Vacation, Guilty Pleasure Thursday and oh so much more

I have been a little MIA lately, and for good reason. We are on vacation! My Oneandonly and I hit the road last weekend and headed to the beach. We don’t have the Internet where we are staying which is… really nice.

Life. Is. Good.

I don’t mean to brag, but I am good at vacation. I mean, really good at vacation.

For your entertainment in my absence, I thought I would share a few other ways to waste time on the internet interesting Internet finds. These sites are for the most part, complete black holes for your time –in a good way, of course. These clearly fall under the umbrella of Guilty Pleasure Thursday….it’s Thursday, right?

1. Let’s get the obvious out of the way first. FreeTetris.org. Now it’s no Snood, but it is quite addictive. If you’re not careful, you may close your eyes at bedtime and she colorful shapes and feel compelled to mentally rotate them to fit on some imaginary game board. True story. Happened to someone I know.

2. The Easter Egg Archive. An Easter egg is the name for an intentional hidden message or feature in a movie, book, CD, DVD, television show, commercial, video game, website or painting. Hidden tracks on CDs or records are classic examples of Easter eggs. Some people call them secret songs or ghost tracks. Whatever you call it, it’s a piece of music that has been placed on a CD or record in such a way as to avoid detection by the casual listener. Circa 5^th grade, I remember being thrilled to discover secret songs at the end of Green Day’s Dookie album and the Dave Matthews Band album, Under the Table and Dreaming. Counting Crows’ “Big Yellow Taxi” was actually a hidden cover song on Hard Candy. My favorite hidden track might be The Beatles’ song “Her Majesty” from the album Abbey Road. A quick example of an Easter egg in film is that Alfred Hitchcock makes cameo appearances in each of his movies, as does M. Night Shyamalan (Yes, I am well aware that those two don’t belong in the same sentence). Of course a book could be written about the Easter eggs on Lost. There are literally thousands of these little secrets out there. Thanks to the geniuses behind the site, you no longer have to hunt for these eggs yourself. You can look up your favorite TV show, movie or band and see if there are any of these little secrets waiting to be uncovered. There is an exhaustive list on the site, complete with a searchable index. It’s like a secret world has been revealed.

3. Texas Department of Criminal Justice. It is with some hesitation that I share this link. It is certainly not for all audiences. This link to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice contains an archive of the last words of those executed by the state of Texas, home to over a third of our nation’s executions. It’s amazing to me that documentation of the last words spoken by 450 executed inmates is kept on public record. Some ask for forgiveness, some claim innocence, and most claim the name of Jesus. You can also see what crime they were convicted of. It makes for very interesting reading. Consider it a sociological study rather than a twisted pastime. Just like WebMD, I do not recommend reading this close to bedtime.

Please enjoy these little diversions in my absence. I’ll be back to the real world all too soon. Only I will be a tanner, more well rested and more well traveled version of myself. With stories to tell…