Chips Ahoy!

Our first Chip Party was a success last night. We ordered a party pack of Kettle Chips experimental flavors and invited people over to try them. There were little voting cards and every one tried the 5 different flavors and rated from a scale of 1 to 5. People brought over a few things as well. There was a 4-pack of Guinness, a bottle of wine, and some stir-fry, so we weren’t just pigging out on chips all night. Not that the chips weren’t enjoyed.

While everyone enjoyed the chips, there was no big favorite flavor standing out above them all. My favorites were the Royal Indian Curry and the Island Jerk, but I thought that the Twisted Chili Lime was one of the better chili lime chips I’ve had. It just wasn’t unique enough for me to appreciate it as much as the others. The Dragon 5 Spice had some potential, but didn’t quite meet it. It was like the flavors cancelled either out. The Aztec Chocolate scored the lowest out of all of them. I think it’s because it wasn’t really flavorful enough, it wasn’t a spicy mole chocolate but it wasn’t a sweet chocolate either.

If we do this again next year, which I think we might, we’ll have to start the festivities earlier than 9:00 I think. Hopefully this will help start up game night again.

Crunch. Crunch. Mmmmm, that was tasty.

Crazy Coincidence

Last night Emily and I were flipping through channels and came across NOVA. They had a special about a family that had four members that walked around on all fours. They didn’t crawl like babies do, but “walked” bent over, using the bottom of their feet and their palms to get around. The scientific interest in them is that some believe they can help lead to a discovery of the gene that enables us to walk upright, and possibly the gene that increases our intelligence and allows for language. It went on to explain that all animals have the same set of genes. It’s the difference between which ones are active and which ones are dormant that make up all of the differences seen in the animal kingdom.

What’s really interesting is I’m currently reading the Uplift series by David Brin. These books take place in the future when humans have made contact with other alien species, and apparently there’s been a multi-billion year practice of one highly advanced species “uplifting” a much less advanced species to the same level. Of course the newly advanced species will have to repay this honor through a few million years of indentured service. Anyways, humans had uplifted chimpanzees and dolphins by the time contact was made and saved us from being “uplifted” ourselves. The whole point of this, is that right now, we are at the beginning of the process. We’re taking the first tiny steps towards being able to genetically modify a species, enabling them to speak and have higher thought processes. I love it when science and science fiction begin to meet.

Talking animals?! But who will listen?

Oh Happy Days

Things have been looking up for me recently. On the home front, things are slowly being cleaned and organized. We finally got our settlement check from my grandfather’s inheritance. With it, we’re able to pay off the remaining balances on our credit card debts. That’s huge! You have no idea how relieved and excited we are about this. Well, maybe you do. We can finally start saving up for things and making plans. We’ve even started to loosen our belts a little (in a financially regards). It’s great!

In the country, Democrats take back not only the House of Representatives (229 to 196) but the Senate as well (49 to 48). As if that weren’t enough, we finally get our first woman Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. How ridiculous is that? Other countries have had women Presidents by now, Presidents. All of this couldn’t have been done (or maybe more appropriate, wouldn’t have been done) if it weren’t for Howard Dean’s 50-State Strategy. It consisted of fighting for every election in the US, not just the one’s that looked winnable. It’s reminiscent of Angel’s last season, but with a much happier outcome.

In the world, not sure if you heard about this, but it looks like Donald Rumsfeld (who was finally resigned, yea!) is being charged with war crimes by Germany. That’s right, Germany is charging him with war crimes.

To top it all off, I got my Guitar Hero 2 pre-order in with the red guitar controller and guitar carrying case.

Ah, life sure can be sweet.

Short stories done in six words

In the new issue of Wired, they did a small article on short stories, six words short. Apparently this was all spawned by something Ernest Hemingway wrote: For sale: baby shoes, never worn. They said he called this one of his best works. I’ll admit, it’s very good. Anyways, Wired then had some other notable creatives from TV, books, and such take a stab at 6 word stories. I thought it’d be to try my hand at it. Here’s a few that I came up with:

Oh God, I’m pregnant! By whom? (I modified the punch line to a joke I got at work).
Red rockets in flight, afternoon delight. (Ok, I didn’t come up with this one, but when it clicked in my head that this was 6 words I was very excited.)
Susan, look out behind you before . . .
Whispering willows wave to the wind.
I hope she hears me out.
Maybe the cannibals are just friendly.
Where’s Chris? Was he left behind?
Ka-boom! Then there was only silence.

Sure, it may not be Hemingway. But it sure can be fun.

Stupid Entropy

I’m not complaining, not in the least, but we got quite a bit of stuff from our wedding. There were the gifts, obviously, but also clothes for the ceremony and reception, as well as all the decorations and settings and platters and whatever else was bought for the reception. We’ve been spending most of our tie trying to clean and organize the house, with an emphasis on organizing. So far our efforts have been concentrated n the upstairs (the living room/dining room/kitchen space). I think we’re progressing fairly well.

We gave the fridge a much need cleaning out: tossing out old foods and items we’ve never touched and have no plans to ever do so. We even gave it a decent sponge bath. We’ve put away all of our gifts and taken away all the appliances they replaced to make room. Slowly but surely things are starting to come together. Unfortunately that’s the thing that’s driving Emily, my wife (it still seems a little weird saying that), crazy.
She wanted to take a week off right after the weeding so that we could spend some time together and get the house straightened out. I didn’t know all of this at the time and thought that it’d be better for me to safe my vacation time for when we had plans (I didn’t know f her plans at the time). In hindsight, I should’ve taken the week off, but by the time I realized this Emily’s schedule was already finished, which would make her trying to get the week off incredibly hard. I think we both still feel ragged and could really use a chance to just recuperate. We plan to take that week between Christmas and New Year’s off. But with those two holidays and Emily’s Birthday in between them, I don’t know how restful it’ll be. Maybe we’ll some how arrange to take a week off before then.

Wedded Bliss

The big day came and went. Man was it hectic, especially the day before and that day. That day before, there was so much running around, decorating, purchasing and setting-up. It was crazy. I just want to give a BIG thanks to everyone who helped and contributed to it all, especially Cherish, who planned and organized most of it.

The rehearsal dinner was fabulous. It was so good. Everybody was impressed with how delicious the food was. Coming from a family of foodies, that’s something. Unfortunately, Emily had a toothache earlier that day and had a quick dentist visit beforehand. She was able to join us in the dinner, but I think mixture of all the food, wine and novocaine didn’t agree with her and she got a little sick afterwards.

The ceremony was simple, short, and touching. The day couldn’t have been better. It was cool, sunny and the leaves were starting to change but hadn’t fallen yet. Emily was gorgeous and I’ve been told wasn’t too hard on the eyes as well. Pastor Judy’s ceremony was very in keeping with our values. It was very lovely.

The reception was a blast. We kept it very mellow and inviting. Dim lighting, candles everywhere. There was great food. The Golden Johnny Whiskey-seed seemed to be a big hit. The DJ kept the music playing all night and was tuned in pretty well to the dance floor. Of course it took a little time and a few drinks before people started dancing, but once it got going I think it went very well. It was great seeing so many friends and family.
I know that what you all really want to see are pictures of the whole thing. Well, here’s what I’ve collected so far. (Will be posting them onto flickr when I get a chance).

Crazy, Crazy

Holy cow, it’s almost time. A lot of what’s need is done (for example we both have clothes that fit). All that’s left are details really (for example we’re still ironing out the jewelry). Although I guess that depends on your concept of details.

We’ve got a photographer arranged now. Our neighbor Yumi is going to do it as a gift for us. She’s a professional and has done this before, so yea! We also worked out the ceremony plans. Pastor Judy is going to do it for us. Her beliefs coincide with ours so the ceremony works well for us. Plus she’s done a few these before, so no problem there. We still need to work-out our vows and write-up and print out programs. Like I said, details.

The food is being taken care of. We finalized the menu and worked out a cooking schedule. Luigi is looking for any volunteers to help with the preparation and cooking Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, if anyone’s interested. We’re also going to need some volunteers to help set-up decorations. I think we’re decorating the reception space on Friday and the Ceremony will be done Saturday morning. We do have decorating materials now, yards of fabric, neat little table decorations, candles and candle holders. I think its going to turn out great.
Other than that we’ve been trying to get the house clean. You think that since we’ve hardly been home that much that it would’ve stayed fairly clean. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case. We’re hoping to get all of that done before people start showing up wanting to look around the house. I think we can do it, it’ll be tough but it think we’ll get it done.

Things Are Starting to Come Together

As the time draws near, things seem to be falling into place. This past weekend we picked up Emily’s undergarments and another shawl. We also retrieved her new glasses. While we were out, we purchased her shoes as well. These shoes are awesome. We’re both very excited about them. Her family also took her to get alterations done on her dress (which’ll end up costing almost half of what her dress cost them). Then we got some wedding rings. Nothing fancy or expensive, but they’ll do what they need to do and if we lose them (which I hear happens quite often for those first rings), we won’t be so distraught over it. We also returned 2 shawls that didn’t work while we were out. Yes, Emily let go of some shawls, bringing the grand total to 2 with material to make a third.

I’m picking up chairs this week. We’re also meeting with our officiator this week as well. We’re going to go over the ceremony and work out what we’re going to do and how and all. We found out about this a rental place here in Northfield, where we might rent all of the glasses and silverware and such. Though, that’ll be a lot of cleaning afterwards. We’re not sure if that’s how we want to go yet. I dropped off a bag of CDs for our DJ, so he has some music that we like and can get a feel for our tastes (which ranges from Hip Hop to Caribbean to Classic Rock to Hard Rock to Crooner to Alternative). I haven’t actually gotten a chance to talk to him yet, though.

We still need to work on decorations for the 2 events. Plus, I’m still not sure about the cake issue, though I won’t be surprised if Emily’s mom shows up with one. She’s been somewhat obsessed about it. Oh and there’s the photography issue as well. It might be nice to have photos of the event.

Only 10 days left.

My God That Was Good

Thursday night, we went to Fermentations in Dundas to talk with the chef/owners of the restaurant about having a rehearsal dinner there. They brought out all kinds of samples. I think there were only 3 things from the menu that we didn’t sample. Their menu’s not huge, but it was still a lot of food. Plus, they served us 10 glasses of wine, each glass of wine from a different bottle. This place is fabulous. I don’t know why we waited so long to go. The food was just exquisite. None of the wines we had were bad. Some we preferred over others, but we would have gladly had any of them. We spent quite a bit of tie just talking to chefs about plans and our opinions on the food and wines. It was so fun sitting there discussing food with other foodies. We’re definitely going there again, even if it means we don’t eat anywhere else all month just to save up for it.
We were able to work out a menu for the evening. I should clarify; we were able to come up with some ideas for the menu. We still haven’t figured out the entrée (narrowed it down to 6 options) or the dessert situation. This weekend we plan to hash it all out. Oh, and the best part was that when asked if we owed them anything for all the samples, they told us no.

Wowza!

Been keeping busy as always. Melanie. Emily’s sister took us out to get Emily some new eyeglasses. Which is a big deal since she hasn’t gotten new glasses since she began college, some eight years ago. Then we looked for fabric for her shawl (in case the other 3 we have didn’t work). After that she ended up staying at her sister’s because I was late for a party.

Some (5) friends of mine threw me a Bachelor Party. It was pretty crazy. First off, these friends of mine are all women and not exactly the shyest people. We had some pizza before we headed off to the bar. They dressed me in a dare shirt (shirt had all kinds of dares for people to do) and they themselves wore black “clever” shirts (like Mountain Dew Me). They handed me my date, a tame blow-up doll (she wasn’t naked and had no holes, but was some what articulate) who we named Lola. We went to Bogart’s where we saw Paragon play. They’re a cover band who does 80’s, 90’s, and recent hits. The singer was sporting a Thundercats shirt, so I had a god feeling about them. They were a decent, fun band. They even played a Metallica song (!!!!), and fairly well (from what I could tell). I had had a few drinks by then. I believe that the final total was 5 shots of coconut run, 3 glasses of Honeyweis, 2 Car bombs, 1 Jager bomb, and a 3 wisemen. Oh, wait, I forgot the Screwdriver at the end of the night (with 2 Advils and an orange juice chaser). I didn’t puke once that night, and I felt fairly well that morning. I was a little tired and sore. That was due to most of the dancing I did. I can’t recall how many women I danced with, but it was damn fun. For one song I would be dancing with someone and soon after someone else would cut in and then someone else. It was awesome. One of the most fun nights of my life.

We’ve been getting RSVPs back from people. It’s getting very exciting as we’re finding out who’s going to be attending. Believe it or not, we’re still trying to get invitations out to other people. They all already know about the wedding and have been informally invited. Emily would just like to formally invite them. Problem is we ran out of the materials to make more cards and we don’t really have the time or money to get more, so we’ve resorted to getting decent copies made. Emily’s having issues with it all. She feels bad about handing a sub-par invitation to someone, so we went shopping Wednesday night to get some materials to make them acceptable. We’ll see how that goes.

Speaking of acceptable, Emily tried on her dress, to compare shawls, and found out it was the wrong size. Her dress was supposed to be a size 18 but they gave her a size 20. (Actually they gave her mom and sister the dress, which is why Emily didn’t try it on before it was bought.) They’re getting it altered this weekend. Not knowing much about dresses or sewing, I have no idea how hard or costly that’ll be.

A few things we have finished: We have chairs for the ceremony and reception reserved. We have the violinists set-up to play at the ceremony (provided the weather is nice enough). The rehearsal dinner is basically done, just a few details that need hammering out. A shawl was chosen, even though we bought some fabric online for a shawl. Either way, she’ll have a shawl she can wear.

A few things we’re still working on: Rings (looked at some, but haven’t decided or purchased yet), reception music (a friend is asking her brother if he can DJ or maybe provide speakers, then there’s picking out music), Ceremony and officiant (we’re talking to a friend’s mother about doing it), Photographer (we have someone volunteering, we just haven’t worked out details yet), Decorations (not really my department, Cherish is working on that), and Helpers (we need people to help set-up chairs, take down chairs, set-up decorations, etc.).

Oh, we’re still waiting to hear about the insurance claim on the house.

Yes, Another Update

My mom came down for Labor Day weekend. That went pretty well. We went to the State Fair, which was fun. Then on Sunday we did some wedding shopping. I now have a suit for the wedding, Emily has the bottom half to her reception outfit and a couple of possible shawls, I’m pretty sure my mom has a dress as well now. At the very least she has an idea for a dress. Oh, she also bought us some household items/wedding presents. That was enjoyable. Monday we spent at home. Mom helped clean the house up some, which drove Emily crazy. We also have a possible rehearsal dinner location. I’m looking into that.

We still need to get rings, I might need shoes (we haven’t checked to see if the ones I have are acceptable), Emily needs shoes, a brooch, and she’s still on the hunt for shawls. She also is looking for new glasses.

Last night we talked to our friend Luigi about food for the reception. We came up with a list/menu of foods and drinks to be served. We like it and have something of a plan for it now. We think that the food will cost about $500 and the drinks around $200. Where the money’ll come from, we’re still working on that.

We got the majority of invitations out now. We’re making the last few to give to local peeps here. There’s a handful that still need mailing, but we need addresses for those. I’d again like to reiterate that if you are able to make it, then please do.

Our original plan for the ceremony fell through, so we’re looking at other options. That’s not nerve wracking. We still are unsure of the Wedding Cake Situation. Emily’s mom really wants to make one for us, but we’re very nervous about it. One of Emily’s co-workers is making a Scandinavian ring cake, which’ll be nice. Emily really wants a fancy wedding cake. It’s like the only thing she cares about for the wedding. Unfortunately the wedding is in 22 days and we haven’t really done any shopping for one, plus, they’re expensive. I feel bad about it, but I don’t really know what do. The wedding’s taxing us financially, what with the eating out more because of all the shopping and running around. It’s very upsetting.

This thing seems to keep growing, especially when you consider that all we were really planning on doing was seeing a Justice of the Peace and maybe having a small dinner with our immediate family. If it wasn’t for the reaction from our friends and family (All of whom seem to be really excited about this. Hell, we’ve got some friends saying they’ll be here who we never expected to make it; we only sent an invitation in the hopes that they’d send a gift.) we’d have cancelled this thing. But, we feel obligated to carry through with this (somehow) now that some many people are involved.

Show must go on, or something like that, eh?

30 Days to Go

Talk about busy. We cleaned up our yard (mostly) with the help of Emily’s parents. We filled 2 trash bags of broken material (siding, tables, dishes, lights, etc.) and 18 bags of tree branches and leaves. We still have some large piles of leaves and branches to bag up, but the majority of it has been picked up. We still need to take them to the dump though.

Last Thursday our insurance agent came by and looked the house over. From what I’ve heard, he was way better and much more amicable then what my neighbors got. He recommended that all of our siding get replaced, deck get painted, roof on the house replaced, shed get painted and re-roofed, garage door get replaced, lights replaced and included all of our things we had outside. Our neighbors said their agent was suggesting that they only replace the parts of siding that are damaged, which might save on materials but would probably increase labor costs. Part of it might be that a lot of people in Northfield have the same insurance company where as we have USAA, which is more national. He still needs to send it in to the office and they come up with the final numbers, but the process is off to a good start at least.

We’ve also finalized the invitations and gotten the first batch into the mail. We still need to address quite a few of them and mail those off. Oh, we also created a wedding website on The Knot. It’s really not that fancy or amazing, but it’s got our information out there. We’ve started working out the menu for the reception. My grandmother is going to officiate the wedding, and we’re working out the ceremony details with her. The location is reserved and some decorations have been planned and purchased (colors are blue and orange; though I’m sure there are fancier names I should be calling them). Registries are pretty done. Emily still waiting to get her gown purchased, it’s been picked out, just not bought. Then she’ll be better able to pick out jewelry, hair, shawl, and other accessories. We still haven’t picked out a suit for me yet. Oh, we’ve picked out reception music, somewhat. The plans are to hook up an ipod to a decent sound system for the reception. I think that’s it. I know there’s more we need to do, but I can’t remember right now.

My mom’s coming up for the weekend; should be good. The plans are to go to the Great Minnesota Get Together on Saturday; could be fun, if it doesn’t rain too badly. I think we might work on wedding stuff Sunday, or just hang out. Not really sure, we haven’t planned that out yet. Oh well.

Ah, one more thing to add. Last month was year end at Agriliance, so it was a mad house. Everyone was trying to get all of those projects they’ve been putting off done as well as stuff as many sales as they could before the books closed. We’ve been switching over to a new system, so the numbers weren’t as good as they usually were and management was worried about their bonuses (we were too). From what I hear, it went very well. I’ll be excited to find out about this bonus people talk about.

I need a nap.

Gifts!!

We've got a registry started now. We have 2 actually. One at Target and one at Amazon. So shop away. We don't expect most of this to be purchased, but every little bit helps right?

We've been working on the wedding more. Got the invitations pretty much made. They should getting mailed by the end of the week. At least the one's we have addresses to.

Last Thursday a huge hail storm came by, followed by a thunderstorm (that produced a tornado 30 miles south of us). We're ok but the exterior of the house got torn up. Our patio furniture is destroyed and all of the siding needs replacing. We also had 2 windows busted. An insurance agent is scheduled to look at it this Thursday, so we'll know more then about how to get this all replaced.

It's Getting There

Last week I played a pick-up game of Ultimate. I had no idea I was that out of shape. I mean, I knew I was out of shape, but I thought it was my usual out-of shapedness. The I’m-not-at-my-top-performance-level kind, not the can-barely-breathe-after-one-round kind. I was sore for like 2 days. I’ve really got to start moving around more.

Wedding plans so far are still progressing. Emily went shopping for some apparel. I believe she plans on changing her outfit mid-way through the reception. Invitations are coming along, though not as fast as hoped. Oh, we’ve come to realize how dependent we are upon the internet/email. We don’t (at least we didn’t until now) even have an address book, let alone mailing addresses. Any address provided would be helpful. We’ve been able to collect some we’ve found from slips of paper around the house and with the help of others. If you have an address we could use (yours or someone we know’s) please send it to me. Thanks.

We have reserved our wedding locations and started to formulate plans as far as procession, ceremony, decorations, and such. We’ve decided to provide wine at the reception, so it’s not quite BYOB, but more like BYOBOW (Bottle of Wine). Though I don’t think it will be needed really. Also, in that vein, while we do have some younger cousins and all, we think it might be more appropriate if younglings don’t stick around for the whole time. That’s still being worked out, but just thought I’d throw that out there.

Oh, we learned that the reception space will hold more than we originally calculated, so more people can come. We were originally thinking only 50 people, but now we’ve been told closer to 100. I feel if anyone’s willing to make the trip out here on such short notice, they deserve to be included. I don’t really think there’ll be such a flood of people that we won’t be able to handle it. So there you have it, an open invitation to whoever can come.

Turtle Like

Our plans for last weekend were originally to go up north, camp, and watch the meteor showers. When we discovered the we were too poor, we had to make some adjustments. We decided to stay home and get a few projects done. We were hoping to start and finish the porch, however the farthest we got was buying the paint. The house did get a little cleaner as well as the lawn. Due to the ambush staged by Emily's mom and sister (Michelle), Emily has now picked out a wedding a dress. I haven't seen it, but she did draw me a picture of it, and I think it'll look good (of course it will, Emily has a knack for picking out clothes). The invitations got pushed back another week, but the calls all pretty uch down, so I'm not too worried about those.

We did spend Monday in the cities, that was nice. We went to see Body Worlds, which was intriguing. If not for the exhibits, then for the crowd itself at least. I had no idea that so many people go through their lives oblivious to what goes on inside them. We overheard ne person talk about how she never knew before what her surgery was all about. If I was getting major surgery done, I would want the surgeon to explain what's going to be done and why. At the very least so I know that the doctor knows what's going on. Then there was lunch at Green Mill, which I thought I had a gift card for, but turns out it expired/was empty. We also ran into Sarah at Half-Price Books. The seeds for the return of game night were planted in that meeting, very exciting.

We do plan to have a regisrty for the wedding. We've got a few places in mind (Target, Home Depot, Amazon, etc). We wanted to have one at Ikea, but they don't do that sort of thing there, however Ikea gift cards are always appreciated. At some point we'll figure which store(s) we want and go shopping/selecting there.

It figures

So progress on the wedding is slow going. We didn't get as much done as we would like last week. We are still working on the official invitations, but in order to give people time to prepare, I have started calling family and friends to let them know ahead of time. I've only just started and can only call those I have numbers to. Plus we know how much I love to talk on the phone.

Emily is going out with Cherish and her Mom to try on wedding dresses Thursday. I guess a family friend of theirs is an excellent seamstress, so they're picking out designs that they like and sending those and Em's measurements. Then when she comes to the wedding, voila!, a fabulous dress.

This weekend we have plans to strip and paint the deck, as well as continue cleaning and seriously working on making those invitations. (We had both originally taken time off of our work to go camping at the North Shore and see the meteor showers, but those plans fell through).

Oh, and one of my "worker bees" (Hannah) at Southgate Cinema is going to St Olaf for a music degree and is an excellent violin player. She has volunteered her services for the occasion. (She has informed me that since the ceremony is planned to be outside there have to be fairly specific weather conditions for her to play outside.)

Oh, while I'm thinking about it. As of now the wedding is BYOB. There will probably be a few bottles of wine/champagne offered, but not enough for the likings of some of our friends. So plan accordingly.

Holy Moly!

I know I haven't posted in a long while, but it's hard to write up a post when you have no immediate access to the internet. That's going to have to change and soon.

But what I really want to say, to whoever still happens to peruse this site, is that Emily and I are getting married (yeah, yeah heard it before). The wedding date is September 30, 2006 come hell or high water. Right now the plans are for it to be held in Northfield, MN. This week we're working on fixing up the house a little more (no, the wedding will not be held there but I'm sure people will want to see it and we might even be providing a few people places to sleep) as well as making invitations that we will be mailing out the end of this week. (See, it must be serious if we're mailing out invitations). The plan (so far) is that the ceremony will be outside so whoever wants can see it, but the reception will be inside and somewhat small due to the space we're being given. It's looking like maybe 60 people. If you don't get an invite, don't feel bad, we just have limited space right now. Any gifts, donations, and well-wishes are appreciated.

I'll keep this updated per week until we either 1) get married and/or 2) get internet back (in this case I'll probably update more often and Emily probably will too).

Firefly 2?

Is it even possible? I don't know if it is, but it's nice to dream.

There's a survey asking people if they would contribute to a viewer-funded TV show season. Episodes would be available for download or by mail or by pay-per-view. Honestly, I don't think it would be possible to make a new Firefly season through such means. It requires too many special effects and the actors aren't as small time as they once were. I mean, that's a lot of contributions that would have to be made. Plus, you'd have to collect quite a bit of it beforehand, with really no guarantee of getting a show out of it. Then there's the piracy issue; how much would the average joe be willing to pay to download an episode if they can just get it for free elsewhere?

It certainly does raise questions about the future of television shows. I'm not saying it isn't possible to produce any show in such a way. Get a small comedy or drama that can be filmed on a couple of cameras, with mostly no-names. It'd probably be fiscally feasible then. Of course, you wouldn't have as much up-front support that way. Still, it's interesting to think of television production as a publicly controlled enterprise.

I still signed-up, of course. Just in case. ;)

Shirts for Rollers

Look! Official T-shirts for Katamari Damacy. They're pretty cool, too. If only I wore t-shirts on more than one day out of the week.

No tree?

I think this strip from Player vs Player explains why we don't have a Christmas tree. I can just see Tricksy thinking this.

Gifts

Thanksgiving went well for us here in MN. The turkey turned out well, the fixings were enjoyed and the cleaning was as mountainous as one would expect. Hopefully next year, Emily and I will be in better positions to prepare for the festivities sometime before hand, instead of running around the days before trying to keep up with our schedules. Then we'll get to spend a little more time with family and a little less time in the kitchen.

With Thanksgiving over, that can only mean that Christmas is on it's way. I hope none of you are expecting large gifts from Em and me, as much as we would love to give them. But, f you're looking for some ideas, I can make a few suggestions. I'm not sure about Emily, but I have a few wish lists out there, my favorite (and thus most updated) being this one. Honestly, we'd appreciate money (to pay bills) if nothing else. While you're at it, go ahead and pick up a gift for Child's Play as well.

A little out of tune

I know it's been a while since Sarah nudged my nectarines, but better late than never right?

Here's the deal: List ten songs you currently are obsessing over -- any genre, any format, etc. If you have a blog, do it there; if you don't, do it here. Then tag five people or so. Here are my songs, in no particular order:

Gorillaz: Feel Good Inc.
Beck: Girl
Foo Fighters: Best of You
Weezer: Hash Pipe
Kaiser Chiefs: Oh My God
The Pietasters: Maggie Mae
XTC: Dear God
Strong Bad: The System is Down
Black Eyed Peas: My Humps
Spiderbait: Black Betty

I'll tag Gen, Blake, Emily (oh, double tag), Clint Page, and Erica Ness. What the heck, I'll tag Chris Clark and Carrie too while I'm at it.

Would you like to play a game?

Looking for a little diversion? You could go play some of Orbitz's advertisement games or you could try the new Grow game. Then there's always the addictive yet slightly theraputic games over at Orisinal. Just thought I'd let you in on a little variety, if you're getting tired of Popcap and Yahoo.

JT vs. PA

I don’t know if you’ve been following this, but it’s hilarious. After a few modders and small game developers went through on Jack’s proposal, Jack deemed the proposition as satire and being as such he’s not obligated to come up with the $10,000 charity donation. The creators of Penny Arcade thought that this was a pretty shitty thing to do to a charity, and so made the donation themselves on behalf of Jack Thompson. He took this as an attack on his character (which it was, but not an undeserving one) and is now trying (rather unsuccessfully) to get them arrested. He should just stop before he makes it any worse. He’s not helping his cause, at least not from my vantage point. The gamers are being calm-headed and giving. Jack’s acting like a madman on a vendetta. Which do you see as being more aggressive?

See Jack's hypocrisy

This article is too funny. It appears that Jack Thompson is losing what little support he insinuated he had. This is the guy who’s so upset with the “violent” video game industry that he proposed that he’ll donate $10,000 to charity if someone makes, markets, and sells a game about a father so distraught over the death of his son that he goes on a massive killing spree, taking out anything and anyone related to video games. I guess this is the sort of game Jack thinks should be made, not one that promotes cooperation, understanding, and non-violent means of problem solving, but ironic gore-fests.

So many comics, so little time (and money)

The list is complete. IGN Comics has been working on The Ultimate Bookshelf [of graphic novels] for the past few weeks. They’ve gone through all the books that are out there (and some that aren’t yet or aren’t anymore) and listed in alphabetical order which books they would love to have sitting on their bookshelf. I was excited to know that not only have I heard of quite a few of them, but I own some of them, too. The list spans all eras of comics as well as all genres. I thought it was great a list and introduced me to some interesting books I never heard of, as well as explained a few I had seen/heard of but knew nothing about. If you like comics, you should definitely peruse what they have. And if you like me, then you’ll send me a book or 2 from the list.

Wooooooo*2

Wow, what an awesome couple of days it’s been. Sunday we went to the Foo Fighters – Weezer concert and last night we went and saw Serenity. I don’t think it gets any better than that.

The concert was amazing. The opening band was the Kaiser Chiefs, not exactly a sad start to things. If you’re not familiar with them, they’re like a mix of punk/alternative UK bands (Sex Pistols, Bowie, The Who, etc.). Their big single right now is “Oh My God,” you’d probably recognize it if you heard it. They gave a good performance and kicked the night off to a great start. Afterwards Weezer played, who rocked the house like they always do. I have to admit that I wasn’t such a big fan of their new stuff, until I heard it at the concert. They are definitely concert songs that lose a little something when not being sung by a throng of enthusiastic concert-goers. Some of the highlights from the Weezer portion include: the playing of a short portion of Song 2 by Blur, the lit-up Weezer W, the playing of a Foo Fighters song, the selection of a random concert-goer to get up on stage and play guitar with the band (he wasn’t great but at least it looked like he had played the guitar a few times before) after which they let him keep the guitar, the Weezer confetti, and of course Rivers’ mocking of Cherish (she screamed “Wooooo” in a quiet auditorium, to which he replied “wooooo, that was good.” Rumor has it that her life is validated now). After a small break, it was time for the Foo Fighters to take the stage. These guys are the physical manifestation of rock. They just started playing and hardly ever let up. The amount of energy and excitement they create is unbelievable. I was blown away. They are definitely one of the best concerts I’ve been to. Some highlights from their portion: the highflying crowd surfers, Grohl’s run through the crowd and subsequent thanks for not being molested, the switch between Grohl and Hawkins so Hawkins was the lead singer and Grohl the drummer, the color palette choices and lighting effects for most of the songs, and the shout-out to Cannon Falls. Oh, and the thing that made the concert just that much better: it was free. Cherish won tickets for box seating from her work and so gave us the tickets she had bought beforehand. How awesome is that?

Speaking of awesome, go see Serenity. I’m serious. Go now, stop reading and just go to the next showing. This has to be one of my all time favorite movies. I’ll even go so far as to say that it’s my favorite movie. This movie is just incredible. I don’t know if it’s because there’s been a recent lack of decent movies out there or what, but it just stands out in my mind. Let me try to explain how much I like this movie. After we went and saw it last night I was actually reaching for my wallet to buy another ticket before I realized that we had just seen the last showing for that night. I’ll admit that I have on occasion seen a movie more than once at a movie theater, but usually it’s because it’s due more to social causes than anything else (i.e. with friends who haven’t seen it yet). I’ve never understood the people who plan a whole day around seeing a single movie (i.e. Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, etc.) over and over again. But this movie, I’m dying to see again. It’s like watching it only increased my desire to see it. Joss is amazing at creating wonderful worlds with believable characters, how can you not help but follow him. I’m not the only one who thinks this movie is great, if you need a second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, or seventh opinion (the first one by Orson Scott Card basically says everything I want to say in the way I want to say it). If nothing else just go so I’ll stop nagging.

Who's Bad?

The next villains (yes, that’s plural) to star in Spiderman 3, according to a slip of the tongue by Kirsten Dunce, are Sandman and Venom. Don’t get me wrong, I love both of these villains, but do we really need 2? Didn’t we learn anything from the Batman franchise? Two villains means two origin back stories crammed into one film, which gives less time for exposition, character development, and conflict. Maybe they’ll devise some story that combines the creation of the two, which doesn’t really do justice to either of them. Speaking of which, I know they won’t do the real origin of Venom but most probably some variation on the Ultimate Spiderman explanation. That’s understandable, but Venom himself would make a great movie, I think adding Sandman into the mix will just make it too “busy.” It’s not like they’re running out of time (if the want to keep using Tobey Maguire then I guess they are). There are talks of a deal to do 3 more movies after this one, THREE. Do they really need to pack in the villains?

Oh, and for those of you wondering, she also leaked who would be taking on the roles as well. Thomas Haden Church (of Ned and Stacey) will be playing Sandman. I have no problem with this. I think he will do a good job with the role. He has a knack for playing characters seriously with a light hearted touch. Plus he already has the looks for the part. Venom will be played by none other than Topher Grace. That’s right; Foreman from That 70’s Show will become that strong, slobbering, spleen-eating psychopath we’ve come to love. I just don’t see. It’s going to take some massive costuming and special effects just to make him look Venom, but that’s not going to help with his acting. I like Topher, ok let’s be honest, I don’t mind Topher, but I really don’t think he has it in him to become Venom. I just don’t see him being sinister or maniacal, maybe he’ll prove me wrong. The movies have been good so far, I’ll just have to trust that Raimi knows what he’s doing.

While we’re on the subject of comic book/movie villains, there are rumors that the next Batman villain will be none other than the Clown Prince of Crime. And while I do enjoy Burton’s take on Batman, Nicholson’s Joker just never really satisfied me. It’ll be interesting to see how they handle the Joker. I think they’ll do a good job. Oh, Lachy Hulme, Paul Bettany, and Sean Penn are rumored to be up for the part. Honestly, I think Bettany has the best chance, if they are actually seriously considering any of these people.

You say you want a Revolution . . .

The news has been broken, and I’m sure most gamers have already read about it from any number of sources. I’m very excited about what I’ve read. I know some might have misgivings about it, but I think it’s just uncertainity about new things. I’m going to agree with Nintendo on this one. I think this will be a revolution (of sorts). At the very least, it will certainly cause people to rethink the way controllers function. Nintendo did it before with the D-pad when they introduced their Game and Watch product line. Before then people had to use joysticks. If you want a more recent example, there’s the Gameboy DS with its touchpad (among many other controller innovations). It took a while, but now you’re starting to see some decent games that take advantage of these. This new controller though, it’s just going to make game playing more intuitive. How many times have you seen someone (especially young kids and noobs) jerk their controller up and over when trying to get their character to jump. Now it’ll actually help. People are already wired to use a controller this way, Nintendo just decided to change the controller instead of forcing the people to change. That’s what good design is all about.

It’s going to open up the gaming market even more. Back in the 80’s, it wasn’t uncommon to see parents playing videogames with their kids, that was due in part to how simple and fairly intuitive games were back then (that and more available free time, but that’s another topic). Now controllers have a D-pad, 2 analog sticks, 4 to 6 face buttons, 2 to 4 shoulder buttons, and up to 2 triggers as well. And each button has some sort of function assigned to it. It’s no wonder the casual gamer gets confused. Hell, it’ll take me a while before I can get the hang of most games. Pick-up and play was almost a thing of the past. I just don’t see how you can’t be excited for the industry with this coming. Way to go Nintendo!

Oh no she didn't

So, I'm at work and a co-worker of mine comes by and asks me, "Do you think Mary's a dyke?" I respond that it wouldn't surprise me. She has short, doesn't dress overly girly, frequents gentleman clubs and kind of gives off that vibe . Honestly, it doesn't really affect me either way and I could care less. Here's the part that really threw me for a loop though. My co-worker then comments, "I'd just like to know ahead of time, in case there's a blackout." What the hell? What is that supposed to mean? She basically implied that if the lights went out she'd be groped by her co-worker. I responded,
"Why? In case you need her to change the light bulb?"
"No. I'm just concerned."
"You're surrounded by all of these hetereo males and you're not concerned about them?"
"No, the guys don't worry me."
Again, what the hell? Maybe I'm just niave (in many cases I probably am), but most of the stories/cases/anecdotes I've heard involving inappropiate touching involve guys, and of the straight persuasion. But oh no, she's not worried about them. I'm just always so surprised at how ignorant people can be.

Stupid email

I dont' know if you've read this before or not, but I got this at work (this is actually the 2nd time I've received it so far) and it sparked a rant. Here's the email:

WOULDN'T IT BE GREAT TO TURN ON THE TV AND HEAR ANY U.S. PRESIDENT, DEMOCRAT OR REPUBLICAN GIVE THE FOLLOWING SPEECH?

My Fellow Americans: As you all know, the defeat of Iraq regime has been completed.

Since congress does not want to spend any more money on this war, our mission in Iraq is complete.

This morning I gave the order for a complete removal of all American forces from Iraq. This action will be complete within 30 days. It is now to begin the reckoning.

Before me, I have two lists. One list contains the names of countries which have stood by our side during the Iraq conflict. This list is short. The United Kingdom, Spain, Bulgaria, Australia, and Poland are some of the countries listed there.

The other list contains everyone not on the first list. Most of the world's nations are on that list. My press secretary will be distributing copies of both lists later this evening.

Let me start by saying that effective immediately, foreign aid to those nations on List 2 ceases immediately and indefinitely. The money saved during the first year alone will pretty much pay for the costs of the Iraqi war.

The American people are no longer going to pour money into third world Hell-holes and watch those government leaders grow fat on corruption.

Need help with a famine? Wrestling with an epidemic? Call France.

In the future, together with Congress, I will work to redirect this money toward solving the vexing social problems we still have at home. On that note, a word to
terrorist organizations. Screw with us and we will hunt you down and eliminate you and all your friends from the face of the earth.

Thirsting for a gutsy country to terrorize? Try France, or maybe China.

I am ordering the immediate severing of diplomatic relations with France, Germany, and Russia. Thanks for all your help, comrades. We are retiring from NATO as well. Bon chance, mes amis.

I have instructed the Mayor of New York City to begin towing the many UN diplomatic vehicles located in Manhattan with more than two unpaid parking tickets to sites where those vehicles will be stripped, shredded and crushed. I don't care about whatever treaty pertains to this. You creeps have tens of thousands of unpaid tickets. Pay those tickets tomorrow or watch your precious Benzes, Beamers and limos be turned over to some of the finest chop shops in the world!

I love New York.

A special note to our neighbors. Canada is on List 2. Since we are likely to be seeing a lot more of each other, you folks might want to try not pissing us off for a change.

Mexico is also on List 2. President Fox and his entire corrupt government really need an attitude adjustment. I will have a couple extra tank and infantry divisions sitting around. Guess where I am going to put em? Yep, border security. So start doing something with your oil.

Oh, by the way, the United States is abrogating the NAFTA treaty - starting now.

We are tired of the one-way highway. Immediately, we'll be drilling for oil in Alaska - which will take care of this country's oil needs for decades to come. If you're an environmentalist who opposes this decision, I refer you to List 2 above: pick a country and move there. They care.

It is time for America to focus on its own welfare and its own citizens. Some will accuse us of isolationism. I answer them by saying, "darn tootin."

Nearly a century of trying to help folks live a decent life around the world has only earned us the undying enmity of just about everyone on the planet. It is time to eliminate hunger in America. It is time to eliminate homelessness in America. It is time to eliminate World Cup Soccer from America. To the nations on List 1, a final thought. Thanks guys. We owe you and we won't forget.

To the nations on List 2, a final thought: You might want to learn to speak Arabic.

God bless America. Thank you and good night.

If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you are reading it in English, thank a soldier.

My answer to this is, No, it would not be great to hear this. In fact, this speech represents all that is wrong with America and to hear this speech come from a President would be a nightmare. Bush isn't even dumb enough to give this speech, or at least his advisors are smart enough to prevent him. Lord knows he probably wants to give this speech. God people, grow some intelligence. Do you really think we could survive if the only countries we dealt with were the UK, Spain, Australia and Poland ("Don't forget Poland"). Where are you going to get your cars, your clothes, your TVs, your computers, hell your energy. Yes there's oil in Alaska, but there's not enough oil in the world to keep us going for decades at the rate we're using it. Oh, and this whole world-hating of the US is a fairly recent thing. After 9/11 we had the most support we've ever experienced; now we barely have any. I wonder why? *cough*Bush*cough* Some days I just can't stand Americans.

Oh, and stop sending this crap to me at work.

Oh wow

Ok, so it's been a while since I posted, but I've been really busy. So has Emily. See, I got another job. So that's a total of 3 for me. Ok, maybe more like 2.5 or maybe just 2 if you added up all of the hours. Anyways I got the assistant manager job at the local movie theater. I'm all in charge of people and money and keys, very scary/exciting. Emily also has 2-3 jobs as well. She's the lead cashier at the local coop, she's helping out at the ArtOrg with children's classes, and doing the occasional babysitting gig. So it looks like a financial situation is starting to turn around. YEA!

Speaking of yea, check out this internet radio station. It freaking rocks. I love most of the songs they play, and just like all the others. Plus they've got cool little movie/TV clips that they play every once in a while as well. Oh, and you can vote on the songs they play, so that after a while all the good songs get played more and all the crappy ones just slowly disappear. And they're listener supported, so if you like donate. (But you probably knew all this already if you listen to them).

Oh, also, Firefox is cool and so is BitTorrent. Again, I'm sure some of you already know. But I'm just spouting off here. Oh, and I've been using Wikipedia a lot more recently and have grown to appreciate it the more I use it.

What else, oh, 2 of my favorite webcomic sites have started up rival guilds on a particular server on World of Warcraft. Now, I've wanted to play this for a while now. It seems to be a really good game. All the webcomics I read rave about it and it's still going strong even after almost a year of being around, which is really good for a MMORPG. The comics are popular enough that basically the whole server is full of fans, which is cool. This is how a MMORPG is supposed to be played. Sure there are a bunch of different guilds, but they are all united under one alliance and work together to some degree. Plus, the chances of running into unhelpful bastard player is drastically reduce. If it weren't for the money and the time (especially the time) I would go out and buy the game just to play on that server. That is, if there was still room on the server/world. (These two are notorious for crashing websites just by placing a link on their posts. Man, can you imagine having that much influence? It's gotta be kinda weird.)

Ah, before I go. I found these t-shirts and thought they were pretty cool. Oh, and if any of them have it, then yes, I do have a wishlist there. I have wishlists all over the internet.

A Few Things

• I saw Batman Begins on the IMAX a few weeks ago. What an awesome movie. Christian Bale is the best Batman by far. Actually, just about everybody in it was awesome: Gary Oldman does a top-notch Gordon, Michael Caine with a superb Alfred, and Liam Neeson was just marvelous. (Katie Holmes did well enough to at least not harm the film, which I feel is the most you can ask of her right now.) But what makes the movie so good is that the movie doesn’t gloss over Bruce Wayne. It’s not just Batman and the guy who dresses up as Batman. They're actually interested in the man behind the mask. Plus, the villains were well fleshed out and not just crazy caricatures of over-the-top evil doers. The color palate used for Gotham was also a nice touch, dark and dirty but realistic. I think the movie made Batman into a more believable character. I hope they continue on with this.
  
• If you haven't checked out this video of the most realistic zombie game yet, then do so now.
  
• It looks like I’ll be working at the small movie theater in town here as Assistant Manager. It doesn’t pay much and I will only be working like 3 days/nights a week, but every little bit helps. Plus free popcorn, soda, movie tickets, and video rentals. Oh, and it’s a pretty easy low-key job, so very little stress.
  
• I read the article Emily mentioned. Really, I have mixed feelings about it. I fully support the drive to make stores more accountable in regards to selling mature games to kids. I have nothing against the $5,000 fine. I do have a few misgivings though. This is all built upon a mod for the game. In otherwords, some people got together and decided to create a new feature for the game, without Rockstar’s permission. It’s really hard to argue for the fine when you’re basing it on a feature that isn’t even included on the game, and was never intended. Also, why is it that it takes a “sex” mod on GTA to spark all this? Were the nude models for The Sims not graphic enough? I mean, if people want to add nudity and/or sex to their games, they don’t have to start with an M-rated game. I’m also concerned that this will just spark a huge debate (and by debate I mean the screaming contests that our news programs seems to thrive off of) that will just get people pissed off at games/gamers (and gamers pissed off right back at them) and not really accomplishing anything. I guess we’ll just have to see how this goes.
  
• I don’t know if you’ve noticed this or not, but science seems to be melding with religion and magic lately.
  

Not Again

I can't believe this is still an issue. I came across an article while surfing the web about violence in video games. They talking about one in particular, 25 to Life, which is an urban game about gangsters versus cops. The article laments how violent the game is and how you go around shooting cops. Of course, it never mentions that you can also play as the cops, who go around shooting gangsters. Here are few of my favorite parts of the article:

"It's outrageous that a company like this would try to desensitize our children," Lynch said.

I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure their goal is to sell games and make money, not desensitize our children. Which brings up another feature I enjoyed about this article.

"It's like ghetto-ish, I like that," said Bronx seventh-grader Jesus Martinez, 13.
Brooklyn seventh-grader Nashalie Ledesma said she would try the game "just for the fun of it, to see how it is, explore the violence."
"It's just a game," said Ledesma, 12. "It's not like I'm gonna do it in real life. I don't have the guts to do it."

I really don't think the opinions of some preteens needs to be added to this article. They just really don't matter. They don't even matter in the calculation of how many games get sold, at least they shouldn't. This game is rated M for mature, which means it's the equivalent of an R rating. Would you ask a 12 year-old if he thought Apocalypse Now is worth seeing? I hope not.

Also, can we get past the whole shock value thing here. Just because it's pushing the bundaries of decency, doesn't make it a good game (ditto for movies). There are a lot of FPS (first person shooter) games out there, but there's only one Half-Life 2.

On a more positive side: I came across this article. It's all about how scientists have study the effects of gaming on the brain and have discovered that it's actually beneficial.

Gee's studies show that players learn pattern recognition from puzzles and enemies or bosses; they learn system thinking, i.e. they learn how a game is structured, or how an enemy is attacking, or how to solve logic or physical puzzles. They even learn patience.

See, so go let your kids play videogames, just be mindful of what they're playing.

From the Mouths of Jesters

I was reading through my webcomics the other day and came across this one. Now, I'm sure some of you already know about what the comic was talking about, but I didn't. I had to learn about it from a comic strip. How sad is that? You'd think that it would be newsworthy material.

Save Big Bird

For those of you who haven't yet, go here. I guess congress feels that it's not worthwhile to fund public broadcasting anymore. Congress is thinking about cutting funding to NPR and PBS. I guess they can't stand that there are some media outlets out there that they don't have under their control. Oh, and the best part about all of this is that they plan on starting the cuts with commercial-free children's programs. I guess they can't stand that there are some kids out there watching educational shows and not half-hour commercials.
Don't these cuts go against the right to free speech?

Sweetness!!

Ok, I know I'm a dork, and this shouldn't excite so much, but I just got inserted a links section on my blog. Yea! I don't have too much there yet, but I will add some of my favorite sites later. Look over there and check it out.
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Still recovering

I haven’t blogged in a while, I know, but here’s an update now, so that’s something right? Now I can relate more to those web-comic authors who sometimes post late or have “dead artist” days or whatever. Although, most of the really good ones have nothing else to do but work on their comic. And some of them don’t even have posts scheduled everyday. But, I know their whole life isn’t devoted to creating entertainment just for me, they have lives as well. Hell, I don’t even read all of them everyday, if I can’t keep current with just read them, what right do I have to criticize their creation process.

Anyways, a quick note. I was reading a blogpost of sorts and came across this really neat article . It’s about a processing chip that can reconfigure its hardware depending on the particular program that’s running on it. How cool is that?

Last weekend was crazy. My sister graduated from Winston-Salem Academy and there was B-fest (formerly called Blake-fest but I think B-fest would work better considering where it’s headed). The graduation was nice, not too long or drawn out. I think that’s because they kind of break it up and spread it out over Friday and Saturday. There were award ceremonies, art shows, concerts, senior parties and of course the graduation ceremony. It’s a little weird thinking about how old my “little” sister is now. She’s a high school graduate, on her way to college.

B-fest, for those who don’t know, is a gathering of a bunch of my college friends. The first one was done last year because Blake’s father had recently died and he was getting a little depressed. Everyone (ok not everyone, but all those who could) flew/drove/hitchhiked over to Blake’s and hung-out and cheered him up. The first one went over so well that it seems to have been deemed a tradition now. This year it was held in MN, since a few of us live up here (or have family that does). The weekend was filled with drinks, games, dinners, drinks, laughter, games, conversation, and sleepless nights. All-in-all, a great success. It’s good to be reminded that you have some friend’s out there. I know Emily enjoyed it as well. Plus, she was able to cross off many people on her people-I-used-to-be-friends-with-but-now-hate-me” list, which is always a joyous occasion.

I really hate this whole not-having-enough-money problem. I just wish I knew of a way to fix it. I’ve tried consolidating my debt, but I’m so far behind on so many bills that no one wants to touch me, or they say, “Sorry but you have too much debt” or my favorite “We can’t help you, you don’t make enough to cover your debt payments.” Yeah I know, that why I was asking for help. The big problem is that my coping mechanism for problems is to run away and ignore it; unfortunately that only seems to make things worse in this case. But every time I do work on it I feel hopeless and frustrated and depressed. It’s a vicious cycle it is. Lately I’ve been thinking of becoming anorexic, so I can save money by not buying food. Dumb idea huh?

Anyways, I think this problem is going to be taken care of one way or another in the coming months. I’m either going to start making more, or we’ll find a way to work past it, or we’ll file for bankruptcy. I actually found out about it today. It’s not as scary as I originally thought, at least, not until October 17, when the new laws about bankruptcy come into place.

Another inadvertant comic about me

I think this comic displays the recent growth I have gone through. I'd be the blond in the green shirt (only for this particular posting, for those of you who read S*P).

So true

I think the strip sums it all up for me.

Crazy Busy

Man, my days have been busy. It’s crazy. Right now I have a full time job, a part time business, night classes, and a TV show editing project. That doesn’t even include any outings with friends or family, household chores, or trying to help plan for the wedding. Now do you see what I mean when I say I’m busy? I think this is just to make up for all that time I spent goofing off while growing up. Actually, I’m very thankful for having gone to Carleton, because it helped me learn about dealing with having to do so much. That’s one thing I noticed about Carleton: most people are very busy, and not with just classes. Those do take up a lot of time, but people have other obligations as well: jobs, clubs, parties, sports, etc. So while I do wish I was able to get more done, I don’t usually feel too frustrated or stressed out. Actually, I think the fact that I’m actually doing things and that our situation is improving has helped in that regard.

So Emily starting working at this little motel in Northfield. She got paid, like yesterday. It wasn’t much but it’s a HUGE help. She can’t understand the people she works for though. We could totally run that place better. If we had the money we would have loved to buy the place off of them and fix it up and get it working right. We’d fix up the front, repair some of their repairs, and replace the Laundromat with a decent pizza place. Actually, we have a lot of plans of things we would do or fix up in Northfield. It’s just right now we don’t really have the means to do such things. We will someday, just not right now.

At Agriliance, my full-time job, my boss, Nancy, seems to really like me and is thinking of hiring me. She’s left some not so subtle hints. It’s actually kind of exciting. I’d be paid more, get some benefits, and work in an environment I don’t despise. Cool, huh?

Oh, here’s something that’ll surprise a bunch of you. I cancelled our TV cable. I can no longer watch TV shows, unless I rent them. How crazy is that? Did you ever think that a day would come when I would give up TV? I bet you didn’t. Honestly, I don’t miss it too much. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes it would be nice to sit back and watch some shows, especially the Inferno, and Good Eats. But most of the time I’m not even home long enough to really watch anything before going to bed. Although, sometimes I would like to be a little less busy, so I could relax a little more and spend more time with Emily. I figure this crazy busy-ness is only temporary though, so I’m not too worried.

Fire it up!

How could you not want to see this? I think I'm going to see it, like, at least twice. It just exudes awesome and kick-ass. Man, I can't wait.

I've Been thinking

At work, there's this guy I hang out and joke around with. His name is Kegan. He is currently going to school to develop his film skills. He has an Uncle out in LA who is in a production company. They do commercials and music videos and such. In fact, Kegan's heading down there this weekend to help film some American Idol spots/music videos. I get along with Kegan pretty well, and have helped him some on his school projects. Just today I was reading over a film proposal of his that he had to write for a class. It wasn't too bad, but it came off a little campy and heavy-handed. I brought up some points about how to make it more subtle that he seemed to like. The thing is, when I was reading over it and making suggestions, I was kinda excited. I've been really thinking that maybe I should think about moving into such a field. It's something I enjoy doing and that I'm good at (or at least that's what I've started thinking). Personally, I think I would be a great sounding board. Someone you could go to to bounce ideas off of and help solidify your ideas. I think I'm really good at taking an idea or theme or something and building upon it and growing it and developing it. The creating it part I'm not so sure about. But once there's something there, whoa baby. Really, I'm torn. I get really excited when I think about helping families and all that I can accomplish in Primerica. But I also get really excited when I think about working on a film and helping and doing that process. I mean, what do I do? I'm so conflicted. Is it even possible to do both? . . . . . . . I think so; I could get something going with Primerica. Build up a business there and then sell my agent number and live off my investments. Then I could start a career in film. But I always think it's ridiculous, the people who build up their base shop and then leave, just when they're really starting to reap their hard earned benefits. I mean, for investment accounts, you get paid on those for as long as the account is active. How could you give that up?

Food for Thought

I haven’t posted in a while, so I’ll try and post something today. Not sure what exactly I’ll post, but it’ll be something. Hmmmm. . . . . .well, my back has gotten better. It still feels a little sore achy, but all in all not that bad.

I saw Super Size Me last night. It wasn’t that bad. It certainly confirmed my belief that highly processed food and fast food restaurants are horrible for you. The funny thing was before he started he was in excellent health and got a check-up from 3 different doctors and asked them what they thought would happen to him if he went on this McDonald’s binge. They all said that he’d gain some weight and his fat count would go up some. Near the end there, they were like, “you’ve got to stop. You’re killing yourself.” It was crazy.

He also brought up how the poor diets are infiltrating the schools. He went to this one elementary (maybe it was middle) school where the kids get to pick and choose their lunch. A bunch of kids would just buy fries or potato chips. One kid bought like three bags of chips, a Gatorade, and a candy bar. The worker there was defending the company saying “Most of these kids bring there lunch and just buy the chips or fries to supplement their meals.” (Ok, I’m pretty sure that I added ‘supplement’ but whatever). He then checked out the cafeteria and found the girl you bought all the chips. The “lunch” she brought from home was a can of soda. How sad is that.

Oh, and after it was all over, they calculated that he had consumed about 30 lbs of sugar. 30 LBS!! That’s over 1 lb a day. No wonder you would gain weight. They had this one guy who was getting a gastric by-pass who drank like 2 gallons of soda everyday. That’s just not right. If I drank that much I’d be parked on the can.

One of my favorite parts was an add-on for the DVD. They took some of the sandwiches and fries from McDonalds and placed them in glass jars. They did the same with a real burger and fries. (Everything had their own jar). And just checked on them from time to time. The real food got moldy and gross within the first week; a few of the McDonald’s sandwiches looked no different. They kept showing the changes over the next few weeks. The grossest thing was that after 10 weeks, all the sandwiches were moldy and gooey and nasty. The McDonald’s fries however looked like they were a few days old. There was no mold, no gooeyness, nothing. They just looked a little stale and dried out. The fries got thrown by accident after that, so we’ll never know how long it would take before they started breaking down on their own. That’s just not natural. Whatever those fries are made of, it’s not food, that’s for sure.

Ouch!

Last Sunday I injured my back. It was not fun. I mean I knew it wasn’t fun before, just by watching what Emily goes through. She has hurt her back on a few occasions now. But yeah, not fun. It hurts to move, like at all. Like you roll a little bit and pain shoots through you. I’ve gotten better since then, or maybe have become more accustomed to the pain. No, I think I have gotten some what better at least. You’re probably wondering how I hurt it. Well, we’ve been letting Tricksy outside from time to time lately. She seems to really like it. We just do yard work or talk while we keep an eye on her. Sometimes we use a leash. Lately we’ve been thinking of getting a zip line or a long extendo leash for her (she likes to sprint across the yard. Hmmm, maybe we could just get an invisible fence. Anyways, it was time to go in and she didn’t want to go in so I had to chase under trees and around the yard. When I finally caught her, I picked her up and stood up and my back went all wonky. But I hear it doesn’t take much to hurt a back.

I spent the rest of Sunday on my back as well as Monday. I went back into work feeling better on Tuesday. It is now Wednesday and it still hurts. I’m a little worried because it hurts a little more than it did on Tuesday, probably due to the fact that I didn’t really give it any rest yesterday. I went to work and then went to a Primerica training meeting on variable annuities. Am I going to live the rest of my life with this problem? I hope not but it seems like probably.

I’m not supposed to have back problems. I’m 23 for crying out loud. I’ve barely even had my quarter-life crisis yet. What the hell? Ok, so fine, maybe I have been a bit stressed out lately, and I haven’t been exercising at all, and my diet has only recently started getting better, and I’ve been crazy busy. But that shouldn’t have mattered right?

So. . .How's it going?

Ok, so today I learned/re-learned that it actually helps to work on your problems. See, I've been practicing the "run and hide" technique of dealing with problems. This hasn't worked out so well. In fact, I'm starting to think that it has actually made things worse. Crazy, huh? But now I sort of came to realize that not only does facing and dealing with your problems help to overcome them, but it can also make you feel better as well. I mean, the problems are still there, and I still worry and freak-out about them, but for some reason it doesn't seem as bad as before.

Emily and I were at Target tonight looking for a sweatshirt (hoodies if you must know). Oddly enough, there weren't that many there. There were like 3, and they were on the clearance rack. Since when did the sweatshirt season end? I mean spring is just starting here, and it still gets damn cold at night here. Hell, it almost always gets cold at night here in Minnesota. We used to go to Jacobsen's here in town (before they closed) and they always had sweatshirts available. I guess we were spoiled.

For those curious, work is going good (at Agriliance, the order-taking-for-farmers job). I seem to be impressing my supervisor, like every day. I guess they just don't know what a great catch they have. And the funny thing is, I can tell I'm becoming more responsible at work. I know that may seem hard to believe, but I used to just want to goof off all the time at work. Now, not so much. I still joke around with my colleagues and don't take it too seriously, but I actually attempt to get my work done as well. We got this new guy (Kevin) at work who was supposed to be taking over my area, but on Tuesday Kegan (a cool co-worker of mine) lost his voice and couldn't come into work, so I had to take over his area as well as mine (Kevin was just starting his training). I did a pretty good job if I do say so myself. After that they decided to have Kevin take over Kegan's area and to let me continuing handling my area. I think this is great. I didn't want to give up my area anyways. I'm just started getting the hang of the area and I've built some report with managers I order for. Between you and me, part of me hopes the new guy doesn't do so well and they just hire me on full-time. Actually, I just hope they hire me on full-time regardless of who remains. I mean, I'm awesome, why wouldn't they want to hire me?

Ruminations

I figured out at work today that I’ve been alive for 9,037 days already. I’ve been alive for close to a quarter of my life already. That’s a scary concept. It’s crazy how the time flies. The days can go by so slowly but the years fly by so fast. If you want to do something, or make something, or be something, you really have to start now. Those are 9,037 days I won’t ever get back. I’ll never get a chance to redo them. What’s done is done. Wow.

It’s weird because part of me feels, “Be young, this is the only chance you’ll get.” But another part of me is all, “Get to work. It’ll all be over before you know and it’s better to start early then try to catch up.” What a conflicting mindset. Maybe I’ll figure out a way to satisfy both sides. It’s not like they’re directly opposing viewpoints.

Oh, so in case any of you were wondering, we got the cats some de-worming medicine and we were able to get it down their gullets. It seems to be helping. They’re all getting a little fatter, especially Tricksy. They’re even behaving a little better, in fact, the other day I saw Tricksy finish her food and just sit and wait for the other cats to finish, instead of smacking them out of the way. I was so proud; I gave her a little extra bit of food. So I’m very happy about that. Although, I did catch Oscar trying to go into the cabinets to get at some cookies the other day. Oh well, I guess we take our victories where we can.

Calling all guests

Many of you know that Emily and I are getting married (if not, well, now you do). We don't exactly have the best address book, in fact it's kind of old and pieced together. So if you would like to get an invitation to our wedding in the summer, or know someone who might, please send me your/their name and address. Now, this isn't a guarantee that an invite will be sent, but if we have your address on record it certainly makes it easier for us to send one. If nothing else, I'll add you to the Christmas/holiday card list. Thanks.

Ewwww, Gross

One of our cats has tapeworms. We’re not sure which, but we think it’s Tricksie, since always desperate for food. We know one of our cats has tapeworms because one of them puked a tapeworm up on the windowsill in the office. We just saw it laying there yesterday. And yes, we’re sure it’s a tapeworm, Emily did extensive research into the problem. Here’s the thing though, after doing such extensive research, Emily’s hypochondria is kicking in and she’s freaking out that she might have worms as well. I really doubt that she does, but she told me that she had worms once before when she was a kid, so she has more real-life experience to draw upon than I do. Unfortunately, she’s got me a little paranoid now too. My stomach grumbles and I think “Is that because I have worms?” even though I know it’s like 20 minutes before lunch. Hopefully when the cats are cured they won’t be so desperate for food. That’d be nice.

Let's get it started in here

So, the other day I got a George hit from Williston, ND, which happens to be where a service center that I order for is located. How crazy is that?

Speaking of work, I finally got a badge along with email and log-ins for all the programs I need. I guess they figured, “He’s shown up for the past few weeks, I guess he’s going to stick around for the season.”

I’ve been reading a few books lately, and have gotten into a goal-setting craze as of late. It’s actually kinda cool. Even now, in the little time that I’ve spent setting and planning, I’ve already seen a major difference. I’ve become more motivated, more responsible; heck, I’ve even started to see some small progress being made towards my goals. Man, this stuff is cool. It helps keep me going with my hectic schedule of a full-time job, a part-time job, and going to school. In fact, lately I’ve become restless when watching TV, especially when I haven’t done anything. Another thing helping me out with all this are the Primerica CDs I’ve been listening to in the car during the commute.

Oh, I don’t think I’ve mentioned it, but Emily and I have started planning a wedding. It’s going to be fairly modest, and we would appreciate any donations to help fund it. We’ve set a loose date for the summer, probably July or August. We’re going to set the actual date once we’ve figured out where we’re going to have it, which we will have done by the end of this month. So keep an eye out for that.

Ah, also, I got a new email address. It’s through gmail, the new email server through google. It’s pretty cool. It tracks emails as conversations for the massive replying back and forth conversations that occur, it lets you google search your emails, and the best part, it gives you like a gig of storage. It’s not open directly to the public yet, but if you look hard enough you can find an invite.

Well, Let's See Here. . .

So the other day the cats figured out how to open the fridge. How crazy is that? They opened the door on their own. They opened the freezer later as well. So now I've resorted to tying the doors together with an old towel. I mean really, what more can I do? I just don't understand why they act like this. I know they get fed enough. They're healthy, overly active, heck I've even increased the amount of food I give them since we started their diet. They're just so frustrating. I think part of it has to do with the fact that we're tackling the dishes now and there aren't any dirty dishes around for them to lick.

Now it seems we actually need a new fridge. Before we just wanted a new one because the one we have is small and cramp and we end stuffing food into the back where it's forgotten until it turns moldy. Really there's just no good way of arrange things in that space. Also, we really like the idea of the freezer being on the bottom, since we don't use it all that much and it'd be easier on Emily's back if she didn't always have to bend down to reach food.

Speaking of which, Emily's back pain flared up again this week. The past week she's been bed-ridden because of it. For a while she would take it easy and heal for a day then feel better and go out and be active, then be in so much pain the next day she couldn't move again. She followed this process for almost week. Now she's decided to not try to rush it and take it much slower. So she's been confined to the couch the past couple of days, surrounded by cats and pillows. I wish there was something I could do to help her, but there really isn't. We don't have any medical insurance and even if we did, we have no money.

I mean dead broke, paycheck is all used up to pay at least a few of our overdue bills. Don't get me wrong, I do have a job, which makes the situation tons better. And there are a few prospective jobs in Northfield for Emily (provide her back will allow her to work), so we could be worse. I'm just so tired of living like this. It's so stressful and disconcerting. At least it's helped me get over my shopping-to-feel-better complex, even if it is only by the fact that I have no way of buying things.

Actually, that's one of the reasons Emily thinks I should get counseling/therapy. Most of the time I agree with her, but then it just brings up the money problem again. Where could I go to get free therapy? So it's just another thing sent to "once we're doing better financially" land.

Oh, the other day I cut my toe. (Technically the connecting part between my pinkie toe and the next toe). We're guessing I stepped on a piece of glass that wasn't cleaned up from when one of the cats knocked one of our glasses of a table. This morning I stabbed my finger while putting some receipts on our receipt spike. What a doofus, huh?