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Play Calvinball


Status: I'm really gonna need to get my shit together if I wanna make 'it' happpen...

Rad Bike Tricks to the Max!

Thursday, June 26, 2008


After seeing this video, one and only one thought came to mind: Get to work, you idiot hipsters.

Explanation: Outside of the Ferry Building every work day at 5:00pm are a bunch of "badass" fixed gear bikers who practice these stupid tricks as people are trying to go from the Financial District to catch a ferry home. Out of all the places in the city, these morons decide to do it there.

Why? Because they are a bunch of douchebags and wanna show off in front of a bunch of white collar workers that they can pedal backwards (which they can't do 95% of the time) or any of these silly tricks (which they can't do 99% of the time).

In the end, they have all been defeated by some woman wearing a 1994 German World Cup soccer jersey in a gym somewhere in poor Europe. Hipsters, consider yourselves schooled.

Regret

Tuesday, June 24, 2008
I wrote this down on a piece of paper a while ago and through the process of moving (now infiltrating Matt's sanctuary), I stumbled upon this anecdote that was funny at the time and is now probably lame. Anyway, here it goes...

My parents came to visit about a month and change ago. At one point, Pops asks me a question...

Ferd: Okay, so you're riding your bike and you go through an intersection. You see a tractor trailer and you've got 4 second left to live. Curtain time. What's your biggest regret?

Me: (after about 2 seconds of pause): Not avoiding this tractor trailer.

Out of all the years I've known my dad, I don't think I've ever seen him laugh harder.

My Name is Joey

Monday, June 23, 2008
(sung to the rhythm of 'My Name is Jonas' by Weezer)

My name is Joey
I'm carrying the tennis ball [He loved doing that]
Thanks for all you've shown us
This is how we feel [Sad]


Joey was a great dog who I wish could've been around a lot more. Erin graciously saved him for a terrible fate and fell in love immediately (and I sorta did too, to be honest). Logistics however dictated Joey finding a stable lifestyle... which was found yesterday through one of Erin's friends.

Ern, this is for you, so you can see Joey whenever you want, albeit in just picture form.

Quiz

Sunday, June 22, 2008
Pop quiz Hotshot: There's a bomb on a b-... nevermind.

http://www.sporcle.com/games/simpsons.php

How many Simpsons characters can you name in 10 minutes?

I got 57 out of 63. Just forewarning, they are sticklers for spelling and it's hard because a bunch of characters you haven't seen their names written out at all. Just keep throwing phonetic combinations of letters out and it'll work out... eventually.

Post your scores. Let's see how many of you are cheaters and Googled the hard ones.

Quick Link

Thursday, June 19, 2008
Hot Rods, Fire Trucks and More: Seven Crazy Golf Cart Mods

As someone who reveled in the awe of a golf cart with GPS back in '99 playing a round with his father in Myrtle Beach, I've always had a fondness for the golf cart and all that it can be capable of accomplishing.

Here's to you, Golfer with Too Much Money and Time on His Hands.

PS For those asking themselves why, the cart has GPS (or some sort of ghetto positioning system [GhPS?]), so you can tell how far your ball is from the hole, cause "A lot" isn't too precise, albeit a correct response.

New Words

Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Dented (verb)
* Dictionary.com - to make a dent in; to become dented

* Adam's definition - to get drunk, hammered, inebriated

This came from the simple mishearing of a response. On a car ride to something for work, one of the ladies was mentioning her plans for the Friday evening and mentioned she was going to "dinner." I thought she said "dented" and asked if that was a cool new word for getting drunk. She laughed and said no and now hopefully dented will catch on.

James Brown (verb)
* Dictionary.com - N/A

* Adam's definition - A one night stand

Alright, this might take a minute. James Brown, godfather of soul, has had many hits on the radio. One of my favorites, due to it's infectious rhythm and memorable bridge, is Sex Machine. Now towards the end of the song, Mr. Brown (not a Reservoir Dogs character) asks his band...

Can we hit it like we did one more time, from the top
Can we hit like that one more time
(One more time!)
One more time!
Let's hit it and quit! (Go ahead!)
Can we hit it and quit? (Yeah!)

Notice the bolded line "Can we hit it and quit it?" Now in the song, he was referring to the intro horn line that goes [Ba-dum bump bump bump bump bump bump 'Get up, Get on up.'] and using those bars to end the song. I took this line and thought it would sound better as a euphemism for a one-night stand: Hit it and Quit it. Hit = Hooking up. Quit = Leave right away / Don't see again.

Proper conversational usage would be as follows:
Dude #1 - Oh man, I had an awesome night. I met this girl at a party and it went real well.
Dude #2 - Nice, dude #1. Did you James Brown it?
Dude #1 - Oh you know it, #2. Gotta keep the love lines open.

Par-TAY + Part B (noun)
* Dictionary.com - ERROR

* Adam's definition - A long time spent drinking, followed by a hangover

This came from last Saturday (more to come shortly) and the following Sunday. Saturday was a solid 12 hours of boozin', in a variety of liquids, locations and lucidity. Good times had by me (probably not by those who had to deal with me) . Sunday... was not good times, with the hangover lasting... probably 12 hours.

Hence, Par-TAY (aka Party aka Part A) is the fun you have... and Part B is the aftermath of your actions, be it clean up, hangover or incarceration.

Go ahead and laugh but if these catch on (and I encourage their widespread usage), they at least can be attributed back to me due to this electronic post.

RoboPONG!

Thursday, June 12, 2008


I'll admit it. I saw this thing and thought it looked awesome. Just look at it. It's so sexy with it's pin-point precision, long plastic tube and don't even get me started on that retrieval net. Whoa nelly...

Anyway, I found this on Gizmodo and they apparently have an even more hopeless crush on this little contraption. Here's there write-up on it:

"For some reason, an advertisement from the movie Crazy People comes to mind when watching this RoboPong 2040 commercial. "Robopong won't just scare you; it will fuck you up for the rest of your life." Yeah, it costs $700. Yeah, it's better at ping pong than you. And yeah, after it embeds a ball into your skull it will "comfort" your grieving wife before teaching your children to play table tennis "just like their pop" and enjoying endless hours of fetch with your dog. Because in a battle between RoboPong and the Terminator, we're betting on RoboPong. So you, my soft, fleshy friend, don't stand a chance." - Link

That's just good writin'.

It's also great/ridiculous to see that marketing practices will always trickle down to the oddest products. What am I speaking of, you ask? First 30 second spot - The seasoned, camera-ready veteran with impeccable form and dead-on accuracy. Next 30 second spot - The good lookin' blond who can hold her own enough for flash editing to make her look passable. (Notice the front and back camera scans of her as the ad starts. Gotta get a good T & A shot for those hard-up ping pongers).

Anyway, after you peruse the website, see all the other stuff they have, and notice that RoboPong costs $695, what's the next logical conclusion?

This is nearly as effective as playing against a wall.

The Disintegration of the Beer Man

Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Background:


To clarify, Tuesday afternoon, 6:45pm - McAfee Coliseum (Worst. Stadium name. Ever.) A's versus New York Yankees.

These were our seats, Shiel and I. We sat 35 rows back, center section, surrounded by Yankees fans and it was glorious. Little known fact: This was only the second Yankees game I've been to, the first being when I was 11 so this was a necessary break from the 13 year hiatus.

Good game all around. Some runs scored in the 1st, A balk in the 5th, Insurance HR by Melky and a solid 9th by Mariano. But, as much as I enjoy baseball, America's Pastime forgot about America's other Pastime... Beer.

"Hey, Beer man!"

Such a familiar phrase it's almost heredity to utter. You are sitting at a game, be it minor or major league, you crave the refreshing cold of a cold-filtered draft and you yell out for the man walking around with a tray of them to bring one to you in exchange for American dollars. The height of simplicity... (and sloth).

And gluttony.

But deadly sins aside, why has this man been barred (no pun intended) from the ballparks as of late?

Loyal readers (whomever you may be), am I crazy or has this man slowly gone the away of disco music and drifted out of sight? RFK Stadium had a beer man I remember and he even patrolled the cheap seats in the right field upper deck. The upstate NY Single A team 45 minutes from my house with a seating capacity that would make a picnic table look like the Rose Bowl employed the Beer Man. Feel free to disagree with me and tell me it is just a hippy Bay Area thing. I just don't know and can only vouch for old RFK and Shea stadium.

** I thought I could make this a longer topic but I feel like brevity is my linguistic curse. Perhaps I'll leave the long-winded rants to someone else...

PS On-Tap: Tonight = 1st baseline with Julia / Tomorrow = 3rd baseline with Erin and Chas / Friday, Saturday, Sunday = Probably bleacher seats in SF for A's @ Giants.

Two Links, One Post

Monday, June 9, 2008
1. The Dumbest Thing I Have Read on the Internet

http://www.tvsquad.com/2005/03/14/cancel-arrested-development/

This floozy is why God created sharp objects, because inevitably, this waste of skin will fall on one and impale herself.

The only reason I stumbled upon this was because my house has been on sort of an Arrested Development kick since we ran out of DVD's to watch and Julia graciously brought with her Season Two. I also inevitably became bored at work on a lazy Friday morning (and afternoon) and did some Arrested Googling. After the expected YouTube videos and Bring Back Arrested petitions, I came upon this broad's critique of the show. Thankfully (and you'll agree that 'thankfully' is a proper word choice after you read the article), she hasn't posted in a couple years.

Here are some highlights of her idiocy...

"We want traditional sitcoms that take place in living rooms. With couches. And lazy husbands and hot wives and mean-spirited children. Either that, or procedural dramas."
** You know, cause originality is best left for reality-TV writers.

"And yet, they expect us to watch a sitcom without a laugh track?"
** I'm watching TV. I don't wanna have to THINK when to laugh but instead have an electronic recording of laughing to dictate my response timing.

This... almost made me cry with rage:
"It's like, every single line is potentially funny, and some of them are funny in three or four different ways - how are you supposed to know when to laugh? They can't all be jokes ... right?"
** Yeah, so whe-... Ugh. Sorry, I can't even attempt a sarcastic, snide comment here. It's gonna make my brain hurt.

There are definitely a lot more lines that are "Go out and register for a handgun"-inducing but some things are better left to experience on your own.

**Pre-Addendum**
I... may be the louse in this situation because two people have pointed out that this may be satire. Thing about that is... it certainly could be, but typically if you're gonna be satirical, it needs to read that way immediately and someone of moderate intelligence (which may be a club I no longer belong to) should be able to pick up on it relatively quickly.

**ADDENDUM**
If you don't know what Arrested Development is or have never watched it, most of what you just read won't really mean anything. So...

2. How to Spot a Jersey Native

http://bugehoobs.com/oddities/how_to_spot_a_jersey_native

It boils down to the fact that I just don't like Matt Shiel and will do whatever I can to make fun of his ridiculous home state.

***Update***

Sometimes, comedy just writes itself. The broad mentioned above, who couldn't understand the complexity of a Knock-Knock joke, has a website, and the URL (emphasis added), is vIDIOCY.com.

Please do not visit her site because no traffic should be driven there... unless the traffic is a squadron of sewage trucks and "there" is her face.

I Hate Boston...

Friday, June 6, 2008
... unless they're getting punched in the face:

(Photo courtesy of Yahoo Sports)

Here's the full story: Red Sox Find Rays Fit to Fight

My favorite line of the article is from the pitcher, James Shields, shown above dismantling Coco's jaw, with his throwing hand (apparently he never saw Bull Durham): “When a guy comes after me,” Shields said, “my dad always told me, ‘You’d better knock him out.’ “

PS If the Celtics win the NBA Finals, prepare for the Gates of Hell to open somewhere in Southie.

Confessions of a Cell Phone Camera

Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Based upon my last post, specifically the Wii Victory pose by Tom's Mii, it got me to thinking about what your cell phone camera can say about you. Devotees will remember an earlier post regarding your e-mail account's intimate knowledge of your lesser accomplishments and greater sins. Well, after some thought (basically how much time it took me to write the first two sentences) I realized it would be better to just post a bunch of things and exercise brevity and comedy as opposed to long-winded nonsensical ranting.

So, here's a sampling of what I find worthy enough to whip out the 1.3MP and photodocument (photoment(?)).

It's a Smart Car, which if you don't know, is about the size of Mario Kart car and was made super fuel efficient after a bunch of hippies got ahold of one. Yeah they can be parked anywhere and are supposed to be safe but personally, I think it was just the spawn of a bunch of nancies who didn't have the cajones to ride a motorcycle.


This is Shuffleboard, the bar version. If you've never played, head to Doc's Clock in SF or Rocket Bar in DC or... well, I covered both coasts; if you're not near there, hop on a bus. Anyway, this was a drunken four point throw tossed by Miss Bell in Rocket Bar. A picture capture was demanded, hence the presence on my phone.


PVC piping + Bigger PVC piping + Broken rake handle + Bag of potatoes + Aqua Net + Bic lighter = An eternal bond forged between restless nephews and bored uncles. Courtesy of an industrious cousin (Nick, pictured right) and another cousin's graduation (Andrew, pictured background), the Croce family was brought together to shoot spuds as high and far as they could as young and old alike tried to catch a near flammable pomme de terre with an infielder's glove. Didn't really work out...


This is Morgan. She has a bucket on her head. Can't really put more into this.

So, during my hiatus from work / life / anything productive in my first couple months of West Coast livin', I frequented the Chinese food restaurant right down the street from me. Typically it was the Shrimp and Brocolli (She's choppin broccolliiiiii) for $4.50. Anyway, while waiting for my
Cat and Seaweed (cause let's be honest, that's what it was), this guy came in and proceeded to order and fall asleep for a good 20 minutes. Wow... that's so funny. No, it's not; just listen. So he proceeds to get woken up by the waitress who delivers him a friggin prehistoric fish carcass that was as long as the table and cost $45. He hate about 10% of it and got the rest to go.


Lauren is an effin' rockstar. She found a website where you can make custom bobbleheads and found a section that puts your candidate on a motorcycle. Headbobble.com / Here's the kicker: Ferd didn't think this looked like him. I don't know about you, but I've seen this grill more than once and can tell you this is pretty close.


Inflatable bouncy boxing ring for Erin's birthday. We had to have a generator power this thing and dragged it all the way to Golden Gate park. People got destroyed, little kids wandered over without warning (didn't help that Matt was offering them free candy to lure them over and play with him) and many seams were ripped through excessive jump attacks that found nothing but air and then vinyl.

***

In the end, your camera doesn't really say anything except you own a phone with a shitty camera and that you leave your house enough to see things that aren't your office cube (which I do have pictures of on my phone, regrettably).

However... I think that this invention, could very much change the outlook of this blog: The Flip Mino.

Thoughts? Concerns? Cheezburger?