Monk's Phobias

Monk was a comedy-drama detective mystery television series that aired from 2002-2009. I don't think I ever saw an episode of it when it was on in prime time, but recently started watching it in late-night reruns. Monk suffers from obsessive–compulsive personality disorder and while the real-life disorder really shouldn't be laughed at, Monk made it seem hilarious.

Monk seemed to display a new phobia (or two or three or more) in each episode. According to Wiki and fan sites, Monk has 312 fears, some of which are milk, ladybugs, harmonicas, heights, imperfection,claustrophobia, driving, food touching on his plates, messes, frogs, germs, crowds, glaciers and risk, although in one later episode he managed to get a handle on his claustrophobia.

His obsessions were what made for the best comedy,though. 

Crystallize - Lindsey Stirling

And You Don't Have To

Stick a matchbook in me to make me work!

You Are Super Mario Bros.

You have an active imagination, and you are a very creative problem solver. You know that there is more than one way to get things done, and you love figuring out new ways of doing things. You are goal oriented but not competitive. You like to complete tasks, but you also need to have fun along the way. You are compassionate and helpful, but you also value your alone time. You are reserved about expressing your true self.

What Classic Video Game Are You?

I used to date a woman who was given a Nintendo from her nephew; after playing the few games she had received with it, I bought one not long after and would take my game cartridges over for her and her roommate to play and we spent many, many hours playing Super Mario Bros. It took weeks, but we finally managed to reach the end of the game. There was elation for a while, then a letdown when we realized the fun had gone out of it. We did find another game that was as much if not more fun than Super Mario Bros, The Punisher, but I managed to beat that game, too.

(If you didn't understand the matchbook reference, you probably never owned one of those Nintendo units.  In every one I'd ever seen, after a while the contacts would get bent and it was necessary to put some sort of shim - usually a matchbook - between the top of the cartridge and the unit to make it work. The machine could be opened up and the pins re-aligned, but that fix seldom lasted...come to think of it, neither did the matchbook trick.  It was either a design flaw/shoddy workmanship or planned obsolescence.  I always figured it was the latter.)

Texpedition - Amarillo

Nice little video, but more of an advert for The Big Texan at the end of it than informative throughout.

Goodbye, iGoogle

As of today, iGoogle is no more.  It's no HUGE loss, but I did enjoy my custom Google search page with local weather, news and sports widgets, along with other custom pages.  That's OK, I found igHome, a similar replacement.

I just hope they don't do away with Blogger; I doubt they will, but I didn't think they'd do away with Google Reader, either. (which was a bigger hassle to replace)

So, goodbye, iGoogle.  Nice knowin' ya.

(as you can see, I have replaced it with the regular Google link)

Ivy Mike

Ivy Mike was the codename given to the first test of a thermonuclear device, in which part of the explosive yield comes from nuclear fusion. It was detonated on November 1, 1952 by the United States on Enewetak, an atoll in the Pacific Ocean, as part of Operation Ivy. The device was the first full test of the Teller-Ulam design, a staged fusion bomb, and was the first successful test of a hydrogen bomb.