eklektos

I was on my way into Blacksburg this morning when I saw a sign on the 460 bypass stating: SMART ROAD OPEN HOUSE 4-8PM. I always wanted to race my Camaro down the Smart Road so off we (Cody & I) go to check it out. First and foremost I must say that the tour was entirely too long. Maybe it was just my expectations (20 minutes) but the tour lasted nearly two and a half hours! The people were incredibly nice. I took some video but if you can imagine riding on the BT in the rain... yeah, we've all done it before, then you can imagine what the video looks like. So I won't waste the bandwidth.

So even though I didn't get to race my Camaro down the 1.7 mile stretch it was still a good (albeit long) time. And I did get a cool Smart Road kooshie for this weekend's tailgate! BONUS

View the Smart Road pics

Posted by David Catalano at 09:37 PM | View Full Article | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Ok, where to begin. I suppose you should click here and listen to the entire song. But first, here's a key thing to keep in mind. When you listen you can press the little yellow star in the corner to change the background. Spiffy. Come back after you listen...

Play Copy Me

Ok. Glad you're back. So, what did you think? At first I found it to be annoying. But by the end of the song I found myself starting it over and listening again... and again... and again. I was hooked! That's why I recommend listening to the entire song. But you didn't did you...? Admit it!

Ok, one last thing. Notice the poor orange husky kid above. Yeah, that's me in kindergarten. I always seemed just a wee bit behind, especially on the coordinated activities. Who'd thought I'd turn out to be a modern day Johnny Castle

Posted by David Catalano at 08:30 AM | View Full Article | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Come one! Come all! to see Magnificent Mallard do feats of impossible... err, who am I kidding, just watch the video.

Continue reading "Magnificent Mallard" »

Posted by David Catalano at 06:00 AM | View Full Article | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

IMPORTANT UPDATE - click to continue reading...

Continue reading "gas prices not funny, this picture is" »

Posted by David Catalano at 06:48 PM | View Full Article | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Since the death of feeble Neolamprologus Leleupi in the Autumn of 2004, Tropheus Duboisi, a previously agreeable fellow, assumed the crown of Upstairs Tankdom. The ever neutral Neolamprologus Brichardi brothers quickly pledged allegiance to Duboisi leaving Cyphotilapia Frontosa II alone as the only other noble in Tankdom. The Plague of Nitrogen in 2005 took the Brichardi brothers within a month of each other. They were unable to survive the Spring with Nitrogen levels beyond 100 PPM. This left Duboisi to focus his new found wrath on Frontosa II, a friendly, personable, and much more costly fellow. Frontosa II was only two years old with Duboisi a year his elder. Battle ensued but in the end youth won out and Duboisi met certain death. He was found lying belly up in a pile of gravel and calcium substrate. With total domination of Tankdom in his grasp, Frontosa II (Now called Frontosa the Great) begins his reign over depleted Tankdom with his humble servant Pleco.

The End

      ...for now

Posted by David Catalano at 11:59 AM | View Full Article | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I was brushing up the old resume this weekend when I stumbled across this little piece of history. AOL Time Warner, Cisco, Intel, Nueweb, NEC, Oracle ... uh, go back... Did you say Nueweb??? We were in good company if I must say so myself. This is a graph showing venture capital (VC) investment in Virginia from 1992-2002. Needless to say there is quite a bit of concentration in NOVA (that means Northern Virginia). Just what constitutes Northern Virginia anyway? Down here in B'burg I tell people I'm from NOVA when in reality I'm from Fredericksburg. Up north I'd say "south, but above Richmond". Does NOVA start at Potomac Mills? Woodbridge? Springfield? or do you have to be inside the beltway? Maybe its just a 703 area code... I don't know, maybe Fredericksburg is NOVA now... Either way, I really don't mind the traffic as much as everyone says.

Posted by David Catalano at 12:32 AM | View Full Article | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Click here to play the game

Supposedly this is given as a puzzle during job interviews in Japan but I don't buy that. Thanks Aaron for passing this along. It took me awhile to figure it out but finishing it was satisfying, let me know what you think...

Goal: Everyone cross the Shinano River

Rules:
~Only the Adults (mom, dad, policeman) can operate the raft
~Dad can not be in the presence of the girls w/out Mom
~Mom can not be in the presence of the boys w/out Dad
~The thief can not be alone with any of the family members

Posted by David Catalano at 09:38 PM | View Full Article | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Papa, Nina, Katie, or Matthew... do any of you guys recognize this? This WAV file was included with a bunch of multimedia files from Papa but I haven't a clue who wrote/performed/recorded it. Sounds like it was done on Nina's keyboard but I don't know much else. Uncover the mystery!!!

Posted by David Catalano at 06:17 PM | View Full Article | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Last fall I received a solicitation in the mail to turn some airline miles that I had accrued in for magazine subscriptions. I don't generally fly United so I opted for the magazines. On the back of the form was a note that stated "You may extend your magazine subscription by one additional year for $1.00". One buck? Wine Spectator usually costs $45 so I was quick to write the check. I also sent in another $1 check for some other magazine - Shape I believe it was (clarification: for Jenny). Just today I received a polite letter alerting me that they would be unable to honor their previous offer. My original check and my handwritten form was enclosed as well. To "make wrongs right" they included a $100 gift card towards magazine subscription purchases. I received another gift card for Jenny's magazine. So now I can effectively get five years of the magazine for no cost. Not a bad deal. So if you get a magazine subscription from me for your birthday you'll know I'm a cheapskate.

Posted by David Catalano at 09:36 PM | View Full Article | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Take a look at this video! Thanks Kevin for sending this to me (sorry Ann for this - look close). Obi-wan Cannoli teams up with Cuke Skywalker, Ham Solo, and Chewbroccoli to save Princess Lettuce. All your favorites are there including Darth Tater, C3Peanuts, and TofuD2. Appropriately timed I'd say with the release of Starwars Episode III in about 26 hours (George, I know you're reading... you better not screwed this one up!). With all of this extra time on our hands Aaron & I are going to a matinee on Thursday. I'll let you know how it goes. It looks like this viral marketing piece was created to bring awareness to organic foods. Don't foods by definition have to be organic? (exluding diet sodas of coarse) You tell me.

Posted by David Catalano at 10:13 PM | View Full Article | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Here's a video of what soldiers do with their time off in Iraq. The heat is clearly taking its toll. The soldier's name is Brian and I believe he was a tent-mate of my brother Jonathan while stationed at Baghdad International Airport in what was then called "Tent City". Jonathan took this video with his Sony Clie PDA.

Posted by David Catalano at 01:40 AM | View Full Article | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I had planned to post more about me on this site but this isn't what I had in mind. I recently had a personality profile done for work.

Positives: I am a motivator
Negatives: I am an assertive, unsympathetic, jerk

Do the negatives outweigh the positives? You decide.

In-depth Profile / Simple Profile

The survey was done by Convergence Recruiting Solutions. I was impressed with their insight and would recommend them.

Posted by David Catalano at 08:13 PM | View Full Article | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A few weeks ago I was at a bizarre (yet fun) birthday party for Anna at Margaret's house. Anna, Margaret, and others wanted to leave to go ballroom dancing but other people had not yet arrived. Good for me and Patrick because heck if we were going to go dancing when the ACC and Big East tourney's were on TV! So we stayed behind to wait for others (including our friend Brian) to arrive. Over the coarse of the next 90 minutes an assortment of people showed up. I say "assortment" because various people arrived who knew one or two other people. The problem was the people they knew either hadn't yet arrived or were off dancing. So we had a disparate bunch of people thinking... "now who the hell are you?" Feeling a tad awkward, I drew a "relationship diagram" to sort things out:

As it turns out I stumbled across what is called a "Social Network"...

Continue reading "Social Networks" »

Posted by David Catalano at 12:58 PM | View Full Article | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)