Mattsapundit

I’m trying to turn over a new leaf in the health department. Accordingly, I got up early today and headed to the gym.

Going to the gym isn’t exactly a new leaf; going to the gym first thing in the morning definitely is. I generally go after work, but it’s busier then, and I have to wait longer for a machine.

Anyway, I did my stretches, knocked out a half-hour of cardio while watching Fox & Friends, and topped it off with a stint in the sauna. I’m gonna have to visit the sauna more often, and bring a book. It’s really relaxing, and you feel great coming out of there.
It’s sort of like the joke where the guy smashes his thumb with thumb with a hammer over and over, and his friend says “Dude, why are you doing that?” And the guy says, “It feels so good when you stop!” The quacks at Harvard Medical School have this to say about saunas:

“All in all, saunas appear safe for the body, but there is little evidence that they have health benefits above and beyond relaxation and a feeling of well-being,” says Dr. Harvey Simon

But what the hell do they know?

Anyway, then I headed home and whipped up a smoothie (2 cups skim milk, half a pound of strawberries, a banana, half a cup of Fiber One and a scoop of Nitro-Tech). I’ve heard great things about Nitro-Tech, but it doesn’t taste too good. I’ll have to pick up some sugar-free chocolate or strawberry syrup to kill the nasty aftertaste.

Then it was off to MattCo to begin another week of adding to GDP. This week is going to be a bitch, too. I’ve got a meeting today for the St. Pius X jubilee, a roundtable at the Chron tomorrow, I have to take Diane car shopping on Wednesday, and I’ve got a pretty busy work week. Plus, this weekend I get to help Diane and her roommates move, and we have to do it fast so that we can be done by the time the Irish game comes on.

Matt Bramanti | August 28, 2006 at 12:52 pm
Posted to Personal

7 comments

It’s just about time for football season, folks. Here’s the schedule for the 2006 campaign:

• 9/2 – At Georgia Tech
• 9/9 – Penn State
• 9/16 – Michigan
• 9/23 – at Michigan State
• 9/30 – Purdue
• 10/7 – Stanford
• 10/21 – UCLA
• 10/28 – at Navy
• 11/4 – North Carolina
• 11/11 – at Air Force
• 11/18 – Army
• 11/25 – at USC

Here are some excellent resources for following the Irish.

• The House of Twelve: a blog by a bunch of my buddies from Notre Dame, including a former Observer sports editor.
• FanBlogs’ Notre Dame Blog: a quick roundup of Irish news stories.
• Blue-Gray Sky: Another great Irish football blog.
• The Rankings: AP and Coaches’ polls.
• ESPN Clubhouse: Roster, news, photos, standings, all that stuff.

By the way, here’s the Notre Dame Victory March as performed by the Dixieland Ramblers. Very New Orleans sounding, but without the gunfire and failed welfare state.

Matt Bramanti | August 25, 2006 at 1:15 pm
Posted to Audio, Blogging, Notre Dame, Sports

5 comments

…On a Crane!

…On a Jane!

…On a Pane!

…In the Rain!

…On a Lane!

…On a Mane!

Matt Bramanti | August 22, 2006 at 5:12 pm
Posted to Movies, Photos, Stupidity

1 comment

Today, I decided to add to my music collection. Drastically. I looked around and found quite a few sites that offer free, legal downloads of unrestricted music, mostly from indie labels. Some of the sites are traditional labels, some are net labels, some are blogs and some are fansites.

I got a ton of leads from E.C. Brown’s link archive. It’s about as comprehensive as you can get. Here are some of the sites I found with the largest number of free MP3s:

• 3Hive: Indie blog, lots of genres.
• Oddio Overplay: Several themed compilations.
• Comfort Stand Records: Lots of electronica and samplecore.
• Big Neck Records: Tons of rock.
• I Wanna Be Your Dog: A few dozen covers of Iggy Pop’s “I Wanna Be Your Dog.”
• The Crutch: Big indie-rock archive.
• You Ain’t No Picasso: A very-frequently updated review blog.

Here’s the cool part. I discovered a feature in Download Accelerator Plus that lets you mass-queue downloads. The download manager is integrated with Firefox, so when you come across a page with a bunch of links (a discography, for example), you right-click anywhere on the page and select “Download all with DAP.”

This brings up a dialog box listing every link in that HTML document. The list is sortable by type. So you sort, pick all the MP3s, and add them to the download queue. DAP uses a proximity test to pick the fastest server, and away it goes. When I started this post, I had 1,617 files in the queue. The vast majority are single songs, though there are quite a few albums and compilations in there.

Now the queue stands at 1,811. I figure there are probably about 2,000-2,100 songs in there. Add that to the 270 I downloaded today and the 3,100 already in my iTunes library, and that’s a pretty good-sized catalog.

Matt Bramanti | August 17, 2006 at 8:31 pm
Posted to Music, Tech

5 comments

I read about Windows Live Writer on Lifehacker this morning:

Windows only: Microsoft has just released Windows Live Writer to write to multiple blogs, insert photos, play with maps, and more goodies.

Less than 24 hours old, this product is still in beta, so there are sure to be some bugs; plus, you’ve got to download the .NET framework to even get to it.

We’ll see how well this works. It’s kind of cool, in that it shows my post in live preview, just how Mattsapundit displays it (red links, blockquote style, all that stuff).

Categories are in random order, though, unlike the alphabetical list I’m used to.

Let’s see what happens with an image.

Hmm. I don’t really care for how it handles images. It doesn’t let me center them.

I probably won’t be using this again. It was worth a shot, though.

Matt Bramanti | August 14, 2006 at 12:43 pm
Posted to Uncategorized

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Might be ‘offensive’ to 7th-century Islamofascist savages.
This is bullshit:

A five-year-old girl’s passport application was rejected because her photograph showed her bare shoulders.

Hannah Edwards’s mother, Jane, was told that the exposed skin might be considered offensive in a Muslim country.

This is the real threat from Muslim extremists. I’m not really worried that they’ll conquer the free world by force and chop off our leaders’ heads. Instead, they’ll capitalize on our fear of offending anyone, back that up with subtle threats at violence, and gradually erode our liberties in the name of “sensitivity.”

Screw that. Got any bare-shoulder pics? Send ‘em my way, and I’ll put up a montage here and at Lone Star Times.

Angelina sez: “Up yours, savages!”

Matt Bramanti | August 14, 2006 at 10:32 am
Posted to International, Islamofascism, Photos, Religion, Stupidity, Travel

1 comment

Props to Benzion for sending this one along. This was my very favorite Sesame Street song growing up, though I never heard it in Hebrew before:

[gv data="oiTE8G_c9fg"][/gv]

Matt Bramanti | August 10, 2006 at 1:37 pm
Posted to International, TV, Video

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I ran across this on Facebook today — a group with the name “Apple Students.” Here’s the message I got:

Congratulations! To redeem, please follow these instructions:

DOWNLOAD CODE: NL3KJLE4YFH3
Code Expiration: September 7th, 2006

1. Copy the Download Code
2. Open your iTunes* Music Player
3. Click ‘Music Store’ in the iTunes menu bar
4. Click ‘Redeem’ in the ‘Account’ box on the left navigation bar
5. Paste the Download Code and click ‘Submit’

Your download will start immediately. Enjoy and spread the word!

Visit the Apple Students group next week to get the latest Sampler.

25 songs, gratis. Every Monday through 9/30, they’ll put up another playlist with another 25 songs, free o’ charge.

Sweet.

Matt Bramanti | August 10, 2006 at 11:01 am
Posted to Music

4 comments

I got to work this morning and sat down for another fun, thrilling day at MattCo, when my officemate said to me, “Has Michael talked to you this morning?” Michael is my boss.

I said, “No, why?”

“He needs to have a word with you.”

“About what?”

“I can’t say anymore.”

Oh, shit. This isn’t going to be good. I’m racking my brain trying to think where I screwed up, and Michael walks in to my office:

“Matt, I know you’ve been under some pressure getting these reports out lately, but I found something that I think we need to talk about.”

Shit, shit, shit. What did I screw up?

“I found some things in your desk and we might need to set up a Betty Ford thing.”

Then he opens my desk drawer and retrieves the bottles vodka, rum and a champagne he had stashed there to mess with me.

Heh.

We’re expanding our office into the vacant suite next door. Apparently, Michael was in there this morning trying to figure out the layout of the new offices, and just found all this booze under the kitchen sink in there. I think it’s a good omen.

Matt Bramanti | August 9, 2006 at 12:24 pm
Posted to Food & Drink, Friends, Humor, Personal

4 comments

Last time I checked (in April), the following countries had experienced the unbridled joy that is my blog:

That distinguished list just got a bit longer. Here’s the current MattMap:

The most significant gains were in poor, less-developed regions, like South America, sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe and Detroit. Readership in Scandinavia and the Middle East grew nicely as well.

The inevitable spread continues…

Matt Bramanti | August 6, 2006 at 8:00 pm
Posted to Blogging, International, Personal

4 comments

Rally, sons of Notre Dame:

Expectations will be sky high in coach Charlie Weis’ second season. Brady Quinn to Jeff Samardzija should again be one of best passing threats in nation, and RB Darius Walker should shine on ground. Defense should be better with nine starters, including DB Tom Zbikowski, back. Season finale at Southern California could be Irish’s most important game in years.

That’s probably true. The later it gets in the season, the more a loss hurts. But that’s not peculiar to ND/USC.

Simply put, a lot of Trojans fans are going to be disappointed this season. USC will have a fine year, but they won’t make a run at the national championship. USC is going to disappoint a lot of people this year. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a hell of a team, but there are problems. They’ve just lost too much talent and they still have to figure out the quarterback role.
That said, they’re still a force to be reckoned with, and anything can happen in the ND/USC game.

Matt Bramanti | August 4, 2006 at 4:02 pm
Posted to National, Sports

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The west side’s homeless people will have to find somewhere else to bathe:

A new Kendall Library will be built on a 3.5-acre city-owned site on North Eldridge Parkway near Harris County’s Terry Hershey Park.

The existing Kendall Library, 14330 Memorial Drive, will be closed when the new library opens, city officials said.

Doris Harris, who raised her family in Wilchester subdivision near the Kendall Library, said she was surprised and shocked to hear the library was moving.

“I am very sorry to see it go,” said Harris, who now lives in Memorial Drive townhomes near Town & Country.

“But if it has to go, I’d like to see the building turned into a community center with meeting rooms that could be used by groups, like my bridge club.”

As tempting as municipally-subsidized geriatric loitering sounds, I like this next guy’s idea a lot better:

Diane Swan, a Nottingham Forest resident, said a Houston Police Department substation or storefront could be a good fit for that building.

I like that idea. The closest police station that I know of is the Westside Command Station. It’s a very large facility, but it covers a huge swath of territory with a rapidly growing population. That’s why HPD might divide the command, allowing for more local policing, and that’s a good thing:

Houston Police Department Executive Assistant Chief Tim Oettmeier told about 150 west Houston residents at the Aug. 2 community meeting on crime that HPD has been “toying with the idea” of dividing the Westside Command, possibly at the Galleria area, as an answer to handling crime in the district.

“We’re looking at that,” he said. “I don’t want you to walk out of here thinking it’s a done deal.”

“We’re trying to compensate for that by using overtime,” Oettmeier said, adding that Westside is also getting more officers from graduating academy classes. Eleven of 49 new officers that finished in late July were assigned to Westside.

More officers is always a good thing, but I’d like to think we’d get some experienced officers to help the rookies. Unfortunately, it sounds like that’s not going to happen:

“But in terms of uprooting officers from permanent assignments, the decision has been made that we are not going to do that,” he said. “We have taken a tremendous loss across the city. Everybody is suffering, including Westside.”

Matt Bramanti | August 3, 2006 at 2:04 pm
Posted to Crime, Houston

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Mattsapundit Central Comment has temporarily moved operations to Rob’s house while he and the missus are traipsing around Europe, leaving me in charge of their booze and swimming pool.

Yeah, I don’t know what they were thinking, either.

Matt Bramanti | August 3, 2006 at 12:59 pm
Posted to Friends, Out and About, Personal

6 comments

Last night, I found myself in the middle of a police chase.

I was heading east on the Katy Freeway from Barker Cypress, when I saw distant police lights in my rear-view mirror. Next thing I knew, a white El Camino was flying by. I figure he was going about 100. Then the cops came. At least a half-dozen HPD cars, several Harris County Sheriff’s cars and Suburbans and a couple of state troopers.

No choppers, though, from either the police department or the TV stations, so I think the chase had just gotten started. I hope they got the guy.

Matt Bramanti | August 2, 2006 at 4:48 pm
Posted to Crime, Houston, Out and About

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Everyone’s been talking about the “20 cool things about Houston” phenomenon, and Rob has jumped in with a post about cool things in his neighborhood. Now it’s my turn.
For purposes of this list, I’m going to define the neighborhood pretty tightly. It’s roughly a 2-mile square bound by the Katy Freeway to the north, Kirkwood to the east, Briar Forest to the south and Eldridge to the west.

Here goes:

1. Sandy’s Produce Market: It’s a health food store, salad bar and antique shop in a former K-Mart. It’s got a reat salad bar, scores and scores of different teas, and friendly people. (South side of the Katy Freeway, just east of Tully)
2. Tully Stadium: It’s pretty impressive for a high school stadium. On fall Friday nights, you can hear the bands and see the lights for quite a while around. (East side of Dairy Ashford, 1/2 mile south of the Katy Freeway)
3. Hebert’s Specialty Meats: It’s a Cajun butcher shop. You can get just about any kind of critter jammed with any kind of stuffing you can imagine. Rabbit & broccoli-cheese? No problem. Quail and eggplant? You got it. (West side of Dairy Ashford, 1/2 mile south of the Katy Freeway)
4. Spec’s Liquors: One hell of a good liquor store. It has a walk-in humidor, a very nice selection of cheeses, and of course lots and lots of booze. (South side of Memorial, just west of Dairy Ashford)
5. Glazed Over Ceramic Studio: Rob and Michelle’s business. You paint pre-made ceramic stuff, like plates, cups, figurines, etc., and the staff glazes and fires the pieces in a kiln. It’s also BYOB, so it’s got that going for it, which is nice. (Same strip center as Spec’s)
6. Taco Bell: I don’t know how they do it, but the staff there is unfailingly friendly and remarkably speedy, even at 2:00 in the morning. (Southwest corner of Memorial and Dairy Ashford)
7. Houston Shoe Hospital: In an age where nearly everything is disposable or easily replaceable, these guys fix shoes. The fact that they’ve been in business forever is a testament to how well they do it. They can make a shoe last forever, like an axe that’s gone through four handles and two heads. (West side of Dairy Ashford, just south of Memorial)
8. Memorial Athletic Club and Aquatic Center: This is a damn fine gym, with lots of everything — free weights, weight machines, cardio equipment, classes, racquetball, basketball, and two swimming pools, one of which is indoors. BONUS COOLNESS: Individual TVs at every elliptical machine, treadmill and bike. (North side of Memorial, just west of Dairy Ashford)
9. La Hacienda Mexican Restaurant: This place is an absolute insitution. It’s been serving up the same decent Tex-Mex for well over 30 years. They’ve got a hilarious lounge singer, too.
10. Leibman’s Food & Wine: An excellent gourmet food store. They’ve got beer and wine, too. The whole place is full of stuff you can’t get anywhere else, including several pre-made dishes daily. (South side of Memorial, about 3/10 mile east of Dairy Ashford)
11. Los Tios Mexican Restaurant: Another institution, though this one doesn’t show its age as much as LaHa. It has a cool cantina off to the side. BONUS COOLNESS: My mom used to be a waitress in that cantina. (West side of Kirkwood, just north of Memorial)
12. Moscow: A little Russian grocery store with a deli counter, strong Baltika beer and matryoska nesting dolls that look like Nikita Khrushchev. You can get Penthouse in Russian, too. (Southwest corner of Memorial and Kirkwood)
13. Ace Hardware City: It had a better hometown feel in its old location, but now this hardware store has a bigger selection in a nicer building. This is where I get all my Christmas-lighting needs.
14. Memorial Citgo: This place has been filling and fixing Bramanti cars since I was in Huggies. Sandy Theocharidis runs a real service station. It used to be Thornhill Texaco, but was recently renovated and rebranded. Sandy and his guys are honest and they charge a fair price. (North side of Memorial, 1/4 mile west of Dairy Ashford)
15. Ashford Arms: This is my bar. The crowd is mostly regulars, though the occasional British or Irish expatriate comes in. They have free food most nights (hot dogs, stew or pizza) until it runs out, which it always does. Ask for Filly. (Southwest corner of Dairy Ashford and Perthshire)
16. Cafe Rita: A little hole-in-the-wall Lebanese place. George and Rita are friendly as can be, and the dude could sell ice to an eskimo. (“Just try a little bit…”) Great beef shawarma and baba gahnouj. (Same strip center as the Ashford Arms)
17. Randalls: I love grocery stores, and this is the best one in the neighborhood. Clean, huge, upscale. True, H-E-B is cheaper, but it’s a big pile of crap. Yeah, Kroger is a one-minute walk from my living room, but the Kroger Co. thinks I should ring up my own groceries. Randalls forever. (Wraps the northwest corner of Memorial and Dairy Ashford)
18. St. John Vianney Catholic Church: This has been my parish since I was maybe 3. I don’t go to Mass much there anymore (Diane and I go to the Chapel of St. Basil at the University of St. Thomas), but it’s still my home parish, and I’m there pretty frequently for Knights of Columbus events. (Nottingham Oaks, just south of Memorial)
19. Becks Prime. They make a damn good hamburger and the richest shakes you’ve ever had. The location is nice, too — tucked away in some trees. Swordfish sandwiches, too. (East side of Dairy Ashford, just south of the Katy Freeway)
20. The Katy Freeway: Studded with every form of development imaginable, this ribbon of concrete streches from Los Angeles to Jacksonville, Fla. When the current expansion is done, it’ll be 18 lanes wide.

Matt Bramanti | August 1, 2006 at 9:53 pm
Posted to Home, Houston, Out and About, Personal

8 comments