December is National iPod Month

As a person who celebrates Christmas not just for Santa Claus, I appreciate the reason for the season (Kwanzaa?). Therefore I DO appreciate Christmas music, but NOT starting in November. For me, even early December is a bit much.

I'd like a week of Christmas music. That gives me 7 days to get me prepped for family time, lots of eating, and presents. Honestly, I like Christmas for the sweet potatoes and any presents are an added bonus.

So, all that being said, I declare that December is officially:

National iPod Month

That way, instead of listening to 5 to 6 weeks of Christmas music on the radio, around the malls, public lobbies, and the like....you can listen to your ipod and not be maxxed out on Christmas music by December 12th.

Yes, I am implying you hook up your ipod to your car stereo, listen to it while shopping for presents or pretty much anything else you do.
I realize not listening to Christmas music while shopping for presents seems like the wrong idea, but one afternoon of hearing Jingle Bells six times at the mall may send you over the edge.

I've almost lost it a few times thanks to the Christmas music I hear weekday mornings at the hotel.

So, keep yourself from succumbing to "I want to deck the halls with my face" syndrome or "Dashing through the snow into oncoming traffic" disease by keeping those earbuds in and connected to that sweet, sweet music player made by Apple.


(Yes, I have become an Apple fanboy. And no, I will not call it National MP3 Player Month. The iPod dominates the market and the Micro$oft Zune sucks.)

Got Osama?

The creator of one of my favorite shows, 30 Days, just sold the rights to his latest movie Where in the world is Osama bin Laden?

Now I find it hard to believe that a pasty white guy from West Virginia and his camera toting crew found the world's most wanted man, but this is one shameless promotion that I'm curious about. We will probably all have to wait until the Sundance Film Festival to find out, as everyone who has seen the movie has signed a non-disclosure agreement, and the film was quickly snapped up by a prominent film studio for a cool $25 million. By the way, the studio only saw 15 minutes of the film before they paid all that money.

A few other blogs have made some good points though. If you found Osama, interviewed him, spent time putting together a film, and then sold it for $25 million to finance your future film-making, wouldn't it have been a smarter idea to just collect the reward?

Vista runs the fastest on a MacBook Pro?

Apparently, PC World tested laptop computers to see which one runs fastest with Microsoft's Windows Vista. Link

The notebook that won?

The MacBook Pro.

Personally, I'm a big fan of OS X. I am marrying a MacBook Pro owner. Let's be honest, her stock shot way up when she bought it.

But, even if you aren't a fan of Macs, you have to think the commercials are clever.
Check out the latest commercial in response to the PC World tests:



Link to the original video on the Apple website: Misprint

Second Life Business Idea: Prostitution

Personally, I do not participate in Second Life. But, I have talked about it in this blog before. As Dwight Schrute said:

I signed up for Second Life about a year ago. Back then, my life was so great I literally wanted a second one. Absolutely everything was the same... except I could fly.

Second Life recently outlawed gambling in their virtual world. But, prostitution is still around. In fact, there is apparently quite a bit of it. Check out this four and half minute video if you want the inside scoop on the sex trade.



So, that being said, if you are looking for some extra cash, why not become a Second Life prostitute?

As one astute commenter put it:

Money or not being exchanged, no real life sexual intercourse happens in Second Life.

So, you can charge a bunch of Linden Dollars to get it on with sickos (read: middle aged men) in Second Life. After the exchange rate of 250 Linden Dollars (approx.) to the US Dollar, this might be a solid business (especially with the US Dollar falling so much recently).

Reasons why you might NOT want to do this:

• You probably have to say some weird sick twisted stuff to please your clients
  
• You join the rest of the losers on Second Life
  
• There is child and animal prostitution on Second Life and getting into that probably wouldn't be good for your REAL life if anyone found out
  
• It might warp you for life
  

But, other than those highly compelling reasons not to enter the sex trade in Second Life, you might want to think about your business plan.

Maybe you should enter a niche market.

Perhaps you aren't comfortable having a human looking avatar and virtualizing sex. Maybe your avatar could be a blue triangle. I bet you could charge higher prices because it is doubtful there are many blue triangles offering sex in Second Life.

I've been wrong before.

If you get famous enough and are arrested (does that happen in Second Life?), you might even make the CNN I-report. Think Wolf Blitzer, but in a virtual world (who names their kid Wolf anyway?).

Well, that's about as far as I will go into this brilliant idea. If anyone decides to follow this plan, you owe me 20% of your revenue.

Although, it is said investing in Second Life is a Pyramid Scheme, I think someone could really make some dough on the side.

For more information on the constantly changing environment of Second Life, check out secondlifeinsider.com.

Big Ern's "If They Were Musk, They'd Be High Karate" Locks of the Week

If Giuliani followed Locks of the Week, he'd be able to afford a real dog walker. Better luck next time.

This week's picks (we'll jump back on the New England train next week):

• Cleveland (-1) at Arizona


• Chicago (+2) over New York


• Houston (+4) at Tennessee

Last week: 2-1
This year: 17-11-4