Segway--Still Moving?

Remember the revolutionary machine "The Segway"? Oh, what a delight and tragedy that piece of technology was. I saw one today for the first time in years; hence, prompting my blog. I was in a professional office in St. George and sitting there by the door was none other than a segway. Who knew these things were still around? I must admit, they are phenomenal! I had the opportunity to take a Segway tour around Lake Las Vegas several years ago and after some rocky moments gaining my equilibrium, I found that cruising around at 20 miles per hour was rather fun! According to wikipedia (which is by no way an absolute credible source), the Segway was launched in December 2001 and was expected to sell nearly 100,000 units in the first 13 months. Segway inventor Dean Kamen predicted that "the Segway "will be to the car what the car was to the horse and buggy." If only he wasn't so optimistic! Those words are coming back to haunt him! Between the years 2001 and 2007, only 30,000 Segways were sold. Sad day! I am taking the liberty and marking the Segway as a "one hit wonder." Yes, yes, that often implies a musical performer who is best known for a single work. For instance, the Weather Girls and "It's Raining Men" or Frankie Goes To Hollywood's "Relax." Great hits of the 80s and often used for reminiscing in a romantic comedy, but no backbone. Even though the Segway somewhat made a comeback (police training) with the 2008 Summer Olympics and the movie "Paul Blart: Mall Cop", Kamen's Segway should just "Ride Like The Wind."

Now that those awesome songs are in your head, here's VH1's top 100 "One Hit Wonders."

1 Dexys Midnight Runners: “Come on Eileen”

2 Flock of Seagulls: “I Ran (So Far Away)”

3 A-Ha: “Take On Me”

4 Tommy Tutone: “867-5309 / Jenny”

5 Soft Cell: “Tainted Love”

6 Toni Basil: “Mickey”

7 Modern English: “I Melt With You”

8 Bow Wow Wow: “I Want Candy”

9 Kajagoogoo: “Too Shy”

10 Frankie Goes to Hollywood: “Relax”

11 Gary Numan: “Cars”

12 Animotion: “Obsesssion”

13 Thomas Dolby: “She Blinded Me With Science”

14 Big Country: “In A Big Country”

15 Devo: “Whip It”

16 Nena: “99 Luft Balloons”

17 Men Without Hats: “The Safety Dance”

18 Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock: “It Takes Two”

19 Dead or Alive: “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)”

20 Rockwell: “Somebody’s Watching Me”

21 Twisted Sister: “We’re Not Gonna Take It”

22 Michael Sembello: “Maniac”

23 Eddy Grant: “Electric Avenue”

24 Edie Brickell & New Bohemians: “What I Am”

25 Musical Youth: “Pass the Dutchie”

26 Cutting Crew: “I Just Died In Your Arms”

27 Stacey Q: “Two of Hearts”

28 John Parr: “St. Elmos Fire (Man In Motion)”

29 Madness: “Our House”

30 The Vapors: “Turning Japanese”

31 Bobby McFerrin: “Don’t Worry Be Happy”

32 Quarterflash: “Harden My Heart”

33 John Waite: “Missing You”

34 The Waitresses: “I Know What Boys Like”

35 Tom Tom Club: “Genius of Love”

36 Weather Girls: “It’s Raining Men”

37 Lipps, Inc.: “Funkytown”

38 Bruce Willis: “Respect Yourself”

39 Matthew Wilder: “Break My Stride”

40 The Buggles: “Video Killed the Radio Star”

41 Billy Vera “At This Moment”

42 Timbuk 3 “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades”

43 Shannon “Let the Music Play”

44 Wall of Voodoo “Mexican Radio”

45 Robbie Nevil “C’est La Vie”

46 Georgia Satellites “Keep Your Hands To Yourself”

47 Pretty Poison “Catch Me I’m Falling”

48 Yello “Oh Yeah”

49 Philip Bailey (w/ Phil Collins) “Easy Lover”

50 Neneh Cherry “Buffalo Stance”

51 After the Fire “Der Kommissar”

52 Mary Jane Girls “In My House”

53 Taco “Puttin’ On the Ritz”

54 Chris DeBurgh “Lady in Red”

55 Johnny Kemp “Just Got Paid”

56 Til Tuesday “Voices Carry”

57 Jermaine Stewart “We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off”

58 Don Johnson “Heartbeat”

59 The Outfield “Your Love”

60 Nu Shooz “I Can’t Wait”

61 E.U.: “Da Butt”

62 XTC: “Dear God”

63 Oran “Juice” Jones: “The Rain”

64 Robbie Dupree: “Steal Away”

65 Boomtown Rats: “I Don’t Like Mondays”

66 The Jeff Healy Band: “Angel Eyes”

67 Martika: “Toy Soldiers”

68 Peter Schilling: “Major Tom”

69 T’Pau: “Heart And Soul”

70 Harold Faltermeyer: “Axel F”

71 Jack Wagner: “All I Need”

72 Swing Out Sister: “Breakout”

73 Paul Hardcastle: “19″

74 Information Society: “What’s On Your Mind (Pure Energy)”

75 Bertie Higgins: “Key Largo”

76 J.J. Fad: “Supersonic”

77 General Public: “Tenderness”

78 Aldo Nova: “Fantasy”

79 Alannah Myles: “Black Velvet”

80 Eddie Murphy: “Party All The Time”

81 Josie Cotton: “Johnny Are You Queer?”

82 Red Rider: “Lunatic Fringe”

83 Paul Lekakis: “Boom Boom Boom Let’s Go Back to My Room”

84 The Church: “Under The Milky Way”

85 Ziggy Marley And The Melody Makers: “Tomorrow People”

86 Patrice Rushen: “Forget Me Nots”

87 Vixen: “Edge Of A Broken Heart”

88 Nik Kershaw: “Wouldn’t it Be Good”

89 Rodney Dangerfield: “Rappin’ Rodney”

90 Haircut 100: “Love Plus One”

91 Gloria Loring & Carl Anderson: “Friends And Lovers”

92 Frank Stallone: “Far From Over”

93 L.A. Guns: “The Ballad of Jayne”

94 Club Nouveau: “Lean On Me”

95 Midnight Oil: “Beds are Burning”

96 The Fabulous Thunderbirds: “Tuff Enuff”

97 Will To Power: “Baby I Love Your Way / Freebird”

98 Buckner & Garcia: “Pac-Man Fever”

99 Michael Damian: “Rock On”

100 Clarence Clemons (and Jackson Browne): “You’re A Friend Of Mine”

Bad Signs Part 2

Anyone who knows me well knows that I can't stand misspelled or punctuated signs. It simply amazes me that people don't get a friend, buddy, coworker, spouse, or a 6th grader to proofread something! The following are more signs I've come across in recent months that show man's lackadaisical attitude.

Taken at Bear Lake's best place for food, snacks, rednecks, and apparently mattress's!

A banner from one of my food vendors from the Business Expo. How do you have an apostrophe down below? Isn't that then called a comma? I don't know how famous those sandwiches were, but Karyn said it was amazing!

Sign found in Bloomington. Oh, City of St. George.

Enough said...

100 Best Books

I've been listening to a lot of NPR (National Public Radio) in the mornings as I go to work and when I go home. It's not a new concept for me; I actually quite enjoy it. The past week, I've learned heaps. Did you know that the big influenza epidemic of 1918 was actually called the Spanish Flu? And this flu pandemic spread to nearly every part of the world? Crazy huh? I was so enthralled by the information, that I did a quick wikipedia search (I know, I know--not the most credible source of information) and found that anywhere from 70 to 100 million people were killed worldwide, the most devastated communities hit included the Pacific Islands where Western Samoa a crippling 90% of the population was infected.

This morning I also learned about the Pullman Porters. This was a group of young African American men who were hired by George Pullman, inventor of the sleeping car, to take care of any whim that the customer had. They were paid next to nothing who saved to put their children and grandchildren through college.

I wanted to learn more about about the Pullman Porters, so I went to NPR . I found all sorts of fun stuff! The best thing was someone's list of top 100 books. Now, I like to think for my 20+ years that I'm well read, but I apparently have quite a bit more to read! Here's how my list would start out (in no particular order):

1. To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee
2. I Can't Accept Not Trying, Michael Jordan
3. Eats, Shoots and Leaves, Lynne Truss
4. Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway
5. Shane, Jack Shaffer
6. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
7. Much Ado About Nothing, William Shakespeare
8. Alexander and the
9. Fire In the Bones, S. Michael Wilcox
10. The Blue Castle, L.M. Montgomery
11. How To Be Happy, Dammit: A Cynic's Guide to Spiritual Happiness, Karen Salmansohn
12. Walden, Henry David Thoreau
13. Dubliners, James Joyce
14. The Crying of Lot 49, Thomas Pynchon
15. The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison

What would be your top books?

Apostrophe War

I am a fanatic about punctuation. What? Are you sure? Did no one listen when their sixth grade language arts teacher was teaching about punctuation? Comma. Period. Exclamation point. Question mark. Semicolon. Colon. Apostrophe. They all have their own little place in this crazy mixed up world. They all have a specific function that is designed to allow the reader to evoke feeling, to pause and reflect, create a tone or mood. Yes, bad punctuation is one of my biggest pet peeves (see my Bad Signs post). Earlier this year, I purchased an "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" daily desk calendar based on the bestselling book. If you've never read the book, read it! It will change your whole view of punctuation and grammar. The following is the author's (Lynne Truss) take on apostrophe:

"Here are the weapons required in the apostrophe war: correction fluid; big pens; stickers cut in a variety of sizes; both plain (for sticking over unwanted apostrophes) and coloured (for inserting where apostrophes are needed); tin of paint with big brush; guerrilla-style clothing; strong medication for personality disorder; loudhailer; gun."

I believe this war will never end. I recently saw an ad for a local video production business that read "Love Story Video's. Short video's to share with family and friends." This made me sad, especially since I know the owner. :(

National Noodle Month

I love random facts. Did you know that the human body, when dead, loses 21 grams? Who knew?
But did you know that March was National Noodle Month? I know, right? How awesome is that? I want to know who decided that noodles needed their own special month. But since it's almost the end of the month, please pay homage to the shells, spaghetti, penne, farfale (bowties), and all the other pastas of the world with these amazing facts!
Noodles can be traced back to the Etruscans in the fourth century B.C.

-Roman mythology tells of the god Vulcan inventing a device that made strings of dough.

-Thomas Jefferson is credited with bringing the first pasta maker to America in 1789 after returning from serving as ambassador to France.

-In the U.S., 84% of Northeasterners eat pasta on a weekly basis, compared to 70% of Southerners.

What would have happened if Thomas Jefferson didn't bring the pasta maker back? What would we use collanders for? What would Clemenza be making to feed the Corleone "family" if not pasta? A souffle? Not very mob-like.

Don't You Want Me?

You were working as a waitress in a cocktail bar
When I met you
I picked you out, I shook you up, and turned you around
Turned you into someone new
Now five years later on you've got the world at your feet
Success has been so easy for you
But don't forget its me who put you where you are now
And I can put you back down too

Don't, don't you want me?
You know I cant believe it when I hear that you wont see me
Don't, don't you want me?
You know I don't believe you when you say that you don't need me
Its much too late to find
You think you've changed your mind
You'd better change it back or we will both be sorry

Don't you want me baby? Don't you want me - oh...

What a great song! Human League was way before their time! And the music video is so 80s! This seems to be the recent theme. I just finished the book, "He's Just Not That Into You," and absolutely loved it! Great advice that made me stop and think, "Susi, was this written just for you?" I then went and watched the motion picture. Not bad. I found it a little hard to digest. I guess it was just having the stories and advice from the book actualized. But when it comes to releationships, aren't those five words so clutch?

Square Root Day

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For all you math lovers out there, Happy Square Root Day! That's right, March 3, 2009 is Square Root Day. I heard about this day while listening to the radio during my morning commute to work (if you can call a 10-minute drive a commute!). Thanks to Dave Cory, former KCSG engineer and current Cherry Creek Radio engineer, who enlightened me to this day (and my life will be forever changed...), this day only comes around nine times a century. Apparently, there are more people who love this holiday than I thought. A square root day group on Facebook, boasts more than 2,400 members, and suggests celebrating the minor mathematical oddity by eating radishes or other roots—cut into spot-on squares, of course. Hmm...a bit much? Can you name the next occurence of square root day?