Name Sakes

Last night at a dinner party, a friend told Jenn and I that they had some good friends in San Diego whose last name is Kelly, but even more funny is the fact that they have a daughter and son named Ava and Bennett. While Ava has been a rather popular name over the last few years, Bennett has never been in the top 300. So the coincidence of the same two names in the same family is pretty rare.

Popularity of the female name Ava

Year of birth	Rank
2008	5
2007	4
2006	5
2005	9
2004	25
2003	39
2002	82
2001	133
2000	180

Popularity of the male name Bennett

Year of birth	Rank
2008	361
2007	372
2006	368
2005	391
2004	404
2003	430
2002	445
2001	471
2000	441

I have always been interested in names and the externalities they bring to people; that interest peaked even more after I read Freakoniomics and the analysis and insight that they offered. I recommend the book to anyone who is interested or will be naming a child soon. It is also interesting to see how name trends can change according to our current events in the world. A classic example of that is 'Katrina' who was trending toward higher rankings until 2005.

Here is another recent post from the Freakonomics blog regarding names, that I thought was pretty funny.

And for the official Social Security Name Rankings go here.

What I Learned Tonight...

I enjoy watching Documentary's and with Jenn being gone and nearly every Documentary on Netflix having the the watch now feature, I decided to dedicate a night to watching some in my queue. The ones I watched were:

King of Kong
Helvetica
Cocaine Cowboys
King Corn

They were all really interesting. King of Kong was interesting at how much people can love and obsess about old-school arcade games. Helvetica (I wanted to do this post in Helvetica, but it wasn't an option in the Blogger editor) was pretty cool, and interesting in the history behind the most widely used type-faces of the last 50 years. Cocaine Cowboys showed that you can make a lot of money in the drug business, but also go to prison and die. King Corn made me start wondering about the negative affects of High-Fructose Corn Syrup and it also made me happy that I just bought my next year and half supply of meat from a small private ranch that doesn't feed the cow on corn in a stall the whole time.

I have a few more in my queue that I need to get to and plan doing so before school starts. I would also recommend all of these as well. If you know of any that are worth watching let me know.

Something you don't see everyday

Rainbow, originally uploaded by Keltose.

On my bike ride home the other day, I had to stop and pull the camera out for the shot of the full rainbow. It had been raining for a long time, and when the sun finally broke through, this is what happened. The rainbow was so big, I had to take three pictures and stitch them together.

Oxford compiles list of top ten irritating phrases

I thought this was pretty interesting. How often do we find ourselves saying these phrases?

The top ten most irritating phrases:

1 - At the end of the day

2 - Fairly unique

3 - I personally

4 - At this moment in time

5 - With all due respect

6 - Absolutely

7 - It's a nightmare

8 - Shouldn't of

9 - 24/7

10 - It's not rocket science

Angels And Airwaves, I-Empire

Well as far as the music world is concerned, I have been waiting for this day all year! As soon as FYE opened in the mall (I happened to be working at Provo Towne that day) I walked over and bought the new album by Angels And Airwaves. It's their second album, called I-Empire. It is basically the second part to their first album. Along with it, they have submitted a documentary film called Start The Machine to Sundance. Hopefully it will get in and I can go watch it when it comes to town. They also have a sweet website and a motion picture in the works called I-Empire. I have been so kind to have found a YouTube video of the latest trailer for that movie, right now they are saying it will come out late next year. In other news Angels And Airwaves will be coming to Salt Lake on March 4th, so ya--I'll be there. Go get the album, you won't be disappointed.

Jeep Project II--2" Lift

Well the last of the major projects are done on the Jeep (for now lets hope). It was time for new treads before the winter hit, so I figured it was a good time to give the Jeep a little higher ride and some larger tires than before. Once again my bro Bryan came through and helped (basically did it) me put the lift on first, the next day I had the tires put on.
Here is the before pic:









For the technical pics on the work that was done, head on over to my Flickr for the details.
Here is the after pic:









I think it is pretty awesome. Now I just got to get it dirty.


----------------
Listening to: Angels & Airwaves - Heaven
via FoxyTunes

Where was I?

Buster on Halloween as a pirate.


Okay, so I have been like so crazy lately doing my projects and just everything. It must be a prelude of things to come, with our baby girl well on her way, so I will take it as some unexpected training.

Anyways--I have like 5 blogs to write and are in draft mode now, but they are so awesome and intense they will blow you all away. So instead of giving a watered down version of my cool stories, I will be posting those as I finish them. But if you have been following up on my Twitter then you know a little of my stories.

So that is all for now. I am like waist deep in Linux problems, and cleaning my side of the room. I know that sounds exciting, but oh what can you do?

LATEZ.

I am a freakin' Ninja

Thanks to Lifehacker I have successfully transformed an out of date XBOX into a UNIX Powered media center. Next to hacking into my neighbors wi-fi and changing their password--this is the coolest thing I have done in my geek world. Basically this setup enables me to access my pictures, movies and music from my home network and watch them on my theater. I can also play any of my 900+ Old School Nintendo games like Mario, Excite Bike and Super Contra on it as well, through the emulator which are available online. This linux variation still lets me play Xbox games and watch DVD's as well. Using the DVD2Box program I can download any DVD onto the Xbox hard drive for later viewing or to be politically correct, as a "back-up". I have attached the main link for this write-up and some pictures for those interested. If you are serious about doing this then contact me, because I have some other links and info that may save you some time and money while doing this.
LATEZ.


My networked music and pictures.

Geekin' IT

Even though I am really good looking, socially talented and really athletic (That was a joke--Insert laugh here). You might be surprised that I am constantly trying prove to myself that I am geekier than I really am. And for that reason in honor of this post I am writing this blog on my Linux PC which I built and is currently running the latest version of Feisty Fawn 7.04. I must say that if Microsoft were to self-destruct tomorrow, I am pretty confident that I could go on in both my business, social and tech lifestyle just fine. I have really been amazed with everything that Linux (ubuntu) has to offer. Keep in mind that there are somethings that just don't work with Linux like my Smartphone, GPS, and some others, but it is pretty cool. It never freezes, and can perform great on stripped down systems. I have posted some screen shots of my desktop running on Beryl, which is pretty cool if you ask me. This can do stuff that Vista can only do with at least a 256MB dedicated video card and 2GB of RAM.

Anyways, that is my 2 cents on Linux. Now I'm not talking throw out the Windows PC, but if you have the chance, give Linux a try. I personally just like the Ubuntu version, because it is really easy.

So, if you are interested in trying Linux, I recommend find an older PC you don't use anymore and just install it. You have nothing to lose at that point. Let me know what you think.

"GEEK IT TILL IT Mhz!"

Where Have I Been?

Things have been crazy lately and thus my blogging abilities are slacking. Here is the run down for those who care:

1. Found yesterday we are having a girl! More to come on that subject.
2. Went to Houston last week. For work. Never been before, had a good time. Check this out from a crazy thunderstorm I watched from my hotel balcony. (I froze the frames from a video clip.) I also got struck in Dallas for a night coming home, that sucked and is a story for another time.
3, Music update: One of my favorite bands is getting ready for the release of their second album.
4. Concert update: Went to the Plus 44/Fall Out Boy concert last week. Pretty awesome. (See Pic Below)

5. We are going to Hawaii next week. More to come on that.
6. Work is crazy now.
7. Buster is have shaven right now, due to a tramatic day at the groomers yesterday. I will post a pic of the "White Lion" later.
8. That is all for now.

I know I did not form complete sentences with this posting using my normal thoroughness, and amazing abilites to capitivate your mind, but it is the best your getting tonight.

Latez.

London to Paris

As I promised here is the write-up for our London Trip. In short the trip was amazing as I said in previous posts. We went with some friends of ours, Marianne and Ike, so when you see another couple in some of the pics you'll know who they are.

We got to fly in Business-Class from CVG to London, and that was awesome. London was a great city. I love their subways ( The Underground, I even found a blog dedicated to just the tubes here. Check it out.) The sights we saw were: Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, The Prime Meridian, The London Eye, Richmond, Henry V's Castle, EPL football game.

Moving along the trip was Paris. An amazing city to say the least, I loved the architecture there. The hostel we stayed in wasn't the best, but it worked. The main sights there were: Eiffel Tower, The Pantheon, The Louvre, Notre Dame, Arc De Triumph.

The way back home was pretty interesting, but after hitting up 4 different airports we finally landed in the SLC and it all worked out. It's going to be really hard to top that trip, but we'll find a way to do it someday!

PS-I took over 500 photos, so I only uploaded some of the better ones to my Flickr page.

www.flickr.com

"Keep it Simple Now"

Well I found out yesterday that I am going to Denver for a few days. It's for work and it should be a pretty good time. I leave in the morning. I was hoping to have a nice juicy blog-post of the trip and and stuff, but that will have to wait until this weekend. Please be patient my grasshopper.
Anyways, I am hoping to hang out a little with Ryan in Denver tomorrow. We are planning on going to a Rockies game.

While I am gone I want you to check out a few cool bands I just found out about. Maybe you have already heard them and that's cool, but if you haven't then go for it.

1. Cobra Starship-They are touring with Plus 44 this summer. Torrent

2. The Academy Is-They are also touring with Plus 44 this summer. Torrent

3. Juli-When we were in Paris we met these two German girls and played Uno with them downstairs in our hotel. I asked them what band they liked in Germany and they said this band. Who is actually from their city, which I can't remember the name of. I don't speak German, but it's some cool music. Torrent

Salt Lake to London to Paris to Salt Lake

We made it! The trip was amazing. Lots of good stories. Stay tuned as I sort through the pics this week and give you all a full run-down. The two pics above are the first and last pics taken on my camera during this trip.

MOO!

I finally got my MOO cards in the mail. To learn about MOO cards click here. I made my cards via my Flickr photos. They are quite the phenomena and are very nice quality. All the cards are of pictures I took. You may be reading this blog because of my MOO card. If not, then next time you see me ask for one!

That's all!

Not much here

Things have been blogless around the ole' blogspot lately, so tonight I am fixing that. The weather here in Utah has been warming up a lot this last week and that has made for some great spring skiing. Jenn and I were able to go up a couple times this week. We actually went today and I got sunburned. To add to the adventure , tomorrow we are going up with my Dad and brothers to snowshoe in a few miles to a Yurt up in the Uintas. This should be pretty fun. We are going for two nights and its a few miles in. I will provide the update next week. I feel kind of like an Eskimo.

Yah...It was nice.

On Thursday we decided that Maui would be a whole lot better than Salt Lake this weekend. Lucky for us, the flights were looking good and by Friday afternoon we were there. It was short, but as always, sweet. The party included myself, Jenn, Jess and Brett. For only 2 days we had a lot of fun and saw a lot of things, and that all caught up to me today at work, but it's okay. Here are some pictures I took, and of course for the whole trip, click on my Flickr badge below.

My Theater

Being a novice into the home theater arena, I gotta say that I think I did a pretty good job creating this room for under $700. It all started when I check The Woot one night. They had the InFocus projetor priced at $600 with a $200 mail-in rebate. What can I say...I had to do it. I then went and bought a Pioneer 5.1 Progressive Scan DVD Player. As I got it all set up and looking good, all I needed now was the screen. After a trip to the fabric store and $15 later, I went to Home Depot and got some wood for the frame. A little stapling and then hanging the screen--I was in business!
What I just said made it sound very easy. Now don't get me wrong it wasn't very difficult but all that took an entire weekend to do.
Here are the pics-






























You may be asking, "Is that a cutting board in the ceiling?" The answer is Yes. You would be surprised at how good those things work for drilling and screwing things into them. It was less noticable than wood and it is just as strong too.


With that said, I'll let you know when we have movie night.

Web Finds

Well I did some aimless webrowsing and found some random and awesome things. This link is of a sweet home that we all could be living in if this Global Warming thing really takes off. Does Global Warming exist? I can't answer that, but when Al Gore, the founding father of the internet and globabl warming buys this, then I will too. That's how I'll know he's serious.

Anyways on to another web find. Apparently there are some really good piano players out there. I would encourage you you watch the two videos below. I found them on YouTube of course and these guys can play just amazing. I posted his rendition of Angels And Airwaves-"The Adventure" and Plus 44- "No It Isn't".

Enjoy.

Keltose out.

I am Back!

Where do I start?...I know that I have been slacking in my blogging duties, but for good reason. Seeing how I was out of a PC for four months, I did the best I can. Within the last month we moved into our new townhome, went to Hawaii, got internet, put in a home theater, signed up for the San Diego marathon and much more. I will have to address those posts as I have time and pictures to do so, but you can also check my Flickr page because I will usually upload those pics first. For my pics this post I am uploading some pics from Hawaii, and some of the new house. I will post more of the exterior and other rooms later. Also, I plan on doing a full write up for my DIY home theater room, so be patient.

Stuff From All Over...

It has been awhile, here's a rundown of the latest. I'll post more details as this next week gets over with in my life.

I. Went to the Plus 44 concert. It was awesome. I bought a new sweatshirt, and will be posting a pic from the phone later.

II. We got a closing date for our townhouse. We should be moving in around the 27th of December. We were there the other day, and I love it. It is going to be great!

III. I got some new skis. (Not really new, but my bro hooked me up with last years demos, so to me there new,

IV. Jenn and I spent a night at the Cliff Lodge last week, and had a great day skiing. We are staying again at the Cliff tonight, and we are going to hit the mountain first thing in the morning. I am actually writing this in the hotel room now as Jenn is watching some chick flick about 10 days or something. (Again, I will post pics later--possibly on my Flickr)

V. Christmas is coming, and we will be going to Deweyville, for Christmas Eve--so that should be fun.

That's about all for now, I'll be sure to hit the new 24" of fresh powder tommorrow for you all!