Dove very much needs to offer some sort of rewards points program. Please email Dove® and tell them to offer one. Here's what I wrote. Feel free to copy or modify to your pleasure:

===========
My dearest Dove,
Your dark chocolates are soooooo good, you need to have a frequent buyer program--much like how the soda pops of our current age allow you enter a code from the cap to get points.

If you had a rewards point program for Dove chocolates, I would totally be the first in line buying, like, a gazillion bags of Dove dark chocolates.

Don't get me wrong eating the Dove dark chocolate is reward enough. But I just buy so many of the delights, that it would certainly be nice get some pointage off it as well.

Chocolately yours,
matt the chocoholic maldre
===========

Hey, have you emailed Dove® yet? Do it nowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww-wa

--none = n + one
--one = one - n
--subtract N from none and you actually get something
--one is kinda like none, without the N
--add "n" onto "one" and you get none
--one is nothing with n
--you ain't got none with one and no n (note the logic with the double negative)

What other ways are there to say this?

The trick to finding the cheapest hanging file folders is to go onto froogle.com or shopping.yahoo.com. Now don't just go searching for "hanging file folders." OH NO! That won't get you the best deal.

Instead do a search for: 14115 files
14115 is the supa-geek office term for those green hanging files.
I found a place that sells them for $5.17 per 25. Compare that to Staples/Office Max-Depot for $12.49 per 25. Hahah! Score!

I bought 10 boxes worth, let's do a breakout comparison:

Super cheap file place:
--$5.17: per box (each box has 25 folders)
--$51.70: 10 boxes
--$0.00: tax
--$20.20: shipping
--$71.90 total

Officestaplesmaxdepot
--$12.50: per box (each box has 25 folders)
--$125.00: 10 boxes
--$12.50: tax
--$0.00: shipping
--$137.50 total

So it's saves you $64.00 to wait a few extra days to get them in the mail.

Yipeeeeeeeeee! That's a decuple-e yipee.
Most yipees are just a double-e yipee.
And then there's the triple-e yipeee which is more fun!
And the quadruple-e yipeeee is super fun.
And the pentuple-e yipeeeee is super duper fun (also known as the quintuple-e).
And the hextuple-e yipeeeeee is mad crazy drooling fun!

So you can imagine the sheer fun that a decuple yipee is.

Interesting enough, when you do a single-e yipee, it's a yipe. As in yipes! The exactly opposite to a yipee!

Hey. I've only got a few designers on my buddy list. I'm looking to add some more. Are you a designer and would like to get a random IM every week or so? Instant message me today on the AOL Instant Messenger, I'm spudart.

Here's some classic examples of what you'll get if you are my new designer buddy:

Rants:
"Why does Futura get so ugly in bold and heavy? Why?!!!!! Naaaaaaarrrrrrrrr!"

Interesting trivia questions:
"how many websites do you think there are in the world?"
(and yes, I do provide answers to these questions)

Breaking Mac news that I get all geeked over:
"The first Macintosh tablet on sale in April. I am peeing my pants!!!!! http://www.macworld.com/2007/01/firstlooks/modbook_fl/index.php"

Wacked out stuff:
"dude. hit command-control-option-8"

Yes. Sometimes I will blog about these things, but you will get the breaking news that I'm so-overly-eagerly-superly-duperly-excited-about-that-I-have-to-share-it-with-another-designer. Instant message me today on the AIM, I'm spudart. YES!

Oh oh. If you want see some of my design work, check out the design section of spudart.org. And hey, if you have samples of your work too, that would be very nice. It's essential-o-rama to see the work of the designer buddy I'm chatting with.

Hey, my illustration of a gummi bear made it into the mental_floss magazine blog. They wrote a post called "The Many Uses for Gummi Bears" where they included an image of my drawing and the following text:

Gummi Bears are such an icon that artists are inspired. This Gummi Bear is an oil pastel drawing on paper, for sale through Deviant Art.

It was nice of them to give a link to the page where I'm selling prints of them. So far just one print was sold.

You can see the entire blog post here:
http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/4608
BEWARE: It may not be safe for work. Just above my drawing is a picture of a gummi bear bra. Crazy.

Spongebob Squarepants! The fun does not stop! One of my favorite things to do on IM is to message someone and get him/her to sing the Spongebob Squarepants theme song with me. Here's how (when reading this, assume "me" is yourself, and "your buddy" is well, your buddy. Or someone who can pretend to be your buddy. And if they don't know how to reply to your opening line, then maybe this person shouldn't be your buddy! --ouch--)

Me: "Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?"
Your Buddy: "SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS."

Me: "Absorbent and yellow and pourous is he"
Your Buddy: "SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS."

Me: "If nautical nonsense be something you wish" (which I always forget this part, so it actually ends up being like, "If some nautical something something something wish."
Your Buddy: "SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS."

Me: "Then drop on the deck and flop like a fish." (I always forget this line, so I usually skip to the next part)
Your Buddy: "SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS."

Me: "SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS! SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS! SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS! Spongeboooooooooooooooooooooooooob squarePAAAAAAAANTS!"

Laughter then ensues. :-)

Try it someday. In fact, try it on me! On aim, I'm spudart and on yahoo I'm artdude75. Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy!

Transformers Monopoly board game: collector's edition is going to be available in May 2007. I wonder how they ranked the transformers. Obviously Optimus Prime and Megatron would be Park Place and Boardwalk. But where would Soundwave rank on the board? Even though Bumblebee should have a lower value property, I betcha they put him as one of those green properties.

Great. This is just great. Now we have remote-controlled live pigeons with implanted micro electrodes in their brains--by the Chinese! These pigeons are able to be controlled by the whims of crazy Chinese scientists. No word on if these are evil-crazy Chinese scientists, or good-crazy Chinese scientists.

How about they make pigeons fly to another planet? I heard Mars could use a healthy dosage of pigeon crap. Then again, it was probably the Chinese who made the pigeons crap on me every year. (yes, the pigeons at my Western brown line stop have a tradition every year of pooping on me).

Although it would be great if the Chinese used these pigeons to do some sort of cheesey chorographed dance.

What else will the Chinese make these pigeons do?

(by the way a high-resolution print is for sale of the image above)

DesignSponge posted an interesting work of art by Doris Salcedo. The comments on this post are rather funny, because there are many people upset over this artwork for varying reasons. One person thinks it's "a waste of space." Another one thinks the artist "could have voiced her opinion in a more constructive way." Someone else responded with, "take the time to read a bit about her haunting work before making further uninformed comments."

Personally, I think all these people are off base. So here's my thoughts about this work and their comments (also left as a comment on DesignSponge's post):

This is a great work of art. In response to the comments left earlier, great art should evoke something in the viewer or coummunicate something. I'm not a fan of artwork that requires you read something to get something out of the art. Great art should be able to communicate on its own.

Now it's alright for captions or something that enhances your understanding of art, because the end goal is enlightening the viewer. But if the art requires a caption, then IMHO the artwork by itself isn't as strong.

With this particular artwork, it's captivating for many reasons (and I didn't read what the artist said). It's up the viewer to determine those reasons. And this artwork is really full of potential. For instance, here's what I see.

1) Chairs are meant to be occupied by humans
To see these chairs so compacted against one another takes away the space normally occupied by humans. And the chairs are fit in between two buildings, occupying the space normally taken up by architecture. Or one could even argue (as in a previous comment) that these chairs are taking up the space of where humans could be. So there's a reversal of roles here. The chairs which normally hold humans, are now filling a space that humans normally occupy. So within this interpretation, there's the meanings of occupying a space, and the meaning of volume.

2) Then there's the interpretation of color
When you mix together yellow and purple pigments, the result is brown. Even though the colors used here are primarily purple, I still get a feeling of brown. Perhaps it's the context, but there's something very brown about this.

3) Then there's the analysis using feelings
This piece makes you feel overwhelmed and afraid.

4) Yet it's also intellectually intriguing
It can make one wonder how all these chairs are fitting together. How this was accomplished.

See, my point being that this artwork evokes many different ideas and interpretations. It is simply a great work of art.

Here's some extra bonus interpretations!

5) You can look at this piece as a whole
It seem like that together these chairs form a sort of monster or living creature, like either chairs themselves are alive or there is some sort of life inside this mass of chairs.

6) Community
The idea that these chairs can form one mass living organism then touches on aspects of community and how all individuals fit together into one society.

7) Fun
One could just take a funny approach in thinking about this piece in that it's simply a roadblock. It's like when you are in a room and you don't want anyone to come in, so you prop up a chair against the door. Well, perhaps someone went overboard and just piled up a bunch of chairs so nobody could get inside their store.

8) Or maybe it's a painting.. a 3d painting

9) Hommage
Or from an art historical interpretation, maybe it's a homage to Louise Nevelson.

What does this installation mean to you?

You can make your croquet set out of plastic water bottles and dowel rods. Brilliant. Read the how-to at the DIY Network episode DIK-201. Surely this must make for the most lightweight croquet set ever. (other than mini croquet sets of course)

Is there a book with a compilation of the Bazooka Joe comics? In high school I collected Bazooka Joe comics and covered my entire locker door with those comics! (see photo above).

The only thing that comes close to a compilation of Bazooka Joe comics is on Topps' website (Topps is the maker of Bazooka Joe). They show 100 different comics. Pish. I'm sure I got more than that!

You can call Topps directly at at 1-800-489-9149 Monday through Friday 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM EST.

Bazooka Joe has a new blog where they have posted images of baseball players chewing Bazooka Joe gum. So far they have Freddy Sanchez of the Pittsburgh Pirates, David Wright of the NY Mets, and Dontrelle Willis of the Florida Marlins. Hooray for Bazooka Joe!

Here's a line graph showing the historic trend of the first class postage stamp rate increase since 1945.


It seems like stamps are rising in cost so much lately. But it's really been a historic trend since the beginning of the 1970s. That decade saw the cost of stamps have turned the sharp spike upward, and it's kept a pretty consistent pace. Therefore it's not so unusual to have stamps increase in price to 42 cents. It's just keeping in historic trends.

Every decade since the 1970s has seen around eight to ten cents increase in the cost of a stamp. Here's the specific stats:

1920s: no increase
1930s: no increase
1940s: no increase
1950s: 1 cent increase (from 3 to 4 cents)
1960s: 2 cents increase (from 4 cents to 6)
1970s: 9 cents increase (from 6 cents to 15)
1980s: 10 cents increase (from 15 cents to 25)
1990s: 8 cents increase (from 25 cents to 33)
2000s: 9 cents increase (from 33 cents to 42--so far proposed)

Of course it's interesting to note that stamps would cost between two and three cents from 1885 to 1957. So 1958 was really the year when stamps would increase in price and never look back.

Manilla files never stand a chance agains the might and power of hanging files. Hanging files have super functional metal hangers that rip manilla files to shreds.

Sure Manilla files are beautiful in their simplicity. But they are all form with no function. Stick a bunch of manilla folders in a file cabinet and they end up mashing up against each other. Blah! (see photo above)

Hanging files give a nice separation between each file; therefore hanging files whens the steel cage cabinet match.

Right now I'm switching over from manilla folders to hanging files, you can see the progress on my 43things account at: http://www.43things.com/things/view/1363482?new_entry=1777391.

Goal: In the winter put snowballs in my freezer for the summer.
Done!

This is so much fun, everyone in Chicago should do this while we still have the last of our snow left.

It's really cool to be kneeling outside in the freezing weather making snowballs, knowing that they will be used in 100-plus degree weather in the coming months. Muhahahahahaaaaaa! I manically laugh while carefully crafting each snowball, imagining the utter confusion and chaos these snowballs shall bring.

Or maybe they will be used in some sort of duel. Have an argument with someone when it's 100 degrees outside? If you are storing a bunch of snowballs you would be able to say, "Let's face off in a snowball fight--RIGHT NOW!"

If you make some snowballs to save, just remember these couple of tips:

1) Put them ziploc baggies in your freezer
If your fridge happens to turn off, you don't want a big pool (thanks to tom for this hint)

2) Make plenty of snowballs
It would be fun to have a snowball fight with a bunch.

3) Wear gloves while making the snowballs
I was making them with my bare hands at first and I could only get through four snowballs before my fingers were almost frozen. Gloves make it much nicer. Although I have to admit, the non-glove snowballs are probably better formed. The warmth from your hands slightly melts the snow, making a more compact and tight ball.

4) Don't use salty or dirty snow
Who wants to throw a dirty snowball in the summer? Blah! Or if there is salt in the snow (and this is just my hypothesis) the snowball might, like, get all melted in your freezer, cuz like, the salt in the snow will melt the balllllll. And like, you don't want it to be the middle of summer and you go to get your snowballs only to find them a pool of frozen salt water. Noooooooo-o-o-o-o-o!

Now everyone should be very very careful around me in the summer when the days are above 100 degrees! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Chicago is currently making a bid for the 2016 games to the U.S. Olympic Committee. Show your support by voting on the official Chicago bid website at: chicago2016.org. When you vote it asks you to describe, in 25 words or less, why you support the bid to bring the Olympic Games to Chicago in 2016.

Here are some handy reasons that you can use:

1. Chicago gets the job done.
2. We should get the olympics cuz we rocked the boat with the World's Fair.
3. Chicago holds the largest food festival, we can handle the largest sporting festival.
4. Chicago does things big. Largest aquarium, largest public library, largest free public zoo, largest Tiffany dome. The Olympics in Chicago will be just as large.
5. Chicago made the first roller skate, zipper, steel skyscraper, pinball game, malted milkshake, hostess twinkie. We will mark firsts in history for the Olympics.

Here's some fun quotes about chicago you can use in your vote:

6. 'Chicago, Chicago, that toddlin' town.'
7. 'Chicago will give you a chance. The sporting spirit is the spirit of Chicago.'
8. 'Hog butcher for the world, Tool maker, stacker of wheat, Player with railroads and the nation's freight handler; Stormy, husky, brawling, City of big shoulders.'
9. 'Chicago, mistress of the lakes, Controller of our inland trade, The freest city of our states, What wondrous strides thy fame has made!'

By the way, this post is based on Erik Maldre's blog post, Support the Chicago Olympic bid. Please leave any comments you have there, instead of here.

Are there any daily devotional studies out there that also have a monthly calendar companion? It would be nice to have a calendar up with some bible verses that reinforce what the devotional is covering for that month.

Whatever you hold in your hands will influence whatever activity you are doing.

When I'm reading a book with a pen in hand, I will read slower and digest more what the text is saying. When I read a book without a pen in hand, I'll just read through for entertainment. The ideas in the book are still thought about, but there's a general momentum to continue reading. But with a pen in hand, it influences my reading to be more analytical--underlining key points, writing thoughts of debate or agreement in the margins.

The same holds true when I have a camera in hand while walking. The environment becomes an opportunity to capture a scene.

Watching tv with a remote in hand will make you wonder what else is on.

In church, having a Bible open in your hands brings you into the sermon more.

My employer is very good at finances. We run a very high profit margin, everything in the company has to run a tight ship financially. Which could be good for my job security. Sometimes I think it's because the finance department is on the same floor as the CEO.

That's gotta say something about companies. What department sits in the same area as your CEO?

Take the word "yipee!" so fun and happy. YIPEE!

But just change the "p" to a similiar sounding "b" and the word has totally different feel to it. Yibee. It sounds so sarcastic.