Hey, check out the USB to Pumpkin adapter at Sewell Direct.com. I think that lack of pumpkins in the computing world is a major problem, and I am proud to be an employee of the company that is bringing this cutting-edge solution to the masses.

It never ceases to amaze me how comfortable people are within their automobiles. It’s like they think that they’re invisible, that somehow the car windows have magically become one way glass. How many times have you seen an otherwise staid and respectable businessman rockin’ down the highway playing air guitar along with his favorite Doobie Brother’s album? Or an attractive woman picking her nose with a vengeance? I’ve even seen the occasional clothes changer. This begs the question, what is to be done? I think that providing a proper role model is key. Ponder upon this:

Fish in captivity (i.e., in your fishbowl) live lives devoid of privacy. Everything they do is in plain sight of anybody who wants to see. Sure, maybe the plants offer some protection from prying eyes, but when in you live in a transparent glass bowl, that can only do so much. No, the fish is every bit as visible as a person in a car. However, how often have you seen a fish singing along with his radio, let alone picking its nose. In fact, I think that fish are supremely mortified by their exposed existence. They float aimlessly around their bowl with the vacant stares of the mentally detached. As a result, in my experience, fish become extremely boring to watch, which I’m sure figures into their master plan to get us to leave them alone. If only we were more like fish, only not as smelly.

Just so you know that I know… I really like this blog theme a lot, but it has some serious issues with Internet Explorer. The text appears below the menu, which is obviously a huge problem, and I am aware of the situation. I’ve spent some major time working on the code, and will continue to do so, but until then, all you IE users please bear with me. OR you could upgrade to Firefox! (hint hint.)

A few years ago Blockbuster ran a series of commercials featuring Kevin Bacon. In these commercials, there would be several people in line at Blockbuster, and the person in front of the line would have forgotten their Blockbuster card (this seems to happen whenever the movie store is busy, and particularly when I’m in a big hurry.) Fortunately Kevin Bacon just happens to be there, and through sometimes convoluted means, he establishes a connecting link through four other people (who, incredibly, just happen to be in line as well) so he can vouch for the person trying to rent the movie.
Apparently these commercials were based on the idea that each of us are connected to everyone else on the earth by no more than 6 degrees of separation. What this means, then, is that you know someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows (insert celebrity name here, e.g. Kevin Bacon, Christopher Walken, Tom Cruise, Nate Kartchner, etc.).
The purpose of this blog is to tell you that this is absolutely true. You, my dear reader, are six degrees from Kevin Bacon. Allow me to explain. Kevin Bacon starred in a little film called “Footloose” which was filmed here in Utah, apparently. The movie used the home of (get ready for this…) my friend Allison’s mom’s parents. So here’s your six degrees. I know Allison, who knows her mom (the connections are fairly obvious), who knows her parents, who know Kevin Bacon because he was always at their house for the filming. Now here’s the kicker: you mathematicians out there would have caught that there are only five degrees separating me from Kevin Bacon. That’s right. If you know me, you are six degrees from Kevin Bacon. Congratulations.

I got an email tonight from a concerned reader who noted that I failed to note anywhere in my blog about the success of a certain sports team of my acquaintance. I want this reader to know that I was going to write this entry after I got done with my celebratory Martinelli’s, but if you insist…

For the first time in MLB history, a team from the great land of Texas is in the World Series. The Houston Astros (woot!) beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-1 in Game 6 of the NL Championship, securing themselves a spot in the World Series. This is a great moment for me. You see, I spent two years in Houston, Texas as a missionary, and during that time of adopting all things Texas, I also adopted the struggling Astros. I remember the euphoria of victory last year as we slipped into the playoffs on a wild card spot. I remember the agony of defeat as the Cardinals beat us to go on to the NL Championship series. And I remember the hope for better luck next year.

Here we are at next year, in a place we only dared dream we might be. So let me say congratulations to the ‘Stros, best of luck against those dirty White Sox, and thanks for a great ride so far.

Yes, the time has indeed come for ToweringIntellect.com to have a slogan. Some months ago, a coworker of mine suggested a rotating slogan for our company’s website, SewellDirect.com. I discovered this slogan generator in my trampings across the web, and I think that periodically I will use it to put up a slogan on the site. It works best with random words, so feel free to make a suggestion for words you would lke to see appear on the website’s slogan. (Thanks to The Surrealist for the generator.)

Also, I learned a new term today: “yak-shaving.” For a fabulous description, check out Seth Godin’s blog. I think I’ll use this phrase often…

So I’m trying a new look for the blog. Tell me what you think, and if you have any other suggestions.

After taking a brief hiatus from blogging, necessitated by a virtual wasteland of thought resulting from too much homework, I am back. Concerning my last post, it’s gratifying to see that one simple quote can create so much discussion. Natalie, keep up the good work.
This last week I discovered facebook.com, which is a fairly addicting website and the partial cause for my lack of blog-age. For those of you not familiar with this site, facebook.com is “an online directory that connects people through social networks at schools,” according to their website. I was up until 3 am the other night, connecting myself to people through social networks at schools. It’s that enthralling. I am not alone in my facebook frenzy. Apparently it has become all the rage on college campuses across America. So what is it about facebook.com that people find so incredible?

Ponder this. Remember when the high school yearbooks would come out and you would do everything you could to get the most signatures in your yearbook so you looked really cool, like you knew a lot of people? Forget the fact that 90% of the girls who wrote “call me this summer” didn’t really mean it and were horrified when you called, or pretended(?) like they didn’t know who you were. It was the quantity of names in the book that mattered. I think that facebook.com is the college iteration of the high school yearbook. Case in point: I look at my profile and I see a heartening 19 friends at BYU. 19 is a lot right? I feel pretty good about myself until I look at a fellow student’s profile. She’s sporting a cool 63 friends at BYU, along with a host of other friends from a gaggle of other schools. Ouch. This realization leads to a panicked facebook.com session as I try to rack my brain for more friends that I could possibly add to my facebook.com friend list. The drive to have as many people on the rolls as possible isn’t unique to me. Indeed, far from it. In fact, I know a kid (who goes by “Rico Suave” on facebook.com) who wrote a program that has allowed him to add an unprecedented 1403 people to his “friends” list. Now that’s extreme. How can a newb like me ever hope to compete with that kind of friend firepower? The fact of the matter is this: I can’t. But that’s not going to stop me from trying. So support my campaign by listing me as a friend if you haven’t done so already. Rico Suave, here I come.

Coming up: 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon

UPDATE: The Deseret News did a scare article on Facebook.com. Check it out here! Thanks to Kat.

“You can still score a goal even if there’s a goalie in the way.”

-Natalie Bulleigh on going after engaged guys