<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20792586</id><updated>2011-08-08T05:11:11.557-07:00</updated><category term='blog hosting web hosting'/><title type='text'>Chris the Geek</title><subtitle type='html'></subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>Chris the Geek</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/09394027006457485168</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='22' height='32' src='http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6811/smallgeek27ba.jpg'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>16</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20792586.post-4062374991046739743</id><published>2007-06-07T19:24:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2007-06-07T19:25:56.026-07:00</updated><title type='text'>I've Moved</title><content type='html'>It's official. I've moved to &lt;a href="http://www.chrisgeek.com"&gt;Chris Geek&lt;/a&gt;. This blog is retired.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20792586-4062374991046739743?l=christhegeek.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.chrisgeek.com' title='I&apos;ve Moved'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/feeds/4062374991046739743/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=20792586&amp;postID=4062374991046739743' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/4062374991046739743'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/4062374991046739743'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/2007/06/ive-moved.html' title='I&apos;ve Moved'/><author><name>Chris the Geek</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/09394027006457485168</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='22' height='32' src='http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6811/smallgeek27ba.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20792586.post-8250016368727958404</id><published>2007-03-09T23:12:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2007-03-09T23:15:55.342-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Mission Accomplished</title><content type='html'>Just like when Pres. Bush said it, it's not the whole truth. Yes, I have a blog up at www.chrisgeek.com.  But on the other hand, I'm not completely satisfied with Speedfox hosting, and if I can find something better, I'm going to switch.  Which means I might have to set up wordpress again, which was more than a '5 minute' install.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20792586-8250016368727958404?l=christhegeek.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/feeds/8250016368727958404/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=20792586&amp;postID=8250016368727958404' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/8250016368727958404'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/8250016368727958404'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/2007/03/mission-accomplished.html' title='Mission Accomplished'/><author><name>Chris the Geek</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/09394027006457485168</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='22' height='32' src='http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6811/smallgeek27ba.jpg'/></author><thr:total>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20792586.post-3098399087349463895</id><published>2007-02-18T22:24:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2007-02-18T22:35:34.917-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='blog hosting web hosting'/><title type='text'>Blog Web Hosting</title><content type='html'>Hey Guys,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I know you've all been on &lt;em&gt;pins and needles&lt;/em&gt; waiting for my latest post. Well, I'd like to write it, but I'm waiting until I set up an independent blog (independent of blogger that is). I think, in the long run, having an independent blog will be best -- I won't be subject to the whims of blogger, which might change any time by putting ads on pages or what not.) I'm planning on setting it up at chrisgeek.com (although, I do own christacular.com and mchamster.com, both pretty good domain names. Let me know if think I REALLY should use one of those other ones).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;So, do you have any suggestions as to who should host my website and what program I should use to post my blog? Who hosts your blog, what program do you use, and how much do you pay?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Thanks for the advice.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20792586-3098399087349463895?l=christhegeek.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/feeds/3098399087349463895/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=20792586&amp;postID=3098399087349463895' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/3098399087349463895'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/3098399087349463895'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/2007/02/blog-web-hosting.html' title='Blog Web Hosting'/><author><name>Chris the Geek</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/09394027006457485168</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='22' height='32' src='http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6811/smallgeek27ba.jpg'/></author><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20792586.post-116485887385683642</id><published>2006-11-29T19:30:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-11-29T20:03:04.046-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Hiding Out</title><content type='html'>First, I'd like to mention -- there's a pretty awesome sale at &lt;a href="http://www.geekfitters.com"&gt;Geekfitters&lt;/a&gt;. You can get some &lt;a href="http://www.geekfitters.com"&gt;great t-shirts&lt;/a&gt;, all for only $9.99. And the shipping is only $3.95 flat rate.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I visited the Chicago beauties and geeks two weeks ago. I had a good time. It's one of those friendships where you can just pick up like normal, like you'd just seen each other yesterday (when in fact, I haven't seen most of these kids for a while). Joe took me out to get some pizza, and Karl came out sometimes too, when his girlfriend gave him permission.  Joe and Karl, and their roommates Matt and Josh, were really good hosts.  Also, I was really glad to see Tristin, Brittany, and Amanda.  All three of them had to drive pretty far just to come out and see me. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Chicago is nice. The architecture matches the cold weather -- tall, vertical homes, line the streets, and many of the sky-scrapers have a sort of gothic design.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Currently, I'm hiding out here in Durham, North Carolina. Just waiting for Season 3 to come out, so that people will forget about me. Fortunately, no one has recognized me out here. Durham is beautiful. I've heard it said once that the United States used to be covered coast to coast with forests, so that a squirrel could cross the continent without ever touching the ground. Durham feels like the houses and roads were cut into the trees. The highways are lined on either side with towering trees. They're lovely.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Alright, that was a little cheesy. I'm feeling nauseous.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20792586-116485887385683642?l=christhegeek.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/feeds/116485887385683642/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=20792586&amp;postID=116485887385683642' title='9 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/116485887385683642'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/116485887385683642'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/2006/11/hiding-out.html' title='Hiding Out'/><author><name>Chris the Geek</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/09394027006457485168</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='22' height='32' src='http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6811/smallgeek27ba.jpg'/></author><thr:total>9</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20792586.post-116262193365067574</id><published>2006-11-03T22:17:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-11-03T23:06:16.530-08:00</updated><title type='text'>TV knows no boundaries</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;"&gt;Apparently, Beauty and the Geek has crossed the seas. This was from myspace:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;hi chris my name is sunhyang. lately,it's broadcasting "beauty &amp; the geek 2" in korea. i know you from that. it's interesting. but you speak with an air of imfortance. tristin was touched with pity. what a pity!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;From South Africa:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Dear Chris&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I am 21 and live in South Africa. I am a dedicated fan of yours. I look up to you as a role model. I appreciate your accomplishments and achievements.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I know that you are busy and get tons of fan mail but could you please fulfil a small request from adevoted fan? Could you please send me an authentic, personally signed note or pic made out to me "Clayton". I will greatly appreciate it.Having your autograph will be a real dream come true for me.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;My postal address is: &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Clayton&lt;br /&gt;(address)&lt;br /&gt;South Africa&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Thank you so much for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Regards, Clayton&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;"&gt;Now, I'm not sure which accomplishments he's talking about: was it perhaps when I made a girl cry on national TV, or maybe when I alienated everyone on the show during the question session? To be fair, I was pretty funny sometimes, and I had a few virtues (repentance?). &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:130%;"&gt;I wonder how other cultures perceive this whole reality tv phenomenon. Also, if the Korean version has subtitles, I'd love to see how they translated the show. I hope these letters amused (maybe even disturbed?) you.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;-- Chris&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;address&gt;&lt;/address&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20792586-116262193365067574?l=christhegeek.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/feeds/116262193365067574/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=20792586&amp;postID=116262193365067574' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/116262193365067574'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/116262193365067574'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/2006/11/tv-knows-no-boundaries.html' title='TV knows no boundaries'/><author><name>Chris the Geek</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/09394027006457485168</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='22' height='32' src='http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6811/smallgeek27ba.jpg'/></author><thr:total>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20792586.post-116213845298589668</id><published>2006-10-29T07:57:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-12-05T20:15:17.516-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Not really a post, but it's necessary -- ignore</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://www.geekfitters.com/studinstudybrown.html"&gt;I Put the Stud in Study t-shirt &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.geekfitters.com/badinbadminton.html"&gt;I Put the Bad in Badminton t-shirt&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.geekfitters.com/chessplayersolive.html"&gt;Chess Shirt&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.geekfitters.com/drytshirtcontestwinner.html"&gt;Party t-shirt&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.geekfitters.com/parttimeninja.html"&gt;Part Time Ninja t-shirt&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.geekfitters.com/bigpapalightblue.html"&gt;I Love it When You Call Me Big Papa Pope t-shirt&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.geekfitters.com/"&gt;Geek T-shirts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I think most of you know why I did this.  It's good for business.  If you feel so inclined, find some not so visible place on your website to hide these links.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20792586-116213845298589668?l=christhegeek.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/feeds/116213845298589668/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=20792586&amp;postID=116213845298589668' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/116213845298589668'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/116213845298589668'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/2006/10/not-really-post-but-its-necessary.html' title='Not really a post, but it&apos;s necessary -- ignore'/><author><name>Chris the Geek</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/09394027006457485168</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='22' height='32' src='http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6811/smallgeek27ba.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20792586.post-114452554762503795</id><published>2006-04-08T12:38:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2006-04-08T12:45:48.303-07:00</updated><title type='text'>New Shirts!</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;font-size:130%;"&gt;Hey gangstas,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I'm sure some of you wonder what I've been up to lately.  Well, you should stop wondering, you stalker!  For the rest of you have a mild interest in my life, or perhaps a morbid curiousity, here is the fruit of my labor: I've added two &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://geekfitters.com"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;font-size:130%;"&gt;new t-shirt designs to Geekfitters. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.geekfitters.com/chessplayersolive.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;img style="WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://www.geekfitters.com/images/chessolive.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="left"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.geekfitters.com/chessplayersolive.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;font-size:130%;"&gt;Chess Players Know How to Mate t-shirt&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div align="left"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.geekfitters.com/images/ptninjafinal1icon.jpg"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;img style="WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://www.geekfitters.com/images/ptninjafinal1icon.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="left"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.geekfitters.com/parttimeninja.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;font-size:130%;"&gt;Part Time Ninja t-shirt&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When I got more time, you'll get some more personal blogs.  Comments are slim, but -- no matter what Joe does -- I will not resort to pictures of Sarah in order to get comments.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20792586-114452554762503795?l=christhegeek.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/feeds/114452554762503795/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=20792586&amp;postID=114452554762503795' title='6 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/114452554762503795'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/114452554762503795'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/2006/04/new-shirts.html' title='New Shirts!'/><author><name>Chris the Geek</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/09394027006457485168</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='22' height='32' src='http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6811/smallgeek27ba.jpg'/></author><thr:total>6</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20792586.post-114310619443451927</id><published>2006-03-22T23:22:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-03-23T01:38:04.280-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Cake and Memory Gaps</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;The season of BATG started and ended with cake. At the premiere party:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p align="center"&gt;&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7169/1965/1600/mauricecake.1.jpg"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;img style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7169/1965/320/mauricecake.0.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;My friend's girlfriend made this. Notice how my shoes are untied! and I'm dressed like Steve Urkel. Now, I'm not condoning the tagline for the girl (I heart me), that was their creation. I am thankful for the thought and energy they put into it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now, to the finale:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p align="center"&gt;&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7169/1965/1600/joshandchercake.jpg"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;img style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7169/1965/320/joshandchercake.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align="left"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;If you can't tell, the winning box is checked off. Pretty thoughtful. I like Josh's family. His Dad is cool. I watched the finale with Josh, Cher, Tyson, and Wes, as well as lots of the crew. Here's a pic of the winning couple:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align="center"&gt;&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7169/1965/1600/joshandcher.jpg"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;img style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7169/1965/320/joshandcher.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align="left"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;No, that's not Kutcher in the background. It was an interesting trip to LA. The final episode seemed really funny, but maybe that's because I was with a huge group. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;Some thoughts on the show: I'm pretty satisfied with how I was portrayed on the show. The ideal portrayal would have been to be like Josh -- they allowed him to have both humor and sympathy. But he's the only guy I would trade places with. Some of the other guys were not allowed to stand out... A lot of the guys said some funny stuff that got cut out, and they got pegged into roles.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Something interesting: I actually met one of the show's editor's at Josh and Cher's finale viewing party. Now, I was initially tempted to kick the editor in the balls. However, he was a cool guy, a great editor (he edited episodes 4 and 8 -- both tough episodes, both well done. And if you read previous entries, you'll see that I thought that episode four was the fairest portrayal out of all of them). Anyways, he told me about a few things that I didn't know about. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;I asked him why they didn't show me and Karl playing guitar. He said that he had a note from the producers saying that they couldn't show anything positive about me until &lt;em&gt;after &lt;/em&gt;the apology (the one to Tristin, if you're keeping score). &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;Also, he told me that when they caught me flexing, I was actually stretching! Watching the show affected the way I recalled actual events! He said they used every frame and angle they had of what was &lt;em&gt;maybe&lt;/em&gt; five seconds of stretching, and that the footage came from the week after the first episode. It makes sense in hindsight, because A: I've got back problems, and B: I sleep in my undies. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;The other thing he told me is that the girls were actually laughing at my jokes at the speed dating, and that they were interested when I was talking about geishas. According to him, they used negative reaction shots. He said that even Tristin enjoyed it and was telling the other beauties what I was saying. He also said that all the guys did really well, and that the scoring was really close on the speed dates. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;I'm gonna talk to him again soon, not just because of the show, but because he's a cool guy.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Anyways, more posts coming soon, so stay tuned my babies!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;P. S.  Check out &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.gnomeattic.blogspot.com"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;Joe's Blog!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20792586-114310619443451927?l=christhegeek.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/feeds/114310619443451927/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=20792586&amp;postID=114310619443451927' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/114310619443451927'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/114310619443451927'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/2006/03/cake-and-memory-gaps.html' title='Cake and Memory Gaps'/><author><name>Chris the Geek</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/09394027006457485168</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='22' height='32' src='http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6811/smallgeek27ba.jpg'/></author><thr:total>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20792586.post-114120336327545746</id><published>2006-02-28T23:57:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-03-01T01:56:33.413-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Ratings</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;It's all about ratings. I was curious about Beauty and the Geek's ratings, so I looked 'em up. The results are interesting:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(in millions)&lt;br /&gt;Ep. 3 (Jan. 26th): 4.42&lt;br /&gt;Ep. 4 (Feb. 2nd): 4.56&lt;br /&gt;Ep. 5 (Feb. 9th): 4.08&lt;br /&gt;Ep. 6 (Feb. 16th): 4.18&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Tristin and I were eliminated at the end of Episode 4. Then, after we left the show, the ratings dropped by almost half a million viewers. I avoided the initial temption to assume that Tristin and I were the reason for the drop. I've taken too many psych classes to know that there are several ways to explain a correlation. (yes, I did actually learn a few things from my psych classes.) At first, I thought: "Well, maybe Smallville (which is right before Beauty) had a great episode on Feb. 2nd and that carried over to BATG (Beauty and the Geek)." But it turned out the opposite was the case:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Smallville Feb. 2nd: 5.36&lt;br /&gt;Smallville Feb. 9th: 5.41&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I also thought: "Perhaps more people watched the fourth episode because it was the makeover episode. I mean, Ankur got his chest waxed!" I think that's partly true, but it only accounts for .14 mil. of the viewers (episode 4 only brought up the previous amount of viewers by .14).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Perhaps there was a special on in that time slot just for that week. If there was, I haven't found out about it. (This was before the Olympics).&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now, I realize that there are a lot of other factors, but I'm still left with my initial theory: Tristin and I brought in some ratings. Not a half a million, but part of it. Now, this is just a theory, but it has some merit. These are the reasons why I think Tristin and I brought in some ratings:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;First, I think Tristin and I created a lot of drama. Well, I created most of it, and Tristin magnified it.&lt;br /&gt;Second, people really liked Tristin.&lt;br /&gt;Third, some people really disliked me... and wanted to keep watching until I lost.&lt;br /&gt;Fourth, some people really liked me and enjoyed my sense of humor.&lt;br /&gt;Tristin and I kinda attracted a wide spectrum of viewers: Tristin attracted people who are more sensitive, sentimental and maybe a little softer. I attracted people who are thick skinned and rough around the edges. (Since I've been going out recently, I've found that most guys, and girls who are thick-skinned, seem to really like my sense of humor.)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The other thing I've noticed while going out is that most people have a definite opinion of me. I evoked strong emotions one way or another. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;(I got the ratings from &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/ratings/more/"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;the LA Times&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;.)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Heads up&lt;/strong&gt;: I will be on Reality Remix on Thursday, on Fox Reality Channel. It should be pretty interesting -- &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.realityremix.tv/kennedy.php"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;Kennedy&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt; asked me some tough questions. You can actually &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.realityremix.tv/"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;watch it online &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;after 5pm (well, at least you are supposed to be able to watch it online at that time, but sometimes they take longer). &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20792586-114120336327545746?l=christhegeek.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/feeds/114120336327545746/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=20792586&amp;postID=114120336327545746' title='20 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/114120336327545746'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/114120336327545746'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/2006/02/ratings.html' title='Ratings'/><author><name>Chris the Geek</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/09394027006457485168</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='22' height='32' src='http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6811/smallgeek27ba.jpg'/></author><thr:total>20</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20792586.post-114030303675893162</id><published>2006-02-18T14:11:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-18T15:29:52.876-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Are you a veterinarian?</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;...Cause these pythons are sick!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I've missed you all. I know you were &lt;em&gt;devastated&lt;/em&gt; after I got my ass handed to me in the elimination room and said goodbye to America. Well, you don't have to live in severe depression any longer, because I have braved the cameras once more.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On Sunday, I'll be on the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://online.tvguide.com/NewSearch/detail.aspx?id=4729628&amp;tvobjectid=&amp;amp;sourcetype=S&amp;progseriesparentid=4729628&amp;amp;keyword=Kimberly+Caldwell&amp;referrer=search1"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;Reality Chat &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;show on the TV Guide Channel, where you might see the softer side of Chris.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And, sometime next week (probably Monday or Tuesday -- I'll let you know when I know) I'll be on the Fox Reality Channel's &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.realityremix.tv"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;Reality Remix&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;, where &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.realityremix.tv/kennedy.php"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;Kennedy&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt; will try to steal my second kiss, and I'll reveal I'm president of a very selective club!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I also did &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.realitynewsonline.com/cgi-bin/ae.pl?mode=1&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;article=article9480.art&amp;amp;page=1"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;an interview online&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;. I realize it repeats some of my blog entries, but there's also some other great questions. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Coming soon&lt;/em&gt;: My recap of an interesting trip to LA. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;Two things to check out:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;Tyson is hosting a one man Rubik's marathon -- &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://chibimagic.org/cube/"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;one guy cubes for 24 hours!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt; It will finish sometime today (Saturday).&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;And finally, you've met his friends, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.tvgasm.com/beautyandthegeek/seasontwo/pythons20906.jpg"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;Thunder and Lightning&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;. Now meet the man himself, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://kmachiavelli.blogspot.com"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;Karl&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20792586-114030303675893162?l=christhegeek.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/feeds/114030303675893162/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=20792586&amp;postID=114030303675893162' title='17 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/114030303675893162'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/114030303675893162'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/2006/02/are-you-veterinarian_18.html' title='Are you a veterinarian?'/><author><name>Chris the Geek</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/09394027006457485168</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='22' height='32' src='http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6811/smallgeek27ba.jpg'/></author><thr:total>17</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20792586.post-113937193299492970</id><published>2006-02-07T19:24:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-08T13:23:41.656-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Episode 4</title><content type='html'>First, &lt;a href="http://geekfitters.com"&gt;Geekfitters t-shirts&lt;/a&gt; is now open, with special sale pricing for the month of February.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now, to the Episode. I'm not going to go in order this time, I'm just going to list what comes to mind. My overall opinion is that this episode wasn't nearly as "edited" and biased as the first episode. In fact, I think the editors treated me pretty fairly this episode, (with a few exceptions):&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;The speed dating mistake: Why did I say what I said? The short explanation: I'm an idiot. The long explanation: I'm an iiiddiiiiiiooott. If there’s one thing I learned on the show, it’s that I hate karaoke. But if there’s a second thing I learned, it’s that when I screw up, I should just accept responsibility and apologize right away. Explaining will only make things worse. What do I really think about Tristin: Tristin is a sweetheart, and besides Cher, she was the smartest girl in the house.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;My main problem with this episode is that they didn't show my positive interactions with people in the mansion. Karl called me up a few days ago and told me he was upset. I asked why, and he said, "They didn't show the time you tried to teach me to play guitar." Karl is a really cool guy, and me and him got along really well. We talked a lot at the mansion, and we still do talk. I was pretty upset too, but I know how the show works. That interaction doesn't really fit into the villain image that the producers wanted for me. Also, Joe and I ran on the weekends. Well, Joe ran, I just struggled to keep up. Joe was in a lot better shape than I was. And after we ran, we just hung out and talked. Also, I did end up going into the hot tub, but only when I wasn't super-tired and/or studying for elimination. Josh and I had some "kindred spirit" moments too, times where we'd both feel the same way about something. And he'd make a comment, and I'd commiserate. For example, both Josh and I were going to die from anxiety before the karaoke competition. And, one thing they didn't even tape, was the van rides... girls were in one van, guys were in another. Us guys had a great time just joking around. On the ride over to the karaoke competition we sang every song we knew.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;My other problem with the editing was that I know I said some nice stuff about people, both to other cast members and in the interviews/confessionals, but none of it made it to the final show. I know I said nice things about Tristin, but all you see is my mistakes. I remember specifically saying that Tyson was very genuine and had a good heart, but that didn't make it in either. &lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;The makeover. The reason I put my head on Tristin's shoulder after Mike announced the challenge was that he said there was going to be waxing. When Tristin heard this, her eyes lit up like a Reggae band on April 2oth. I knew I was in for it. Although Tristin gave the orders, I gave the stylist some input too. During the makeover, I just told the hairstylist to do whatever she wanted, and that I trusted her judgement. She knows what kind of haircut works for my head. It took me a few days to realize that it looked good. The eyebrows was another story. I said the same thing to the aesthetician: "take off whatever you think is best. You're the expert on how eyebrows should look. But please, please bear in mind this one thing -- do not take off too much. Eyebrows should be manly. I do not want to look like the &lt;a href="http://www.angelfire.com/crazy3/marsrocks600/theone/carmine.jpg"&gt;Gotti brothers&lt;/a&gt;." So she does her thing, and it looks good -- nice and cleaned up, and well balanced. I say, "Great job." Just then, one of the producers comes in and tells the aesthetician that the director wants her to take more off my eyebrows. He said I didn't look different enough. I was upset... I didn't want the director deciding how my eyebrows should be waxed. What does he know about it? &lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;The rest of speed dating: The "prostitution" commentary... We were at a restaurant called "the Geisha House." And I had taken a history class on the subject of prostitution. I thought it was fair game for conversation. Anyways, I think the girls we "dated" were pretty cold. I'm not Dave Chappelle, but I said a few funny things and I got no love in return. Oh, I was glad they showed that I was a psych major.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;I think we all kinda knew Wes was going to win. We were judged on three criteria, and one of them was appearance. Unless I did amazingly awesome, I was going to lose. I was kinda upset, because I didn't feel like I had a legitimate chance at winning the karaoke or the speed dating challenge. Also, Wes went before us, so he was the standard of comparison.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Getting eliminated. I felt okay. It's funny, because if I had been eliminated any earlier, I would have felt crappy. First, I was feeling really bad about hurting Tristin's feelings. I made a comment on the show which summarizes how I felt: "Once I realized I screwed up with Tristin, I couldn't have cared less if they sent me to elminination room. I wasn't even thinking about that." Even though we had made up, I still felt emotionally drained. Also, I didn't feel bad about elimination because Tristin and I had already survived two trips to the elimination room. And Josh and Cher got all their questions right. When I got home, I looked up Cher on the internet and found out that &lt;a href="http://www.smudailycampus.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/02/27/403ef36fe6804"&gt;she was a genius.&lt;/a&gt; Plus, there's a certain element of luck in there. I knew both of Josh's questions, but I didn't get those questions. So I didn't feel so bad... what could we do?&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;I didn't blame Wes. I would have picked the same two couples if I were in his shoes.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Lastly, I'd like to apologize to Tristin publicly, for marring our exit video with clips of me flexing. To the editors: That was a cheap shot. No need to cut pictures of my scrawny body into our goodbye montage.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Okay, one more thing. We filmed this before the marketing for the film, Casanova, started.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Alright, one more thing: People keep asking what I learned from the experience. It’s not about what I learned, it’s about how I grew. I grew as a person, because I’ve become stronger and more sensitive all at the same time. Just imagine how much you would grow if you were put in a strange environment, with fifteen strangers, being watched by 5 million people, all the while competing for 100 grand. Us geeks are good at learning, and a lot of us &lt;em&gt;know&lt;/em&gt; who we want to be. The show helps us to &lt;em&gt;become&lt;/em&gt; that person.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;Overall, I felt like the first few episodes were really skewed, and this, by comparison, gave a somewhat fair portrayal of the events and people involved.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20792586-113937193299492970?l=christhegeek.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/feeds/113937193299492970/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=20792586&amp;postID=113937193299492970' title='46 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/113937193299492970'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/113937193299492970'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/2006/02/episode-4.html' title='Episode 4'/><author><name>Chris the Geek</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/09394027006457485168</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='22' height='32' src='http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6811/smallgeek27ba.jpg'/></author><thr:total>46</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20792586.post-113886071469447213</id><published>2006-02-01T20:55:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-02T07:17:17.430-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Episode 3</title><content type='html'>Ahh...the third episode. Didn't think I'd make it this far. Coming into this episode, I really toned down my competitiveness, even if that wasn't readily apparent.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1. The catfight: Last episode, if you recall, it was Cher/Josh and Ty/Tyson who sent us to elimination. I wasn't really hurt or insulted... I knew that I had ruined the game for myself the halfway through the very first challenge. What did upset me, though, was that I was being accused of being the only person who was competitive (it wasn't just Cher). I mean, at least be honest with me and admit that a hundred grand is a nice chunk of change, and that you're actually trying to win. I was the only person who was &lt;em&gt;openly&lt;/em&gt; competitive, but I felt like other people were competitive, just not open about it (which was a much better strategy).  Cher wanted to talk to Tristin and I. I can't remember, but I don't think she gave us a genuine apology. I think part of the reason she convened the meeting was that she remembered my "threat" and she wanted to do some damage control. Again, I don't blame her, she was just playin the game. I didn't really think she needed to apologize, at least not to me. Maybe to Tristin, but not to me. I screwed the game up for myself. Anyways, she made a bad move, from a strategy standpoint, by indicating who she wanted to win before knowing the outcome. I think she was trying to remedy that. What's funny about that conversation is that they just show Tristin and Cher talking. The whole situation was a lot more complicated than that, but there's only so much complexity a one-hour reality show can handle. Basically, it looks like I'm just sitting there in my wife-lover [okay, it's a wife-beater, but I'm trying to change that]... anyways, it looks like I'm just chillin' while Tristin stands up for us. That's not all that happened, but I respect and appreciate Tristin for doing that. Tyson was also in the room, and I remember talking with both Cher and Tyson. What stands out from that is that Tyson said something like: "the prize is only $100,000, and, after taxes, it's like 60 or 70 grand." He was right. The prize was a lump sum of just under 100 g's. Then he said, "We're all brilliant guys, and we'll all probably be making more than that by the time we're 30 or so." And I agreed. He was right. It's funny because I think of myself as being a little smart, but I never really thought about how little the money actually was. That's when I toned down my competitiveness.  If you think about it longterm, 60 grand isn't that much.  I give props to Tyson for that. I think Tyson was the only person in the house who genuinely was not that interested in the money.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;2. We leave for the decorating expedition to Bed, Bath and Beyond. Just curious, did anyone notice Tristan saying: "Mwhahah... Now they bring in the beautiful men for the evening." And all the girls cheer. Meanwhile, Josh, the last guy out, looks back with a classic face of disapproval. Anyways, I guess no one really notices that, but they basically just said we were all ugly. Jennifer tries to cover by saying "The beautiful men just left, what are you talkin' about?" but she has a look on her face that seems like she's joking around. Is it okay to make fun of geeks, but not beauties? Just curious.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;3. Shoppin: We only had about an hour to get all the stuff for one room. I'm kinda slow, I wish I would have got more stuff.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;4. The rooms. We all make mistakes, especially under pressure. It's just more embarassing when it's caught on national TV. Wes isn't psycho, he just didn't have enough time to think out the clock thing. I think this was the first time someone else said the f-bomb other than me [Danielle, after Karl barely lost.]&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;5. The computer challenge: That one was bittersweet, cause Tristin did really well. She almost won, but she got a little impatient and double clicked the add song button. So the CD took longer to burn because it had two copies of the same song instead of one.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;6. Ty Pennington: Other people in the house knew that. We would have found out anyways.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;7. Elimination again! I've got to say, the questions used int the elimination room don't really show how much someone has changed or transformed. It's a pretty arbitrary way to make a decision, but that's how it's got to be. I think it would be better if they made it the team who did worst in the competitions goes to elimination. Anyways, all I gotta say is: Tristin tore it up. I gave her props then, and I give her props now. She knew her stuff, and she nailed it. If it weren't for her, we would be gone, because Tyson had his stuff down cold. Regarding the questions, someone said one of Thais questions was incorrectly deemed wrong. However, the questions were according to study materials, which were "...for dummies" books. I think the answer was wrong according to the study materials. I don't have the books with me. Anyone else know?&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20792586-113886071469447213?l=christhegeek.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/feeds/113886071469447213/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=20792586&amp;postID=113886071469447213' title='29 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/113886071469447213'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/113886071469447213'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/2006/02/episode-3.html' title='Episode 3'/><author><name>Chris the Geek</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/09394027006457485168</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='22' height='32' src='http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6811/smallgeek27ba.jpg'/></author><thr:total>29</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20792586.post-113884667716774818</id><published>2006-02-01T17:40:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-02T07:39:11.520-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Episode 2</title><content type='html'>Episode 2&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I know I'm a little behind here, so I'm going to try to catch up. I'm not really going to focus just on me this time, because there's less need for it and there are other thoughts and insights I'd like to share. If you want to see my apologia, look down a few posts.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1. The apology -- They showed it! I'm surprised.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;2. The karaoke thing: If there's one thing I learned from the show, it's that I don't like karaoke. Josh and I were really nervous while waiting to get on... I think a few more minutes and we both would have had a heart attack. For the record, I hate the song Hot Blooded. I think it was weak that Brittany got singled out for thinking Hot Blooded was from the 80s... I think ALL of us thought that, she's just the one they caught on camera saying it. Some of the other geeks, as well as myself, were a little perturbed by the manner in which Tyson won -- the use of the Rubik's cube. I don't blame Tyson; if I could solve a Rubik's cube, I would have done it too. Besides, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have won anyways. I can't speak for the other guys, but afterwards, I just felt like my effort was wasted, that's all.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;3. The speeches: Tristin tried her best. It wasn't her fault she lost. Truth is, Cher came out and blew everyone away. She spoke eloquently and gave a great speech. In fact, I think Cher would have done better than most of us geeks. I think Tristin could have came out in her bra and panties while throwing bricks of hundred dollar bills at the audience and she still would have lost. I'm glad Tristin decided to be silly and have fun with it.  The girls speeches were edited to make them look worse. A lot of the girls made some good points that were cut out. The guys were allowed to ask the girls questions, but that didn't make it to TV. I was a little upset, cause Brandon asked this hilarious question, and the whole audience erupted in laughter, but it got cut. I can't remember his exact words, or if he'd want me to mention it, so I'll keep mum.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;4. The toga party: I did go to the toga party, but not til later. You can see me in Amanda and Brandon's exit video, if you look closely. I didn't do the walk-off. In case anyone was wondering why the walk off was done, it was a homage to Zoolander. I didn't do it because I was studying like crazy for the elimination room. I did get down there later, and we all just chilled. I think Tristin asked me to take a break and go hang out with the others. Are you seeing a pattern here? Tristin gives me some social advice, and I listen... well at least some of the time.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;5. I'd like to say, first off, that I didn't choose for Brandon and Amanda to go to elimination with Tristin and me. People make it seem like I went out of my way to eliminate them. I didn't. It just worked out that way. The elimination was super intense. We started the match 0 and 2... and I was pretty much thinking we were going to be gone. I was a little upset at myself, because Tristin and I had went over ALL the other bills except the 10 spot. This might be a good time to point out that if you don't know a question, you are still required to answer. Tristin didn't actually think that Thomas Jefferson was on the ten dollar bill, but she had to say something.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Well, that's all I can think of right now. Ep 3 coming soon.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20792586-113884667716774818?l=christhegeek.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/feeds/113884667716774818/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=20792586&amp;postID=113884667716774818' title='6 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/113884667716774818'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/113884667716774818'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/2006/02/episode-2.html' title='Episode 2'/><author><name>Chris the Geek</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/09394027006457485168</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='22' height='32' src='http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6811/smallgeek27ba.jpg'/></author><thr:total>6</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20792586.post-113771967410047614</id><published>2006-01-19T17:05:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-19T17:25:00.703-08:00</updated><title type='text'>More on episode 1</title><content type='html'>Seeing myself on TV was a real eye-opener. I saw myself in a completely new light. I realized that there are things about me, about who I am, that I hadn't noticed before. As I watched myself in the first episode, I noticed a huge flaw -- something terribly, terribly wrong. I wish I had noticed this before, because this flaw is unforgivable. It's tough for me to find the words to say this, but I must. The flaw was this: My delts look a little underdeveloped. I apologize to everyone, and I give you all my word that I will work harder to improve myself over the next few months. I believe it was Arnold Schwarzenegger (or was it Lou Ferigno) that once said: "A man with small deltoids, yes, he is a girly man." (or was it trapezoids. I can't remember.)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If you want my real views on the first show, click here:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/2006/01/first-episode.html"&gt;http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/2006/01/first-episode.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20792586-113771967410047614?l=christhegeek.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/feeds/113771967410047614/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=20792586&amp;postID=113771967410047614' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/113771967410047614'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/113771967410047614'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/2006/01/more-on-episode-1.html' title='More on episode 1'/><author><name>Chris the Geek</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/09394027006457485168</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='22' height='32' src='http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6811/smallgeek27ba.jpg'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20792586.post-113736830734507484</id><published>2006-01-15T14:48:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-02T07:33:51.426-08:00</updated><title type='text'>First episode</title><content type='html'>I knew I came off pretty bad in the first episode when my sister K called me up and said she loved me.  She's on the east coast, so she saw the show before me.  Anyways, I know she loves me, and the fact that she had to call me up to remind me meant that I didn't come off too well on the show.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I'm not really worried, I don't take the show too seriously and I don't care what most people think.  So, I don't want to give away that I'm actually a decent guy, and lose my villain status.  But, I gotta post some of my insights into the first episode in order to save the family name.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1.  When I read my card, the editing made it look like girls were shocked.  All the girls laughed.  Also, the producers kinda set me up for that one.  When I first went out, I didn't even read my card.  I just went out and said: "My name is Christopher, and as you can see by my shirt, I'm creative and funny."  And then Amanda asked if I played sports, and I said, "Yeah, I played volleyball in high school."  Then I went inside and Amanda picked me.  Then the producers made us both go out again and I had to redo my intro, because they wanted me to read one of my cards too.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;2.  I don't actually think that I'm too buff to be in the spa.  I actually think I'm pretty scrawny, and whenever i go to the gym, I'm usually the smallest guy there.  The real reason I didn't go to the spa was because I was tired.  We had to trek over to the mansion at 6am, and that means i had to get up at 4:30am that day and shave and get ready.  Then, we had to film the intros and pick partners.  By 10pm I was exhausted and I just went to bed.  It was tough sleeping because they don't turn off the bright lights til later. I remember specifically saying in the interviews in the mansion that I was tired, and that that was the reason why I didn't go to the spa.  The shots of me flexing were in the other room [after the switch], and it was probably a few seconds cut into ten shots.  Joe and I had been exercising [running, swimming push ups and sit ups] and I wanted to see the results.  It's a little embarassing, but everyone who exercises looks for the results.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;3.  The first challenge:  I actually answered 8 questions correctly, not two.  I didn't let Amanda answer cause I thought the guy questions were easier and because Amanda told me she didn't know much about politics.  Towards the end of the game, Amanda actually &lt;em&gt;wanted&lt;/em&gt; me to answer the questions.  And halfway through, I felt like I was protecting her, because I had already attracted attention to myself, but she would be better off laying low.  Also, we thought that we would be able to switch all the teams, but the producers had explained things to us wrong.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;4.  The interrogation:  I'm a psych major, and that's how I know it's cake.  And it is cake if you look at the number of hours you have to put into it, and the percentage of A's and B's given out, compared to other majors like bio, chem, math, physics, etc.  The reason I was tough on people was because A: we only had about an hour to decide, and I didn't have time to be tactful and B: I had realized I had already ruined the game for myself, and at the time I thought it was best to intimidate people.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;5.  The switch:  Amanda really wanted to stay together with me, even after the interrogation thing.  I wanted what was best for both of us, but her especially.  I had to explain to her for 20 MINUTES why her staying with me would make her a target too, and that anyone who was with me would go to elimination for sure.  If she went with someone else, they would be able to lay low and cruise to later rounds.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;6.  Now, I'm not trying to say that I'm a saint or anything.  I'm really competitve.  Also, I'm sometimes harsh and just don't realize it.  I'm working on becoming better.  And, when I am wrong, I own up and apologize.  For example, after the "interrogation," my partner said that I came of pretty harsh, so I apologized personally to each person in the mansion.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Well, there's my view of episode one.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20792586-113736830734507484?l=christhegeek.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/feeds/113736830734507484/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=20792586&amp;postID=113736830734507484' title='7 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/113736830734507484'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/113736830734507484'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/2006/01/first-episode.html' title='First episode'/><author><name>Chris the Geek</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/09394027006457485168</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='22' height='32' src='http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6811/smallgeek27ba.jpg'/></author><thr:total>7</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20792586.post-113692826719968618</id><published>2006-01-10T13:23:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-10T18:35:18.523-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Hello family, friends and stalkers</title><content type='html'>Hello. Welcome to my new blog. I'll be posting new stuff soon. Stay tuned.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/20792586-113692826719968618?l=christhegeek.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/feeds/113692826719968618/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=20792586&amp;postID=113692826719968618' title='14 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/113692826719968618'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/20792586/posts/default/113692826719968618'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://christhegeek.blogspot.com/2006/01/hello-family-friends-and-stalkers.html' title='Hello family, friends and stalkers'/><author><name>Chris the Geek</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/09394027006457485168</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='22' height='32' src='http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6811/smallgeek27ba.jpg'/></author><thr:total>14</thr:total></entry></feed>
