Orlando Bound

Addicted to Blogging

2007-12-06T14:56:00.001-05:00

Couldn't get this to work on my vox blog.

Update

2007-07-25T10:44:00.000-04:00

What's going on in John's life? More of the same. I'm still part of a loving and caring family and have a wonderful boy who thrills me everyday with his learning and attitude. I'm still enjoying work. I'm still enjoying writing The Disney Blog and updating my other blogs when I can. I still have lots of plans, many of which never come to fruition, but I enjoy the planning of them just the same.

Not everybody can be Harry Potter or Al Gore. Most of us work to survive, and if we're lucky, we work to play. One day I hope to find a more favorable balance to that equation.

101 reasons to vote democrat this year

2006-10-24T21:04:00.000-04:00

--AZ-Sen: Jon Kyl

--AZ-01: Rick Renzi

--AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth

--CA-04: John Doolittle

--CA-11: Richard Pombo

--CA-50: Brian Bilbray

--CO-04: Marilyn Musgrave

--CO-05: Doug Lamborn

--CO-07: Rick O'Donnell

--CT-04: Christopher Shays

--FL-13: Vernon Buchanan

--FL-16: Joe Negron

--FL-22: Clay Shaw

--ID-01: Bill Sali

--IL-06: Peter Roskam

--IL-10: Mark Kirk

--IL-14: Dennis Hastert

--IN-02: Chris Chocola

--IN-08: John Hostettler

--IA-01: Mike Whalen

--KS-02: Jim Ryun

--KY-03: Anne Northup

--KY-04: Geoff Davis

--MD-Sen: Michael Steele

--MN-01: Gil Gutknecht

--MN-06: Michele Bachmann

--MO-Sen: Jim Talent

--MT-Sen: Conrad Burns

--NV-03: Jon Porter

--NH-02: Charlie Bass

--NJ-07: Mike Ferguson

--NM-01: Heather Wilson

--NY-03: Peter King

--NY-20: John Sweeney

--NY-26: Tom Reynolds

--NY-29: Randy Kuhl

--NC-08: Robin Hayes

--NC-11: Charles Taylor

--OH-01: Steve Chabot

--OH-02: Jean Schmidt

--OH-15: Deborah Pryce

--OH-18: Joy Padgett

--PA-04: Melissa Hart

--PA-07: Curt Weldon

--PA-08: Mike Fitzpatrick

--PA-10: Don Sherwood

--RI-Sen: Lincoln Chafee

--TN-Sen: Bob Corker

--VA-Sen: George Allen

--VA-10: Frank Wolf

--WA-Sen: Mike McGavick

--WA-08: Dave Reichert

101 reasons to vote Democrat this year.

politics, vote, november, 2006, election, voter+revolt

Been Busy

2006-08-14T08:48:00.000-04:00

Oy. The more I write for the Disney Blog and it's new partner blogs the less I find time to write over here. I have been posting a bit at johnfrost.vox.com and The Home Blog. I will eventually re-organize my blogging habits to be more efficient. But in the meantime, this is probably the last I'll be posting over here at OrlandoBound for the foreseeable future.

Thanks for reading along and I hope to see you on my other blogs.

Producing Ourselves to Death

2006-06-27T21:43:00.000-04:00

Neil Postman once famously wrote that America is "Amusing Itself To Death" by the very media we use for news, education, and entertainment. His slaughter of Sesame Street as the gateway drug for America's children is classic, if not just a little over the top.

But sometimes you have to "Dream in Technicolor" to make your point. Dave Pollard, who should be as famous and widely read as Postman (but alas is not), believes we are "Producing Ourselves To Death" by requiring productivity growth (aka profit) every year to maintain our economic engine. It's quite an extreme article, no doubt about that. But it makes its point.

Do you agree or disagree with Pollard's position? The comments are open.

Vox

2006-06-06T21:45:00.000-04:00

Update: Somebody has already Vox'd Me! Yeah! Thanks Anil.

Somebody Vox Me! (Link)

[Tags: vox, typepad, sixapart, six+apart ]

Jackson Pollock, it's harder than it looks

2006-06-02T16:27:00.000-04:00

This amazing site jacksonpollock.org lets you try your hand at Jackson Pollock style art. Try it it's fun!

No Hobbits, just Diseased Humans

2006-05-19T08:50:00.000-04:00

Remember that flurry of posts about the Hobbit like race of humans that had been discovered in Indonesia, well turns out they were really just suffering from a disease that results in a small human head.

The "hobbit" humans that lived on the Indonesian island of Flores some 18,000 years ago were actually a population of modern humans stricken with a genetic disease that causes small brains, a new study says.

Could this be the origin of the head-shrinker tribes too?

Scheduled Posting to Resume Shortly

2006-04-10T15:18:00.000-04:00

As you may or may not know, I have been moving houses over the last few months. So posting has been infrequent on some of my blogs, including this one. I'm hoping to get things back on schedule this week and look forward to making a big announcement later this week as well.

Thanks for dropping in.

Serenity TV DVDs at a great price

2006-03-17T15:41:00.000-05:00

Save Democracy in America Now

2006-02-24T21:28:00.000-05:00

Stop what you're doing right now and read this essay by America's Voice of Democracy Bill Moyers. It may appear a little long, but Moyer builts his case in a clear and unambiguious manner so no one reading can miss his meaning.

Go read it now and return. I'll wait.

Now take a few moments to do a google search for your local congress-critter then send them an email, leave a voice mail, or even better, drop an old fashion hand-written note in the mail to them. Write something on your own, or use the following as a template:

Dear Honorable _____,

I am writing to you in regards to a matter that gets to the very heart of what makes America a shining example of Democracy to the world. As President Lincoln stated so well in his Gettysburg Address, we are a government of the people, by the people, for the people. When that equation is compromised by corrupt politicians and big money our democracy is threatened.

A movement is growing across the United States to put the power back in the people's hands. This movement is for goverment funded political campaigns. As your constituent, I would like you to know that this is the time for you to get infront of this issue and sign your name to a bill that would put ____*your state* firmly in the camp of Democracy and out of the hands of lobbyists.

Please read this amazing essay by America's Voice of Democracy Bill Moyer's ( http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0224-20.htm ). You'll see the proof of how far we've fallen from the golden standard of voter elected government. The time is not too late to take action. So join your constituents and work toward public funding campaigns on all levels elected officials.

Thank you,

John Frost
Address.

It will take a miracle, the people in power right now see no incentive to change. But we must change in order to take back the power from the elite. So please, act today.

Old Spaghetti Factory closing Hollywood location

2006-02-20T08:43:00.000-05:00

Mark Evanier reports on the closing of the Hollywood location of 'The Old Spaghetti Factory'. Sad. I only ate there twice when I lived in the area, but found it matching in style, decor, and flavor of the other locations. No, you don't go there if you want excellent italian food. But for a simple dinner the whole family can enjoy, it was great. I only hope this isn't the beginning of the end for the whole chain.

Wiki Topia

2006-02-14T20:34:00.000-05:00

The future is Wiki's. Wiki's for everyone, for everything, for everywhere. Wiki's are essentially webpages you can edit and format right at the webpage itself. This makes it Wiki's very useful to store information in all formats. Got a spreadsheet you need to keep on line? Wiki it. Got a short story you're writing. Wiki it. Have a recipe collection you want to share with family and friends and have them contribute to it as well. Wiki it.

My wiki of choice for this sort of thing is PBWIKI.com. The PB stands for Peanut Butter and their motto is "PBwiki makes creating a wiki as easy as making a peanut butter sandwich”, which is just about true. It's also free, which makes it a very good value.

Wiki's can get very complicated, see Wikipedia, but PBWiki.com is at the opposite end of the spectrum. So it's great for beginners too. Go ahead, try it out.

Me as a South Park Character

2006-02-09T08:30:00.000-05:00

I was never able to get this to work before. But today, magic.

Make your own South Park Avatar.

I need a Typepad Template designer

2006-01-26T08:51:00.000-05:00

I've been doing the 'blog' thing since 1999 using various platforms and hosts. But I've never quite mastered the vagrancies of CSS and MovableTyple MarkUp Language and now I don't have the time to. I have a moderately successful blog over at The Disney Blog, in such that I have a lot of regular readers and am considered something of an expert in my subject, but I fear its design is holding it back. In fact, I've been getting lots of reports that it doesn't work well in Safari or Mozilla. I need someone who can take the design to the next level while still being usable across many platforms. I'm willing to pay for this service, but my budget is small. So I'd like to see examples of design work before making up my mind.

Does anyone have a designer with experience working with advanced typepad templates who they would like to recommend?

Please Don't Speed Near School Zones

2006-01-25T15:56:00.000-05:00

Effective Advertising. (via)

Is a Fair Wage standard possible?

2006-01-24T08:29:00.000-05:00

Call it a Fair Wage or Living Wage it doesn't matter. What is obvious is that the national minimum wage has remained $5.15 since 1997. What used to be a way out of poverty has now become the way into poverty.

I just read this great blog entry about why the wage should be raised. Florida's wage recently increased and we're still seeing 'now hiring' signs everywhere. The question is, how large an increase could the economy withstand and why must we stick with a one-tier minimum wage? Shouldn't there be some reward for those with a high school diploma? How about someone trying to support a family? Also shouldn't minimum wages be based on the living conditions of the area. If it costs $1000 to rent a one bedroom in one town and $500 in another, shouldn't the minimum be different?

Bush's education nightmare

2006-01-11T10:13:00.000-05:00

The education nightmare that is the 'no child left behind' act continues.

Under No Child Left, if enough kids flunk the tests, their school is marked a failure and its students win the right, under the law, to transfer to any successful school in their district. You can't provide more opportunity than that. But they don't provide it, the law promises it, without a single penny to make it happen. In New York in 2004, a third of a million students earned the right to transfer to better schools -- in which there were only 8,000 places open. New York is typical. Nationwide, only one out of two-hundred students eligible to transfer manage to do it.

I certainly hope they get this straightened out before Indigo is school eligible. You got four years people, figure it out!

What's your Million Dollar Idea

2006-01-10T14:13:00.000-05:00

Just a quick follow up on the auction for the last 1000 pixels on the Million Dollar Homepage. Less than 24 hours left and it's at over 150,000 US dollars.

What's you're million dollar idea and why haven't you started working on it yet?

Harlem Boys Choir faces eviction

2006-01-04T16:32:00.000-05:00

In grade school and middle school I was involved in the Portland Area Boys Choir. It was a wonderful program that allowed me to grow as a child and be exposed to lots of new ideas while learning the pressues of public performances. I owe the various choir directors in my life a debt of gratitude.

Still, I had a fairly well-off middle class upbringing, so I can only imagine how helpful belonging to the Boys Choir of Harlem has been to its members. Unfortunately the organization had accounting and financial problems that is has never quite recovered from and now faces eviction from its host public school.

I wish them luck.

Million Dollar Homepage - only 1000 pixels left

2006-01-01T20:49:00.000-05:00

This is one of those ideas that when you hear about it you think, gee wish I could have thought of that first. Some guy decided to sell 1 million pixels of advertising on his homepage at $1 a pixel to finance his college and ended up with a million dollars and an internet first - the Million Dollar Homepage.

Now only the last 1000 pixels are available and he's holding a special auction for the right to the space right in the center of his page. Act now to own a place in Internet History.

New Food Blog

2005-12-26T22:54:00.000-05:00

I've started up a new food blog called Easy Crock Pot Recipes. I hope you enjoy reading it and send me all those old family recipes you've been meaning to pass along. I'm looking for a co-author for this recipe blog. Someone who is willing to post two or three times a week and review the small kitchen appliances off their counter. Let me know if you're interested.

Typepad Down All Day

2005-12-16T15:40:00.000-05:00

Typepad's server crashed during routine maintenance last night and since then the blogs have been down. Only a restored backup of The Disney Blog is available right now, which is why you see a post from Dec 10th instead of the 16th.

Let's hope they fix this soon. In the meantime, thanks for your patience.

Togo's becoming Dunkin' Deli

2005-11-17T08:53:00.000-05:00

When I moved to Orlando, one of the little pleasures I found was that Togo's had restaurants out here. I missed their sub sandwiches while I lived in Las Vegas finding only Capriotti's to be on the same level of quality. (There is one Capriotti's out here, but I haven't been to it yet.)

But now Togo's is closing seven of its stores, including the one closest to me, and changing the name of the rest to Dunkin' Deli. Apparently they think the brand wasn't strong enough outside of California. It don't think that was it.

Instead of letting Togo's stand on its own they often combined it with a Baskin Robbins, Dunkin' Donuts, or both. To do this they had to reduce the menu. Many of the items removed were my favorite ones. Additionally, the split store led to a more hectic atmosphere behind the counter, and I feel, it lost of some of the personal care you felt you got when your sandwich was made for you as you waited. It other words it wasn't the brand that failed, it was the failure to fully implement the brand that doomed Togo's in the Orlando area.

Part of what makes Subway, McDonalds, and now Panda Express so successful is that every location you enter is nearly identical. If you like the Beef and Brocolli at one Panda Express you'll be able to find it at the other 300 and it will taste exactly the same. Young franchises or franchises looking to expand often think they can mess with this forumula and still expect success. As it turns out, that's not often the case. And it's too bad for Togo's because I was really hoping they'd figure it out and I could have my Hot Pastrami Sandwich I'd so been looking forward to.

[ Tags: togos, panda+express, orlando, restaurant, food, fast+food, franchise, business, subs, sub+sandwich ]

Paper Forest

2005-11-16T14:20:00.000-05:00

A Blog for tracking papercraft projects. Have X-acto knife will travel.