Food eaten between 13 June & 20 June 2009

Some have said that photographing your food is terribly narcisstic¹. But then again, so is owning a blog.



We'll start off my food journey with a sushi restaurant.



I've always loved the special dressing quality sushi places put on their salads.



And here's some Miso Soup.



It was pretty good. Miso soup is good when done right.



But what is eating at a sushi place without the sushi?



I believe this is an order of Rainbow Rolls, but sushi names seem to be non-standard anyway.



Don't worry, I didn't eat all the sushi. Just... most of it.



On the road to Idaho, we stopped off at a steak place. They had some good bread.



The salad dressing was good. It was a very raspberry vinaigrette.



As someone pointed out, evidently I don't like carrots.



Then I ordered some bits of meat with sides.



It was the most ridiculously meaty meal I've ever had. The meat bits were a bit dissapointing, but the green beans tasted like meat. Apparently they were soaking in a bacon sauce long enough to taste like bacon. ...At least that made them edible.



Dude to the lack of quality, I was envious of my brother's pasta dish. When he admitted he couldn't finish it, I rushed to his aid.



Further down the road, we stayed at a motel. They had a continental breakfast.



I find that hotels all manage to have the same continental breakfast, while motels are all different. I had to stretch a little to make the bagel work, but the bread was excellent.



In retrospect, I don't know why I have a mostly empty butter on my plate. I don't remember putting butter on anything. Oh well, just a mystery of life, I suppose.



Further on our journey, we came across Lakey's Cafe. They know how to cook their patties, but they burgers tasted a bit spartan. The cheese was good, however.



That was a triple patty burger. I had to request it special. You'd be surprised how few people actually list a pound burger on their menus.



The first time around, I made the mistake of ordering just a plain shake for dessert.



I mean, there was nothing wrong with it. But there wasn't anything special about it. Still, it did take a long time to finish.



But the real fault of the shake is that I didn't get a pie, perhaps an apple pie. But don't despair, the next time we went there, I got an apple pie.



It was some pretty darn good pie.



Skipping forward a few meals... This is breakfast once we actually arrived at the cabin.



My mom thought I took too many. I laughed in her face.



This is the Jambalaya we had one night.



It wasn't actually as good as I thought it would be. I mean, on a base level it was jambalaya. But the things in it were too hard. Also, the cook didn't make it spicy enough, although that might be because wusses were eating it. I prefer my mom's version.



Sometime we went to a burger place. As is the norm, I ordered what is essentially a pound cheeseburger.



I'm not much of a fan of those thick pattied burgers. They're a bit too much like steak sandwiched between bread. I want a burger, not a steak.



And here comes a steak, so I can eat my words.



Its seasoning actually made it taste pretty good. I don't like steaks that rely on the flavor of the meat for all the flavor. Also, I guess I had corn or something.



On the way back, aside from going back to Lakey's Cafe again, we went to a place called "Rooster's." It seemed like a chain, but certainly not one that I know of. I ordered what's essentially creamed pesto chicken pasta.



It was amazing. Perhaps I'll have to look into this "Rooster's" place.

Well, that's it, that's a selection of the food I've had between 13 June & 20 June 2009.

And as always, here's an embedded slideshow of all the food I've posted to Flickr so far.

Is "Vector" a Scam?

So after I returned from my Idaho vacation, I received a week's mail all at once. A lot of it was the usual stuff I expected, but there was one weird thing; a letter from "Vector."



Make that two; the second letter didn't "Vector" stamped on the outside, but it had the same offer on the inside.

Well, mostly the same offer. The two letters different slightly in content, and one had random bolding.

So I looked on Google to see if this was actually a real company.



According to this entirely reputable sounding website, it was indeed a real job offer. Time to check Wikipedia.

For the most part, Vector Marketing's Wikipedia Page goes pretty smoothly. But I was alarmed when I saw,

Some former employees have accused Vector Marketing of unsavory business practices[7] and it has even been referred to as a "scam."[8]

What's this? The eery job that I got two letters from could possibly be a scam? Do tell!



This led me to a blogspot blog called "Humanity Blues" and a blog post called "Taking on the Vector Marketing Scam." It's pretty convincing.

Anyways, while I don't entirely know if this is a scam or not, I definitely know I will not be taking this job with "Vector."

As one last little bit;



On the poor anti-Vector Marketing guy's blog, there was a Google Ad for "Cutco Knives," the company that supplies Vector Marketing. Truly irony knows no bounds.

Mr Microns!

If this is wrong, then I don't want to be right!

Who or What is Philly Jilly?

So I'm about to go to my Comcast e-mail, when I notice this on the Comcast main page;


So I click on the Games link because I want to know why there is a tiny person on my Games link.



Apparently this... thing...'s name is Philly Jilly.



I don't know what the heck a Philly Jilly is. Do you?



A quick Google search revealed nothing. An even quicker Wolfram Alpha search revealed that "filly | a young female horse under the age of four." Also that Philly is short for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.



I guess we can just assume that Philly Jilly is an example of an avatar for Comcast games. But still, she could be better designed and certainly could be better named.

I Temporarily Crashed Wolfram Alpha!

Granted, it was back up fast enough to hit refresh and get a workable result, but still. An accomplishment is an accomplishment.

Wolfram Alpha Countdown Clock

By now, you've probably heard some vague mention of Wolfram Alpha.



Personally, I think it works best as a countdown clock. Say you wanted to know...



Wolfram Alpha would of course respond that...



Of course, I'm using Wolfram to calculate time before another sort of doomsday; the next day of school. So...



Granted, it'd be more accurate if it wasn't already tomorrow.

Love is Dying out on Facebook (Slowly)

As you can see, the word "love" is on an overall downward trend. I don't know if this is due to some sort of sampling bias or if Facebook actually is becoming less loving. But it's still interesting.

Decline of the Swine (Flu)

Here's a funny little graph;


What I did was enter in "swine flu" into Facebook's Lexicon, a tool that can estimate how often a word or phrase is used. As you can see, "swine flu" is in an obvious decline.

Apparently even global pandemics are subject to the same rules as fads.

What Did you Get your Mom for Mother's day, Connor?

At first, I was thinking that giving my mom a gift would be a pain. I'd have to go to a store, then pick some inane thing out, then give it to her. But once I had a humorous idea to go off of, it was all easy.

My mom likes to lounge on the couch. She also likes a blanket. Why not give her...



Now, first of all, I realize that Snuggie in crazy. I didn't want one. My mom didn't want one. But that's the genius of it.

Also, I figured, something that looks that comfortable, it would eventually win her over.

One of my friends even thought it was such a good idea that they covertly dropped off a $5 off coupon at Bed Bath and Beyond, ostensibly a place where one can find a Snuggie. So I went there.

But after I had the Snuggie in hand and was about to enter the checkout line, I realized the coupon was only good on purchases $15 or more, so I had to find something else to buy.

I eventually decided on a ladle that was on sale for $2, with a close facsimile below.



So what is my mom getting for Mother's Day?

A Snuggie and a ladle.

Too happy.

Free! Only 4.99 a month!

They sure do have a loose definition of "free."

Most Popular Posts as of 5/3/09

Are you bewildered by the sheer amount of stuff on this blog? Unsure of where to go first?

To set you on the right direction, here are inarguably the most popular posts on my blog.


UFO's Allegedly Caught on Tape
Clocking in at about 2946 pageviews, this has been by far the most popular page on my blog yet. However, perhaps even more alluring than the mention of UFO's are the comments by "timothy." Complete rambling nonsense, or a future Nostradamus? Only time will tell.


Skepticism Motivational Poster
Coming in at 2562 pageviews, this is a close favorite and the former champion. This is a rather simple post; the image is just about all there is. Despite its simplicity, it's still drawn more than its fair share of traffic my way.



The Blog Index
While it may seem silly, this page still has a respectable 1081 views. Assuming you didn't enter through the index, you definitely want to check it out.


How can you tell if someone's communist?
A while back, I started asking crazy questions on Yahoo Answers. Then I got crazy answers. With 1059 pageviews, this is by far the most popular of the bunch.

Well, those are the most popular posts. But by no means should those be the only posts you check out; there are plenty more posts, with more coming occasionally.

The Moores

Me and Ryan Furukawa, co-creators of Cozier Electronics and KOZR News, are creating a new series using the yet-to-be-released Sims 3. It'll be called...



We're looking for voice actors willing to contribute voices and bands willing to contribute music.

For more information, head to the website.

Capital Letters doesn't mean Shouting for Me.

Whenever I stick in the odd ALL CAPS letters in my sentences, I'm not shouting. I am merely adding "copious emphasis" to certain words in my sentence. Perhaps for humor. OR MAYBE I JUST LIKE TYPING LIKE THIS.

One of my friends suggested that I am adding copious emphasis on something by shouting. NO! (<- Actual shouting) If I was YELLING something, would that be COPIOUS?

However, all caps followed by an exclamation mark is shouting. Or normal text followed by an exclamation mark is shouting. Heck, anything followed by an exclamation mark it shouting.

In addition, I just looked up "copious" in the dictionary, and it doesn't mean what I thought it meant. The simple English solution would be to replace copious with questionable. The Connor English solution would be to replace copious with dubious.

Draft in English, Write in RUSSIAN

Have you ever wanted to learn Russian? Unfortunately, I am not able to provide the addresses of any fine Russian teachers.

But I am able to provide a resource for you to fake writing in Russian.


The Website in Question

With this website, you can write in Russian. Or in Cyrillic characters with a one to one cypher to English that LOOKS Russian.

Here's a handy table to assess whether Cyrillic characters can adequately meet your needs as a human being;

English	Cyrillic
The Capitalists are coming, the capitalists are coming! Everyone, grab your AK-47's for the good of Mother Russia!	THЗ CДPITДLISTS ДЯЭ CФMIИG, THЗ CДPITДLISTS ДЯЭ CФMIЙG! ЗVЭЯУФИЗ, GЯДЬ ЧФЦЯ ДК-47'S FФЯ THЭ GФФD ФF MФTHЗЯ ЯЦSSIД!
Connor's Thoughts is a very fine source to get your news. Sure it may always be biased towards the nonsensical, but you really can't fault anyone for that. I would give my life for Connor. Comment this post?	CФИЙФЯ'S THФЦGHTS IS Д VЗЯУ FIИЭ SФЦЯCЗ TФ GЭT ЧФЦЯ ЙЗШS. SЦЯЭ IT MДУ ДLЩДЧS ЬЗ ЪIДSЭD TФШДЯDS THЗ ИФЙSЭИSICДL, БЦT УФЦ ЯЗДLLЧ CДЙ'T FДЦLT ДИУФЙЭ FФЯ THДT. I ЩФЦLD GIVЗ MЧ LIFЭ FФЯ CФИЙФЯ. CФMMЗИT THIS PФST?

As you can very well see, this generator makes any and all text incomprehensible. BUT COOL LOOKING.

There are two competing philosophies; go back and fix what you've made, or charge ahead and hope everyone forgets.

As any study of this blog will show, I am in clear favor of the former.

A Panorama of my Room

A room is unique. A room is a personal reflection on who you are as a person. A room is where you spend 4-12 hours a night almost every night.

Here's a panorama of my room;

Click for bigger view

Now the question is, are you going to post a link to a panorama of your room?

This Blog is Flounderhoggering

Remember back when I first made this? Neither do I, really.

Anyway, it seems as though I've really cut down on posting lately and visitor numbers have dropped accordingly. So I shall commemorate it with a picture of the Flounderhog.



What's that, you say? I already posted it?

That makes Flounderhogs just like dollar bills; you can never have enough, but they're harmful if taken orally.

I Think You Should Read "Toyko Zero," by Marc Horne

Well, I was searching Feedbooks for better versions of free books. I recommend Feedbooks, by the way. And then I realized that "Toyko Zero" by Marc Horne wasn't on Feedbooks. I had read the first two chapters and it looked like an interesting book, so I was appalled.

So I went to the Feedbooks website and uploaded a version of it so that all can enjoy.

As for the actual book, it is often described as;

Michael Blake is in Tokyo to help out with the end of the world. Living in the Tokyo of the gangs, the losers and the outsiders, Blake and a cell of Japanese psychopaths plot to unleash a new kind of bio-chemical horror on an unsuspecting populace of daydreaming salary-people.

It's also known as "My Tokyo Death Cult." Doesn't this all sound way too good to be true?

Connor's Thoughts Blog to go Ad Free

Well, I finally decided to eliminate ads from my website. Why? See below.

Google Adsense Ads
Cons;
-Distracting from overall purpose of the blog (still unclear as to what that purpose is)
-Fears of commercializing free images used on blog

Pros;
-While I'm specifically prevented from giving out earnings data, the earnings were "not satisfactory."

Well, that's enough blowing up a relatively minor change.