There are many different options for keeping your desk decorated. Seeing as how most people spend 8 hours at their desk, it’s important to keep it pleasing to the eye.

You have some of the old reliable stand-bys, Albert Einstein with his tongue sticking out. Some keep an old sports calendar up from a year back in the 90’s when their sports team was good. Others can be really flamboyant with their decorating. Some people will have close to 20 pictures of their kids, dogs, hobbies, all lining different parts of their desk or cubicle.

Here’s a list of the different decorations I have at my desk and what they mean to me:

Austin Powers Bobblehead - The Austin Powers movies are one of my favorite comedy series of all time. If I’m ever feeling down or need a lift I can just think of all the hilarious scenes in the movies. Having a Austin Powers Bobblehead staring me down helps with my happy thoughts.

Mario Figure & 3 Other Video Game Figures - One of the true passions I have in life are video games. You’ll rarely, rarely see me angry and most of the time a video game is to blame. Of course I’ve had just as much happiness as anger playing video games all these years, hence the ‘passion’ (nearing around 20 years, for how long I’ve been gaming). For something that’s such a big part of my life, 4 figures might not be enough.

Kentucky Wildcats Clock - If there’s one thing I’m passionate about other than video games, it’s UK Football. Those who know football might laugh, because throughout my 24 year history there hasn’t been a whole lot to be passionate about. Of course these past few years, you can see how the culture of UK football is changing and people are starting to have faith. For someone like me who stuck with them even during the rough years, makes it all the more sweeter.

So what office decor do you go with? Do you keep it simple or go really extravagant? Or do you not have any decorations at all because you’re so focused on your work?

Tags: Business, Fun // 6 Comments »

I find it funny how you can tell someone’s political affiliation by their facial expressions the day after an election. Undoubtedly the democrats were frowning in 2000, and ‘04. Now it’s the exact opposite, with liberals grinning from ear to ear. I guess I’m an odd minority because I disagree with nearly everything Obama wants to do, and I’m still smiling. Maybe I’m just a blind optimist. To clarify, John McCain didn’t receive my vote either.

I’d like for an entire week to be taken off so we can truly celebrate what it means to be able to vote. It’s something that occurs every four years, and it’s a miracle really. We get to decide through our voice who we want to run our country.

Though it’s a miracle, it’s something that truly divides us. The office, and workplace is where you can see it come out. When you work 8 hours a day, it can’t be helped that political views will be made known. You see different types. Some will openly let you know how they believe, some like to keep it to themselves. Some just like to stir the pot, and bring about a reaction from heavy believers (me).

Today on post-election day, why not try and keep it civil in the workplace. No one likes a pundit, and we all know that the politics you believe in are ‘right’. There’s no need for the fuss is there?

Tags: Politics // Add Comment »

Forget Obama, John McCain, Palin, Biden, Ron Paul, Bob Barr, Ralph Nader, what this nation needs now is some Jack Bauer.

Coming off the underwhelming, but tolerable season 6, the show looks to be going back to its roots. It doesn’t look like they’ll be using the “catastrophic” event scenario (thank god), but instead make it personal. Tony vs. Jack, it’s going to be a fight for the ages.

Enjoy the new trailer.

Tags: Videos // 2 Comments »

The Tarry Tate commercials originated back in 2003, during the Super Bowl. Ever since Terry Tate has shown up here and there, most recently at a Palin interview….

Skip To About 0:40

and of course there’s the ol’ reliable Superbowl commercial. Kind of makes you wish there was a Tarry Tate watching the office.

Tags: Internet, Videos, humor // 2 Comments »

I was driving through a neighborhood on my way to the University of Kentucky Wildcat football game (beat Arkansas 21-20, w00t!). I noticed that through this subdivision that nearly everyone on the street had a political sign in their yard. It was uncanny, there had to have been atleast 60 houses, and about 80% had political signage in their yard. I won’t give you poll numbers, but I was really hoping that all of the McCain signs would be on the left side of the street, with Obama on the other. So I could tell them all that they had it wrong.

I’m not going to harp on politics from a personal standpoint (although I think neither candidate should be president), but I want to talk about political affiliation. And just how far do people go in terms of representing their political beliefs through signage. Some keep it conservative enough, and just put a single sign up, to show their support for a candidate. Others will slap a bumper sticker on their car, and leave it up for too long of a time. I saw a Dukakis sticker the other day on the road; it’s a true story.

One of my favorite recent stories was the man who put dog feces in the back of a man’s truck, because he had an oversized political sign in the bed. Read the story here, I really don’t want to harp on the details.

Are people really that personal with their politics that they resort to those tactics? Like the people who notice their neighbor has a sign of their opponent, so they show “more” support by putting two signs up.

I’m not trying to say that supporting a candidate is wrong. Political debate is one of the great freedoms in this country, and why we’re so diverse. But do we really need to ‘out-sign’ each other, and dump excrement in each others’ trucks? It’s in this writer’s humble opinion that one of the things hurting our society the most is that people have too many beliefs, and not enough ideas. People become so blinded with what they think is right, that they refuse to see anything from another perspective. When I see the doubled up political signs, and multi bumper stickers, that’s what runs through my head.

So, are you someone who supports your candidate through signage? Will you double up on your signs if you see a neighbor supporting your candidate’s opponent? Was the dog feces thing a good idea? Either way, I’d like to hear back from you.

Tags: Politics // 3 Comments »

Politics, there’s hardly any other word that can make me sigh more than it. Radio, television, internet; these are all places where politics rears its ugly head and it’s something I get tired of fairly quickly. At least from the mainstream aspect of things.

When I pick up a video game controller, I can be secure in knowing that it’s one place I’ll be safe from political advertising. Or is it? It has been reported that Obama has launched an ad campaign that will see his ads plastered over a slew of EA titles. The most notable is in Burnout Paradise, where Obama’s ad/face will be featured on many of the billboards in the virtual city. This makes me sad personally because I really like Burnout: Paradise, and I don’t want political advertising making its presence known there.

I’ve been against a lot of in-game advertising since its conception. I know some will say it adds to ‘immersiveness’ of the games, but do we really play video games to feel more in the real world? I know that when I put a game disc into my system, I’m doing it to become part of something outside the conventions of the real world. In Burnout: Paradise for example, it’s all about driving cars really fast and in some instances pulling off crazy aerial stunts. So when I’m doing 3 aerial flips with my Ferrari looking sports car, do I really want to see Obama’s face and be reminded of what’s happening in the real world?

In game advertising before this latest example was all about selling products. Now its shifted to getting a political message out to the masses. And I’m not talking about in-game politics, but real life politics. Which to me, there’s nothing more sad and depressing than the current political system.

So, I’ve expressed my general feelings towards Obama’s political advertising. Now where does my frustration and anger need to be directed at? Should I completely blame Obama for wanting to get his message out to gamers? Even though he’s mentioned before that people need to get off their couches and stop playing games. Or is it EA who’s profiting off Obama’s big dollars and they’re the ones to blame?

The truth of the matter is that the problem even goes beyond Obama and EA. But to encompass the overlying problems would require more than just one blog post, so let’s keep the focus just on these two. In this situation both are sharing my anger and frustration equally. My main anger towards Obama is the statements he’s made about video gaming in the past, yet he doesn’t mind trying to score some votes through its advertising. EA gets the brunt of my anger because even though Obama paid for the adspace, there had to be someone else out there that was willing to pay equal to what he was offering. Specifically companies without a political agenda.

People who aren’t into video games will probably say I’m over dramatizing the situation. As a gamer who’s been going strong for about 20+ years, I think I have a cause for anger, and concern. Like I mentioned earlier, video games are one of my great escapes from political agendas, and ideas, and basically everything that sucks about the real world (I’ve overused it haven’t I?). So when a media platform that I love and enjoy starts to adopt this kind of advertising, I can’t rightfully sit by and not voice concern.

Ok, I think I’ve went on a political rant long enough. For those who think I’m trying to pick on Obama please know that if this were McCain I would be writing the same article with a different name at the beginning.

Tags: Games, Ramblings // 9 Comments »