What type of tea do you like? My recent fav is Yogi Tea’s Clarify Ginkgo IQ. Does it clarify my mind? I dunno. But it’s quite nummy.

And an odd combination I stumbled across a couple months ago is how Kiwi gummis and white pear tea complement each other tastily.

Facebook's Scrabble application, Scrabulous keeps track of the highest scoring words ever. The number one word: SINGHIOZZEREBBE, scoring 2118 points. It runs the ENTIRE length of the board touching on THREE triple letter squares. WOW.

According to wiktionary SINGHIOZZEREBBE means: "Third-person singular conditional tense of singhiozzare." Singhiozzare means "to sob." Yeah, if my opponent dropped that word down, I'd be sobbing too! The only thing I don't get is that this word is ITALIAN. What? You can't play Italian words. Hrmmm.

There's a cool application on facebook called Baseball Trading Cards where you can collect and sell virtual cards for free. If you collect an entire team, you get a special Hall of Fame/Fan Favorite card. There are several of these collector cards per team. Here's the Cubs:

Chicago Cubs

Ernie Banks 13 cards, Avg Sale: $500 Last Sale: n/a


Ryne Sandberg 14 cards, Avg Sale: $500 Last Sale: n/a


Ron Santo 15 cards, Avg Sale: $500 Last Sale: n/a

See below the fold for the entire list of Facebook Hall of Fame Baseball Trading Cards

I'm just about to purchase a water filter. I was thinking of getting the big momma 1.13-gallon tank (Brita Ultra-Max Dispenser). The easy-to-use dispenser would be nice to fill up water bottles or cups. And it's so monster huge, I won't have to be refilling the thing all the time. But then several different reviews said there was a problem with mold on this design:

Mold: If you do not let this filter dry within a maximum of two days, you will get mold. This mold will probably make you ill (sore throat) (Conversely if you look at it from another point of view - it will strengthen your immune system). To avoid this problem, the water dispenser should be washed every week at very least (to safe you should wash it more often). I have never had this problem with Brita's other products

So I thought I'd go with the pitcher version (Brita Deluxe Water Pitcher). The biggest one i could find is this 80 ounce sucker. But then the amazon reviews were complaining about how the lid didn't stay on, and so many people talked about how they spill water all over.


Some of the reviews for Brita said people should go with Pur, it's better quality. According to the reviews for the Pur 2 Stage Water Dispenser #DS-1800Z, there wasn't anything significantly bad about this dispenser. In fact, there were even several reviews about how people used a Brita, and then found the Pur to be much better. So there you go, Pur is better than Brita.

Ironicsans has an interesting blog post about how overpasses are so handy, yet so forgotten. "Crossing over just a few lanes of traffic, they are simultaneously bridge and tunnel. We pass them and immediately forget about them. They are the unsung heroes of traffic."

But while they are great for cars, they aren't so great for pedastrians. I wrote a little poem about this dichotomy.

The overpass.
Great for auto traffic.
Yet cars don’t think about them.
Instead they speed along.
Going to where they want to go.
Destination? Is not the underpass.

The overpass.
Walking dead-ends.
Pedastrians think about them.
They don’t want to walk under one.
Stopping before they get to the underpass.
Destination? Not beyond the underpass.

MLB.com has a game called Beat the Streak where you try to put together a hitting streak to beat baseball's legendary record of 56 games. Choose one player every day who you think will get at least one base hit. If your player gets a hit, your streak is extended. If he fails to get a hit, your streak ends and you can start a new one.

Be the first eligible participant to get a hit in 57 straight games and win $1,000,000 in cash.

I'm also doing my own little pool/league and if you win the league, you get $20 via paypal from me!
Requirements to join the Amazing League:
1) Leave occasional comments on this blog post about the status of your team.
2) I have to know who you are. If I don't know you, then introduce yourself to me and I might let you in.

One year I got an 11-game streak. Think you can beat that? If you get the longest streak in the Amazing League, you get $20. It's totally free to join my league. I'm offering the twenty bucks out of my pocket just to make it interesting. One year, we had about 10 people in the league.

if you type "yes" a bunch and really fast, you'll end up typing "eyes." WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?: The eyes are tied to saying "yes." wooooo.

Looking for new music? Something funky? Something with a groove? That's what I like. Every four months I'll post my favorite new songs that I recently discovered on iTunes. In this quarter's mix you'll find an international mix of French, Russian and Latin pop--and some dance grooves.

Just click on the Spudart Mix 1 and you'll be brought to the iTunes player where you can listen to free previews of the songs.

Song	Artist	Genre
Nas Ne Dagoniat	T.A.T.U.	Russian Pop
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger	Daft Punk	Electronic
Aya	Faudel	French Pop
Oh My God	Mark Ronson	Hip-Hop/Rap
Ta douleur	Camille	French Pop
Amigo en el Bano	Kany Garcia	Contemporary Latin
L'Alize (Radio Edit)	Alizee	French Pop
J.B.G.	Alizee	French Pop
The End	Groove Coverage	Dance
Runaway	Groove Coverage	Dance

Here's a map of America with JUST the capitals. No state lines. It would be fun to number these stars and make them into a connect-the-dots game.

Dude, if you use Yahoo messenger, you can totally blast your friend with ALL the yahoo emoticons at once. Just copy and paste this into an IM:

:) :( ;) :D ;;) >:D< :-/ :x :"> :P :-* =(( :-O X( :> B-) :-S #:-S >:) :(( :)) :| /:) =)) O:-) :-B =; :-c :)] ~X( :-h :-t 8-> I-) 8-| L-) :-& :-$ [-( :O) 8-} <:-P (:| =P~ :-? #-o =D> :-SS @-) :^o :-w :-< >:P <):) :o3 :-?? %-( :@) 3:-O :(|) ~:> @};- %%- **== (~~) ~O) *-:) 8-X =:) >-) :-L [-O< $-) :-" b-( :)>- [-X \:D/ >:/ ;)) :-@ ^:)^ :-j (*) o-> o=> o-+ (%)

POW! I'm not even gonna do a screenshot of what happens, cuz you gotta see it for yourself. And if you want, send it to me on Yahoo. I'm username artdude75.

Chicagoland design agency Rule 29 asks, What's your favorite Crayola color? So far the designers have answered: Red, Hot Magenta, Salmon, Red-Orange, GoldenRod, Raw Umber, Spring Green, Cerulean Blue (three votes), Midnight Blue.

All designers and nobody has said BLACK? WHAT? As a designer, I'm setting the record straight and putting black out there as my favorite crayon color. For real. As a kid I loved making thick black lines. Bold drawings made with the deepest darkest greatest Crayola color ever. BLACK.

Head on over to Rule 29's blog post and let 'em know what your favorite color is. (Or if you feel weird talking with strangers, you can just drop your fav in the comments on spudart.org.)

It would be like, super ultra cool if they made a game controller that can read things, like a bar code reader or something. And then when you play the game, at a certain point you have to scan the special shirt to gain super powers. So it's like wearing the shirt will get you super powers. The super power shirt! Ta-da-da-daaaaaah!

Freakin-a dude, and then coupled with a Wii, and wild arms swinging around battling super villians!

(inspired by tinyrun noticing how indie game art on tshirts is being sold in Target along with the video game attached to the shirt)

Whenever you see a face in an inanimate object (like the one pictured above), they say "thank you." But they actually say it, "mmmmmmma-mmmmmmmmo" It's meant to be pronounced as though someone is saying "thank you" with his/her mouth closed--just like how an inanimate object would, cuz you know, an inanimate object can't quite open its mouth. mmmmma-mmmmmmo. :-)

Take your guess on the day when Chicago will be graced by 70+ degree temperatures. We've been having a bitter colder winter that just won't go away. Let's think about the day when warm temperatures will be here.

My guess is Thursday, April 17.

Leave your guess in the comments. Thanks. Feel free to even ask people you know, and then record their guesses here. I'm putting my coworkers' guesses in the comments. Join the fun!

Here are my four favorite baseball websites:


baseball-reference.com
My favorite source for quick stats. Plus, it's just fun to tool around on the site, looking at random stats.


hardballtimes.com
Great writing on baseball


desipio.com
Hilarious coverage of the Cubs


cubscast.com
Not only the best cubs podcast out there, it's easily one of my top five favorite podcasts in any genre

Next time you catch a baseball at a Major League game have everyone around you sign it. At the very least have the people you're with sign it. I don’t know if strangers will want to sign their name on some stranger’s ball.

Oh I know. Maybe the users and the food vendors would sign it. OH MAN THAT WOULD BE SO EXCITING! I CAN’T WAIT TO CATCH A BALL AT A GAME! I HAVE TO! If they made mitts that were 100 feet wide, I would TOTALLY wear one to the game.

Imagine that. FOUL BALL! *pulls out super mitt* and *YOINK!* Got it!
(this post was inspired by my goal on 43 things to have everyone I know sign one baseball.)

Every year the two teams with the worst records should be banned from playing baseball for one year. That means the Pittsburgh Pirates (2007 record: 68-94 .420) and Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2007 record: 66-96 .407) would be be banned from playing in 2008. Not only is the team not allowed to play, but contract players can't join other teams. You play bad, you don't get to play next year.

Good results:
1) Players on bad teams will play more competitively. Players want their salary next year, they'll have to dog out singles and try more.

2) Owners will improve their teams, so they don't suck.

3) When a bad team comes back, people will be excited that their team is playing again, and the team will sell more tickets due to the hype.

Bad results:
1) It might happen where players will refuse to sign with lower tier teams. Players will flock to teams that are guaranteed of playing next year, leaving a larger and larger talent hole with the lower tier teams. A significant split will develop where the good teams get better and the bad teams will get worse.

2) When a bad team comes back, their fans will have given up on them. The team will sell less tickets. Fans say, "why bother."

Hmmm, maybe this isn't so good of an idea.

There's some funny smack talk on the Facebook Wrestler application. This blog post will be an archive of all the funny ones. Feel free to submit any to the comments. KEEP IT CLEAN. (I will delete anything that I don't like).

“You may not know this yet, but you have already lost this match.”
--The Re-incarnation of Bruce Lee

“I just ate a chili hot dog. look out.”
--Yokozuna somersault

“Wrestle me, and you WILL get smashed, STEGOSAURUS SMASHED!... in CHICAGO!”
--Stegosaurus Smash

Other smack talk
“It's morphin' time!”
“I'm coming to get you!”
“So Say The Sheppard ... So Say The Apocalypse”
“Hey esse. Look up! Look up! Cause you're going down!”
“Excuse me, is this seat taken?”
“We Can Do This The Easy Way Or The Hard Way?”
“Came here to do two things drink some beer and kick some ass looks like we are about out of beer”
“Watson, come here, I want to kill you.”
“I will break you in half...... WITH MY KNEE!”
“Im bringin the pain!!!!!!!”
“I'm gonna dance all over your face!!!”
“I MUST BREAK YOU”
“dig dig diggity, dig diggity dog”
“Fear my boots”
“Shake it like a salt shaker”
“Tragedy struck...Captain Tragedy!”

Popular Science reports the top 50 greenest cities. But their ranking combines several areas, Electricity, Transportation, Green living, Recycling and green perspective. The following list shows just the Recycling section:
5.0: Lexington, Ky
4.9: Oakland, Calif
4.9: Boston, Mass
4.9: Austin, Tex
4.9: Ann Arbor, Mich
4.9: Anchorage, Alaska
4.8: Portland, Ore
4.8: Eugene, Ore
4.7: St. Paul, Minn
4.7: Kansas City, Mo
4.7: Cambridge, Mass
4.7: Berkeley, Calif
4.5: Huntsville, Ala
4.4: Tulsa, Okla
4.4: Syracuse, N.Y
4.4: Santa Rosa, Calif
4.4: Fort Worth, Tex
4.3: Milwaukee, Wis
4.3: Laredo, Tex
4.2: Springfield, Ill
4.2: Irvine, Calif
4.1: Rochester, N.Y
4.1: Louisville, Ky
4.1: Denver, Colo
3.9: Seattle, Wash
3.9: San Francisco, Calif
3.9: Norwalk, Calif
3.9: Greensboro, N.C
3.8: Stockton, Calif
3.8: Newport News, Va
3.8: Joliet, Ill
3.8: Fremont, Calif
3.8: Athens-Clarke, Ga
3.6: Sunnyvale, Calif
3.6: St. Louis, Mo
3.6: Livonia, Mich
3.6: Chicago, Ill
3.6: Amarillo, Tex
3.6: Alexandria, Va
3.6: Albuquerque, N.M
3.5: San Bernardino, Calif
3.5: Salt Lake City, Utah
3.5: Honolulu, Hawaii
3.5: Concord, Calif
3.3: Riverside, Calif
3.3: Elizabeth, N.J
2.8: Thousand Oaks, Calif
2.5: Pasadena, Calif
2.3: Minneapolis, Minn
2.0: New York, N.Y

I'm a lifetime Cubs fan. But I'm also gonna root for the Mets now. I only know a couple baseball fans on AIM and one of them is a Mets fan. Why not root for them too?

Reasons not to be a Mets fan:
1) New York is obnoxious.
2) The Mets hurt the Cubs in 1969.

Reasons to be a Mets fan:
1) New York is fun.
2) 1969. Big deal. I wasn't alive then. And that was more the Cubs fault for falling apart.
3) Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran. Both on my fantasy team. And I like David Wright too, he's on my sister's fantasy team.

So we'll see how long this lasts. Am I crazy?

Update: April 22 (that's 19 days later)
I tried to be a Mets fan, but I just couldn't do it. I had no desire to root for them.