It's totally weird that every time I go to type Sarah Palin's name, I accidentally type Sarah Pain.

Dark Chocolate Peanut M&M’s
Dark Chocolate Peanut M&M’s would be great for currency. I love dark chocolate peanut M&M’s. Vocalo.org recently asked what is the best way to fund public schools? My response? Dark Chocolate Peanut M&M’s. Although if they were currency, I would end up eating all my money.

US History Trading Cards
How about trading cards? They already have a specific form of value. But it would take awhile to learn which cards are more valuable than others. So why not make the cards something of educational value about our history and government? Right now we only have xx historical figures on our dollar bills and coins. Washington, Lincoln, Hamilton,

Why not make an entire set of cards that people can use as currency. Sure, the dollar coins are going to feature all the presidents, but these coins don’t include fun facts or stats about all our presidents. The trading cards would. And their value would change with the market. Sound crazy? You bet. Let’s bring back the days of bartering. I can see it now, “Oh dude, you totally know a loaf of bread is worth one Rutherford B. Hayes.”

Pens and pencils
Have you ever been without a pen or pencil, but wish you had one at that moment? If pens and pencils were our currency, they would become much more abundant. When you go to pay for your restaurant bill, instead of a pen or pencil being in with the check, you’d pay with a pen or pencil. A sharp pencil would be worth five more cents than a dull pencil. Just by keeping your pencils sharp, you can increase your money.

What else would make for a good form of currency?
Please leave a comment with your ideas for currency.

Here's a letter of praise I just wrote to Walgreens:

Hi there, I am a HUGE fan of Walgreens. The rebates, the employees, and the general Walgreens love. My comments here touch on these points, and I even offer some great ideas at the end of my comment. I would greatly appreciate it if you would take the time to read it over.

THE REBATES:
I LOVE how I can submit my rebates online via your website. It’s FANTASTIC how I can save my rebate savings until the end of the month in case I have more items you want to add, so you don’t have to mail multiple cards. Saving postage. NICE!

And then once I do get a card, I can just enter the card number online, and you will add the rebate savings onto your existing card. Saving plastic. NICE!

WALGREENS ROCKS!

THE EMPLOYEES:
I was discussing this greatness with some friends, and we determined that we have a vast love for Walgreens. There is one across the street from our workplace in the Tribune Tower, and we frequent it often. The workers at the 430 N Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL location totally rock. I’d like to give a shout-out to my favorite Walgreens employee, Pilar. She is an extremely gracious and helpful person. She notices what I buy and makes friendly suggestions. She gets authentically happy when I save money and get great deals—which Walgreens always has tons of deals!

Then there’s the Walgreens just a couple blocks from my apartment. (the 4801 Lincoln, Chicago, IL location) The workers there are also fantastic. It’s fun to talk with Chicagoans about their favorite Walgreens employees. We all have our favs. It’s true. Ask any Chicagoan, and they will tell you about a Walgreens employee that they always enjoy seeing.

Now here’s an idea for you. I’d love to see the Walgreens newsletter feature a different Walgreens employee every time.

In fact, let’s step it up a notch and offer Walgreens trading cards. Each card would feature a different Walgreens employee. And then you could mix in some bonus cards about the history of Walgreens, and maybe even a card with the Walgreens creed. Oh yeah, you know all about the Walgreens creed! Walgreens believes in laughing, not weeping. :-)

C’mon, you totally know you should create these trading cards. Imagine the publicity you’d get from this. It would very much show how Walgreens is good for the community and loves their employees.

If you want someone to help you design the cards, I’m a senior graphic designer with the Tribune, and I would be more than happy to offer my services free to you.

Matt Maldre
Senior Designer
Tribune Media Services

Imagine being able to design the Walgreens trading cards! That would roooooooooooooock!

Why is Labor Day called "Labor Day?" It should be called "No Labor Day." Or maybe "Relax Day." And then the day after Relax Day would be known as Labor Day.

Since it would be too confusing to change the name of Labor Day, let's call the day after labor day, "Actually Working Day."

What you know "hooray" is in german? It's HURRA!

HURRA! HURRA!

Although I still like the standard "hooray", cuz it sounds more silly. HURRA is more of a gut sound, making it sound more serious.

HURRA!

Germans are serious speakers! HURRA is a fist pump in the air. Hooray is a silly hi-five.

While instant messaging someone, I said:

spudart: WHOA IS ME
spudart: how do you spell whoa?
spudart: woe
spudart: WOE IS ME
spudart: i don't think i've EVER typed out that word in my entire life

(By the way, I was being sarcastic in this instant message, i am not truly woed)

Has anyone out there ever actually typed the word "woe" before?

A couple days ago Vocalo.org asked, "If you invented an Olympic sport from one of your daily activities what would it be?"

My response:
CTA stair races. Both up and down the stairs. I will defeat ANYONE. BRING IT ON.

In fact, here's a video of me running down the brown line Western Station stairs.


What's your response? Which of your daily activities would you like to be an Olympic sport? Drop it in the comments, please.

300,000 Lego bricks were used to create a 10ft by 26ft miniature city of the 2008 Beijing Olympics including the Bird Nest Stadium and the Water Cube swimming center.

How much would this cost?

I have a general rule when buying LEGO sets. I like to pay five dollars for every 100 pieces (that's five cents a piece). 300,000 bricks would cost $15,000. Whoa, fifteen grand just for the supplies to create this stadium. That's not even including the 4,500 LEGO people. I have no idea how much figures cost. What. Like a dollar a figure? So that's at least $20,000 in supplies. Now keep in mind, you'd need A LOT more supplies to have extra on hand, cuz you never just use exactly the amount of bricks you need to build something.

The Hong Kong Lego User Group certainly has a large supply of LEGOs. Aside from the cost, this display is very impressive. It's an increadible work of art. :-)

You can read more about this display at:
--On your marks, get set, Lego! Welcome to the Olympics where everyone's quick off the blocks
--More LEGO Sport City details and behind-the-scenes photos from HKLUG
--Photos on flickr

I've been into the idea of photographing LEGOs, so I did some research on flickr to see what was possible. Here are photos by other flickr members:



These are all in my flickr favorites

I'm wondering who of the regular spudart.org readers can speak a little bit of German? No reason. Just curious. Danke. If you ever took any classes in German or learned it at some point, just please drop a comment on this post.

photo courtesy of raincitystudios via creative commons

I really enjoyed watching fencing. What summer olympic sport do you really enjoy watching?

My niece took her first steps yesterday! Here's a poem I wrote for her to commemorate this event:

During the 2008 Olympics
Livvy started her walking kicks

Olivia so full of pep,
took three small steps!

With those three paces,
she's off to the races!

You know what would be cool? In the Olympics when they have the athletes on the medal stand, they should let the winner pick a pop song from their country. And then everyone will dance to the song.

Right now it's so boring to hear the same national anthem every time. And the people stand there like robots. When it should be party time for that country!

Years later it will be fun to look back at the award ceremonies and laugh at the songs that were picked. Mary Lou Retton picks Michael Jackson's Thriller. Kerri Strug (the American gymnast who broke her ankle in 1996) picks the Backstreet Boys' We've Got It Goin' On.

Since Estonia's independence in 1991, they have only gotten two summer golds. Erki Nool's decathlon in 2000 and Erika Salumae's 1992 Cycling.

And only one silver, Juri Jaason's 2004 silver in single sculls rowing. (he's estonia's oldest competitor this Olympics at age 43, this is his 6th olympics).

Estonia has won the five bronze medals. Two of those are from a bronze streak in heavyweight judo the past two olympics (2000 and 2004). Martin Padar should continue the heavyweight Judo streak in the 2008 Olympics as he's favored to win the gold.

Source: Estonia at the Olympics: Summer Olympics Medal Count

Mr. cocky fencer Jerome Jeannet of France (currently ranked 2nd in the world) won the gold medal in 2004. He clashed sabers against underdog 57-ranked Estonian Nikolai Novosjolov in the second round of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.


Let me tell you, Jerome Jeannet wasn't handling things very well as he was down against Novosjolov for most the match. He yelled at the umpire on one call. He would drop his helmet to the ground during breaks. Estonia was up 9-5, and 12-9. With a jab to the Estonia's neck, France tied up the match 12-12.


Then as France took the lead 12-13, he took off his facemask and yelled. Did we see any drama when Estonia tied it up 13-13? Nope. The crowd went wild when the match was tied up in a double-hit by both fencers making it 14-14.


Then there was some controversial call at the end, when Estonia blocked an attack and then France hit Estonia in the butt (in epee fencing, the entire body is a target). Estonia almost pulled a huge upset, but France narrowly won in the end.

To watch this video, go to NBC's olympic video archive, watch the Men's Individual Epee, and jump to the 1:32:00 time.

Nikolai Novosjolov
Born: June 9, 1980 (age 28)
Birthplace: Haapsalu, Lääne, Estonia
Height/Weight: 6'4"/198lbs