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Weekend: June 07, 2009 - Types of Douchebags Types of Douchebags There is one rule, especially for men, that is applicable in all situations: Every male that is not your friend is, for one reason or another, a douchebag. This is true 100% of the time and in order to not be considered a douchebag, you must prove your innocence. While Chris was still in town we came up with an extensive list of douchebag traits and, seeing as he and I were both on the list, felt safe in labeling the people we knew as types of douchebags. This is no half-assed list, this is the definitive guide to douchebaggery.

OVERVIEW

There are seven categories of douchebag: Judgey, One-Upper, Punchy, Aww, Pity, Planner, and Wannabe. None are any better or worse than another and most people are a combination of two or more. To figure out what type of douchebag you are, think of a situation where you are amongst a group of your friends and you meet a new person. Each clique typically has (and needs) at least one of every type. I digress.

Part I: Types

Judgey: Also known as Silent Judgey, the Judgey does not offer much in the way of conversation except for minimal small-talk. The role of the Judgey is to draw conclusions of the new person based on secret criteria that only they know. Usually the criteria are all things that the Judgey is either good at, or knows a lot about. For example, a Judgey might silently write me off as an idiot because I ended the last sentence with the word "about". They, of course, would never tell me this but only, later, share this with other Judgies.

One-Upper: The goal of the one-upper is not necessarily to finish your story with "...oh yeah, well one time I caught a fish that was twice that size" but rather to dominate a conversation with better, more exciting topics. One-uppers will steer conversations towards themselves and things they like and are always dismissive of anything you might have to say.

Punchy: Punchy does not punch per se but is frequently oblivious to what they're saying and is not hesitant about being combative. They usually mistake the Judgey's silence for approval. Punchies can be obnoxious but also irritating in their need to be the center of attention at all times.

Pity: Pities talk about themselves constantly and not in the way as the One-Upper or Punchy. Pities are always complaining about things they can readily control and don't expecting you to agree that their lives suck and will never get better. People that are constantly complaining about how busy they are, with the exception of Chris Green (the only person on Earth who means it when he says he's busy) are Pities. As an evening progresses, the Pity can evolve into arguably the most annoying type of douchebag.

Planner: Planners are typically the most friendly but need to have things their way. When you disagree with them they exhibit signs of Judgey or Punchy depending on their personality.

Wannabe: The Wannabe is usually the friend of a single group member and not widely accepted by the whole group. They do not exhibit any particular personality traits but they're always there. The Wannabe is usually down for any suggestion because it means they have friends but will never make a suggestion to do anything because they do not carry enough clout in the douchebag unit.

Aww: The Aww category is reserved for people for whom the group is ambivalent. No one ever says, "Oh awesome, John is here" nor do they ever say "Oh god, John is here". For the most part Awws are just kind of there. If they were nicer they'd be exonerated from the douchebag list but they never are.

Part II: Evolvement

As an evening progresses, douchebags take on new forms under stress. For each type, there are certain stressors that will cause them to morph into a different type.

Judgey: Under stress, the Judgey will typically move to Punchy and begin to care less about making their opinions known. Under even more stress, the Judgey-Punchy will evolve into the Judgey-Punchy-One-Upper after they get tired of having their opinions invalidated. Most of the stress applied to Judgies comes from Punchies and One-Uppers who never shut up.

One-Upper: The One-Upper changes into a Fauxplainer when they encounter either a Punchy or another One-Upper. Once there is nothing left to compete over the Fauxplainer finds insignificant things to complain about. If asked about the complaining, the One-Upper-Fauxplainer will evolve into a Punchy with no regard whatsoever about the opinions of the rest of the group.

Planner: As the night gets away from the planner they turn into a Complainer. Because they thought they were in charge at one point, the lack of control causes them to become irritated and complaining about the direction of the night. As the night progresses and the Planner-Complainer loses more and more control, they finally turn into a Pity and wonder why no one listens to them and starts asking everyone else if they had a good time.

Wannabe: The Wannabe can never evolve because they're just grateful to be there.

Pity: As Pities become stress they turn into full-bore Fauxplainers and demand pity-attention. When they don't receive it they begin alternating between Pity and Fauxplainers until they've isolated a single group member into listening and sympathizing. This person is usually a Silent Judgey who will absolutely hate this person by the end of the night.

Aww: By the middle of the night the Awws are sitting quietly, usually next to a Punchy, enjoying the evening.

Punchy: Punchies are the most dangerous as an evening wears on because they can evolve into any type. The first step is ALWAYS, however, a One-Upper. After becoming a Punchy One-Upper, they can either move to Fauxplaning to Pity, to Judgey to Pity, cycle back to Punchy, or go straight to Pity.

CONCLUSION
You are a douchebag. We all are some type of douchebag so don't take it personally. I personally am a One-Upper/Punchy and therefore get along best with Silent Judgies who quietly make note of the fact I don't think before I speak and wear black belts with brown shoes. I get along the worst with other Punchy One-Uppers. What type of douchebag are you?
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Monday: June 08, 2009 - Tower of Toys Tower of Toys In case Chris is missing his beloved Oreo, here is a picture from yesterday. Oreo stacked up all her toys one by one and then put her paw on top of the stack. It was pretty amazing trick. Unfortunately, Chompy was inside performing a trick of her own: making Oreo's breakfast disappear.

I'm glad the Douchebag entry was so well-received. I'm also glad no one took offense to the categories they were in, although since just about everyone I know is a Judgey of some sort, if you hated it you'll probably just quietly hate me forever over it.

We had our first test on Monday. The average was a B, which I do not find to be acceptable. I just wrote a couple long paragraphs and decided to delete them. Suffice it say, Tuesday's class will contain one and one item only: smackdown.
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Wednesday: June 10, 2009 - Smackdown (x2) Smackdown (x2) Two days ago in class I laid a smackdown. A smackdown of dumb mistakes. Not surprisingly, the day after those errors did not repeat themselves. Shocking how that seems to work.

Unfortunately I got my own version of a smackdown yesterday with my first observation. We spent too much time part-writing and I didn't spend enough time correcting new resolutions. Both of those are true.

I appreciated the vast majority of the feedback and this morning I started implementing the changes. Maybe it's because a good part of my day is spent as Business Mike but if you have six weeks to do new things and they were C+/C students coming in and halfway through you have B+/B I think it stands to reason that the methods are, at least partially effective. Whatever, I certainly have a lot of things to improve upon but what I can absolutely, absolutely guarantee is this: their improvement is amazing and it brings me to joy to see it, even if I'm the only one (for now).
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Weekend: June 14, 2009 - Slackman Slackman What's up you pups? I have really been slacking on the poor blog. I haven't really done much online except work in the past week. I wish I could tell tales of high adventure in the lowlands of Massachusetts but sadly nothing at all has happened since last Wednesday.

Nothing except that my barrista at Starbucks thought I was gay. I find this shocking for several reasons but so far Steve has offered the best reasoning. With Chris in Germany, I am safely in the highest tier of attractiveness town-wide. As we all know, the gays have only the highest standards in terms of sheer physical beauty. Sure, in Washington there was no question because being in the 50-60 percentile would never be allowed. But here, oh no. Additionally, because I teach four days a week I can't fall into my regular grooming habits (or non-grooming habits) so I mistakenly give off the appearance as someone who takes pride in themself. Dressed in nice clothes it makes a little more sense. Additionally, I am friendly and smart. Who wouldn't want to be my friend?

It was flattering though for sure; I walked out marveling at my own beauty for the first time in a while. If only I liked dudes.
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Tuesday: June 16, 2009 - Whompdown Whompdown With Chris back in town for a few hours we went to the gym and followed up with a couple games of racquetball. That game is just brutal. Even after playing a few times it become readily apparent (especially in the first game where I managed to lose 21-9) that I have absolutely no idea how the ball caroms off the walls. Absolutely. No. Idea. I swung and missed completely no less than a half-dozen times. I also managed to hit myself in the face with the racket once. The second was more competitive (to use the term competitive loosely) but I still got crushed.

Our time at the gym overlapped the workout time of the Red Sox' minor league team--the A league. First of all, those dudes are huge. It must be nice where your job description is like "Get and stay huge. Spend your millions of dollars." Particularly interesting was them observing our racquetball game. It was a weird role-reversal being watched by soon-to-be-professional athletes.

I was grateful they did not boo me but they were probably too busy wondering how someone who was struggling to lift two 15lb weights over his head could even lift a racket. Whatever.
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Wednesday: June 17, 2009 - Bevy of Movies Bevy of Movies I've watched a lot of movies recently and since I was the last person on Earth to have seen them I won't bother with long reviews when grades will more than suffice.

Wall-E: Amazing how far animation has come. Final Grade: B-

The Incredibles: I swear the visuals throughout that movie looked real most of the time. Story...zzz. Final Grade: B-

Finding Nemo: Sensing a pattern here? Final Grade: B

Ocean's 11: Much better than I thought. Final Grade: A-

Crouching Tiger: Needed less "story" and more fighting chicks. Final Grade: D

Transformers: I'm not even going to grade this. Who doesn't like the Transformers. And who doesn't like Megan Fox?

Alien: Took me three tries to get through it without falling asleep. Pretty crappy but it did make me jump when it first popped out of his belly. I might have screamed a little too. Final Grade; D

Garden State: I've watched this twice now and hated it both times. Final Grade: F

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: Weirdy. Final Grade: B

Saving Private Ryan: Kind of cheesy but pretty good. Final Grade: B+

American Beauty: I like Kevin Spacey. Final Grade: B+

Good Will Hunting: Predictable but quotable. I feel so "in" now. Final Grade: C-

Terminator: Eh. Final Grade: C-

Terminator 2: Come with me if you want to live (again). Final Grade: B+

American History X: Awesome. Final Grade: A

Yep, with Chris away I've had a good two hours before bed to slowly become acquainted with popular culture.
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Thursday: June 18, 2009 - I'm Getting It I I'm totally getting the new iPhone. It comes out today and while I won't be part of the teeming masses I'm still going to get it. Why? Because I deserve it. Yes, my old one works fine despite the crack that runs down the middle of the screen. If they'll let me keep a crappy sim card in it and use it as an emergency phone that I can store in the glove compartment of my car then great. Aside from going out to eat a lot (ok, a lot-lot) I don't really spend money on stuff unless I have to so sometimes you gotta treat yourself right.

We've had some nice weather up here this week even though it's supposed to rain all weekend. Chompy and Oreo are getting along better and it's hard to believe I only have one more full week left of teaching this session. Weirdy. Time moves a lot more quickly when you wake up before 7am with a full day rather than 10am with a less-full day.

In other news, the Cubs suck. Sammy Sosa was also found to have failed a steroids test in 2003. Duh. Seriously, duh. Who didn't see that one coming.
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Monday: June 22, 2009 - Bandwagoneer Bandwagoneer So I got the new iPhone 3gs and it, so far, is way better than the 2g. Everyone with whom I've spoken on the phone has told me that the reception is much more clear so maybe, just maybe, AT&T is getting their act together.

So far the only downside is that none of my old accessories work and I had to rebuy all the applications I had on my old one. The battery life isn't all it's cracked up to be either. It has a compass feature that's pretty stupid and useless but the GPS works much faster than it did on the old one.

In other news the Cubs still suck and they really should attempt to trade for Albert Pujols. They could get him if they really wanted to--maybe Zambrano, Dempster, and Derek Lee. Randy Wells and Ted Lilly could just alternate days and with a whopping 3 runs a game in support they might actually pick up some wins.

My fantasy team still sucks but I've moved out of place after breaking even in last week's matchup.
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Friday: June 26, 2009 - King Philip Hones King Philip Hones After class on Thursday I ran some errands and then Chris was kind enough to drive me to Logan so I could fly back to DC to move promotioncode.org to a new server and start packing up my stuff for the official move on July 2nd.

I feel like I threw out most of my random stuff when I moved from Florida but no, I still have tons of it. I have my office and my kitchen totally done, my bedroom and living room are each about 80% done and I haven't touched the bathroom.

Despite not being a Planner Douchebag, I saved all my moving tubs so I've been able to get things packed up pretty quickly. By far my most impressive success was loading the big TV into its original box by myself. That sucker is heavy.

I'm up to six garbage bags full of clothes to give away. I've decided to pare down to six items in each clothing category. After living for a month with only four clothing options I figured it was time to get back to basics.

I find it funny that I consider 2004 - 2007 the Lean Years but somehow that's when I acquired just about everything I own. For whatever reason I spent a lot more money when I had less. I guess that's the American way.

I was able to purchase pitchy.com over the weekend and mark my words, in a couple of years that is going to be a significant site.

If you're not doing anything July 2nd and want to help me load a truck that would be great. I'll even pay you--pay you with money, not even like "pizza and beer" but with cold hard cash (and pizza and beer).

And so ends two sentence paragraph day.
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Good Things Take Time... -2 days until FSU Football (2010)


Random Picture...
There's me with Ocho Rios in the background. I was trying out the new timer feature on my camera.


Time Machine: 09-07-2009 · 09-07-2008 · 09-07-2007 · 09-07-2006 09-07-2009: I'll start with the good news: my death from the swine flu is no longer imminent. Now, onto the bad news.

WHERE THE HELL WAS FSU'S DEFENSE?! *I* could have been playing cornerback last night. I can easily ignore receivers as the blow past me or trip on my own two feet as a RUNNING BACK shoots past me for a catch in the end zone. Uggggggggh. On the bright side, the offense looked pretty good--at least Christian Ponder and the vaunted offensive line. The running game looked anemic when Jermaine was in there but his backup looked like a punisher. The fact our receivers c(w)ouldn't catch the ball made life rough. Fortson looked like the only guy who actually was willing to take one for the team and try to catch it, although Richard Goodman's catch on the two-point conversion ended with him getting blasted.

Anyway, where was the bloodthirsty FSU defense? Who were these cowards playing constant zone coverage? It doesn't take a PS2 NCAA Football expert very long to realize there's a time and a place for zone but if you want to win you need to MAN UP. Granted, the man coverage, when "utilized", made the secondary look absolutely stupid, with their coverage at least five yards behind the Miami receivers.

Whatever, we'll be good next year.
09-07-2008: It looks like my vice-like grip over NCAA Pick 'Em is officially over. After tweaking "the algorithm" I still finished near the bottom of the picks because I clearly overweighed the section dedicated to "do they like to get upset?". The numbers correctly picked the ECU upset of WV but unfortunately they also picked three more upsets and, knowing that no more than three teams ever get upset in a week, I released WV out of a personal affinity towards the school. I also, until the game started, thought USM was in fact Mississippi State which they are clearly not. Oops.

I went out to Virginia to watch the FSU game with Kathy & Co. The bar had a lot of FSU fans but none that were particularly into the game. It didn't help that there was over two hours in combined rain delays. FSU looked good but I think anyone would look good against Western Carolina. They're not East Carolina, that's for sure. Catamounts, for the record, are mountain lions. They are not horses despite containing the word "mount". We'll know for sure how good FSU is when vaunted Chattanooga rolls into town next week.
I took the day off blogging but only because I was thinking of you.09-07-2006: Although not as gratifying as some wins in the past, I was able to fend off tchris and jamie in a little three-way poker last night. At different points in the night we all had huge chip leads and somehow blew them. We're all big bettors so it was a lot of fun despite the low number of people.

I really need a new computer. Mine shuts off after about five minutes of use due to overheating and I still have not been able to find the right replacement fan. I'm hoping by the week after my birthday to have enough money to buy the new one from Dell, even though they won't let me get it without the video card. I talked to their retarded sales/tech guy and asked them simply if they could not charge/install a video card. They do not have dual-monitor options and I wasn't ordering any monitors so I didn't need the card. He replied that they could not and I was out of luck. I replied by asking him if the computers were really built by hand like they say in the commercials. He said yes. I then asked if they guy installing it could just "leave out" the video card (I'd be throwing it out the day I got it) and have the person hand-writing my bill leave off the cost of it. He said no. Oh well.