FYI, the score is now 1:1. Ammogirl and I had another drum off, and while I failed miserably the first time this time I was victorious! We played seven games and I think it ended 5:2.

I did it for you guys, and for America. U.S.A.!! U.S.A.!!

Just got home from watching Team America at the drafthouse. It was pretty awesome. We had flags to wave, glowsticks, and there was plenty of singing. After the show most of the theater walked down 6th street singing the Team America theme song waving flags, glow sticks, and sparklers. I added the song to our music player in case you're not familiar with it.

Have a happy 4th of July everyone. America, FUCK YEAH!

My bro sent me a link to this motorcycle a 19-year old built. It's pretty cool, but who wants a bike that can only go 40mph?

I had seen it before and was trying to find the original article when I came across something ridiculously awesome. It's just a concept, but check out the "Deus Ex Machina"

I want one

My brother shared this with me:

If the youtube video doesn't show up, Click here for it. Youtube isn't agreeing with flattire right now.

It's super totally true. Last time I was in Taiwan I tried to say "um" instead so i wouldn't slip up when I got back to the US.

Just updated the music player with some new favorites which are all Rock Band songs. My latest Rock Band endeavor has been to play Yeah Yeah Yeah's song "Date With the Night" on expert drums, and then laugh hysterically when I get booed off a minute into it in the midst of an uncontrolled flailing of limbs.

But...this post isn't about rock band. It's about my parents and the amazing things they say. Whenever I visit I turn into the teenage smartass that I once was (I'm not a 30 year old smartass). I feel a little bad about it but sometimes it's just so hard to resist...

Mom: This is a cucumber I grew. It's for making pickles.
Me: So you're going to make a pickle?
Mom: No, I'm going to eat it.

Dad: You have the fastest 3 legged cat I've ever seen.
Me: Have you seen any other 3 legged cats?
Dad: No.

I kept my mouth shut for this one:

Mom: How many do you need for HOV?
Dad: Three.
Mom: Do dogs count?

Say hi to Tina Montgomery. She was a good sport; poor girl was at a beer tasting event and wasn't allowed to drink.

Warning: This has nothing to do with normal Flattire material

After my parents went to bed, I started perusing my google reader feeds. One of them led me to an article on how McCain and Obama's tax plans impact your wallet. It was a little too much of a rehash though, so I went to their source. This finally led me to the original report where I finally found out the information I was looking for, which was how the plans affected ME.

I'm a numbers kind of guy, so I threw together a spreadsheet to compare the plans on a purely money in my pocket basis. If you want to use the spreadsheet, first look up your income in the yellow columns, and then look over to the green and blue columns to see how your taxes will differ. The green (2009) and blue (2012) differ because various tax laws will expire between those years.

Conclusion? If you make up to $65k, Obama's plan gives you more money. Between $65k and $160k there's not much difference between plans. $160k - $600k and you're going to pay more taxes with Obama's plan vs McCain's, and over $600k you're going to pay a LOT more taxes.

A few things to remember of course is this is just an analysis of their early plans which may be drastically different by the time either becomes law. Also there's a certain fudge factor in the numbers since the original report is based on income distributions (ie middle 20%, top 1%) which don't align with income tax brackets. Oh, and I didn't double check any of my work. And lastly, there are a lot of other issues at stake. Personally I'm rooting for universal health care so I can quit my job and work on my rock band career.

Apparently this is what I do when I visit my parents.

Note: If you read either of the first two links, they both make a mistake saying that under Obama's plan the middle class would get an extra $1402. The original report says $1042.

Awhile ago Gabe pointed me to this You Tube clip for a Guitar Hero knock off for a PC using your keyboard, Frets on Fire. I don't have the You Tube link anymore, but something about the site caught my eye. Click on the image below to see the larger version.

Nice!

peace&love,
lazyJ