Blogs are dead in 2008

Okay, maybe not all blogs. But I think this one is.

Conditions are perfect. I don't have anything to say. Nobody visits it anymore. Conditions are perfect. It's dead.

I still upload flickr photos every now and then though. So check that out if you want.

Business Thoughts

Most startup businesses are started by entrepreneurs -- basically guys/gals that have lots of big ideas and excellent sales skills but don't have any idea of how to make it all happen. They either front their own money for the business or use their sales skills to convince someone else to invest. They then use that money to hire the hard working employees that can make their big ideas into reality.

I wonder what would happen if it was the "Doers" that started the business. Then they would hire the typical entrepreneurial types to work for them. So the employees are the ones that come up with the big ideas and use their sales skills to make the money, but it's the reality-driven folks that run the business.

I wonder if companies would still fail as often as they do if things were flipped around like this.

New Camera

I recently posted about a situation where my old canon digital camera had broken and Canon tech support had offered to fix it for free even though I was way out of the warranty period. Well, they finally shipped my camera back! Only, it was a different camera! It contained a note that read something along the lines of "We ran out of parts to fix your camera, so here is a new one for you."

The camera is several generations newer. My old camera was a S230 (3.1 megapixel). The new one is a SD1000 (7.1 megapixel). It has a larger screen on the back, yet the overall size of the camera is much more compact. It's literally the exact same size as a credit card; or more accurately a stack of several (10-15?) credit cards. The only downside is that my media card no longer works with it, so I have to buy a new one. But still... pretty cool. I mean, my old camera was 5 years old. They really had no obligation to replace it, let alone replace it with their newest model.

I feel obligated to give Canon a bit of free advertising and say that they are awesome. Buy canon cameras!

That is all.

Boy is my face red (and also blue)

I was totally wrong on my KU football prediction. I had predicted they would have at least 1 loss going into the MU game. For those keeping count, the actual number of KU losses is 0.

The hottest regular season game in the historicalness of sporting is coming this Saturday.

Go Jayhawks.

Also, my brother was awarded a medal for something. Not sure what. I think it had something to do with jets and Afghanistan and probably babies.

Camera problems

Last saturday was great. I visited the farmer's market (3rd time since moving downtown), went to the Steamboat Arabia museum, and went to the WWI musuem at the liberty memorial. The weather was perfect (albeit a bit windy up on the liberty memorial in the afternoon). I highly recommend both of those museums, but I think I would probably recommend you see them on different days, as it was a bit too much information to take in at once.

I unfortunately could take no pictures, as my camera is having some problems. The lens seems to be blurred. I figured I must have accidentally put a finger print on the lens, but I have tried cleaning it with my eye glass cleaner and wiping it with my eyeglass cleaner cloth, but to no avail. I probably need a new camera anyway since mine is 7 years old now, but I'm not going to drop $200 for a new camera just because the lens is blurry. There has to be some way to fix this. Any ideas?

UPDATE:

Okay, so it turns out that my camera is probably closer to 5 years old than 7, but still way out of the warranty. I didn't think that contacting Canon support would do anything, but I was wrong! I was about to dismantle the camera and tinker with it on my own, but decided to shoot them an e-mail about the situation just in case they had some advice. I explained that everything was blurry even though I've done my best to clean the lens. They replied back that it is a known problem, and they are fixing it for free (postage paid too!) regardless of the warranty! So... hooray for Canon. They are cool by me.

I can't believe I'm so cheap

• I'm tired of having to drive places to watch the Chiefs games, so I broke down and ordered cable. Not the premium cable packages. Just the $13/mo channels 1 through 19 basic cable package. I figured the $13 month is well worth what I will save in gas driving around to watch TV.
• Last night I ordered Thai food at a nice restaurant. I only ate 1/3rd of it last night. I ate another 1/3rd of it today for lunch. And I'm saving the last 3rd for a weekend meal. To me, this justifies the expense of eating out (getting 3 meals out of it).
• I've been perusing ebay lately for gift cards. Sometimes people get giftcards as gifts to places they don't want to shop at, so they put the cards on ebay and sell them for less than they are worth. If I know I plan to buy something at a certain place, I go on ebay and bid on gift cards first... all the save about 10%. I did this with some of my furniture purchases last month and it saved me hundreds of dollars.
  
• It is 70 degrees in my apartment right now (I'm cold) but I refuse to turn on the heater. It's like a challenge to me... seeing how long I can go without turning on the heater (or in the spring, turning on the air conditioner). I don't have gas. And I don't pay for water. My electric bill for last month just came and I average about $13/week.
• My phone has been acting up lately. It is 3 years old. The battery doesn't last longer than a day, and sometimes the ringer randomly stops working. Again, I'm refusing to buy a new one. I just don't feel like I *need* a new one yet.

Here's the crazy thing. I'm not really in a money crisis. I don't need to go this far. I really don't. It makes me wonder... what the hell is wrong with me?

KU is good at football? !

Yes. It is an exciting time for KU football fans. They are undefeated. A sweet seven and zero. KU is ranked #12 in the AP, with Missouri close behind at #13. Better yet, the USA Today Coaches poll has the Jayhawks at #10. In the BCS, Kansas is #9!

I've been a KU fan since I was a kid, going to many games in the June Henley days of the 90's. They had one good season back then. I think they started 7-0 once back then as well, but then the coach skipped town for a bigger paycheck (all the KU money was going to Roy at the time), and left the team in coaching turmoil for the next 10 years. But it looks as if the drought is over, and KU is back. They are 2nd in the nation in scoring defense and 3rd in the nation in scoring offense. Sure, they have played mostly easy teams, and at home, but they did beat the team that beat Texas. And they did beat the team that beat Oklahoma. Both of those were on the road. So you see why this is an exciting time for KU football.

After the Texas A&M road game next week, the schedule doesn't get much tougher until the final game against Missouri at Arrowhead (start getting prepared for this to be the most anticipated Big 12-North game in history), with each of the next 4 teams being in the bottom half of the Big 12. I doubt KU can keep up the glamor and pressure of being undefeated, so expect them to lose one of these (probably next week's game or in Oklahoma State a few weeks later), but expect KU to go into the border showdown against their real rival with an 10-1 record. Expect Missouri to have the same record, or be 1 game behind. Either way, the game would be for the Big 12 North championship, and the right to upset Oklahoma while playing in Arrowhead for the 2nd straight week.

New Arena

Today was the Grand opening of the Sprint Center. I put some pictures up here if you are interested.

Also, this was my 100th blog post. 100! Who would have thought I would ever have 100 blog posts when I started this thing as a practical joke? Amazing. I guess the joke was on me.