Well, Benjamin Peter came home yesterday, and the ride was unenventful. We decided to take Ben by St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church to show him where his mom and dad got married. Not sure he really absorbed much of it, but it was worth it, anyway. Regardless, he loved the ride home and didn’t make a peep. We also drove by and showed him where we STARTED to think about him!

Michelle and I are very proud to announce the new addition to our family, Benjamin Peter Filias.

He was born on May 24, 2005 at 3:07PM.
He weighed 8lb. 5oz. and was 21 inches long.

Michelle and Ben are doing very well!

It seems that Movable Type hasn’t been doing a whole lot for me as of late. I’m starting to have second thoughts and have been looking at WordPress again. It sure seems like a very polished product compard to Movable Type. I’m also curious about the whole comment spam thing. I wonder if WordPress has it figured out?

WOW!!! Two new videogame machines are coming out in the next 10 months or so. In December, we have the XBOX 360 from Microsoft. In Spring 2006, we have the Playstation 3 from Sony coming out!

This thing sounds awesome. Dual HDTV outputs. Support for games up to 1080p. 802.11b for connectivity with Sony PSPs. Bluetooth for use with its controllers. The list goes on an on!

Sony Playstation 3

I forgot about this site and was reminded of it when I went to Dino’s Blog entry about it.

My Face Analysis

It was pretty darn good, coming up with 78% Southern European.

The first image I used, before I created my account there, had me as a Female, but had 91% Southern European!

Now, on the surface, it seems that Google’s web acclerator is a grand idea. One of Google’s many technological innovations that has us scratching our heads how in God’s name these people continue to release products that are so…cool!

Well, this interesting article points out a few cases where using GWA may not be such a good idea.

Controversy over Google’s Web Accelerator

My friend, Mike, sent me this link. It’s about a guy who works for Lucas or Industrial Light and Magic and went to the employee screening of SWE3:ROTS. He was in the company of some pretty important people in the movie business. You don’t need to read the whole article, as most of the important information is either bolded or colored in red.

SWE3 Story

Thanks to Tortilla Man for this!
Bounce this around!

Great Tip….Who woulda thought? The US Postal service sent out a message to
all letter carriers to put a sheet of Bounce in their uniform pockets to
keep yellow jackets away. The yellow jackets just veer around you. And all
this time you’ve! just been putting Bounce in the dryer!

It will chase ants away when you lay a sheet near them.

It also repels mice. Spread them around foundation areas, or in trailers,
cars that are sitting and it keep s mice from entering your vehicle.

It takes the odor out of books and photo albums that don’t get opened too
often.

Repels mosquitoes. Tie a sheet of Bounce through a belt loop when outdoors
during mosquito season.

Eliminates static electricity from your television (or computer) screen.
Since Bounce is designed to help eliminate static cling, wipe your
television screen with a used sheet of Bounce to keep dust from resettling.

Dissolve soap scum from shower doors. Clean with a sheet of Bounce.

Freshen the air in your home. Place an individual sheet of Bounce in a
drawer or hang in the closet.

Put Bounce sheet in vacuum cleaner.

Prevent thread from tangling. Run a threaded needle through sheet of Bounce
before beginning to sew.

Prevent musty suitcases. Place an individual sheet of Bounce inside empty
luggage before storing.

Freshen the air in your car. Place a sheet of Bounce under the front seat.

Clean baked-on foods from a cooking pan. Put a sheet in a pan, fill with
water, let sit overnight, and sponge clean. The antistatic agent apparently
weakens the bond between the food.

Eliminate odors in wastebaskets.. Place a sheet of Bounce at the bottom of
the wastebasket.

Collect cat hair. Rubbing the area with a sheet of Bounce will magnetically
attract all the loose hairs.

Eliminate static electricity from Venetian blinds. Wipe the blinds with a
sheet of Bounce to prevent dust from resettling.

Wipe up sawdust from drilling or sand papering. A used sheet of Bounce will
collect sawdust like a tack cloth.

Eliminate odors in dirty laundry. Place an individual sheet of Bounce at the
bottom of a laundry bag or hamper.
Deodorize shoes or sneakers. Place a sheet of Bounce in your shoes or
sneakers overnight.

Golfers put a Bounce sheet in their back pocket to keep the bees away.

Put a Bounce sheet in your sleeping bag and tent before folding and storing
them. Keeps them smelling fresh.

And now that you know, print and keep on file or bounce (pass) it around.
:-)

Two couples were playing poker one evening. John accidentally dropped
some cards on the floor. When he bent down under the table to pick them
up, he noticed Bill’s wife Sue wasn’t wearing any underwear under her
dress!Shocked by this, John, upon trying to sit back up again, hit his
head on the table and emerged red-faced.

Later, John went to the kitchen to get some refreshments. Bill’s wife
followed and asked, “Did you see anything that you liked under there?”
Surprised by her boldness, John courageously admitted that, well
indeed he did.

She said, “Well, you can have it, but it will cost you $500.”
After taking a minute or two to assess the financial and
moral costs of this offer, John confirms that he is interested. She tells him that since her husband Bill works Friday afternoons and John
doesn’t, John
should be at her house around 2 PM Friday afternoon.

When Friday rolled around, John showed up at Bill’s house at 2 PM
sharp and after paying Sue the agreed sum of $500 they went to the bedroom
and closed their transaction, as agreed. John quickly dressed and left.

As usual, Bill came home from work at 6 p.m. and upon
entering the house,asked his wife abruptly. “Did John come by the house this afternoon?”
With a lump in her throat Sue answered “Why, yes, he did stop by for
a few minutes this afternoon.”
Her heart nearly skipped a beat when her husband curtly
asked,“And did he give you $500?” In terror she assumed that somehow he had found out and after
mustering her best poker face, replied, “Well, yes, in fact he did give me
$500! "

Bill, with a satisfied look on his face, surprised his wife by
saying,“Good, I was hoping he did. John came by the office this morning and borrowed $500 from me. He promised me he’d stop by our house
this afternoon
on his way home and pay me back.”

Now THAT, my friends, is a poker player.

My friend, Victor, at work is hilarious! Per this e-mail virus situation we have going on today:

I don’t know why I keep getting these emails saying my email account is restricted. I can open their attachments just fine….

weird.

• Victor

My girlfriend and I had been dating for over a year when we decided to get married. My parents helped us in every way, and my friends encouraged me. My girlfriend? She was a dream! There was only one thing bothering me.

That one thing was her younger sister.

My prospective sister-in-law was twenty years of age, wore tight miniskirts, and low cut blouses. She would regularly bend down when near me, and I got many a pleasant view of her underwear. It had to be deliberate. She never did it when she was near anyone else.

One day little sister calls and asked me to come over to check the wedding invitations. She was alone when I arrived. She whispered to me that soon I was to be married, and she had feelings and desires for me that she could not overcome and did not really want to overcome. She told me that she wanted to make love to me just once before I got married and committed my life to her sister.

I was in total shock and could not say a word.

She said, “I’m going upstairs to my bedroom, and if you want to go ahead with it just come up and get me.”

I was stunned. I was frozen in shock as I watched her go up the stairs. When she reached the top, she pulled down her panties and threw them down the stairs at me. I stood there for a moment, then turned and went straight to the front door. I opened the door and stepped out of the house and walked straight toward my car.

My future father-in-law was standing outside. With tears in his eyes, he hugged me and said, “We are very happy that you have passed our little test. We could not ask for a better man for our daughter.

Welcome to the family!”

The moral of this story is…..

Always keep your condoms in your car!

Seriously, the guys (people) over at Google are amazing.

Can they continue to amaze us with their releases of cool technology forever? I think so.

A cool tidbit my friend, JT$, sent me this morning:

The combined market cap of GM, Ford Motor Co., Roger Penske’s United Auto Group and the seven Michigan auto suppliers on the Fortune 500 – Delphi, Visteon, Lear, American Axle, ArvinMeritor, TRW Automotive and Federal-Mogul – is a mere $47 billion.That’s 25 percent shy of the value of just one newly minted public company, Google Inc., whose market cap was $62.7 billion Wednesday.

Anyway, the real reason I made this blog entry:

Google’s Web Accelerator

What is it? (Taken from Google’s site).

1. What is Google Web Accelerator?

Google Web Accelerator is an application that uses the power of Google’s global computer network to make web pages load faster. Google Web Accelerator is easy to use; all you have to do is download and install it, and from then on many web pages will automatically load faster than before.

Please note that Google Web Accelerator is currently in beta test mode. If you have any problems using it or have suggestions for how we can improve it, please see the Google Group devoted to it.

Also note that during the first part of our beta testing period, users outside of North America and Europe may not see much improvement in their web page loading speed.

Read more about what it is, here.

I got this from Dino today, who got it from his wife, Danielle:

EXCERPTS FROM A DOG’S DIARY

Day number 180
8:00 am - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVORITE!
9:30 am - OH BOY! A CAR RIDE! MY FAVORITE!
9:40 am - OH BOY! A WALK! MY FAVORITE!
10:30 am - OH BOY! A CAR RIDE! MY FAVORITE!
11:30 am - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVORITE!
12:00 noon - OH BOY! THE KIDS! MY FAVORITE!
1:00 pm OH BOY! THE YARD! MY FAVORITE!
4:00 pm - OH BOY! THE KIDS! MY FAVORITE!
5:00 PM - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVORITE!
5:30 PM - OH BOY! MOM! MY FAVORITE!

Day number 181
8:00 am - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVORITE!
9:30 am - OH BOY! A CAR RIDE! MY FAVORITE!
9:40 am - OH BOY! A WALK! MY FAVORITE!
10:30 am - OH BOY! A CAR RIDE! MY FAVORITE!
11:30 am - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVORITE!
12:00 noon - OH BOY! THE KIDS! MY FAVORITE!
1:00 pm OH BOY! THE YARD! MY FAVORITE!
4:00 pm - OH BOY! THE KIDS! MY FAVORITE!
5:00 PM - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVORITE!
5:30 PM - OH BOY! MOM! MY FAVORITE!

Day number 182
8:00 am - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVORITE!
9:30 am - OH BOY! A CAR RIDE! MY FAVORITE!
9:40 am - OH BOY! A WALK! MY FAVORITE!
10:30 am - OH BOY! A CAR RIDE! MY FAVORITE!
11:30 am - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVORITE!
12:00 noon - OH BOY! THE KIDS! MY FAVORITE!
1:00 pm OH BOY! THE YARD! MY FAVORITE!
1:30 pm - ooooooo. bath. bummer.
4:00 pm - OH BOY! THE KIDS! MY FAVORITE!
5:00 PM - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVORITE!
5:30 PM - OH BOY! MOM! MY FAVORITE!

EXCERPTS FROM A CAT’S DIARY

DAY 180 - My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while I am forced to eat dry cereal. The only thing that keeps me going is the hope of escape, and the mild satisfaction I get from ruining the occasional piece of furniture. Tomorrow I may eat another houseplant.

DAY 181 - Today my attempt to kill my captors by weaving around their feet while they were walking almost succeeded, must try this at the top of the stairs. In an attempt to disgust and repulse these vile oppressors, I once again induced myself to vomit on their favorite chair…must try this on their bed.

DAY 182 - Decapitated a mouse and brought them the headless body, in attempt to make them aware of what I am capable of, and to try to strike fear into their hearts. They only cooed and condescended about what a good little cat I was…Hmmm. Not working according to plan.

DAY 183 - I am finally aware of how sadistic they are. For no good reason I was chosen for the water torture. This time however it included a burning foamy chemical called “shampoo.” What sick minds could invent such a liquid.

DAY 184 - There was some sort of gathering of their accomplices. I was placed in solitary throughout the event. I overheard that my confinement was due to MY power of “allergies.” Must learn what this is and how to use it to my advantage.

DAY 185 - I am convinced the other captives are flunkies and maybe snitches. The dog is routinely released and seems more than happy to return. He is obviously a half-wit. The bird on the other hand has got to be an informant, and speaks with them regularly. I am certain he reports my every move. Due to his current placement in the metal room his safety is assured. But I can wait, it is only a matter of time.

Thanks to JT$ for this one!

How much do you know about money matters? Lets see if any of the following fun facts surprise you.

1. If we could have any luxury in the world (and money didnt matter), more of us would choose to spend money on a butler and a maid than anything else.
2. E Pluribus Unum, the phrase on the back of every U.S. coin, refers to the original 13 colonies. It has 13 letters and means one out of many or many joined into one.
3. For $10,000,000, showed a 1991 survey, 25% of Americans would abandon their families, 23% would become a prostitute for a week; 16% would renounce their U.S. citizenship; 10% would withhold testimony in a court case and let a murderer go free, 7% would kill a stranger, and 3% would give their children up for adoption.
4. We call a dollar a buck because in the frontier days, the pelt of a male buck was worth a dollar.
5. Money (or the lack thereof) is the biggest stress inducer in the lives of Americans, and the leading cause of marital disagreements.
6. Martha Washington is the only woman whose portrait has appeared on a U.S. currency note. It appeared on the face of the $1 Silver Certificate of 1886 and 1891, and the back of the $1 Silver Certificate of 1896.
7. If you get your money out of a Hitachi ATM in Japan, it will be laundered. The machine briefly presses the bills between rollers at high enough temperatures to kill most bacteria.
8. If you work a 40 hour week from the time you’re twenty years old until you’re sixty-five, you need a wage of $10.68 per hour to earn a million dollars in your lifetime.
9. Most people wont bend over to pick up money lying on the sidewalk unless its at least a dollar.
10. When it comes to flipping a coin, three times as many people will guess heads than tails.
11. 92% of us would rather be rich than find the love of our lives.
12. A person who drives 10 miles to buy a lottery ticket is three times more likely to be killed in a car accident than he is to win the jackpot.
13. Of every tax dollar paid, more than 50 cents goes to pay for past, present and future military expenses. The budget of the Department of Defense for 2005 alone is nearly $500 billion.
14. Sunday newspaper coupon inserts are the second-most read section of the paper, after the front page.
15. Have you ever wondered how long paper money lasts? A $1 bill lasts 18 months; a $5 bill two years; a $10 bill three years; a $20 bill four years; and $50 and $100 bills nine years. Bills that get worn out from everyday use are taken out of circulation and replaced.
16. What time is it on the Independence Hall clock on the back of the $100 bill? Its hard to see without a magnifying glass, but the clock is set at about 4:10.
17. The average wedding in America costs a staggering $20,000.
18. More than one-third of American women consider money more important to the success of a marriage than good sex.
19. More than 80,000,000 people call the IRS Information Hotline every year. One-third of those calls go unanswered. And according to the Treasury Department itself, 47% of the answers the get-through callers receive are incorrect.
20. The costliest real estate investment: an American businessman recently paid more than $800,000 for a huge sprawling mansion in the heart of [New] Delhi, without having seen the property first. Upon visiting India to take possession of his house, he found it was the Prime Ministers residence.

You know, I sit here, daily, programming away at work, sometimes venturing off to websites that have strange things, like the South Park character generator, news, tech sites, and mostly, sites that show deals at retailer websites. I love buying things, so that’s why I go to those sites!

I’ve been very busy at work lately, trying to get a big project done before we have our baby. I’d hate to leave the project unfinished for a few weeks, so I’ve been setting aside extra mental bandwidth for the project, and it’s been a damn good time, too. Been learning more about ASP and tying in with databases and recordsets. Thanks to my friend, Tim, at work.

After this Saturday, we’ll be home-free in terms of having the baby. We have a final exam and a portfolio project due that day. We’re crossing our fingers and praying the little person will at least wait a few more days. We’re about 3 weeks to go as of this coming Saturday!!!