I'm also having a little trouble with the Eye Candy section where my goal is to profile attractive women who are also successful in their endeavors whatever they may be. Thus you won't see the nameless pin-up girl of the week. Don't get me wrong - the nameless pin-up girls are certainly eye candy but I'm trying to maintain somewhat higher standards as I make an effort to not succumb to cheap and tawdry tricks by posting pics like this:
Now aren't you glad this is a class act?- The Competitor - Sports
- Mr. Muscle - Fitness and Health
- Your Ride- Cars
- Greenbacks - Career/Money/Finance
- Toys - Gadgets (i.e. boys toys)
- Tasty Licks- Music, Movies, Books and other Entertainment
- Arguing - Politics
- The Great Outdoors - hunting, camping, extreme sports
- WWWD? (What Would Ward Do?...think about it, it'll come to you) - Family
- Black Socks & Flip-Flops - Personal Appearance
- Honeydew - Home Improvement/Tools
- The Wide World - Travel/Vacation
- Eye Candy
The Competitor - Hopefully you've had a chance to check out Forbes' list of the World's Most Powerful People. "What," do you ask "does this have to do with sports?" Well, there is also a list of The Seven Most Powerful People in Sports as picked by Lance Armstrong. Generally I would agree with most of the selections on the list except that it's a bit US-centric. Notably missing is FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter. While I'm all for America being on top, I'm not quite sure Roger Goodell, Commissioner of the NFL belongs on the list over the President of FIFA. If the list was entitled The Most Powerful People in AMERICAN Sports then I'd agree. Whether as Americans we like to acknowledge it or not, football (aka soccer) and not American football, is the world's most popular sport. Thus I'd tend to give the nod to Blatter over Goodell. You might then ask "Why is David Stern, Commissioner of the NBA on the list?" I'll tell you why - basketball is an Olympic Sport, American football isn't. Being an Olympic sport means that it's widely played around the world and has an international governing body.
Your Ride - It's been a quite a few years since I changed the oil in one of my cars myself but I did it the other day when, after checking the oil and finding it low and dirty, decided to undertake that ritual of manhood once again. However this time around I had some helpers in my 7 and 10 year old sons while my oldest was at swim practice. I figured it was an easy way to save a few bucks and spend time with my kids while teaching them something useful.Stopping in at Advance Auto Parts, I picked up a great package deal the store was running - 5 quarts of Pennzoil and a Purolator oil filter for $15.99. I also grabbed a set of three nesting funnels for about $2.40 and a Blitz Drip Pan for $8.99. My 10 year old had fun learning how to look up our car in the filter catalog by year, make and model and then find the correct filter on the shelf. Off to home we went.
Both boys were quite excited to help me - they liked the "mystery" of what makes the minivan go (yes, we have a minivan - a necessity with 3 kids not to mention I can haul a sh*tload of stuff including a full-sized sheet of plywood or drywall when the back seats are out). Plus what kid would pass up the chance to get dirty?
One thing I have learned since I was a teenager working on my car - I now wear AGS Nitrile Gloves to keep my hands clean and it seems most professional mechanics do too these days. First thing I showed the boys was how to check the oil so they could see it was a bit low and dirty. Then I jacked the car up with my floor jack (setting jack stands and wheel chocks for safety) and positioned the drip pan correctly (the first time I ever changed oil when I was a teen, I put the pan directly under the drain plug, not thinking that the oil doesn't run straight down due to hydraulic head - and watched as the oil overshot the drip pan all over the driveway). I managed to get the plug out without making a mess and drained the dirty oil out of the oil pan and reinstalled the drain plug.Next the filter came off - if you've never done this before remember to drain the oil pan first before removing the oil filter!! Also make sure you place your drip pan under the filter when you take it off since it'll have plenty of oil in it. Even so, I managed to make a mess when the oil filter slipped out of my hands. Before installing the new oil filter, I dipped my finger into some of the new oil and lubricated the rubber gasket on the filter to ensure a tight seal. Now I don't know if this is required but my father taught me to do that years ago so I still do it. Makes sense to me.
Oil drained and new filter in place, we lowered the van back down and poured in the new oil. Then I had the boys recheck the oil with the dipstick while my 10 year old ran around yelling "Think with your dipstick Jimmy!" blissfully unaware of the double entendre in the Castrol ad (watch it here). They thought this was pretty cool - full and clean and they had a hand in doing it. Finally, we spread some cat litter on the oil that spilled when I dropped the filter. All told it took about 45 minutes not counting time at the store. The best part was saving a few bucks while spending time with my kids.
Greenbacks - Well, not sure if the following story is technically a Greenbacks story but since it deals with business (and the Internet too) I'll keep it here. Anyway, a good read to remind you to never take lightly new trends when it comes to your business strategy since you never know where they will lead. In short the article discusses how newspapers, the music industry, television and even Microsoft completely overlooked the power of the Internet to transform business and the world. I remember in business school one professor lecturing about how it was much easier for a business to spend a small amount of money to investigate and keep up with a potential new trend and then abandon it if it goes nowhere as opposed to ignoring the trend and they having to play catch-up if it took off. I definitely agree.
WWWD? - If you and your family find it hard to keep track of everything everyone does and every place everyone is supposed to be, or even what night of the week you need to put the trash out, then you REALLY need to check out www.cozi.com. We use it to manage our family and it's a life saver. It's a web-based calendar you can access from anywhere (including your web-enabled phone). It can be set up to send text reminders of appointments, kids practice, when to put out the garbage - just about anything you'd put on a calendar. Best of all in today's economy - IT'S FREE! You can create profiles for all the members of your family (no personal info needed - you can even call your kids Kid-1, Kid-2, and Kid-3 if you want. Reminders can be sent to specific family members' phone or email or to the whole family if you want. You can also create shopping lists, a general To-Do list, add pics and keep a family journal. The Cozi calendar can also be synched up with Outlook. You definitely need to check it out.
Eye Candy - OK. So far I've managed to avoid being trashy by just posting pics like this:
At the same time, you won't see pics like this either...brace yourself...
Like I said earlier....nothing but class.
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