Day 33

Ok, now this is where it starts to get difficult. Well, difficult to remember what day I'm on. You see, in July, I just added one to the date and I had my number. Now I'll just have to remember. Wish me luck.

Before I go any further, I want to thank each and every one of you for reading. I sincerely appreciate it. And now I appreciate it in my wallet. According to AdSense, enough people saw and clicked on ads to get me $2.48 yesterday! Hooray! They will only send me a check when it gets over $100, so I'll let you know when that happens.

Also, a quick not about yesterday awesomosity. I neglected to tell you about a few things regarding my bro. He is also awesome to 8th graders at Westminster and the wrestling team there where he is coach (they had their first state champ last year! And undefeated too!) He is also awesome to his wife, Adrianne and his three children. Our parents and both Big and Little Grandma like him too. That was just to accentuate his awesomeness (now, don't let it all go to your head Tim).

Ok, on to today's awesomosity. I almost made it the dentist I saw this morning, but really, even on the best dental visit ever, dentists will probably never make my awesomosity. But I did have a good checkup (no cavities!!)

Well then, if it's not the dentist, what could it ever be?!?!? HD Radio.

My new HD Radio tuner in my truck

As you can see, I have finally replaced the silence (ok, so my truck is pretty loud even without a stereo, just call me while I'm driving) with a new radio my parents bought me for my birthday that was last month. It's totally awesome. As you can see, it has an HD tuner built in, is satellite ready, will play my iPod (when I get the adapter in later today), and of course, plays CDs (mp3s and other such stuff too.)

The coolest thing to me is the HD radio. I know you have all heard the ads for it and are probably wondering, what's that all about (even if you weren't, I'm gonna tell you anyway)? HD radio allows FM stations to have CD quality sound, and lets AM stations be in stereo and sound like normal FM stations. It's pretty cool. The even better part is that they can have more than one station (here's a list of St. Louis' HD stations and what they broadcast). So, say, The Point has their normal station, but they also have a sweet other station that plays mostly the same artists, but more of the stuff you don't hear, some of which is pretty freakin' cool. Then, say, a station like Y98 has another station called "Chillin 98" (at least that's what the text on my radio says) and they play these cool, chillin songs. It also allows stations to branch out a little from their normal format. So, KSHE has another station that plays "KSHE classics" that my dad will LOVE, but they also have a third station that plays "country variety". Yes. I just said the KSHE, the Rock of St. Louis, has an HD station that plays coutnry variety. It sucks, but it's pretty cool at the same time, no?

So, feel free to come hang out with me sometime, I'll drive (after undoing the passenger padlock) and you can check out all the cool HD stations and whatnot. Pretty sweet, if you ask me.

So, HD radio is awesome today, what do you find awesome today?

By the way, there is a new poll up, so vote. Also, I have a search bar, so if something I write sparks some interest, use that (yes, I get paid for that too, at least, I think I do).

Here's the awesome picture of the day, taken just after they made my teeth sparkle:

Day 25

25 Days! Thats a quarter of 100 days, which is just over a quarter of a year, so, if my math is right, I'm like a 16th or so through the year!

Vote in my poll and comment on my posts. Please.

All right. Yesterday I had a pretty good idea of what todays aweomosity would be, and I was totally right. You see, as some of you know, I had a movie I helped make premiere at the St. Louis Filmmaker's Showcase last night at the Tivoli. And it was awesome. My film specifically, but the whole contest was awesome too. I was able to get a few of my friends to come see it, Ben and Erin Shepard. And they can back me up on what I'm going to do next. See, there were 16 shorts in this viewing, all comedies (well, all labeled as comedies), so I'm gonna give a one sentence review of all 16 (in alphabetical order so as to not show preference). So, here goes:

101 Damnations - Good quality film, good acting, somewhat funny, deserved to make the showcase.

Coffee - Good film that portrays a conversation between a father and son that work together; funny and well-made.

Dog Park - Animated short about dogs that was cute. Not funny, but entertaining.

The Doubtful Martyr - Easily got the most laughs of the night, very funny and well-made; special kudos to the Director of Photography (Ok, so this was my film, but most of what I just wrote was true).

Flapjacked - Odd film, I think about the downfall of art and commercialism in America, odd.

Four Squares - Mockumentary that could have been the best film of the night were it not for the noticeably bad quality

Gus Over Easy - wierd movie about a guy with sunny-side up eggs for ears. Seriously.

Lunchbreak - One of my favorites, though it did have quite a bit of foul language, but a guy died a rather gruesome death.

The Nightly Potato, Episode 5 - This is apparently an ongoing short film. This was computer animated debate between Clinton and Obama, also starring Tom Brokaw and the late Tim Russert, the only film that may have gotten more laughs than TDM.

Scalpel - No. This should have never been made, much less put in this contest.

Sugar - Easily the most professionally produced and expensive film of the night (they had Nat King Cole music in it, plus a lot of choreography, and I think they shot on actual film) very good, probably the "winner". I think Matt Wertz (the Christian singer) was involved.

This Really Happened - True story of an interview where the interviewer whooped out her boobs and started breastfeeding during the interview. Uncomfortable.

Three Days, Spencer - Wierd story of a troubled middle-schooler failing a grade for not speaking, then rips everyone a new one. Not great.

Tuesday - Winner of oddest of the night, this guy is just going through the motions until one Tuesday, he is suddenly surrounded, followed and befriended by lots and lots of pink flamingo yard things. Really wierd and not that good.

Two Fine Gentlemen Find a Dollar - Why are all these so wierd? It had its funny moments, I suppose.

The Ugly Turkey - Animated story of the plight of an ugly turkey, started the night off with some good laughs.

So, now that I have bored you with reviews of movies you will never see (except for the Doubtful Martyr, I have DVDs and will be happy to show anyone this awesomeness), I guess I'll just show you my picture of the day. Actually, today you get two, one was from yesterday, on the roof of an inspection, then todays in my folks basement.

Thanks for reading, I appreciate it, talk to you all soon!!

Day 24

I can't believe (I before E, except after C...) I've made it this far! Go me! Don't forget to vote in the poll!!

For today's awesomeness, I'm gonna pull one out that I've been saving for a little while. You see, my family is pretty tight. I mean, we all get along fairly well and hang out regularly. Our most regular get togethers are family dinners, which we try to do once a week. This is challenging a lot of the time since my mother works a lot of late hours, both grandmas try to make it, I'm busy as all get out, and my brother and his wife have three kids. Organizing a time that works for all of us is a bit difficult most of the time. So, when we do get us all together for a meal, time is of the essence and meal preparation is usually done in advance. Except for some small things, which can be done quickly. Which leads me to the awesomeness of the day; the way my mother cuts up a watermelon.

I know what you're thinking, "But Ben, you said something that is done quickly. Who ever heard of a quick way to cut up a watermelon?" I know. Watermelon cubing takes forever, unless you're my mother (who learned this trick from a co-worker, Laura Calys). My momma took a fair sized watermelon from oval to cubes in under 4 minutes. I'm serious. So, I thought I would share with you how it was done, because it's awesome!

First, you cut the watermelon in half, right down the middle. Then you cut the halves in half (or quarter the watemelon for those keeping track). Once you have four quarters, take one and slice the knive between the goodness and the rind from both sides. Then you make 3-4 slices horizontal on each side. Then you cut straight down from the top and: voila! cubed watermelon!

For those that have no clue what I just said, here are some pictures, taken from here:

I know! It's amazing! Awesome even! And it takes like no time at all!

So, you want some watermelon, but you don't want cubes, right? Well, here is a link to Wikihow that shows another way to cut a watermelon. At the bottom of the page, there are several more links on how to do more fun stuff with watermelon, like a watermelon basket, or cutting a watermelon to look like a swan and stuff like that.

If you are just interested in everything watermelon (who isn't, really?) visit www.watermelon.org. Yes, watermelons have a website. What a crazy world we live in!

I hoep you enjoyed the post, even if it is slightly recycled material. Let me know what you think with a comment. By the way, I'm gonna put some tags into this post to see if more people come to visit me. (I've been getting 15-40 visitors a day for a while now, in case you were interested.)

Here's my picture of the day, taken with my wonderful father in his basement; come back tomorrow and see what's awesome! (I already have an idea what it's going to be, and it really is awesome!)