So this morning I’m out walking my dog before I head off to work, chatting with my neighbor about the NCAA games at the Meadowlands the night before when I noticed that my car was missing from our driveway!

WTF!!!! It’s gone! Stolen while we slept during the night!

Called the police, insurance company, etc… Ugh! Frustrating!

However, if you happen to be in vicinity of West Orange, NJ and see a silver 2000 Volkswagen Passat with a black Thule roof rack, let me know, because apparently the driver “borrowed” it sometime early this morning without my consent.

Update:
My car was recovered early Saturday morning. It was abandoned after the thieves slammed the right rear end of the car into a curb snapping the rim off the axel. Luckily for them, the car has side-impact air bags, which deployed to cushion their thieving little heads. Oh and to show their appreciation, they punctured holes in the leather seats and roof with a screw driver (Thanks).

Bastards!

Well, in light of the fact that within a few months, sleep will likely become a scarce commodity for me and Catherine. So, I think perhaps I should investigate the “Sleep Is Now An Option” drug.

Provigil … was a drug originally developed to treat narcolepsy, the inability to stay awake. Now Cephalon, the maker of Provigil, has received a letter of approval from the FDA extending the approved uses of the drug to treatment of jet-lag and swing-shift syndrome.
In reality the drug is set to replace the caffeine in No-Doze as the all-nighter anti-sleep aid of choice. In fact, it’s much better than No-Doze – with Provigil, you can literally stay awake for days, alert and with a remarkable lack of side effects. “(via SciScoop)

It’s official, Guinness is good for you!

I’m truly amazed! I wish I knew Japanese to provide more details, but apparently Nobuya Chikada has created an excellent remake of the classics Pacman and Space Invaders in Microsoft Excel (Yes, I said Excel!) Do check it out. (Link via Les Orchard)

Note: you’ll need to lower your Excel macro security level to get it to run (at least that’s was what I had to do in Excel 2003), but it’s certainly worth it!

LOL! This happens to be based on one of my favorite Simpson’s Episodes, but apparently a fan has created a real-life Tomacco Plant! There’s a link to a KPTV News Report and a thread on Slashdot regarding this “amazing science development”.

Mmmmm, Tomacco!

Donuts?

“Walk into any local Dunkin’ Donuts and you can purchase a caramel-swirl latte or sourdough bagel, a pumpkin muffin or powdered Munchkin. You can get a jelly stick, chocolate stick, or chocolate-coconut stick, pastries that are shaped somewhat like conventional crullers and contain roughly the same lip-smacking number of empty calories.”

“But you cannot get a cruller anymore… ” (more here)

Add to this list the Fax Machine! I despise that retched device!

John sent me this article in Business 2.0, which seems to be demonstrating the application of Business Process Re-engineering in the Consumer Product Development area:

James Dyson says, “It is much easier to reinvent the wheel because the faults of the existing system are fairly obvious,” he contends. “The hard part is to find a solution that everyone who has come before you has not found.”

“Dyson has found ways to improve on such basic appliances as the vacuum cleaner, the washing machine, and the wheelbarrow.” [more here]

Anna Kournikova: “Excuse me Mr. Bezos, is that an ‘Anaconda’ in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?”

The site is extremely slow right now, but with a little patience…

“You will find here [Philippe Carly's] entire collection of concert and candid photos of popular and not so popular “rock”, “new wave” and “punk” groups from the 70s, 80s and 00s”

Wow! It’s like I’m back at CBGB’s all over again!

Well my constant nagging of my friend and co-worker Ed Hackney seems to be paying off.

Oh wait, maybe not! Doh!

However, perhaps I need to teach Ed how to click the post button once :-)

BTW, I’m now a huge fan of Home Star Runner (flash required). My favorites so far are “Teenage Girls Squad” and “System Down”.

Very funny!

Who needs Saturday morning cartoons anymore?

Based on the recent comments by Senator Orrin Hatch (no relation) and the ongoing reactions, I remembered a quote of his I posted back in February of 2001, which implied that Senator Hatch (no relation) was coming to the defense of the fledgling granddaddy of MP3 swapping … Napster.

Here’s the interesting quote:

“The Napster community represents a huge consumer demand for the kind of online music services Napster, rightly or wrongly, has offered and, to date, the major record labels have been unable to satisfy,” (Feb 2001)

However, I suppose no one should be surprised by the flip-flopping of a politician, the irony or fallout, but I suspect or hope Senator Orrin Hatch (no relation) has an ulterior motive.

Perhaps he’s exposing the “marketing problem“.

Steven Vore pulls out a great quote from George Gilder’s book Telecosm, which I think seems so relevant to the music industry — namely the RIAA. (link via McGee’s Musings)

“When your product is stolen by thieves, you have a police problem. When it is stolen by millions of honest customers, you have a marketing problem.”

Oh how I hope the music industry is listening. Unfortunately I highly doubt they would see the relevance.

Catherine rants about Spike Lee’s suit against SpikeTV. I’ll have to add to Cat’s “Spike” list with Elvis Costello’s album Spike from 1989.

And what about all those dogs named Spike? What will we do?