I’m working on a complete overhaul of my blog. I’ve never been too happy with the design of this one (you’ve probably noticed with the constantly revolving themes). And I’m reviving the url johnnybrower.com.

It’s a working progress.
There is a lot more coding to do, and I’m definitely not good at it. I may be calling on the help of JKyle from time to time. If anyone else is pretty familiar with WordPress stuff, feel free to help out.

All my post will now continue at the new site. Just don’t be alarmed if the layout changes.

Make sure to bookmark the new page, because this one will remain dormant. {www.johnnybrower.com}

If you use a feed reader (feedburner, google reader, etc), then make sure you subscribe to the new place (there should be a ’subscribe’ link in the upper right of the new one).

Thanks to all of you who keep up here. I promise this is the last move for awhile.

Tweet Cloud: is for the Twitter nerd only. Do you update yours at least 3 times a day? Do you tweet when you go to the bathroom? If you’ve answered yes, then this is for you. This will compile, in a standard cloud form, the most used words in your tweets. This is of no particular use; it’s just interesting. To the left is my tweet cloud.

I Am Jealous…: of a blog I found recently through the wonderful WordPress Dashboard. This blog is basically based on shoutouts. This is a great one to keep on the feed reader for random websites to look at. Most have some quality about them to be jealous of. (hence the name). This is the website where I found the afore mentioned Tweet Cloud.

Will It Blend: is a clever little ad campaign for Blendtec commercial blenders. They basically throw random crap into a blender and see what happens. This particular one is hard to watch. Being an iPhone owner, I suspect it’s a lot like a parent watching a baby get blended. No?
Other blended items include (but are not limited to): hearing aides, stun gun, Halo 3, and Chuck Norris.

This is a new post idea i would like to try out. Every Sunday, I’ll post a few shoutouts (links) to things that I find interesting. You may not, but you don’t have to click on it now…do you? I’ll try to have a few things that I use regularly (web resources, bloggers, games), and some quickies that I collect over the week (articles, youtube[s], pictures).

Ok, ok. I’m actually not too proud of the ‘ole bracket this year. I only had two of the Final Four. My South and West regions were ALL screwed up. It’s a wonder I scored any points at all!

But something glorious happened.
I knew that about 80% of the world picked UNC vs. UCLA as the Final, and I had picked Kansas over UNC. So there was only one scenario would give me a chance to catch up . I needed a Kansas/Memphis Final, then I needed Kansas to win (they were my championship pick).

IT HAPPENED! AND KANSAS WON!

It is my only saving grace. I picked the champion.
So now I would like to claim my spot at the top.
I would like to proclaim my domination of my friends.

*we filled out brackets on facebook, and of all my friends that filled on out, I was the best! eat that!!
**there we actually about 25 people total that filled them out. they all didn’t fit on my screen. but if they didn’t crack the top 10, are they really that important??

*big thanks to brother Dave for locating some last minute tickets!

Aside from playing the Yankees or the Red Sox, this is about the only game of the season when the Ballpark is even remotely full. That’s what makes this day so exciting.

There’s a smell of dozens of grills, port-o-potties, and beer as you walk the 1/2 mile to the stadium. People who’ve been sitting in the parking lot since 8am are sharing laughs and throwing washers. Lexus[es] are lined up in the valet parking. We find our seats, and the pre-game begins.

National Anthem, giant flag, eagles and a bomber fly-by make up the pre-game festivities. The entire Rangers’ roster is announced. The crowd is excited — cheering with every name announced. The atmosphere was electric (something I’m not used to at The Ballpark in Arlington).

Then…the game started.

Jason Jennings blew.
We had 9 hits with only 1 run scored.
We allowed 8 runs on 11 hits.
My boy Kinsler couldn’t stop hitting into double-plays.

There’s the familiar Ranger’s feeling.

Despite all this, I love them!
Can’t wait to be at several games this season.

In one week’s time I’ve received two pair of TOM’s shoes. I LOVE them. They are so comfortable and quick to put on, and they start a lot of conversation in the general public. If you don’t have a pair yet, get yours!

Apparently everyone has a voice.
Apparently 18,000,000+ people have nothing better to do.
Apparently I’m one of those 18 million.

I’m in the wrong business.

I’ve come across a fun site that will not only feed your brain, but feed the hungry too!

FreeRice.com challenges your vocabulary. You’ll locate synonyms in a multiple choice style quiz. For every question you get right, 20 grains of rice gets donated to the United Nations World Food Program.

There are tons of benefits to building a better vocabulary, now here’s one more. Free Rice!

I rarely do these because I don’t go to the movies much, nor do I think you care what I think about music.
But for some reason I feel compelled to do one today.

PLAYRADIOPLAY :: Texas :: (B-)
Texas is the long awaited full-length release from Dan Hunter as PlayRadioPlay. I was pleasantly surprised by this album. It showed some grow musically and maturity lyrically. There are still some youthful, high school specific songs on there, but it was enjoyable to listen to. He has a bright future ahead of him. I’m starting to sense more of a Death Cab for Cutie feel in his writing. Look at “Loco Commotion”, “See You Soon”, and “Corner Office Bedroom”. Definitely buy this from iTunes if you are at all a fan of electronic pop.

PANIC AT THE DISCO :: Pretty. Odd. :: (C+)
The sophomore effort from the boys of Panic at the Disco has dropped more than the exclamation point. My jaw was on the floor. This wasn’t at all what I was expecting, and I can’t tell if that’s a good or bad thing. I loved the clever mix of “crazy emo-kid” music and theatrical storytelling in their first album. I pre-ordered the new one to get the early single download — “Nine in the Afternoon”. It is reminiscent of their previous album…and probably my favorite track so far. It feels as if they tried to hard to establish themselves as more than just your average “emo-kid” band. They tried to take the same road as The Killers and didn’t quite make it there.

There are some good tracks though…and the jury is still out on this one. But for now, check out “Nine in the Afternoon”, “Mad As Rabbits”, “That Green Gentleman”, “You Know What I’m Seeing?”.

21 :: Robert Luketic (Director) :: (B+)
A pleasant surprise! I’ll start by saying that I was a bit skeptical. It looked like it had the potential to be a bit “teeny” and gimmicky. But I do love heist/fraud movies, so I’ll give it a shot. It was funny. It had some good action. It had a clever ending. It was an all around enjoyable movie. A great one for a date night. The love story seemed a bit forced…but doesn’t it always? Go see this movie. It’ll be fun!

ZAMZAR!
A great tool for anyone needing to do some quick converting.
(it comes in handy when I have to send files to a stupid PC)

There have been a lot of audible gasps and questions surrounding the “unfortunate” injury to Dallas Mavericks “star” Dirk Niwitzki.

“Can the Mavericks win without Dirk?”

Well…

1) We weren’t winning with Dirk on the team. Since the Kidd trade, the Mavs haven’t beat an above .500 team. Face it, we suck — with or without Dirk.

2) We WILL still make the playoffs. I don’t know how much that will matter, but we’ll get there (because I’m pretty sure we’ll meet our maker in the first round). But here’s why I know we’ll make the playoffs…

a) With out Dirk, we’ll see much more playing time out of Brandon Bass and Malik Allen. It has been apparent to me that when our bench players are in, we play with more heart, more passion. Most of our comebacks have come when our backups are in. We sometimes rely on Dirk to do to much for the team, and our role players don’t fill their role completely. I think we will see some of these bench players step up in a big way now that the big German is out.
(ps: I’m anxious to see what role JKidd takes in this. Maybe with Dirk gone, he can step up to be the leader we brought him here to be.)

b) We will make the playoffs based on sheer mathematics. The Denver Nuggets hold the 9th spot in the super competitive West right now. We currently hold the number 7 slot with a 1 1/2 game lead on the Nuggets. With 12 games left in the season, we will have to lose quite a few of our games, and the Nuggets will need to win the majority of theirs. Not completely out of the realm of reality, but when you compare the two schedules, neither team will gain/lose much ground at all.

They have 7 of 12 games verses above .500 West Title contenders including Golden State (2), Phoenix (2), Houston, Utah, and…um…Dallas. Our schedule is almost identical. 7 teams above .500, half of which are on the road. Now if Denver continues their 168 point game performances, we have no chance — but I highly doubt that. It’ll be close, but I think with an equally difficult schedule, we will maintain our playoff spot.

—-

I’m actually rejoicing in the injury to Nowitzki. It’s time to see what our team is really made of. We talk ourselves up every year, we make excuses for Dirk and Avery. Let’s see it. Some one step up! Are we going to be the Rockets and rise above the injuries and the excuses? Or are we going to deflate? Is all of the hot air we’ve been blowing up our own asses going to come rushing out leaving us lifeless on the court?

It’s time boys.