Sports show theme songs Sep 21, 2012
I hate how every "primetime" sports pre-game show has a theme song.  Monday Night Football seems to have been the first, with their recently-fired Hank Williams.  But then NBC got in the game with Faith Hill, and NFL Network has Cee Lo Green.  Every time that Faith Hill song comes on, I want to murder a puppy.
Facebook commentary Sep 19, 2012
Now that I'm back on Facebook, I have a few comments to make: 
  1. I don't respect people with joint Facebook accounts, like MikeandJen Jones or whatever.  Not only does it go against how Facebook operates, but on a philosophical note, it kind of demonstrates a lack of individual identity.  It makes it seem that two people think of themselves as a joint person, and not in a romantic kind of "inseparable" way.
  2. I think it's dumb when people use a picture of their kid or their pet as their profile picture.  The whole idea of a profile picture is to show a picture of yourself.  Post your kid pictures on your wall or as your cover photo.  Your profile picture sort of represents who you are, so using a picture of your kid says that you see yourself primarily as parent, and after that as an individual.
  3. There's a "Like" button, but I think there should also be a "Dislike" button, so you can easily express your dissatisfaction with something.  However, I think it's interesting that Facebook made it easy to express a positive emotion and not a negative one, which seems to imply that fostering community is more about positive things than negative.
  4. I think there should also be a "Love" button, because sometimes you really really like something.  But every time I say "love button" out loud, it sounds awkwardly sexual.
  5. Liking a page subscribes you to that page's updates and posts.  Checking in at a location doesn't have the same effect.  It seems like that would be a logical thing.  I could be wrong.
Obviously I'm an expert.
Amazon Prime success story (1) Sep 17, 2012
I accepted Amazon's offer for a one-month free trial of Prime, and I recently had an experience that will probably make me pay to continue the service.  I ordered a small electrical connector on a Thursday at around 6pm, and hoped to get it (with free 2-day shipping) by Saturday at the latest so I could bring it on vacation with me.  It turns out it arrived on my doorstep sometime on Friday afternoon, probably around 3pm.  I checked the label on the package and it said it shipped from Kentucky.  That means an order was placed electronically, processed, picked from a warehouse, packaged, shipped from Kentucky to New Jersey, all in less than 24 hours.  Oh, and it shipped for free (assuming I paid for a membership).
NFL team name categories (7) Sep 17, 2012
I noticed recently that NFL team names can be grouped into one of five categories: 
  1. Birds:  Cardinals, Eagles, Falcons, Ravens, Seahawks
  2. Cats:  Bengals, Jaguars, Lions, Panthers
  3. Large Mammals:  Bears, Broncos, Colts, Dolphins, Rams
  4. People Group, Historical Figure, or Occupation:  49ers, Bills, Buccaneers, Chargers, Chiefs, Cowboys, Packers, Patriots, Raiders, Redskins, Saints, Steelers, Titans, Vikings
  5. Other:  Browns, Giants, Jets, Texans
Yes, I realize it's a stretch to call a dolphin a large mammal, but it's technically accurate.  And a Charger is someone who charges into battle.  Stupidest team name:  Browns, named after one-time owner Paul Brown.  That's the best they could come up with? #sports
Back on Facebook Sep 5, 2012
It's been about three years since I closed my Facebook account, but I recently just "re-enlisted."  I was looking for a better way to post and share pictures online, and Facebook is one service that does that really well.  It turns out it does a bunch of other things well, which was unexpected. 

I was reluctant to use Facebook for a long time because I dreaded being contacted by old high school acquaintances and random friends of friends who like to ask questions such as, "What have you been up to?" and "Remember that time in high school...?"  The whole idea of starting relationships with people I don't already have relationships with really held no appeal for me. 

But what I realized is that it's pretty easy to simply only be Facebook friends with people I already know and communicate with in real life.  And by being Facebook friends as well as actual friends, I'm able to keep up to date with all their little weekend trips and hobbies and whatnot. 

I thought that aspect would be overwhelming, and it probably would be if I didn't have a fairly strict yet simple criteria for accepting friend requests:  With few exceptions, if we haven't physically hung out together in the past year, we're probably not friends.  And thankfully it's easy to remove or simply ignore people who say a lot of annoying things or post pictures of their hamsters.

To be honest, the first week or so was a little overwhelming, with people contacting me and pointing out how I finally ended my reign as one of the last Facebook holdouts.  It definitely helped that I was recently at a wedding, so I had seen and spoken to people I was attempting to electronically befriend.  This made things a lot less awkward.  After I got used to the interface and learned my way around, it became almost second nature.
Hopper ads Aug 28, 2012
I'm a huge fan of the commercials for Dish Network's new Hopper DVR service.  The choice to use people with Boston accents was a good one.
Disguising vegetables Aug 15, 2012
It seems like cooking vegetables often involves disguising them as something they're not so they're less inedible.  Eggplant parmesan is just an otherwise useless vegetable disguised to look like a chicken dish.  Vegetable stir fry is just an agglomeration of different vegetables covered in salt to confuse your taste buds.  Other dishes often include a sauce or a texture difference to make you forget you're eating vegetables.
Intentional side effects Aug 13, 2012
I think it's interesting that the medication Diphenhydramine (used in Benadryl, Tylenol PM, etc.) is often used for its side effect as opposed to its primary effect.  It's classified as an antihistamine, which means it's for allergies.  But its main side effect is drowsiness, which is why it's used in all those sleep aids.
Home ownership and lawn care Aug 13, 2012
One of the things I dreaded before owning a home was the idea of lawn care.  That whole exercise in futility held no appeal for me.  But now that I own a home, it's probably my favorite part of the process.  I could do without the painting and the flooding and the remodeling, but lawn care is one of the good things about home ownership.  There's just something enjoyable about having a simple task that doesn't take much time, effort, or money, and which produces a reliable, positive result.  Granted, it might have something to do with the fact that I have a tiny lawn that only needs to be cut every few weeks, but whatever.  Using a gas-powered machine to beat nature into submission is enjoyable either way. #lifestyle
Viral emotions Aug 7, 2012
On the Media mentioned a study about which internet links are shared the most: 
Yeah, and the number one predictor they found was anger. Anger is the number one predictor of an article making that most popular list. And it's not just anger; it's any high valence emotion. So humor is one. Awe is another. But let's look at the emotions that aren't viral. Those are emotions like sadness or contentment or satisfaction. They're not in the interest of the media creators to propagate.
Here's a NY Times article that talks about it.