Man, my 11 year-old step-son really made me feel old this morning. Here’s the story…

We’ve been playing the new Guitar Hero: Aerosmith game lately. However, before I let him get the game I made him listen to some of my Aerosmith CD’s so he’d have an appreciation of the music before getting into the game. He’s really enjoyed their stuff and has been asking a ton of questions about the band and different songs. So, I’m out washing my car on Thursday and fired up the old boom-box I keep in there to listen to when I’m working in the garage. And, I look up and there’s an old cassette of Aerosmith: Classics Live.

Great album, by the way.

So, this morning I told Tommy I found something for him and went and got the cassette. I handed it to him and then I got this:

“How am I supposed to watch this tape?”

Are you freakin’ kidding me? Has it been that long since cassettes were around? Surely this kid has seen a cassette tape - much less heard music from one?

Needless to say, I’m feeling really old this morning. I need another cup of coffee. But, I will tell you this Aerosmith’s version of “Mama Kin” on Classics: Live rocks!

I saw this while I was reading the July 2008 issue of Men’s Journal

• 2 lbs. ground buffalo meat
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 2 tsp fresh ground pepper
• 4 oz unseasoned bread crumbs
• 1-2 oz cornstarch
• 2-3 oz lime juice
• 16 oz buffalo wing sauce
• 1/2 C sugar
• 6-8 oz crumbled blue cheese
• blue cheese dressing (just enough to bind blue cheese crumbles)

Mix meat, salt, pepper & bread crumbs in a bowl - form 5-6 oz patties. Stir cornstarch & lime juice together to form slurry and add to heated buffalo wing sauce. Heat over medium heat to thicken - set aside. Grill patties over high heat for 2 mins/side for medium (Buffalo cooks faster than regular hamburger). Place on buns and top with sauce and blue cheese dressing mixture.
Source: Men’s Journal, July 2008, p. 36, author: Jason Boso

This sounds really good and I can’t wait to try this one out.

I remember seeing the movie “Parenthood” when it came out. At that time, I thought that some of the antics and plot-lines were crazy and far fetched.

Boy, was I wrong.

This movie is a perfect two hour summation of life with a spouse, kids, in-laws and relatives. It’s almost too true at times. Ron Howard did an amazing job directing this movie and imparting that truth. And, Grand-ma’s observation about life being a roller-coaster is so true.

Most of all it reminded me how perfect we want the world to see us and our families. And, how that facade can be a burden at times. I know I need to relax a little more and let things just be - otherwise I’ll end up crazy. Well, more crazy than I am or will be in the future.

This is a really, really interesting article:

Fifth of U.S. TV viewers watching online: survey

“This is the first study to show there are a significant amount of people watching primetime shows online who are not watching some portion of those shows on television,” Amanda Welsh, head of research for IMMI, said in a statement.

I wondered when we would begin seeing this trend. This is just another case of the consumer now having the tools to control the transaction. I wonder how many of the networks hold onto their old ways as this plays out?

Coutdown until LSU kicksoff against Appalachian State:

I’ve been mulling this over for a while and after a meeting yesterday with a client I figured that I’d write about this topic. I’ve been building and operating websites since 1996. I’ve seen just about everything from shoddy code, bad implementations, oversold capabilities and more. I’ve also seen a lot of great work from my peers.

But, there is one thing out there that I really feel is unethical and that is when web designers subscribe their clients to services and don’t give the clients access to them. Another thing I loathe is when a web design firm does domain registration for a client and “takes care of it” for them - more on that in a minute.

I’m seeing more and more situations where someone will sign up for some kind of a Google account - like Analytics - and not give the client access. Note to those out there - make sure you do this yourself and give the web designer the code and/or access to the account. Even better, in cases where an employee who is managing your site may leave - have them sign up under a generic account and get the username/password.

The other one that really gets me is this domain thing. I have see clients held hostage because when they decide they want to leave a web design firm for another - the former will hold their domain hostage as leverage. Note to self - always buy your own domain names. If a web firm buys a domain on your behalf - there’s a very good chance that you don’t really own it. And, that can be bad if the relationship sours - especially if it’s yourcompanyname.com.