Race Day Pt. 1

The race day is nearly upon me. I've been training for the 5/3rd Riverbank run for a while now. I think by this picture you can tell that my training has put me in fine shape for the 3.1 mile jaunt. The last time I competed in any kind of race was in Austin, TX for a 100 mile juvinille diabetes race. Howerver, the only training we did for that race was going out biking one time, one a borrowed bike, wearing jeans and boots. Needless to say, I did not complete that race.

At that time I made a pact with myself that if ever I attempted to compete in any kind of organized athletic thingy, I would either complete the the race or die in the process.

Well, the weather tomorrow is suppossed to be pouring and in the low 40s. It's been nice knowing you...

Little Tid-bits

We can all breathe a sigh of relief...
I don't know about you, but I am glad to hear that King Tut's missing penis was rediscovered a couple of days ago. This information has given me a renewed sense of joy, and I know that I will be able to sleep better tonight.

How many candles do you want on that cake?
A native of San Agustin, El Salvador, Cruz Hernandez, should soon find herself in the Guinness book of world records. Cruz, born on May 3, 1878 has just turned 128yrs old. She celebrated her birthday with about 200 people, some were carrying cakes and others were dressed as mythological heroes

It's a baby!!
A 63-year old is set to be the Briton's oldest mother soon. Patricia Rashbrook was given in vitro fertilization (IVF) last October. If my math is correct she should be looking for a June/July baby.

Tips n' Tricks

Thanks to Josh's recent comment about the fact that these blogs supply site feeds, I thought I'd whip up a quick list of cool features Blogger has that you might not know about. Each header is a link to a page that describes the feature.

1. Site Feeds

What site feeds allow you to do is create an active bookmark that will display direct links to each entry in a blog as they are updated (in semi-realtime). For example, I have a bookmark that says "Drop My Straw" in my toolbar in Firefox. When I click on it, it opens a drop down box that shows all of the latest entries on the blog. From there, I can select which article I want to view.

If you use Blogger, your site's feed is: http://[yoursitename].blogspot.com/atom.xml

If you are posting to your own blog, you don't need to do anything to enable this feature. As a viewer of blogs, however, you need to setup a live bookmark in your browser to use the feature. This will vary from browser to browser, but I can say from personal experience, it was incredibly easy to do in Firefox... and since Firefox is ported to basically every OS on the planet, you can always use this option.

This is Drop My Sraw's Feed: http://dropmystraw.blogspot.com/atom.xml

2. Email Updating

Email updating lets you update your blog simply by emailing the contents of your post to the blog. When your blog will receives the email, it will format the text and contents and, depending on your settings, either post it or save it as a draft for you to post.

3. Telephone Updating

You can call your blog and have it auto-update with an MP3 of your message. Outrageous! This feature isn't actually provided by Blogger, but by a 3rd party. It seems really easy to use. Just click the link and check it out.

If you have any questions, let me know!

Done (now we dance)

By the time you read this, I will have graduated from Grand Valley State University with a Bachelors of Science in Communication (Film and Video / Cinema Studies). I learned a ton of interesting and helpful things during my time at GVSU. In fact, to demonstrate my awesome mastery of the moving picture, I put together the following movie. It took several weeks, but I think you'll agree it was worth the effort. To see the film, press the play button.

You are NOT a victim

I understand that there are a lot of niave people in this world. Also, there are a lot of people that do not have what is considered "street smarts". I do think that there are more people that call themselves victims than need to be. I am going to briefly view two stories that have happened in the past couple of years.


First is a man named Thomas Patrick Remo. He decided to rent a storage unit, dress it up as a doctors office, put an ad in the paper for FREE gynecologist exam. If I saw this ad, I would not respond to it, but there were a number of women that did respond and received "exams" from him. Luckily, Thomas Patrick Remo is now behind bars on charges of practicing medicine without a license. Remo allegedly convinced unsuspecting women he was an ob-gyn while offering free medical exams out of a storage facility.

This next example is almost too much. Apparently, a 76 year old Florida man decided that he would try his hand (no pun intended) at door-to-door sales. But instead of steak knives or vacuum cleaners, he decided to give free breast exams. Now I don't know about you, but I'm not letting some guy come into my house to give me a free breast exam. Unfortunately, there were a few women that fell for his sales pitch and allowed him in.

C'mon people!!! Use the two brain cells that you haven't dowsed in PBR and think before you let some one OBVIOUSLY take advantage of you!!!

Working to be happy with me

According to the American BMI calculator I am overweight. In the American society where more is better, that may not surprise, but I am a person that generally watches what I eat and I exercise between 4-6 days a week. Granted the calculator does not take into count body frame size, but nevertheless, according to US standards, I am ‘fat’.

I came across this story today, and found myself having a strong reaction of envy for a person that could eat so much and not gain any weight. Once I read the entire article, and saw how many problems he has had over the years and how much of a struggle it is for him to live a ‘normal’ life, I obviously wasn’t ready to trade places with the guy. The release of envy for this person left me with a newfound awareness – I was not happy with myself, physically.

I have previously thought that I had a good self-image, but now know from my gut reaction I need to take a look at this part of me. I like learning, growing, and improving, and now that I have discovered an area of myself that is not as strong as I once thought, I am going to challenge myself to be the best person that I can be and be happy with the person that I am.

Do we even need humans anymore?

I know it's been a long time since my last post...I promise to TRY to write more.

I remember reading an article a few years ago about how science was in the process of perfecting the ability to fertilize ovarian eggs (through synthenic and frozen sperm). There was a lot of uproar as some groups (with mostly men as members) thought that they would no longer be needed.

Today it seems science has stepped forward again....in a different direction. Click here to read an article on a robot giving birth.

Most science fiction stories depict the world being taken over by machines. Looks like we are headed in the right direction.

Monkey Whistle

Almost done with school. 24 days until I officially graduate. I decided not to walk due to the length of ceremony (4 1/2 - 5 hours) and that I wouldn't even get to actually walk across the stage. I would just sit there while they read names.

The oddness of the thing is that so much of what I've been doing for the last 4 years has been rooted in school. My jobs have always been a means to an end. Video projects have almost exclusively been because of deadlines set by professors. Even my writing has been mandated by what I knew the Prof was looking for.

Whelp, now the end is here. I've accomplished my goal. I'm going to get my degree, so now what? I know I eventually want to get an MFA, but I want to take some serious time off. I want to earn my chops in the various technical and ideological aspects of the craft before I try to learn more. I want to find a job that is not only fulfilling, but pays well. I want to be rich and famous. I want to live in forest, off of solar-grids and hydroelectric power generators while simultaneously living in a small, cramped apartment in Manhattan. Ugh.

I'm sure things will sort themselves out, as they always do, but in the meantime this is more likely to be my working reality. I will move to China and take over this guy's job."Now can I be a director?"

I don't know art, but I know what I like

Mandy forwarded me this link from MSNBC. Regardless of what pro-choice groups advocate or any of the myriad reasons that now exist or will exist in the future, one simple fact remains: A sculpture of Brittany Spears giving birth while straddling a roaring lion is the surest sign that the end times are upon us. The end is neigh, my friends. This is proof from the Bible itself:

“Then the angel said to me: 'Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides'” Rev 17:7

“It’s in Revelations, people! We don’t have a prayer!” –Reverend Lovejoy “The Simpsons”

Best wishes....and a lifetime of love

Saturday was a very exciting day for me! A day that had been a dream of mine for a long time... Esquire, a very good friend of mine got married to the woman of his dreams.

I met Esquire at CompUSA, at the end of 1996/beginning of 1997 (the exact time is a little foggy as I was partying too hard back then). There is no forgetting the smile, the dimples, or the niave person that he was back then (ok, I was pretty niave too). We had many adventures, a couple of fights, and a lot of hugs.

Through the years, I have seen him go through many changes, and along the way, he has dated a few women. I knew he was serious about Amy almost immediately, as she was not anything like anyone he ever dated before.

Amy and I have begun to get to know each other and I look forward to becoming a great friend to and for her. It would be great to have the same type of strong bond that Esquire and I have, with her.

The wedding was absolutely wonderful, bridal party were glowing, and the reception was fun. I am very happy for both of them and wish them a long life together filled with love.

Game Collection, or: OMGWTFBBQ??!??

I enjoy gaming, always have, and as long as my peepers and hands hold out, always will. I enjoy them on an aesthetic level as much as their being a self-reflexive window into our increasingly post-modern society. If film is a mirror of humanity, then video games are a kind of shiny, reflective, odd smelling silly-putty of humanity.

So, I suppose, it comes as no surprise that people can obsess about video games. If people can be addicted to drugs, chocolate, and smooches, it's not such a stretch to imagine them being addicted to the escapist/voyeuristic aspects of interactive gaming. Faint, blurry lines separate "enthusiast" from "that smelly game-guy in the basement."

To make my point, here is a link I lifted from the exhaustive game blog Bluesnews. Click the link below and take a look at the images. What's your vote: Enthusiasm or Insanity?

Game Collection on Kotaku

It's all gotten clearer.....

As my last post stated, I went in to get LASIK surgery last week Friday. It was a very strange experience, and I was a bit nervous, but the surgery was a success. As I sat in the very comfortable chair waiting for Matt to be brought over, I took a deep breath. I had to keep telling myself to blink because I was keeping my eyes open, trying to take everything in.

The days that have followed, I have found myself blinking more (with hopes of feeling my contacts) and announcing that I am going to take my contacts out (before bed). Matt has looked at me strangely, but has been a support all the while.

Matt had an idea to do a before and after picture of how my vision has changed. It took a little while to blur the before picture, mostly because I was in denial of how bad my sight was before the surgery, but we finally finished. Here is what we came up with:

Before:


After:


I am very blessed to have the opportunity to take advantage of this great surgical invention. I would recommend LASIK to anyone!

One day left....

For all of you who do not know, tomorrow at 2:30pm I will prepped to undergo the infamous Lasik surgery. This has been a long time coming as I have been wanting something to rid me of my glasses and contacts for many years.

I want it to hurry up and get here, and yet I don't. I want to be able to control the entire situation, so that I know that there will not be any complications, but I know that I can't. Which brings me to the emotion that I am feeling now...anxiety.

Luckily, I have a card up my sleeve - Mr. Matt Fox!!! He is always the rock that helps support me in times of trouble and struggles. I am able to rest a little more easily knowing that he will be standing there when I get out of surgery....to tell me how cool it looked when the doctor cut my eyes open!

Matt will be driving me to and from my appointment, and has offered his and Chad's services of entertaining a semi-swollen eyed Mandy.

To take a quote from Lydia Deetzs: Yes, I love that man of mine!

Ode to a hypocrit!

First, let me state that I do not have any problem, and in fact applaud people who are drawn to the ministry of their religion. On the other hand, an issue that I do have with people in the ministry is the hypocracy that sometimes prevalent, which brings me to the core of this posting.

There is an unnamed inidvidual (he will not put his name on his site) who states on his website that "the Lord sent me to preach the Gospel of the justice and retribution of our Lord Jesus Christ at a pornographic message board."

His idea seems straight-forward enough. Although his intentions seem good, further postings on his website seem to challenge his original goal. The verses given to help a person abstain from pornography and other sins of the flesh, are barely found within the lashings of a person who can't wait for all the sinners of the world to "spend eternity snap-crackle-popping in hell."

A few quotes from his postings:

• "And so even though I will not be hopping up and down in anticipation of positive or worthwhile responses I would ask any True Christians who might be reading this to pray for these murderous sand-rodents that the Lord will either call them to repentance so that they might direct their efforts toward His will instead of the will of Allah who is also known as the demon Molech or take their lives immediately so that they will spend eternity snap-crackle-popping in hell with the rest of the Muslims and Catholics and homosexuals and child-molesters and liberal Democrats! Amen and have a happy hetero 9/11 anniversary!"
• "A way to determine whether your girlfriend is a True Christian or a harlot in sheep's clothing: She reads from one of the new age Bible per verions like the New American Standard or the New International Version instead of the Authorized 1611 King James translation."
• "Recently an uncomfortable amount of Romanists have been infesting my journal which is of course God's journal with their Vaticanistic propaganda and false teachings and even though I welcome readers of every faith and background including even agnostics and atheists I would like to caution those of you who might be new Christians to not be misled by their crafty polemic which if substituted for the Holy Bible and this journal will get you so burned in HELL that it won't even be funny but then again it never is. Amen."

I find that the best type of ministry is to follow what you are teaching/preaching in your everyday life. This seems like another obvious example of someone failing to read Matthew 7:1

Do you live on any of these streets?

The Mitsubishi Motors online poll top 10 list of the nation's wildest, weirdest and wackiest street names are:

10. Tater Peeler Road in Lebanon, Tenn.
9. The intersection of Count and Basie in Richmond, Va.
8. Shades of Death Road in Warren County, N.J.
7. Unexpected Road in Buena, N.J.
6. Bucket of Blood Street in Holbrook, Ariz.
5. The intersection of Clinton and Fidelity in Houston
4. The intersection of Lonesome and Hardup in Albany, Ga.
3. Farfrompoopen Road in Tennessee (the only road up to Constipation Ridge)
2. Divorce Court in Heather Highlands, Pa.
1. Psycho Path in Traverse City, Mich.

How much meat are you worth?

If you are not familiar with the peculiar postings on MSNBC, you should really check them out. There are many articles that I find extremely funny or perplexing. Consinder the following article I found today:

BUCHAREST - Romanian second division soccer club UT Arad sold a player in exchange for 33 pounds of meat, local sport daily Pro Sport reported on Monday.

However, the deal turned out badly for fourth-division Regal Horia, because defender Marius Cioara decided to end his soccer career and find a job in agriculture or construction in Spain.

“We are upset because we lost twice — firstly because we lost a good player and secondly because we lost our team’s food for a whole week,” a Regal Horia official was quoted as saying by the daily in its electronic edition.

This gives you a new meaning on how much a person is 'worth'.

Watch out for that window!!

I just finished reading a tragic story about a boy that got so carried away with his air guitar routine (which included jumping on his bed) that he 'flew out of a third floor window to his death....

These types of stories make it so hard not to laugh at other's misfortunes. I know he died, but c'mon! Is Mick Jagar really worth it?

STORY:
SINGAPORE - A teenage guitarist got so carried away while bouncing up and down on his bed mimicking a rock star that he flew out of a third floor window to his death, a Singapore newspaper reported.
The Straits Times said in Wednesday's editions that Li Xiao Meng, a 16-year-old from China who was studying at Singapore’s Hua Business School, was a keen musician who liked to jump up and down while playing his guitar in his hostel room.

Looking for a babysitter? Don't call Lannie Lloyd!!

Check out the interesting tid-bit in the News of the Weird this week:

Lannie Lloyd Hendrickson, 24, was arrested in Bozeman, Mont., in December on charges that he aggressively bit two infants he was baby-sitting, ages 1 and 2, over their arms, shoulders and legs, because they would not fall asleep. According to police, Hendrickson said he could not recall how many times he bit each one, but did admit that he "bit the shit out of them."

He pleaded not guilty, but I don't think anyone would believe him after reading that quote!

Coast gets Wired

Wired Magazine just published an interesting article on "Coast to Coast AM." It's a quick and interesting look into a great radio show. Take a look when you get a chance.

Coast to Coast AM Is No Wack Job

A little afriad

Standing in line at the local grocery store I let my eyes wander. I looked at the rows of candy, my fellow shoppers, the fluorescent lights in the ceiling. Then, despite all efforts to stop, I started looking at the headlines of the tabloids. Same old stuff. "[Insert famous person's name] is [pregnant/using drugs/fat/skinny], and what will happen when [Insert name of former significant other] finds out???" Then my eyes happened across the "TV Guide Magazine"

This is, apparently, a magazine that gives further insight into the complexities of the regular "TV Guide." Something like the Silmarillion only for TV Guide. I think the slogan of the magazine says it all, "Television Made Easy." Whew.