I used that title just to entice all of you RSS subscribers who read the other blog. I actually don't have anything really curious to say about 37below. I can't confirm or deny any rumors about the future of 37below, whether it will be discontinued again and eventually rise as 36below, or whether I'll really truly finally have that line of winter weather wear I've been hoping for. BUT - I will say that no matter how many blogs I write (or don't) I hope none of them ever go out on a mayonnaise post.

And mayonnaise makes me think of Disney. Not because everything makes me think of Disney (some things make me think of food) but because I appreciate the attention to detail that Disney puts in everything they do. Often times that attention goes unnoticed, but they know that someone will "get it" - like hidden mickeys put into the theming of various rides and shows. So when I create a category on the blog called "Sandwich Spreads" my hope is at least one person notices and smiles. Of course, one person might be 16% of the total readership, and that may be a lot to hope for, but then again my elbow hurts because I've been spending too much time practicing the javelin. Come what may, I want to thank everyone for all of the reading, support and comments over the last few years - yes, even you Mr. I Like Your Site Buy Viagra Now.

Posted by Carl at 7:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

In a futile effort to reach my health insurance deductible I've visited my doctor multiple times in the last couple of months. The visits usually unfolded in the same way:

1. Weigh in. Sigh.
2. Blood pressure check. Sigh.
3. Medication review. Blank look.
4. Doctor finally comes in, asks "How are you?" to which I say "Fine." (D'oh!)

The recent complaints have been centered on my right knee and right elbow. You might think there's only a 50% chance of injuring stuff on the same side of your body, but it turns out this is extremely efficient. Particularly if you can hurt the same side of your body that you use most often.

The pain that I've been experiencing in my knee is something called "Jumpers Knee." It's called that because it's usually associated with people who jump a lot. I, of course, avoid jumping whenever possible - so getting jumpers knee is a form of cosmic irony. The first round of treatment involves avoiding jumping, or running, or pole-vaulting (really, all of the things I enjoy most.) I'm suppose to take an anti-inflammation something or other but not too much as that will cause stomach problems. And, lastly, I'm supposed to put something cold on my knee until the swelling goes down or the knee goes numb or I can't stand.

The second pain, which as I said I've cleverly coordinated with the jumpers knee, is "Tennis Elbow." This condition is called that because it's normally associated with people who play too much tennis, or engage in too much javelin throwing. The first round of treatment is to avoid anything that requires use of your arm. Plus, take some ibuprofen (not too much or it might cause stomach problems) and put ice on it until your arm flops at your side like a dead mackerel.

None of this is intended to be whiny, by the way - I just wanted to update everyone and the Facebook status thing only gives you so many characters. Trying to keep up with the consulting and the AccuWeather Top Secret Projects I'm Not Allowed To Blog About Because It Would Give The Competitors A Huge Advantage is a bit challenging, particularly when I'm spending so much of my time leaping and hurling the discus. But, you know, the Olympics are coming up and it's hard not to get caught up in all of the hysteria.

On the positive side, only $2,417 more dollars until I hit my deductible. And it's only July!

Posted by Carl at 7:42 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

That sound you hear is the pencil sharpeners of a million lawyers...

Posted by Carl at 7:42 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I've seen this commercial at least three times, and each time it's stirred the kind of animosity towards the advertiser that historically has been reserved for the "Where's Herb?" campaign. I would explain the commercial, but will save myself the agony and just replay it here, thereby rewarding Domino's Pizza for aggravating me so:

The reason this commercial irks me so much is because don't understand why Domino's is delivering pizza to a sadistic, homicidal maniac. And who is chasing the pizza delivery person? Is it the Joker's henchmen? If so, why would the Joker try to steal his own pizza? Just irritating. Domino's could have avoided the whole associating-with-true-evil thing by delivering a big pepperoni deep dish to the bat cave or something.

Posted by Carl at 12:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I never know if that's Goings On or Going Ons. The latter sounds pretty silly so we'll go with Goings On.

Besides the normal every day personal trials and travails that everyone has to deal with and I won't bore you with here, I've been busy with a full load of consulting work in addition to my AccuWeather work. I really need to update the portfolio - or at least my home page - but here's a little of what I've been working on:

State College Evangelical Free Church
This is our church, and I've been working on a new website for a while now. I've had a lot of organizational help from the church, and a capable hand has leant some much needed assistance with the podcasting/mp3s in the messages section. Like all websites it's a work in progress and will continue to grow over the coming months. I'm actually thinking about creating a Facebook tie-in but for now that's on the wish list. Speaking of Facebook, Alert Reader and Sometime Computer Geek/Social Networking Empress Tammy (who may or may not be my wife) actually has a Facebook page! Feel free to add her to your friends list, and leave a message on her "wall." You should be able to find her here.

No Kidding, Me Too!
No Kidding, Me Too! is a nonprofit organization comprised of entertainment industry members designed to educate Americans about mental health issues. It was founded by actor Joe Pantoliano, who has been in a billion (with a "B") movies and television shows. I liked him best as "Cypher" in The Matrix who was (minor spoiler coming look away before it's too late oh no) the baddie on the crew of the Nostromo. MSNBC did a great interview with him here that explains why he's involved in this particular area. I designed the site for the Artemis Group (another agency designed the logo.)

PSU Medieval Technology and American History
I worked with the Artemis Group on this project as well - Penn State received a grant from the NEH as part of the We the People initiative. The site was selected for inclusion on the NEH list of the best online resources for education in the humanities, which is very cool. To put this in perspective, not one ninja made the list, and ninjas are very dangerous, particularly when roused or needled about their garb.

Posted by Carl at 11:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

If you're a fan of Joss Whedon, Neil Patrick Harris, or musical super villain blogging stories, you owe it to yourself to check out Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. I guarenteee you may even be humming after the first or second episode. The entire thing is free until Sunday, I think, at which point it will be for sale (it's already on sale on iTunes for $3.99 for all three episodes via a "season pass.")

Article on the show from the SF Gate.

Posted by Carl at 9:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

For a paltry $3.5 Billion (with a B.) So reports the NY Times. If I was a giant media property, say someone who rhymed with "Bisney," I'd be looking at other weather companies to acquire. Or, more precisely, go on a Blog buying spree, starting with heroes who blog, blogging heroes, bloggers who are of heroic proportions, etc.

Posted by Carl at 10:49 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend. The weekend here at the Schaad Ranch* was exciting. Not exciting like fighting off a hungry bear while covered in honey exciting, but still eventful.

I realized today that I worked all weekend (Thursday night - Sunday morning) on my consulting biz and didn't really earn anything. I was "catching up" on some odds and ends and pro bono work. I actually sandwiched my work around reading "Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life." For some reason that seems either extremely pathetic or extremely dysfunctional. That's not to say that the work I did this weekend wasn't important or valuable. It's just that sometimes it gets to be tiring.

(So far I have to say that "Boundaries" is a good read. I'll let you know if it's life-changing or not.)

I spent some time playing with my camera, an awesome Nikon D70 that I received as a gift from my father-in-law. It's the sort of thing I've always wanted but never thought I would spend money on mostly because of the Schaad Prime Directive, which says we can only buy the second least-expensive type of anything. (For example, let's say that the Schaads need a garden hose. Now, most families would probably spend time researching garden hoses in order to find a quality brand that is a good value and will last a long time, maybe never needing to be replaced. Not us. We will go right to Lowe's and find the least expensive garden hose, which is probably $9.96 and made in the Ukraine by cave gnomes, and then cleverly buy the hose that is slightly more expensive ($9.98). We realize that if we buy the least expensive hose it will be our fault when it unravels like three hundred-year-old yarn. But if the second least-expensive hose unravels like three hundred-year-old yarn well, then we'll be properly outraged.)

So I could never buy a digital SLR camera, unless it was made out of yarn by cave gnomes from the Ukraine. But I've always wanted a nice camera I could use and it's been wonderful. I borrowed a tripod from a friend at AccuWeather (Nick the Camera Genius) and set up a photo shoot with some LEGOs.

The first thing I realized is that a nice camera can make even a rank amateur look pretty good. Since I don't rise to the level of rank amateur, the second thing I realized is that Photoshop can make even an unrank amateur look like a rank amateur. But it's a lot of fun learning. The photo above shows Jar Jar Binks getting robbed by a clone trooper. In the background, another clone trooper is trying to rob a giant lizard. The giant lizard probably has more money on him than Jar Jar, but clone troopers aren't particularly bright, especially clone troopers that rove in bands looking for aliens to rob.

Here's another shot. This is Professor Snape right before two clone troopers jumped out and robbed him:

There are more but I'll spare you. It's tricky setting up a shot - you have to create some sort of neutral background, get the lighting right and then, when you're ready to take the shot, your daughter comes in and bumps the table and all of the LEGO guys fall over. I have about eight shots of LEGOs lying on their sides like turtles unable to flip themselves aright. Well, okay, they're LEGOs and they can't move but you know what I mean.

Finally, by way of the holiday weekend update, carlschaad.com disappeared for some time. I'm not exactly sure how long I was gone, but I checked yesterday and Network Solutions was kind enough to replace my site with a notice that my domain had been suspended. For a brief moment I felt panic, until I realized that no one probably even noticed, and then I felt curiously calm - like this was an opportunity to make a break. I could just let the domain name go and be off the grid. Then I remembered the AccuWeather blog, and the Facebook page, and the Google cache, and Ukrainian MySpace page, and decided that I couldn't run away. When I looked into the problem I found out that my Network Solutions email address was an Earthlink address, which I last used three ISPs ago in 1992. Thankfully my web host, which is NOT made out of yarn, was able to save my bacon and the site is back up.

*We don't really have a ranch, or really any cattle, or horses, or bales of hay, but we do have a cat and sometimes tumbleweeds blow through our yard.

Posted by Carl at 9:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

*I know you're probably not supposed to say "Mostest Odd" but I wanted to anyway, sorry.

I have a web visitors/statistics service installed that gives me basic information about people visiting Blog Hero. I frankly don't understand it. I haven't really spent a lot of time analyzing the data I get from different sources, so when something comes over the ol' RSS reader like this I'm pretty much at a loss:

That may be the weirdest visit I've ever had. You'll note that not only is this person apparently visiting from Tehran, Iran (can you even DO that in Tehran, Iran?) but they're checking out the Aliens/Bigfoot/Elvis topic page. (Mind you, that's a great bunch of articles.) The most recent article there is about Galactic Freedom Day, so perhaps this is some pro-freedom minded Iranian searching for information via Google on freedom. That would be very said, as I could see him getting into my blog, which has almost no useful information about anything, let alone freedom, and then he'd be discovered by some Internet Police Group and hauled away. Let's hope that doesn't happen.

If you would have told me in college that I would one day "write regularly" and that people all over the world would read it, I would have said two things to you:

1. You're completely insane (And you probably were)
and
2. Will that pay well (It doesn't)

Still, it's interesting... mostestly.

Posted by Carl at 10:28 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)