Gas Prices Around The World

Norway, Oslo................................................ $6.27
Italy, Milan................................................... $5.96
Denmark, Copenhagen............................... $5.93
Belgium, Brussels........................................ $5.91
Sweden, Stockholm..................................... $5.80
United, Kingdom London............................ $5.79
Germany, Frankfurt.................................... $5.57
France, Paris................................................ $5.54
Portugal, Lisbon........................................... $5.35
Hungary, Budapest..................................... $4.94
Luxembourg................................................. $4.82
Croatia, Zagreb............................................ $4.81
Ireland, Dublin............................................ $4.78
Switzerland, Geneva.................................. $4.74
Spain, Madrid.............................................. $4.55
Japan, Tokyo.............................................. $4.24
Czech Republic, Prague............................. $4.19
Romania, Bucharest.................................. $4.09
Andorra....................................................... $4.08
Estonia, Tallinn........................................... $3.62
Bulgaria, Sofia............................................. $3.52
Brazil, Brasilia............................................. $3.12
Cuba, Havana............................................. $3.03
Taiwan, Taipei............................................ $2.84
Lebanon, Beirut.......................................... $2.63
South Africa, Johannesburg...................... $2.62
Nicaragua, Managua................................... $2.61
Panama, Panama City................................ $2.19
Russia, Moscow........................................... $2.10
Puerto Rico, San Juan................................ $1.74
Saudi Arabia, Riyadh................................. $0.91
Kuwait, Kuwait City................................... $0.78
Egypt, Cairo................................................ $0.65
Nigeria, Lagos............................................. $0.38
Venezuela, Caracas.................................... $0.12

Wanna Bet?

Long Bets

And this website let's you see (or place) bets on future events. It also let's you challenge existing predictions by famous people. Fascinating.

Performance Vs. Pay

Performance Vs. Pay

This link takes you to a very interesting site that graphs a baseball team's performance vs. what they pay their players. It's good to see that the Indians are one of the best lines on the graph...

The Only Other Restaurant I Would Manage...

This restaurant is 150 feet up in the air!

10,000 BC = Almonds, 2006 AD = Deep-Fried Coca Cola...

Below you'll find a link to a Food Timeline that gives the approximate date when humans first used a particular food (ice cream cones came along in 1807!) Sadly, the only new food 2006 gave us was deep-fried coke. The only gripe I have with the timeline is its strange silence about the year 1993 where nothing is listed. That was the year Yours Truly created the Notso Fry and the Killit Skillet! I'm gonna submit it and see if they'll add it. They are way better than fried pop I would guess...

Food Timeline

What do the movies 'Snakes On A Plane' and 'Herbie The Love Bug' Have In Common...?

Mentor YT has taken to playing a game we invented among the staff that we call 'Over 20'. The goal is to name 20 movie titles that have a certain theme in common. For example, name 20 movie TITLES that name a form of transportation in them. Snakes On A PLANE, RUNNING Scared, AIR FORCE ONE, etc., The only rules are you need 20 titles, you can't use the same phrasing twice (if you use Running Scared you can't use The Running Man but you could use On The Run) and the title has to NAME the thing you're looking for, not imply it (for transportation you couldn't use Around The World In 80 Days, for example).

We've started a few games we haven't been able to finish yet... it would be great to get some help in the comments section...

Movies that name cities in their titles

We've got: Chicago, Philadelphia, LA Story, Sleepless in Seattle, Escape from New York, Forget Paris, American Werewolf in London. (Need 13 more)

Movies that name something you can eat in their titles

We've got: Mystic Pizza, Good Burger, Home Fries, Chocolat. (Need a lot more)

And we're still working on the transportation one.

I'll post more lists as we try them...

Spanning the Globe (YT Style)

Several YT employees have gone on some amazing trips recently, and I have the video link to prove it! One employee took a trip to Ireland recently with her family, and compiled a mind-blowing video that she uploaded to YouTube. It really gives you a taste of how great an experience Ireland can be, and they did an amazing job soundtracking and editing it also. Definitely worth a look. The link is here:

Ireland Video

Another employee just returned from South Africa. While there's no video from the trip, I hope to get some pictures posted if she'll let me. She helped teach some classes of children there about English and reading comprehension in general, and the whole staff at YT Mentor was moved to read an e-mail she sent while she was there that was so honest and perceptive (another employee of ours made a copy of it to have her daughter read because she thought it might teach them something about life in the world). All I know is we are SOOO proud of her and the difference she was able to make both for some children there and the differences she was honest enough to sense happening in herself and share with us here. We're glad she went but even gladder to have her back!

While we're in travel mode, check out this video that has a cool new technique- a car with a camera mounted on it drives around Paris while GoogleMap simultaneously shows you where the car is driving! Enjoy... (and make sure to follow the instructions that accompany the video)

Paris + Google

A Sound Only The Young Can Hear (supposedly)

Age as volume. Hmmmm. Apparently, the sound file below can be heard vividly by the young, notso much by the notso young, and is pretty much silent for anybody whose day was ruined by the Sputnik launch. Click play and see...

My heart swells with pride... a good friend and a deserving one named Mike has been selected to open the 8th Yours Truly Restaurant. It will be located where the old Park City Diner was in Valley View on Rockside Road. Best of luck, Mike!

Interesting Visual Test...

Personality Test: How accurate will your result be? Click on the pictures of your choice to move forward...

How To Audition For A Reality TV Show...

What reality tv show would you be good on? Terrible at? Here's a link to a page that contains actual applications for almost every reality tv show on the air:

Reality Show Applications

...and here's a list of which YT people I could see on which show:

Last Comic Standing = Andrea Rillahan, who keeps her staff smiling.

Nashville Star = Roberta Sambenedetto, who I think can channel Elvis.

Rock Star = Joe Fracci, 'cuz he just is.

So You Think You Can Dance? = Gary Johnson, 'cuz he can't. At all.

Amazing Race = Mike Simon or George Healy, 'cuz of how we drive.

Extreme Makeover Home Edition = Frank Willett, 'cuz he can fix or build anything.

Extreme Makeover = Frank Willett, 'cuz at times he looks like he needs one.

The Apprentice = Shauna Oreh, 'cuz she's training to be a manager.

Deal Or No Deal = Robert Obermiller, 'cuz he tries to charge you money for every favor he does.

Survivor = Sheila Flanagan, 'cuz she's lasted through more management teams than there are hours in a day.

Top Chef = Mike Dehner, 'cuz man that boy can cook.

Company Logos

Sometimes a company's logo is doing more than giving you a company name or just trying to catch your eye... sometimes a logo is actually conveying information, or giving you an insight into what the company's attitude is and what they feel they stand for. For example:



FedEx's logo has an arrow hidden between the 'E' and the 'x' to show that they are always on the move.



Amazon.com's logo has an arrow also that runs from 'A' to 'z' to represent the fact that they can get you any product from a to z. The arrow also bends to hint at a smile of customer satisfaction.



Sun Microsystems realized that block-printed U's and N's put side-by-side can look like the letter S, so they managed to get their whole name packed into a small symbol.

Any guesses at the thoughts that went into the Yours Truly logo's design? (logo pictured near the top right of this blog)

More Great Pics...

Here are some more fun pictures of what President's Day at YT Mentor looked like:

Amazing Ad

This was one of the coolest ads for a political campaign I've ever seen... great concept. You gotta give this one time, though, to really appreciate it.

Lanigan & Malone

Part 1Part 2

Part 3Part 4

And The (pen) Oscar Goes To...

So my good friend and fellow manager David and I have had a running disagreement about whose pen is superior. You will find pictures of each below. (Disclaimer- these pictures do not do justice to the fact that my pen writes in sub-zero temperatures and over grease and can survive a 6 foot drop while his pen can barely write the phrase 'sub-zero temperature' without breaking and explodes into a mini-mushroom cloud of ink after a 6 inch fall but whatever.) Anyway, I'm opening the voting in the comment section as to which of the 2 pens you all find more appealing...

Option #1

Option #2

Apropos of nothing

Here's the chair I dream of having for Mentor YT's waiting area

President Roosevelt Likes Our Omelets...

Yesterday some great presidential impersonators were kind enough to swing by YT Mentor and spend breakfast with us. They canvassed the room and posed for pictures with all comers and educated some guests (and me) with great historical tidbits and a lot of humor. Everyone had fun with it and I'm already looking forward to next year with 99% excitement and 1% dread (they threatened to make me dress up as George Washington next year, I think I'll tell them I'm allergic to powdered wigs.) Here's a picture (more to follow) and a link to the News Herald article about them... thanks for making our President's Day fun guys!