Brainwaves of Sken

Congrats should go out to Dominos for the most honest assessment of their crappy product in a commercial.

While I haven’t tried their new pizza, I have to say that both the criticisms they’re addressing AND the flavor notes they mention when talking about their new pizza hit precisely how I have felt about pizza and what I feel it should be. Frankly, there were times I’d be eating dominos and look up at my pizza clock, wondering if it tasted better.

I think I’m willing to give it a shot again.

Check out their hugely self-deprecating video: http://www.pizzaturnaround.com/

I guess they took two years to recreate their product from scratch. With that kind of all-hands full-stop effort, you can’t just make another ad that says “Now new and improved!” – it’ll get buried. This is what I would call original marketing – congrats should also go to their ad agency.

EDIT: Hahaha, “Is that pizza, or did an angel just give birth in my mouth?”

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I need to make friends that live closer than 15-20 miles away (or ones who love to travel) so that I can wake up on a saturday and say “Who wants to meet me for lunch at this new place across the street I’ve never been to?” and get a response. :D

What are you all doing this lovely bright and snowy weekend?

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So I thought I’d do another year-in-review. I haven’t done this on LJ in like five years or so, but I used to do it every year (link is on the right for those who like to look way back). I do it mostly for me, because I don’t want to troll through my entire LJ every time I want to find something I wrote or linked to that I thought was worthwhile.

Some of the posts referred to are locked, though they are probably just friend-locked, so, there you go.

Let’s see:
January
Start and completely fail to continue a trial gym membership.
Auto show overload
My favorite moments with friends
In which I post 10 random things about myself AND photos of my hot girlfriend

February
Merely days later, I ask Lucy to marry me. Coincidence? I think not!
I win an award for my work, and Lucy starts the Epic Journey of Clover, the Dachshund of Doom.
I post at length about my favorite geek fantasy of all time.

March
Winter, begone!
I visit Lucy in North Branch, MI (not much of a post, but an important time nonetheless).
In which I refer to the Great Bloodletting of 2009.
What it means to me to be over 30.
Jane McGonigal dresses as a Katamari. Yes, that’s important to me.
“There is nowhere to start from, not even the unity of the human condition.”

April
Questions from the masses
“It’s not a virtue to be easily persuaded by people” – one of my favorite videos
The intersection of Fiction, Journalism and Advertising
Amazon apologizes for being douchy
More Q & A’s including “Am I a grownup?
A really sweet late-april day
The problem with being hyper-concerned with “what is fair” (which I think many of my easily-outraged friends should read)

May
Penguicon photos, plus guild drama (now f-locked)
“Enlightenment is knowing the joke so well, you don’t even have to say it” (another favorite video)
NEW COMPUTER DAY
karaoke songs I like to sing (plus We discover The Inn Place!) (plus highlights)
Penguicon hand-off and chili-cheese musings
Jer eats weird things, news at 11

June
“Well you just laughed it off, it was all OK.”
Adam Savage talks about the importance of failure
A genuine question regarding God
Photos of the new 3000+ ft suite at work! Also other rambling
Teresa goes missing
Lucy and I start our Great Summer Roadtrip (and I summarize why it was awesome here)

July
Futurism gone awry – what did authors get wrong?
Engagement party photos! Also, my tire go splode.
“Life is good.”
Mary Louise Parker writes an Ode to Men
Scientific Method or go home.
89x morning show implodes over search for The Dark Pooper
… But more interestingly than that, a ragged band of bloggers from all walks of life has, to my mind, done a better job of subjecting an entire industry’s claims to meaningful, public, scientific scrutiny than the media, the industry itself, and even its own regulator.
#selfportraitfriday

August
“If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”
The best conversation-in-comments my journal has seen this year.
Some dude tries to add me on Facebook. I get annoyed.
“I’d like someone, anyone, to explain to me how my culture reached a position where a public entertainment company can be criticized for failing to contribute to the moral decay of the land, and that the criticism would be taken seriously, and the company would cringe and promise to do better.”
Construct, the new convention, quick review
Dramatic titling of a post about torture that gets me in trouble with my fiancee
Construct photos!
Ted Kennedy dies
I attend the groundbreaking of a new production/teaching studio in Allen Park

September (man these things take a long time to put together, I should post less)
Hackerspaces and i3detroit
I drool all over my blazingly fast computer, and neglect talking about how it shuts down if I stand up too fast
“But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities.”
Ahh, I’ve now discovered that my computer explodes at random
“When people believe they have absolute knowledge with no testing reality, this is how the behave.” One of my all-time favorite (brief) videos on science, and on what is and is not dehumanizing. (Second favorite is A Glorious Dawn, with Sagan)
Eidos takes a master-stroke at defeating piracy
May an intervention be staged on the day I believe I truly deserve the advantages I have been given.
A poll on how people converse: passively, actively, aggressively.
In which I post about Aspartame, and find I’m mistaken

October
Glenn Beck foams at the mouth because he can’t deny someone the liberty he espouses to hold dear
Boobs cure cancer (A very important post brought to you by Cdawg)
IllDoctrine totally “gets” the Roman Polanski mess, and I go on yet again about the Rule of Law.
Messed up my back pt 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
National Coming Out Day
BW3 does me a solid
On being an apologist for men
I make a gift list public for the first time in, like, ever.
I get my first blood test results in, like, ever
On H1N1, the real deal
Outrage vs ignoring bullies
I get mushy about my sweetie (can you tell I’m kind of sick of this list?)
“1001 rules for my unborn son

November
I joined a gym, and this is how it’s working out so far
A meme about posting uplifting things that I’d like to recall later :)
“It’s okay if I literally destroy marriage by getting a divorce, but it is wrong to perpetuate a family unit with someone of the same gender.”
On being particular with words. Also, today can DIAF.
I had over some girls and we played games, and it was really, really good.
The best casemods for a vid-head like me, ever
Weird, shitty dreams
Plausible Deniability. You’re doing it wrong. (Psalm 109 merch)
The H-bomb Personality, which stirs up lots of fun!
The Skennedy in a nutshell

December (finally!)
Introducing Sugru, which I subsequently buy!
Debunking counterclaims to Global Warming
“Bro” vs the N word
Lucy flips out ’cause of the board exam, and I sympathize mightily
Drinking the Google Kool-Aid
How do you feel about privacy? Do you hold it closely or let it go, and how much do you think it matters today?
Nice Guys vs nice guys redux. Bonus: Caledonia
Best Flash games review – stuff I like!
People on LJ you should be reading
Where I struggle with video codecs and completely lose my audience
Struggling with Other People’s Problems
“If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.
Deep thoughts on Christmas and how good I have it
First video with my new camera!
RIP Omar
The BMI slideshow, and how messed up the BMI index is for judging health

Oh also, Happy New Year, folks :)

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Tags: yearly summary

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My mom and I have always done the most important family stuff on Christmas Eve. That’s the evening for games, and chili (spaghetti this year), opening one small gift, and otherwise laughing it up. Not that Christmas Day isn’t awesome, but that is our day to sort of veg out and do our own thing in each other’s company.

Of course, we sometimes have guests – either a girlfriend of mine, the neighbor or, often, a friend of mine that is in the neighborhood or makes the drive out to Berkley for a visit. That’s always wonderful, and my mom makes enough chili for an army, anyway.

This Christmas Eve I woke up next to my beautiful fiancee, who I did not want to let go of, even though I’ll see her in a few more days. She headed off to Cleveland, and I had a lovely afternoon with Anne, who went out to lunch and did a little last-minute shopping with me.

I’m about to pack things up and head to my mom’s place for the afternoon, and I’ll hit up an open house later this evening. I’ve been listening to a christmas playlist I made on youtube, and thinking about the many times in my life that my friends have been there for me in a big way.

Whether it was just taking me out to celebrate, or helping me move in an emergency, I have, in my adult life, had the luxury of many close friends. They tell me that they love me, they listen to my endlessly long stories, they laugh at my crappy puns.

I lead a happy, joyous life, and you friends are a huge part of that. I am so lucky, it sometimes makes me want to cry. I love you. Merry Christmas.

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This is really entertaining. At least to me. :)

“We have to rethink the fundamental principles on which we are educating our children.”

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