no news is good news...

It's been a mild week...  Many people have told me, "you no going to know what to do with your free time after you get married."  Oh, they are so wrong.  I want to do everything and nothing.  Everything I missed (movies, visiting friends and family, going out to dinner), and NOTHING when I don't want to do anything at all.

M and I went Kayaking on the Charles River on Saturday.  We rented a two person Kayak in Newton.  It was super hot, but that was no problem for us because we were out on the water enjoying nature.   We saw a screaming hawk  (aaaaw!  aAAAAwww! aaaaWWWWahh!), 5 small turtles, 6 swans, many ducks, and a heron.  It was really nice.  We brought a picnic with us and we ate while we drifted downstream towards Waltham.

On Sunday we say two movies.  We went to the theater to see Pirates of the Caribbean 2.  It sucked.   I'm starting to get bored of movies that have lots of action and special effects, but no dialog, no interesting plot, and bad jokes.  What's the point?  With the computer generated graphics today, we have just about seen everything.  The only thing that impresses me now is a good plot and clever dialog.   (go back to the basics!)  We also saw Brokeback Mountain, which we rented with NetFlix.   This was actually good, and fairly original.  I expected a bit more because of all the hype, but it was still a very good movie.  Very different for Ang Lee.

I have a softball game planned for Wednesday, but it's supposed to be 106 degrees on the heat index.    This is probably not a smart idea.  Oh well.

100 funniest (US) movies of all time??

I noticed this list on Boston.com this morning. Apparently it was ranked by the Bravo network. It's an interesting list. For the most part, it's probably a pretty good list. I'm not sure about the ranking order though. I would promote Zoolander, Happy Gilmore, and the Blues Brothers higher up the list, for sure. Shrek as number 3? It was funny, but not that funny! I would also say that Team America was funnier than the South Park movie (but, both were equally disgusting.) This is Spinal Tap should definitely be promoted a bit higher.... possibly to number 11!

I'm having a a lot of trouble thinking of a movie that's not on this list. Can you think of one?

100. Anchorman
99. The Birdcage
98. School of Rock
97. Happy Gilmore
96. Four Weddings and a Funeral
95. Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
94. Waiting for Guffman
93. The Aristocrats
92. Father of the Bride
91. Revenge of the Nerds
90. Clueless
89. Slapshot
88. Team America
87. The Kentucky Fried Movie
86. Zoolander
85. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
84. Silver Streak
83. Sister Act
82. Tootsie
81. Half Baked
80. Lost in America
79. Three Amigos
78. Bananas
77. Flirting with Disaster
76. Ghostbusters
75. Dumb and Dumber
74. Trading Places
73. City Slickers
72. Moonstruck
71. Roxanne
70. The Nutty Professor (Eddie Murphy)
69. The Blues Brothers
68. Broadcast News
67. Kingpin
66. Dazed and Confused
65. Office Space
64. This is Spinal Tap
63. Manhattan
62. The Pink Panther
61. Election
60. When Harry Met Sally
59. Police Academy Series
58. Private Benjamin
57. Swingers
56. Young Frankenstein
55. Bull Durham
54. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
53. Dr. Strangelove
52. Meet the Parents
51. National Lampoon's Vacation
50. The Princess Bride
49. American Pie
48. American Graffiti
47. 9 to 5
46. The Incredibles
45. Raising Arizona
44. Sixteen Candles
43. What About Bob?
42. Harold and Maude
41. Austin Powers
40. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
39. Mrs. Doubtfire
38. Best In Show
37. Dodgeball
36. Good Morning Vietnam
35. Beetlejuice
34. Rushmore
33. Clerks
32. Groundhog Day
31. The Big Lebowski
30. The 40 Year Old Virgin
29. Legally Blonde
28. Annie Hall
27. A Fish Called Wanda
26. Wayne's World
25. Meet the Fockers
24. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
23. Big
22. Beverly Hills Cop
21. Shampoo
20. The Jerk
19. Wedding Crashers
18. Stripes
17. M*A*S*H
16. Old School
15. Fast Times At Ridgemont High
14. Napoleon Dynamite
13. Naked Gun Series
12. The Producers
11. Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
10. Arthur
9. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
8. Blazing Saddles
7. The Wedding Singer
6. Airplane
5. South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut
4. There's Something About Mary
3. Shrek
2. Caddyshack
1. Animal House

Solar Powered Trash Compactors

I read this morning about the new Solar Powered Trash Compactors in Boston. They have installed 50 of them downtown to reduce the number of times that each trash can needs to be emptied.

Apparently these devices store energy from the sun in some sort of battery. Once the level of trash reaches a certain point a chain powered compactor crushes the trash. The company that produces them, Seahorse Power claims it can store up to 150 gallons of trash before it must be emptied. This prevents trash from overflowing bins from flying around in the wind.

I think this is a great idea. Most people in the forums on Boston.com thinks it's a waste of money. But, I have a feeling that even at a cost of $4300 each, it will save the city money in terms of man-hours for trash collection. If it also prevents overflowing trash from blowing around the streets it also delivers more value. The article claims that some traditional trash cans in Boston are emptied up to 15 times per day.

One good objection was raised: Where do we put recyclables? There are very few bins for recyclables in Boston. I think these fancy trash cans should installed along side recycle bins. The bins for bottles and cans are "self-emptying" in some sense. Someone always comes by and empties them so they can cash in the contents for 5 cents each.

We're back! (updated with photo!)

We're back from our honeymoon. We had a great time in Canada. I'm now at work answering hundreds of emails... so, I'll post some photos and stories soon.

Thank you to those people who have sent me their own photos already!

a big day

Today I marry my best friend.