2013 College Football Bowl Prediction Pool Manager Excel

I've created a 2013 College Football Bowl Prediction Pool Manager Excel file that is now available to download for free. There are two files: the college bowl pool manager and the player entry form. The spreadsheet contains the complete 2013 NCAA CFB bowl schedule including the time and TV station for every single bowl game. I also added the football helmets for every team so those players who don’t really follow college football can pick a winner based on which helmet design they like better!

Check out the Football Bowl Prediction Pool Manager here.

Best Breaking Bad Finale Tweets

Breaking Bad, the best show on television, has sadly come to an end. Here are some of the best Tweets, Facebook comments, and memes about the Breaking Bad series finale. (Spoiler alerts obviously).

• @deantrippe Not sure I should've let my son stay up for the Breaking Bad finale. He's loved the show so much, but he has kindergarten in the morning.
• @BadAstronomer I’m thinking about finally watching Breaking Bad. Is tonight a good night to start? Did I miss much?
• Friend 1: SPOILER ALERT: Walt turns himself in and has to do 100 hours of community service with the DARE program. So lame. 
• Friend 2 Reply: Even that ending would have been better than the dexter finale
• "Watching Breaking Bad finale is like saying goodbye to an old friend. A meth dealing, murdering, psycho old friend, but old friend anyway."
• Breaking Bad spoiler: TOO MANY COMMERCIALS
• I found someone who wasn't totally satisfied with the Breaking Bad finale. pic.twitter.com/HUMmP456gV
• @MrAlanSpencer “Breaking Bad” was basically about what happens if you underpay your teachers and don’t allow healthcare reform. #BreakingObama
• Granted that was the first Breaking Bad episode I've ever seen but I didn't think it was that funny
• I would start smoking crystal meth for another season of Breaking Bad
• The biggest thing left unanswered on Breaking Bad is why Jimmy Kimmel on Talking Bad
• Breaking Bad Spoiler: If you're not caught up on Breaking Bad it's your own fault if someone spoils it for you
• Skylar gets lung cancer from so much smoking, starts cooking meth. Breaking Bad 2: Skysenberg
• ‏@bobpowers1 We didn't see a doctor check Walt's pulse, look at someone in the room and shake his head no. GREAT, ANOTHER AMBIGUOUS ENDING.
• ‏I can't believe Breaking Bad ends with a big choreographed dance number featuring the whole cast I did not see that coming.
• The finale of #BreakingBad did what #DexterFinale couldn't do, ie. have an ending that wasn't absolutely retarded involving loggers.
• Walt didn't leave any money to Holly because she'd just put it in her mouth. She's a baby
• It was all a cautionary tale about artificial sweeteners

Best Cleveland Browns Tweets

In a shocking move (well kind-of but not really) the Cleveland Browns traded away their best player, 3rd round pick Trent Richardson, to the Colts, signaling they are already giving up on this season after an 0-2. Fans took to Twitter to vent their frustrations with the #factoryofsadness and below are my favorite funny Tweets about the Browns.

• @ESPN_Colin: The Browns offense, and this was inconceivable a day ago, just got less interesting.
• @_Happy_Gilmore: Cleveland Browns fall for the old "Trade us your best player and we'll give you the winning Powerball numbers" trick.
• @Kris10Guy: Being a Browns fan is like sticking your hand in a blender & hoping for the best when you already know the outcome
• @ShooterMcGavin: BREAKING: The remainder of Cleveland Browns games will be aired on Comedy Central
• @SportsNation: "HEY! We're still better than the Jaguars, you guys" - Browns management
• @TheFakeESPN: Willis McGahee hears Browns interested, calls Saul Goodman from Breaking Bad to see if he knows a guy that can help him disappear.
• @dmansworld474: Your move, Jacksonville. #browns #jags
• @HubbuchNYP: Great news, Browns fans! You’re going to have a lot of high picks in a deep draft. Horrible news, Browns fans! Mike Lombardi is picking.
• @TBone971: Guys who are still Browns: Oneil Cousins, Buster Skrine, Greg Little. Guys who aren't #Browns : Trent Richardson.
• @TheFakeESPN: Browns trade Trent Richardson to Colts, marking the biggest release from captivity in Cleveland since Amanda Berry.
• ‏@FunSkipBayless BREAKING: Trent Richardson just broke his own 40yrd dash record and all of Usain Bolt's world records, when he ran out of Browns facilities.
• @datageneral: The @Browns had to trade Trent Richardson because he didn't fit into their system of being terrible at football.
  @HJonesin: The browns just traded Joe Haden for a plate of nachos and a 2007 #witness tee shirt
  

  @Cole4X_mas21 Cleveland browns even clearing cap room to get Lebron in 2014!

  Download a 2013 NFL Helmet schedule spreadsheet

2013 NFL Schedule in Excel

On my Excel Spreadsheets Help blog I you can now download the 2013 NFL Schedule in Excel with helmet logos. This is a great spreadsheet for you fantasy football fans. Speaking of which, if you love fantasy football like I do, I thought I'd let you know about Fantasy Football Commissioner on CBSSports.com. It's where serious players go in order to step up the competition - and the fun.

CBSSports.com has been running fantasy leagues for almost 20 years, so you know it's reliable. Plus, the Commissioner game is jam-packed with over 1,000 customization options, in-depth news coverage and a top-notch mobile app. You don't just have to take my word for it. In the last couple years CBSSports.com has won awards for having the best fantasy game, league manager, mobile app and player rankings.

This is simply the best way to experience Fantasy Football with a group of your friends. Commissioner lets you easily setup a league and customize it anyway your league sees fit - the draft, schedule, scoring system, transaction rules, and just about anything else your league could ever want. Commissioner also gives your league incredible trash-talking tools including a league message board, a chat room, and even lets you post your own news stories with pictures and videos.

 

Since we're talking about football here, I'm also incredibly excited for Madden NFL 25 Anniversary Edition. I absolutely cannot wait for this to be released on August 27th, 2013! Each Anniversary Edition game includes a special code giving you the opportunity to unlock a special, 2013 regular season (17 weeks) trial of NFL Sunday Ticket on computer, tablet, and mobile devices. How cool is that? I’ve got mine pre-ordered - do you?

It's a boy!

My wife created some clever pictures to announce our baby on Facebook.

2013 March Madness Bracket Download

Get your 2013 March Madness Brackets! It's time to try and predict the winners and losers, who will get upset and who will win it all?

Go to my Excel Spreadsheets Help blog to download the 2013 March Madness bracket. Instructions are included within the spreadsheet.

Join my pool in Yahoo's Tourney Pick'em here.

My First Android Applications

I’ve recently completed and published my first Android applications! I’ve now made my own videos, blogs, websites, published books, and now created an app (what haven’t I done?). In reality though, these apps aren’t very complicated and it will be very interesting to see how well they are received and used. I wrote a short post on my CAD blog about Android Application Programming Basics.

My first app, which I programmed myself (and with lots of assistance from my brother), is essentially an index of roller coaster information including all of the interviews I’ve conducted over the years. Check it out for free here.

For fans of my Apartment Search Spreadsheet, my other new app is called Apartment Comparison. This app transforms my highly downloaded apartment search spreadsheet into an easy to use mobile app. I outsourced the main coding to a programmer in Singapore through oDesk.com and I got a logo and icons made from a designer using fiverr.com. I made some final tweaks to the code myself. Download Apartment Comparison from the Google Play store today.

I hope these apps are helpful and I would like to make back the $25 developer fee with the banner ads. As always, I welcome any and all feedback.

Albert Miller Model Train Display

I put together a short slideshow of the Miller Train Display, an amazing and detailed model train and city that my late grandfather built in his basement. Many of the structures and buildings were custom built by Albert and he named them after his children or grandchildren, like the Keegan Railroad company and the Weisenberger Mall.

I believe up to four Lionel trains could race around the track on different routes at one time. The longest route makes a giant loop around the entire perimeter of the table. Another route  just inside of the outer one goes up and down a hill. The mountain contains two tunnels on two different levels. A working waterfall feature was planned for the mountain but never built. The third route circles around the residential area while the other route stays in the industrial section of the display where the train cars could be loaded with logs, ice, cows, coal, grain, and milk. The layout included 29 track switches!

The train display had a little bit of everything. One cool feature hard to see in the pictures was the monorail/skyride (not sure what you call it) that rode along a wire above the train table. As you can see in the pictures the city included an airport (complete with runway lights), campground, mall, and more.

Using a CAD system and a free railroad layout creator software I found on the internet I was able to made a recreation of the train set. Pictured is the overhead view of the train’s layout I assembled based on the pictures and my memory.


Sadly, the train display no longer exists and all the train engines, cars, buildings, track, etc. were all sold and the table disassembled. I regret that this happened before I owned a video camera so these pictures are all we have left of this amazing display. Thanks for the memories grandpa.

Best PuppyBowl Tweets

Below are the best Puppybowl Tweets I saw today. I'm probably not going to be able to do one of these for the Superbowl so I thought I would do it for the other big "game" today.

• ‏@zachbraffWhat's this other game happening the same day as the #PuppyBowl?
• @hashtagtrey The Chinese version of the Puppy Bowl pic.twitter.com/L2owHU4t
• @fivehundy I will force my dogs to watch Puppy Bowl while shaming them for not being better athletes when they were puppies.
• @duckfallasfans Everyone loves the puppy bowl now but crucified Vick when he was training for it, hypocrites 
• @lmerwinSo. Best part of #PuppyBowl? Turtleman and the crew from #FindingBigfoot! 
• @Austisum Just got word that the Oakland Raider scout team was at the Puppy Bowl looking for cornerbacks. 
• @Tommy_Pickles69 #PuppyBowl u ever see the same puppy from the previous year? no! cuz they all get injured and "too old" this sport chews u up & spits u out 
• @skirtsnhose After 2 minutes of Puppy Bowl IX, my wife said, "this is ridiculous." She went back to watching "My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding" 
• @nickmoscato Guys, I heard one of these puppies stabbed another puppy after the Puppy Bowl a few years ago. 
• @nicknewt Ok, the puppy bowl won me over with the hedgehog cheerleaders and hamster blimp crew. 
• @LeanneBell1 two puppies from this year's puppy bowl admit to doping on Beggin' Strips. So sad.
• @AaronHaber Most people don't know this but the losing team in Puppybowl are put down. #puppybowl 
• @WriterAndrew Watching the Puppy Bowl made me realize that Animal Planet's brand is basically "cute YouTube videos, but on cable." 

The Chinese version of a puppy bowl

I hope you enjoyed reading some of these best Puppybowl Tweets.

2013 Superbowl Squares free download

Over at my Excel Spreadsheets Help blog I posted my 2013 Superbowl Squares free download. You can easily download and print it for free to use in your office pool. Download the Superbowl squares sheet here.

UPDATE: Printable 2014 Super Bowl Square template

Best Manti Teo Fake Girlfriend Tweets

Apparently, Notre Dame linebacker and Heisman trophy finalist has never seen an episode of MTV's Catfish, a show about online dating and how people create fake profiles. All the details have not been sorted on as of this posting so we don't have a really good picture of what exactly when on. What we do know, is that there are very hundreds of creative, funny, and insensitive people out there. Here are some of the best Manti Teo fake girlfriends Tweets:

• @Faux_TimTebow: Rex Ryan is in talks with Manti Te'o's girlfriend to become the Jets next QB.
• @NtwProductions: Teo got catfished! #mtv
• @EmilyNoonan:AJ McCarron's girlfriend will be featured in an SI Swimsuit issue. Manti Te'o's girlfriend will be featured on Myth Busters 
• @FauxJohnMaddenINSIDE THE NUMBERS: Manti Te'o's girlfriend won as many playoff games this season as Peyton Manning.  
• @QuesoS7: BREAKING: Manti Te'o's girlfriend was actually Chris Hansen the whole time. 
  
• @dsternsfI thought they taught the perils of premarital text at Notre Dame. Poor Manti Te'o 
• @FayaveliThe tooth fairy, my girlfriend and Manti Te'o's girlfriend all hangout on weekends.  
• @rmarmstrong88: If you think it's impressive that AJ McCarron's girlfriend was Miss Alabama 2012, Manti Te'o's girlfriend was Miss Narnia 2009, 2010 & 2011.  
• @PimpBillClinton: Good news. The Ghost Hunter guys found Manti Te'o's girlfriend." 
• @BScalabrine24: BREAKING: @ESPN to interview Manti Te'o's girlfriend:

BREAKING: ESPN to interview Manti Te'o's girlfriend.

There's also a great hashtag that's been created which has some great Tweets all on its own:

• #OtherImaginaryThingsBesidesTeosGF WNBA fans  
• #OtherImaginaryThingsBesidesTeosGF Penn State football from 1998-2011 
•  #OtherImaginaryThingsBesidesTeosGF Finding Bigfoot
• #OtherImaginaryThingsBesidesTeosGF The replacement refs career in the NFL.
• #OtherImaginaryThingsBesidesTeosGF Lebron James being straight. You can't tell me him and Wade don't have something going on... 
• #OtherImaginaryThingsBesidesTeosGF American values.

Download my free ebook on how to make supplemental income online. 

Best Homeland Season 2 Finale Tweets

Just had my mind blown by the Homeland Season2 Finale. The first half of the episode was soooo boring, especially after watching an intense Dexter finale, and then it exploded. Literally. Followed by an explosion of Tweets, of course. Here are some of my favorite tweets about the Homeland Season 2 finale.

• Zach Alexander ‏@gobuckmusic: half the time i watch homeland im screaming at carrie to stop being an idiot the other half im just crossing my fingers to see jess naked 
• Abby Gardner ‏@abbygardner: So this is turning into The Hills episode where Lauren chooses Jason over Paris? Lame. #homeland  
• Joe Schmitt ‏@joeschmitt: SPOILER ALERT: Carrie and Brody pickup groceries, go back to cabin, die of boredom.  
• KFC ‏@KFCBarstool: Only way I'll be satisfied with the #Homeland finale is if Brody straps a bomb to his chest and blows up Dana  
• Kyle Scott ‏@CrossingBroad: Homeland just turned the last four episodes of lemons into sweet, sweet lemonade. 
• a bitch :) ‏@NikyMS722: There's a lot of things u can say about #homeland but that it's predictable is certainly not among them  
• Philip DeFranco ‏@PhillyD: So that's why the first 30 minutes of Homeland were boring... Great finales tonight.  
• lara cohen ‏@Larakate: How many reviewers will be using "this is the smartest and the dumbest show" we've ever seen. #homeland  
• Dane Mamula ‏@danemamula: Homeland is over. And with that touchdown, so is my fantasy football season. #crappysunday  
• And the award for WTF Tweet goes to: Matt Miller ‏@Realmattmills
  "YO this hoe Carrie is straight crazier than a fish with titties #homeland"

So who moved Brody's car? Or was he just playing Carrie again? Theories? Discuss with me on Twitter @NTWProductions

California Coast Video Montage

I finally got around to finishing up my short montage video from our July vacation to the San Francisco Bay area. The footage starts off with some shots of us passing under the Golden State Bridge while heading twenty four miles out into the ocean to look for blue whales (we spotted two but didn’t get any pictures). The rest is mostly shore shots from Point Reyes National Seashore, including some endangered elephant seals fighting. And that is the theme song of the Uncharted video game series if you were wondering.

Rob Ryan versus Willy Wonka

While watching Monday Night Football we noticed a startling similarity between the Dallas Cowboys' defensive coordinator Rob Ryan (brother of Jets head coach Rex Ryan) and one of my favorite childhood films. It's the hair.

$1000 per Month

Learn how to make a residual income from the internet in your free time.If you’re not making any money off the internet – why not? You very well could be. It’s extremely easy to make some extra cash. Through my own experiences, I’m going to show you how to make a residual (and hopefully somewhat passive) income from the internet including:

• The secret to making money online
• 7 easy steps to building and monetizing your own website
• Optimize your site for search engines
• Internet marketing lingo
• Tools and resources

Do you want to learn how to earn 1000 a month? Do you want to know what is passive income? Download my free report and I’ll tell you ways to earn passive income and give you some of the best passive income ideas I’ve used to earn over a $1000 per month all in my free time!

Content Creation

I've been a content creation machine this week. I created a ton of content for my blogs and websites since coming back from a week of vacation in California. In the past week I have updated multiple websites, wrote numerous blog posts, conducted an interview, published over 100 vacation pictures to Facebook, and am editing three video segments from the trip. I thought I would use a post here to summarize all my recent content creation with links to all. Ok, here it goes. 


Blogs

I recently interviewed a zoo interpreter and photographer. I wrote up a review of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and uploaded a video of it to YouTube. I added an 2012 NFL helmet schedule to my Excel Spreadsheets Help blog downloads page. I explained part of the process of writing my roller coaster design book on Amusement Authority.


Mini-sites

I recently started a new online money making experiment which I’ve decided to share with you today. I’ve built four mini-sites to test out my idea to see how it works. People are always going for release dates for movies, book, and video games. If you can get traffic you can make money online. Thus, I have created a few sites based on possible future sequels for some of my favorite movies and video games. Looking for the Uncharted 4 release date? How about the Avengers 2 release date? Modern Warfare 4 release date. RollerCoaster Tycoon 4 release date.


Web Properties

I updated my recreational therapy exam site with a few new pages of great content.
My Apartment Search Spreadsheet website is up and running. My CATIA Macros tutorial site is humming along quite nicely.

Emails

I got some interesting email this week, from looking for quotes for a magazine to a casting call for a Food Network show, it's been quite the interesting week.

Don’t Put Me In Coach Book Review

I just finished “Don’t Put Me In, Coach: My Incredible NCAA Journey from the end of the bench to the end of the bench” by Ohio State walk on Mark Titus. Mark was a bench warmer on the Ohio State basketball team from 2006 to 2010. His Club Trillion blog launched him into the media spotlight and his career took off from there. The book is a funny journey into the locker room of the Buckeye basketball team. You will learn things you never knew about some of the most famous Ohio State basketball players of all time. I’ll never look at college basketball coach Thad Matta the same way ever again (the part where Mark describes the first time he met Thad is unforgettable). Get the inside scoop on the personality of players like Greg Oden and Evan “the Villain” Turner. Find out what really goes on in practice and overnight away game trips. 


The book, while a fun and easy read, is far from perfect. The beginning was laugh out loud funny and quite refreshing. However, the same style of humor and very similar jokes throughout make it increasingly not as funny the further you read into it. Also, a majority of the jokes are bathroom style humor, so if that’s not your thing then I recommend not reading. It’s very hard to tell what is true and what was fabricated for entertainment purposes. You find out how to earn a trillion in basketball stats but I found that segment of the book rather uninspiring (but maybe you other walk ons and benchwarmers will find it inspirational).


Regardless, if you’re a fan of OSU basketball I highly recommend you read  “Don’t Put me in, Coach.” The insight into how past Buckeye team’s chemistry was is something all hardcore fans crave and on that front Mark delivers in delicious doses.


Embedded below is a video Mark “The shark” (yes, that is the nickname he gave himself) Titus created and uploaded to YouTube. As he likes to say, he is “making it rain.” If you do decide to read you should watch Mark’s YouTube videos because he does refer to them in the book.

Muir Woods National Monument Review

Muir Woods National Monument contains a magnificent redwood forest near San Francisco. If you've been following my blog or Twitter lately you know I've been on the west coast the past couple of days. The next several posts will entail our adventures and experiences starting with Muir Woods. Included within are some of my Muir Woods pictures. But first, some background information on the California redwoods.

Where is the redwood forest located? There are two species of redwood trees in California: coastal redwoods and giant sequoias. The giant redwood trees are found along the coast of California while sequoias are only found in a few remote regions of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Redwoods can grow to a height of 379 feet, diameter of 22 feet, bark 12 inches thick, and an age of 2000 years (while sequoias in comparison grow to 311 feet, 40 feet in diameter, 31 inch thick bark, and 3,200 years of age)!

Some of the closest redwoods to San Francisco are found at Muir Woods National Monument in Mill Valley, California. This 104 year old park, named after John Muir, is located 12 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge. There are over six miles of Muir Woods hiking trails amoung the humungous trees. If you plan on visiting Muir Woods National Monument here are a few of my personal tips for a better and more enjoyable visit:

If you do decide to visit I recommend getting to the park early, as soon as it opens. The Muir Woods parking lots are tiny and fill up very quickly. If you don't get a parking spot you may park along the side of the road leading into the park but we warned you may have to walk a mile or even two (seriously) just to get to the front entrance!

There is an entrance fee to for the Marin Muir Woods trails (parking is free) but it was only $7 a person. Remember, there aren't many places where you can see these rare and wonderful trees.

The Muir Woods weather is quite cool so bring a jacket. Even though it might be nice and toasty while in the parking lots, the park is a dense forest where little sunlight reaches all the way to the forest floor making the air very cold. Dress appropriately.

The Muir Woods address is Mill Valley, CA 94941. The national park doesn't have an actual street address but was already listed in attractions on my Garmin Nuvi GPS navigator.

More updates from California coming soon!

Best Apartment Hunting Guide

Are you looking for an apartment hunting organizer?

I’ve self published my fourth book, called the ULTIMATE Apartment Search Guide, in junction with the new niche profit website I launched, www.apartmenthunterhq.com. The purpose of the web site is to push sales of my Apartment Search Spreadsheet. The Excel spreadsheet is a rating comparison tool to help users choose which apartment is the perfect fit for their individual needs. Using scroll bars to weigh different factors, a bubble chart updates automatically displaying the project cost of living in each apartment versus their given score based on the users input data. The pdf file included with the spreadsheet download contains some very useful tips for apartment hunting. Download the Apartment SearchSpreadsheet.

I lot of thought and work went into creating this spreadsheet which is why I decided to charge a small fee of $4.99 to download it (I do through in my ebook for free plus a few other spreadsheets). Embedded below is a video I put together using Microsoft Movie Maker and Snagit to explain how to use the rental apartment comparison spreadsheet.

I also posted an article about how I created this spreadsheet on my Excel help blog. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments. Heck, if you want let me know and I’ll email you a pdf copy of my apartment search guide absolutely free, no strings attached! It includes numerous tips for your apartment search, such as when it’s ok to break your less, landlord expectations, how to find a roommate, questions to ask your future landlord, and more.

June Updates

A couple of quick updates from my blogosphere this past weekend.

I created a 2012 NBA Mock Draft spreadsheet and uploaded it to my Excel Spreadsheets Help blog. Check it out and download the mock draft creator for free from my Google docs site.

I posted an in-depth article about the Snow White's Scary Adventure ride which was recently retired from Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. I found a good video of the ride and an over rendering of the layout.

We went to the Columbus Zoo this morning to check out the new exhibit. Embedded below is my video of Stingray Bay.