garyzyriek.com

6.25.2008

Open Letters

Dear Madonna,

I was looking at your "Hard Candy" album cover and it's time to realize that you're getting pretty damn old. I know you've been my Material Girl for a long time and I'm so Crazy for You that I'd love to Live to Tell about Getting in the Groove with you. However, you've only got a few good years left and I can't wait forever. Just think about it 'cause I'm not inviting you to my fleshy freakfest if you're old, wrinkly and smell like moth balls.



Dear Lazy, Fat Lady at Target,

Boy, did you really give me the eye in the Target parking lot as you were contemplating whether to avoid taking that grocery cart to the cart corral. I guess you had to make eye contact to see if I was gonna narc you out before you popped that cart up on the grassy median then bolted for your car. But here's the deal. I counted the steps you made from car-to-median and back to car. It took you 10 steps. Had you added 6 more steps to your trip then you would have politely delivered the cart to its proper resting place. You could not take 6 more steps to be nice to that poor, minimum wage earning Target employee who had to fish your cart out of the grass? Perhaps if you made the effort to add 6 more steps to your daily exercise routine then I would not have to blog about how fat and lazy you are.


Dear Foul-Mouthed, Fat Redneck at the Gym,

Yes, you again; Notre Dame grad -- ish. At Notre Dame (or some surrounding community college) did you take a class on how to construct sentences such as "I don't f#cking give a sh*t f%ck about these young kids today. They've got no f^cking discipline." I love how you always seem to raise your voice and look at me everytime you make such insightful comments. I sincerely hope that you reconsider the definition of discipline the next time you (1) lack the self-control to keep from knocking out a dozen vending machine bear claws and (2) show up to the gym everyday to religiously run your mouth while lifting the equivalent of 6 paper towels during your "workout."


Dear Smokers on the Elevator,

Do you guys always have to smoke then immediately jump into a poorly-ventilated enclosure with me? Do you realize that you smell like, um, you know... a cigarette? This is war. You guys try this again and I'm pooting on the elevator. I'm sorry that innocent bystanders may die, but you're the ones responsible for this. You brought it upon yourselves; you have the power to stop this.

6.24.2008

Photo Uploads

I love the ability to upload and share photos. It's so awesome to see family and friends immediately after [insert fun or important event name here].

However, with this great power to upload pics comes great responsibility. So before you upload, plz take a few tips from Gary Z. on the etiquette of uploads.

Is that the hairiest baby you've ever seen?
Please, please, please don't upload out of focus pics. This has been my pet peeve since the Kodak Disc camera. People would be so proud of their photo albums where the pics looked like they had all been taken under water. The only out-of-focus pics that are acceptable are ones of Sasquatch, the Loch Ness monster, UFOs, the New Orleans cityscape (trust me, it looks better that way), or when you're truly using focusing techniques as a method of expressing your creative side.

Wow, I feel like I'm at this gig... drunk as a sailor and holding my lighter up. Vision like this is what ends you up with a 300 lb. girl in the morning.



Rotata-mation
Neither my head nor my computer monitor (nice use of neither...nor, eh Kenny?) sit on a swivel. To rotate a pic in any photo editing software requires clicking one button. One button! Hit it please.

Or I could get a darn rotating screen...



Self Portraits
Sometimes self-portraits capture the perfect moment between lovers...


Sometimes they, uh, um. Not sure what to say here.


The view from Heaven
Unless you're using a person as a reference point for a spectacular nature shot or to give me a perspective on how large "World's Largest Prairie Dog" is, try to make sure that you don't take pics of people from 200 feet away.

Hey y'all, check out the boss pic of the warmups at the Notre Dame - Navy game. Awesome, you can totally see Brady Quinn down there...


Here, let Gary Z. zoom it in for you... ahhhhhh, better



This one is okay as well...



Doing it sans flash
If you're a master you can pull this one off. I bet this dude scores with all the ladies...



But most of us do this. What the hell? Did you really think I wanted to see this?


Damn, furry and dark. A two-for-one special.



Deja Vu All Over Again
I guess you loved that exact pose of your cat that you decided to snap it 6 times and upload every single one of them. Did you miss the fact that they're so identical that Ansel Adams couldn't distinguish them? Stop bloating your album with the same pic over and over again.

Look at this pic of Caroline in the park feeding the ducks...


So nice you're seeing it twice...


And again....


And again...


Ad nauseam...


Oh yeah, "bloat" leads me to the next point.

The Old Testament photo album
I'm not sure what the "ideal" number of pics in an online photo album is but I like to see 25 to 35 for a single day event or setting. Multi-day events require more pics but in that case you'll prolly only upload 10 pics/day. All estimates my friends. Time for call outs. My bro-in-law James had a fun morning of cooking pancakes with his sons. It is kinda nice. Twelve pics and it added a little fun to my morning. However, LP's Uncle B. has been known to upload well over 200 pics of his fiance's horse shows. Damn, B. First off, I don't have much interest in anything to do with horses. However, I'm on the fence; I could be won over. But when I see an album with 150, 200 or 250 pics the first thing I do is close my browser. The second thing I do is delete the "You're invited to come see my butt load of pics" email.


IMG_2354
The default name assigned to a pic by your camera is not a good caption. Either turn it off or place a nice caption on the pic to let me know who the funny gentlemen is with Aunt Thelma.

Eyes wide shut
If you caught someone with their eyes closed perhaps you should take a mulligan and repost the better pic. Exceptions include the "before and after" shots where your friend/loved one is sleeping in the "before" pic and then has an angry dingo, snake or bucket of cold water thrown on them in the "after" pic.

Photo Caption: "Gary's Narcoleptic Mother Plays a Game with Caroline"


Boobeeeeez
So you just caught a weird angle and notice one of your g'friend's boobeez hanging out. No correction necessary. Party on.

6.10.2008

Fat Loss Hula Chair



Article

6.07.2008

This Just About Sums It Up

Ann Landers' famous "The Childless Couple"

There is nothing sadder than a childless couple. It breaks my heart to see them relaxing around swimming pools in Florida, sitting all suntanned and miserable on the decks of their boats — trotting off to Europe like lonesome fools. It's an empty life. Nothing but money to spend, more time to enjoy and a whole lot less to worry about.

The poor childless couple are so wrapped up in themselves, you have to feel sorry for them. They don't fight over the child's discipline, don't blame each other for the child's most obnoxious characteristics, and they miss all the fun of doing without for the child's sake. They just go along, doing whatever they want, buying what they want and liking each other. It's a pretty pathetic picture.

Everyone should have children. No one should be allowed to escape the wonderful experience that accompanies each stage in the development of the young — the happy memories of sleepless nights, coughing spells, tantrums, diaper rash, debts, "dipso" baby sitters, saturated mattresses, emergencies and never-ending crises.

How dismal is the peaceful home without the constant childish problems that make a well-rounded life and an early breakdown; the tender, thoughtful discussions when the report card reveals the progeny to be one step below a moron; the end-of-the-day reunions with all the joyful happenings recited like well-placed blows to the temples.

Children are worth it. Every moment of anxiety, every sacrifice, every complete collapse pays off as a fine, sturdy adolescent is reached. The feeling of reward the first time you took the boy hunting — he didn't mean to shoot you, the lad was excited. Remember how he cried? How sorry he was? And how much better you felt after the blood transfusion? These are the times a man with a growing son treasures — memories that are captured forever in the heart and the limp.

Think back to the night of romantic adventure when your budding daughter eloped with the village idiot. What childless couple ever shared in the stark realism of that drama? Aren't you a better man for having lived richly, fully, acquiring that tic in your left eye? Could a woman without children touch the strength and heroism of your wife as she tried to fling herself out of the bedroom window?

The childless couple live in a vacuum. They fill their lonely days with golf, vacation trips, dinner dates, civic affairs, tranquility, leisure and entertainment. There is a terrifying emptiness without children, but the childless couple are too comfortable to know it.

You just have to look at them to see what the years have done: He looks boyish, unlined and rested; she's slim, well-groomed and youthful. It isn't natural. If they had had kids, they'd look like the rest of us — worn out, wrinkled and exhausted.

6.04.2008

Photo Post

I hope if they ever make another "Back to the Future" movie I hope that Michael J. Fox drives one of these... cuz they rawk !!



Note to self, pay mortgage more than once a year



LP hit my car and I was not too worried about it. In fact I decided to make light of it by surrounding my car with orange cones to increase its visibility. I laughed, LP did not.



Garage sale... before



Garage sale... after. Nice when you can bank a G and people carry your junk off for you.



I ordered LP a new jewelry box from Red Envelope. It came in this ridiculously large box...



Nice use of boxes RedEnvelope



The 10 inch long jewelry case was packed in a box large enough to house 2 children and a bag of Oreos



Life is not fair. I want a Corvette, I can't have one. My neighbors just got one... were windows an option on Vettes in 1984?



Oh yeah, it's THOSE neighbors. Remember them? Yeah.



Driver walks into DMV needing a new license plate:
driver: I need a new plate and I'm a big steroid user.
DMV rep: Clearly.

driver: So I need something that's gonna glorify my lifestyle choice.
DMV rep: Let's see... RAGING, ROIDS and LUV2POP are all taken. How about this one?



You know how I know you're gay? 'Cause you live on "Mans Lick." Oh, good. Glad to see your neighborhood church now welcomes all people. Wow, only 2,000 years after Christ died and y'all are picking up on this whole loving neighbor thingie.



Road head? Really? One car my daughter will never get near, but daddy might have to go it check out.



Our duct tape fix-it for the day



What can I say? Nothing, because he might read my blog and kill me. Hahahaha, like he can read. Hehehehe.



The most ambitious hood ornament on a Toyota MR2 EVER.



Let's make this clear. It's not your progress that bothers me, it's all the rubble, dust and construction crap thrown everywhere that is cause for apology. Progress, good. Shat strewn everywhere, bad. Get it right next time.



Funny ad, because they meant to do it



Sad ad, because they really had no clue how to spell that day that comes after Fryday. Thank goodness the yard sale was in May and not Feberairy.



Fat guy on little biiiiiike, fat guy on little biiiiiiike