King Arthur Carrousel

Take a ride with Sara and Tim on Disneyland's King Arthur Carrousel.



Also, there are a few more pictures of our Disneyland trip here. They are mostly of the interior of "it's a small world holiday", but there are also some Sleeping Beauty Castle shots. Enjoy!

Adoption

A college buddy of mine and his wife are looking to adopt a child. Seth and I were housemates for awhile, and he's a real good guy. So, please feel free to distribute this flyer.


Melissa and Seth have also set up a blog for their search. You can check it out at http://melissaandsethadoption.blogspot.com/

Shocking Sarah Palin Admission

During Thursday's Vice-Presidential debate, Sarah Palin made the shocking admission that some of McCain's supporters (e.g., Lieberman, Giuliani, etc.) believe that McCain needs to LEAVE his campaign.

Don't Vote

Great PSA by Sarah Silverman and Jonah Hill. Remember, decisions are made by those who show up.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

More Debate Mess

MSNBC is reporting that John McCain won't show up for Friday's debate unless a deal to address the financial crisis is reached. Officials at the University of Mississippi (which is hosting the debate) are still moving forward as scheduled, but are not sure what they would do if McCain fails to show up.

If this happens, I say go on as scheduled and let Obama take questions from the audience. America has already carved out this time to learn more about the candidates. And if John McCain would rather take photo ops in Washington, DC, that's his decision. We might as well use this time to find out even more about Barack Obama and his plans for the United States.

And speaking of McCain, don't his actions sort of remind you of the kid who is "taking his ball and going home"?

Debate Delay

So all of a sudden McCain needs to show up in Washington and add his two cents to the economic crisis. Oh, and that debate with Senator Obama that was scheduled for Friday? Yeah, that's going to have to wait as well. Hmm. Sounds to me more like someone doesn't have the ability to multi-task. Which is a quality you absolutely want in a President.

Yeah, I'm being sarcastic.

Anyway, if the Presidential candidates won't be able to debate on Friday, then I say lets replace it with the VP Debate. Biden vs. Palin; Let's get ready to rumble. Besides, it's high time that Caribou Barbie stops hiding behind her handlers and starts answering some real questions.

Monopoly

Wil Wheaton made the following post in his Twitter stream:

The Monopoly Guy just endorsed McCain. Turns out McCain helped create a series of bank errors in his favor.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

They Even Lied About the Teleprompter!

After Sarah Palin's acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, Fox News reported that there were substantial glitches with the teleprompter that Palin was reading her speech from. Nevertheless, the Governor was able to overcome the obstacles and deliver her speech without getting flustered. This fact was quickly picked up and gleefully reported by other Right-Wing tools such as Rush Limbagh and Sean Hannity.

Well, it turns out (surprise, surprise), THAT WAS A LIE!!!

ABC News and Politico are reporting that, in actuality, there was nothing wrong with Palin's teleprompter. Members of the press who were within eyeshot of the prompter, carefully watched it and said they noticed no major problems with the equipment.

Now, while the isolated incident of lying about whether or not a prompter works is not really that big of deal, I am more concerned with why the Republicans felt they needed to lie about it in the first place. The obvious reason is that they wanted to bolster their candidate and give her more credit than she deserves. But, more importantly, if the McCain campaign feels they can lie so easily about a broken teleprompter, then what else are they lying about?

Fox News calls McCain Out

Fox News host Megyn Kelly corners McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds on his candidate's claim that Obama will raise taxes on the middle class. Watch Tucker squirm as he attempts to evade Kelly's questions and turn the conversation back to the meaningless Republican talking points. However, Kelly doesn't let this fool off so easily. Story and video below.

read more | digg story

Palin = Republican Status Quo

Folks, my boss is a Research Psychologist whose Doctorate is in Clinical Psychology. As a researcher, she is fond of making the point that past behavior often predicts future behavior. And a recent New York Times article presents a well-researched list of Sarah Palin's past behavior and actions as Mayor of Wasilla, and then Governor of Alaska. Frankly, Palin's questionable judgment, lies, and abuses of power seem more like "Republican Business-As-Usual" then the "change" that she and John McCain promise. If Palin thought these kind of behaviors were okay when she was Mayor and Governor, then she is going to keep on doing it as Vice-President and (God forbid!) President. And our country just can't take four years of this. PLEASE remember this when you vote in November.

read more | digg story

Palin makes Her First Gaffe

Apparently Caribou Barbie doesn't understand how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac work. Yep, she's prepared to be the President. Story below.

read more | digg story

Julie Brown as Sarah Palin

Absolutely Hilarious!

Amen, Brother!

This quote was included in a recent email from the Obama campaign.

Republicans like Palin, Giuliani, and Romney can engage in red-meat partisan vitriol all they want, right out of the Karl Rove playbook, but this isn't 2000 or 2004. Americans now have seen the full impact of GOP policies on their pocketbook." -- Rick from Colorado

Palin Under Investigation

So Caribou Barbie is currently under investigation in Alaska for alleged abuses of power. Not surprising. Isn't this just status quo for the Republicans? Story below.

read more | digg story

No Barracuda for Palin

It would appear that even Ann and Nancy Wilson of the rock group Heart can't stand the Republican's Vice-President pick, Sarah Palin. After McCain's Sominex-like acceptance speech on Thursday night, he was joined on stage by his running mate. While the balloons started raining down, the Convention's PA system started playing Heart's 1977 hit "Barracuda", a reference to Palin's High School nickname. Well, it turns out that the clever Republicans running this convention must have forgot to get permission to play the song because Heart immediately sent a cease-and-desist order to the McCain's presidential campaign. And for good reason: they don't want to be associated with the McCain campagin.Check out the story below.

read more | digg story

Palin's Lies

The Associated Press exposes the pack of lies in Caribou Barbie's speech.

Caribou Barbie

A few thoughts on Governor Palin and her nomination speech:

• Where the hell have you been the last several days? The Republicans throw you a big coming out party and then there's hardly a peep out of you since Friday. Can it be that the GOP doesn't trust you on your own?
• I tuned into this speech to learn more about YOU, and specifically why the hell you think you should be a heartbeat away from the Presidency. I really didn't need to hear more about Senator McCain (didn't we get enough of that with Thompson droning on and on Tuesday night?), or your husband, or your kids. Since you're the one of the ticket, wouldn't it have been prudent to open up with more of yourself?
• I find it amusing that you're complaining about the "Washington Elite" when your own running mate started in Congress back in 1982.
  
• Yes, you eventually told Congress "no thanks" for that Bridge to Nowhere, but that was AFTER you initially supported that expensive piece of pork. Funny. You conveniently left that part out of your speech.
• Biggest laugh-out loud moment:
  

My fellow citizens, the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of "personal discovery."

• Thank you for waiting until close to the end of your speech before using the term "Maverick". Gag! I propose that every time someone says that on TV, they have to pay 25 cents towards the ever-increasing war debt.
• Did anyone else out there catch Palin's youngest daughter pretty much giving the baby a cat bath on national TV? Absolutely hilarious! Perhaps dad needs to keep a better eye on the kids.
  
• Contrary to all the rumors out there, that was NOT half the population of Alaska in attendance at the Convention.

Final prognosis: Palin did a okay job reading a speech that someone else wrote for her. But with all the excitement surrounding this moment, I was surprised by how boring much of it was. However, I'm far more interested in how Caribou Barbie will perform unscripted answering real questions in front of the Washington Press Corps. That is, if the GOP will let her off the leash long enough.

Flag Day

Happy Flag Day!

Nissan Sucks!

In the past six months, Sara and I have spent over $2,400 for repairs on her 2000 Nissan Maxima. The latest visit to the service center came just 8 days ago to replace a starter that crapped out. So imagine my surprise when Sara called me at the office this afternoon to say that the car wouldn't start again. She was eventually able to get it started, but it seemed like the transmission was starting to fail.

Sara barely drives the thing and it only has 72,000 miles on it. My 2001 Honda Civic has over 120,000 miles and hasn't had nearly as many problems as the Nissan. I think it might be time to dump this POS. But one thing's for certain: we're never buying another Nissan.

Flag Day

Mickey Mouse Flag
Originally uploaded by brassplayer

Flag Day is coming up on June 14. Sara and I are starting a little early by flying our patriotic Mickey Mouse flag. Don't worry. We'll replace it with Old Glory on the 14th.

Little Kid vs Tuba Player

NEVER cut through the Band Block.


Little Kid vs Tuba Player - Watch more free videos

Annie Oakley's Gaffe: Clinton mailer shows non-existent gun

Hilarious story below. It seems that Hilary really doesn't know as much about guns as she would have you believe.

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When Young Teachers Go Wild on the Web

Check out the crazy story from The Washington Post below. The bottom line is you have to be careful what you post on the Internet.

On the other hand, the School Superintendent mentioned in this story might want to rethink their interviewing strategies. Asking a potential candidate about their age, citizenship, national origin, race/ethnicity, or marital status, is illegal in the United States. And this is all information which can very often be found near the top of any MySpace or Facebook page. I essentially see no difference between an interviewer asking "How old are you?" and "What is the web page which will tell me how old you are?" This is just a lawsuit waiting to happen.

read more | digg story

Toto Sings!

Watch Tim torment his niece's dog Toto at the birthday party of Tim's nephew, Joaquin.

Randi Rhodes

Air America Radio Host Randi Rhodes was recently suspended from her radio show for calling both Hillary Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro "whores" at a recent affiliate appearance. While Ms. Rhodes remarks were made off the air in a San Francisco nightclub, her appearance was filmed and the most sensational portion of her talk was placed on YouTube.



My take on this:

The suspension was justified. This is NOT a question about free speech. Randi Rhodes is free to go to any street corner in the country and shout any mean-spirited epithet at the top of her lungs. However, in this case, Ms. Rhodes was appearing an event sponsored by the local San Francisco Air America Radio affiliate. In my book, this means that she was on Air America's time and representing the network. And if I was the one doing this performance, I probably would have toned it down a little.

Look, I agree with Randi Rhodes a lot of the time, and I'm no big fan of Hillary Clinton or Geraldine Ferraro. However, Randi Rhodes went way too far. She could have made her points without calling those women "whores". She could have persuaded without being crass. You can definitely be passionate about what you believe in, but you don't have to present it in a vulgar way. Especially when you are essentially representing your employers.

Isn't the Democratic party supposed to be better than that?

If this would have been Ann Coulter or Rush Limbaugh getting up on a stage and making such disgusting comments, wouldn't we want some disciplinary action for them? Wouldn't we think that at least a suspension is warranted?

If so, we have to demand the same for Randi Rhodes.

Buzz Weirdness

Strange happenings on the Buzz Lightyear ride on Saturday. Lately, Sara and I have been riding separately in individual cars. That way, we both have total control over our cars, and Player 1 can't accuse Player 2 of intentionally moving the car when Player 1 is about to make a shot. Anyway, Sara scored around 160K and I scored around 190K.

When we got off the ride, we went over to the photo kiosks for our pictures. Check out what happened:



Somehow, Sara received no score, and I got Sara's score. Weird, huh? Has this ever happened to anyone?

I also love how my picture came out!

Springtime at Disneyland

Sara and Tim
Originally uploaded by brassplayer

Sara and I took advantage of some wonderful weather and took a trip to (where else?) Disneyland. Spring is one of the best times to visit Disneyland, with the hard-working groundskeepers doing such a great job making the place look beautiful.

Also, we visited the Innoventions exhibit in Tomorrowland. Sara and I hardly ever go in there. In fact, the last time we did was the day we got engaged! Anyway, we say a pretty cool show with the robot ASIMO, and Tim got to ride a Segway. (Video coming soon!)

Click here for the complete photo set.

Hillary For Sale

Hillary Clinton's Dignity and Class for sale on eBay!

Twitter

Follow me on Twitter!
http://twitter.com/brassplayer

Hillary Stretching The Truth?

It light of Hillary Clinton's claims that she has more experience than Barack Obama, the Associated Press takes a closer look at Clinton's foreign policy record during her husband's Administration. It turns out that Hillary may be claiming more credit than she actually deserves.

3AM Call

After Hillary Clinton finally broke Barack Obama's Primary winning streak, Senator Obama graciously called Senator Clinton to congratulate her ...



AT 3AM!!!!!

HAHAHAHAHA! But seriously, Hillary. Leave the fear-mongering to the Republicans. That's their SOP.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

ABC News discovers that, after all these years, Mary Poppins was not correctly pronouncing "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" backwards.

View video here.

Frozen in New York

Improv Everywhere pulls off a creative stunt in New York's Grand Central Station.

New High Score

Well, it's another day at Disneyland, and another go at the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. My first time around was nothing special.


However, the second time around, I got a new personal high score.


Okay, I have to admit that the ride stopped right in front of a triangle target, so I milked it for all it was worth. But I do want to start getting scores like this more often. However, it was a nice change to score more than 200K. And it was even nicer to be ranked!

Galactic Bravery

We had some awesome weather this past weekend. (Just another reason I love living in L.A.) Sara and I took advantage of the warm temps and spent some time at Disneyland on Sunday. We got in our obligatory spin on the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters.


I'm not sure what Sara is aiming at, but we didn't do too badly. However, we both still want to consistently score higher. We just need more practice.

And, it turns out I played so well that the Little Green Men awarded me a Galactic Hero Medal for my bravery battling the Evil Emperor Zurg. I am so proud!



Click here for a few more photos from our trip.

Mickey Mouse Floral

The folks at Disney are always "plussing" the Park. Here's a short video of the new LED display on the Mickey Mouse Floral in front of Disneyland.

Sunset Boulevard

The Journey Begins, originally uploaded by brassplayer.

Sara and I decided to take advantage of some beautiful weather last Sunday and took a trip down Los Angeles' legendary Sunset Boulevard. Click here for the entire photo set.

Michael Jackson Is Back!

No, we're not talking about Wacko Jacko, we're talking about the wonderful radio talk show host Michael Jackson who has been broadcasting in Los Angeles since 1963. The AM radio station KGIL 1260AM has recently switched to a talk format and they smartly hired Mr. Jackson to be the anchor of their new line-up.

Michael Jackson definitely falls to the left of center in his political views, however unlike many of his blowhard counterparts on the right side of the dial, Jackson can have balanced, thoughtful, and intelligent exchanges with those he disagrees with. And sadly, that is becoming a rare commodity in today's talk radio environment.

Welcome back Michael Jackson!