Have you ever had a fear of Clautophobia? Being stuck for hours. Feeling helpless. This one man was stuck for 41 hours in New York.

Want to know what Clautophobia is? It’s the fear of elevators.

Check out The New Yorker’s article about his 41 hours entrapment.

This week in the magazine, Nick Paumgarten writes about the lives of elevators, and tells the story of Nicholas White, who was trapped in an elevator in New York City’s McGraw-Hill building for forty-one hours. Here is a condensed look at White’s ordeal, as captured by the building’s security cameras.

Video… lick here

I saw this on a friend’s blog but I thought I would share. Here is the link to his blog.   http://www.lawrencefamily.info/blog/el/?p=719

Now Comment and tell us your most embarrassing first date.

Jay Leno went into the audience to find the most embarrassing first date that a woman ever had. The winner described her worst first date experience. There was absolutely no question as to why her tale took the prize.

She said it was midwinter… Snowing and quite cold…and the guy had taken her skiing in the mountains outside Salt Lake City, Utah. It was a day trip (no overnight). They were strangers, after all, and truly had never met before. The outing was fun but relatively uneventful until they were headed home late that afternoon. They were driving back down the mountain, when she gradually began to realize that she should not have had that extra latte. They were about an hour away from anywhere with a restroom and in the middle of nowhere! Her companion suggested she try to hold it, which she did for a while. Unfortunately, because of the heavy snow and slow going, there came a point where she told him that he had better stop and let her go beside the road, or it would be the front seat of his car. They stopped and she quickly crawled out beside the car, yanked her pants down and started. In the deep snow, she didn’t have good footing, so she let her butt rest against the rear fender to steady herself. Her companion stood on the side of the car watching for traffic, and indeed was a real gentleman and refrained from peeking. All she could think about was the relief she felt despite the rather embarrassing nature of the situation. Upon finishing, however, she soon became aware of another sensation. As she bent to pull up her pants, the young lady discovered her buttocks were firmly glued against the car’s fender. Thoughts of tongues frozen to poles immediately came to mind as she attempted to disengage her flesh from the icy metal. It was quickly apparent that she had a brand new problem due to the extreme cold. Horrified by her plight and yet aware of the humor of the moment, she answered her date’s concerns about ‘what is taking so long’ with a reply that indeed, she was ‘freezing her butt off’ and in need of some assistance! He came around the car as she tried to cover herself with her sweater and then, as she looked imploringly into his eyes, he burst out laughing. She too, got the giggles and when they finally managed to compose themselves, they assessed her dilemma. Obviously, as hysterical as the situation was, they also were faced with a real problem. Both agreed it would take something hot to free her chilly cheeks from the grip of the icy metal. Thinking about what had gotten her into the predicament in the first place, both quickly realized that there was only one way to get her free. So, as she looked the other way, her first-time date proceeded to unzip his pants and pee her butt off the fender. As the audience screamed in laughter, she took the Tonight Show prize hands down. Or perhaps that should be ‘pants down.’ And you thought your first date was embarrassing.

Jay Leno’s comment… ‘This gives a whole new meaning to being pissed off.’

Oh, and how did the first date turn out? He became her husband and was sitting next to her on the Leno show.

iPhone or iPhony?

June 29, 2007. A good day for techno folks, perhaps, but for everyone?

That’s the day that Apple introduced the iPhone to the world . Has this new “smart” phone revolutionized the way media/communications is accessed across the world? Has Apple changed the world by presenting to us a new, sleek and stylish phone with cool features?

For those who love the idea of a music player on their phone, look no more. The new phone includes a built in iPod. No more clunky pockets full of gadgets. No more walking around like Batman wearing a utility belt. Your iPod and your phone are all inclusive. But note that the iPhone is not the first to combine phone and music player. Companies like Microsoft and Samsung merged the phone and mp3 player almost two years ago. I have a phone by Verizon and LG that has an mp3 player on it. Do those phones have an iPod or iPod capabilities? No, but they have lead the way for Apple.

Is the iPhone everything we wanted? Apple has placed most of the desired features in this new gadget. Everything from web surfing to visual voice mail is included, plus the convenience of having only one device for phone and music/ video player.

But are you getting your money’s worth? While this phone has many cool features, it also has some really big drawbacks, such as the network. I have many techno friends that have either returned their iPhone or are waiting to get one until network service is better in this area.

Are there new updates in the future? Apple has teamed with other companies to provide updates and new features that may make this product better. Rumors are circulating that a new iPhone will be available in November that will be supported by a faster network from AT&T and maybe even 3G. That will be a quick turn around for a second generation of the phone. Until that release, review this quick hot-list about the phone:

Pros

·  Great web browser

·  Virtual Voice Mail gives you the ability to see your VM listing and skip around to listen to the messages in the order you want them

·  iPod (4 GB or 8 GB)

·  Syncs well with PC and Mac

·  Photo Gallery

·  YouTube

·  E-mail

Cons

·  SMS, not iChat – can’t instant message to or from a computer

·  Wi-Fi from home network only works with HEX key (Birmingham is the sixth hottest spot for Wi-Fi in America)

·  AT&T Carrier service (Formerly Cingular). Carrier service is on the low end.

• Birmingham has some of the worst AT&T coverage because of the Birmingham Bowl. This is caused by the low mountains around Birmingham that block signals and causes services to be bad for cities in the Birmingham area, including Trussville. One local techno returned his and his wife’s phones after a week because of the bad service. He loved the features, but hated the service.

·  EDGE – AT&T wireless data network. Data updates/downloads at a slow pace. Dial-up can be faster. Doesn’t include the new 3G feature that provides faster data connectivity.

·  Cost. iPhones range from $499 (4GB) to $599 (8GB). So start saving your money today.

I am holding off until they get everything fixed with the network. I really love the phone and all its features, but I am waiting.

Waiting for the next generation of iPhones as well? Check out the new iPod to get warmed up. More to come…

I’d like to give special thanks to my Editors TB and FM.

This doesn’t effect everyone who reads this blog. But I had a conversation with a co-worker today and it reminded me of my childhood. So I thought I would share.

Incase you don’t know, I am bigger than the average bear. I have been big since I was 10 years old. So I know what it is like to carry around some extra pounds. That’s not the issue, well at least today.

The issue I have is with the clothing franchise. 1. They never have cool or in style clothes for fat kids. Yes, we know we are the butt of all jokes, but we would have liked to worn a GAP or Tommy Hilfiger shirt once or twice in our lifetime.

2. My biggest complaint is with the word “HUSKY”. Why on jeans, especially Levi’s do they have to put the word “HUSKY” on the pants? Can’t they just write the size like they do with the other pants. I mean would it hurt to write a size or two bigger instead of the word “HUSKY”? You would actually be using less ink on the label. It’s not bad enough that we are already bigger and getting made fun of but now we have the word “HUSKY” on our ass. And to make matters worse the belt didn’t cover the word. You wonder why heavier kids wore their shirts untucked? I felt like the word was blinking in bright neon color letters.

I guess if I didn’t have the word “HUSKY” on my pants back then I wouldn’t have this story to tell you now.

So if any clothing people are reading this, please help us out and replace the word “HUSKY” with a number. You would be saving the heavy kids some heartache.

For those who love, imbibe, or brew beer. And I’m not talking about the major macros here (Bud, Miller, Coors, etc…) I’m talking love beer. … check this out.

Magic City Brewfest
June 02, 2007
2-6 p.m., 7-11 p.m.
http://www.freethehops.org/beerfestival/
Sloss Furnace
Birmingham, AL

Well, the time has come for me to polish my dancing shoes. Wait, I don’t have any dancing shoes.  But in the spirit of Grease I did pull out my black converse to “hone” in my acting/singing/ chops.

I really don’t know if the shoes helped or not, but isn’t that the old NBA saying, “IT has to be the SHOES!!!”

Well last night we had auditions for Grease.  It has been a year since I have acted and was excited about trying out again.  A fresh start.  A chance to reinvent yourself or at least the character you want to be.

I auditioned for Danny and Kinecki.  I figured why not.  Knock on wood, I think I did well.  I guess time will tell. I did get a callback for Wednesday.  So either wish me good luck or break a leg.  Not sure if break a leg is for auditions. Who knows.

The show is at the Leeds Arts Council in Leeds, AL.  The show will perform July 20-22 & 27-29.  Two shows on both Saturdays.   

I will blog back when I know what part I will be playing.  Keep your fingers crossed.

TB, you need to audition tonight.  They need some guys.  You could be a T-bird, or a Burger Palace Club (weird, I know).