Have a bunch of old CD’s or DVD’s sitting around.  Try this little trick to make a quick, magical light show (watch the video):

1. Insert CD or DVD into microwave

2. Set microwave for a few seconds

3. Watch

Have you ever called a company only to be greeted by the inhuman, impersonal and rude (in my opinion) automated answering systems.  ‘Press 1 for tech support, 2 for sales, 3 for blah, blah, blah’.  The best line they use, ‘Your call is important to us’.  Nothing says your call is NOT important and your business is NOT appreciated that being stuck in the wasteland of endless phone prompts.  Most all companies have eliminated the options of direct connections to a human operator.  A matter of fact, most companies have eliminated ‘0′ as the default prompt for a human operator.  This means you are powerless to do anything about the inhuman automated answering system…until NOW!

 www.GetHuman.com is a straight-forward website that lists many major US and international companies and how to navigate quickly through their automated answering systems to ‘Get a Human’. 

Here is a sample for Amazon.com:

There are hundreds of companies and the site is continually updated. 

THERE IS EVEN A FREE iPHONE APP!

Next time you are making a call to a big company, check out GetHuman.com first.  It will save you much time and frustration.

Below are videos of my Top 5 favorite TV commercials. Some are funny, some make you think and others are just plain artistic. Take a look and then leave a comment telling me your favorite commercial.

Sprite ‘Sun Fizz’ Commercial

Wendy’s ‘The Hole’ Commercial

1984 Apple Commercial

 Cadbury’s Drumming Gorilla Commercial

Honda’s Rube Goldberg Commercial

For years, Conan O’Brian has looked into the future with the ‘In the year 2000′ bit.  Now, for the Tonight Show, the bit has been updated to ‘In the year 3000′.  Take a moment and journey into the future…..

This is not original to me, but I nearly wet myself laughing.

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To many, the Drive-In theater conjures up images of the 50’s.  They see greasers and preps wheeling in for a night of movies and hanging out with friends (amongst other things).  It is a throwback to a simpler time.  In their hay-day, there were about 3,800 drive-in’s nationwide. Today, those numbers have dipped to about 500.  In recent years, there has been a revival of drive-ins and for those lucky people that live within driving distance of one, it makes for a great get-away.

Recently, my family went to our local Drive-in, "The Cascade Drive-In", in West Chicago, Illinois to watch the double feature of ‘Terminator Salvation’ and ‘Star Trek’.  I packed up our vehicle with lawn chairs, a hammock, coolers and boxes full of food and snacks, pillows and blankets and headed out.  The price was $8.50 a head for two movies.  The owners do a really good job of managing and making an enjoyable experience.  They make sure all the ‘tall’ vehicles park in the back and that noisy yahoos are quieted down.  It is really a family friendly place.  As far as the movie’s audio goes, you can either listen to the movie audio on the vintage drive-in speakers, or through your FM radio (in Stereo).  You can bring your own food or shop their really cool snack bar (cool in that it is so retro).

My recommendation, take an evening this summer and find the closest drive-in.  If you happen to find yourself in the Chicagoland area, hit the Cascade!  Go to driveintheater.com for a list of Drive-In theaters. (I’m not sure how often this is updated).

Check out some photos taken with an electron microscope.  Amazing!

An Ant’s Head

A mite standing on tiny machinery

Snowflakes

Flea

Spider

Blood Cell

What you think???

Take a look at this website.  It took me a few minutes to see what I was looking at.  I’ll give you a really solid hint…it’s a clock.

Adobe is in the process of BETA testing (meaning it’s FREE) a new website designed to expand their Acrobat software’s usability.  The site, www.Acrobat.com, has four main features, with many real cool ’subfeatures’.  Here is a breakdown:

• ‘Adobe Buzzword’ -an online word processor.
  • has many basic features that are found in all word processors.
  • create documents online and save online or to your computer
  • share a document with others easily or create a .pdf to download or share.
• ‘Adobe Connect Now’ -screen sharing/online meeting
  • easy to use interface
  • share screen, camera, microphone, files
  • invite others to join you online (up to 3 at a time)
• Convert file to .PDF
  • Convert up to 5 files to .PDF
• Share files with others
  • upload large files and send people email links to the download site
• Online File Storage
  • Up to 5GB of storage!
  • Easy download for yourself or clients.

 This is a very good mixture of practical and well-functioning programs.  I have used this website for my clients and have been very impressed.  I admit, I am an Adobe-aholic.  

In this site, I believe we are seeing a little of the future of home-computing.  I have long been expecting a day when we use many of our software applications directly from the internet.  Really, web browsers are basically becoming operating systems within themselves.  Flash-based applications are advancing at such a fast rate, that the potential is virtually limitless. 

(bonus advice)–>  Prepare yourself for the future of the internet now, lose ‘Micro$oft Internet Explorer’ and get Firefox.  Like so much that MS does, IE is a bloated beast that doesn’t even function on the PC’s I own.  Download Firefox for FREE here: 

The butt of jokes for years and the delight of connoisseurs the world over, SPAM canned meat has become an embedded cultural icon.  SPAM is no simple canned meat, though.  SPAM is the only canned meat to have it’s own biography entitled, "Spam: A Biography"  

So, here are 5 things that you may not know about SPAM:

1.  The name SPAM was created by a Hormel employee and is a combination of the words ‘Spiced Ham’

2.  The terms ’spam’ for unwanted emails was created as a result of the Monty Python skit about SPAM, where the name SPAM is repeated over and over.

3.  Of all the U.S. states, Hawaii takes the award for consuming the most SPAM.

4.  SPAM is made from pork shoulder meat.  It is removed from the bone by smashing it in a huge, hydraulic press.  The meat squishes off the bone.

5.  Over 141 million cans of SPAM are sold worldwide each year.

Have a taste for more SPAM?  Hormel has put together a very corny site, complete with games, SPAM gear and recipes.  Check it out at www.spam.com.

My favorite way to eat SPAM?  Slice it thin (about 1/4in.) and pan fry it in butter and brown sugar.  MMM…Tasty.

Here is a quick look at some of my SPAM stuff, including my old license plates.