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Thursday, September 25, 2008

Music Builds Tour - 09/20/08

 
Jars of Clay opened, and sounded awesome.
 
As usual, Switchfoot mopped up.



Because they wouldn't allow us pictures with the band afterwards, I got a picture with the next best thing -- someone Stephen and I referred to as "Fake Jon Foreman."  This guy had us fooled once.


Third Day was there.


They told us to pull out our cameras and wave them-- I took a picture of it and liked it.



Then, everyone came back out.  Pretty awesome.


 
  
  
 
Stephen and Alison, great friends, and it was all because of Stephen that I was able to go.  THANKS MAN!!


I dont' have many pictures of them (or any at all, none of them turned out really well), but check out Robert Randalph and the Family Band.  They were PHENOMENAL.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Hunter's song from The Office


Remember that song Jan's previous secretary Hunter made for her? "That One Night?"


HERE IT IS.


It is now my ringtone!

Saturday, September 20, 2008

I'm A PC

From what I hear on the web, not a lot of people like this. But I don't think it's bad at all. It's pretty neat:


Wednesday, September 17, 2008

PYF Challenge Kickoff in Omaha - the Pictures! Pt. 1

It's taken way too long to get to this, but things have been really busy. Here are some snapshots from over the weekend:


My wardrobe (kind of).






What we received when we arrived at the hotel.






One of the coolest T-Shirts. Those FNBO people know me well. :-)






Their cool FNBO Direct shirt.





Part of the studio (featuring PT Money, Betsy, Teresa, Jean, Dave, and Pat)




More of the studio (with Betsy and Teresa again)





Some of the breakfast spread (my favorite: raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, and pineapple)




The awesome Betsy and Teresa





Me getting made up.





As you can tell, it was positively therapeutic.





Watch out ladies, you might stumble on this one.


Prep for the video interview.





Beth and me!






Pt and me!






The money shots.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

On our way home

Well, this past weekend has been beyond incredible. I haven't posted as many pictures as I would have liked, but we were busy from wake to sleep.

Right now Beth is in Dayton, OH (diverted from bad weather in Cleveland, OH), and I'm in Omaha, Nebraska, waiting for my plane to start boarding. Weather permitting, we're hopefully going to be home tonight, and if it's not too late I'll add some photos of the weekend.


I have had an amazing time, and can't wait to tell you guys about it.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Multimedia message

Random. A picture i found on my phone.

Multimedia message

On the set!

Multimedia message

We are here! Things have gone boarimg so far. Last night we had a big welcome reception, getting to meet the FNBO crew and fellow pyf challengers!

right now i am waiting to get made up!

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Who Mobile Blogs??

I do, now. I decided to try a little bit of blogger mobile out.

I don't know how much I'll be using it over the weekend, but I may here and there. I'm headed out to the airport in about 30 minutes!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Gearing Up

Well, Beth and I are putting the finishing touches on packing tonight, and we're heading out tomorrow for the PYF Challengea kickoff this weekend to be held in Omaha, Nebraska. We couldn't be more excited, and I can't wait to let you all know how it goes. I'll be sure to keep you posted as much as possible. I'm bringing my camera, so hopefully during downtime I can post some things here and there.

I can't wait!

Thoughts on the Eve of September 11

Warning: this has some profanity and sexual references (and by some I mean a crapload), but I think it fits:


Monday, September 8, 2008

FNBO PYF Challenge Press Release

Here's a press release announced today:

FNBO Direct Announces Semi-Finalists for the Pay Yourself First Challenge

Posted : Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:01:33 GMT
Author : NE-FNBO-DIRECT
Category : Press Release
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OMAHA, Neb. - (Business Wire) The search for Americas Pay Yourself First Challenge grand prize winner is one step closer to completion. Internet bank FNBO Direct, the sponsor of the Pay Yourself First Challenge, has selected 20 semi-finalists from across the United States. 150 entry videos were submitted by consumers hoping to take on the Challenge and save for a new home, for their retirement, or simply to build up an emergency fund. The Pay Yourself First Challenge is a nationwide contest that leverages the power of social media to inspire, motivate and educate the savings-challenged and the savings-savvy. FNBO Direct is the Internet bank of First National Bank of Omaha, a subsidiary of First National of Nebraska, Inc., the largest privately owned bank holding company in the U.S.

Interest in the Challenge from across the country has been phenomenal and were impressed by the wide variety of clever and creative videos we received, said Rajive Johri, President, First National Bank of Omaha. FNBO Direct obviously tapped in to something thats very important to Americans. Selecting the five finalists and the eventual grand prize winner will be difficult, said Johri. The top 20 contestants receive $500 in cash each; and the five finalists will have their savings matched dollar-for-dollar, up to $5,000.1 Check out all the video submissions through www.youtube.com/pyfchallenge.

FNBO Directs Pay Yourself First Challenge is dedicated to solving a problem many consumers face every day not saving enough. Month after month, consumers automatically deposit their earnings into checking accounts from which they pay their bills. Then, rather than save some of whats left over, the rest seems to vanish on impulse buys and morning coffees.

In the current economic environment, it takes more discipline than ever to save. If you are living paycheck to paycheck, you don't always have the flexibility to adequately cope. So, you may wind up pulling out your credit cards, only adding to your debt woes. Liz Pulliam Weston, the Internet's most-read personal finance columnist and co-host of the Pay Yourself First Challenge, offers these tips to help you save more:

Build up a cushion. Start with a goal of setting aside one weeks pay. After that, you may have other financial goals that take precedence for a while, such as paying off credit card debt. Once youre able, though, you should start building your emergency fund to equal at least three months worth of expenses.

Set your own limits. Some lenders will still let you borrow more than you can comfortably afford to repay, especially if you have good credit scores. So you need to draw the line on how much you borrow. Try to limit car loans to no more than four years; dont borrow more for an education than you expect to earn your first year out of school; and dont agree to a mortgage that eats up more than 30 percent of your income. If youre carrying credit card debt, pay it offyou may need access to that credit in an emergency.

Improve and protect your credit scores. More so than even before, these three-digit numbers are the ticket to credit at affordable rates. Three keys for improving your scores: Pay your bills on time, all the time; pay down your credit card debt and use no more than 30 percent of your credit limits at any given time; dont let disputes or unpaid medical bills wind up in collections if you can possibly avoid it.

Start saving today. Theres no time like the present to get started on your savings goals. The peace of mind you get from a nice stash of cash, tucked away in your FNBO Direct Online Savings Account, is enormous. Once you have started to build your savings you'll never go back to your old living-on-the-edge way of life.

Let the Challenge begin!

The top five finalists for the Challenge will be selected this month and will embark on their savings journey, which will be documented in real-time at http://www.pyfchallenge.com, starting in October 2008. After working hard for six months to build a savings balance, the grand prize winner and a guest will be whisked away to a luxurious spa destination to restore his or her personal balance.2 Learn more about the FNBO Direct Pay Yourself First Challenge at www.pyfchallenge.com.

About FNBO Direct

FNBO Direct (http://www.fnbodirect.com) is an Internet bank that offers consumers innovative online banking products. FNBO Direct is part of First National Bank of Omaha, a subsidiary of First National of Nebraska, Inc. First National of Nebraska has grown into the largest privately owned banking company in the United States. This all-American bank celebrated 150 years of banking excellence and innovation with a recent nod in Computerworlds annual survey, ranking it among the top places to work for IT professionals.3 First National and its affiliates have $21 billion in managed assets and more than 8,000 employee associates located in 35 states. Primary banking offices are located in Nebraska, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota and Texas.

Copyright © 2008 First National Bank of Omaha. All Rights Reserved. Online Savings Accounts offered by First National Bank of Omaha, Member FDIC. Deposits are insured to the maximum permitted by law.

1 FNBO Direct will match what each finalist saves, up to a maximum of $5,000 per finalist. See Official Rules for details at http://www.pyfchallenge.com/officialrules/

2 The Grand Prize winner will receive an all-expense paid vacation, worth up to $7,500. See Official Rules for details at http://www.pyfchallenge.com/officialrules/

3 Computerworld Annual Survey (2007). 100 Best Places to Work in IT- http://www.computerworld.com/ action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9024364

(Due to its length, this URL may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser's address field. Remove the extra space if one exists.)

For FNBO Direct
Kristin Jones, 402-334-2948
kristin@jonespr.net
or
First National Bank of Omaha
Kevin Langin, 402-633-3541
klangin@fnni.com

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Neat Quote from J.J. Abrams

AVC: If you look at a lot of the TV and movies you've been involved with, like Cloverfield or Lost or nowFringe, you seem to be trying as hard as you can for as long as you can not to reveal the trick.

JA: I think that that's partially true. Like with Cloverfield, the whole idea with the marketing and the quick release was for people to have an experience as it happened, instead of pre-experiencing it by reading all about it. But I feel like withFringe, the mandate is to try to do something week-to-week that's a procedural like CSI, but a skewed procedural, that's as creepy as humanly possible. While with Lost, on the one hand, it is a show that seems to duck answering questions. At the end of the pilot, you have Charlie asking "Where are we?", and that's something the audience still wants to find out. But week-to-week, that show answers a lot of questions, just not always the ones people feel are the ones that matter.

I think that even if you're wondering if two characters are ever going to kiss, drawing out the inevitability is part of the fun. Whatever the genre happens to be. Now in a movie, you get all the answers by the end, except in Pulp Fiction, where you don't ever really get to know what's in that case. But even in movies—a great example is North By Northwest, where you don't really know what the microfilm is, but who cares? By the end of the movie, the answer that you get is not really the answer that you thought you wanted to know. The answer you get is: "Oh, they're in love, and now they're married, and these were the circumstances that led up to that. They almost died a number of times, but they survived and they found each other," I feel like in telling stories, there are the things the audience thinks are important, and then there are the things that are actually important.

Monday, September 1, 2008

I HAVE EARTH-SHATTERING NEWS---- that I will reveal in the future

Anybody remember this from a week or so ago? There was this big hooplah about bigfoot being found, and then it ended up turning into nothing:


ATLANTA (AP) - Turns out Bigfoot was just a rubber suit. Two researchers on a quest to prove the existence of Bigfoot say that the carcass encased in a block of ice - handed over to them for an undisclosed sum by two men who claimed to have found it - was slowly thawed out, and discovered to be a rubber gorilla outfit.

The revelation comes just days after a much ballyhooed news conference was held in California to proclaim that the remains of the creature were found in the North Georgia mountains was the legendary man-ape.

Steve Kulls, executive director of squatchdetective.com and host of Squatchdetective Radio, says in a posting on a Web site run by Bigfoot researcher Tom Biscardi that as the "evidence" was thawed, the claim began to unravel as a giant hoax.

First, the hair sample was burned and "melted into a ball uncharacteristic of hair," Kulls said in the pThe thawing process was sped up and the exposed head was found to be "unusually hollow in one small section." An hour of thawing later and the feet were exposed - and they were found to be made of rubber.

Matt Whitton, an officer who has been on medical leave from the Clayton County Police Department, and Rick Dyer, a former Georgia corrections officer, announced the find in early July on YouTube videos and a Web site.

"Everyone who has talked down to us is going to eat their words," Whitton said at the time.

Phone calls to Whitton and Dyer went unreturned on Tuesday. But the voicemail recording for their Bigfoot Tip Line - which proclaims they search for leprechauns and the Loch Ness monster - has been updated and announcing they're also in search of "big cats and dinosaurs. If you see any of those, give us a call."

On Tuesday, Clayton County Police Chief Jeff Turner said he has not spoken to Whitton but processed paperwork to fire him.

"Once he perpetrated a fraud, that goes into his credibility and integrity," Turner said. "He has violated the duty of a police officer."



From the very beginning, I expected this to be a sham. For a few reasons, not counting the one about bigfoot probably not existing at all (although I'm just going to assume here that there is a such thing--you never know).

  • The pictures they released of bigfoot:

.

What IS this?? If I had legitimately found bigfoot, or something incredibly important like a legendary-but-not-yet-proven creature roaming the forests of North America (in this case, Northeast Georgia), I would have taken some extensive, clear photos. These are just ridiculous. What do they show?



But perhaps the biggest thing that they did that almost convinced me it was some sort of scam....


  • They announced their findings, but then said they would hold a press conference in the next few days.
I could not believe this. If I had news that could potentially be earth-shattering, changing our entire way of thinking in some areas, there is no way I would put off some sort of information in my discovery. If there was some sort of major discovery, it makes no sense to wait to announce it. Granted, they did announce a discovery, but to give no more than that and a few pictures is just ridiculous.

Like I said, it's only bigfoot, but that's still a big deal. It changes some of our assumptions in science. Why would we hold back on information if we were 100% confident and truthful in the evidence we had.