Podcast-o-rama

For those who didn't know, I love my job. One of the nice things about it is that I can listen to my ipod (iphone) a lot. I probably average 5 hours a day of listening time. So, even though I love my music collection I have discovered that a little talk radio never hurt anyone either. For those who don't know, podcasts are basically talk radio for the digital age. There is a huge variety of shows available. Some are free, and some you have to pay for. I have yet to get bored with the free shows, and I don't see me paying for a show unless it was really awesome. (I'm cheap)

I download all my podcasts on iTunes, because it is really easy to get them on my iphone that way. You can go straight to the source and get shows directly from their individual websites. www.podcastalley.com is also a resource for finding shows you may be interested in.

I have tested out tons of different shows, but I am listing my favorites that I subscribe to and love.

My list:

Living in Las Vegas : This is what got me hooked on podcasts. My favorite resources on the internet when I am researching anything are those that get their information from regular people. I like message boards, blogs, amazon reviews, etc. So when I was researching moving to Las Vegas, I found this podcast. It is a wealth of information, I like the hosts, and the sound quality is excellent.

The Adult Space Childfree podcast : I just started listening to this one. Shows are pretty short (about 10 minutes) and the host just hits topics from the news that are relevant to the childfree lifestyle. If you are not familiar with the term "childfree" just google it.

A Prairie Home Companion: I know the demographic for this podcast is probably retired people, but I like it. My parents used to have Lake Wobegon on cassette tapes and that's what we listened to on long car trips. Don't judge me.

ChinesePod : My free Chinese tutor. If you are interested in learning any language, you can find free lessons in the form of a podcast.

NPR: Story of the Day- A random short story on some weird news piece.

Sex is Fun : I am still working on catching up on these episodes. It is a pro-sex podcast that touches on a large variety of topics for non-vanilla thinkers. I am always a little paranoid that my headphones will somehow malfunction and everyone is my office will suddenly be able to hear the host talk about his butt toys. I think I work with some very vanilla thinkers.

This American Life: This is a long-time favorite NPR show. They tell interesting stories from real people that will make you laugh and cry. You have to pay to access the archives, but to get the current week's show is free.

VeganFreak Radio: A couple of self-proclaimed vegan freaks discuss vegan life and issues relating to veganism.

Someday our ship will come in

Here are our lottery tickets from yesterday. We are losers.

Strong like Bull

Sorry for the delay in posting. I have been so busy, there's been no time to post. I'll update on the boat later, but as promised here are my before and after pictures from doing Jillian's Michael's 30 day "Making the Cut" program.

Before front

After Front

Before Back


After Back

So, basically Jillian kicks your ass for 30 days to get you into tip-top shape. It's good if you have an event or something to go to. However, Cat and I went through it together just to show off our guns. The work outs are pretty crazy. If you have ever watched an episode of "The Biggest Loser" that is basically what it was like. I ran around the gym like a crazy lady doing lots of weird looking things. And by weird I mean bad-ass GI Jane moves like clapping push ups and one-legged squats.

I hope to have an arm wrestling rematch with Adam at the lakehouse.

Auntie Em! Auntie Em!

On a stormy Saturday night we came home from the gym (pretty wild, I know) and found that Fibi the not-so-wonder dog had peed on the carpet. In the past 2 years she has developed an irrational fear of thunderstorms. If we are home, she feels safe and is fine. But in our absence she freaks out, and it usually results in a loss of bladder control. After cleaning up the mess, I went to turn on some lights and they wouldn’t work. The breaker box had a bunch of tripped breakers and I immediately thought of our entertainment mecca in the living room. 73” HDTV, 7.1 surround sound, PlayStation 3. Upstairs to investigate… The surge protector had pretty much exploded and the outline of the surge protector was singed into the carpet. Not a good sign. Long story short, we were struck by lightning. We set out to assess the damage and started piling things up in the guest room, aka electric-fun-time-graveyard. The results were not good, even the toilet broke! So, now we have started the process of filing a claim with the insurance company and hopefully it will all go nice and easy and we’ll just replace all the stuff. Luckily, it is just stuff and no wonder dogs or not-so-wonder dogs were harmed in the process.

On a completely different note, I completed Jillian Michael’s “Making the Cut” program and I will post my results soon, basically I am ripped.

Our Picks

Here are our tickets for the mega millions tonight. Should we win, we will be dividing the pot between:

Nicole
Kyle
Adam
Lia
Rob
Mark
LA
Ben
Eversole
Todd
Lesley
Phil D.

and 4 people from my office
Larry, Jeff, Cassi, and Daniel

I think a lottery pool should be a regular weekly occurrence, whether or not the pot is large. Because when you see those shows on the tv about lottery winners, it is usually someone who spends like $20 a week on tickets. Now, I'm not foolish enough to blow $20 a week on it, but I would gladly spend $1 a week for a pool. So, I think from now on you can expect me to be collecting money from you at trivia and posting our picks here at the wonder dog blog.

Cleanliness is next to Godliness

I have canceled my maid service. Contrary to Billy's belief, I am not rich and I decided this was one luxury I could live without. Money I am saving by scrubbing my own toilet will go directly into the buy-a-new-boat-fund. However, since I　have not cleaned much of anything in about 4 years there will be an adjustment period. First, I will have to actually buy some cleaning supplies and a tub or something to contain said supplies. Then, I will need to take a break from my usual Sunday routine (ps3 and tivo), get down on my knobby little knees and make this dump shine like the top of the chrysler building! On a side note, when my mom cleaned our house growing up she would rock out to one of the following: Tina Turner (Private Dancer era), Annie Lennox, or Miami Sound Machine. Now whenever I hear "Come on , shake your body baby, do the conga" I get the urge to dust something.

Boat update

So, we decided to go with the cheap and easy method to fixing the boat deck. (I learned it from your mom. Burn!) Instead of ripping out the old floor and replacing it, we are throwing some new plywood on top of the old rotten stuff. True craftsmanship at work. This pretty much seals the deal that we will be selling the boat within 12 months. But, I won't sell it to a friend that's for sure. So, Todd and Mark went to town with the plywood while the rest of us took off all the teak trim, sanded it, and oiled it. A special thanks to LA, Gen, Sarah, Hadley and of course Mark who sacrificed his blood to fixing our boat. Luckily the doctors were able to reattach his finger.

We got further than I expected for one day of work. I think there's probably 2 more days worth of work on the interior, and then another 2 days to fix the busted water hose. So, if you weren't able to make it to help this past weekend, don't fret there are plenty more opportunities. The propeller has been shipped off to Minnesota for repair, and hopefully the seats will be ordered online this week. Yea! I am posting this from work. When I get home I'll add some pictures.

Step One

Step one on the long list of things that have to be done before the boat hits the water this season is removing the propeller and getting it repaired. Large chunks missing from a prop drastically cut the efficiency of the already puny motor. Being that this is my first boat, everything I do is a new experience. It looks pretty easy, pull out a rusty pin, unscrew the nut and the propeller should slide right off.

Things are usually not as easy as they seem. I was prepared for this to be like most repair jobs, so I brought out the camera and began writing this blog in my head about how this seemingly simple task became a nightmarish chore. But, as it turns out removing the propeller from a boat is as easy as it seems. It took less than 5 minutes. Woo hoo.


With the extra time, I began to investigate the deck* situation. Things are not so good. Next week's planned demolition should be fun. I will be sure to take some pictures. Our plan is to just get down a new deck, new carpet, and new seats. We will only keep this boat for 1 more season, then upgrade.

*The floor of the boat is called a deck. Boating people like to use their own lingo because they are superior to non-boating people. Examples: Fore, Aft, Port, Starboard, Head, Galley, Line

The Wonder Dog Kills Again

Fibi is a natural born killer. From an early age she exhibited a natural ability to catch squirrels. In her younger, thinner days she was much faster (weren't we all?) and I would take her to Tech campus daily to get in her fill of squirrel chasing. It didn't take her long to determine that the squirrels always ran to the nearest tree, so she quit going directly for the prey and would cut them off before they got to the tree. Smart, no? Squirrels were her main focus, but she would also nab the occasional mouse and even a bird once. I also used to let her practice her skills in Piedmont Park. I was very proud until one day she went after the swans that live in that lake* at the park. Needless to say, witnesses to the incident weren't so impressed; we were fiercely scorned by a very fancy man and I no longer let the dog off-leash in Piedmont Park.

Anyway, we set off for our walk while the snow was falling the past Saturday morning. She noticed a creature's smell coming from underneath some brush in the yard. She froze, cocked her head to one side, and then pounced on the patch of brush. She came up with with some small baby creature, shook it a few times, threw it over her head, shook it a few more times, threw it a few more times, until the thing quit moving. At which point I stopped her, and we went for our walk. I know I'm heartless. She was on the leash, btw, and I just let it happen.

Frankly, I don't like mice. Ever since the Center Street infestation of 2001 (followed by the Center Street mouse massacre of 2001), I don't feel bad for killing mice. But as I was walking I started to think that it didn't really look like a mouse. Granted I didn't get a very good look at the vermin what with all the shaking the throwing, but it may have been a possum. In which case, I am thrilled that there is one less of those in the world. I don't like mice, but possums are my nemesis in animal kingdom.

Well, when we returned from our walk the thing was gone. So maybe the mouse mother came and ate it. Maybe one of the neighbors 99 cats ate it. Maybe the possum's mother dragged it away, buried it in the family plot, and now has a personal vendetta against Fibi and I. Who knows?

* by "lake" I mean that low lying area of the park that is filled with a water-like substance whose main purpose is collecting hypodermic needles.

I heart Lance

A new show has caught our attention over at Fibi's house. It's called "Free Radio" and it's on VH1. Today, as I was catching up on Rodney Ho's radio blog I saw that he had written about the show, and filled me in on some interesting facts. The main character in the show is an Atlanta native and co-founder of the Whole World Theatre. Whouddathunkit? Rodney Ho's article.

The plot of the show:
Shock Jock radio star defects to satellite radio, leaving his terrestrial station high and dry.
The intern "Lance" jumps in to fill dead air.
Lance is a moron, so naturally the people like him.
The show is unscripted / improve style. He and his co-host bring in actual celebrities and interview them. Hilarity ensues.

Tivo it if you like brilliant new comedy shows that probably won't last.

I'm fucking Matt Damon

In case you missed it, here is the funniest thing I saw last week. It may or may not be work safe, depending on the sensitivity of your co-workers to the f-bomb and overt homosexuality.

I'm fucking Matt Damon

I'm fucking Ben Affleck

el vacaciones

In February we had the annual company trip to Mexico. Here are some highlights in picture form:

For 4 nights we stayed at the Brisas del Mar in Zihuatanejo. Here is the view from our balcony looking out over the pool.



Zihuatanejo is the town that Morgan Freeman's character goes to once he gets out of prison in "The Shawshank Redemption". However, it turns out that it wasn't actually filmed here. Whatever. Here is a shot down one of the streets:
Mexico really loves it's wrestlers. This one loves his ice cream:

And we kept seeing this in the store windows:

That's right, it's a bacon-wrapped hot dog. You better believe we will be trying this out this summer.


One of our favorite things about going to Mexico is the food. We meant to take more food pictures, but only remembered to bring the camera to one breakfast and only remembered to take the pictures after we were half-way done. Oh well. The food was awesome, and you'll just have to take my word for it.


After 4 nights in Zihuatanejo, we moved a few miles north to an all-inclusive resort in Ixtapa. This is the part of the trip that my company pays for. The resort pool was huge. Here's the view from our balcony:

Just in front of the resort there is an island, Isla Ixtapa. Not to be confused with la isla bonita.
Some people we know swam to the island. We took a boat for 25 pesos round trip. Out on the island is a coral reef where the snorkeling is very good. So, we took our gear and spent the day on the beach which went something like: Snorkel, drink beer, people watch, snorkel, drink beer, eat chips and salsa, drink beer... ok you get the point. Here's what it looked like from our pov.

One of the nice things about being on the west coast of Mexico is the waves. We took the chance to surf a little bit. I found that catching a wave was not too difficult, but paddling out with 5 ft waves breaking on you was a challenge. The pictures speak for themselves:



Here is a friend from work who had rented the board for the week. It was his first time surfing and he was afraid of hitting his head. So, he wore a hockey helmet. Guess where he's from, eh? It reminded me of the Mike Myers snl sketch where he is the hyper-hypo kid leashed to the jungle gym. (here's the video)
Oh, and btw, there were crocodillos right there by the beach. I didn't get too close to them.

El gallo!

El capitan!

So, that pretty much wraps it up. We spent a lot of time just hanging out on the beach or by the pool. I read "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" by Haruki Murakami and the latest Cosmo. It was a great trip, and it is sad to think our next one is now a year away.

I'm a regular Bob Ross

In an attempt to become more well-rounded engineers our office hired a sketching instructor from the ID department at Tech to give us the low down on how to sketch products.

So, after the completion of 5 hours of sketching instruction I now know the basics of 2 point perspective, shading, line weights, and colors. My final exam was to put it all together and create a lamp. I love lamp!

Blogging is so 2007

This is my first blog. I have avoided it up until this point because I thought I wouldn't have anything to blog about. That may be. But, in the not so distant future when I am sitting on my hover couch watching Vh1's "I love the 00's" I want to say "I remember blogging. I totally did that!"

Srsly though. There are some blogs that I have found useful and interesting, so I will also try to be useful and interesting.* To further entice my reader(s) here are some topics that are in the works for Fibi the Wonder Dog blog:

Vaca Recaps
Boat floor replacement
Boat engine repair
Running / Lifting / Fitness in general
Wakeboarding achievements and injuries
Camping / Lakehouse Recaps
Fibi attack Recaps


*This blog is co-authored by Sabby, and Ribblette cannot be held responsible for the usefulness/interestingness of his blogs.