TheChestbump.com

Sign up and get DAWS a 1 million dollar makeover!  We need a TON of new signups, anything you can do helps.  30 days left to catch the top 20.

Those of you who know me best know I’m a total sucker for dogs and I volunteer at the Danbury Animal Welfare Society. The fine folks at pet loving site www.ZooToo.com are having a contest where they will give 20 animal shelters $1 million make overs. Help me make DAWS one of them. Register at ZooToo.com, at the bottom of their registration page where it asks which shelter you want to vote for give them the zip code 06804 and choose the DAWS from the top of the list. I’d appreciate the help. We need only to break into the top 20…

IMPORTANT NOTE: you aren’t actually registered (and your vote won’t count) until you validate your email address by clicking on the link in the email that they send you after you register.

Arconti, you know you want to sign up and get Harley in there.

Amanda, I signed you and zoe up under your cb email…

I recently switched to a blackberry 8130 with Verizon Wireless. After using the blackberry for a while and having all of my google accounts on the blackberry, I was noticing a very annoying trend. Whenever I got an email invitation, it would result in a duplicate entry in both my blackberry and google calendar. After much frustration I realized what was happening. The invitation was automatically being added to my Google calendar and to my blackberry calendar when each received the email. The solution to this problem is very simple.

I set up a filter in my Blackberry Internet Service setup. For verizon customers this service is located at: bis.na.blackberry.com. I created a filter using “invitation” as the subject line. Now whenever I receive an email invite, it is only accepted and automatically added to my Google calendar.

The world will stop turning tomorrow at 5:30pm, when all of the Starbucks coffee shops in the US will close for remedial training of it’s baristas.  Seriously.  Where will people get their venti mocha skim non-fat iced lattes with 2 shots of espresso?

CEO Howard Schultz ordered the emergency training to give the baristas valuable skills they should have learned in their ordinary 40-hour new “partner” training.  This includes learning the “free pour,” which I will not be elaborating on.

Sooo if you like Starbucks, get your fix tomorrow morning.

The Academy Awards were held last night and instead of watching them, because they tend to be slightly anti-climatic for me, I’ll just post some of the winners that I care about.  For example, best animated film.

Best Animated Film: Ratatouille - Yes, I may have seen this 4 times.

Best Supporting Actress:  Tilda Swinton - she sketched me out in Michael Clayton, so… mission accomplished I suppose.

Best Writing (Orig. Screenplay):  Juno - come to redbox already!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand that’s pretty much all I care about.

Seconds after I post a synopsis and review for the Academy Award nominated “Gone Baby Gone,” a movie highlighting the horror of how too many children in this country are neglected by their own parents, Fox News runs a story with VIDEO of a nanny carrying around INFANT twin babies by their clothes and handling them like plastic dolls, doing her own thing while the one baby is nearly falling off of the couch. What is wrong with child caregivers? Since when have small children become so disposable? It makes me sick. I’ll post the video if I can track it down.

I found it, and I also should note that the lazy devil nanny ISN’T being charged… the mother turned the video over to cops and they said there wasn’t enough evidence to charge… Even if there was no physical damage, WHAT ABOUT CHILD ABUSE? OR neglect by a caretaker, OR child endangerment, OR failure to act, I’d prosecute that careless POS. I hope she never works again.

Another nice post…

Tarsi is another college draft pick from 2007, joining the Twins organization out of the University of Connecticut. Unlike McCardell, Tarsi started off in Elizabethton immediately; like McCardell, he thrived there. Tarsi posted a 2.22 ERA and 1.18 WHIP in 52.2 innings along with a 59-13 K-BB ratio. As with McCardell, there’s a need to consider that Tarsi entered Elizabethton having pitched in major college action, and was therefore relatively advanced. However, his numbers are too good to ignore, and it will be interesting to watch him play with a full season team in 2008.

You can find the whole list at Taylor’s Twins Talk.  Mike was ranked the #20  starting pitcher in the twins organization by Taylor.  Keep in mind that his list he created includes current MLB starting pitchers.  #1 obviously being Francisco Liriano.  I’m not sure who Taylor is, but I like his style.

After putting on a lot of weight this off season and some speed on his fb, i’m anxious to see how well he does with Beloit.

Watched the Academy Award nominated, Ben Affleck-directed “Gone Baby Gone” last night. It’s based on the Dennis Lehane novel of the same name - Lehane also being the brilliant mind behind the story for Mystic River.

It stars Affleck’s younger brother Casey as private detective Patrick who specializes in finding missing persons from his turbulent neighborhood of Dorchester, MA. Patrick and his girlfriend are hired by the aunt of a missing 3-year old and face major crises both personally and professionally as they find themselves caught up in serious drugs, violence, pedophiles, and upsetting but prevalent corruption among the Boston police.

The movie has more twists and turns than you’d think reading the synopsis, and the latter half of the movie picks up quite a bit. Although entertaining isn’t the word I’d use, the movie is gripping and relevant and evokes emotions that don’t surface in even those movies driven by love and loss. The foremost issues are corruption and of course, guardian-child relationships and questioning the reasons behind WHY children in this country go missing at all.

Gone Baby Gone will tear at your heart and mind raising questions you may have not asked of yourself before, leaving it’s viewers without closure. Everyone wants the truth… until they find it.

Chestbump.com rating: **** for Casey Affleck and Morgan Freeman’s performances, raised moral awareness, and originality.

WOW

Oh Hillary, let’s stop pretending you didn’t pay for this or endorse it.

Ugur Sahin has designed a modified corvette with completely carbon fiber body panels. Take a look at the pictures below. It’s very different…

You can see some design cues from the c3 generation of the vette.  I like what he did with the rear of the car, c3 feel with the shape of the current c6 generation.  If he gets to make the 100 he wants it would be 150kg lighter than a standard Z06 featuring the standard engine package of 505hp and a 700+ hp option.  This car would definately set you apart from the average joe corvette owner.

Make sure to let this load, it’s worth it.

Jonny Glow and the adventures of Pee Dude!

People can be obsessed with lots of things.  There are a huge number of people obsessed with auto racing, F1 in particular.  Michael Arndt has taken an obsession to the extreme.  This guy must have nothing better to do, because he built a full size replica of the Mercedes-McLaren F1 made entirely out of match sticks!  This is a very cool thing no doubt, but to spend 6 years on this and take up a whole room in your house/apartment is crazy to me, or dedicated?  Whatever it’s his time, not mine.  Check out all 956,000 match sticks and 1000+ tubes of glue over at the autoblog.

Check out another cool model of the Lamborghini Reventon here.  This model is made entirely of cigarette boxes.

Whether you frequently read here or know me personally, you know that we are following the career of Mike Tarsi very closely.  It’s extremely satisfying for me as his brother and for all of our family and friends to see things like this written about him.  We are all excited to see how far Mike wants to take this.

SLEEPER ALERT. Tarsi was drafted in the 12th round last year, from the University of Connecticut. His pro debut in the Appy League was very successful, and I think he’s a major sleeper. Tarsi’s velocity can be erratic, at times in the lower 90s but more often in the 85-88 range last year. But he sinks the ball and picks up plenty of grounders, and his curveball and changeup are promising. He’s deadly on left-handed hitters, holding them to a .130 mark for Elizabethton. If he keeps that up he’s got LOOGY potential certainly, but if his command is sharp enough he could start at higher levels. We need to see more, but keep an eye out. Grade C but highly intriguing. - John Sickels

This was taken from a message board.  You can find the original text here.

There are many ways to study and I’m not going to claim to be an expert by any means. That being said, I know what helped me through college with a GPA I’m proud of. I’ve sat through classes and listened to professors lecture on how to study for their tests, and I’ve tried a few strategies. The only strategy that works for me is to write out your notes. This is a very repetitive strategy, but if you really want to study and learn material, I feel it’s the only way. Even still, this doesn’t help you if you don’t pay attention to lectures in classes. The easiest way to do well is to read your teacher during class and get a feel for what they are going to test you on. Most of the teachers I had in school were willing to work with the class to help them succeed. I know there are plenty of teachers who won’t, but I’ve never seen a hard working student get turned away.

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I’m hanging out with my next-door neighbor Caroline. As a special treat for our chestbump readers, they want to let adults (and those misinformed) in on what’s hot in their worlds. Consider it saving grace for parents of middle schoolers or just basic info for anyone out there wondering what Gossip Girl is. We’ll start with Caroline, a sixth grader in Connecticut. A drumroll, please …

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