exercise in vanity

this dude built some code to calculate how much one's blog is worth based on how many link to it.

click here for a methodology explanation.

the methodology is derived from AOL's recent purchase of WebLogs. as someone who spends a fair amount of the work day on acquisitions and valuation, this guy's math impressed me. a bit convoluted, but he provides fairly clear explanation and caveats.


here are my results:

My blog is worth $1,693.62.
How much is your blog worth?

since i'm a competitive jerk, i had to see how some blog friends did:

shoobie: $6,209.94
the messenger: $1,129.08
the beav: $0.00 (i'm not making this up--sorry em!)
bloodninja (new blog that just went live, so this really isn't accurate): $0.00.
melting dolls: $45,727.74
fat asian baby: $0.00 (surprising, b/c she is everywhere and even has branded stickers in bars around east atlanta)

you know this boogie is for real

the fifth annual bizash went down well. perhaps a little smaller than past years, but we still threw down as well as we always do. good cross-section of friends, too--my undergrad friends, boston friends, mrs wintermute's grad school friends, plus some random folks (absolutely critical for any good party).

click here to see all of the pics.

the costume contest featured some great combos. our winners:

# 1: moe the fire hydrant

# 2: darth tucker

#3: ricardo + andria

now, i was front and center in the freakshow. mrs wintermute and i dressed up as kip and lafawnduh (adorable couple from napoleon dynamite). having never dressed in drag before, i decided that i might as well go all out. this include:

• full make-up, including foundation to hide my shadow
• earrings (well, my ears are pierced anyway, so that one was easy)
• acrylic press-on nails
• painted toe nails
• boobs
• capri pants (thanks for moe's sweet sewing skills)
• gaudy jewelry
• heels
• shaving my arms and my legs (from the knees down)
  
• phat wig from junkman's daughter

oh yeah, i did not tuck.

dressing up as a large african-american woman is not easy. i thankfully had mrs wintermute to complete my transformation. her transformation into a dude was a bit simpler.

a few pics from the pre-op to post-op:

getting the foundation and powder right

the freak is starting to show

toes and nails

"i'm pretty much 100% sure that lafawnduh is my soul mate"

i made an ugly woman.

mrs w made a cute but petite man.

the look in our friend's eyes was priceless. after some beers i kind of forgot that i looked like a complete tranny freak. however, when i would lean in to a conversation, the inevitable jump or stare reminded me of how good i looked.

happy halloween.

pumpkin fest

mrs. w reserves this knife for pumpkins and for people who mess with her party mixes

moe, joe, em, and jim came over last night to carve pumpkins. some cameli's pizza+beer+napoleon dynamite on the dvd palyer = great night.

i had never carved before because my mom didn't let us use sharp knives (this is in the days before fancy carving kits).

i'm proud to say that i carved a jedi-worthy rendering of obi-wan. moe did a kick ass boba fett. in fact, everyone's turned out really well.

some good pics:

moe's flippin sweet bobba fett + my obi-wan

em + mrs. w

mr. beavers concentrating intently

when indians get a hold of a video camera...

...funny things happen.

click here to watch

[completely g-rated--ok to watch at work]

gwen stefani fans will really love this one.

big up to rob r-b for this sending this one to me. i'm not sure he's sending it to all of his friends or just the indian ones.

back to back to sweeps

thrilled to see the sox win.

this article says the odds of the red sox and white sox winning the world series back to back, then not winning a championship for 86 years, and then winning the world series back to back in 2004 and 2005 are 18.1 million to one.

wonder how those odds increase if you compute the likelihood of both teams sweeping their opponents?

now if the reds could get their act together.

at the least the bengals are kicking ass this year.

sacrifice

miers totally got sacrificed. but if you nominate someone with no judicial record and then (understandably) refuse to release legal advisory documents by citing executive privilege (again, understandably) then your nominee is going to (understandably) get shit on.

will be interesting to see how conservative the next nominee is.

gee-dub, do you hear the quacking? your bretheren are calling. start quacking back. you will soon be a lame duck.

the fourth annual h'ween bizash

this weekend is mrs. wintermute's 4th annual halloween party. we have a lot of history invested in this long held tradition. in fact, one of the first times she and i hung out was at her first party four years ago. i didn't really know anyone there besides moe and bloodninja (and jwatt, who had invited us). i was standing in the kitchen, just having a drink and listening to the sweet tunes. wait, is that SYSTEM OF A DOWN on the mix? I said aloud, "man, i love this song (chop suey). who made this mix?!?!"

the once-and-future-mrs w happens to be standing behind me. she turns around and says, "i made it."

so you could say an amernian heavy metal band help bring us together.

every year, i like telling this story to everyone at the party, esp. once i'm crunked up. if you are attending, you will be forced to listen to it. if you've been attending this party for the past four years, you will be forced to listen to it for the third time.

mrs. w and i have a flipping sweet costume gig this year, possibly our best ever. but you'll have to be there to see it.

mrs. w has also been putting a her great skills towards a great and eclectic song mix.

four years ago, i knew she was serious about music when a not-to-be-named-here guest made the serious mistake of Messing With the Mix. she hit skip b/c she apparently did not like the current song. mrs. w's ears perked up (just like yoda's in ep III when palaptine taunts him) from across the room. she marches to the CD player, says, "what the hell are you doing?!?!" and resets the song.

don't ever mess with this woman's mix.

to everyone who reads this blog, you are officially invited to party this saturday. email me at wintermute.lives@gmail.com to get details. yup, this is a first: i'm inviting blog friends. err, let's not tell mrs. w, though, ok?

pixel animation of episodes IV and V

this kind of shit keeps me amused at work.

some dude created pixel-animated versions of episodes IV and V. the animation is intentionally crude (think oregon trail, but in color). the amazing thing is that they are so true to the movie. each clip is about 3 minutes and hits all of the highlights.

click here for a new hope

click here for empire strikes back

err, what happened to summer?

i moved to atlanta because i like WARM weather.

what the shit is this cold stuff?

and i'm spending next week in boston. i've missed the tundra.

snap house (bloodninja says harrr!)

err, venkman wants his outfit back

after two years of toil, bloodninja brought his team to washington dc for the national solar decathalon competition. first, i think it's phat that they even made it to the competition. it required raising ridiculous sums of money by seeking corporate sponsors whoring out kenny's mom, designing all kinds of crazy innovative ways to harness the sun's energy, and a lot of trial and error. then they built it, took it apart, trucked it to washington, and rebuilt it on the mall. then they took it apart, trucked it back to austin, and rebuilt on campus. i'm sure kenny is glad to be done ready to torch the fucking thing.

last weekend i went up to dc. fuckface had been hoping that bunch of our crew would be there to root for him in the competition. unfortunately, almost all us had schedules that prevented us from going. about a month ago mrs. wintermute told me that it would undoubtedly mean a lot for kenny to have some friends there. shit, he's been working on it for two years! let the scheming begin. i managed to keep my visit plans a surprise from kenny (thanks to major help from cindy, august, and dana).

the snap house itself was phat. i saw almost all of the other houses, and i really think the UT's house was in the top three. had they listened to my suggestion of using cold fusion i think they would have won. here's a layout of their house. as it is, the finished in fifth place (of 18). click here to see all of the houses on the official competition website.

the tourguide so patiently explained sustainable design to dana and nikki...

...but he got kind of mad when i insisted on testing the sustainability of the bathroom

kenny was the consumate tour guide, giving every group a five minute overview of why it's called the snap house (pre-fabricated modular design that literally snaps together), how it saves energy, and how it incorporates the principles of sustainability. i thought his overview was also one of the best i saw. some houses literally said nothing as i entered. others offered very few materials or displays in the way of explanation. for the layperson, this makes it hard to really appreciate what goes into the house--which is a shame, b/c all of the students had clearly worked very hard.

bloodninja explains the snap house with his very best pirate bandana

finally, we had a good weekend just hanging out. big up to my big bro and his girl for letting me stay with them. had a lot of good eats and got to see some of the city.

click here to see all of the pictures.

hillbilly taco

greetings from knoxville, TN. am here for an acquisition target. got up at the crack ass of dawn today to drive up here.

usually at corporate meetings the office manager brings in cold turkey sandwhiches with an apple and chips from jason's deli or corner bakery.

this company gets big props for providing hillbilly tacos. it's a giant baked potato topped with green onions, grated cheese, pulled pork bbq, and bbq sauce. damn it tasted good! i appreciate the creativity and the opportunity to taste local flavor.

a light lunch it was not. it took much caffeine and frequent breaks to avoid falling asleep during the afternoon sessions. esp the part where we looked at databases and discussed the advantages of sql server, .net, java, and rationale for having a 'unified platform.'

nice luxury tomorrow afternoon in getting to cruise back to atl in the private plane. goodbye four hour drive, hello 35 minute flight.

celebrity sighting

from boy band to cotton candy vendor

i went to game one of the braves play off game a few weeks ago.

turns out that one of the dudes from nsync is now a vendor at the ted.

man, he must be pissed at mr. cameron diaz for breaking up the band.

devious glee

just when i announced the death knell for friendster, they introduce a new feature: seeing who has been viewing one's profile.

oh the devious glee of browsing with my anonomyzer turned on while seeing that a certain ex-girlfriend she-devil has been viewing my profile.

jobless no more

after almost six months of searching moe landed not one, but two job offers on friday.

big up, moe!

he's going to work at the cdc in the quarrantine division. i think that means he will make sure people with leprosy hansen's disease stay in hawaii.

on the flip side of this same coin, the dynamic duo of moe and joe will to have adjust their crime-fighting trolling for chicks hours. star bar on tuesday night may be a thing of the past.

candler park festival this weekend

the candler park festival (click here) should be a good time this weekend. while a bit smaller than other festivals (e.g. dogwood, inman park), this one is really laid back, some decent eats, and is in such a great neighborhood.

two good friends are hawking their wares--stop by, say hi, you might even win something! the two booths worthing seeing (among many others, i'm sure):

1. caboose, who will have a big tent. jackie says "just look for the caboose banner"
2. jen will have a table of her photos

click here for more about caboose.

a little bit of promo:

• jackie says: "I am debuting the new line of my handbags in fabrics for fall and winter at a major discount - up to 20% off. Bags start at $45, much less than the $60 on my website. Also, if you stop by and join my email list, you could win a $40 Buckhead Life restaurant dining card!"
• jen says: "My photos chronicle the blooms of Atlanta throughout the spring season, including snowcaps, dogwoods, hydrangeas and azaleas. Georgia O-keefe style photos ranging in price from $20-80. All are framed and matted."
  

are my friends cool?

good way to know if you're cool.

click here to take the cool test.

chewie is now a US citizen

peter mayhew, who played chewbacca, is taking his oath to become a US citizen.

see the CNN article here.

read about how i recently met peter mayhew here.

excel MVP

turns out there is this thing called excel most valuable player. i shit you not.

this guy john walkenbach apparently has attained this status--i guess it's like being a jedi master.

click here to see his page

jedi knight in excel

today i reached jedi knight status in excel. i have conquered array functions, undoubtedly the most powerful algorithm in excel.

i'm avoiding the temptation to try casting blue lightning from my fingertips.

george castanza strategy

hit moe's and joe's last night for $3 pbr pitchers and the best bathroom graffiti in atlanta (according to creative loafing). most of it is stupid stuff like "phi delts are homos" with someone then crossing out "phi delt" and writing in "chi phi" and then someone else writing "frat boys suck" underneath it and then someone else writing "aephi's swallow." depending on how drunk i am i sometimes find this stuff amusing.

anyway, my two single boys are executing the george castanza strategy perfectly. to refresh your memory, george one time decided to do the opposite of what he normally did, figuring that whatever he was doing, his life couldn't get anyway worse. on the first date, he tells this chick he was unemployed, lived at home, etc. she then invites him upstairs. he's about to say yes, then changes his mind and leaves. she wants him even more. george's life gets great.

moe and joe have become players at another level. each has an average of three different dates a week. each proudly announces that he is:

• unemployed
• lives at home with his parents
• spends most of his day at a coffee shop, the gym, and playing soccer
  
• has a small penis (ok, i added that one)

and these girls seem to love it! now, not all of these dates are home runs. but for the most part, the girls are attractive and these dudes are pretty successful. the other night, joe's date was super drunk at neighbor's. while moe's date took her to the bathroom, joe runs into a girl he sat next to on the plane and gets her number before Drunk girl (now Sick girl) returns. he is going out with Drunk girl tonight and Airplane girl on friday.

brilliant.

while at m&J's, we met up with jwall and taylor, new dude in town who we met through our soccer team. some classic observations recorded while drunk 19 year-olds spilled beer on us:

• "man, you know what i love about college girls? the way they smell. it's like they always just stepped out of a shower."
• "man, you know what i love about college girls? you can tell them anything. uh, hi, i'm an astronaut and just on earth for a few days. want to go out?"
• "who the fuck dances at moe's and joe's? and who the fuck wears a sports coat? does he think he's a writer?"
• "oh shit, i know who that girl is! you dated her?!?!? man, i always thought she was a lesbian." response: "no, she definitely was not."
  
• "last year i met the new pledges. some smartass said he heard some brother once upon a time slept with the house mom and was wondering if that was true. i said first, 'who told you that? ' and secondly had to admit 'that was me.'
  

guest of honor at my h'ween party

darth tucker

the braves bullpen blows

how can you blow a 6-1 eighth inning lead?

and then give up a home run in the 18th inning?

the braves deserve to lose after this kind of sorry baseball.

i work with kip dynamite's cousin

turns out kip dynamite's cousin is a part-time reception at at my office:

doyle

kip

the resemblance is eerie. what the picture doesn't tell you is that doyle acts like kip, too.

Go Aviators!

lynn kitchen, who used to be a principal at my high school was arrested for DUI. doing the aviators of sycamore high school proud.

i'm not sure if this is her mug shot or what. if it's from a yearbook it's a terrible shot.

click here to see the story.

i don't really remember much about her, but my brother tells me she was a first class biznitch.

big up to j howard for passing this along.

here's the article:

School Administrator's Alcohol Level Almost Three Times Limit

POSTED: 11:42 am EDT September 21, 2005

UPDATED: 4:11 pm EDT September 21, 2005

LOVELAND, Ohio -- The second-in-command at a Tri-State school district allegedly had a blood alcohol level of nearly three times the legal limit when she was arrested in connection with drunken driving early Saturday, police said.Lynn Kitchen, assistant superintendent of Fairfield City Schools, registered a blood alcohol level of 0.236 on a Breathalyzer test, according to her arrest report.Authorities said Kitchen, 51, of Loveland, Ohio, was pulled over after an officer saw her driving 40 mph in a 65 mph zone and weaving out of her lane along Interstate 275 in Clermont County around 2 a.m.She was charged with operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs, driving under the influence of alcohol of more than twice the legal limit, failing to adhere to marked lanes, a seatbelt violation and obstructing official business, police said.Kitchen was placed on paid administrative leave pending a special meeting of the Fairfield City School District Board of Education. Superintendent Robert Farrell said that the administrative leave is an option when a staff member or administrator is facing a personal issue, and that any additional administrative action at this time would be premature.Kitchen started as the district’s assistant superintendent in August 2002.

great find

while volunteering last weekend i came across these incredible finds: 1977 Marvel comics of Star Wars epidode IV and the original motion picture soundtrack album.

front cover

back cover

LP front cover

LP back cover

sweet pics on the inside flap

the angles on a few of these shots look slightly different from the films. hunter tells me that it's probably because they are not taken from film stills but rather by a photographer on the set.

the album also includes extensive liners notes by composer john williams that explain his thoughts in writing and putting together the music.

have to figure out some way to display the album. hunter (a man of many genius ideas) suggested a glass case that holds the album open while it rotates and plays the theme music. i would proudly consider it the centerpiece of my home. not sure is such an exhibit exists. if anyone knows about one please let me know!

baltimore with the munchkins

spent a great weekend in baltimore with my mom's family. got to hang with my mom, my two aunts, my grandmother, and associated family members.

my cousin sonal has two great munchkins, meena and mya. meena took awhile to warm up to me, but mya was ready to hang out right away (well, as much as someone 9 months old can hang out).

i'm not normally one for gushing over little ones but it's hard to resist with kids this adorable.

already, when i see munchkins i admit i start thinking about what it will be like when mrs. wintermute is ready to pop them out. waking up to both kids screaming at 8:00 AM sunday reminded that this day is thankfully still far away.

got to spend some wonderful time with ba (my grandmother), who is still sharp and kicking it at 90 years young.

click here to see all the pics (if you can stand cutesy family pics).

some highlights:

Ba, learning guitar (and recovering from a broken arm)

ahmad + meena

sonal + mya