Vonage V-Phone

I use Vonage at home. I really like it....and it's really saved us some money.

The other day, I was checking out the new available products on their website and saw this.

It's the V-Phone....

This thing is pretty cool, it plugs into your laptop's USB port and it comes pre-loaded with their Vonage Talk software already installed. This turns your laptop into a phone!

Also included is an ear-piece microphone.

The V-Phone also acts as a 250MB thumb drive.

Pretty cool, huh?

More Than Meets the Eye

This is about a week or more late to my blog....

BUT, did you see the teaser trailer for the TRANSFORMERS MOVIE???

It's directed by Michael Bay, so we can expect some stuff to get blown up....that's for sure!

Super Chicken

A friend of mine and I were talking today at lunch about Super Chicken....do you remember that cartoon?

Here's the intro....



From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Super Chicken was a cartoon produced by Jay Ward and Bill Scott, who earlier had created the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons. It ran with George of the Jungle and Tom Slick (cartoon) on ABC TV on Saturday Mornings from the late 1960s to the early 1970s.

Super Chicken (voiced by Bill Scott) and his lion sidekick Fred would usually begin their adventures with the battlecry that went something like: "Quick, Fred, to the Super Coop."

His secret identity was well to do Henry Cabot Henhouse III; Fred acted as his butler/servant, etc. But when danger reared its ugly head, he would take his "Super Sauce" (often from a martini glass) and don his "Super Suit," which consisted of a plumed cavalier's hat, cape, Wellington boots, mask and a sword.

The cartoon had several running gags, including:

• The "Super Sauce" apparently either tasted really bad or packed quite a punch when it kicked in, as Henry would have a violent reaction moments after drinking it, nearly always stopping in mid-sentence to cluck loudly as the reaction hit him.
• Fred would often ask Super Chicken why he didn't use his "super-vision", to which Super-Chicken would respond with something to the effect of "If I had any supervision, do you think I'd be running around dressed like this?"
• In the course of a plan to defeat the bad guys, Super Chicken would suggest something dangerous for Fred's part, which Fred would be reluctant to carry out. When Fred voiced his reluctance, Super Chicken always reminded him, "You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred!"

Ahhhh, those were the days!! I wish they made cartoons like that these days!

New CROCS

By now we've all seen Crocs (either the real ones or rip offs).

You know, they're those funky looking gardening shoes, also nurses have been seen wearing `em too!

So I went to their website and saw that they now make sandals....

You've gotta check these bad boys out!

Lipstick Pepper Spray

Ladies! Here's a new defensive tool to add to your arsenal.

Lipstick Pepper Spray

It looks like a regular tube of lipstick (which by the way, comes in five colors), but it contains 5, one-second bursts and sprays up to 6 feet.

At only $13, it's a pretty good deal, especially when your personal safety is involved.

USA! USA! USA!

Stephen Colbert says that we're Co-Champions of the World Cup!

from the Colbert Report on Comedy Central

FREE Slurpee Day!

Today 7-Eleven is offering FREE SLURPEE's to celebrate their 79th birthday!!

You have to go into the store and ask for the cup, and they give you a 7.11 ounce cup (get it?) for you to fill with your favorite Slurpee flavor!!

WHOOO HOOO SLURPEE's!

Dallas Hospital Plans to Bill Mexico

Taken from the Washington Times.com

By Hugh Aynesworth
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published July 9, 2006

DALLAS -- Parkland Memorial Hospital plans to bill Mexico and other countries to help cover the costs of health care for indigents.

The plan, which also seeks payments from adjoining counties in Texas, has brought a negative response from the Mexican government, with a diplomat terming it "an act of discrimination."

Last year, hospital officials said, Dallas County spent $76.5 million to treat people from outside Dallas. Of that, almost $27 million was not reimbursed.

Much of the cost was for treating patients from adjoining counties in Texas, which Dallas County officials claim is unfair to local taxpayers.

Collin County, just north of here and one of the state's richest counties, owed the most of any single entity, Parkland officials said -- about $7.6 million.

County Judge Margaret Keliher said she was not hopeful that other counties -- or countries -- would pay up.

But, she said, the county commission thought the matter should be made public and bills sent.

"If you're not Dallas County residents, we think where you are from should pay for your indigent health care," Judge Keliher said.

Hugo Juarez, a consul official at the Mexican Consulate in Dallas, was visibly perturbed.

He called the statements made by the judge "a strange posture, a strange reasoning." He said there had been no agreement or contract between his nation and Dallas County that would make such action legal.

Lobbyists and county officials last year tried unsuccessfully to get the Texas Legislature to come up with a law that forced counties to reimburse those hospitals that took in large numbers of indigents.

"What's wrong with sending them a bill?" commission member Maurine Dickey said. She said officials "hoped" the counties that sent their citizens to Parkland would pay something. "We owe it to taxpayers to at least try."

Mr. Juarez also was curious about how hospital officials would know where to send the bill.

"How do they know who is Mexican?" he said. "Nobody asks for your nationality nor immigration status when you go to the hospital."

Currently, Parkland is reimbursed by the federal government for treatment of illegal aliens, but Parkland officials said that agreement covers only 48 hours of emergency care and falls far short of what expenses the hospital often incurs.

The hospital has spent more than a week figuring out how many foreign nationals have been treated and how much to bill each of the nations.

An estimated 90 percent of those affected are Mexican nationals, one source told The Washington Times.

John Gates, Parkland's chief financial officer, said he was in favor of sending the bills, though he doubted anybody would pay.

I (personally) think that this is freaking hilarious....I don't know how they're gonna do it, but GOOD LUCK!

Home-Alone Boy Survives 11-Story Fall

Taken from CNN.com

Child treated at unit where his mother was working, reports say

ALBANY, New York (AP) -- A 4-year-old boy survived a fall from an 11-story window after being left alone at home, bouncing off a metal awning into a concrete courtyard and then trying to stand up, officials said. He was able to chat with doctors.

"I'm amazed the kid's alive," Police Chief James Tuffey said.

Hasim Townsend remained in serious condition Saturday, a day after his fall, with a broken skull, a broken leg and other injuries.

"It's an incredibly good sign that he was talking, and I can't attribute it to anything other than good luck," said Dr. Michael Dailey, an attending physician in the emergency department.
The boy ended up in the same pediatric intensive care unit at Albany Medical Center where his mother works as a receptionist, police reports said.

Elizabeth Burciaga, 21, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child. She initially told police the boy had been left with a baby sitter, officials said.

A psychiatric evaluation has been ordered for her, authorities said, and an order of protection to keep her away from the boy has been filed.

The boy stood on a bed and pressed against a window screen, which gave way, police said. He hit the awning about 12 feet off the ground, and it flexed and saved him.

Police came after residents heard him crying. Paramedics had to hold the boy still.

Albany has no regulation requiring bars or other window guards in high-rise apartments, said Steve Longo, executive director of the Albany Housing Authority.

I'm just reporting the news here, folks....but I'm really trying to keep my comments to myself!!

Lindsey Lohan Joins the Party!

Lindsey wants to play dress-up with Britney and Christina too.

These are from GQ in the UK.

World Cup Update - Day 25 - THE FINAL

FRANCE 1 - 1 ITALY
(Italy win 5-3 on penalty kicks)

(Other than the obvious), this was a great game.

France played very well and I think deserved to win until their captain, Zinadine Zidane, imploded and head butted an Italian defender.

Ummmmm....WTF?

Seriously, what goes through your head at that point? Did he think that the sideline ref wouldn't see it? All that guy does is watch the defenders!

I don't agree with some who've said that this whole head butt thing has ruined Zidane's brilliant career....it's scratched it a little, but I don't think it'll scar it for life. He's still a spectacular footballer.

You can watch the replay below.

The rest of the extra time goes on without a goal and we move on to penalty kicks.

All players made their kicks EXCEPT for David Trezeguet....he hits the crossbar.

That's all the Italians needed.

I still think that the Italians dive a little too much, but they're the World Cup Champions!

World Cup Update - Day 24

PORTUGAL 1 - 3 GERMANY

This game was fast paced and pretty wide open.

Germany wins and gets a 3rd place finish in the World Cup.

Britney's PR Campaign

After Brit-Brit's horrible interview on Dateline....she needed some obvious PR work done.

Enter a professional photographer, a make-up artist and Harper's Bazaar

I agree, she did need some extra PR work done, especially after that Dateline interview. Don't get me wrong. I think she looks great and it was nice to see the beautiful Britney back instead of the greasy hair, gum chewing Britney.

But there's a part of me that think she's just trying to keep up with Christina Aguilera. Christina also recently posed "nude" for GQ Magazine.




Ummmm....keep it up girls!! Maybe you'll get Jessica Simpson to try and keep up with the both of you!!

BRAVO!

Spiderman 3 Trailer

The Spiderman 3 trailer was released last week. I am pretty excited by the trailer. If you haven't seen it yet check it out below or to see a high quality version click here.

**WARNING**
The Comic Book Geek side of me comes out below

I have to say it's AWESOME to see the black costume make an appearance. It's the right time for it in the movie series....I do wonder how Peter is going to obtain the symbiotic costume, since there's probably not going to be a SECRET WARS.

I did see a bell tower in the trailer though and that explains a little bit....but I'm not going to spoil it for those of you non-comic book geeks.

Hopefully this will end up leading to Venom being introduced in the next movie and a possible Venom spin off movie.

Who knows!

Great New Coke Commercial

This is a truly stunning new Coke commercial.



Make sure you check out the high quality version here

The World Cup Final is Set

vs.

France will meet Italy in Berlin on Sunday.

Right now, I'd bet on France....I think they have definitely peaked at the right time. So for right now....

Viva la France!

World Cup Update - Day 23

FRANCE 1 - 0 PORTUGAL

Today's game wasn't near as exciting as yesterday's but still a good game.

Arsenal striker Thierry Henry draws a penalty and Zidane burys it in the back of the net.

France moves on to the final game.

World Cup Update - Day 22

ITALY 2 - 0 GERMANY

Two big stats stood out before this match started.

1) Germany have never lost in the stadium in Dortmund.
2) Italy have never lost to Germany in the World Cup.

This has to be considered one of the best matches of this World Cup....the best part was that the ref didn't get involved and he let the players play!

They went in the extra time tied at zero.

Then the last 5 minutes of the extra time were amazing....great end to end action. Fabio Grosso scores for Italy with less than two minutes to play....then del Piero scores again for Italy to seal the deal!

Italy are on to the final in Berlin.

World Cup Update - Day 21

ENGLAND 0 - 0 PORTUGAL
(Portugal win 3-1 on penalty kicks)

Everyone was waiting for it to happen....and it finally did. Wayne Rooney was given a red card. I don't really think that he was given the red card for stepping on that guys groin, because I don't think he did that on purpose. He had to have said something to the ref and from his push of Christiano Ronaldo (his OWN TEAMMATE @ ManUtd).

FRANCE 1 - 0 BRAZIL

I think that France played GREAT attacking football, they were honestly the better team. Henry scores on a nice free kick from Zidane.

Portugal will meet France in the next round.

What is wrong with ABC?

What is wrong with my ABC affiliate?

I'm sitting here trying to watch the England v. Portugal World Cup match and every ½ hour my local ABC station is running a PROGRAM NOTE at the bottom of the screen telling kids that their normally scheduled Saturday morning programs aren't going to be on at the regularly scheduled times.

I don't have a problem with the program note, what I have a problem with is the SIZE of it and the regularity of when they run it.

They start showing the "program note" about 10 minutes before the scheduled program is to start. Then they show this message, what seems like,continuouslyy for about a minute or so! OVER and OVER and OVER!!

Now I have very little problem with the message itself...It's cute.

"Hey Kids! Catch {insert show name} later today at {insert show time} here on ABC 7."

But...The message is so !@#$% HUGE...It takes up so much of the screen that you can't see the bottom part of the field and if ABC shows any stats at the bottom of the screen, there's no chance that you're gonna see those stats!!

It was awful during the penalty shoot out....I wasn't sure who I was more upset with ABC 7 or England!!

Way to go ABC 7....THANKS! (jerks!)