“Better Luck Next Time” – January 4th, 2011
It’s few and far between that I ever play this, but with $355 million up for grabs? Why not?
The results? Things went about as well as expected!
life, coding, technology, outdoors, photography
The Justin Bieber of bullfighting?
I can say for a fact, this is something I never considered doing as a kid.
Though he stands just four feet ten—short, even for a kid who is about to turn 13—Michelito has become internationally renowned for his exploits in the ring. By his own estimate, he has already put the sword to 300 bulls. Ask him if he remembers his first kill and he says, “It was October 27, 2005, in my mother’s home state of Tabasco. I was 6 years old.” Four years later he tried to set a Guinness World Record for novice bullfighters (novilleros) by slaying six bulls in a single appearance—and succeeded, but Guinness refused to recognize it. (“We do not accept records based on the killing or harming of animals,” its website explained.) This past June, Michelito became the youngest matador ever to perform in the world’s largest bullfighting arena; he was such a hit that he was invited back in August.
[Via Daily Dish]
Alright, so someone keeps emailing me, thinking they have someone else named Dave Schumaker. This actually happens a lot. After receiving a number of recent forwarded joke emails, I decided to respond. Check out conversation.
It reminds me of this earlier thread I wrote, about receiving strange email.
Update: I just realized that it’s the same Donna in that post!
From: Donna M.
Date: September 17, 2010 3:10:41 PM PDT
To: Dave Schumaker
Subject: FW: Poor mushroomForwarded message:
Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2010 12:26:44 -0400
From: [some random person I don’t know]
To: [some other random person I don’t know]
CC: [a bunch of random people I don’t know] Subject: Fwd: Poor mushroom
This is the second or third random forward I’ve gotten from her. I considered adding a filter to my account, but I thought that maybe, I should inform this person they have the wrong email address.
Subject: Re: Poor mushroom
From: Dave Schumaker
Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2010 15:12:34 -0700
To: Donna M.I think you have the wrong Dave Schumaker’s email address.
Best,
-Dave
There, I think that does the trick! Wait — I just got a reply from her,
From: Donna M.
Subject: RE: Poor mushroom
Date: September 17, 2010 3:42:22 PM PDT
To: Dave SchumakerI don’t think so 😛
Mom
What?!
You are not my Mom! I have NO IDEA who you are!
Update! I just received a follow up email. It looks like things have been cleared up, folks! It looks like I only have one mother again.
From: Donna M.
Subject: RE: Poor mushroom
Date: September 17, 2010 4:54:53 PM PDT
To: Dave SchumakerSo, so sorry I just talked to my son and I did have the wrong e-mail. Again, I’m sorry
I noticed that someone reached my site via the following Google query: “Dave Schumaker ugly”
I object to that description! I believe the correct phrase is “horrible faces.”
It’s a face that not even a mother could love.
I remember when we first picked Axl up, back in August of 2001.
We went down to a nearby pet store, specifically looking for a new dog. The local humane society had setup a small pen with dozens of adorable puppies. All of them were yipping, running around, playing with each other. How could one choose between so many animals? My sister, mom, and I debated. There was a cute dalmatian sitting in the corner.
My mom shot down that idea, “No! Besides, dalmatians often have health problems.”
My sister focused on this adorable pile of black fur sitting in the middle of the pen. It looked happy as can be, ignoring the other rambunctious pups tussling around it. Sitting on his hind legs, ears flopped over, head slightly cocked, tongue hanging out, and mouth stuck agape as if he was smiling.
My sister said, “I want that one!” And so, it was.
– – –
All puppies are adorable. But Axl was especially so (at least in our eyes). Nearly perfectly behaved, not too overactive, easy to train. Compared to previous dogs we’ve had, he was incredible!
He’d love to be nearby, that way he could always have an eye on what you were doing. Whether it was on the couch, or on my homework.
– – –
Little did we know, that cute, compact pile of fur (which we initially thought was a chow / black lab mix) would grow into a large beast of a dog. A beast, but a gentle giant. It turns out, he was a newfoundland.
We found this out while taking Axl for a walk in the park a few years ago. A lady walking her dogs passed by and said, “Oh wow! I love your newfoundland! He’s so beautiful!”
Confused, we said, “I think you’re mistaken, he’s a black lab!”
But the lady was insistent, “No! He’s definitely a newfoundland.”
So, we looked it up when we got home. After seeing photos, we were flabbergasted.
Here is your average, typical photo of Axl:
And here is your average, typical photo of a newfoundland (according to Wikipedia):
– – –
Well, that was certainly exciting news. And it earned Axl a new nickname. We called him the Goofy Newfy. And the descriptions of typical newfoundlands certainly made sense.
It is known to be one of the kindest and gentlest dogs. It is for this reason that this breed is known as “the gentle giant”.
All of this was true. Axl was the absolute sweetest, most well behaved, and loyal dog we’ve ever had. He was at his happiest when someone was there to pet him. That’s really all he ever wanted.
– – –
Of course, with the newfound knowledge of Axl’s ancestry, was the stunning realization that newfoundlands often have serious health problems — their lifespan typically ranges anywhere from 8 years to 13 years, which is quite a bit shorter than your average dog.
But surely, our Axl would be an exception He was always so limber and active.
And he loved playing in the creek, or sitting in front of a fan to cool off.
Though sometimes, you got the impression that all he ever did was sit in front of a fan…
– – –
Sadly, over the past year or so, he’s become a bit slower, more lethargic, and even larger. It seems his “old” age was catching up to him. You’d often find him just sitting around. As long as he was next to someone who could pet him, he was happy as can be.
– – –
One of my favorite things about visiting my parents’ house was how excited Axl would be to see me. It didn’t matter how long I had been gone — 3 months, 9 months, nearly a year? He would always remember who I was. When I got out of the car, he would be right next to the window, looking at me with his cheesy grin, his tail straight up in the air and wagging.
You could easily imagine him saying something like, “Oh yeah! You haven’t given me a good petting in awhile, buddy! Oh, good to see you again too.”
The other thing Axl would always do, every single day in fact, is greet you in the morning. And it was only in the morning.
He would attempt to speak. It sounded like something between a growl and a howl — a very deep throated “WOOOO WOO WOOOOOOO WOO WOOO.” But it wasn’t threatening at all. It was an affectionate sound. And you could speak right back to him too. Sometimes he would even reply, “WOOOOOOO WOO.”
– – –
When I went home last Christmas, we talked about Axl’s health and mentioned this could be the last time I’d ever see him. It was heartbreaking. He was still sharp, but he struggled to get up and move around.
I visited my parents again back in April, and saw that his condition had deteriorated a bit more. It was obvious that something had to happen in the next few months. So, I spent a few hours playing around with him — which basically involved him sitting in one spot and me petting him!
Anyway, I had to leave for the airport the next morning. I said goodbye, gave him a big hug, and sadly had tears in my eyes. And I took one final photo as I walked out the door. It was the last time that I would see Axl.
He was just over 9 years old.
So long, you Goofy Newfy. You’ll be missed!
(Yes, at this point I’m just plundering my Google Reader shared items feed… but I’ve been sick!)
If only my habitual tardiness could produce something equally as great.
One day in 1939, Berkeley doctoral candidate George Dantzig arrived late for a statistics class taught by Jerzy Neyman. He copied down the two problems on the blackboard and turned them in a few days later, apologizing for the delay — he’d found them unusually difficult. Distracted, Neyman told him to leave his homework on the desk.
On a Sunday morning six weeks later, Neyman banged on Dantzig’s door. The problems that Dantzig had assumed were homework were actually unproved statistical theorems that Neyman had been discussing with the class — and Dantzig had proved both of them. Both were eventually published, with Dantzig as coauthor.
“When I began to worry about a thesis topic,” he recalled later, “Neyman just shrugged and told me to wrap the two problems in a binder and he would accept them as my thesis.”
[Via]
Down and out for nearly two weeks! It’s been frustrating. But I’m finally out and about.
Man!
Apparently, the pneumonia is going around though. Another friend just came down with it. What?!
This sickness swooped in out of nowhere! I’ve been out of action for 7 days and counting now!
A summary of things I’ve shared around the Internet today.
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The World Cup is guaranteed to be exciting if for no other reason than Argentina coach Diego Maradona’s antics: http://dave.ly/maradona [rockbandit]
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Shared My past AT&T data usage.
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Published Blu in Lisbon, Portugal.
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Why so much negativity over AT&T’s data plan pricing changes? I know it’s the fashionable thi… http://gdg.to/a3DGaz [rockbandit] |
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Shared Cleavage on Cool Hunting.
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It’s like a photographic pun! “[…] the cleavages photographed are actually the butt cracks of men and women.” http://dave.ly/notcleavage [rockbandit]
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Published BP parody billboards.
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RT @huffingtonpost: WOW: Pitcher loses perfect game with controversial call in 9th inning. http://huff.to/amEIv3 (via @HuffPostSports) [rockbandit]
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There is a group of people who have me mixed up for someone else and keep sending me email. I’ve replied and emailed them on numerous occasions that I am the incorrect person, yet I still receive weird and even awkward emails.
—
Err… what? Here’s another gem. Names blocked out.
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Yikes! I feel bad for the poor little dude, whoever he is. That said: Reply to all -> “Hi, I think you have the wrong person.”
A few weeks later, another email.
—
Ahhh!
“David is a whore…”
That’s not something you expect to hear at a family party, let alone come out of your grandfather’s mouth.
I’m in Southern California for the weekend to celebrate my grandmother’s 80th birthday with family and friends. Since I’m traveling light and with my new toy, I decided to bring along my iPad.
After arriving and saying our hellos, I gave the iPad to my Grandpa, who was sitting at a table with a number of his friends. He briefly looked at it and passed it around. After getting it back, he opened up the Notes application and read something off the screen.
“David is a whore…”
What?!
Everyone started laughing, and I did too. I knew my Grandpa was a funny person, but I’d never heard him make a joke like that before. I was pretty confused and wondered if we’ve crossed some new line of humor with my family. He looked at me and said, “No, really. That’s what it says!”
He handed the iPad to me. And sure enough, I saw this on the screen:
It turns out that my sister had apparently used my iPad without my knowledge and decided to leave me a special message that I might find at a later time.
Well played, Sister. Well played.
Are you constantly confused on who is responsible for putting a grocery divider down when in line at the check out stand? It’s a dilemma that I often find myself in as well. Stephen Pastis breaks is down.
I am constantly confused by the rules of etiquette for the little plastic dividers you use to separate your groceries from the other guy’s groceries on the conveyor belt at checkout.
I never know if it’s my responsibility to lay it down behind my own groceries, or if it’s my responsibility to lay it down behind the guy’s groceries ahead of me.
Sometimes I end up doing both, guarding the front and the rear. That makes me mad, because it means someone in line has shirked their responsibilities. It’s people like that who deserve to pay for my wandering Wonder Bread should it stray across our shared border.
[…]
But yesterday, I decided to do something new. Rather than set the divider down perpendicular to the conveyor belt, thereby neatly walling off my groceries from everybody else’s, I laid it down parallel to the belt, right down the middle of my own groceries.
Photo via the United Nations photo stream on flickr.
The latest news and the images coming out of Haiti are absolutely tragic and indescribable. My heart goes out to those affected by the earthquake. I wish there was more that we could do. For now the best thing to do is donate toward the relief and recovery efforts. Google also has a pretty comprehensive page for Haitian disaster relief.
You can see some of the latest images from Port-au-Prince here (via flickr).
Photo via U.S. Department of Defense on flickr.
Photo via U.S. Air Force on flickr.