Sametime is the instant messaging client we use at work. It allows users to edit a status message to indicate "I am active" or "Working from home" or "I am at a meeting." Long ago, I got bored with simple messages like that and started coming up with something creative every day instead. These are my daily status messages.
El Sourceo: Oh, admit it. You've seen it on the bottom of your screen when your favorite program came on. Every once in a while, I bet you've even hit the SAP button (if you can find it) just to find out what Homer Simpson sounds like in Spanish. I know you've done it. If you haven't, this is pretty much what you'd see:
El Blogo Bonuso Especial: What happens when you give LEGOs to a photographer during the Olympics? You end up with a set of LEGO Olympic scenes, like this one of a swimming event:
NBC: The official channel of Olympic gymnastics. Is it just me, or does it seem strange that after an entire day of Olympic competition, NBC decides to fill a quarter of their tape-delayed prime-time slot with exhibition gymnastics. Haven't we just watched gymnastics for like a week straight? Haven't all of the gymnastics medals been given out already? Aren't most of us sick of trying to figure out what the judges are looking at? In an entire Olympic games, you're telling me that the best Day 11 had to offer was a freakin' exhibition? COME ON!!! And don't give me this "female viewers are only interested in gymnastics and diving" crap. Half of the athletes our country sent are women. You think they all hurry through their (apparently uninteresting) events so they can get home and watch tape-delayed NBC footage of exhibition gymnastics? Somebody, stop this madness! I don't want Paul Hamm and Svetlana Khorkina in my living room anymore. Jeez...
Explanation: I just wanted to prove that my quadrennial Olympic television rant really is a quadrennial rant. This is my post from 2004. I'm still bitter.
Special Blog Bonus: Regardless of how bitter I am, it's always cool to see LEGO Olympic creations. Here's a Stormtrooper doing the clean and jerk:
You can tell it's the clean and jerk because of his hand position. Of course, LEGO figures can really have only one hand position, so they're pretty much incapable of doing the snatch. Then again, they're also made out of plastic, so maybe I should turn down my reality-meter a little bit. Here are more Stormtroopers competing in other events.
I... We'll be back with this status message, but first let's go out to the diving pool... am... More of this status message to come, but let's see what's going on at the diving pool... sick... stay right here and we'll be back with more status message after the gymnastics gala... of... we'll take you back to the conclusion of today's status message in just a moment, but first the heartwarming story of a person with a disability who isn't an Olympian, but is nonetheless special.. NBC.
Explanation: It's time for my quadrennial rant about Olympic television programming! My daily schedule allows me only a few opportunities to watch the Olympics: in the morning while I eat my breakfast, at lunchtime for 5 minutes as I catch my breath from lifting, and in the evening after work. My favorite time to watch would be between 6:00 and 7:00, when we can eat dinner in front of the television. What is on between 6:00 and 7:00? Olympic boxing. That's it. Boxing. I hate boxing, why would I watch Olympic boxing? I can't stand it. The hour I'm most likely to watch the damn Olympics and all I get is boxing. I guess I should just be happy that it isn't Olympic baseball or softball instead.
Meanwhile, NBC holds the exciting events (like the big ticket track and field stuff) on tape for their prime time coverage. So, I'm stuck watching the eight to midnight slot... except I go to bed at 10:30. No problem. I can just watch from eight to 10:30, and then TiVo the last hour and a half for viewing in the morning. I tried that the first night. I plopped myself down in front of the television at eight o'clock, and by nine-thirty, I had seen ten dives, thirty minutes of commercials, and a half dozen human interest stories. So now I have a new strategy. I start recording with the TiVo at eight. I start watching at nine-thirty, which allows me to fast-forward through all of the crap (diving, gymnastics gala, human interest stories, commercials, and everything involving Bob Costas in the studio). I go to bed at ten-thirty, and I catch up with the rest in the morning. It isn't perfect, but it keeps me from sending death threats to Bob Costas, so that's something.
Special Blog Bonus: Here's video of Usain Bolt winning the 200 meter sprint:
I particularly enjoyed the men's solo synchronized diving finals last night.
Explanation: Well, it's about time I mentioned that the Olympics are going on, huh? A week and a half in and I'm finally posting about it. I think I'm slipping in my old age.
I sure enjoyed the solo synchronized diving finals on NBC last night, but far and away my favorite event was the tramp final. The acrobatics these athletes perform atop the tramp are just unreal. I didn't know some of those maneuvers were even physically possible, but the competitors are limber enough to pull them off. When you see an Olympic athlete mount the tramp, you just know something special is about to happen. That's what the Olympics are all about.
I do want to mention that I think it's morally wrong that several of the Chinese competitors were plucked from their homes and have been forced to train on one tramp or another every day of their lives since they were three years old. That just doesn't sit right with me. Whatever happened to the good old days, when people went to the tramp on their own accord?
