people who can read the "new" blog, either post a comment below or send me an email.

Cheers! You guys rock.

My Harrison Ford experiment

It has been a while since my last social experiment, so I have secretly been conducting another experiment in my spare time. For several months now, I have been asking the following question to friends and foes alike:

Who would win a bare fists fight: Han Solo or Indiana Jones?

It seems like a simple question that begets a simple answer, either Solo or Jones... but instead I found that most people felt the need to elaborate on "why" he or she chose one or the other. I have enlisted the help of several friends who have also been asking the same question to random people they meet. I now present to you the results of my Harrison Ford experiment:

Indiana Jones!
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Indiana Jones hands down. 80's movies totally beat 70's movies.

Indiana Jones. Hans Solo is a pretty boy and was kinda fruity. Indiana Jones was a professor and a renaissance man.

Definitely Indiana Jones!! What did Han Solo actually do? Fly a ship? Get frozen? Indiana was much more of a risk taker. More mature, too.

I'm not sure I can choose. Okay, I'll choose. Indiana Jones. He survived the pit of snakes and ate Monkey brains. He always ends up getting out of trouble, and he always gets the girl.

Indiana Jones...anybody who's swung on a rope in a cave to save the girl gets my vote.

That's easy, Indiana Jones... hands down. He's quick with his hands and a whip - a real man's man! Whereas Han was better with a gun of some sort. Not too many fist fights in Space.

Indiana Jones. Han Solo was more bark than bite. I mean, he was fiesty, but he ain't got nothin' on Indiana Jones. Ha!

Han Solo!
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They are the same actor, so that would be pretty impossible, however, if the fictional characters were to fight, Han Solo would win definitely.

Hans Solo... better looking and much more of a man in my opinion!

Han Solo, hands down. He might not even have to use his fists... his witty comments could probably win him the fight before it even begins!

Well.. that's a tough one... Indiana Jones now or back when the movie came out... because if we're talking present day I would have to say Han Solo.

Bare fists? Han Solo. Take away the toys and you have a roughneck vs. an intellectual, street-wise vs. book smart. No competition. Also, take a look at their seconds - Chewy vs. Pa Jones? Come on...

Pff...Han Solo hands down. The man survived carbon-freezing for goodness sake. Plus, Indiana is scared of snakes... and named after the dog. What a wuss!

Short and to the point...
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Indiana Jones no question!

Indiana Jones... hands down!

Indiana Jones, of course!!

Indiana Jones would win.

Indiana Jones.

Indiana Jones has my bet.

Indiana Jones any day!

I just can't decide!
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I like both, so it is a toss up.

I have no idea. Bare fist though... hmmmm... I'm guessing that Han Solo normally fights with a light saber and of course Indy has his whip. Without them, they probably wouldn't know what to do.

Are you serious??!! I have no idea...

More votes for Indy:
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Indiana Jones for SURE. Han Solo is a sissy. However, Walker Texas Ranger could take them both at once, with his hands tied behind his back.

I am not a Star Wars fan, so I am going with Indiana Jones. I wish I could elaborate more, but Harrison Ford does not exactly light my fire.

Indiana Jones definitely. Han utilizes his fancy futuristic weapons mostly and isn't quite as rugged as Indiana Jones.

I'd put my bets with Indiana (unless they were in a gravity challenged/defying area). He's used to all kinds of native dangers, probably got more fist experience because he traveled alone a lot. He also had to be light on his feet and quick witted to escape those traps. That's gotta count for something.

Well considering that it is the same "person" although not the same character, I have always been a bigger fan of Indiana Jones.

Sounds like a conflict within. Perhaps he had some issues with his father he needs to address. :) No, really. I would have to say Indiana Jones. He is the coolest!

I'm gonna have to go with Indiana Jones. I'm kind of a fan of the rough and tough kind of a man - and Indiana seems to have a little more of that than Hans Solo.

I live under a rock:
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Well, not sure who Han Solo is but I love Indiana Jones so I would have to say that Indy would win.

I had to Google Han Solo, who knew that Harrison Ford was in Star Wars?!

Seeing as how I've never actually seen the Star Wars Trilogy, I'd have to pick Indiana Jones.

If I remember correctly, Indiana Jones did some movies in the Middle East in the desert and since I have a love for the Middle East, I would have to go with Indiana Jones!

I have not seen either of those movies in so long that this is a tough decision. I guess Indiana Jones because he seems more rugged!

Hmm... see, I grew up in a girl house and didn't really watch Star Wars or Indiana Jones much. I think I've only seen them once each. Since they're both Harrison Ford, though, it's a win-win situation, right? If I was forced to choose based on my limited experience, I'd go with Indy just because I like him better.

Okay- I know both were played by Harrison Ford. And I have taken time to research the subject online, since I do not know much about either. The general consensus is that Indiana Jones would win. And when I thought about it, it made sense to me. Indiana Jones seems more like he he could kick butt in any situation. But.. why would Harrison Ford wanna fight himself??

I've never seen anything Star Wars, so I can't really answer the question. I did see Raiders of Lost Ark though, and if Indiana Jones can take on all those snakes, I think he can take on anything!

Indiana Jones, hands down... confession... I have no idea who Han-Solo is... HAHA.

Han Skywalker?
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Ummmmmmmmmm I will have to say Indiana Jones! He has the intellectual advantage, and I am not sure Hans would make it without his saber!

Bare fists without the force? I would have to say Indiana Jones because he has more experience using just his hands. Plus, Han Solo loses one arm, so I don't think he'd do very well with only one hand.

Indiana Jones b/c Hans Solo has his sword and Indiana runs through the woods and kills stuff.

Indiana Jones would cream him easy! Hans Solo may have a good bit of bicep from swinging that light saber, but Dr. Jones has brains and brawn... KALI-MAH SHAK-DI-DAY!!!

Considering that I have not seen the Indiana Jones movies since I was about ten years old, I don't know that I can answer that. But I do have to wonder about Hans Solo- could he fight without a light saber? Then again, he would have Chewy to back him up if needed...and there is always the wisdom of Yoda...and of course, "The Force".

I really like Indiana Jones, but I have to admit that I have never seen Star Wars (isn't that the movie with Han Solo?)....so I guess for now I'd say Indiana Jones, because I'll bet he is better with his hands... don't Star Wars characters use those long light beam things and not their fists?

Indiana Jones, hands down. Without the force and/or his light saber, he's nothing!

I saved the best few for last:
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My knee jerk reaction is "Han Solo, of course!" but such an assessment is based purely on personal preference and can not be supported by the available evidence. I'm afraid that in the Harrison v. Harrison smack-down, I'm gonna have to put my money on Indiana. Face it, we don't see Han in bare fist situations. Why? Well in his own words "Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side." He's a great pilot, a good shot, and has a Wookiee for a best friend, but I just think Indy has more experience in weaponless fighting. That said, if the battle goes to the seconds, Chewbacca can take down Denholm Elliot any day.

That is a difficult one, with many factors that must be taken into account. One factor that must be considered is how did they get into the situation where they had the opportunity to fight? One can only assume that this would involve some form of time travel. We could most likely assume that it would be Solo doing the time travel since his technology is more advanced then that of Jones. From these assumptions we could say that Solo would probably be slightly disoriented from the time jump, giving Jones the obvious hands up. Of course, if Solo were going back in time specifically to fight Jones, then he would be prepared to jump Jones, giving him the advantage. Now, if this was an instance of somehow they both end up being in a bar and decide to beat the heck out of one another, I would say Jones. Solo is always using a laser gun with seldom hand to hand combat since it never seems to run out, while Jones often ends up fist fighting when he runs out of bullets and can't get the whip.

The final tally...
Indiana Jones: 30
Han Solo: 7
Tie: 1
Are you KIDDING me? 10

My Apple conversion

I am slowly becoming an Apple fanboy. I love my iPod and I love being able to gift people music from time to time. Today I read more about the Apple TV -- it syncs all your music, tv shows, and movies from your computer to your widescreen TV. Just one more thing to be added on my "to buy" list, which now encompasses:

- a widescreen TV w/ TIVO
- a grand piano
- a nice couch from IKEA
- a custom built set of golf clubs
- an Apple TV

I guess the only thing holding me back from becoming a true Apple convert is that mouse of theirs that only has one click-button! I have a feeling I would try to right-click everything I came across out of habit alone.

In other news:
Savannah was pretty great. It was a weekend that everyone needed -- a nice break from life here in Atlanta. I'll be sure to post a sample of the pictures we took very soon, no worries. Not that life here in Atlanta is bad or anything... I mean, I did have one of the best spring breaks ever since I've graduated from college. And like I always say, it's not "what" you do... it's "who" you're with.

My thin mints

Yes, my friends... it is that time of the year again. The Girl Scout cookies have arrived!

About a month ago, the daughter of my VP came to sell me some cookies. I was only going to buy one box of Thin Mints, but she talked me into buying 6: "They have to last till next March, right?"

Damn it, she was right. Then yesterday, I noticed that a co-worker had a few boxes of Tagalongs on his desk. After my WHO/HOW/WHERE look subsided, he told me he paid for them earlier that day. My response, and I kid you not, was:

I have some money. Where's that little girl?!

It took me a few seconds to realize how that phrase could be taken completely out of context. Everyone in the office got a good laugh about it. But no worries, I FOUND that little girl, gave her a $20 bill, yadda yadda yadda, I now have Thin Mints galore behind my desk. Sketch!

My past coming back

This past weekend, someone made a comment saying that my blog has become less personal over the last couple of months. My response was, "yeah... I guess it has."

But there's a reason for that you see. It's the same reason I hear from my friends and family every time I post something "personal."

- future employers are going to read your blog and they won't hire you.
- anyone can see what you post and [insert anything here] could happen.

But see, that's the whole point of a blog. To express something from a personal level. Whether it's sharing a cool new feature you discovered on Netflix, or ranting about your friends that leave you stranded downtown.

I've decided to take my friend's advice, and post things that really matter to me, and forget about who else might stumble across it in the randomness of the net. If worse comes to worse, I always have plausible deniability to fall back on. Right, Jack?

So no more excuses. Please do not ask me to edit a blog, or change the content, because I will not do so. I post these blogs because I want people to read them as I originally wrote them. If it burns me in the future, so be it.

Continuing on...

The only people I still talk to on a regular basis from high school are Mike D. and Olivia W. -- and then, within the span of a few weeks, several other people randomly contact me.

The first was Elizabeth D. and the second was Laura W.

If your name is Mike, then you know exactly who I am talking about, but if not, then just pretend they are someone you know from YOUR high school.

Now, Elizabeth I did not know very well. We may have had one or two classes together, but I never said more than a couple of words to her in all the years we went to school together. She finds me on FB, and asks for my number to catch up. Sure, no problem. You guys know me, I'm always interested in seeing how other people are doing in life.

The first sentence out of her mouth after the formalities was, "I'm a recovering alcoholic." I mutter something, then she continues to give me a heart-felt speech about how sorry she was for treating me the way she did back in middle and high school. I just sat there quietly and listened.

I tried to rack my brain and come up with some instance where this apology might be necessary, but for the life of me, I could not think of one thing. Not one single thing! Which is so amazing to me, because this was something that she remembered quite clearly, and the holy spirit had been convicting her for who knows how long, and here I was drawing blanks.

Is that wrong? Should I have remembered something? I don't know... I almost forgot about the whole thing until Laura finds me on FB in much the same way.

She wanted to know how I was doing in life, and I mentioned Elizabeth ever so briefly, commenting how odd it was hearing from these people after after 8 years. Her response:

Hi! You know, before I even read what you wrote about Elizabeth D., I was going to apologize for the same thing. I feel like I could've been less than nice a few times to you so I apologize! Whether you remember it or not. I'm glad to know you're doing well...

Which is even more amazing, because I always thought Laura to be an outstanding person. She kept me company on the bus after school, both in MS and HS. I had fond memories of her...

I guess it really comes down to the fact that as kids, we all do things we regret in the future. I have my share, as I am sure you do too. With that being said, this goes out to any other random people from my past who may stumble across this blog in the days to come...

I forgive you.