Life List

I've been working on this for a while and was waiting to hit a major number. I originally was shooting for 100, but when i got stuck around 32, I decided 50 might be easier. My problem is a good one... I've already done a lot of things people normally have on these lists. So here ya go! If anyone wants to help, let me know! :)

Note: Since starting the list, I've been able to cross off a couple things

1. Meet a seated or former President.


2. Learn to ski


3. Perform on stage with a band


4. Skydive solo


5. Bungee jump solo


6. Visit Ireland


7. Travel by train


8. Travel by bus


9. Visit the Grand Canyon


10. Go on an Alaskan cruise.


11. Be thanked on an inside album cover by a signed band


12. Visit New Zealand


13. Take a city bus to the “end of the line”


14. Visit Antarctica or somewhere north of the Arctic Circle


15. Climb Everest (it doesn’t have to be to the top, I just want to be on it)


16. See a game at Fenway Park


17. Times Square New Year


18. Vegas New Year


19. Get married


20. Have kids


21. Visit my Grandpa Waggoner’s grave


22. Participate in a major charity/fundraising event


23. Meet Bono


24. Cliff dive/jump into a Hawaiian lagoon


25. Start a snow cone business


26. Go to Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH.


27. Camp out to win/buy something.


28. Ride the rides at Stratosphere


29. See every Bond movie. (Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die, The Man With the Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, A View to a Kill, The Living Daylights, License to Kill, GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World is Not Enough, Die Another Day, Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace)


30. See Ben Folds in concert


31. See U2 in concert


32. Attend a black tie/benefit award show


33. Step foot in all 50 states (Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming)
    
34. Step foot on all 7 continents (North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Antartica)


35. Camp in Yellowstone Nat’l Park


36. Ride in a hot air balloon


37. Ride in a helicopter (not a medi-copter)


38. Ice Skate at Rockefeller Plaza


39. See Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights)


40. Visit Washington D.C.


41. See a live Fútbol game


42. See Mt. Rushmore


43. Visit Rome


44. See the Great Pyramid at Giza


45. See the Taj Mahal


46. Visit Japan


47. Lick the Liberty Bell


48. Attend the Olympics


49. Watch a shuttle launch


50. Travel on the “streets” of Venice
    

The Miracles of Science

Did anyone catch 60 Minutes last night? I saw what was, perhaps, one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. One of the segments was about the advances being made in measuring the neuron path of movement-thoughts. To way over-simplify it; your brain sends electrical impulses throughout your body to create movement. You see a pen in front of you, you think about picking it up, your brain sends those thoughts to the muscles in your arm and you pick up the pen, all of which, of course, happens in a split second. People who lose limbs often talk about "phantom limbs" which is your brain not recognizing there is no limb. Your brain isn't damaged when you lose an arm, so the impulses are still there. Science has already known which area of the brain motor skills are found, so all we had to do was determine which neurons caused which movements, and we can begin to use the brain to recreate those movements. They have developed something called brain-computer interface, or BCI which does just this. Its still in early stages of testing, but basically, they can hook a computer up to your brain and your brain can control a mouse. This of course gives you control of a computer, which with you can control nearly everything from the lights in a room, to the TV, and even wheel chairs! Imagine the possibilities!

They've also extended this research into bionics. They took a monkey and determined which neurons were firing at the precise time of individual movements. They then developed a robot arm that could duplicate these movements and interfaced it to the monkeys brain. They restrained the arms of the monkey and with a little training, taught him to use the robotic arm to get the food they placed in front of him. I'm sure with a few more years of technology and development, we will begin to see bionics used in day to day life.

They are already working on a way to reverse the signal. This means, not only will we be able to use our brain to operate a prosthetic limb, but we will also be able to use that limb to send signals to our brain, such as temperature and pressure. Its truly amazing!

Here's some videos!

Happy Haloweeeeeeen!

Its that time of year. Where its ok for little kids to take candy for strangers, young women can dress slutty without actually being slutty (or so they think), and I come up with a genius Halloween costume. Who could forget the Bob Ross costume a few years back that won me $1000 at a local radio station's Halloween bash. Or last year's Dancing silhouette from the iPod commercials-man (I still think it was a great costume, despite no one knowing who I was). Well, this year once again, I've thought up a brilliant Halloween costume... Sadly, I have to work that evening and have no where to wear it to. So perhaps next year I will be able to unleash it.

Here's a couple videos to help you this Halloween.


Or perhaps you're looking for a costume that's a bit "crazier"

Delicious Dish with David Wage

Two blogs in one day!? Well, I made a delicious meal tonight and I just wanted to share. I'm not really sure what i'll call it... I just took some things I had lying around the kitchen and threw them in a skillet :-)

Ok, to start you'll need to make some pico. There are several ways you can make this (or if you're lazy just buy it); this is the famous Manderloo recipe.

12-15 roma tomatoes cut into 1/4-1/2 inch cubes

1 red onion – finely diced

I bunch cilantro - chopped

1-2 jalepenos (seeded and finely diced)

1 lime – squeezed over it all

1/2-1 tsp salt (to taste)

Mix it all up and let sit in a sealed bowl in the fridge for at least an hour before serving.

This makes the delicious pico salsa you'll use later. It also goes great with chips!

I'm going to throw in a quick apology because unlike Mandy, I don't really deal with exact measurements when I make up meals. So bear with me and use your best judgement. Feel free to e-mail with questions but my advice is just experiment. It worked out ok for me!

Turn heat to medium and coat pan with a sliver of butter (you don't want a lot of excess, but you need enough to cover). As soon as butter is melted take two thawed boneless chicken breasts and put in skillet. Once they are nearly cooked, pour in enough milk to come halfway up the chicken. Once it begins to bubble, sprinkle in enough cheese to fill in all the gaps and lightly cover the chicken as well. Put a few shakes of black pepper in and begin to toss the chicken around until the cheese is all melted and thouroughly mixed with the milk. This should create a thick cheesy soup. Add more cheese or milk as needed. Lay a bed of spinach on a plate and put the chicken on top. Pour the excess cheesy soup over the chicken and top with a spoonful of your pico.

Minus the pico, which, by the way the recipe says an hour but i'll tell you its much better if you out it in a covered dish and refrigerate for a day, the chicken should only take about 10 minutes to fix. So its quick and easy.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

An unsuccessful day of cleaning

Well, it doesn't happen often but I was struck with a cleaning mood yesterday. I woke up and was going to go to the sports bar that my Husker Club meets at to see the ISU game but somehow I knew it wouldn't be much of a game. Plus I knew these "spirits of cleaning" don't come around often so I stayed home.

So first I swiffered the kitchen floor and did some dusting in the living room and my room. I threw some laundry in and used some of kristen's new fabric softener she was bragging about. She bought a 3 gallon jug for like $6. I then put together a new vaccuum we bought and did some vaccuuming. When I was nearly complete I heard a snap and noticed the vaccuum no longer sucked as well. Sure enough I turn it over and the belt for the rotating floor brush broke. On our brand new $300 vaccuum. I mean $40. Can you believe it?

So I take a break and lay on the couch until my laundry finishes. Despite the little snag with the vaccuum, I'd felt accomplished. I laid there and reveled in how good the house smelled. So fresh, so clean, so... Something doesn't seem right. I go to change out my laundry and I see 3 gallons of fabric softener all over the floor in front of our washing machine. The bottle was on top of the washer and during the spin cycle, it shook right off. So once again I found myself swiffering the kitchen floor.

It was just not my day...

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

I smell rill niice

I forgot how much I like getting compliments. When I worked at the hotel and was wearing suits and cologne more often, I used to always get the comment "you smell really good". I would get the comment from random people; cashier at the check out line at the grocery store, random hotel guests, even people walking next to me on the street or mall. And those who actually knew me; co-workers/friends, would actually lean in and smell me. They always ask what I'm wearing and I usually respond that its this custom stuff I buy on the internet. Not so much to show off and be flashy but to joke at the irony of their expectations.

Usually I give out my stamp of approval to restaurants or movies... things of entertainment value, but I'm going to change it up a little and give the $7.00 bottle of Really Ripped Abs: Bod Body Spray from Target the David Wage Stamp of Approval for brightening my day. I was at the sundries shop at work and the nice black lady at the cashier said. "Mmmmm, honey, you smell goood." in the least creepiest way. The tone in her voice told me it wasn't flirting. It was a fact :)

I'm heading up to the City of the Sioux this weekend for another wedding. I won't do any travel blogging, but I'll be sure to update you when I get back.

Green Country is turning into Red, Orange, and Yellow Country

Man I love fall!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

ChaCha

I don't know if you've heard of this service or not, but its the latest and is becoming the biggest mobile search engine out there.

If you've ever got a question that you need the answer to, you send a text message to ChaCha (242242) and ask whatever you need to know. On the other end of that text is a human being who will answer your question, so even if you ask a subjective question, like "Where can I find the best Mexican food in Tulsa, OK?" you can still get an answer back usually within 5-10 minutes that would say "Try Abuelo's Mexican Food Embassy at 10909 E 71st St. There phonenumber is (918) 307-1373. Adios!"

I heard about this service through a friend of mine and the first opportunity I had to use it was last night. Me and some guys were sitting around talking about cars while eating grilled meat and lighting things on fire... you know, usual guy stuff... and for some reason, the question of what tiny car was used on Family Matters came up. We wondered what it was so I sent the text "What type of car did Steve Urkel drive on the show "Family Matters". About 7 minutes later I recieved, "It is said that the lovely "clown car" that Steve Urkel drove was a BMW Isetta."

Church Sign Generator

You can create your own here.

Random Thought

Why do all the Brady girls take on the Brady name? If Marcia, Jan, and Cindy were all born of a previous marriage, wouldn't they keep their mother's name? And just what is Carol Brady's maiden name?

These are the types of things I sometimes think about when I wake up at 5 in the morning and I can't sleep.

Vidcast 1.3, Tomlin, and Wrong Turns

I know its been a while since my last Vidcast. I've actually shot I think 2 others that never made it to the blog. Mostly because by the time I had a chance to edit them, they were outdated.



Here's a map of my incredibly wrong journey.




















Yeah, it was a bit out of my way!

Anyway, had a Chris Tomlin private show last night. It was a good time. Pictures after the jump. I don't know what that means, but I always see "after the jump" in blogs so I thought I'd try it. Here they are:

My Own Bobblehead

I was thinking about the Office, as I frequently do, and about the bobblehead that Dwight recieved for Valentine's Day. A friend once told me she was going to look into getting me one but they were pretty expensive.

I looked into it a little today, and decided I want one. But she's right, they are more pricey than I want to pay. The bobblehead to the left is about $89.00 plus tax and S&H. Besides gas, food, and rent, I've got a long list of things I'd like to buy before this, but I would love so much to be able to display this in my office.

So I came up with a solution. I checked out my feedburner stats and I average exactly 33 different viewers a day to this fine blog. My astounding math skills told me that if every one of those viewers gave me just $3 I would have enough to buy my bobblehead.

So I'm soliciting you. Every donation helps. If you would like to donate to the "Buy David a Bobblehead fund" click the donation button below. All transactions will go directly through paypal so no account numbers will have to be given out and all donations will be used only for their intended purpose. I will keep you updated on the progress and once the goal of $100 is met, I will take down the donation link and purchase the bobblehead. The suggested donation is $5 (not all of my viewers are actually people I know and I'm sure won't donate) but you can give as little or as much as you want. Oh, and when you make the donation vote for which bobblehead body you want me to get. You can view the choices here. Which ever body has the highest amount in donations wins!

My top 5 choices are:
"Stud Bobblehead"
"Casual Bobblehead"
"Shorts and Tie Bobblehead"
"Tough Guy 2 Bobblehead"
and "Executive No Tie Bobblehead"

If you would like your own bobblehead (after, of course, you help me to buy mine) you can go to http://www.headbobble.com/index.html

Thank you!

Packaging Innovations

I've been trying out different quick lunches (mostly microwaveable) to try to cut down on my food costs. I recently looked at how much I'm spending on food alone and realized those $7 per meal lunches really add up! I usually have a cup of yogurt on my way to work and have a later lunch of something simple like a TV dinner or leftovers from food i made the night before. I've been trying out different microwaveable meals to find an equal balance of cheap, simple, and filling and that led me to today's product. Michelina's Tuscan-Inspired Alfredo available in your Wal-mart freezer section for less than a dollar! Now, I was fortunate to grow up in a house where both parents were great cooks so I don't have a lot of experience with TV dinners. If this is the norm, I think I can revolutionize the TV dinner industry with this handy innovation: Directions on the top of the box. Still frozen, I turned the packaging upside down and begin to read the directions. The first one? "Tear back lid about halfway to allow product to vent" followed by cooking instructions. So not only do you have to turn the product upside down to find out how to cook, but the first instruction it gives you is "open me."

Don't think I did anything as stupid as to dump out my lunch. I understand it is possible to read instructions without turning it upside down, however, in lifting it above my head the flimsy container nearly spilled on me twice. I just think its a law suit waiting to happen.

My 50th Post!!

This is my 50th post on this blog. I really don't have anything to say, I just thought you should know. Oh, and I broke 1000 visits to the site. Why? BECAUSE I'M AWESOME!

At the risk of being embarrassed by no one responding, I'm still going to throw it out there that, if you are a reader of my blog, leave me a comment and let me know! You don't have to be a registered blogger to do it but I'm interested to know who you all are! Here are examples of what you could say in your comment:

David, I really enjoy your blog. It gives me inspiration and gets me through those tough days. Thanks for providing the world with this immaculate spectacle of writing. Love, Mom.

David, you suck.

What would Jesus do? He would read your blog, thats for sure

David, there are times when I think the world has just gone down the tube and there's absolutely nothing worth while on the internet anymore, and you go and write something like this... AND TOTALLY REDEEM YOURSELF!!


David, I read your blog because I myself have a blog titled "Blogs that I enjoy making fun of" and you often times provide me with worthwhile content. So thank you, David, for giving me an eternal well to draw inspiration from for my blog.

David, your blog is great... FOR ME TO POOP ON!

Feel free to use any of the above or write your own!

And as always;

Thanks for bein my friend,
David

This One's For You Hubbs

My friend Andy at bloginyourface.com posted a blog yesterday about his Sunday filled with equal parts testosterone and estrogen. It made me think of the MANtage video from Barats and Bereta. You might know these guys from their "Mother's Day" video of the two brothers fighting while trying to take a picture for Mother's Day. They've got a lot of other hysterical videos (and some not so funny ones.) I've been a longtime fan of these guys so here you go Andy. The MANtage! YOU'RE WELCOME!!

Conquering my fear

I have a little confession to make. I've had a fear of Blockbuster for quite some time and I finally tackled my fears and signed up for a membership thanks to a "movie date" I had. It all came down to what I wanted more I guess.

It all started about 4 or 5 years ago when I had a movie weekend with a girl I was dating at the time. We rented about 5 movies and settled in for the weekend. I gave them to said girl to take back to Blockbuster which was of course, before their "No Late Fees". About 6 months later I got an angry phone call that I owed them 5 movies and like $100 in late fees. What the heck!?! I didn't even know what movies I had rented by this point! People mock the "no late fees" campaign because they still charge you, they just change the name to "restocking fee" or just sell you the movie. If you're like 2 days late or a week late, yeah, its kinda bogus but for guys like me whose girlfriends say they will take 5 movies back and then don't, you begin to understand the concept a little better. So, I approached said ex-girlfriend and, oh, guess what! They were STILL in the back of her car. I took them back in and explained it hoping I could reach a settlement, looking for the cashier most likely to understand the girlfriend card. He basically told me to pay up or he'd call the police. I knew he couldn't really do that so I just left and haven't walked back in to a blockbuster since.

I honestly was a little nervous going in there because the first time I signed up for a Blockbuster Membership it was like applying for a car loan. They took my soc number, DL#, and all kinds of other stuff. I thought they'd run my soc# and tell me I owed them like $800 or something. It was pretty painless and now I'm a card carrying member of Blockbuster Video. (except they don't give you cards anymore)

Videos From My Vault

I was cruising around on my myspace and kinda forgot about these. The first is from high school and an annual variety show we did. It started out intending to be a complete spoof and intentionally ridiculous but ended up just being a lip sync and dance. We called ourselves the Back*Sync Boys. The second video is a college video project I did with my bud Nicholas Petersen and a band he had at the time called Stereophone. I love the idea of the video, I just look back and wish I had done a better job shooting it. Oh well. Still fun. The third video is also a college project I did in the style of the old-time melodramas.

Floor 42

So I've had this curiousity of what's on the 42nd floor for quite some time now. My office is on the 55th floor, so quite often, I am the last off the elevator and I've gotten into the habit of reading the directory that's posted in the elevator to see where they work. I've always been a people watcher and I'm getting to the point where I'm starting to recognize people because of our "elevator relationship" so I just wonder what they do.

The 42nd floor has been shrouded in mystery, however. Its primarily young people getting on and off the elevator (probably around my age) and often times they are people most would consider to be of the attractive variety, and they are always dressed in business professional attire. The floor isn't posted on the directory, however, and its the only one. It also has to be accessed by a proximity key. This of course has made my curiousity and imagination run wild. I had some grandiose ideas but considering them highly unlikely, I had pretty much settled on it being some type of telemarketing company or demographic research, or at the top of my list, the center for those pyramid schemes... something along those lines anyway.

Well, today a lady pressed the button and she had a nametag hanging around her neck, but it was backwards. It seems fate stepped in because she dropped some papers and bent down to pick them up. When she stood up, the tag had flipped over. -Guardian Security Systems-

I googled it and it appears to be your average home security company. My conspiratist mind is convinced its more than that. I'm sure its just like the monitoring center or the sales office or something, but I'm quite happy thinking its something more. It's more fun that way.

I'm waiting for the day a suit with dark glasses and an in-ear monitor stops on that floor.

Requiem For A Day Off

I'm sure this has been around for a while but I just came across it thanks to GirlRobot. Who knew John Hughes had a dark side?

Stupid Crime

Well, I was having some difficulty earlier thinking up blog content; now, the ideas are just pouring in, however I'll end the evening with this one.

They announced on the news that two masked men robbed a Dollar General at gun-point this evening in North Tulsa.

Now... call me crazy, but if I ever got ballsy enough to rob something (not that lack of ballage is the only thing keeping me from robbing banks), I don't know that I would pick a store with "dollar" in the name. And if I did, I think I would feel safe leaving my gun at home.

I'm curious what they banked off this. Just how much crack can you can buy with $43.27?