"Murphy was an optimist!"
Straight No Chaser – 12 Days December 17, 2008 8:49 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Christmas, Holiday, Music, Of Interest, Publishing, VideoThis is awesome! n.b. At the time of post this, the video had 9,299,104 views. That’s like 3% of everyone in the United States. Scroll down. This first video YouTube removed. The 2nd video is the new one (not as good as the first) and the 3rd video is the one you are here to watch.
Thank you LissaKay for Tweeting it!
Update: I’m so sick of Youtube and its pulling of content. The video above was the original video and had over 10 million views. It’s description had a link to the story of Straight No Chaser and how the video above (no removed due to some claim of copyright b.s.) was put up by Straight No Chaser and quickly rushed to over a million views which spurred a record label to have them do a reunion album which is apparently a fantastic piece. You can purchase it through a link in the description on the above video..oh, no you can’t because that video has been pulled due to a copyright claim by a 3rd party. I was going to buy the CD buy now I doubt I will make the effort to find the website..how’s that for smart marketing Mr. 3rd Party Copyright Gonna Cut The Golden Goose Off At the Neck? Below is the 2008 remake of the performance that made these guys famous; that is until Youtube pulls it. It’s okay but the original had more energy to the show.
p.s. Youtube sucks.
Update: AOL Video still has the original:
Watch more MySpace videos on AOL Video
Update: The name of their new album is Holiday Spirits which can be purchased online at this website.
add a commentFlickr Pro expires today – adding to wishlist December 5, 2008 10:50 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Christmas, Holiday
My Flickr account (http://flickr.com/photos/mccaughan) had the privilege of tasting Pro for 3 months. I liked it! I would have liked it more with an Olympus Stylus 1050 SW digital camera. So, I am adding a Flickr Pro account to my wishlist.
add a commentThe rest of the evening December 3, 2008 8:17 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Christmas, Daily Life, HolidayAfter eating, the whole family (minus Tommy who is at school and Sarah at flag practice) pitched in to quickly get the tree put together. Each section has lights semi-permanently attached so it goes together relatively quickly. The troubleshooting is what takes the time. We have a couple of darkened strings and 3 that hang out of the tree because they span sections. Those 3 have to be attached to branches.
To make up for lost programming time, I coded until midnight then overslept this morning waking at 6:50. Time to get the doughnuts to school.
add a commentWife Ill – SuperDad to the rescue! December 1, 2008 4:16 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Christmas, Daily Life, Family, Holiday, Of Being Dad, Of Interest, ScoutsWife ill. I have sent her to bed. Afternoon activities: program (finish a database audit trail system ie. track who makes all changes to the data, and finish a search engine), cook brownies for tonight’s Boy Scout Christmas party, pickup high school girls from school, buy ornament hooks from AC Moore so we can finish our advent calendar and let the children begin the Christmas countdown (aka this year daddy has his stroke). Maybe feed the children (which may involve a trip to the grocery) – there is some debate as to whether or not tonight’s Christmas party has real food (figure that out). Clean and prepare the children for tonight’s activity. And be kind to the wife and check on her to make her comfortable. That’s it.
add a commentAnd what a merry Christmas it was! December 27, 2007 2:17 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Amy, Cathy, Christmas, Daily Life, Evan, Family, Holiday, Noah, Of Being Dad, Sarah, Tommy
To all to whom I have not responded, thank you for your well wishes!
To all to whom we did not send a card, you were not forgotten! There was probably a technical reason like needed your address or my mad cow caused me to fail to get you on Cathy’s master mailing list.
Miracles and angels came through to help pull together our Christmas at the last minute. The children were well gifted and very happy with their presents. 
We had a wonderful visit from both sets of grandparents and Aunt Kelly.Cathy and I promised to be budget minded and agreed to not buy each other anything which is why we are both now the proud owners of new iPod nanos. We both cheated feeling the other was well deserving of a new toy.
Each year it seems one of the children gets a bum deal. This year it was Sarah’s turn. Both Tommy and Sarah received new office chairs for their desks from their grandparents. They were thrilled! I prompted Tommy to hold off on assembly until I could help him. Sarah did not heed my warning and broken open the package of numerous parts in the midst of our unwrapping mess and started assembling without checking the parts list nor understanding the instructions. (She’s going to drive like Cathy! "It felt correct to turn this way. NO! I didn’t take a left turn at Albuquerque this time.") We could not find the screws! 6 screws AWOL. We even pulled the trash back inside and went through every piece of wrapping and package that had been discarded. Tommy learned and quickly went over his parts list only to find a critical piece missing. We quickly discovered his critical piece was already attached to his chair. It wasn’t until a day later that Sarah and I drove to Home Depot and purchased bolts and washers that we realized her bolts were already in their respective holes. 
We figured this out because we could not get the new bolts to go into them! Doh! She also received a Nabaztag but it still isn’t working. Story to follow. which is finally working! After creating an account at Nabaztag, you can send a message to her rabbit over the Internet or with your phone and it will speak the message to Sarah. Oh, I almost forgot. When assembling the chair, Sarah dropped a heavy part on her foot breaking a toe. Poor Sarah!
The children had a fantastic Christmas and so did Cathy and I. Now back to work so I can finish paying off this one and put away for Christmas 2008!
3commentsWhy Twitter? Because Santa Listens! December 25, 2007 4:02 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Christmas, Communications, Daily Life, Holiday, Technology"I don’t get Twitter." That is said so often it should be put on t-shirts and bumper stickers. I have used the Red Cross as an example of a good use of Twitter. Now I get to point to Santa Claus! Santa Twittered his flight this year. It was phenomenal. He frequently reported his location and the amazing thing was that he responded to people! He has hundreds following him and he was following many of them in return. As busy as the night kept him, he still managed to find time to give personal responses to many people! I quipped that Valium or Vicodin would help with the holidays.
djuggler Dear Santa, Instead of candy this year, can we please have Valium and Vicodin in our stockings? Thx. “Oh stress levels are frightful..lala” 11:12 AM December 19, 2007 from web
Santa replied in a private message directly to me:
SantaClaus Tsk! Tsk! Santa can not deliver illegal items. What would itlook like to have Santa busted on his rounds? 09:08 AM December 19, 2007
I mentioned putting food on the lawn.
djuggler There is now more magic reindeer food on my lawn than I have grass! @SantaClaus and crew should be very pleased. And glittery. about 2 hours ago from web
And almost at the same time Santa posted (which could have just been a coincidence):
Thank you one and all for the wonderful treats you have left for the reindeer and me. It has really helped us to keep up our energy on … … about 2 hours ago from Snitter
His Twittering was informative, fun, personal, and a joy to watch. I only wish the children were using Twitter. Hmm. I suppose I could have threatened to text Santa if they were bad. Bet he would have responded too!
4commentsMerry Christmas! December 25, 2007 1:26 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Christmas, HolidaySeen on 1938Media
add a commentTick Tock Tick Tock I’m Afraid of That Big Bad Clock December 24, 2007 10:56 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Christmas, Daily Life, HolidayAfter scoring bagels at Panera I wasted time at two stores and scored on the third. One more check off my list but look at that time fly! Back to shopping!
add a commentChristmas Eve is upon us! December 24, 2007 8:34 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Christmas, Daily Life, HolidayShopping done? No.
House cleaning done? No.
Gifts wrapped? What do you think?
Stressed? Why certainly!
From the mouths of babes December 21, 2007 6:43 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Amy, Christmas, Daily Life, Family, From the mouths of babes, Holiday, Of Being DadAmy, 5 years old and very excited: "There’s only 3 more boxes on my advent calender then it’s Christmas!"
Dad: *bleeehh nehhhhh*
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! December 20, 2007 6:59 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Christmas, HolidayThis year looked like it would be the first Christmas in a long time that I wouldn’t be buying presents at the last minute. Everything would be done over the Internet and mailed well in advance. At least that was the plan. What happened?! One thing that has happened is angels have lighted upon us and helped alleviate some of the holiday stress! I feel a little bit like Charles Dickens is authoring my life. Now if only it would snow!
3commentsMy Secret Christmas Present December 13, 2007 12:33 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Christmas, HolidayDon’t tell my family, but they are ALL getting one of these for Christmas!
Special thanks to Duncan Riley where I first saw the video and who I’m not sure whether to thank or to curse for inviting me into Seesmic.
1 comment so farWe won’t have a tree for Christmas November 29, 2007 9:13 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Christmas, Daily Life, Evan, Holiday, Of Being DadSomeone should make rubber ornaments. Evan is going to have far too much fun smashing ornaments this year. We should be using popcorn, wooden blocks, and plastic disposable decorations.
8commentsChristmas Eve Is Upon Us – Really? December 24, 2006 9:50 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Christmas, Daily Life, HolidayIt’s going to be a comfortable 13°C today. The sun is shining and there is no chance of a white Christmas this year. We will have rain! So perhaps if we can get this global warming thing under control we can return to having white Christmases!
Do you have the spirit? Seeing Santa last night was great! The children certainly are ready. I am excited and we have been blessed this year.
Our tree is a bit barren in comparison to years past at this time. We have only a few packages under the tree for fear of Evan opening them prematurely. So far, only one present has been opened. That was Molly’s doing. She was unhappy that we left her alone last night. The item isn’t damaged and the package was rewrapped unawares to the children.
Time to do some last minute tiddying up!
2commentsSanta Lives in Westmoreland December 23, 2006 9:51 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Christmas, Daily Life, HolidaySo being a dad, I had the sudden urge to torment the children with a long drive home so that we could look at lights. I turn into Westmoreland and suddenly see Santa running up his driveway with candy canes in hand for each of the children! As he opened the door to the van Evan puckered up but quickly became contented as a candy cane was presented to him. I think Evan figures Santa is alright.
This guy was great! I look forward to one day being as creative and taking time to bring such magic to people’s lives. Thanks Santa!
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