taks

pump-it-up is not a restaurant. it's sort of a playground with large, inflatable things such as a slide, big boxing rings (sort of), etc. ^ladycrimson: he's probably not going to have weight issues, either, at least, not on the obese side while he's young. i was pretty skinny as a child, too, and that all changed when i got old and sedentary (really, after i hooked up with michele and stopped surfing all the time). taks

thanks... i'm glad too. he's a pill, btw. he specifically ordered an "oreo cake," so we got this really cool chocolate cake with a white creme style frosting and oreos on top with tons of chocolate flakes spread around. i think there may have even been ground up oreos in the frosting. after refusing to eat more than half a piece of pizza (a small piece at that), he informed me he didn't want any cake, either. finally he gave in and ate all the frosting, refusing to eat the cake itself. i had to order him try it and he decided it was pretty good after all, and ate most of the rest of his piece. the other kids were begging for more pizza and cake. sheesh. i have the only child in the world that will not eat cake or candy, i'm guessing (i had to eat all his halloween candy, too). taks

the total was $373. we did the cozy party which was supposed to be a 2-hour party for up to 14 kids, deluxe baggies for each kid @ $3.50 per child, 4 pizzas at $13.00 per pizza (they ordered from papa john's), 18 balloons and a $50 tip. we had a few extra kids, however, but i don't know if i got charged for all of them (it was only $10/head extra). we had to supply the cake and drinks. perfect for a 9th bday, btw. taks

unfortunately, my buddy didn't get a better one. i did not have my camera at the time (i had been helping with the gifts). john is the kid at the top left of the picture. taks

john's party went rather well, actually. i probably could have gone with one more pizza, however, since several more parents showed up than i had expected. counting parents, we had something like 35 people at the party. the adults got to play on the stuff, too (and yes, many did). john got himself more loot than he knows what to do with and only one duplicate gift. they all did a big group hug at the end of the gift opening that was adorable. i don't have a picture but i'm sure my buddy does. taks

it was that stupid. i did like turturro's character, too. a little too much emphasis on the bang-bang, however. i think it could have been replaced with something else, though the bits with the one guy's mother were some of the funniest (chugging maalox, and similar gags). taks

watched you don't mess with the zohan for the 2nd time last night. i think i laughed harder this time. overall, another retarded movie, but silly enough to make you laugh hard in several places throughout the movie. rob schneider actually had a larger role in this one than most (he's usually just a cameo), and did rather well i thought. at least, his character was funny. taks

equally addictive, albeit a) legal to abuse and b) so much more fun and tasty to boot! yesterday was john's 6th birthday. i suppose i should change my avatar to something more recent. he's upstairs playing ratchet and crank, btw, and already spent time with grandma shirley on the slot car track. i need to get some sort of base to set the thing on because the carpet is less than ideal for a variety of reasons. today is his actual party with friends at pump it up (inflatable slides, and similar stuff). not till 5, however. should be interesting since there will be 16 total rugrats in attendance. most are from his kindergarten class. taks

because history is immaterial. my "predictors" weren't predictors, only an assessment of how well the teams match up now. no, you used past examples that have no bearing on this series. so, wait a minute, you admit the events are independent, yet somehow they are also relevant? take your pick, alanschu, either they are causally related or independent. there's no in-between. if they are independent, then you have no case. oh, and for the record, i did not "ignore" the 3-0 loss 10 days prior to the last (it was actually 7). i clearly stated they went 2-2 on the whole season, and just that the last game they played the blues won. nothing more, nothing less. no, i don't think you understand that if there is no causal relationship, i.e., the events are independent, then they have no influence on the outcome and are thus meaningless. i'm not wrong. it's a pretty easy definition to find on the web or in any freshman statistics book. no causal relationship = independent. i'm stubborn because i'm right about this point and you keep contradicting yourself. you mean, in a situation in which there is a causal relationship? c'mon, alanschu, you keep contradicting yourself. apples and oranges, dude. your example here is about a statistical relationship, i.e., P(salmon) = 0.999. you cannot extrapolate such a relationship to your argument about history in sports (and, for the record, at least one of your predictors was the opposite, i.e., that a favored team ended up losing in spite of having the high probability). two teams playing each other does not have any statistical relationship connected to past events OTHER than their own, current, playing statistics. past statistics of other teams means nothing with few exceptions, e.g., a team that is down 3-0 has a low probability of winning (and the blues being down 2-0 doesn't help their cause, either). however, that's not because of past statistics, that's because the team down 3-0 is more than likely outmatched currently. for the record, if the blues lose their first home game, it would indicate as such. they, like vancouver, play much better at home, so i'm expecting a good game (didn't get to watch last night, playing pool). actually, it depends. and actually #2, you did make a claim that past occurences somehow have an effect on the current series. taks

you have growing grass? oh yeah, it's not winter in the lowlands anymore. we had non-stop snow from thursday till just a little while ago. the sun was out and it was snowing. it was also above 40 F while snowing. that only happens at high altitudes i guess. taks

gotcha, LadyCrimson, and i agree overall. really stupid, campy movies are still fun sometimes. kwinkidentally, there was some documentary or something on last night regarding the blaxploitation films a day or so after i brought them up in here. they are telegraphing my thoughts, i guess. biehn was in something else we were watching the other night, btw. now i'm going to go crazy trying to remember what it was... grrr! taks

at the moment, the phrase "yard work" either implies "snow blower" or "snow man." i'm gonna work on the kid to do the latter here shortly. taks

i ended up getting the ratchet and clank one. stephanie! i also got lego batman for the DS. that'll keep the bugger happy for a while. he's replaying kung fu panda right now. go figure. i also picked up a slot car set. should be interesting. taks

ooh, yeah. it seems like he borrowed a ratchet and clank game from a friend, once and loved it. thanks. taks

very true, very true. UMR is the defacto standard in the midwest in terms of "quality," but outside that region few have even heard of it. even mizzou has a big engineering school, typically given similar ratings as UMR, but it is even less well known (heck, UMSL has an engineering extension program from UMR). SIU is well known in the midwest, too. down in melbourne, when i worked for harris, EVERYONE was from either Georgia Tech or UF. out here in CO... melting pot. i have worked with plenty of UCCS grads (none actually at the same experience level as i have), and they are no better/worse than the myriad other university grads i've worked with. i think this is true with any university degree, a discussion we've had in here before, actually. just about any university is going to provide a good education, and the distinctions between them are more about who they let in, rather than how well they are teaching. in either case, the top performers will always rise to the top regardless of where they got their degree. one area that prestige does play a role, i think, is research. not so much for undergraduate degrees, but for MS and PhD degrees. it is very difficult to pick a topic when you don't attend a big research school. likewise, there isn't much chance of getting a research assistance-ship when the professors in your area are writing text books, not doing research. trust me on this one... taks

hehe, being too honest? taks

oops, wrong forum. fionavar or some other mod, could you move this to either the computer game thread or WOT, please? thanks, taks

allrighty then. my son's birthday is tomorrow and he will be 6 (yay!). i have not shopped for this event, yet (boo!). i know what he's getting mostly, and it has been left to me to head out into the snow storm today to buy his bday gifts. one of the things on john's list is a new E/E10 game. right after xmas he was banned from anything T or above (too bad, because he was kicking butt on devil may cry 4), which basically cut his actual game world in half, and nearly eliminated his potential game world since the PS3 doesn't have much of a selection. anyway, i need some advice on what might be good for him. he's good, btw, so complex games aren't a problem. he already has two of the lego games (indiana jones and star wars), little big planet, walle, kung fu panda (he beat it yesterday, apparently), and some other game he rarely plays and i can't remember (little guy with spiked hair that runs all over the place). lego batman is certainly on the table, but i wanted something else since the lego theme is getting old. basically, what's good other than what i've mentioned (LBP is supposed to be the best on all platforms, btw)? thoughts? taks

indeed. since right before my 40th i have been wondering if my body is just going to begin shedding limbs and organs. ugh. it is snowing like mad here. my mom is driving from st. louis into a ****-storm (she's an hour out of town but on "back roads" by now). not quite blizzard conditions, and it is actually above freezing so the streets are clear, but it is coming down hard with big, heavy flakes. depending upon your locale within the surrounding area, there's up to 2 feet expected. i think my house is in the 1 foot band. yay, we get to use the snowblower for real this time (nothing but small, fluffy snows this year so far)! it snows every year on john's birthday (which is tomorrow), so this is not a surprise. usually it only snows a few inches at a time this time of year. taks

coloradans. we are shrinking because a large chunk of our technology base has left town. from what i understand, UCCS exists because hewlett-packard wanted a school in town. there used to be several semiconductor fabs here, most of them are empty buildings now. intel was the latest casualty. atmel is still here, but they aren't that big. there's a few others, all small as well. even HP is gone, with agilent remaining though they are laying off. i actually moved here right after the tech-bubble burst, and the part of town i worked in (right next to new life family church) was slated to be the new tech center (right now it is along garden of the gods road), but that plan sort of took an early dirt nap. the defense contractor sector is growing here, however, so that may help. in general, UCCS is still considered a "commuter" school, much like University of Missouri - St. Louis and Kansas City (UMSL, UMKC). as a result, we don't have many dorms for out of towners, nor do we have any fraternities/sororities (my first school, UMR, had over 1000 students in fraternities/sororities). kids still go up to boulder since it costs the same and their department is larger, though not necessarily better (larger just means more choices for electives). taks

he.just.wouldn't.shut.up! taks

that was annoying. i have two dogs now, a broadsword and a hammer. first time i took the broadsword out, the dude kicked it out of my hands. bastard. i haven't figured out what the "lightening" feature is yet, besides a misspelled word on my page (among others). taks

i never liked madden. except maybe when he was a coach, and i can't remember ever knowing about him then. i only saw dennis miller broadcast once, and no, i did not like him, either. i didn't find him annoying, i just didn't think his style was a good fit for an NFL broadcaster. i was surprised by his knowledge of the game, however. i've heard it's real, too, i.e., he wasn't being fed the data he conjured up through an earpiece. taks

oh, i'm still a fan, just don't expect to see much winning. ultimately, good football teams need good QBs, or at least, QBs capable of leading the team. bulger has never impressed me as that QB, and i think his schizophrenic performance supports that notion. i know his teammates love him, but lemmings falling off a cliff never really impress me. perhaps i'm still jaded over the whole vermeil/warner/martz thing. fitting that vermeil left and turned the chiefs into a team, warner left and went to the super bowl, martz took over, ruined the team, and now here we are 5 and 27 in the past two seasons. not hopeful is an understatement. IMO, madden was the most annoying broadcaster ever. taks

that's fine. all you needed to say. instead you offer up some nonsense about past instances completely unrelated to this series. yeah, you should understand that two independent events do not influence each other. no, it is an indicator that they are playing well. the team that murray put together finally gelled. the goalie situation finally resolved itself. that is relevant. it's an indicator that they are two evenly matched teams, nothing more, nothing less. you cited independent events, alanschu. because my "predictors" actually a) involve the two teams in this series and b) regard the current playing level of both teams. yours were events independent of the current situation. how can you not see this? do you think there is a such thing as fate that drives team scores? silly notion, alanschu. that's why i was surprised. yes, and i figured you would understand for two independent events A and B, P(A|B) = P(A). in other words, two other teams playing at two other times has no causal effect on two teams playing today. as an engineer, i do understand this. i figured you would, too, sorry. taks edit: the only point i ever made, which you took exception to, is that precedents are meaningless. if you cannot understand why this is there's nothing more you can ever understand about my point. i don't really understand why you got so bent out of shape about that simple truth.