It’s getting closer to that time of year again folks… Back to School Sales are going on now and next up, yes Halloween! And what’s the best place to get costumes for yourself, you and your date and even your short people? Damn right, Dress Like a Ho!

We are back and better than ever including the new Meebo Bar allowing you to chat with your friends on AIM and Facebook and easily share any cool costumes that you think a friend might enjoy. Check out some of the new (and old) funny costumes…

Also, mention coupon code “CXPFS50″ during your checkout and get free shipping on orders of $50 or more!

Further proof that Abbe is better than what I deserve… oh and that J-Roll is still a damn fine defensive shortstop…

• Stormin’ the Gates of Hell
• The Video Site (parody of The Social Network)
• Blob Launching is Awesome
• Tom the Dancing Bug: The Republican plan to commemorate Ground Zero
• Will Ferrell’s NYPD Recruitment Video
• Prop 8 Overturned! Here’s Some Anti-Gay Protesters Getting Owned (PHOTOS)

Small Business/Tech Links

• Google Wave is Dead
• OOP with PHP
• Twenty Basic Tips for SEO Newbies

матрациI’m swamped again today, so let me recap the reunion briefly…

• more people remembered me than I had guessed and I somehow didn’t kill off the neurons that remembered what these people looked like either. There may have been 1 or 2 folks that I just completely didn’t recognize.
• I thought it was amazing that Ilpo, the Finnish exchange student came all the way from Helsinki to attend – very cool to see him, also I like that he pronounced my name Wan.
• The food was really good (even had a section of local cuisine – Riv slices, cheesesteaks, soft pretzels). The open, top-shelf bar ruled too. The planning committee did a great job.
• There were around 5 people that I kept seeing pass me by while I was in a conversation with someone else and never got a chance to talk to. I’m hoping we have another reunion next year.
• A lot of people know exactly what I’ve been up to – thanks facebook.
• Everyone was really excited to meet Abbe.
• Seeing Ted, reminded me I really need to go eat at his restaurant soon (Ted’s On Main).
• It was cool seeing Ricky and hearing his side of what being a pro skater is really like. It amazes me that we are both fathers now and almost 40. If Ricky’s name doesn’t ring a bell, here’s a cool interview he did just a week ago for ESPN.
• I really hate that Alphaville song.
• I really like making weird faces in pictures with Abbe, luckily she thinks it’s funny too.

On Sunday, Abbe, the kids and I headed over to Mom’s to hang with very good family friends, The Wuillermins and my brother-in-law and kids. I hadn’t seen Ed since my father’s funeral and that wasn’t exactly a good time to catch-up so this was good. If you live in the Philadelphia area and watch Action News, you’ve seen one of his creations – Mr. 6. Ed brought along t-shirts for my kids and also offered to take us for a tour of the studios – needless to say, Bubs and Viv are very excited. I missed seeing Sara (Ed’s younger sister), but it was great seeing a family that I grew up with (literally, Ed is exactly one day younger than me) and love very much.

• Tiger Sharks
• I’m Not Unemployed, I’m NSFW

Small Business/Tech Links…

• f.lux – thanks Justin
• How To Reclaim Privacy on Facebook

Well, Abbe and I just took it easy yesterday and hung around the cabin at Cloudcroft for the day, while Tom and my mother ran errands. Abbe caught up on some sleep and I worked for the better part of the day.

Tom and I sat on the back porch overlooking the ponderosas and aspens, drank several Shiner Bocks and talked about all of the good that is coming on the horizon and the journey I’ve been on to get there. I love Big Tom. Much in the same way, it is important for children to see their parents in love (to learn it exists), I think best friends of parents like Tom are important in the same way. Even as a child, I saw how much my mother and father loved Tom and he loves us as well and I think Tom is one of the people responsible for me truly appreciating the value of a friendship.

Tom giving Abbe the stink eye, don't touch my fried okra woman!

We went to Big Daddy’s Dinner (great patty melt and sweet potato fries!) and had a quick dinner, came back to the cabin to watch another episode of Breaking Bad(which Tom has gotten Abbe and I seriously addicted to), and then had some beers and wine and talked.

So, sorry there weren’t a lot of pictures, but Abbe sleeping on the couch and me coding all day just doesn’t make for great shots. That said, today we are heading to Carlsbad Caverns and there should be pictures a-plenty!

• xkcd : iPhone or Droid?
• Willie Beats Snoop
• Grand Theft Auto vs. Frogger

Many of my readers come through facebook and many of my readers are facebook friends of mine and you probably wonder, “how is it that Van claims to be so busy, yet all I see from him on facebook is him playing that DAMN MAFIA WARS GAME!!! (and then you curse and raise your hands to the heavens or something)”. Well, here’s the secret… I’m not really playing the game. I’m using a Greasemonkey script called Mafia Wars Autoplayer (see screenshot below)…

So what’s the fun in that? Well, I’ve always been a bigger fan of strategy games and this is actually more enjoyable for me. I set my rules up and just let it run, checking in periodically to see if my decisions were good or not. At Georgia Tech, I took an economics class and part of our grade was a towel selling simulation game – I freakin’ loved it (and aced the class – which was a rarity for me at GT). And the other cool thing, is this allows me to code my day away while robbing, collecting hit list bounties, and pulling off heists just like Balki Bartokomous from Perfect Strangers would want me to.

Brother Lee by Citizen Cope… now, I the tab I found for this song had these somewhat hand contortion-y chords, so I made it easier by capo-ing the 1st fret…

I Love the Unknown by Eef Barzelay…

• A Hairy Question – thanks Sage
• Wrestling Fail
• Dear Lily – an open letter sung to Lily Allen
• Chernobyl Today – I had a really good co-worker friend from the Ukraine and he lived near the reactor during the disaster, was really interesting to hear his perspective.
• Toy Story 2 – Toy Saw
• Craigslist Ad of the Day – free TV due to a broken hearted/pee’d upon girlfriend

Links for my geeky homies…

• How to get FireBug-like tools in Safari (for Mac) – this was really handy when trying to work with the Uize ImagePort component for the Hope for Humanity Literacy in El Salvador website.

Well folks, the interview went really well yesterday. The position is a big step down in pay, but the hours are more conducive to me working on building my side business. The location is pretty ideal too and when I saw the CTO’s office, I knew it was a good match. He had a nice new shiny iMac sitting next to a MacBook Pro (I’ve got an earlier generation iMac and a MacBook Pro at home) – and he was running Visual Studio on Windows in Parrallels on the Mac (just like I do). He showed me how fast VS opens and runs on the Mac, and I smiled to myself, “sweet, this guys gets it.”

Viv is sitting next to me on the couch while I do my best to blog, finish a redesign quote for a friend of Jackie’s, and not pay attention to Sponge Bob. She noticed me pulling up a legal agreement for the 13 Stories song I cowrote (that I need to fax to the agent today) and she asked what it was…

Me : Well, do you remember seeing the pictures of Daddy with long hair and wearing silly clothes?
Viv: And everyone thought you were a girl?
…

The kids and I read a bunch of books last night – Skippyjon Jones in the Doghouse (fun and silly), Stone Soup (good one from the author of Zen Shorts), Train to Somewhere (sad, but nice ending), and Going Home (loved the illustrations, the story drags a bit but ends well).

• Nothing Beats the Durex Warranty – thanks Justin
• It’s Impossible Not to Stare – thanks Mel
• Here’s Beyonce Sucking – thanks Marty
• Chick Makes the Same Dumb Face in Every Pic – thanks Mel
• Shii – the Wii for Women – thanks Mel
• Dr. Shine and Dee Dee – thanks Mel
• Meatcards – thanks Chris
• Celebizzare