Explore the Concrete Beach

So how was your Christmas?

I hope it was good. I got my Keurig Mini-coffee maker from my sister and was thrilled. Though I don’t drink coffee, I do drink teas and hot chocolate and I have had about 20 cups since Christmas Eve when I got my gift.

Why Christmas Eve?

Well when my sister (Becky) and I were younger we use to have those in school “Santa’s Workshop” days where your parents gave you like $20 and you bought a bunch of crap for your family. Becky and I would then pass them out to our family, my dad’s side, on Christmas Eve that why they would get presents from use the day before and Christmas morning was spent opening up everything my parents, grandparents and aunt and uncle bought us. Christmas Eve was the time Becky and I exchanged presents with each other.

It became a tradition, even though my dad just wants to open everything on Christmas Eve because he says he wants to sleep in on Christmas, though the man can’t sleep past 7AM when we do presents at 9.

As we aged we’ve up graded the presents from random mugs and picture frames to clothes, golf clubs, and even a computer. Yes, a computer. We bought it for my parents a few years ago.  Don’t know if it was the wisest thing in the world, but we did it.

On Christmas I opened up a Wii. I was excited, but I find it funny when my parents said they didn’t know what to get me so they got me a Wii. If I was younger still and asked for a Wii, my parent’s would probably have looked at each other and rolled their eyes, but when you’re 28 and they have no clue on what to get you apparently video games systems are the way to go. I was excited for the Wii and have been playing it since Christmas Day, it’s like I’m 14 again playing on my N64.

Best. System. Ever!

So those were my main gifts on Christmas I did get a nice Penguins hoodie too! Can’t go wrong with a Pens hoodie.

So how was your Christmas and can you believe it’s almost 2010?

Where has the decade gone?

Which also means I graduated high school 10 years ago. Wow.

:blink:

That’s still odd to me, but I know we will not have a reunion as my senior class did not like each other that well and the people in charge did nothing with our class, except design the crappiest senior t-shirts ever and they wonder why no one bought them. Shooting stars are not something everyone would want to wear on a t-shirt.

Later this week my top memories from the last decade.

Mark

Yep, I made the title as bad as the story. Maybe I should right news copy. It’s mostly fluff  and puns, right?

I guess it is time for the after Christmas “Beware of…” story.

WPXI (my number 3 station in Pittsburgh) did a story on the dangers of the Nintendo Wii, specifically older people or less active people picking up a controlling and playing Boxing or Tennis that can lead to…wait for it…”Wii-itis”. OK, I think they made that up.

Full story and video HERE.

Darieth Chisolm warns to start off slow and don’t over do it. The doctor, Dr. Fred Harchelraod from Allegheny General states that they see 2-3 cases one week then none the next. 

So basically be alarmed folks, people lack commonsense and have to go to the emergency room or a doctor for a pull or a strain because people who lack commonsense don’t end up in the ER except due to Wii injuries.

These motions may be DANGEROUS! (sarc)

We get a bunch of common sense tips like, take breaks, rest your eyes as it can give you headaches or eye strain. Um…I have to stare at a computer for 8 hours at work doing the same thing over and over again in crappy lighting, but I’m not playing Wii. Does this mean computers should have been in this story too?

I just want to know where the value is in this story.

Plus isn’t WPXI suppose to be the no fluff, we give you the news station? I’m sure someone will say it’s providing some information that could be life or death or, in this case, a co-payment to a doctor. So I guess this is a “We’ll save you money” story.

Sir,put down the Wii-mote, you are buying a ticket to the emergency room.

The kicker for me is in the comments section.

Someone using the name Star said,

“I would like to comment on the WII fit . I broke my ankle in 4 places because the instructions do not stress the distance you need to move the footpad away when you are doing the jogging part of this activity. Running in place while keeping an eye on the screen, you do tend to move a small distance from where you start from. My foot hit the foot pad that was at least 2 feet away and I fell and broke my ankle. Surgery was required, a metal plate inserted,and a scar and therepy along with 6 weeks of no weight on my ankle was a bonus I got when I tried to get fit with WII fitness. Not what I bargained for.”

Um… Star you were just dumb and lacked some common sense and balance. Enjoy your “therepy” whatever that is. I know I’m not a great speller and I admit that, but I laughed at that for some reason. Probably because they might use Wii Fit for therapy.

Oh, and going back to the title “Wii Have A Problem.” It’s a real site so you can go check out some Wii mishaps by clicking here. I love all the broken windows.

That’s all I got for now.

Later!

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2009…2009…2009…2009…2009

That’s what I keep thinking when I am writing dates on papers at work.

I figure if I keep saying it, I will write 2009 instead of 2008, which my hand wants to automatically write so there is all ready about 5 papers that have a ‘9’ written sloppily over an ‘8.’

A few days ago I bought myself a present, well actually two presents. As you may have read in early December a post about “Great Gift Ideas,” I wrote about the Muppet Whatnot Work shop at FAO Schwarz. Well I have good news! You can now make them on-line again.

As soon as I saw this I sent my sister a text message. She replied back “Sweet I’m making one now.” At that point I was slightly jealous as I was at work at the time and her being a teacher, was sitting at home doing nothing, stupid Christmas break.

Anyhow, she said she ordered hers and she said they are on back order until February. It does say on the website it takes 3-4 weeks, but since these are in such high demand and they are each individually made I can see why it will take longer.

When I got home I made a Muppet and then another and another…I spent about an hour and a half making different combinations. I finally narrowed it down to three choices and then I ordered two. I will eventually get the third because I really liked it, but I needed the other two for an idea that I have, so here are my Muppet Whatnots. I haven’t named them yet, but every Muppet has a name and a back story so I’ll have to figure that out and write about it when they come in.

I really hate the head thing on the second one, but it’s just a mock up so we’ll see how it actually looks when I get it and maybe I can take it off.

My parents all ready said, “How old are you again.” To which I always reply, “What you forget again?” or sometimes I go with “10 year old trapped in a 27 year old body,” to which my parent roll there eyes. Like my sister is any better she’s 28 and ordered one too. My 18 year-old cousin said they same thing, but she is 18 and full of drama and just a bitter person all together as her and my 17 year-old cousin tried to start some kind of Facebook fight with me, which they failed at.

Oh to be that young again…wait screw that I hated high school. It was just really boring and the people annoyed me. I’ll have to write about my senior year at some point as our whole class hated each other.

Anywho, if you are looking to waste some time today, head over to FAO.com and click on the Whatnot link and have fun creating your very own Muppet Whatnot.

Today I bring you a story from the mall.

A week before Christmas a women walked up to the kiosk and bought 9 pairs of sunglasses, 9 cleaning kits and 9 car clips from us. When asked why she was buying so many sunglasses and such, she replied, “They are for my employees.”

My manager and I agreed that was a really nice thing of her to do. She spent over $1300 on 9 nice pairs of sunglasses for her employees. She wanted them rang up separately so each person can have a gift receipt if the glasses don’t fit or if they want another pair.

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Happy Friday everyone! Woo! We made it!

I’m still a little under the weather, but feeling much better than yesterday.

I got a small video yesterday on my drive to the mall. I will post it when I get home today.

Basically the sign at Hooters was sending messages and I lol’d about it. And if you follow me on Twitter then you al ready know what it is about.

You can follow me on Twitter by clicking HERE.

OK, on to today’s interesting gift idea. I was going to write about this next week but since Whitney Matheson wrote about it in her Pop Candy blog on USA today, which you can read HERE, I figured I might share my enthusiasm about this site also.

What do you get for the person who has everything or someone who likes art and maybe some pop culture?

Well why not get them some Naked Art!

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Can you sum up your life in six words?

It’s an interesting concept.

Six words to sum up you life, a six word memoir and that’s it. So many people try to leave their mark on the world by doing something great, but I find it amazing how 6 little words can sum up a life.

Recently I have seen this book appear in a few places, so I decided to read about it more. The book is called, Not Quite What I Was Planning it was published in 2006 from the publishers of SMITH Magazine.

Apparently, it was a hit and this year a new version was released, Not Quite What I Was Planning, Revised and Expanded Deluxe Edition: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure. It’s a hardcover addition that sells for $16.95, but it’s just under $12 on Amazon.

Like the title says some of the memoirs are by famous people others are from readers of SMITH Magazine, hence the obscure part.

Let’s take a look at a few of these:

“After Harvard, had baby with crackhead” – Robin Templeton

“Nobody cared, Then they did. Why?”  - Chuck Klosterman

“One long train ride into darkness.”- Wayne Colodny

“Catholic School backfired. Sin is in!” – Nikki Beland

Kind of interesting, huh?

Stephen Colbert writes, “Well, I thought is was funny”

So far this has been a fun read and maybe a fun game to play at your next family gathering.  

So if you’re looking for a book for someone for Christmas I would suggest this one. It kind of goes along with the Post Secret books, without pictures and the anonymous that they have.

So how would you sum up your life in 6 words?

Mine?

“Speak your mind, listen to others.”

Well, what are yours?

Happy December everyone!

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend.

If you’re like me, then you didn’t start your shopping yet. I did try yesterday, but my sister and I learned very quickly that we weren’t getting anything done.

We took one lap around The Mall at Robinson and found nothing, left went to IKEA, bought some things for ourselves and then went to Target and semi-accomplished buying on present.

So today while searching online I found on of the greatest presents ever…well to me at least. If you or anyone you know is a fan of The Muppets this is the gift for them.

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