You can’t help but expect something funny when Pixar Studios produces a movie featuring what looks like a clown fish and has Disney market it. Not only has Pixar done a fantastic job of making the movie move through the action of searching for Nemo, but they have also managed to assign a lot of very human attributes to fish and successfully depict some easily recognizable human social situations (using a crosswalk, meeting the dude from california and farting on a first date).

More information on the movie here…

In anticipation of the movie, I would say that there are two things to celebrate this Saturday:

1. Finding Nemo officially released
2. All of the people buried in CFA studies throughout the spring will have taken their exam and they can now come our with their friends and grab a drink!

Enjoy your weekend everybody!

The release of one of the most anticipated films of the year (right along with Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and X-Men… and maybe Charlie’s Angels) is upon us. It is predicted to be a blockbuster of enormous magnitude and breaks numerous film release dogma by releasing “The Matrix: Revolution” in November.

Just watching the final preview has me jittering with anticipation and you can catch many more of them at the Warner Bros Matrix site…

There are a bunch of other little snippets of information that WB did a great job of putting out there. They had the preview at the Super Bowl and a backdoor to the matrix site, along with some very cool posters and some great sound tracks.

In California the weather is becoming so warm and cozy that we are planning our summer events already. This one is now a classic and originated with Sam, Thad, Shannon and yours truly floating down the South Fork of the American River near Sacramento with beers and peanuts, singing our renditions of the Top 40.

Gaining momentum, this event now has enough people asking when it can be done and so many conflicting schedules that it will actually be possible to hold the event two times over the summer… So that’s what I plan to do.

I have opened up the evite for anyone interested, so just follow the link and give me your reply so I know how many rafts to get. East-coasters… wanna come?

Event Details (also in Evite):
When: Sunday June 1st 10am (duration ~5hrs)
Cost: $20
Location: Rancho Cordova, CA (American River Raft Rentals)

Quick background; Yours truly was recently staffed for what looks like the better part of 5 weeks in Roseville (about 15 miles past Sacramento) in California and he is not too stoked about it…

So after the first week, I can now present to you the Top Ten List of things to do when you’re staffed in Roseville…

1. Work
2. Sleep
3. Eat
4. Shop
5. Work out
6. Climb the indoor wall at REI
7. Think about things to do
8. Play minigolf
9. Find bigger rims for your truck or a deal on new boobs
10. Go night skiing in Tahoe after work

Any suggestions to improve my list?

PS. The map is of California’s original “Gold Country” so I guess the 11th thing to do is dig for gold…

Recently the senior spokesman for the Office of Homeland Security, Craig Fenson named a list of foreign nationals wanted for questioning in connection to various Homeland Security concerns.

Please view this newscast carefully (you will need the sound) and keep your eyes peeled for the persons in question.

Always looking out for the peeps…
Submitted by Denmark for Shannon

I gotta give props where props are due. I bought a set of Callaway Big Bertha imitation irons from PineMeadowGolf.com (they are $150 as opposed to $950 for the real thing) which were custom fit to my 6′4″ gorilla swing. I have played a few weekends since I got them, gone on golf vacations in Spain and Florida and they have been great. However my aforementioned gorilla swing (100 mph+ hitting the ball with the bottom edge of the club head) resulted in breaking the low irons (the 3 and 5 irons).

I called up PineMeadowGolf and got a return material authorization to return the irons. They first sent me two new irons (charged me full price as a deposit), i sent them back the broken ones and they fully refunded me. It was sweet.
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After reading up on the current situation of Bush and his administration wanting to bomb Iraq, I found an article that sums up a few good reasons not to do so:

# There is no legal justification for U.S. military action against Iraq
# Regional Allies are likely to widely oppose a U.S. attack
# There is no hard evidence of Iraqi links to Al Qaeda or other anti-American terrorists (although it is quite feasible)
# There is no firm proof that Iraq is developing weapons of mass destruction
# Iraq is no longer a significant military threat to its neighbors
# There are still nonmilitary options available
# Defeating Iraq would be militarily difficult

After years of questionable Iraqi elections, it would be refreshing with a breeze of democracy. If there is a non-military way of doing so that should be explored. If not, I’m 100% with Good ol’ G.W.’s song.
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Shannon asked me to share this with all of you; These are some thoughts from George Carlin which contrast a lot of interesting points that could really make you think about things if you are not careful. Enjoy

The Paradox of our Time

* The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings, but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.
* We spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy it less.
* We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time;
* We have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgment; more experts, but more problems; more medicine, but less wellness.
* We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry too quickly, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too seldom, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
* We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.
* We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
* We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life; we’ve added years to life, not life to years.
* We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor.
* We’ve conquered outer space, but not inner space.
* We’ve done larger things, but not better things.
* We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul.
* We’ve split the atom, but not our prejudice.
* We write more, but learn less.
* We plan more, but accomplish less.
* We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait.
* We build more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever, but have less communication.
* These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion; tall men, and short character; steep profits, and shallow relationships.
* These are the times of world peace, but domestic warfare; more leisure, but less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition.
* These are days of two incomes, but more divorce; of fancier houses, but broken homes.
* These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throw-away morality, one-night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer to quiet, to kill.
* It is a time when there is much in the show window and nothing in the stockroom; a time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete.

Shannon got eight of us (Sam, Cara, Kendall, Jenny, Joe, Ceci, herself and me) tickets to go see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) perform at De Anza College in Cupertino, CA last night. We arrived, late from dinner and with the first set of completely incorrect Yahoo directions I have ever seen, about 30 minutes late to something I thought would be an Orchestra doing Christmas Carols in a nice, classical way. Oooooh, no - TSO is a composition of R&B singers, 80’s rock guitarists (bass player from Savatage and the lead guitarist from Alice Cooper’s old band) and enough lights to get a tan in the back row.

It was not at all what I expected, but it turned out to be a great show and it was very amusing to hear the familiar tunes of the Christmas season being wailed out on electric guitars accompanied by bass, synthesizer and heavy drums.

The outfits, the big hair, the way they spoke and carried themselves was great - very 80’s. We had a few die-hards (40-year old men with long hair and big bellies, yelling and giving the band ‘the horns’ [handsignal] while they are doing Chrismas Carols) in the audience as well, which just upped the ante. Finally, they played the music of the Retard Choir Christmas Carol (click the “Merry Christmas” link at the top) which left Joe, Sam and Kendall in tears.

Precious…

This weekend the lifts of Tahoe, CA opened up to the public. With a current base of over 24″ and rising, the conditions are better than usual for this early in the season, and rumors of ‘El Nino’-like weather promises great snow throughout the winter.

The Alpine and Kirkwood resorts have the best base at the time of this writing, but you can check out SnowBomb for more current information (click the resort you want and then click ‘conditions’).

It’s on people! Come to Tahoe with us… it’s almost as fun as getting married, which you seem to enjoy a lot over there on the Eastern Seaboard