Can you resist the CLICK?

A little experiment in getting rid of the mouse click. I kinda like it. Didn't take too long to get used to not clicking. Even Mac users will feel like they've got too many buttons.

Only REAL Google nerds need apply

This little game confirms that I'm a Google nerd. It's like the "You Don't Know Jack" of Google Images. It's called Guess-The-Google. I haven't broken 300 yet, but I've only played it twice. See what you think!

***UPDATE***

I'm posting top scores from the GeekAustin readers and here's the cream of the crop right now submitted by darwiny2k. He sent the screenshot with a simple phrase... "BEAT THAT BE0TCH!" (well... I added the last part to bump-up ratings). Thanks for playing Charles! You are a TRUE Google Nerd. For top score you win... Free Google for a year! Keep it up! Although 355 is nothing to laugh at, I wanna see if it's possible to hit 400!



***UPDATE UPDATE***

Well, I'll be damned! Beating his own score... The Air Tiger Gretzky of Guess-The Google, Mr. DarwinY2K! I'm betting on you man! Get that 400 score and you'll get a LIFETIME of free Google! All you can eat baby! If you get the 400 score AND you put your name in as geekaustin.blogspot, I'll paypal you $20! NO! MAKE THAT $25! I'm no cheapskate, ok? YOU CAN DO IT! (ewww... I just had a Rob Schneider moment... sorry)

Shop around before you gas up!

(Kick those expensive gas stations to the curb and impress your friends!)

I'm back! Had a great time in Cali. Weather was supergood, just wish I had a week there... but I was missing the fam. I'll bring them with me next time (more like next year).

So, here's what I've got for you today. We all know that Gas is high... It's unlikely that it will EVER drop below $2.00 again... So, until you get your electric car charged up I present to you GasBuddy. Check it out! Enter your city and you get get a breakdown of the gas prices low to high. Stop filling up by the airport and start saving a couple dollars. I found out gas in Austin can vary between $2.05 and $2.24 per gallon! That would be a savings of $2.85 to fill up my CR-V or .57 cents to fill up my Helix.

You can also use it to find out if the gas prices are jacked up near your house and you can ask yourself "where's the luv?".

A mobile version of GasBuddy should be ready to test by 3rd quarter 2005... Be sure to bookmark that one!

(Note: The above image only applies to people filling up 10+ gallon tank... If you drive a scooter and fill it up once, the money you save would only afford you a side of sour cream, which is not as impressive as a grilled stuffed with chicken... sorry.)

Outta town till the 29th

So sad... I won't get to blog for like a whole week. I'll have my camera with me, so if something cool happens you'll be the first to know.

Now get out there and see what the sun looks like!

Tiny Music Blurb - Toni never sounded better

I'd like to hear more from Toni Braxton in this sultry style.

10 Steps for Coping with an Orlando / Austin move

We've been in Austin just over a year now and we're really starting to dig it. We left our cute little slice of Disney World for a steaming slab of the live music capitol. To help those making a similar trek (Ed & Kathleen... I'm talking to you), I've compiled this list of TEN things to help you cope with such a move. It works either way, so if you're leaving your steaming slab for the cute little slice, following this list will help make it better.

Move to Orlando	Move to Austin
1) Find a new church	1) Find a tattoo shop
2) Locate where you parked at Disney World	2) Locate where you parked at the Whole Foods Flagship Store
3) Visit the malls	3) Visit another city with malls
4) Remember how to vote	4) Remember to vote against Bush
5) Spend a lot to see the Titanic	5) Spend a lot to eat Organic
6) Wash car once a week	6) Wash hair once a week
7) Hawaiian print shirts	7) Guayabera Shirts
8) Keep Orlando Clean	8) Keep Austin Weird
9) Choco-Taco	9) Breakfast Taco
10) Tourists on every corner	10) Transients on every corner

Target... I gave you too much credit

(We loved Target so much we almost put this in as our living room couch. jk)

This will be pretty brief because the story didn't turn out like I thought it would... you see, there’s a Target pretty close to our house that just remodeled into a Semi-Super Target. Not quite the SUPER DUPER Target we used to have in Orlando, but it's still movin' on up.

I said to my lovely wife, "Hey! Looky there! Target is UPGRADING! That's pretty cool. Unlike Wal-Mart, the mega-corp that likes to close down old stores and toss them to the curb like so many empty beer bottles, Target is gonna do the environmental responsible thing and just revamp an existing store!" The wife thought that was pretty cool too and awfully Austin of them.

So, I proceeded to find out just WHO was responsible for this decision. Called the manager, he directed me to district. Called district and they told me to call corp. Called corp, and they put me in touch with John Grimes, Target's big man in charge of Real Estate. I left him a voice message an my number and awaited a call. This was on a Friday, well Monday comes along and I get a call. My caller ID says "Target Headquarters 612-761-5000". I pick it up and it's John. I ran back down what I had said on his voice mail. I even kind of led him on, saying stuff about being "Environmentally responsible" and "Better than Wal-Mart" and even "awfully Austin". I waited for the speech... something... some sort of something cool... But nothing.

Nope... Not even a "Yeah, we're better than Wal-Mart". He just said something about "not being able to reveal secret real estate strategies", and went on about "we do whatever the area market allows. Sometimes we close down and build a new store, sometimes we update." He did apologize for not having anything cool to say and followed up with "If I wanted a cool sound bite he'd have to forward me on to public relations."

No thanks John... That'll do.

Google Earth one word review - DAMN!

(help! My life has been hijacked by Google Earth!)

I haven't been this hooked on a program since... Well... I don't know... Google Picasa I guess. What I do know is that it's putting a cramp in my blogging lately; especially when I found out about the integration with the Keyhole Community BBS. To my Mac friends... keep the faith! Google is working on a version JUST for you.

Today, this is the closest you'll come to being Superman. Fly from the Eiffel Tower to Mt. Ararat faster than you can name all the critters in Noah's Ark (in French).

But really, it's the most fun you'll have with geography with yer clothes on.

Caution - Your blog / newgroup / bbs / online game play / social life may be affected if not DESTROYED by Google Earth.

***UPDATE***

I think it would be helpful to you if I told you where to GET Google Earth. Go here and pick it up for free!

Tour the world with Google!

(Lady Liberty as seen from Google Maps)

Tonight I ran into a cool little site. It may not be new to you, but it is to me... It's the Sightseeing with Google Satellite Maps. You can check it out here.

With it you can see places like Area 51, Bill Gate's House, The Great Wall of China and the Hollywood Sign. Pretty good fun!

PF Flyers Brogue - WTF Shoe of 2005

The shoe discussion was so fun, I might make it a regular piece. Check out these babies... They are the Platypus of the shoe world. Shell toe adidas sneaker meets wing tip dress shoe. A great shoe for... confusing people. Just $95.95! I personally don't have space in my closet for such anomalies.

Geeks start your bidding

Fill up yer paypal account and get ready to bid 'cause there's a ton of Star Wars gear on the block the end of this month. The above saber (Vader's from The Empire Strikes Back) is expected to go for between $40 - $60k... (that's either a nice Lexus or a new Yamaha Morphous and a swell home made Vader costume). Good luck!

***UPDATE***
Whew... never underestimate the power of a geek with a fat wallet! The sabers ended up going for $118,000 and $200,000! Read the news article here.

Top 5 Shoes I like for 2005

Soon you will see I have an... um... unique sense of shoe "style" which doesn't include the Puma "Butt-Ugly". And the winners of Steve's top shoe for 2005 (in no particular order) are:

1) The Kenneth Cole Reaction holey Moley (white & lime) $103.95

2) The Chuck Taylor All Star Premiere NuBuck (Green & Charcoal) $65
3) The Dr. Martens 8b97 (Bark & Millweed) $85.95
4) Tsubo Phaet (Fatigue & Khaki) $105.95

5) The Filativa Retro Spike $(TBD)

You'll need some ugly shoes to walk an ugly dog.

And BOY did I find them. Then winner of UGLIEST SHOE OF 2005 is... PUMA! Check out THIS footwear folly:
You can't walk the worlds ugliest dog in a fly pair of classic Adidas SLII's! That just wouldn't be right. You need a proper pair of "butt-uglies" as my boy LaRock likes to say. THESE my friend are THE butt-ugly.

I don't know what Puma was thinking here. All I can say is they better be DAMN comfortable! You can pick up your pair at Zappos and look like a-damn-fool-who-just paid-$115-for-a-pair-of-butt-uglies.

They also come in a slightly less puke-worthy "Tron Blue" as seen here:*shutter*


***UPDATE***

I'll was gonna give a little bit o slack to Puma on this because it's a Water shoe and it's meant to be completely hidden by your kayak until I saw it came in cheese yellow. Thanks to Kyle for the info on this cheesy little number.

Computer Drugs - Slip Slidin' Away

Alright folks... This month's Computer Drug is THIS. Not quite as weird as my last computer drug, but equally addictive.... so cue up your Paul Simon's "Slip Sliding Away" and check it out. It's a REALLY drunk spring breaker... sliding down giant, clear, slippery beachballs. It will have you second guessing your planned Ibeza spring break next year.

World's ugliest dog - see for yourself

Thanks to Resource Investor for this little bit...

By Jon Nones 01 Jul 2005 at 01:03 PM

The owners of the other contestants in this year's World's Ugliest Dog Contest may have thought their pooches had a chance - until they saw Sam. Ah! Somebody get Sam into horror films. I’m going to have nightmares. The 14-year-old pedigreed Chinese crested recently won the Sonoma-Marin Fair contest for the third consecutive time. Surprise, surprise. He's so ugly even the judges recoiled when he was placed on the judging table, said his proud owner, Susie Lockheed, of Santa Barbara. I truly hope Sam has been neutered. We do not want another son of Sam. I can't decide if this thing looks more like roadkill or the Skeksis Emperor (seen below dying in bed). As Arnold's bad writers would say "You are one ugly mutha...". You know how some things are so ugly that they are cute, like ET and Bulldogs? This guy is past that threshold. Put THAT sucker on your bag of Alpo and watch your stock price plummet! (Ugliest Dog Grand Champion 1982)

On a sad note...

This past Friday, we lost the man who may have well been responsible for the conception of my first child. Luther Vandross has passed away at the age of 54. Very sad indeed. IMHO he was one of the greatest R&B crooners of all time and will be greatly missed.