Daring Dan and the Trio of Doom.

As many of you know I have been on the hunt for a new job as of late. In that hunt I have found the need to buy a suit. Yes, I know, ha ha ha Dan in a suit. Get it out of your system and move on.
So me not knowing anything take a drive the Men's Warehouse with my intrepid wife by my side.

As we entered we were presented with a choice. We did not know it then but this was the choice that was to ultimately dictate the entire tone of the trip to the Men's Warehouse. We had to decide between the young guy (young like 16 ) and the older guy ( older like 60 ). I chose the older gentleman under the pretense that he had actually had occasion to were a suit in his life and had some idea as to how that was supposed to go. What I could not have know was that this gentlemen had reached the pinnacle of his suit knowledge in 1978 and was now going to impart that 70's knowledge to me.

Here are the highlights in approximate order:
1. If you are going to were a suit to work you need to have 10!
2. If you want to verstitle you have to buy a "trio", which is a suit with a pair of pants thrown in that are hideous.
3. It is acceptable, by his standards to were a mock turtle neck sweater as an alternative to a shirt and tie to be casual.
4. I need to very seriously consider a blue blazer with brass buttons.
5. Whatever I have or have borrowed could not possibly be the right thing.
6. The color of you shoes can make you shorter or taller.
7. Its pleated pants or nothing.
8. Suspenders help you be remembered by people?
9. You may be totally ignored in an interview if you do not have the right "tie chain"
10. You are ultimately hired in the first 15 seconds of being seen by your interviewer, which includes walking down the hall in you coat ("we sell the proper coat here").
11. First impressions are everything and you are judged on your appearance. (from a man with brown teeth, suspenders, and clothes that don't fit.)

Additionally, he continually referred to my wife assertively by her first name and at one point asked for permission to slap her.
Needless to say we did not buy a suit from him or return to the Men's Warehouse.

I did indeed get a great suit, from JC Penney of all places for all of a hundred bucks (normally 300+). And because the parts were sold as separates did not need any alterations.

I look good in a suit.

Dan's iBook gets a GUI makeover.

So I was poking around on the webs and ran across one of the Kryptonites , for me, of the computer world. I found a program that changes the Graphic user interface for OS X.

This little program called Shapeshifter from Unsanity.com is the really great. Over the years I have been involved with several of these GUI skinning programs and they all have their weaknesses. I have thus far not found a signifigant problem with this one.

In the hunt I also found this little program called iPulse made by the fine folks at Iconfactory.com. It connects to your system monitors to tell you what is going on with your computer through a very clean and skinnable interface. In addition to it incredibly sexy graphic nature it shows you a window (transparent, my favorite kind) with various data when you mouse over the different regions.

So cool. This is another reason to get a Mac (or run Linux...). If you tried this on your PC the whole thing would virtually explode or melt on your desk.

Both these have a very low Ram footprint which makes them at least a little guilt free.

On a final note if you keep any notes on your computer and need to organize you virtul brain you may need VooDooPad. Look into it.

I would write more but Rachel ( my wife ) keeps rubbing her butt on me...

ER makes Rachel and Dottie sleepy.

I just thought that she and Dottie were so cute that I had to get a pic.


And that my friends was Thursday.

Two Days of Snowy Carnage!

The city of Toledo had the trucks out and running starting tuesday as soon as the snow began which was early in the morning I am told. I was sleeping.

Things looked grusome from the go. Most of the side walks were getting deeper as the roads were getting worse.

I am thankful in weather like this that I do not drive a bus.

With roads like this the bus may have been a smarter option. Remember that if you are sliding into the curb turn your tires so they will roll over the curb not slide into it sideways. If you choose sideways this is what happens to your ride.

This morning the whole neighborhood was out side digging themselves out. I guess this is how this little one is helping dad.

We romped through the park, snow angels and all, to shake away the winter grays and replace them with rosy cheeks.

I thought that these guys should have flown south by now.

I thought this was a good depth gauge for the Big Blast as the news has chosen to call our little snow emergency.

SNOW DAY!!!

I took the blizzard as a chance to kick around the snow. Man it was cold out there!

You have not lived....

Until you have been to the Toledo Cat Show!

Every owner and breeder has an elaborate spread.

Everyone wants their kitty to strut its cute stuff.

Kinky Fur.

No Fur.

Whiskers Galore!

This is an adorable old lady and her non-pedigreed cat "Frisky". We met them both at the Toledo Cat Show. "Frisky" was there to be part of the household cat competition, As in cats that don't cost $1000 with an impressive bloodline. (Shouldn't you only be using big dollar signs and the word bloodline when handling livestock?) Frisky had won several awards and was the pride and joy of this woman's and her husband's life. I met her husband in the Paws and Whiskers adoption aisle where he was helping people fall in love with cats, if they weren't already. He was just as adorable as she was and looked twice as old. Thank you Frisky, Paws and Whiskers and the happy old couple who brought a sense of humanity to the ridiculousness of the day.

This is the husband of the cute little old lady with Frisky.

This was one of the most fun days I have had in a while. These people were all great and loved to show you how special their kitty is. Of course there were crazy cat people everywhere but I think the really scary ones stayed home because no one hissed at me and the camera and no one smelled like pee. At least no one I met. Rachel, John, Garret and I all have kitties on the brain and now must fight the urge to sell all our stuff to buy designer cats. (average designer cat price at this show, $900)
So next year when they have to Toledo Cat Show you have to go it is amazing.

This entire post is dedicated to Will...

If you have that Ti addiction, here is your new toothbrush.

The TiFinity toothbrush is the latest invention in the fight to keep your chompers tip-top. The actual bristles of the toothbrush are Ti. OMFG you say.
Ti is metal.
Yes, this is a metal toothbrush.
It's not like you think.
The inventors state that this is a very good thing. The increase in abrasiveness is just right. You get cleaner teeth healthier gums and a toothbrush that will last up to five years.
The Ti bristles because they cannot hold water collect less bacteria and are half the diameter of their nylon counterpart therefore penetrate better into all those nooks and crannies.
I must have one, I just have to justify a $40 toothbrush to my wife.
But baby, it's Titanium!

New Ideas for Apple.

I think that Apple needs to seriously consider making a dock for the iBook. Six cables is way too much to have sticking out the side of my iBook when it is on the desk. If you are wonder what the hell is pugged in to it, there is an external monitor, external speakers, a Mighty Mouse, Fire Wire, and two USB hubs. I had to take this with my new lens, which I was forced to buy because of an enormous store credit at the camera store. The new lens, while still under scrutiny, seems totally Rad. (It's a Nikon 70-300 VR)

Something about pencils.

In these fast paced, no time to sharpen, I'll send you an email days we often over look a much beloved item from our pasts, the pencil. It may have been ages since you have seen one and on the odd chance you come across one in your home, in some long forgotten bag or cranny, do you even have a way to sharpen it?
Do you remember what it is like to use one? Can you feel it's freshly sharpen point catch on the fine fibers of the paper? Oh, the glory of that moment when the point goes from much to sharp to just so smooth with the perfect amount of friction: paper to lead.
Dig one out and remember a time you had to erase and not backspace. You won't be sorry.
Therefore I have let go for the moment my urge to use a type writer and in its stead I place a mighty pencil.
Behold my mighty pencil!

24 Inch iMac Lust.

I am fixated again. I will have you 24 inch iMac with extra (2GB) ram, 256 MB Video Ram and Aperture 1.5. Oh yes, I will.

I hate it plugging in my cell phone.

This thing is sweet. I hate looking for one of the 64 cords I own for charging things. This up incoming device that charges stuff with no cords. The SplashPad™ will allow "enabled" devices to just set on the pad and get all revved up. I can't wait; that is the future.

The Ideal Breakfast.

If you are not familiar with Ideal Hotdog you should be. John, Garret, and I went there for a bite on Saturday. Who can beat 2 eggs, hashbrowns, toast and coffee for $2.79. I think that we should start ending the breakfast ride there. Although I think the double pace line down Alexis would not go over that well.

Yes the fondue was wonderful.

Rachel made fondue in Jamie's pot. It was cheesy ( the delicious kind ). On another note I am fully embracing the grain and character of my little Canon Powershot S230 on B/w mode. I guess I can hold off buying a Holga for now.

Scout is very photogenic.

Scout, originally uploaded by Life as Dan..

You said it Will!

What do you get for $2.50?

Apparently at the University of Toledo's auction you get an oak desk. It is awesome. It just like the desks in science class with numbered drawers and a thick black Formica top. Check it out. I love it!

Wednesday is the worst day.

But here is a picture of me to make it better.

Ondella, Ondella Mama V.I. , V.I. Uh-oh!

Ahhh, the champagne of beers...
Rachel loves the Scrod...
When it comes to pictures this is the best Jason has to offer...

The waitress was into cameras. She showed us pics from her phone that she took on a cross country trip. She needs a camera...

John posed for this, as opposed to my typical sniped pictures of him...

J2 called me up for some beers at the VI. Twas a good night. To bad Rachel couldn't pull the trigger on hitting up Mark's hot tub. It was cold and rainy though.

Another new Camera and some other stuff.

My dad is super cool. He has lent me this bad ass old school Nikkormat. He bought in Korea when he was in the army. Full manual. Fully sweet. I am going to jam this mama full of some B/W film and have at it.
I think you will also note the super choice film texture of the camera's image above. I was lucky enough to get the Exposure plug in for Photoshop from Alienware. It takes lame way to acurate digital camera flim-flam and makes it look like lush old film. So Sweet! I love it.
Here is the pic of Mike Steele from below with a little B&W. I am really in love with this plug in.

Five days have passed.

So I have not updated in 5 days. So here is a few snaps of the week. Most notably, one of the acorns that Rachel and I planted at our wedding sprouted, we saw Mike Steele play at the museum with friends, Dottie still has a cone, Sophie is a kitty, I have a new idea to make some extra cash, we looked at old pictures with my parents, and Vyto and I watched Florida pound OSU while Rachel and her mom worked on cleaning out the basement. That's about it. Until next time...