Well, my soon-to-be-boss delayed my start date again. Now, I begin next Monday (August 7th) at 9 in the AM. Apparently, the person who needs to sign the forms for me to begin is on vacation, and won't be in until next Monday. Time will tell... I guess I will stay in Geek /Beach Bum mode for a few more days as shown above. (BTW: It's fugging hot down here. There's a heat WARNING until this Thursday! Heat indexes have been in the 100s for the past couple days.)

I just finished editing a project for my client in GR. Once our internet connection is up and running, I plan to post some clips of the good and bad music videos I edited. Some are really good (Gnarls Barkley's 'Crazy' and Madonna's 'Get Together') and some (most) are absolutely, mind-bendingly awful. It's hard to describe how bad popular music and music videos are. I haven't had direct access to anything akin to MTV in years, and now that I'm being exposed to the pop-music scene as viewed through the hip lens of MTV, I can only weep and laugh. I feel a special kind of sympathy for Chad who was forced to endure hours of broadcast television night after night. Now that I think of it, this explains many of the more extreme problems he has. His dream to create a Foxy-Boxing / Oil-Wrestling hotel that floats in space has context now. Poor guy. Speaking of the poor guy: Today is his birthday. Send him some of those cheezy Hallmark email birthday greetings. He'd love that.

In response to Chad's comment: Yes there are plenty of independent theaters down here, I just haven't been to any yet. I don't know the difference between 'Theater' and 'Theatre' other than the spelling.

Though I have yet to find a place that sells them, there is a local magazine called CityBeat that covers the independent film, music, and midget-tossing scene. There is a 20+ year old film society that organizes meetings of local filmmakers, sets up screenings of hard-to-find films, and sends out a newsletter. I'm planning on joining that. There's also a repetory theater somewhere downtown (a theater that you join and vote on what films it will show). I had a bunch of links to different film sites, but this $*&$% computer has just refreshed the page and lost them all again. God, I can't wait till I our connection is back up. Here's a few I remember:

Underneath Cincinnati

Cinci Film Society

Esquire Independent Theater (I like the name. :)

LiteBriteTest

This geek's new style...

I started work on July 26, 2006 at 8am. I came to work wearing khaki pants, a green shirt and a black jacket. I felt like a fish out of water, as most people do when they first start a job. After a quick tour, I was put in the area that I will be working. It took about 3 hours before the button on my pants decided to pop off. Luckily, it was only holding the flap on the inside of the pants, and I had a hook to keep my pants closed! After working for three days in clothes that I have worn for about 3 years, I decided that it would be best if I had some new clothes. Matt and I headed home for the weekend, and I went shopping with my sister. This time I spent shopping with her I will always remember as a good hell. The main reason is because I hate to shop in a store. Give me a computer and I am ready to start clicking. Put me in a room full of clothes and tell me to grab some and head for the dressing room, and I break out in hives.

If you don’t know my sister, you don’t know that she likes to shop. I am not usually this masochistic, but since she knows fashion and I don’t, I didn't feel I really had a choice. Unfortunately, that meant our shopping trip was going to be longer than I am used to. Normally if I have to go into a store to buy clothes, I am in for about 15 minutes. I usually pick things up on the way in and talk myself out of most of them on the way out. My purchases usually include socks and maybe a shirt (usually something I wouldn’t be able to wear to work anyhow). She fixed me up good with a plethora of snazzy outfits, shoes, and such.

The moral: if you are not the expert, make sure you ask for help. If it is an arduous task and you are not sure you are going to make it, repeat these words over and over in your head – This too shall pass.

I am very thankful that she was able to donate her time to help clothe this geek :)

Thanks Jess!

Back To It

We arrived about 7:00 yesterday and proceeded to order some Chinese food from "Timmy's Wok." The food was good, though not amazing. Mandy headed off to work this morning, and I've been spending the day cleaning and picking up random odds and ends that we need.

We are officially closed out of our apartment at Timber Ridge. The place was very good to us. It had all the things we were looking for in an apartment: Washer and dryer, garage, and a larger kitchen. Sadly, the timing was off and the jobs in GR were too far and few between. A couple can only live off of their savings for so long before they need to look for alternatives. On the other hand, jobs weren't the primary factor in moving. Mandy and I had long been considering trying out a new locale; one that has more opportunities for both tech and film. We're also getting sick of apartment living. All things considered, they are great if you need flexibility and have a high potential of moving around a lot. Being flexible is part and parcel of, oh for example, tech and film jobs. We know that moving into some kind of a more stable home is not too terribly far off in our future, and if we were going to get out of dodge and try out a new town or two, the time to do it is now. We're really getting to the point where we want to start investing our money in a living space rather than giving it over to an apartment complex. We spents several thousand dollars moving into Timber Ridge, paying rent, breaking our lease that we will never see again.

We look at this whole experience as a grand experiment in trying out new locations, meeting new people, and hopefully finding opportunities to better both our careers and our relationship. The odd thing about returning here yesterday was that the apartment contains our personal possessions but has none of the feel of home. This is always the case when I've moved into a new place. It takes time to adjust to the new layout, have a few friends over, and build a repertoire of memory that kind of serves as a shared history of the space. Then, after a while, it slowly begins to feel like home. With Timber Ridge, this took about three months - nearly the entire length of time we lived there. With Arbor Lake it never happened. With Bayberry it happened almost instantly...

(OMG!!!! When I hit the damn 'Windows' key on the keyboard on these crappy computers, my blog disappears. I've rewritten the next two paragraphs twice and now their gone again. I want to post from my own computer!!! ARGGHHH!!!!)

Quick Summary: The Internet rules! I miss it. I want the Internet in our apartment so I don't have to deal with people popping out of the gym, sitting in the chair next to me huffing and puffing, spraying sweat all over their computer. I should trip them as they exit the room and yank their their annoying pink iPods off their flabby arms and smash them to pieces with the heel of my shoe all the while cackling, "Whatcha gonna do about it, fatty???" But, instead, I sit here listening to Speed of Sound by Coldplay while typing and giggling to myself.
Anyway, I know the transition period will happen. It will take longer than usual due to obvious reasons like being in a completely new city in a different state. This week Mandy and I are going to start decorating and painting as we work to make the space feel less like a place where we eat and sleep and more like a place we live.

Pictures of the apartment are coming. I'll post them once our connection is up and running, so don't expect them before Sunday. Also, since this is a public forum, I'm not going to be posting any details about the apartment (like our address), so if you need any of that info, just email Mandy or I.

Leaving For GR

(Don't know why this went into draft instead of publish yesterday... unless I accidentaly hit 'Draft' instead of 'Publish')

Our short trip back was successful. We finished up with the apartment, went to see Phoenix which was a fun, albeit short concert, and had breakfast Sunday morning. Since we were not allowed to bring in recording devices of any kind, I don't have any pics to share. We're planning to leave here about noon and hopefully be back in Cin City about 5-6. I may post more when I arrive, but probably not.

Thanks for all the positive feedback about the blog. Many people I talked to this weekend mentioned having read it to see what's going on with Mandy and I. If you're a lurker (a person who just reads) consider posting a comment or two. It's free and you don't even have to register.

Saying Goodbye

The drive up was uneventful. We hit a little construction, traffic, and a thunderstorm, but nothing life-altering. The trip ended up taking about 5 1/2 hours, everything included. I think the 5 hour mark is a pretty good estimate for traveling between GR and Cin City. With gas, potty, and food breaks, people should be able to get from one place to the other in 5 1/2 to 6 hrs - for future reference.

Today, Mandy's Parents, Jess and Mike, and Mandy and I met for breakfast at the Gally Kitchen in Grandville. I ate a breakfast consisting of coffe and a breakfast burrito. It was good. Afterwards, Mandy and Jess headed off to go clothes shopping for Mandy's new gig ("The dress code here is buisness casual. Though, more buisness than casual.") while Mandy's Mom and I headed back to Timber Ridge to finish up. I dropped the entertainment stand off at my sister and bro-in-laws then headed back and finished moving everything into their truck. All in all, it took about 2 hours to finish the move-out. This was due. largely, to the fact that Mandy's parents painted, vacuumed, spackled, and generally did everything for us this past week. This, again, brings home the fact that much of this move would've been impossible withou their help. So, thanks again.

Tonight, Mandy and I are meeting up with friends and family to see Phoenix at the Intersection here in GR. This is a band that Mandy and I have been fans of since we first heard their single on a sampler CD picked while attending an Air concert at Clutch Cargos in Detroit. They are a kind of French/Funk/Rock band with a little retro-60s thrown in for kicks. Good stuff. Tomorrow we'll catch breakfast with some people, then head out of dodge around 1 or 2, to be back in town by 7-8.

We finally signed up for cable (Time-Warner has a monopoly in the Cinci area) and should be getting it activated next Saturday. Hopefully by then, I'll have a few small projects finished that will give everyone an idea about where we're living, what the apartment looks like, and (yes Dolemite) how the cats are doing. 'Till next time: Keep your SPAM in the fridge and your eyes on the prize!

Upward Bound

We're heading back to GR for a short visit this weekend. We'll be leaving here around 5 when Mandy gets out of work and drive up. Saturday, we're cleaning and getting done with the Timber Ridge apartment. That evening we're going to see Phoenix perform at the Intersection then do something with friends afterwards. Sunday we drive back. The weekend is going to be mostly driving, a lot of cleaning, and little Pheonix phunkiness. Since we're not going to be in town for long, we're not going to be able to make out to see everyone we'd like: I have a feeling this will be a theme whenever we come to visit. After this short visit, we're probably staying down here for a few weeks to get settled. This would be a good time for a visit, if anyone's interested

I don't know if we'll have a chance to post an update until Monday, but we'll try. I'll post pictures of the weekend and of the new place in Cinci when we return.

About The Cats

In response to a comment, here's an update on the cats:

Mandy and I have had a little experience moving our cats around in vehicles. The few experiences we've had have been short, 15-minute trips to the vets. Also, during "The Great South Carolina Job Fall-Through of '05" the cats spent a couple months *interacting with (*read: hissing at and puking near) Mandy's parents cats. In fact, the level of hissing and puking and general stress may have been a contributing factor in the heart attack that ultimate claimed the life Mandy's parent's cat 'King Kitty.' During these short trips, that cats went absolutly insane. Leaping around the cars, howling, chewing hands, climbing under breaks and gas pedals. In response to the extreme ways the cats responded to our short trips, we decided to drug them for the 5+ hour trip to Cin City.

We doped the cats with veternarian-perscribed drugs aprox. 1 hour before we left GR. As we prepared to leave, Athena looked a little sleepy, but Ocyrus was still wide-eyed and fully alert. We packed the cats in seperate cat carriers lined with poofy towels and placed one in each car.

The drugs must have been mislabled, because they caused the cats to alternatly chew at the metal bars, burrow in the towels, and leap so violently against the tops of their carriers that they knocked the boxes off of the seats and pass out. While passed out, their mouths would remain open, eyes rolled back in their heads, and they would let out little whistling, yowling noises ever few minutes. After about an hour and half of this, we pulled off to a rest area to let them out of the boxes for a while.

While watching the cats stumble around like me after a few hours at Founders, we decided we should put them together in one car and leave them out of the boxes. It was decided that they should go with Mandy and I would take the boxes. All things considered, the boxes were definitely the better car-mates.

Mandy said they gave much less trouble once they were together and out of their boxes. They alternatly slept and howled the rest of the way to Cin City. For the next few days, they moped around the house and slept most of the day and night, coming down (or up?) from their drugs. They've now fully recovered, and are back to their usual shedding, annoying, and impossibly cute selves.

When, if ever, we take them back up North, we will not drug them. The drugs seemed to make them even more horrible to deal with then they were straight. Maybe we'll feed them a little Founder IPA or Dirty Bastard and play some Ween before we go. That usually puts me in a mellow, relaxed mood.

At a Good Clip

Things are moving along really quickly. I went for the interview yesterday in Dayton and ended up getting the job. I went into our recruiting agency (it's same as Mandy's) and filled out the paperwork today. Two really cool things happen as a result: 1) I will get a sign-on bonus, just like Mandy and 2) we can each pay for separate insurance which lowers the cost by about 30%. The bonuses are especially helpful, as they almost totally cover the cost of breaking our lease at Timber Ridge and the cost of paying for the Budget truck. I noticed a comment from AK47 about a job in Blue Ash, so I'll have to look into that and see whether it'd be better to stick with the job I have just recently gotten. One thing is certain; after three solid months of job-hunting in GR with no results, we moved to this area and are both employed in less than 10 days. I don't if that's a credit to the can-do, don't-have-any-teeth spirit of the Buckeyes or a just a strange fluke, but it's pretty damn cool. I begin my job this upcoming Monday. For those of you who I am joining to see the Lips next weekend, don't worry. I'll still be there but the details of how and when are back in "under construction" mode.

Mandy and I will be heading back to GR this weekend (July 28th-30th) to finish cleaning up the apartment, turn in the keys, and pay off the lords and ladies of land. We'll head out of Cin City after Mandy gets out of work and be in town around 10:00PM. Saturday night we were thinking of hooking up with friends at Cambridge house for drinks and conversation and so forth. If anyone is up for it, or has a better suggestion, post it on the blog or call either of us. Next weekend, I'll be in Detroit for the Lips concert. After that, we'll probably be sticking around here for a couple weeks to continue our reconnaissance of the area. Mandy's parents are beginning their 'round the country Harley adventure this weekend and have plans to drop by our new place on their way back near the end of August.

Chad mentioned posting a list of the top 10 strangest differences between here and GR. This is funny because Mandy and I had already been compiling a list between the two of us. When we hit 10 on the list, we'll post it.

Umm. Anything else... We went to see Superman Returns yesterday in a large National Amusements theater. This is the same chain that ran Showcase Cinemas, the movie theater Chad and Pete worked at years ago. While Showcase will always have a safe nook in my heart, this theater will not. The tickets prices were reasonable for a matinee ($6.50) but here's the catch: You have to purchase the more expensive "Director's Seat" tickets to get benefits like seats that don't suck, refills on pop and popcorn, and your choice of seating in theater. Even McDonalds gives their patrons refills on drinks! In the words of Gob from the brilliant Arrested Development, "You ask the guy with the $5,000 suit to get a refill? COME ON!!!" I posted a review of the film on MindSplint, so check it out if you get a chance.

Day Around Town

Short post today... at least for now. I drove out to Dayton to meet someone at 7:00AM this morning. Dayton is about 35 minutes from where we live, so the drive wasn't that bad. I met a recruiter from a consulting agency and then I had an interview at a place in downtown Dayton. It went well, and I'd say it's pretty likely that I'll end up getting a job there. I should hear something today.

Anyway, the recruiter took me out to breakfast at a Cracker Barrel. Then, this afternoon, Mandy and I were taken out by a couple recruiters from her consulting agency to a restaurant in town. This city is great! The people take you out for food all the time.

We're still trying to figure out what to do about our internet conncetion and getting our barrings about the city. Mandy starts her job tomorrow at 8:00AM, so send her happy vibes and cheerful thoughts.

If we make it back down to this little business center, we'll probably post something else, but if not, we'll post an update tomorrow. Thanks for the comments! It lets us know that some people are reading our ramblings.

Tearful goodbyes...

This entire moving process has been all a blur. I can hardly believe we, and all of our stuff, is in our new apartment. The journey would not have been possible if not for my Grandpa Dudas, my mom and dad, and my uncle John and his girlfriend Suzanne. The rest of my family have also been supportive in shoving us out of Grand Rapids with a farewell party last Friday. Being breakfast people, Matt and I have fallen in love with Waffle Houses.

Today Matt and I went to breakfast with my mom and dad. The food was good, but the time was bittersweet. We would be driving back to our new apartment, and my parents would be riding back to good 'ole GR. I found myself to be quite overwhelmed, so there were no tears coming from my eyes (at this time). I do feel that my heart aches already in missing my friends and family, but my mind is set to jump into this new adventure whole heartedly. I look forward to the new adventures to come!

We Have Landed

Mandy and I have arrived in Cincinnati. We are still unpacking and getting everything organized. We just got back from dinner with Mandy's parents and are heading back to continue to unpack. The apartment complex has a little business center that will allow us to periodically get online while we wait for our own high-speed connection to get setup. I am way too tired and stuffed to type much more, so I'll close with this: The people down here have no teeth.

Last day in harbor...

Today was the big move everything out of the apartment into the moving van day. Over the past few days Mandy and I have been packing boxes and generally getting our things ready to move.

We picked up the moving van from Budget about 9:00AM. For some reason, our reservation information got lost on the way from the webpage we entered it in and the place we picked the truck up from - so it took a little while to re-order everything. We ended up settling on a 16' van with a dozen furniture covers.

We met Mandy's dad and grandfather at our place at about 11:30AM and proceeded to load up the bulky furniture. After loading the bedroom, the monster TV, and some boxes we realized that there was no way possible to fit everything we own into the truck. We moved to sell the TV and our bedroom set (but we're keeping the mattress and box-springs). The TV has already been sold to the Sterks, who are movie-nuts and the bedroom set will appear in the GR Press sometime in the near future. On the way back from Cincinnati this past weekend, Mandy and I discussed getting rid of the TV and bedroom furniture and we figure this will be better in the long run. We don't own a house or plan on owning one for a while, so there's little call for a full bedroom set. The TV, on the other hand, will be replaced in short order by a snazzy new one. I'll post pictures when we buy it.

We ended up wrapping up around 4:30 and have returned to Mandy's parents to sleep the night away. We plan to leave GR tomorrow before 10:00AM and make the long trip to Cin City in time to catch our new landlord and sign the lease and pick up the keys. Sunday will be filled with unpacking and returning the truck.

Ironically, while checking my email today I found a recruiter looking for two QA Testers in Grand Rapids. The job is described as being a, "Progressive company, casual dress, and meals paid for on Fridays." Mandy and I have been trying to find ANY tech job in Grand Rapids for the past three month solid and the first one we see arrives the day we are moving out. At first, I was pissed. Didn't it just figure that a job would open up as soon as we decided to head out of dodge? It seemed I could actually see an old geezer with a crooked smile floating in the clouds laughing and repeatedly jabbing a giant, red button labeled "Screw Matt and Mandy". Then I realized, mostly due to Mandy's gentle reminders, that we aren't moving solely for a job. It helps, but it isn't the main reason. We are leaving to try out a new place, eat at new restaurants, meet new people, save some money, and work on improving the nuances of our new relationship as a married couple. Also, if he were up there, poking a fate button, there's no way we would've been able to find an apartment and completely move to another state in less than seven days. We would've been stuck at every possible turn, and the amazing people who showed up to help us move, give us words of support, and make promises to visit would've never materialized.

At any rate, we are both excited about the road ahead. The grand experiment begins in t-minus 14 hours, and we are giddy.

Thanks to everyone who's helped out this past week in there own, different ways. I'll post again when I have access to a computer and the internet (which is made out of tubes, I hear). Stay tuned!

(I'll post some pics as soon as I can unload them from the camera)

Hello Cincinnati - Yet Again

In case you haven't heard, Mandy and I are relocating to Cincinnati, OH. We are there right now, as I type this. It's unbelievably hot down here (I keep hearing it's pretty damn hot up there too). We arrived yesterday (Sunday) and did a whole lot of apartment hunting today. We checked out some lofts downtown, a few apartments on the ritzy west-side, and some down-to-earth apartments on the North end. We ended up settling for an apartment not far from where Mandy will be working, and hopefully not far from where I will end up working.

I haven't been to Cin City in a while. The last time I headed down here, it was with Chad in toe as we went to meet the strange and enigmatic Kleiner to upgrade my delipidated computer. The area of Fairfield, which Mandy and I crused around this day past, was our destination. It's strange to see the area in the day time and with an eye that I might end up living in there parts for a while. For some reason, unbenounced to myself and everyone I know, Kleiner has dissapeared off the face the planet, so we haven't really had the means to look him up and invite him out for a beer. Alas. Maybe he'll resurface someday.

The people in the area seem really down-to-earth. We've had a few decent conversations with the locals including one extremely happy black man who yelled, as I scoured our car for our checkbook, "I just moved here from Holland Michigan! Move back! Ohio sucks!" The rest the natives have been more forthcoming and generally very pleased that there will be a couple of entergetic, young go-getters pracing about in their automated vehicle devices.

The hotel we are staying at, again, charged money for wireless internet access, so my time is limited. I will post a few random pictures when we end up back in GR and before Comcast comes and disconnects our cable.

From the (kinda) South. PEACE!

Pointless Product #2

Here is the obligatory Homer Simpson Quote.

This is lifted straight off of Boingboing.net (a much funnier and well-written blog than ours), but I had to put a post up about it. Is this a truly pointless product? Yes. Do I want one? Yes.

Instant Messenger Puppet

Da Fort O' Jooleye!

I love the 4th of July. I'd rank it right up there with the likes of Halloween and New Years Eve as my favorite holidays. It attacks you with coolness on many fronts, flanks, and forts. First, everyone can agree to liking it. It happens right around the Summer Solstice, when the daylight is long and temperatures are up. It's also centered around a non-religious event - the Independence of the United States. Regardless of what stupid things we are doing around the world now, everyone can agree the founders were pretty sharp dudes - and they came up with an interesting way for people to govern themselves. Second, the 4th is a celebration of heat, sunshine, and charred food. Everyone (well, unless they happen to be slaves of the soul-crushing television industry) gets to take a day off and enjoy the summer in its purest form - free from the distractions and concerns of keepin' it real, so to speak.

Hurrah for the forth!

Run #2

Another strange week has passed in Grand Rapids. Life seems to whirling into one of the tempests that appear every now and again. People moving, people dying, and people dancing get sucked into the vortex to be flung about seemingly at random. When the storm and the debris settle, things seem normal, but altered in vague and profound ways. I think the microcosm of an individual's life is self-semetrical to the whole of society: The small-scale reflects and imitates the large-scale. This particular tempest doesn't appear to be concerned with the events of my life, but everyone's and all at once. Maybe these things are happening all the time, but only occasionally we rise above the water and see how chaotic and strange the whole dance of life really is.

I ran my second 5K run this past weekend - it was the YMC Buck Creek Run. Though haven't been training as agressivly as I'd like, I still did better than the 5/3rd River Bank earlier this year. I knocked a good 30 seconds off each mile.

Walt Disney speaks from beyond the grave

I just read a really interesting article on BoingBoing that detailed a letter Walt Disney wrote to the future. It was unearthed in a time capsule from 1956. Check out the link: Walt's Letter

I love time capsules. They rule.

A Southern Summary

Here are the two videos I shot with my little still camera. They're pretty large files, so be forewarned. You may want to right+click and 'Save Target As.' Or whatever the Mac equivalent is.
Flaming Lips Video 1

Flaming Lips Video 2

The trip is over. The last unwritten day was spent driving to Louisville, KY to use yearly passes Mandy and I purchased. Upon arrival, we found that the Six Flags in Louisville isn’t open during the week until the week after we were there. After that we headed back home and watched George Lucas’ “THX 1173” a very derivative sci-fi movie.

Some observations from the trip:

1. Always check the local papers when traveling

By doing this, Mandy was able to discover a free concert at the Olympic Centennial Park in downtown Atlanta, featuring the Flaming Lips. We didn’t know the concert was happening until we arrived, and only after flipping through a local newspaper.


2. Ask the wait staff for recommendations

I ate an Irish boxty on the advice of a waitress at an Irish Pub. It was the single most delicious thing I ate on the trip. The menu item description read, “Corned Beef and Buttered Cabbage Wrapped in a Potato Pancake with Mustard Sauce.” Which sounds interesting, but not particularly good. I took the recommendation and discovered that I love the things.



3. Use Priceline

We purchased a room in Louisville both on the way down and on the way back up. The first time we stayed in the hotel we paid well over $60. The second time we used Priceline to pay for a better room for $40. This may be an isolated incident or it may not. Either way, Priceline saved us some moolah.



4. Find alternatives

Several of our plans for each day were spoiled by circumstances beyond our control. A bit more planning may have resulted more successful plans, but it may not have. The point is, irregardless of whether a plan was successful or not, we were able to turn every situation into something fun and adventurous. Adding flexibility to a trip means that you don’t always know what’s coming up next, and that can be good thing or a bad thing. It all depends on your disposition and willingness to adapt to the circumstances.

It was damn good to get out of dodge for a week. Checking out a city brimming with interesting places, people, and new sites gives one a fresh new perspective. Atlanta is multi-racial in a way that Grand Rapids is not, and I think will never be. Generations of non-whities have been living in Atlanta for a long time, and there seems to be a proud culture wrapped around the fact that the slavery-based economy Atlanta used to run on has been replaced by a capital market.

SOUTH - Day 5

This is going to be a quick update, as we just got back from the festival. Today was good. We went to Six Flags and rode a bunch of interesting rides, especially Superman The Ride. It was a strange inverted, flying kind of thing.

A picture I took of Wayne singing Yoshimi with a nun hand-puppet

The Flaming Lips concert was amazing (and free). They played for about 2 hours, covering a wide gambit from Soft Bullitan through Mystics. Mark always told me that their shows are hard to discribe, they must be experienced. It's true. It's unlike any other concert I've been too. Wayne shooting confetti into the audience, balloons everywhere, him singing through a megaphone they sprayed yellow and green smoke, and either side of the band was flanked by a group of Martains and a group of Santa Clauses. The interesting thing is that there is no strong sense of pretention. There is no purpose for any of the fanfare apart from the fact that's it's just fun. It doesn't make any grand point or say antything important: It's just fun to watch and interact.

I have a couple video I shot with my little Cannon PowerShot that I will post when I get back home.

'Till tomorrow.

SOUTH - Day 4

Yesterday we went through town trying to find our way to the zoo. We hoped a couple trains and jumped on a bus after waiting for about a half an hour. When we finally arrived at the zoo, we found it to be closed... the one day of the year it is closed, actually. That was about 4:00PM.

In spite of that, we headed back into town to check out the start of the festivals. We went to a really cool arts and crafts festival. I got an ear of corn and a beer. It was great. We also checked out the large festival that we are going to Sunday to watch the Lips. We wandered around afterward, checking out some local dives, and headed back to the hotel to pack up and get ready to move on to our next hotel. We're going to a Holiday Inn near the Olympic Park where the festival will be tomorrow. Then on to jump on some sweet rides at the 6 Flags Over Georga.

SOUTH - Day 3

Today we woke up, well rested, and while Mandy went off to exercise in the hotel’s facilities, I rolled over and went back to sleep. The hotel is beautiful and the help is very good. Wherever we are going we are met with a smile and a hello from the staff. If we are looking confused, they ask if they can help. For example, we were downstairs trying to leach off the wireless network (see post from yesterday for details), one of the doormen was walking through the lobby and saw us boot up and then shut down. He came over and asked if we needed help. We asked if he knew where a coffee shop was, trying to be a little inconspicuous about our intentions, but he saw right through us. He directed us to a little place about a quarter mile up, and said he thought that they had wireless. And the door to our hotel room, for some reason, has a doorbell.

We walked up to the joe-shop, got some coffee and grub, and then found out that they too charge for wireless. These people are insane!! Luckily, Amerihost had many unsecured networks open so we helped ourselves and got the info that we needed. We then went and visited a very cool historic museum.

For dinner we went to really good Irish pub / restaurant and ate some authentic food. I had a strange, albeit delicious, dish called a boxty. I’ve never heard of these things before. It’s basically a potato pancake stuffed with corned beef and cabbage and slathered in a really tangy mustard sauce. It was amazingly good. Mandy had a spicy chicken sandwich and some huge, deep-fried chips. I also had a pint of Guinness per Chad’s request

Tomorrow we’re planning to go to a Six Flags nearby. I’ll give a better update.

Oh, and it turns out that there’s a free concert series going on this weekend. The band playing tomorrow night, for free, is The Flaming Lips…. For free.

AHHH HAHAHAAHA!!!!

SOUTH - Day 2

Day 2 – Thursday

There has been a day delay in the posts due to our current hotel’s policy of charging $4.95 per 15 minutes of wireless internet usage. Yes, that’s fucking insane. On the way down here, we stopped at a random exit and drove slowly through the town until we happened across an unsecured network. That has been working pretty well here in Atlanta, but we keep getting dropped.

Yesterday (Thursday) we drove from Louisville, KY to Atlanta. On the way, we stopped in this small town called Portland that is apparently where strawberries were first discovered. We didn’t realize this until we stopped and found all of these small, road-side stands selling strawberries. We stopped at a local vineyard \and bought some amazing wine.

The rest of the trip to Atlanta took about 6 hours. When we arrived, we settled in our amazingly opulent hotel room. Mandy booked the room through Priceline, so we ended up getting a $290 priced room for $90. It’s been very cool.

We ate at a slightly crappy joint recommended to us by the concierge. It was a restaurant that combined fondue, live jazz, and a giant pirate ship… which makes it sound pretty damn cool, but turned out to just be overpriced and bland.

SOUTH - Day 1

Welp, we made it as far as Louisville, KY. The drive took far less time than google maps predicted, so we're sitting in the hotel lounge enjoying a couple local microbrews. Just outside of our hotel room's window, we can see the local convention center and Six Flags (which Mandy will not let me go to... because we are going to the Six Flags in Atlanta, so it's a compromise). The theme of the convention is Suckers and Plungers or something. The sign was hilarious, needless to say. The convention going on at the actual hotel is a group of people who do the legal management for gangs within the prison system. We came across a table displaying ads for various software solutions for how to schedule prisoner transport and other prisoner services. Very interesting stuff.

We'll be heading out of here early tomorrow to make the rest of the way to Atlanta where, undoubtedly, more crazy conventions will be happening.

M&M

The South Pt. 1

I am eat tofu in the South, come to tomorrow!

Tomorrow in the dimmest A.M., Mandy and I will be heading off to the South. Grand staircases, plantations, and "Frankly Scarlet, I don't give a damn" will be everywhere. I am packing my cleanest pair of spurs and loading my iPod with banjo melodies a plenty. Provided there is enough internet-wire to go around, I will be able "jack in" and provide "updates" to "everyone." As time and connectivity allows, I'll be making daily updates including images and scratch N' sniff blots.

Keep it tuned to Drop My Straw for more lunatic ravings as we head into the deepest, darkest heart of the American South to dispell and, hopefully, create some myths.

Race Day Pt. 2

So I survived the race. I guess have to pay back all those loans I took out last Friday.

The race went really well. About 8,000 people participated, again making it the 2nd largest 5K and 25K race in America. The 5K part started at 8:10AM and I ran it in about 33 minutes, giving me, on average, 11 minutes 14 seconds / mile. Which isn't the greatest, I ended up somewhere around the 37 percentile, meaning 63% of everyone performing did better than I. However, I'm taking this race a launching point for a series of other races this summer. Mandy, Angie, Chad, Andy and myself are planning to do 5 5K races by the end of the summer. I figure if I keep up with my training and actually do the races I plan to do, I should be able to get to being able to do under a 10 minute mile by the end of the summer and loose some of the profound flab you can easily see on the image below.

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.

Work sucks....

If you have never worked in an office, you are lucky. I have worked in the cubical farms for over 5 years now and hate it now as I hated it when I first started. Besides the common burnt popcorn episode, which happens at least once a week, you get the lovely experience of overhearing co-workers talking badly "behind your back". This actually happened a couple of minutes ago to me. Two people discussing a project that turned out to be a lot more difficult than it needed to be. I just happened to be the person creating the beginning documentation for it. A co-worker that has called me a friend asked the specific business user, 'You don't mind that it was done by a.....contractor?' It hurt my feelings a little bit.

I know it seems pretty innocent, but I just heard that same co-worker bitching for over 2 weeks on how this specific business user is all over her ass to get things done and how she is just an arrogant, power-thirsty bitch.

Being a contractor is not easy. You have to come in, learn the processes and systems in record time, along with constantly being reminded that you don't belong and they will not keep you......
I am a hard worker. I get my tasks completed quickly and correctly. My work is good, and I don't mind saying so.

The only reason I stay is for the paycheck.

One woman found true love after dating 150 people first

The Year of Yes: A Memoir, is a new book out that is quickly gaining some popularity. I have not read the book, yet, but I have read a couple of articles that give an overview Growing up as a somewhat obstinant girl, Maria Dahvana never had much of a problem saying 'No' to anyone, anytime.

Fed up with not finding what she wanted in the men that she dated, she finally decided to see if she would be able to meet some interesting people by taking a year and accepting all offers she received for a date. From taxi drivers to Microsoft Millionaires (who still lives with his mother) she had some really crazy times. And when love came knocking on her door, it was from the person she least expected it from. A man that with her previous thoughts on dating would have been out the door before he said his full name - a divorced playwright, 25 years older with two children.

I can't wait to read this book! It looks like something that will be a quick, fun read. I also hope it will inspire and challenge me to find areas in my life that can be opened and refreshed by changing my 'No' to a 'Yes'.

I think this is the best pick-up line that she received:
“I'm listening to NPR. Do you want to come over and make out?”

Interview

Hello....Calling all you fatties!!!!

In case you haven't found it, here is one of the newest reported headline in MSNBC Health section: You can't be fat - and healthy

What kind of silly person came up with that title?! Of course you can be fat and healthy. Don't you remember all those fat movie stars and stuff?

After reading this article, I came to find out that being fat is actually a bad thing. I know what your are thinking. You think that I am writing this to scam away your Krispy Kreme's. And although that may be true on most days, if what the article says is true, you can keep them!

The article says that they conducted a study and the study helped to prove what "a growing body of science suggesting that excess weight alone is an independent risk factor for heart attacks, strokes and diabetes."

Whoa!!! Slow down. So, this means that if I'm a fattie....and I don't change my lifestyle....then I am at major risk for health problems? Well, in that case, cancel my double order of biscuits and gravy and send me out a cobb salad.

If It Makes You Happy...

So I've been an avid Cost to Coast AM listener for many years. Coast is a late-night talk show started by the enigmatic Art Bell over 30 years ago. It primarily concerns itself with the doing of things that go bump in the night, and the "experts" who study these things. Topics range from JFK Assassination theories, UFO abductions, round-table discussions of Atlantis, and listeners calling in to open lines with ghost stories. The experts and callers range from the plausible and slightly off-kilter to the raving lunatic without skipping a beat. The only requirement the hosts (usually the amazing George Noory) insist their callers abide by is that they have to be entertaining and at least be deft enough to string together coherent sentences. Beyond that, anything and everything goes.

I have been attracted to the show due to the shear volume of ideas that are presented. 99% of the guests have no evidence to back up anything they say, and what evidence they do have goes against their argument or is simply factually incorrect. I consider myself a skeptic at heart, prefering to believe things that have some evidence to support them, rahter than things I'd just wish were true. I don't decry people for their beliefs as long they allow me to hold mine, because, after all, no one really takes this stuff seriously... do they?

Enter: Predictions, With George Noory Click on the "Click Here to Watch Promo" in the first text box to see the trailer.

This is a pay-per-view television show featuring the host George Noory interviewing a panel of, "Psychics and tarot card readers to astrologers, remote viewers and numerologists." These experts will give their predictions about what will happen in the upcoming year. They will answer the hot-button question, "When will the next disaster strike?" Coz, like, everyone knows there'll be some huge distaster! Duh!

See, this is where I gets me a funny feeling in my belly. I listen to the show out of a love for the crazy stories and the animated guests that are interviewed, but I take it all in good fun. When the show begins to profit off of the fear rampant in the United States, I start to wonder. With all of the pseudoscientific nonsense being sought by the masses (the argument about Creationism being taught in school, for example), it makes me wonder if Coast is benefiting or hindering the greater good of world. This isn't an idle statement. The show has over 40 million listeners nightly, and is the most listened to late-night talk show in the world. With this kind of exposure, the show is certain to have some kind of impact on its listeners. I realize that while it may be fun to believe that the earth is hollow or that Atlantis is a thriving city contained within a crystal bubble at the bottom of the Atlantic, no one is really taking any of it seriously... but people do!

Profiting off fear isn't a new concept, and I don't really blame Coast for making an extra buck off of their admittedly gullible audience by playing into their fears, but it doesn't mean that my unease is neccessarily unfounded either. I don't know what it means, if anything, but I when I think of my beloved UFO conspiracy-nuts contributing to the rise of fear and acceptance of pseudoscientific bullshit in the world, it takes some of the fun out of it.

Changes in 2006

Matt and I have just started following the Body for Life (BFL) meal and exercise plans. If you are unaware what that means, let me break it down for you. The meal plan start with a mind change. Getting away from the 3 enormous meals a day and breaking them up into 3 smaller meals with 3 snacks. The key is to put protein and carbs in each meal and snack, along with fruits and vegetables at least 2 times a day. Also, you eat 6 days like this and then the 7th is a FREE day. This means that you can pig out.....if you want to. The exercise plan is to get off your butt and to move...um, your butt. The key here is to exponentially increase the workouts along with utilizing aerobic and weight training. The BFL plan suggests that a person who follows their plan will see a big change physically within 3 months. This is a great thing for us to do together.

Last night Matt brought up that the physical change will almost inevitably bring about a change mentally. With that said, my hope is that the physical and mental changes will bring us closer strengthening our emotional bond. I also think that this will help keep the energy in our marriage - I know we haven't been married a year, but it's good to start early to keep it charged throughout :)

We have a lot of goals planned for this year. The thing that makes me the most excited is that now we have another avenue to work towards our goals together. For example, we both will be running in the River Bank Run in May. I know that this will be an enormous accomplishment for Matt because he is not a "runner" per se, in fact he does not like it very much at all. As Matt works toward his goals, I will be his encouragement as well as his biggest fan - and I know he will be mine.

I know that there will be challenges as we implement these changes, but I look forward to each climb and plateau.

Smack My Gates Up!

Mr. Bill Gates formally announced Windows Vista, the new installation of Microsoft's operating system, at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Videos of the new "slick" GUI interface, not to mention illegally leaked alphas, have been floating around the web for ages, so I don't know if this necessarily counts as anything particularly original.

However, there are few things I've noticed about this release that I find more than a little disturbing. The major item is Microsoft and MTV have joined forces to create "MTV Urge." Imagine the absolute horror of Microsoft Media Player being optimized to deliver MTV content. Crappy MTV content being streamed to your resource hogging, half-broken application. It's not fear-mongering! It's actually going to happen! This is the digital revolution your kids told you about, you rotten bastard!

From a Sysopt article:
"Gates and company also seized the moment to crow about a recent series of partnerships. A deal with MTV resulted in MTV Urge, an Internet service tied into Windows Media Player and Vista's media library that offers music downloads and related content."

The second item that I find more than a little creepy is the appearance of Justin Timberlake at the trade show. Apparently, in the middle of his announcement, Gates unfurled a red carpet, donned a glittering turban, and lifted a beaker high over his head. He then proceeded to drink the glowing orange elixir and lay down on the mat, twitching and convulsing. Moments later a break beat of the crappiest sort began to boom from the body of Gates. Timberlake was then lowered down to the stage via a cable and harness while playing an air guitar version of "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC.

Again, I have no idea what this was meant to symbolize, but I have a sneaky suspicion that Gates is planning to unlock the "Gates" hell itself. Vista can literally mean "A distant view or prospect, especially one seen through an opening." Don't you see? Vista is a view of hell! It may not be the real thing, but it is as close an approximation as Bill GATES can summon.

(damn, I missed the internet)

Pointless Product: #1

Welcome to Pointless Products. A professor once said, "Don't rewrite what someone has already said better than you could." So, to sum up the Pointless Products Posts, here's Homer Simpson:

Homer Explains Pointless Products

Here is the first product. Holy Moses it is useless.

A Lighted Self-Grinding Pepper Shaker

I'm married....Honest!

June 13, 2005:The sun was shining as my fiance and I headed down to the courthouse with my sister, Jess, and our friend, Chad, in tow. We stood before the Justice of the Peace and stated the politically correct vows, signed the papers, and within 5 min BAM! We were married.

I wanted to take my husband's last name, and thought that although it looked a little tedious, it shouldn't really take that long. Wow, was I wrong! It is now December 7th and I am still without his last name on my passport. With a trip to Mexico in April I better hurry up. In order to send in my passport name change application, I need a copy of my marriage license, and unfortunately there is nothing that I can do about it at this moment.

The fun started at the end of September when I went online to get a copy of the marriage license. I entered in all of my information correctly, checked and re-checked everything, but instead of a confirmation page I received an error. Apparently, the search they did (with my social security number and driver's license number) did not find anything. So sorry, you are going to have to either fax or mail in your form.

I mailed in my form at the end of October/beginning of November. A couple of days before Thanksgiving I received an letter back from the Vital Records department informing me that they could not find my record. They went on to state that I needed to wait the allotted 60 days for the record to reach their office.(Um...June to November is WAY more than 60 days.) I should be receiving a refund check in the mail within 3-4 weeks.

I called them today (yes, I procrastinated) and the phone was answered by ... Don't know she didn't say her name. First thing she told me was that they do not send letters like that. Then, after I read her most of the letter, she said she needed to check me something and put me on hold - did not tell me that the stupid hold music would come back on. When she came back she told me that I did not wait the 60 days for the record to come to their office. I informed her (again - 3rd time) that I was married in June. She said she would have the original record pulled and call me back.

I received a voicemail from a different person stating that the check had been issued yesterday and that I would need to re-submit an application. That was it - no information on what went wrong or any apologies or anything. This sucks!

So, I called this lady, Bobbie, back and got her voicemail. I left a message stating that I will send in another application, but I wanted to be sure this time that it went through and that I wouldn't be waiting for nothing. I am still waiting to hear back from her.

Well behaved children are the best

Recently, I have such a hard time figuring out what I wanted to write a post about. I have many thoughts, but none of them have rounded out to becoming a post. I have been reading the news, and haven't found anything good to write about....until now. MSNBC is running a story about a restaurant owner who has put a sign in his window stating: Children of all ages have to behave and use their indoor voices when they come to A Taste of Heaven.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10338070/

Before I go on, let me state that I like kids. I do not have any kids, but I babysat a lot when I was growing up. Those experiences helped me learn a great deal on how different kids behave.

There is nothing worse than when a parent allows their child to cry, scream, and throw tantrums in public places. I find this behavior appalling and completely selfish on the parent’s part. I know that there are many people that would disagree with me, stating that children are volatile and can be contained as well as a volcano. The reason that I do not agree with this is because I have friends that are parents and can take their children to public places without the children causing any havoc. These parents are the one’s that take time out of their schedules, which are busy as other parents, and teaching their children the importance of discipline as well as what is acceptable and what is not. I am a firm believer that a well-disciplined child will in turn be a well-behaved child.

For this case, I side with the sign in the window. I can recall many times being in different restaurants, trying to enjoy my meal, when all of a sudden a child starts screaming. In these situations, the parents have a few choices on how to react:

a.) Talk to the child in a stern voice. If this does not cause the situation to stop, move the child to a different location (i.e. bathroom) and continue the conversation…although I am not opposed to spanking a child, I do not think this is an appropriate location to carry this type of discipline out.
b.) Yell at them to shut up.
c.) Ignore them and hope they will quiet down.

Unfortunately, in most cases I see a combination of ‘b’ and ‘c’. I understand that children can be difficult, but to yell at or ignore them is not the answer. I believe that inconsistent discipline will spur on consistent misbehavior, as well as consistent discipline will foster children who are well-behaved.