Sunday, September 30, 2007

Brett Favre: 421 Touchdown Passes

Brett Favre today broke a 13 year old Passing Touchdown record that was currently held by Dan Marino. This is the most recent in a long line of records Brett currently and/or will hold in the end.

It's not so much the 421 Touchdown passes as it is his durability. His streak of consecutive starts is unmatched, in ANY sport. Brett has started in the last 261 games including playoffs for over 14 Years!!!
Some may say that Cal Ripkens consecutive start streak is more impressive. To this remark I remind everyone of one simple fact:
  • The SACK: The NFL tallies this statistic to indicate how many times the Quarterback has been slammed to the ground by a 275-350 pound athlete.
  • Brett Favre has been sacked 431 times. Can you imagine being healthy after being sacked 431 times?

How many times was Cal sacked in his career? Football is a sport where players have almost died, been paralyzed and wake up the day after a game and can barely get out of bed.

Congrats Brett Favre

Cross Posted at Rocketstar's Thoughts on Life

Friday, September 28, 2007

Mmm, scrummy!

I don't mind most English slang I come across, but I just can't get behind this one.



It's supposed to be scrumptious+yummy (I think) but that is really not how it sounds. Might as well call it skeezy pizza or something.


Also, for some reasons lately I've been thinking about how the UK really doesn't have many vending machines. In the US they're sitting all over the place, but most of the time here you have to park someplace, go into the store, etc. The only place I've really seen vending machines are inside one or two of the buildings at work. No quick soda fixes here! (Probably better that way really.)

Rubber Head ! (with hat)

This video just goes to prove that Magnum condoms simply exist to boost guys egos. If you can fit one of these things over your skull (notice I avoided the use of the word "head" there) then I'd hate to see the guy whose member was so large they'd actually need something bigger. o_O

Also, putting the hat on top is pure comedic genius. Happy Friday everybody!

Everything You've Heard About English Weather is True


This is the current view from the kitchen window.

The weather changes so quickly and so much that I have to go out bundled up against the wind and cold, carrying a bag big enough to shove all my clothes in when it gets hot, plus an umbrella for when it starts raining. And that's just for mornings.

On the other hand, English chocolate is very good.

By the way, if anyone who's been to London or anywhere in England wants to give me advice on fun things to do and see, that would be awwwwwesome.


Not much of a blog post, I know. Sorry. I just wanted to remind everyone that I'm here.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Introduction


I thought I would say my first official hello, so "hello", officially.

Ummm, hmmm. I cannot think of one interesting fact to note about myself. So, let that be my interesting fact: there is nothing notable about me.

My husband and I recently succumbed to the cable company and added DVR to our services. With this new technology, I was able to record Oprah from yesterday and I forced my husband to sit and watch it with me. Anyone else catch it? It was all about sex and porn and open marriages. You would think it would be exciting, but, um, it wasn't. It was very interesting though watching this couple in an "open marriage" that basically consisted of them inviting their friend over for board games and watching tv, and then the friend and the wife retired to the guest room for the night. What??? Anyone have any thoughts on this? LOL Dare I ask?
Oh, and I added a pic I snapped of the National Cathedral this past weekend. It has nothing to do with my post, but Cher likes pics, so I thought I would include one. I just wanted to jump on the "church picture" posting bandwagon, though, my church didn't have anything interesting to say.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Forbidden Jam

Oh great and powerful Duck! Thank you for this blog. It is great reading different blurbs from different people, all with the scroll of a mouse! Who would have thought?? YOU!
I do hope you like this sign (for clarity's sake, it says, "forbidden fruit creates many jams) at a church I drove past, and thought of your retarded sign posts(luckily I was in the back seat, because I had to get it on the way back. and I remembered at the last second and almost missed it altogether!). Oh, wait. your posts weren't retarded. The signs were. Or i am. Or something like that. Anyway, hope you get a kick out of the sign! -- Although, now I want something with jam on it. The power of suggestion...it gets me every time!!
Oh, and by the way everybody, don't bother calling that church and asking how much they sell their jam for. They apparently don't sell forbidden fruit jam...soo...ahh ya.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Hola

Welcome, Design Goddess!

I'm have a great time in Buenos Aires. Hope all you Amalgomates are doing well.

Tena

Sunday, September 23, 2007

My first post

Hello everyone! I'm so excited to be a part of The Duck's master plan to take over blogla......uh I mean his great idea of bloggers coming together to post on one blog. Brilliant, I say!

Anyway, on my drive to work one morning, I noticed some strange things. Actually, I knew what they were, but had just never seen ones this size before. Can you say "medically enhanced?!"

So, here are a couple pics of what I saw. I hope they don't frighten you too much!





Saturday, September 22, 2007

A church where every woman has a smile.

This one is for Duck the founder of this here amalgamation. I have seen a few similar pics on his regular site.






I hope you can decipher the message, but if not this church sign reads -- TRAIN YOUR TONGUE TO OFFER COMFORT



I spotted this message while driving down a busy street. My wife missed it at first so I told her what it said as I circled back to snap this pic. She said. I'm sure they didn't mean it that way. I agree but still people need to think these things through ...



Or am I the only one whose mind hops right in the gutter on this one?

Friday, September 21, 2007

Have A Good Weekend Everyone

Have a good weekend everyone!!

Check out Rocketstar's Friday Photos on his blog. The last picture is probably my favorite.

All is quiet on my front except that my buddy got me a ticket to watch the Mountaineers play in Tampa!! Woo-hoo!! Let's Go Mountaineers!!

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

THE Greatest Feeling Ever

Ok, well first we obviously must remove the ORGASM fro the potential list as we all know that it is THE greatest feeling ever, otherwise you would not be here.

So after the orgasm, here is the greatest feeling.

At #1, we have that "state of mind" in between WAKE and SLEEP. That feeling you get while watching TV in bed and drifting into and out of sleep. That delicate middle part that sometimes GET"S JOLTED by a feeling of falling although most of the time it is heaven (figuratively of course).

That feeling of your brain shutting down, rebooting and resetting for the loads , no TONS of information your brain will attempt to process the next day. I LOVE that feeling, the feeling of numbness.


Cross Posted at my blog at Rocketstar's Thoughts on Life

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

The Emmy's

Yay for Jeremy Piven for winning an emmy for his performance in "Entourage", possibly the best show I've ever seen!

And yay to everyone else who won something, although after I watched Jeremy accept his award, I watched the Patriots vs Chargers. So yay to the Patriots too!!

Travels with Tena

So my husband insists that I take my computer with me to South America. He claims that I'll be "crabby" if I can't blog. (The man knows me too well.)

If you're interested in a more-or-less daily report on my travels in Montevideo, Uruguay and Buenos Aires, Argentina, visit my blog.

Bye-bye for now.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Show and Tell


Friday afternoon I came home to find this little critter crawling up the side of my house. So I did what ever good father should. Caught the thing stuck it in a five gallon bucket until I could round up a large jar. Then I sent it off with the kiddos for their show and tell.


For those of you who might not know this is a Texas Brown Tarantula. Long about this time of year they start migrating and are a fairly common sight if you live out in the boonies like me. Contrary to the myths they are fairly harmless, no worse than a bee sting unless you are allergic or something. They do not normally crawl up houses and such but we have had a lot of rain lately and I guess this one was sick of having wet feet. I hate when my feet get wet and I only have two.

Ta-ta for now

I hate to blog and run but my husband and I are about to leave the country for about two weeks. He's got a conference in Montevideo, Uruguay (not Montevideo, Minnesota) and from there we'll be going to Buenos Aires, the land of heavy meats and Malbec wine. I know, it's tough duty but someone has to do it.

I'll have limited access to my husband's computer but when I can wrestle it from him, I'll check out what's up with the Amalgomates. Meanwhile, happy blogging. If you have some time on your hands, please feel free to stop on over at my blog.

Back October 1.

Best to all,
Tena

I feel so violated.

Hi everyone,
Hope you all had a Phat-Tastic weekend, get it Phat-Tastic uses a play on words of my name. Some people ask is that your real name, and usually I say yes. I mean if someone is dumb enough to believe my name is Phats then let them believe it right? So, did everyone have a great weekend? I sure as hell did. My boilers won, I went out partying with friends and my girlfriend, my crotch got grabbed by some woman. Yeah this literally happened. So, we're at the Neon Cactus great bar in lafayette, having a great time and this girl who is friends with my girlfriend asked if I would take a picture with her. I am a camera hog so I say sure lets go for it, and right as the camera flashes she grabs a handful! Uhh shocked was not even the word to describe it. I thought about posting the picture but I already have too many stalkers(CHER) because of my good looks.

By the way for those who care, my Boilermakers won Saturday 45-22 WOOHOO! 3-0 heading to Golden Gopher country this Saturday. Be sure to catch our homecoming game, because I will be on the field, Oct. 27th mark it down on your calendars.

Everyone have a great weekend and watch out for crotchgrabbers.

Friday, September 14, 2007

the introduction post

yo. what up, peeps?

My nom de plume is alternatefish, and I am currently entertaining the blogging world with recitation of my exploits in Merrie Olde England.

Probably I will talk here about England, and Oscar Wilde (we're engaged), and hockey, probably rugby and zombies, writing and the publishing world, maybe some more hockey. Or something entirely different I haven't thought of yet. We'll see.

I'm curious and excited to see what this blog becomes, the few people I already know here are awesome and I have high hopes for all the rest.

I would just like to end with this announcement.

Right, Travis?

Thursday, September 13, 2007

So, I'm gonna learn Mandarin

This way I can interact with the rest of the world in 10 years. (When it all speaks Mandarin too.)

Although I'm not putting a huge stock of faith in UK city night classes, it sounds interesting enough, and it's cheap enough for me to do it just for fun. So maybe I will keep on with updates when I learn interesting things?

At any rate, signups were tonight, and they only have 7 people... they say they need 10 really, but I'm hoping they try to do it anyway because fewer people is better. Also, the other times they're offering it aren't as good for me.

(See ya later in Mandarin here)

Liar Liar, Pants on ...

Hello, my name is Travis and I make stuff up. I could have used a different word, but liar comes with such negative connotations, but isn't that what fiction authors do?

Lie for a living. Tell you fabulous, but totally made-up stories for your entertainment?

Now let me tell you first and foremost I call myself a writer, not an author because at this point I have yet to sell a single one of my novels.(But I will someday because I'm too stubborn to quit) I have this crazy notion that to actually be an author you must have a book with your name on the spin sitting on a shelf in some far, distant bookstore.

Now I have had a few short stories that have been accepted for publication including one I recently sold to an E-Zine. It will be available to read in November and I'll pass on details then. But my real goal is to be a novelist, so until I reach that point I am merely a writer.

So what does that mean? Being a writer? It means I miss a lot of sleep, I often talk to myself, at any given time I have half a dozen different voices whispering in my head, I spend lots of money on postage, printer ink, and paper. Also I have one gnarly, kick-ass collection of rejection letters.

But writing is my escape, I do not see it as tedious, laborious, or futile, and despite the constant questioning of well- meaning, but clueless friends who ask daily, "Have you sold you book yet?" I do not think my goal is futile. The process is slow and difficult and no one but fellow writers understand the entire business moves at glacial speeds.

I do have a few supportive non-writer friends but for the most part people are excited and a bit impressed when they first find out I write, then months later -- when they have yet to see my name on the New York Times Best Seller list, they say things like. Whatever happened to that book you wrote. Or Don't tell me you are still writing. But you don't have a thing to show for all that time and work?

But I'm not gonna focus on the negative today I'm going to talk about the positive side of writing. People think of it as an arduous task and really it's not. Over on my regular blog, One Word, One Rung, One Day, I try to make Thursdays my day to talk about the craft of writing, but I decided to pop on over here to this fine creation of Duck's and post it here instead.

First off, everyone is a writer, just most people never seek publication. Don't believe me? You say I've never written anything. To which I say, BULL! Everyone has a written a scene along these lines.

You're sitting there at work minding you own business, doing you job. Okay, maybe you are pretending to care about the new productivity numbers while scoping out that new hot chick(or dude if you prefer) they hired in accounting. Then your arch rival, Mr. Conceited catches you. And then he saunters over and laughs right in your face the says, "I saw you eyeballing the new babe. Well give it up retard because I already locked up a date with her this Friday." Then as the jackass is strutting away you say something lame like, "Like I care. I wasn't looking at her anyway."

Then the writer in you kicks in and all day long you rewrite the scene. You'll think, I should have said, "That's okay, I'll be busy with your momma come Friday night." and then you'll think about of a retort Mr. Conceited would have came back with. Then you'll add another witty line from yourself. By the end of the day you'll have an entire imaginary scene written out.

Am I wrong? Don't we all do this. Writing a novel is no different. Take a years worth of scenes, string them together and you got a novel.

Okay now you're gonna say but that's just adding to something that really happened. I could never just come up with something out of the blue. Again, I say BULL! But I've rambled enough for now, so you'll have to pop on over to my regular blog next Thursday if you want to hear my take on creating story ideas and sparking your inner muse. And if you like football, read my weekly, Tales of the Yellow Flag every Sunday. They are humorous, true stories about my time as a high school football ref here in Texas.

PS - Sorry Cher, no time for pictures today.

Dick

Cheney in 1994 discussing Iraq.



He makes a lot of valid points that have proven to be all too true. If he only knew now what he knew then I guess. Too late now!

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Humans Are Just Large Parasites

Parasite: Biology An organism that grows, feeds, and is sheltered on or in a different organism while contributing nothing to the survival of its host.

American Heritage Dictionary Parasites that live inside the body of the host are called endoparasites (e.g., hookworms that live in the host's gut) and those that live on the outside are called ectoparasites (e.g., some mitesparasitoid.).

So we are ectoparasites and the Earth is the host. Humans originate just like parasites. Sperm fertilizes an egg and the egg (just as a parasite does) attaches to the host (the Mother) and feeds off it until its gestation is complete and it no longer needs that particular host for survival. Then these parasites feed off the Earth for their survival. They consume, burn and destroy their host and give almost nothing in return.

If aliens swooped down from space and circled the Earth, they would observe our parasitic behavior. They would see luscious green forests and vibrant green wetlands but they would also see these brown and black diseased spots on the Earth, commonly known as cities growing like mold on bread as they slowly destroy their portion of the host. Parasites and bacteria have always ruled the world from the beginning of evolution. Right now the number of parasites and bacteria in your gut far exceed the number all humans that have ever lived on this planet.

A parasite has but one mission, to propagate. In order to ensure it continues to thrive it continuously must look for a new host as it slowly destroys its current host. So it brings me back to the fact that as parasites, our mission should be to explore the universe to ensure we have a host to thrive upon as we slowly use up/heat up the earth. This would also aid our search for our true purpose in this immense and unfathomably HUMONGOUS universe.

Another thing just came to mind. When humans are infiltrated with an unwelcome virus, parasite or bacteria that make us sick, we get a fever. Our bodies raise its temperature in attempts to kill the unwelcome visitors because the unwelcome visitors can not survive at higher body temperatures. Maybe that is what the Earth is doing to us right now.

Maybe we are not causing global warming, maybe the Earth is trying to rid itself of its most detrimental parasite.

So thrive on you parasites.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Is this thing on?

Hi
I guess I should introduce myself, my name is Phats and I am an Alcoholic. OK so not really, but I am a sportsaholic that's close right? So, Duck talked me into doing this mostly because he kidnapped Purdue Pete and said he wouldn't set him free for the big game unless I joined this fine group of bloggers, so here I am.

I guess alittle about myself, basically all you need to know is that I am a sports junky, mostly college and, mostly the best college team ever the Purdue Boilermakers BOILER UP! However, a lot of people get tired of reading that CHER, so I will keep it to a minimum for this neato idea of a blog. I was a little disappointed that I am not allowed to talk about my porn collection but then I figured if Cher can do, I can do it!

So to wrap my first post up lets talk about the VMA's! Did anyone watch? I admit I watched it to see what Britney AKA world's greatest mom would do. Boy was she a hot mess, she totally forgot her own song and she was lip syncing. I think the funniest part was the looks on the peoples faces in the crowd. I mean 50 and Diddy looked hilarious! Boy she is a hot mess, and this was suppose to be her great comeback, and did you all notice she really didn't even dance. Evidently the rest of the night turned into friday night fights as kid rock and tommy lee tussled. I am sure they were fighting over who gave Pam her latest STD. Anyone have other thoughts?

Have a great one
Phats
Remember to Boiler Up!

Greetings from Tena

Hello, Amalgamates!

I already know a few of you: the lovely and talented Cher, The Duck (thanks for the invite to join), and Travis. I have a special warm and fuzzy place in my heart for Travis. I met him before I started my blog, and he was my first visitor. And now we share a blogospace. How cool is that? I'm looking forward to reading everybody in this group.

As if I need another distraction... I am busy trying to finish my novel. Well, not all that busy. Either I have a very short attention span or possibly ADD. My posts will probably reflect that. I think I'll write about specific topics as the mood strikes.

How many people really read your blogger profile? I mean, you could say you've won a Pulitzer or that you're out on work-release and do people question it? I have mentioned my interest in astrology (in fact, I had a small astrology practice at one time) but I have never had anyone comment on it or question me. Are you interested in astrology or do you think it's just woo-woo? I have no attachment to the answer, one way or another. I'm just curious.

Dead air

Hello you Awesome Amalgamators of the Amalgamation!!! It's me, Cher again... I'm not just posting because I'm a blog whore, I'm posting because I'm up to something kind of fun, yet stressful and could use some support!

click this link to see what I'm up to tomorrow morning

Zombies!

This may be in poor taste seeing as today is September 11th and all, but I've never been accused of having good taste anyway, so here goes. I just stumbled across this and wanted to share. Maybe someone else will pick up my slack and post something appropriately patriotic and remorseful.

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Mechanical Turk and Missing Millionaire

Alright, I'll admit that I'm usually behind on US news, being in England. Most of it doesn't even make it over, which is fine with me. (Although Larry Craig's airport hijinks was a pretty fast-moving story.)

So there is a missing aviator someplace over Nevada, or thereabouts. I knew that, but didn't pay it much attention.

However, Amazon runs something called the Mechanical Turk (a name which has its own interesting backstory) which is essentially a service which matches up assigned tasks with people willing to earn a few cents to a few bucks. It's usually things like doing video transcriptions, making some fake forum posts, etc.

Sometimes, the assignment is to respond to a photo or make an identification in some way, to help make AI smarter.

Today a new assignment popped up on the Mechanical Turk. Using current satellite footage, thousands of users are to scour images of the Nevada wasteland (around the Fossett's last known location) to try and find some trace of him. They can flag any given image to have it sent to a second-level investigation.

That was just mind-blowing to me. How incredibly awesome. See, that is some good use of technology.


As a strange kind of follow-up, no one has found him yet, but they've found a couple other wrecks.

Hello All from Rocketstar

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

So hello to everyone and I am looking forward to this experiment but not as much as I am looking forward to today's NFL games!!!

The kids will be doing a lot of art today while I watch the games today while we all sit here on this little blue dot in the middle of the universe speeding at thousands of miles an hour into the vast open universe not even thinking twice about our insignificant existence.

45 minutes and counting... Good luck to all of you fellow Fantasy Owners.

Football is back!

I'm just posting this in case anyone may have forgotten an important tidbit about today. The NFL is back!!!!

Phew! It's been a while. My wife recently asked me if I like college or NFL football better, and I don't think I gave an answer, because I'm really not sure. I think that I'd have to say that I like the NFL better right now though, because at least every team has an equal shot at competing and winning it all, unlike the weird hierarchy of teams at the college level. Of course, I mostly feel this way because I'm a fan of a smaller school (Boise State), and I also generally root for the underdog when I don't have any other rooting interest.

Either way though, football is back! Who are your favorite teams? Mine is the third one down on the far right of that pic up there.

Friday, September 7, 2007

Hi, I Just Ate...

I guess, we're all introducing ourselves. Cher, in the post below me introduced herself, so I'm going to introduce myself too. I'm Angel Jr and I just ate the most gosh awful frozen pizza known to my digestive system. I'm about quick and easy, so when I saw this frozen pizza on sale, I bought a few. Cooked it up. It was thin crust with pepperoni!! I like thin crust.

Anyway, the sauce was so sour I wondered if the tomatoes were hybrid with lemons and limes. The pepperoni was as thin as the crust. And the it just tasted like flipflop that someone used for jogging and catching their foot and ankle sweat.

Never-the-less, hunger and laziness to get into the car and go through a drive-thru caused me to finish eating the thing.

I can mail the remaining frozen two to anyone who is willing to try them.

Hello! My name is Cher and I'm a blogaholic.
I take pictures of things that I think are funny, and post about them.
I realize this isn't exactly funny, funny, but I am wondering what on Earth is on this truck!

What do you think?

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Welcome

Welcome to the Awesome Amalgamation. Yeah, it's a mouthful, but I feel it's fitting for what I'm trying to do here.

Essentially, this blog is officially extending an open invitation to any and all bloggers who would like to contribute to this little experiment. At this point, I'm envisioning two rules:

1. Nothing overtly profane (read: no porno). I don't want this to get shut down by the Google overlords, please.

2. Create at least one label per post. I've got the label cloud thing set up on the right, and I'd like to have new visitors be able to get an idea of the randomness that lies in store for them here at the Amalgamation, and see which general topics are most popular.

If you'd like to join up and start creating this little community, please click the email link over on the left there, and let me know which blogger account (email address) you'd like added.

That's it for now! Let's see how many we can get in here. 100 authors? Sure. 1000 authors? Why not?

Amalgamation - The merging of many things to form one.

What's this blog all about? See the first post
.