The Voices in Frank's Head

I have 23 different things on my "to-do" list for today. How many of them did I get done? None. I know I'm going to pay for it dearly for the rest of this week. I'm going to have to put in a lot more hours in order to make up for it. What did I do today when I should have been working? For the most part, I goofed off on my computer. I also discovered that, when it comes to dating, I am rapidly becoming more and more like Henry Rollins . I haven't gotten so far that I'm willing to kick a woman out of my car for reading Harry Potter (unless that's the only book she has read recently). But I am becoming more and more like that comedy routine every day. My question is: just how worried should I be when it comes to this trend?

The Bush administration commissioned the folks at Disney to produce a seven minute video to promote the U.S. as a travel destination, according to a report from the Associated Press . I love the concept of doing this. Tourism is a great industry and it should be promoted. There's just one problem. One of the destinations that Disney included in this video is the Horseshoe Falls , which is in Canada. There are two other waterfalls that make up Niagara Falls and are on the U.S. side of the Niagara River. However, they weren't included at all in this video. Yes, the Walt Disney Company and the U.S. Department of State has essentially annexed a portion of Canada. I can't say I really blame them. There are several parts of Canada that I won't mind having in the U.S. (Most notably, whatever part Darling is currently occupying.) However, according to news reports, the Canadian government is just a tiny bit upset over this. Besides, things didn't go very well for...

Today has been one of those good news/bad news days. The good news is that astronauts from Discovery added a new room onto the International Space Station today. It's been named Harmony. My first thought was that they should have changed a few letters and named it after a Harry Potter character instead. In fact, I think every room on the International Space Station ought be named after a character from the Harry Potter books. That or one from a Mark Twain novel. Anyway, the bad news is that they also found metal shavings inside of a joint that is needed to turn solar panels. I know it's bad when I forget to do the dishes and they get kind of crusty. It's a pain in the butt to clean them. I'm just imagining the challenges associated with cleaning metal shavings out of a metallic joint while traveling at 1,000+ m.p.h. in outer space.

Continuing with my series on things I found on-line while searching for other things (yeah, I should find an abbreviation for that or something), I give you a parody of the PC vs. Mac commercials. It's PlayStation 3 vs. Wii. Now, if you'll excuse me, after watching this video, I have a desire to go buy a Wii. Right after I remember what it was that I was searching for when I found in the first place.

After all the madness that happened last night , you'll find a photo of my new best friend to the left. I saw some really cool Halloween costumes last night. The ones that I remember are: Eric and his girlfriend came as an electrical plug and socket; Kelly Fontes looked wonderful as Wonder Woman; and Little Bo Peep and Strawberry Shortcake were well represented. However, my absolute favorite was the guy who came dressed up as the one and only Alok Sharma - and no, it wasn't Alok who was dressed that way.

I'm not sure why, but this Friday is the day when it seems like everyone has some kind of an event planned. The evening kicks off with Illuminate Detroit at Willy's Overland Lofts. This one is sponsored by Detroit Synergy and, since I'm on their steering team, it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that I'll be spending the bulk of my time there. (The photo at right, by the way, is event organizer Liz Tintinali at the last Illuminate Detroit.) The folks at CAID are also having an Illuminate after party from midnight to 5 a.m. The folks at Detroit Fashion Pages then have their designer showcase, featuring Maisha Davis , in the Penobscott Building. Plagues and Pleasues on the Salton Sea is showing at the Detroit Film Center . I really want to see this movie. I've heard nothing but great things about it. However, I'm not sure if I'll be able to squeeze it in. I might go see it if the DFP event doesn't seem like it's all it's cracked u...

Anita's funeral was last week. Her husband and children seemed to take her passing as well as anyone could reasonably expect. In other news, my concerns about becoming the third sudden death have been greatly alleviated. The doctors say my heart is in the same condition that it was last year.

Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm announced her endorsement of U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton to be the Democratic party's nominee for President of the United States today. Immediately after making her endorsement public, Granholm announced that the Earth really is round and that Paris Hilton really isn't all very talented. You'll have to excuse me not regarding this endorsement as news worthy. It's been rumored that Granholm would support Clinton's presidential campaign since before she was even a candidate. Again, nothing news worthy here. I could have easily forgotten about this before I even finished reading the email that announced - if it weren't for this line: "Hillary Clinton's proposals and track record are evidence that she is clearly the candidate best prepared to lead the nation and be a champion for Michigan," Granholm and Cherry said. "From her commitment to ending the war in Iraq , to her positions on..." I'm s...

Some folks have heard about this one already, but my cousin passed away over the weekend at the age of 29. She leaves a husband and two small children behind. Her cause of death hasn't been determined, pending an autopsy. She was at a garage sale when she collapsed suddenly and was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. She and I weren't especially close. However, losing someone that young - and losing them so suddenly - is always disconcerting to say the least. I think it's even worse since this is the second person this month that I know who has passed away suddenly. It makes me think about something that my grandmother used to say, that things like this always come in threes. And that, in turn, had me wondering who the third person would be. And worrying about that, in turn, made me think about a heart murmur that the doctors found when I was in the hospital this past December . My doctors concluded at the time that is was a harmless murmur and nothing to wor...

Today is a double holiday. In the U.S., it's Columbus Day - complete with a Presidential Proclamation about Christopher Columbus sailing across the Atlantic Ocean; discovering the Americas for Europeans. For our neighbors to the south, it's Thanksgiving Day.

I've been thinking that I need a new coffee table and I found a kit that you can use to build your own interactive LED version. My only issue with it is the kit will cost $420.55 and that's just for the for LEDs, boards and sensors. I'd still have to get a boring coffee table to build it into. It's cool, but I'm wondering if it's $400 cool. Anyway, after the car repairs from last week, it'll be a couple of weeks before I can buy this thing. That gives me time to think. As always, thoughts and comments are appreciated.

It's both weird and sad when a major anniversary passes you don't even realize it until it has passed. This past Thursday, October 4th, was the 50th anniversary of the Sputnik I launch. It was one of those moments when history itself was changed forever. Americans, and the rest of the world, woke up, realizing that the Soviet Union had a huge technological advantage over everyone else. The United States launched its own space program with an unprecedented fervor. Shortly after that, President John F. Kennedy challenged the nation to send a man to the moon and return him safely home. It's just sad that an anniversary like this didn't get more attention in the news media. I did a quick Google search and only found one published news article from any of the major media outlets that talked about it. (Kudos, by the way, to everyone at USA Today for not dropping the ball.) Oh, and I realize that this makes me a total geek, but I got a huge thrill out of listening to a...

The folks at Netflix know I'm a movie junkie. They gave me these cards to pass out to folks that I know who might be interested in a free month of the Netflix service so they can try it out for themselves. The problem is that I'm usually so busy with one thing or another that I haven't had a chance to hand them over to anyone in the week or so that I've had them. As a result, I thought I'd post the relevant information here. Anyone who is interested can collect a free month with Netflix. If you're interested, click here . Enter the priority code of M84954834575 to collect your free month and to learn more about Netflix. This offer expires on October 31, 2007. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have Matt Damon in The Bourne Supremacy waiting for me.

The Germans have several unique words that don't have an English counterpart; one of the is schadenfreude . It means taking pleasure in the pain or misery of others. That really doesn't quite describe how I feel at this moment, but it's the closest I can think of. I know, an opening paragraph like that deserves a serious explanation. Here it is. There was this woman that I kind-of sort-of dated - way back in 1992. I have to say we "kind-of sort-of" dated because we never actually went on a date. Whenever we bumped into her, she was constantly touching my arms, commenting on how she liked my cologne and generally exhibiting a certain level of interest. I eventually took the hint, asked her out on a date and she said "yes". We made plans to meet after class, since we were both in college at the time. When the appointed hour arrived, she was nowhere to be seen. I figured she was just blowing me off. The interesting thing was that I got a phone call ...

Keira Knightley recently remarked that she is " twice the size " of most actresses in Hollywood. Um... yeah. I don't think so. The only time Keira Knightley is twice the size of other actresses is if there are three of her all at once.

I found the video below on YouTube. If this doesn't do wonders to boost military enlistment, I don't know what will.

Thanks to my involvement with Detroit Synergy , I will be on the radio this coming Monday. I will appear on Detroit Today , which airs on WDET 101.9 FM. We're going to discuss this trend of people leaving Michigan for one reason or another. The segment will air on Monday, September 17 at approximately 10:20 a.m. If you're not lucky enough to live the WDET broadcast area, you can always listen on-line .

September 11th. I miss the days when today's date meant nothing more than it was brother's birthday. I miss being able to look at the calender 1/12 of the year and not think about the pure horror and disbelief that I felt as I watched United Airlines Flight 175 slam into the South Tower of the World Trade Center live on CNN; the utter dismay when it collapsed less than an hour later and - above all else - the overwhelming sense of helplessness when I saw the North Tower still standing, but knew it would collapse soon. I miss what it was like to walk through the World Trade Center itself. I miss being able to sit back on boring days at work and just ponder what it would be like to go back to Windows on the World . I miss being able to visit buildings like Renaissance Center in Detroit, the Sears Tower in Chicago or the CN Tower in Toronto without thinking twice about it. I know, of course, that those buildings are as safe as anyone could reasonably make them, but there's ju...

I have a confession to make. I'm helping to plan Detroit Synergy's Wooden Anniversary Pub Crawl. It's a great time, having a lot of fun with a couple hundred of your best friends, as we bounce between 8 different bars in one evening. There will be drink specials at each of these bars, of course, and the folks at Hard Rock Cafe are offering free parking for participants. Like I said, it's a great time. More importantly, this is Detroit Synergy's big fundraiser. The group doesn't charge dues or anything so it relies on pub crawls to keep themselves afloat. None of this is all that newsworthy - or even worthy of a "confession" per se. Well, here's interesting part. Some of my Wolverine friends, decided that they didn't want to go because it was the same day that the University of Michigan was playing the University of Notre Dame. I was a bit frustrated by this. I tried to be as accommodating as possible when it came to scheduling the pub ...

Every time the space shuttle lifts off, it always carries some special cargo with it. When it lifts off this coming October, however, it's going to carry one of the coolest pieces of cargo ever. NASA is actually going to carry the lightsaber that Mark Hamill used in the original Star Wars movie up to the International Space Station. Yes, I know this is a publicity stunt. 100% stunt. But it's so darn cool!