David's Blog

I watched Cars today.

Pixar does an amazing job of making a car act human. It really stands out as something special compared to other 3D animation. This movie is beautiful to watch.

The movie, at 1 hour, 45 minutes is too long. This would be a great 1 hour show. I found myself bored in the middle of the movie. Not enough happened...it is a simple story that is stretched too long. I enjoyed watching it, but I don't have any interest in seeing it again. This is the first Pixar movie I *don't* plan on buying on DVD.

Posted on June 30, 2006 7:30 PM | Permalink| Comments (1)

Here is an article about the new Microsoft 22 inch wide-screen LCD. This monitor should be release to go with Windows Vista (probably early next year) and is designed to support some of the new functionality in the OS.

There are two big features I've heard of in Vista that this monitor will probably support:

• High DPI Support - Should give you a better looking display using more densely packed pixels.
• Support for HDCP - HD Movies from HD-DVD may require monitors with HDCP in order to play at their highest resolution. Vista is probably going to be the first OS to support playback of HD DVD's that require HDCP.

I knew I'd need to upgrade my monitor to get the best Vista experience. If the monitor is any good, I'll probably get it when it comes out.

There has been a clear line between Microsoft and PC companies like Dell and HP: Microsoft does the software (Windows, Office, etc.) and Dell/HP make the hardware. But with this announcement, Microsoft makes all the hardware components necessary for a full computer: monitor, mouse, keyboard and CPU (Xbox 360). Watch for this, the Xbox 360 could be a very interesting competitor to the PC if Microsoft wants a bigger chunk of the pie. All they need to do is port Office and Internet Explorer to Xbox 360 and you have a very slick PC. And since it is not open like a PC (you can't get Xbox 360 software from just anybody...only from Microsoft), it doesn't have the security problems that you find in Windows, Mac, and Linux (no need to run a virus checker on Xbox 360).

Posted on June 28, 2006 10:28 PM | Permalink| Comments (1)

I spent the last 3 years doing most of my development work on a Linux box. It is not my choice: our software only runs on Linux, so I have to play along. I am a Windows guy, and working with Linux has made me appreciate how great Windows is.

I *love* using Microsoft's Visual Studio for writing software. When I began developing software in Linux, I tried to find something close to Visual Studio. I started using KDevelop. While it doesn't compare to Visual Studio, I have found it is the closet thing on Linux. It is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE): editor, compiler, linker, and debugger all in one application.

KDevelop is a front end to other tools...GCC for compiling and linking and GDB for debugging.

When you are developing software, sometimes it doesn't work as intended. To track down the problem, there are two schools of thought:

1. Use a debugger
2. Insert messages in your software that help you get an idea of what is going on (aka "printf debugging")

Using KDevelop put me in the former category. I could click on a line and set a breakpoint, run my application, and have it stop at the breakpoint so I could analyze what was going on. This worked well for me until I spent several days trying to track down an issue. I set a breakpoint in my software where I thought the issue was, but that breakpoint was never hit. So I assumed that piece of software was never called, so I looked for the issue else where. After studying the software for several hours, I found that it was impossible for that breakpoint to not get hit. I dropped back to the old school printf debugging technique and guess what...the suspect code was executing, but the debugger was not honoring the breakpoint!

I did some research to find out how it is possible that my breakpoint would not stop my software from running. I thought it might be how the software was built, but nothing I did would make the debugger stop at that breakpoint.

I then found out that I'm not the only one that has run into this issue...it is a BUG in the DEBUGGER!!! How unsettling is that! The tool that is supposed to help you find bugs is actually hiding them from you! Here is the problem report, #1091. This bug was submitted in February of 2003 and it is still not fixed! I thought the open source community was supposed to fix things quicker than commercial software! This is a serious issue and I am shocked more people aren't outraged about it.

So just get another debugger, right? Wrong! GDB is used as the debugger for almost everything! It is used by KDevelop, Eclipse, and (here's the tie-in to Macs) Apple's Xcode. GDB is *not* the debugger for Visual Studio...thank goodness!

I found that all the Linux gurus in my group used printf debugging. Now I know why!

With bug #1091, GDB is terrible for software development. You must use GDB for Linux/Mac software development. Then by the transitive property, Linux/Mac are terrible for software development. If only Visual Studio would work on Linux/Mac!

Posted on June 25, 2006 4:50 PM | Permalink| Comments (4)

I *love* having a keyboard on my phone, a Motorola Q (Palm Treo and Blackberry also have similar keyboards). However, I've been in some situations where the keyboard is worse than a normal phone keypad. What do you do when you want to dial the number "1-800-BUY-A-DELL" or you are asked by an automated system to enter the first 3 letters of the last name of the person you are trying to contact. You look at your phone's keypad and press the number that has the appropriate letter on it. Well that doesn't work for phones with keyboards!

What *should* happen is this...when you type a phone number to dial, the phone assumes your want numbers, so each button you press gives you the number and not the letter (this is what current phones do). BUT, if you want to type "BUY-A-DELL", you should just hold down the ALT button (the button under the "A" key in the above picture) and type "BUYADELL" and the phone should automagically enter the numbers "28923355." This doesn't seem hard...maybe it is just an oversight at this early stage of cell phones with keyboards.

While I was looking for pictures of phone keypads, I ran across this explanation of why calculators and computer keyboards use a number pad with 123 at the bottom and phones use 123 at the top.

Posted on June 25, 2006 12:43 PM | Permalink| Comments (0)

This is a billboard for the Q near where I live. There is another equally large billboard barely visible on the far right. Motorola is doing quite a job advertising this phone.

I've had my Q for 3 weeks now. Overall, I like the phone. It is not perfect, but I like it and look forward to upgrading to future versions.

What I like:

• Slim - easily fits in my pants pocket
• Keyboard - makes entering information *MUCH* easier
• Internet Explorer - works pretty good with most web sites. My blog comes is drawn with a black background (should be white), makes some text completely unreadable. I thought it was IE, but I tried an older Opera browser for Windows Mobile and it had the same problem....need to look into how my website is formatted! I'll probably switch to the new Opera browser because it has more features (java script, tabbed browsing, full page view).
• Download Speed - The download speed makes web browsing easy...and addictive. You can surf *anywhere* with this phone.
• Windows Mobile 5.0 - This phone is a platform, just like Windows. I expect Windows Mobile to grow in popularity. There is quite a bit of software you can download for this phone. Plus, with Visual Studio 2005, you can build your own apps. I will probably do this at some point.
• Screen - 320x240 - nice sized screen for reading emails and browsing the web.

What I don't like:

• Reception - my old cingular cell phone had full strength in my apartment. The Q barely manages half strength signal and frequently drops to 25% or worse. I've had it drop calls in my apartment. I called Verizon about it and they said I am covered by 5 cell phone towers in my location (I live downtown). So either Verizon's cell towers suck, or this phone isn't that great at getting reception. I should note that almost everywhere else I go, I don't have problems with dropped calls...just at home. Go figure.
• Battery life - I had a few problems where I could not make it a full day without the phone running out of juice. I found that it was operator error....I was using the USB cable on my computer to charge the phone. Although it does charge the phone, it apparently does not do as good of a job as the dedicated charger. Since I've switched to the dedicated charger, I usually have at least half the battery left after one day of use. I don't have enough experience with the dedicated charger to say that I always can make it a full day without the phone running out of power. I ordered an extended battery for $20 from Verizon just in case I do run out of juice and I still need to use my phone.
• Vibrate - I believe there should be only one ring tone...vibrate, since I don't believe my phone alerts should annoy anybody but me. Since this phone receives phone calls AND email, I wish the phone had different vibrate patterns for different alerts: phone call, friend phone call, email, voice mail, etc.
• Inputting a Time - Setting a time (like an appointment time) is annoying. You have to hold the ALT button to access the numbers, even though a letter doesn't make any sense. I don't see why the phone can't be smart enough to know that you are entering the hours, so you must need to be in number mode (it does it when you type a phone number). Plus, you have to enter 2 digits to change the hour or minute...you can't just change 1. Also, it would be nice if I could just use the directional pad to move to the digit I want to change and then press up or down to modify the number...that would be the easiest. Not the end of the world, but it does get tedious.
• Alarm - When I set an alarm to wake me in the morning, that should trump everything. This phone says, I know you set an alarm, but I'm set to vibrate mode, so I won't make any sound when the alarm goes off. BAD!!! So if I *do* turn on sound for the alarm, I also get sound for every email that comes in...all night long....ugh! A new alarm clock with an alarm that sounds independent of the current sound profile may be my first app I write for the Q!!!
• No text editor - I guess I could send myself emails instead, but why not include pocket word like you do for Pocket PC's?
• No spell checker - would be nice to be able to spell check emails
• No external LEDs - It would be nice to be able to see if you have a message waiting or voice mail by looking at a flashing LED. No LED's with the Q...you have to turn on the screen to see what's up.
• No dedicated volume control - The side scroll wheel does double duty as a volume control and a scroll wheel. I've been browsing a web page when a loud alert played, I wanted to quickly bring the volume down, but the volume keys were now for scrolling...I had to switch to a different app that used the scroll wheel as a volume control!
• Outlook Notes not supported - I like to jot done important info using Outlook Notes (like yellow post it notes for your computer). I don't know why Outlook Notes are not supported by Windows Mobile...they should be.
• No support for copy/paste - Windows Mobile doesn't have the concept of the clipboard like Windows does. It would be helpful if it did!

This is a fun phone, and pretty cheap ($200 with 2 year commitment). For me, it is my pda, laptop, ipod, and cell phone. I love that I can access my email, task list, and contacts from my desktop, any web browser, and now my cell phone.

Posted on June 24, 2006 10:30 PM | Permalink| Comments (4)

I previously wrote that I would not use my Xbox 360 as a DVD player due to some motion artifacts I could see.

I did a test again after loading the the Xbox 360 Spring Update. One of the features in the list is improved video quality for DVD playback.

It looks like this update did the trick. I don't see any of the motion artifacts any more. I watched the credits of a movie and they slid up the screen smooth this time (before the Spring Update, the credits would have a slight jerk every second or so). So *now* I will use my Xbox 360 for watching DVD movies.

Posted on June 23, 2006 11:37 PM | Permalink| Comments (1)

Here is the family tree of the descendents of Carl Abraham.

Here are the photos I took over the weekend for the Abraham Family Reunion in New Ulm, Minnesota.

Friday, we meet for dinner and a slide show at the Kaiserhof. Saturday we had a picnic at Hermann Heights park and then did a bus tour of New Ulm that ended at the Schell Brewery. Saturday night we crashed a wedding party at George's. The wedding party was lame, so we went to a new bar that had recently opened. Sunday was church and relaxation. Late Sunday we went to the Lamp Lighter sports bar for dinner. I stayed with Bob and watched the Mavs lose Game 5 of the NBA Finals. Monday we left early to catch our planes home.

Senior Bob did a great job setting this up. Thanks Bob!

Posted on June 21, 2006 11:39 PM | Permalink| Comments (9)

I just got back from my favorite sports bar, Frankie's. The Mavs lost game 6 92-95 to end their run for a championship.

This series blew me away. I don't know how we could play so poorly after playing so well for the entire regular season and first 3 rounds of the playoffs.

I've gotten into a lot of arguments with Mavs fans here over the past few days about the refs. I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE REFS. My view on the refs is this: if you are going to let a game come down to a single call by the refs, that is your fault. To win, you need to play better than that. We can't fix the ref'ing. We didn't lose because of the refs. We lost because we missed choice free throws. We lost because we missed open shots we normally make. We lost because we thought we won the championship when we beat the Suns.

I get *REALLY* pissed off when I hear people bitch about the refs. And guess what...every team that loses blames the refs. I know the Heat fans believe that the refs helped take Shaq out of game 1 & 2. So spare me...if we play an *average* game, we would have beat the Heat regardless of how the refs called the game.

We played sub-par the entire series. I believe Memphis could have beat us in the Finals playing the way we did. I believe that the Suns, Spurs, and Mavs are all better teams than the Heat. Unfortunately, we couldn't prove it in the Finals, when it counts the most.

Congratulations to the Heat. D. Wade was awesome. Shaq is a monster with a great attitude. It is hard not to like these guys.

Enough with my rant. I had a lot of fun following the Mavs this year. I really like our team. We have great players. We have a great owner. We have a great coach. We are young and were taught something in the Finals. Hopefully we are a better team for it.

Next season will be interesting. I hope we can keep our team together. I think time will improve our team. I expect the Suns will be stronger and the Spurs will be as tough as ever. I like our future.

GO MAVS!!!

Posted on June 21, 2006 12:19 AM | Permalink| Comments (3)

The Mavs won a decisive game 2, 99-85. I sat behind the Heat, about 20 rows up. Here are some pictures from the big show. I got a few pics of Dr Phil sitting in front of me in about the 2nd row. I also got some pics of Terrell Owens after the game wearing a Mavs Jersey with his name ("T.O.") and number ("81").

I got a few videos from the game:

• "Deep in the Heart of Mavs Fans"
• "We Love You!"
• "Evolution of Dance" - halftime show with Judson Laipply - watch this version, it is much better quality than mine
• Mysterious AAC Flash - Video proof it exists! I've seen this at several games...don't know what it is. It happens about once every couple of minutes. The entire arena lights up for a fraction of a second. If you aren't looking for it, you don't notice it.
• Dirk dancing as Napoleon Dynamite
• Mavs Win!!! End of the game

Posted on June 20, 2006 7:38 AM | Permalink| Comments (0)

Here is the Maverick team introductions from Game 1. The starting 5 lineup is the same introduction they use at a normal game. Here is the original, but much larger (64 MB+).

Posted on June 19, 2006 9:07 PM | Permalink| Comments (0)

I am off to game 2 of the NBA Finals! I'm sitting behind the Heat this time, about 20 rows up. I'll have a green Dirk jersey on with a green Mavs hat. I made a sign, too. It says, "Hey Shaq...Try Underhanded!!!".

GO MAVS!!!

Posted on June 11, 2006 5:55 PM | Permalink| Comments (1)

I wrote previously how I noticed a DLP set was shaving pixels off the sides so it wasn't showing a full picture.

It appears that none of the DLP sets are actually 1080p. The DLP chip they use only has a resolution of 960x1080. It uses a technique called "wobulation" to allow each mirror to address 2 pixels. I'm wondering if a technical limitation of wobulation is the reason why the edges are cropped.

This makes me a bit worried about DLP. I am now leaning more towards the 2nd generation Sony SXRD.

Here is a nice write up on the current state of HD TV's. There is mention in this power point presentation that all 1080p DLP sets are really using 960x1080 DLP chips.

Posted on June 11, 2006 5:38 PM | Permalink| Comments (1)

I mentioned in a previous post that one of the things I really liked about Coach Avery Johnson is that he has his staff all stand with their right hand over their hearts during the national anthem. I think the Mavs are the only team that does this in the NBA. I got a picture of the Mavs and the Heat during the presentation, but it didn't come out very good. ABC's video is much better. The only Heat player to put his right hand on his heart is former Maverick Antoine Waker. I wonder if he always does this, or didn't want to look unpatriotic compared to the Mavs. My guess is the later.

Posted on June 11, 2006 3:18 PM | Permalink| Comments (0)

They played this on ABC's coverage of the Finals and in the arena. Very cool video that requires multiple viewings to see all the action. Here is a higher resolution version.

Posted on June 11, 2006 2:43 PM | Permalink| Comments (0)

I wrote a post about how Dirk says "obviously" in all of his interviews. He didn't say it in the interview after the Finals Game 1, but he *did* say it in the pregame. This clip also proves my old theory: Germans love David Hasselhoff.

Here it is...

Posted on June 11, 2006 12:52 PM | Permalink| Comments (0)

This video was taken just as ABC coverage started.

This video was taken in the final seconds of the game.

Here are the pictures I took from Game 1.

Some of these pics need a bit more explanation.

This guy is interesting. If you've ever watched basketball on TV, you have seen him. I *thought* I knew him because I always see him sitting in the front row at Mavs games. He isn't a Mavs season ticket holder! He isn't even from Dallas! He is from Los Angeles! He has front row season tickets to the Lakers *AND* the Clippers! He goes to about 120 games a year across the entire NBA. He says he is a basketball fan and not tied to a particular team (I thought that is what we called "jumping on the bandwagon")

His name is James Goldstein. He *is* the NBA's superfan. Read more about him on his web site.

I looked to my left and saw a very large, muscular black man wearing a Heat jersey and a Mavs cap. He was walking down the stairs to his seats on the floor. It was Terrell Owens, Dallas newest train wreck wide receiver. He spent a good deal of time explaining to fans why he was wearing a Shaq jersey instead of supporting the Mavs. The arena was obviously not impressed. I already don't like the guy, and it is clear to me it is only going to get worse. At this point we can only hope he gets a career ending injury in a game...preferably by his fellow teammates in preseason.

On the way home from the game I noticed they had turned on green and blue lights at the top of the W hotel. That is a new one...I hadn't seen lights on the W before. My pictures of it sucked, but I found some good pictures of it online (green and blue).

Posted on June 11, 2006 11:04 AM | Permalink| Comments (0)

It is 1:28 am, and I just got back from the Mavs game! What fun! We won 90-80...only 3 wins away from an NBA Championship! Even with Dirk having a terrible game, we were able to win by 10. If Dirk has a "normal" game 2, Miami will be in trouble!

I sat in the 2nd to last row facing the Heat on the lower level. A very obnoxious Heat fan from Miami was sitting in front of me. He let everybody know he *normally* sits in the front row at Heat games and he traveled to see all the Heat playoff games. Any time a Mavs fan stood up to cheer, he'd yell at them to sit down because they were blocking his view. I told him he was worse than Avery Johnson's wife. He was so annoying that I decided I had to retaliate. Every time the Heat did something stupid, I'd make a comment just to make him mad. Every ref call against the Mavs: "There it is again...the refs helping the Heat." Walker jacking up another brick: "I'm soooo glad we got rid of that guy...he sucks!" And it worked like a charm...I was really getting under his skin!. The best was Shaq shooting free throws! I'd laugh my *ss off (like De Niro in "Cape Fear") every time he missed a free throw...and he missed a lot, so I laughed a lot. "Oh good, Shaq got fouled! Let the comedy show begin!" Shaq ended shooting 1 of 9 at the line...11%! Unbelievable! 5 eleven year old boys sitting next to me were also annoyed by the loud Heat fan, so they all decided to joined in with a chorus of shrill laughter every time Shaq laid a brick. It must of worked...the guy stopped talking trash midway through the 3rd.

I took a bunch of pictures and have some video to upload, but I won't get to that until this weekend. More later...off to bed! GO MAVS!

Posted on June 9, 2006 1:39 AM | Permalink| Comments (1)

My prediction for the NBA Finals: Mavs in 5.

I don't see how Miami can keep up with the Mavs. Any close games will be won by the Mavs because of the better free throw shooting. I think the Mavs can run their fast paced offense (like the Suns) to make Shaq a non-issue on defense (we can score before he finishes running down the court). I'm giving the Heat one game because I expect we will have an off night one of the outings.

GO MAVS!!!

Posted on June 8, 2006 8:36 AM | Permalink| Comments (0)

I see Dirk interviewed all the time here in Dallas. I've just recently noticed he can't talk without saying the word "obviously." Watch for it, if they talk to him after the game, he will say it at least once, probably more, obviously.

Posted on June 7, 2006 11:01 PM | Permalink| Comments (3)

Posted on June 7, 2006 10:58 PM | Permalink| Comments (4)

Posted on June 5, 2006 11:18 PM | Permalink| Comments (1)

I was at Best Buy today checking out HDTV's. I was looking at the Sony 60" 1080p SXRD next to a Samsung 61" 1080p DLP. Both looked really good, but I noticed something odd...the Samsung was showing less picture than the Sony. I looked at objects on the edge of the Sony and the same objects were not visible on the Samsung. I'd guess there was about an inch missing off each side of the Samsung. Does this mean you really aren't getting 1080p with the Samsung? I can't wait for the HD version of Video Essentials so we can find out what the heck these HDTV's are really doing! Apparently just looking at the picture is not enough!

Posted on June 5, 2006 10:33 PM | Permalink| Comments (0)

§171. Conduct during playing
During rendition of the national anthem when the flag is displayed, all present except those in uniform should stand at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. Men not in uniform should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Persons in uniform should render the military salute at the first note of the anthem and retain this position until the last note. When the flag is not displayed, those present should face toward the music and act in the same manner they would if the flag were displayed there.

Here's something you probably don't know about the Mavericks unless you go see them live. Ever since Coach Avery Johnson took over at the end of last season, the Mavericks all stand with their right hand over their heart during the performance of the "Star-Spangled Banner" before every game.

This is what you are *supposed* to do, but I've never seen NBA players (except former Navy guy David Robinson) ever do it. Normally, you see players standing with their hands behind their back as if it is beneath them to put their right hand on their heart the way we learned in kindergarten.

I'm going to the first two games of the Finals...I'll try to get a picture of the players during the "Star-Spangled Banner" (I'll use my free left hand to take the picture!). I bet you won't see the Miami Heat with their right hands across their hearts!

Posted on June 5, 2006 9:40 PM | Permalink| Comments (0)

I remember before the NBA season started, I kept hearing the Mavs will be the 3rd best team in Texas this year. I thought we would be a better team without Michael Finley and Sean Bradley. Here's what Sports Illustrated predicted would happen for this NBA season.

Posted on June 5, 2006 7:44 AM | Permalink| Comments (0)

The Mavs beat the Suns last night 102-93 to advance to the NBA Finals! Tickets went on sale this morning at 10 am on ticketmaster.com. I tried for 40 minutes to get tickets without any luck...

Next I went to StubHub. My ticket strategy has been this: instead of buying season tickets and getting lousy seats to every game (including preseason, games I can't go to, and games I don't care about), I would spend more money and get good seats to the games I want to go to. It doesn't get much more desirable than this...the NBA Finals! So prepare to spend that money!

Now that I got my justification out of the way, here's what I got. For game 1 this Thursday, I got seats in section 105, row Y (lower level, facing the Miami Heat) for $575/ticket. For game 2 next Sunday, I got seats in section 120, row W (lower level, behind the Miami Heat) for $559/ticket. It is very likely I'll be on TV with the game 2 seats since the cameras are facing where the teams sit...I'll have my TiVo ready! Look for me on Sunday behind the Heat, I'll likely be wearing my authentic alternate (green) Dirk jersey. It seems like I would just blend in with all the other fans wearing jerseys...but that is not the case. I'm sitting in the rich people seats, and the rich people typically don't wear anything to support the team!

Posted on June 4, 2006 11:02 AM | Permalink| Comments (1)

My new phone, a Motorola Q, arrived in the mail on Friday. I'll write up a review once I get it working as my standard phone.

I love the form factor...*very* small. I love the keyboard. Pocket Internet Explorer is not so great...it can't even render my blog correctly! I'll have to see if my blog is doing something non-standard, which is very likely. It doesn't support frames and it looks like it is based on IE 4.0. My Yahoo also rendered wrong. I tried to use the Opera Mini web browser, but it doesn't work on Windows Mobile 5 (the Q's OS) yet, so I'm out of luck for now. I haven't found a way for it to play flash or quicktime movies yet. Internet speed is decent...with only one bar showing for signal strength, I was able to download a 5MB WMV video file in two minutes. Video playback is nice. It doesn't stream video files...it must download them first, then play them. :( I haven't been able to get it to play any of my mp3's I have online...maybe because it expects a certain bit rate? I'll have to investigate this more.

I'm setting the phone up now to synchronize my email/calendar/contacts/task list with the exchange server so my home outlook, web-based outlook, and now my Q all have the same information. I just created a test task on my phone and then checked my desktop outlook and the task is there, too! Awesome! Also, all my email, contacts, calendar, and task list's are now on my Q! Me likey!

Posted on June 3, 2006 4:27 PM | Permalink| Comments (0)

I've narrowed my choices for HDTV's to either the Samsung LED DLP or the new 2nd generation Sony SXRD's. Here is a press release about Sony's new sets for this year. Not sure what the difference between the XBR and non-XBR is. I'm probably going to get a 55" set.

Posted on June 3, 2006 4:02 PM | Permalink| Comments (0)

Last night the Mavs beat the Suns 117-101 to take a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference Finals. The picture is from my seats on the Platinum level (section 215, Row H, seat 11). The seats had a face value of $147. I was sitting in front of one of the red white and blue half circle decorations you can see encircling the arena (you may have to click on the picture above to see them).

Dirk hit a career playoff high 50 points. The only other person to score 50 in the playoffs this year is Kobe Bryant. I'm glad the rest of the country is finally getting to see what Dallas has seen for the last 8 years...Dirk is a bad *ss mother f*ck*r!

When I walked into the arena, I saw Boogey Bob explaining to some lady how famous he is (I've tried that too with limited success). I noticed Boogey Bob has added a photo he took of us together at the Spurs playoff game a couple of weeks ago to his web site. I don't know what the crap is that Boogey Bob stuck on his face...he's Boogey Bob, let's just leave it at that. Now I don't know how you measure fame, but being on Boogey Bob's web site has to be some kind of indicator in that general direction. The two of us are very different people, brought together by our tenacious desire to dance.

They had a few new videos at the arena. The best was "Court Wars: Round III - Revenge of the Dirk" which was a spoof of "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith." The video had the look of "Raiders of the Lost Trophy" with just the faces being replaced. The scene was the final battle between Obi-Wan (played by Dirk Nowitzki) and Anakin (played by former Mav and best friend Steve Nash). "You were the chosen one!" "We were going to rule the NBA together!" Dirk made several comments about Steve's bad hair. Very funny!

They had some updates to videos from round 2. The "Manu Flop" was changed into the "Raja Flop." The "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Spurs Fans" is now, wait for it, "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Suns Fans."

They had a Simpson's intro using Mavericks personalities. They also had a song parody based on the Beatles "Here Comes the Sun."

I saw this Mav's Southpark intro in Round 2. Props to my brother for finding it online.

Posted on June 2, 2006 11:09 AM | Permalink| Comments (2)

I've seen this in movies before, but never in person. I was at the Idle Rich Pub in Uptown last night. I was hanging out on the patio watching the expensive cars (two Lamborghini Murcielago's!) and trolley's go by on McKinney Avenue. Then I noticed a small black women walking towards my general direction on the sidewalk next to the patio. She walked past where I was sitting and grabbed a girl's purse that was placed on the divider between the patio and the sidewalk. She held the purse tight to her chest with both arms and took off running. At first I thought it was a joke. The girl whose purse was swiped just 5 inches from where she was sitting frantically told the two guys she was with that her purse was stolen. The guys jumped over the divider and chased after the thief. A black Mercedes was waiting around the corner for the purse snatcher. The guys caught up just as the Mercedes was pulling away. All they could do was kick the back of the car as it left the scene. The girl that lost her purse was obviously shaken. Unbelievable.

Posted on June 1, 2006 7:37 AM | Permalink| Comments (2)