Housekeeping & Random Questions

- Thanks to some excellent IT assistance, the iPad is now up-and-running. I barely know what I’m doing and haven’t spent much time playing with it, but what (preferably free) aps do you recommend? In addition, is there an off button or does the iPad turn off automatically after a certain amount of time of inactivity?

- I’m working on a rare political post and am looking for some folks to answer a question or two. Some extremely basic knowledge of Virginia politics (or even Virginia) is preferred. Please note that I will likely publish your response, so you can obviously say no once I send you the question(s). Opinions from across the political spectrum are welcome.

- Why does the Women’s World Cup only have 16 teams when the Men’s World Cup has 32 countries?

- If you had only one day in Pittsburgh, where would you eat?

- Finally, it’s about time to update my blogroll. If you have a blog that you would like me to add, please let me know. I hope that you also add a link to Sean’s Ramblings on your blog. In addition, I’m happy to follow folks on Twitter that read my blog.

Cirque du Soleil Guy > Charlie Brown

Check out this video of a Cirque du Soleil performer throwing the first pitch at Monday's game between the San Diego Padres and Kansas City Royals at Petco Park.



The performer specializes in Chinese and Brazilian what? The video cuts off before we know the answer. The possibilities are endless, but I'm going to guess that he specializes in Chinese and Brazilian cooking!

Regardless, this first pitch is slightly better than Charlie Brown's first pitch at PNC Park a few years ago.

(The original video is gone from YouTube, so you'll have to settle for seeing Charlie Brown's pitch as #1 on this video.)



After I posted the video of Charlie Brown's first pitch, I received thousands of visitors from Taiwan. Any chance this post attracts thousands of visits from another Asian country?

Trivia Tuesday: Weird Edition

Admit it. You love Weird Al Yankovic. If you are a male in your 30s, you definitely loved Weird Al. This week’s challenge, in honor of Mr. Yankovic, is to name the original song and artist based on the title of the Weird Al songs below.

1. Fat

2. Canadian Idiot

3. Amish Paradise

4. My Balogna

5. Living with a Hernia

6. Another One Rides the Bus

7. Confessions Part III

8. Lasagna

9. Phony Calls

10. Trapped in the Drive-Thru

As always please leave your answers in the comments section below and do not use the internet for assistance. Good luck!

This quiz is courtesy of the fine folks at Stump Trivia.

Update/Random Thought After I Originally Published This Post: Does Weird Al have female fans? Guys like him because of the juvenile sense of humor and because it's fun to make up lyrics to songs. Do women do this?

Sudden Death Sequel (Taylor Lautner Is Jean-Claude Van Damme)

The movie Abduction, starring Taylor Lautner of Twilight fame, is scheduled for release this fall. According to IMDB, the film is "a thriller centered on a young man who sets out to uncover the truth about his life after finding his baby photo on a missing persons website." What the description doesn't mention is that, at least according to the trailer, this film appears to have the greatest action sequence involving a Pittsburgh stadium/arena since the 1995 film Sudden Death starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. Have you seen the trailer for this movie? If not, start at around the 1:25 mark, but pay particular attention to the last 30 seconds or so.



Lautner wearing a Roberto Clemente shirt jumping and flying all around PNC Park looks extremely cool. I have no idea if this movie will be any good, but I'm certainly intrigued about the film based on the PNC Park scenes alone.

Of course, any movie that features cool pictures of Pittsburgh virtually guarantees a positive review in my book. For example, She's Out of My League could be one of the top 10 movies of all time. (I might be exaggerating just a bit, but the shots of the city from Mount Washington look fantastic.)

Friday Links and Videos

Enjoy some really good videos from Celebrate Fairfax and interesting links to help you get through your Friday.

Do you have a blog and want to determine whether your writing is male or female? I don't understand how "the" and "a" are male/female words. [Gender Genie]

The US county with the highest life expectancy of men is Fairfax County, VA. Hey, guess where I live? This blog could be around for many decades! [WTOP]

A profile of ESPN's Bill Simmons [New York Times]

Washington DC radio station Hot 99.5 has introduced the Hotty Awards to determine the hottest food, people, places, and things going on in DC. In exchange for this link, I look forward to the station giving me Wicked tickets. Concert tickets? Movie tickets? A T-shirt? [Hot 99.5]

We interrupt the links to watch Third Eye Blind performing Semi-Charmed Life at this year's Celebrate Fairfax.



Cory breaks down the Pirates 37-37 record. If only the Pirates didn't have to play the Brewers. [Three Rivers Burgh Blog]

The story of the Vancouver riot kissing couple. {Yahoo's Puck Daddy]

Mr. Brame won an iPod from Bill Nye the Science Guy [Mr. Brame's Blog]

The Penguins re-sign minor leaguer Ben Street. Yes, Ben Street's back. All right! [Pensburgh]

Finally, here is The Bangles performing Walk Like an Egyptian at this year's Celebrate Fairfax. Susanna Hoffs still looks good.

You're Welcome Boston Bruins

The Boston Bruins recently won the Stanley Cup by defeating the Vancouver Canucks in game seven of the NHL finals. There was great celebration throughout the land. Of course, in this case, the land means Boston unless you consider the rioting in Vancouver as a celebration. Anyway, most analysts attributed Boston's victory to the excellent goaltending by Tim Thomas, Vancouver's inability to score on the power play, and Boston's overall toughness and balance. In reality, all of the credit should go to me. You're welcome Boston!

Last April, I attended a Bruins game in Boston as part of the annual hockey road trip. Since it was the last home game of the regular season, the Bruins rewarded fans by distributing these rip-off Terrible Towels.



I enjoy keeping memorabilia from these hockey trips, so the Bruins towel sat in my closet for the past year until just a few weeks ago. With Boston down in the series 2-0, I gifted the towel to a colleague who is a Boston native and a Bruins (particularly Steve Heinze) fan. Boston then won four of the next five games to win the Stanley Cup. Therefore, once again, you're welcome, Boston!

Oh, in exchange for my generosity, can you arrange for the Boston Red Sox to blow a few games in the upcoming series against the Pittsburgh Pirates? That doesn't seem like much to ask. Thanks in advance.

Frustrated

It’s time to vent. I recently won an iPad. Hooray! I’m so happy that I won this product rather than spending several hundreds of dollars to buy it. I can’t turn the thing on. Apparently, I need to download iTunes on to my home computer and then connect the iPad to my computer. Why is this necessary? Name me another fairly expensive product that you can’t use unless hooked up to another product.

Anyway, I have been unable to download iTunes. I consistently receive a message that "the installation of Quick Time did not complete successfully. iTunes requires Quick Time." I’ve tried downloading Quick Time separately but that has also turned out to be unsuccessful. Therefore, the iPad is doing a wonderful job of serving as a paperweight. I could have gone outside and found a rock that would have been just as useful. Angry Birds will have to deal with Angry Sean!

Today is the second day of summer. Hooray! I have a sinus infection. Boo! Being sick in the summer is no fun.

When I called to set up an appointment with my doctor, I learned that he left the practice a few weeks ago. Shouldn’t your doctor give you notice when he/she leaves?

Trivia Tuesday: Summertime

Welcome to the first day of summer!



I don’t think it’s possible to be in a bad mood while listening to this song. Anyway, this week's Trivia Tuesday has absolutely nothing to do with summer or DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince. Your challenge is to name the state in which each fort is located.

1. Fort Leavenworth

2. Fort Ticonderoga

3. Fort Dix

4. Fort Knox

5. Fort Benning

6. Fort McHenry

7. Fort Drum

8. Fort Bragg

9. Fort Sumter

10. Fort Hood

As always please leave your answers in the comments section below and do not use the internet for assistance. Good luck!

This quiz is courtesy of the fine folks at Stump Trivia.

When Did Pittsburgh Become a Rap Town?

In 2007, I wrote a post questioning when Pittsburgh became a country town. The Povertyneck Hillbillies appeared to be on the verge of country stardom, the Pittsburgh Pirates promotional schedule included several country acts following games and Kenny Chesney was about to sell out Heinz Field. Four years later, Kenny Chesney is still selling out Heinz Field, but there are no country acts on the Pirates schedule and the Povertyneck Hillbillies seem more like the answer to a trivia question than the next Sugarland. Instead, two of the biggest musical acts in the country, Wiz Khalifa and Mac Miller, are rappers from Pittsburgh. How exactly did Khalifa & Miller become the most significant musical export from Pittsburgh since Rusted Root and Donnie Iris?

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette attempted to answer this question a few months ago in showing how Khalifa, Miller and Girl Talk (not a rapper but doing quite nicely for himself) got to where they are today. It’s a good article, but is missing one important part. In my mind, Wiz Khalifa truly hit the big time with “Black and Yellow” which became the unofficial song of Pittsburgh Steelers in their run to the Super Bowl last season. It even because the “official” song of the Steelers as Khalifa performed at Heinz Field prior to the AFC Championship game. The song was everywhere, not just in Pittsburgh, but across the country. Wiz hit the late-night circuit; Hoda and Kathie Lee used the song on the Today Show; and the song was used in dozens of parodies (my favorite was Sally Wiggin by the 96.1 Kiss FM Morning Freak Show). Eventually, it hit #1 and is still around today (see below), months after the song reached its peak.



Wiz’s follow-up song Roll Up may not match the success of Black and Yellow, but it is still a current top ten hit. Meanwhile, Mac Miller, a 19 year-old white, Jewish rapper has followed nicely in Wiz’s footsteps. Finding Miller’s videos on YouTube (many of which have over 10 million views), you can see how his songs have improved from just a few years ago to now. He may be new to me, but not to his thousands of fans, and likely the city of Pittsburgh. Plus, Miller gets huge bonus points for using the lyrics “keep a smile like an Eat ‘N Park cookie” in a song. Knock, Knock also features the best use of counting in a rap song Coolio's 1995 hit "1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin' New)." Check out Knock Knock for yourself below, but note that some lyrics may not be suitable for work.



Call it the magic touch of Benjy Grinberg, a former intern of L.A. Reid and the guy partly responsible for the success of Khalifa & Miller (and also a guy who went to the same elementary school and camp as me). What do Khalifa, Miller & Grinberg have in common? They all attended Taylor Allderdice High School in Squirrel Hill. The fact that two of the biggest solo rap artists in the country went to the same high school is amazing. The fact that two of the biggest solo rap artists in the country went to Allderdice High School, a place where my aunt used to teach and where the majority of my fantasy baseball and football league attended, seems incredible (implausible could be another word to use).

Not living in Pittsburgh anymore, I’m guessing that Pittsburgh is still not a rap town. However, the success of Wiz Khalifa and Mac Miller might make it that way someday.

Famous Ithaca College Alumni

I recently learned that someone I regularly watched on television growing up was an Ithaca College graduate. I’ll get to him momentarily, but it got me thinking about the most famous Ithaca College graduate. Here are the candidates in no particular order:

Karl Ravech – ESPN

C.C.H. Pounder – Actress, ER & The Shield

David Boreanaz – Actor, Buffy the Vampire; Angel & Bones.

Gavin MacLeod – Actor, The Mary Tyler Moore Show & The Love Boat

David Muir – ABC News

Jessica Savitch – First female network anchor

Barbara Gaines – Producer, David Letterman

Robert Iger – President & CEO of Disney

Mark Romanek – Director, One Hour Photo; Never Let Me Go and dozens of music videos

Lanny Frattare – Former Pittsburgh Pirates broadcaster


Please note that Ricki Lake and Gavin DeGraw both attended IC, but they are ineligible from this list since they did not graduate.

Back to the original reason for this post. Robert (Bob) Marella, a 1959 Ithaca graduate, will be inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. You may know Robert Marella better as Gorilla Monsoon.



I feel like I knew that Gorilla Monsoon was an IC graduate but forgot.

Anyway, my guess is that David Boreanaz is the most famous IC graduate among people under 40. Folks over 40 will probably argue that Gavin MacLeod, Captain Stubing himself, is the most famous. Of course, Pittsburgh Pirates might say that there was "no doubt about it" and vote for Lanny Frattare. Your thoughts?


Update: There are a few more famous IC graduates missing from this list. You can see them in my April 2013 blog post.

Update: I created a much more comprehensive and updated list of Ithaca College alumni in this June 2021 post.

Dads & Grads

Up until recently, the combined Dads and Grads promotion never bothered me. Now that I’m a new father though, I’ve changed my mind. I want to celebrate Father’s Day as a father and not share the day with 17 and 18 year-old kids. Get off my lawn!



You’re probably thinking that I’m getting worked up (again?) over something silly. Companies are simply tying these two events together because Dads and Grads rhyme and is quite catchy as a marketing tool. You may be right. However, did you see any Moms & Proms promotions in May? These two words rhyme plus Mother's Day and Prom are both significant days in people’s lives. What’s your argument here? Is it because Mother's Day and Prom season don’t overlap? Well, that’s certainly not true since there are plenty of proms in early to mid-May. In addition, high school and college graduations take place anywhere from mid-May through June, so maybe there are some grads out there that don’t want to get stuck tied to Dads since their event occurred weeks ago.

This is discrimination against fathers! There’s a conspiracy out there by people who wish to remain behind the scenes but control everything. These people are called Hallmark!

(If my blog disappears soon, I was right about my Hallmark theory. It will be just like the Mel Gibson movie Conspiracy Theory where he is crazy and Julia Roberts is even crazier for becoming attracted to Gibson.)

Seeking Pittsburgh Men

I can't wait to see what type of internet searches people use to find my blog based on the title of this post. Anyway, I received an e-mail from Nancy Mosser Casting about an open casting call for the movie "Magnus Rex" filming in Pittsburgh this summer. The film seeks men to play prisoners/thugs, guards, police officers, business men & women (I assume the film wants women for the business women roles) and sports fans. Open casting calls are taking place this Saturday, June 18th from 9AM-1PM and 2PM-5PM and Sunday, June 19th from 10AM-2PM and 3PM-6PM at the Omni William Penn Hotel downtown.

There's more information about this opportunity at the Smith & Webster-Davis Casting website.

I'm not sure if he wants me to share this, but my brother was an extra in the film Outside Providence starring Amy Smart and Alec Baldwin. My brother's role in the film catapulted him to movie stardom.



Could being an extra in "Magnus Rex" be your springboard to Hollywood? If so, please remember Sean's Ramblings when you make it big all because you saw the announcement of the open casting call here.

---

After I wrote this blog post, I decided to try to find more information about Magnus Rex. It turns out that Magnus Rex is really the new Batman movie, "The Dark Knight Rises." Everyone and their mom (does anyone still use this expression?) knows about the Batman movie and the auditions for this film. Darn it!

Trivia Tuesday: The Donald Edition

How well do you know Donald Trump? Actually, I'm not sure that I want to know the answer, but let's find out.

1. Ivy League university home to the Wharton business school from which he graduated in 1968.

2. Person who gave him his nickname “The Donald.”

3. Name of the Atlantic City casino that he opened in 1990 and featured in the film “Rounders.”

4. Donald’s second wife from 1993 until 1993, with whom he fathered his daughter Tiffany.

5. Defunct football league in which he owned the New Jersey Generals.

6. Airline that went out of business in 1991 that sold some of its Northeast shuttle operations to Trump.

7. Name of Donald’s fifth child, a son born to him and current wife Melania Knauss in 2006.

8. 861 foot residential building developed by Trump located across from the United Nations that was previously the world’s tallest residential building.

9. Third political party with which Trump affiliated himself when considering a Presidential run in 2000.

10 Two-word phrase that Trump has attempted to trademark, both with and without the exclamation mark.

Bonus: Who won the first season of The Apprentice?

As always please leave your answers in the comments section below and do not use the internet for assistance. Good luck!

This quiz (except for the bonus question) is courtesy of the fine folks at Stump Trivia.

The Bangles, The Go-Go's & The Bus

For the first time ever, the Go-Go's and the Bangles are playing back-to-back nights in the same city/area.* The two iconic 80s female bands are performing at Wolf Trap on Friday and Celebrate Fairfax on Saturday respectively in Northern Virginia. Any chance they can all hang out and get brunch together on Saturday morning?

For folks in the DC area, I hope that you come out to the Celebrate Fairfax festival this weekend. I've mentioned this many times over the years, but where else can you see a concert for $12? Seriously, let me know where you can see Third Eye Blind or The Bangles for less than $12. In addition, you get to experience dozens and dozens of others activities and exhibits. For more about Celebrate Fairfax, visit their website or read my other posts about this year's festival here and here.

Finally, if you want to take a break from Celebrate Fairfax, see Jerome Bettis at the PSGameGear Sports store in Dulles on Saturday from 3:00pm - 5:00pm


* I have no idea if this statement is true, but it sounds good, right?

Pittsburgh Pirates Draft Analysis: Going Retro

After 18 consecutive seasons under .500, the Pirates management utilized the 2011 amateur draft in an attempt to return to the glory years of the early 1990s. They did so by selecting players with the same last names of players from those baseball teams and others from the 1990s. Don’t believe me? Take a look.

With the first overall pick of the draft, the Pirates chose pitcher Gerrit Cole from UCLA. Sure, he was one of the top prospects available (if not the #1 rated player) in the draft, but I suspect that a deciding factor in picking Cole over Danny Hultzen, Trevor Bauer and Anthony Rendon came down to the last name. I’m sure we all remember the impact Alex Cole had the 1992 Pirates. To reach the playoffs in the future, the Pirates need a Cole on their team.

In the second round, the Pirates selected Josh Bell, an outfielder from Jesuit College Prep high school in Texas. Shortstop Jay Bell was a significant contributor to the Pirates teams of the early 1990s. The Pirates hope that Josh Bell meets and exceeds Jay Bell’s accomplishments. Plus, manager Clint Hurdle will love to have Josh Bell bunt like Jay Bell used to at Three Rivers Stadium.

The Pirates grabbed RF Aaron Brown from Chatsworth High School in California with their 17th round pick. Aaron will try to follow in the long line of Pirates' "Brown" outfielders, the triumvirate of Adrian, Emil & Brant Brown.

19th round: Mike Nunez – A pitcher from Salmen High School in Louisiana. Hopefully, he has no relation to former Pirates SS Abraham Nunez.

20th round: Trea Turner, SS from Park Vista Community High School in Florida. This selection was obviously made with Turner Ward in mind.



25th round: Josh Martin, Pitcher from Samford University. Hopefully, he won’t have two wives like former Pirate Al Martin.

49th round: Austin White, 3B from Arkansas High School in, wait for it, Arkansas. Can he replicate the long career of Rick White, a relief/spot starter from the 1994 & 1995 seasons with a return to the Bucs in 2005?

To truly return to glory and to follow through on this plan, though, the Pirates still have work to do. Therefore, I suspect that they will attempt to acquire Kyle Drabek of the Toronto Blue Jays and Scott Van Slyke from the Los Angeles Dodgers farm system. In addition, there’s already a Tomlin in Pittsburgh, and I’d definitely want him on my team!

Update: I just learned that the Colorado Rockies selected Brandon Bonilla in the 37th round. What were the Pirates thinking? Were they hoping Bonilla would slip to the 40th round? They missed a great opportunity here!

Although my random name connection ends here, my draft analysis does not.

The Pirates have had little success against the Milwaukee Brewers over the past few seasons. What better way to defeat the Brewers than drafting a Brewer, specifically Colten Brewer, a pitcher out of Canton High school in Texas?

Any time that you can get a player named for a restaurant in Pittsburgh’s strip district, you have to do it. Therefore, I commend the Pirates for picking Jordan Deluca, an outfielder from Tussey Mountain High School (PA) with their 47th round pick. Sadly, Steve Pamela’s was not eligible for this year’s draft. (Yes, President Obama is a fan of Pamela's.)



Overall, I congratulate the Pirates on a (hopefully) successful draft!

Caring Kids Cards: Kids Accomplishing More Than Me (and most other adults)

What did you do when you were eight years old? What about five years old? Life probably consisted of going to school, playing with friends, and participating in activities such as sports or music. Well, two children, Gabrielle (age 8) and Aiden (age 5) created their own organization, Caring Kids Cards, and met former President Bush as a result of their volunteer service. Even most of us in our 30s and older probably haven't accomplished this much!



Caring Kids Cards is really simple in that their goal is to make a difference by putting a smile on someone’s face throughout the entire year. Gabrielle and Aiden accomplish this by making lots and lots of cards. They send the cards to active military around the world, to firefighters and police, to veterans and to senior homes for events such as the December Holidays, Red Cross Holiday Mail for Heroes, University Military Care Package program, Valentine’s Day & Mother’s Day. They have a goal to give out over 10,000 cards, notebooks, school supplies, meals, or gifts by the time they are teenagers. That really is a lot of cards!

At this weekend's Celebrate Fairfax! festival, Caring Kids Cards is partnering with Operation: Military Kids, the U.S. Army's collaborative effort with America's communities to support children and youth impacted by deployment. Please stop by the Kids Crafts Area in ExxonMobil's Children's Avenue to make or sign a card for military families and to support all Gabrielle & Aiden's work.



In addition, go to the Caring Kids Cards Facebook page to learn more about Caring Kids Cards and see all that Gabrielle and Aiden do. Since you're already there, click "like" on their Facebook page, since you truly will like what these kids have accomplished already and will continue to achieve in the future!

Trivia Tuesday: Music Edition

This is a brand new Trivia Tuesday that I created myself. Enjoy!

1. In Summer of 69, who are the two people who left Bryan Adams' band (one quit, the other got married)?

2. What did Jack and Diane suck on outside the Tastee Freeze?

3. Name a song by the band The Hooters. (Please note that while I'm sure that the group has more than one song, I only know one Hooters song.)

4. What song which features the line "your love fits me like a glove" was part of a create a video contest on MTV?

5. Name the best Bangles song.

6. Name the 2001 song and/or group that used a sample of Stevie Nicks' Edge of Seventeen and even included a brief cameo of Nicks in the video.

7. Who sings the 1980 song Into the Night (and then re-released in 1989) which features the opening line "She's just 16 years old. Leave her alone, they say."

8. Who sings the 1986 hit Your Love featuring the opening line "Josie's on a vacation far away. Come around and talk it over."

9. Name the song title that includes the lyrics "I tell you one and one makes three" and incorporates refences to Joseph Stalin and Ghandi. Please also name the artist.

10. Name two bands that will perform at Celebrate Fairfax this weekend (June 10-12).

As always please leave your answers in the comments section below and do not use the internet for assistance. Actually, you can use the internet, particularly the Celebrate Fairfax website, to answer question #10. Good luck!

One Million Dollar Steelers Painting

I've thought that our home could use some art, so I went to one of the finest art galleries in the world to find an original work: eBay. After an exhaustive search that consisted of me typing Steelers art, I found this piece by Tommervik.



This painting is a 16 x 20 inch oil on canvas utilizing the Pittsburgh Steelers colors and signed by the artist himself (or herself). What would you pay for such an original piece of abstract art? How about 1 million dollars!


(I guess the title of the post probably gave the answer away.)

You may scoff at the $1 million price tag, but the cost for shipping is only $9.99. What a bargain! To paraphrase, the Barenaked Ladies, if I had a million dollars, I'd buy me some art. A Picasso, Tommervik or a Garfunkel!

Random Ramblings Plus Links

If you happened to see a previous version of this post, you can thank Ziggy for stepping on the keyboard and somehow publishing this before I was finished.

- Why is it that whenever I burp my child, I end up burping myself?

- Speaking of burping, when my child burps, everyone cheers. If I burp, people stare and wonder what's wrong with me. This is a problem with society.

- We're almost finished with season four of Dexter, and season five isn't available yet on Netflix. Any recommendations on what to watch next? We're thinking about Arrested Development or Breaking Bad.

- Which Smiley Cookie is a statue and which one is the mascot? [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]



- Washington Redskins' WR Anthony Armstrong is spending the lockout as a volunteer youth soccer coach for 7 and 8 year-olds. [Washington Post]

- This could be the greatest children's book ever! [NPR]



- It's been fun following Nichole's 30-day song challenge. Day 6 = Bust a Move by Young MC! [Long and Winding Road]

Finally, ABC newscaster and Ithaca College graduate David Muir gave the commencement address at our alma mater.

Seans' Ramblings

When I started this blog 6+ years ago, I planned on using seansramblings.blogspot.com as the website address. Unfortunately, someone named Sean from Oxford, Mississippi already had this domain name, so my website address is missing the "S" in Sean's (well, the 2nd S). The other Sean's blog titled The Don has now been dormant for over five years. Even though The Don is gone, I wondered if there were other Sean's Ramblings out there. Here's what I found.

- Galactic Watercooler is "the friendliest people in Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Comics." One of the founders of this site is a guy named (wait for it) Sean, an award-winning commercial artist who works in print media and television. Sean and another guy Chuck built the Viper Simulator featured in Popular Science. I have no idea what this means. Chuck and Sean also built the Real Guitar Hero Controller shown on PopSci.com. I don't really understand this either. However, Sean has his own blog on Galactic Watercooler named Sean's Ramblings. He's been slacking on his blog the last few months, but he's done significantly better than The Don.

- On the completely opposite side of the blog world is this Sean's Ramblings. Although the title is the same, this Orange County, California blog focuses on "Satomi's cancer updates and a bit of self therapy." This truly is a heart-breaking blog. Sean has been the primary care-giver for his cancer-stricken wife, Satomi, and their young daughters ages 4 & 6 since 2007. Sadly, Satomi lost her fight with cancer on March 14th. This blog is extremely powerful and at times sad, but also honors Satomi's life and you can tell the love that Sean has for his wife.

- I feel awful trying to follow the Orange County Sean's Ramblings with this video titled, you guessed it, Sean's Ramblings. The lesson here is just because you create a video, it doesn't mean that you need to post it on YouTube. There are a few swear words, so it may not be suitable for work. It's probably not suitable for anywhere unless you don't mind wasting a few minutes of your life.



- Sean's Oracle Technology Ramblings hasn't been updated since May 2007.

That's all I found. Since there haven't been any new posts on the Sean's Ramblings portion of Galactic Watercooler and Satomi's Cancer Blog in about three months, I think that I have the only active Sean's Ramblings blog. Hooray for me! If there are other Sean's Ramblings out there, please let me know.