The Last Lecture

I’m reading a book right now that has really spoken to me (not literally of course or else I’d be taking the book on a tour of the US and make millions of dollars…but rest assured should it choose to speak I’ll post a video) but I digress.  The book is called ‘The Last Lecture’ by Randy Pausch and if you read no other book this year, take the time to read this one.

Carnegie-Melon has what they call a last lecture series.  Basically the speaker is supposed to ruminate on the end of their days and what would they tell the world with their last time.  The title of the series has been changed to Journey’s now but the theory is still the same.

And for those of you who have never heard of him, Randy Pausch was a professor of Computer Science at Carnegie-Melon University as well as a sufferer of pancreatic cancer.  He was slated to do the last lecture series and about a month before he was to speak was told that his cancer had spread to his liver and that it was terminal with only 6 months to live.  Where most people would give up and die Randy decided that instead he was truly going to give his last lecture.  Both as a message to the world but primarily as a message to his children.

I won’t give anything else on this except to say  you should go buy the book and watch the lecture today.  It’s very thought provoking and if you don’t take anything away from it after you’ve read it…then you’ve probably had a frontal lobotomy and should go back about your business of drooling all over your shoelaces.

Go see Randy’s last lecture here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

And go buy his book here:

http://www.amazon.com/Last-Lecture-Randy-Pausch/dp/1401323251/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244518135&sr=8-1

Do it now! Because Frank said so!

13 Songs I’ve Had Stuck in my Head at Various Points in the Week

At almost any given moment I have a song stuck in my head, I picked the first 13 that came to mind when I was thinking about this week.

1. White Rabbits - Percussion Gun

2. The Decemberists – Mariner’s Revenge Song

3. The Decemberists – The Rake’s Song

4. Presidents of the United States - Kitty

5. Survivor – Eye of the Tiger

6. Rupert Holmes – Pina Colada

7. Crystal Waters – Destination Calambria

8. Ill Scarlett – Nothing Special

9. Flobots – Handlebars

10. Everclear – Volvo Driving Soccer Mom

11. Harvey Danger – Flagpole Sitta

12. Dropkick Murphys – Upstarts and Broken Hearts

13. Flogging Molly – What’s Left of the Flag

Short Attention Span Theater

I was looking at things on the Amazon Kindle Store and stumbled across an interesting short story.  I’d glanced at it at first and didn’t think much of it but I began reading the user reviews of others.  And many of them said it was a good story but horribly violent or “inappropriate” to be on Amazon's top listings.  So of course once I saw these I had to read it.  The explanation behind the story made me even more interested as well.

I’ll say a little about it but I don’t want to say too much and risk giving it away.  The saying is you should never hitch a ride with someone because that someone may be a psychopath.  Conversely, other saying goes that you shouldn’t pick up a hitchhiker on the road because the person you may be picking up may be a sociopath. So what would happen if a psychopath picked up a psychopath….and hilarity ensues.

Ok well maybe its just hilarity to me because I’m fucked in the head…don’t judge me.

The way the story was written is intriguing as well. The story was written by Jack Kilborn and Blake Crouch.  They’re both horror fiction writers and my impression is they do suspense and slasher kind of stuff.  The story was written by email over five hours, and was broken into three parts.  Part 1, was written by Kilborn, with Crouch writing the second part. Part 3 was written by both of them while going back and forth in email in 100 word messages.  Neither knew the other’s earlier writings so it gave a interesting dynamic to the whole story.

I found it here for the Kindle and spent some time looking for it for the rest of you and I found it!

Go to http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/books_9780446535939.htm

in the bottom right hand of the page is a section labeled ‘Book Extras’ that’s where you’ll find the story.

Go read it and let me know what you think, in the meantime I think I’m going to look into these two authors and see what all they have to offer.

13 Random Facts About Me That You May or May Not Know

So I’m a little slow tonight and I can’t come up with a topic to write about so I thought I’d do something that just came off the top of my head.

1. I don’t like clowns.

2. I play the violin….Not well but I can do it.

3. I can juggle.

4. I always wanted to work in a submarine but I’m too tall for it…not to mention the whole not being in the navy thing.

5. I don’t usually take the same route somewhere more than 3 times in a row.

6. I’m not as crazy as people think I am.

7. I am however just as forgetful as people think I am.

8. Anytime I get a song stuck in my head it will almost drive me crazy.

9. I hate repeating myself.

10. I tend to always wonder if I’ve made the right decision.

11. I’d really like to go to med school but I’m too burnt out on school to go for that long.

12. My pets mean the world to me they are truly part of my family….but I wonder how well the three of them will get along together.

13. I’m an applause whore.

 

Well there you have it, 13 random things you may or may not have known about me…what is there about you that others might not know?

Killer Bees and Earthmovers…What Do They Have in Common?

The Answer is…..absolutely nothing

Made you look.

Shoppers in a Gamestop in New York got a shock the other day when there was a swarm of bees that were keeping them stuck inside the store for a number of hours there was even a sign posted that said “Look!…Closed due to bee infestation”

So this begs the question exactly what is there in a gamestop that attracts a swarm of bees?  Oily Faces? Lots of computer games? Sno-Caps?  Actually Sno-Caps are pretty awesome I can see why bees would swarm for that, and what held their attention that long especially in Manhattan.  I think we need to study these bees, one to find out their attraction to video games, and two what made them so highly organized…Who’s to say that the bees won’t form some evil coalition and begin renting cars, driving to people’s houses, ringing the doorbells then when they answer begin relentlessly stinging them to death.  Or get a rifle and become bee snipers..then they’d really be killer bees.

And it all started with a video game…lets see the hippies work something with that!

And on to the other strange news in the world, a 3 year old bought an earthmover on an auction site.  A mom in New Zealand(I’m still sticking with I want to go to New Zealand even with something like this…though sounds like what I’d do) had bid on some toys then layed down to take a nap.  While she did her 3 year old got on the computer and was still looking at toys and put a bid in for a digger.  When she got on later she found what she’d bid on and discovered she was in fact now the proud owner of a digger…only instead of a toy digger she got a $12,000 real earthmover…so really still a toy just on a grander scale.

Long story short she called and got it all straightened out…but I had to wonder what is up with kids nowadays.  When I was 3 I was interested in playing with toys and not doing anything constructive..and now a 3 year old can work not only a computer online but function on an auction site?!  You’ve got 8 year olds who can probably hack into NASA and remotely pilot the space shuttle at the same age as I was learning to tie my shoes…its just not right! What are they going to be like later on when they start rebelling…instead of staying out late and the like they’re gonna be programming cyborgs to take over the earth or make cars drive themselves or some crazy shit like that.

I say we take them and take their skills and put it to good use.  Like coming up with new models for space exploration and finding out why my Doritos's are nacho cheesier.

Because seriously…its good but I want to know why there’s got to be a reason behind it!

Collateral Damage

I’m sure this one confused some people, those on my facebook and myspace got the same title but in a status….and as I forget people aren’t in my head I didn’t realize that others would think something very bad happened. So my bad for that one, I’m still the normal Frank…Big as life and twice as ugly!

But onto the explanation of me being collateral damage.  Those of you who know Todd know that he’s been in an ongoing war with the universe for quite some time now.  Sometimes he’s ahead, sometimes the universe is ahead but its usually been pretty even overall.  Well lately the universe has been kicking the shit out of todd and just being relentless about it…not sure why its doing that I guess it just got its universal panties in a bunch so to speak.  There was a brief lull in this and then the universe began its assault again. With the stuff from the weekend he’s been pretty sore anyway, well todd’s truck begins acting up the other day as well. That’s where we’re at in his current war with the universe.

Today I’ve learned just how far the universe is willing to go in its war. Today after I am down at epicenter I’m leaving and my transmission begins to go bat shit crazy in my truck, it won’t shift in drive nor will go into gear from park to drive.  I limp it back to st. albans shifting on the column and finally make it back after about an hour and a half of driving and get it parked.  As I was sitting on the porch I had time to reflect and realized that I’d become collateral damage.  In its offensive assault on Todd something must have missed him and gotten me instead. And the truck that hasn’t given me a days trouble, minus some body damage that was my fault(and another story…beware of the yellow poles in the concrete they’re ninja like stealthy and very evil) So now they are striking not only at Todd, but at those around him…this is a new level I’m not sure if they’re trying to draw us into the fight with him or what, I guess that remains to be seen.

Be sure to go check out Todd’s Blog and listen to his latest updates about his personal war with the universe at http://thetragiccomedy.blogspot.com/

If you like mine you’ll like his too…and if you don’t like mine, well first…why are you here reading this in the first place…and second you should still check out his blog you may still like his style.

Be sure to send him a message and tell him Frank sent you…and that he needs to blog more damnit!

Friday 13 – Tuesday Edition

I apologize for the sabbatical, as most of you know its been a hell of a week, wrecked a squad, sore, and so I spent most of the weekend drinking beer and playing with the dog…hell of a recuperation if I do say so myself!  But I’ve not felt much like blogging in the last few days so I’m trying to plunge in feet first to get things moving in the right direction again.

Last week, well week before last, I wrote about 13 people I’d like to meet or hear speak in real life, but then if I had to branch out to all of history who would I include.  So with that in mind, I’m writing the 13 people in the past who I would like to speak to.

1. Mr. Wizard – because by god I think he’d be interesting to talk to.

2. Julius Caesar -

3. Alexander the Great -

4. The Caveman that discovered fire (I shall name him…Ug)

5. Douglas Adams

6. Albert Einstein

7. Winston Churchill

8. Vladimir Lenin – To get the other side of the story

9. Mr. Rogers – To get the parts no one else has heard about.

10. William Wallace -

11. Ernest Hemingway

12. W.C. Fields

13. My Grandfather – My Pap died when I was young and we never really got to talk much anyway but what little we did get to inspired my love for the law, I can only imagine how I would be today if we’d gotten to talk more.

So who would you want to talk to in history?  Everyone has their own groups so who is yours? And why?