Shaun of the De

Thanks, Comedy Central.  Thanks for telling TV listings companies that you'd take a full two-hours to show an edited version of a movie with a theatrical running time of 99.  Thanks for then failing to actually show the entire movie in 120 minutes because you kept cutting for commercials every three minutes to show two minutes of commercials.  (Don't do the math.)  We've been working our way through the movie (wearing out the batteries with all that fast-forwarding) the last few nights and were dismayed when the two hours were up and we still didn't have resolution.  Thankfully, there's one more airing (and we've told Comcast to record 3 hours this time, just in case).  We looked on movie spoiler and guess there's actually 10-15 more minutes of movie left. But bad form for just not fitting the movie into the time alloted.   I mean, I get it when NBC does that with irrelevant bits of dramas no one's watching anymore, but you don't do that with a movie.  You have to assume people are recording it.

Wha...?

from Kevin... Deep Fried Coke
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061027/od_nm/life_coke1_dc_1

The Critics Must Be Crazy

I recently watched The Gods Must Be Crazy. I've heard a lot of people talk about it, and for some reason, more recently. Most of the people who speak of it either rave or simply say "I don't get it." The second camp usually gives up without even finishing the movie. I have to admit, it wasn't at all what I thought it would be. That probably made it easier to watch, but I don't really know what I was expecting. Now I'm curious about the added features on the DVD. I guess I was entertained and thought it a unique glimpse at several other cultures, even if it they weren't entirely accurate. So I guess it was worth a watch, but somehow I fall in between, a place I've not encountered anyone else who's seen it.

Daylight Saving Time... Feh.

Daylight Saving Time was almost a good idea. In the spring, we move the clocks forward one hour. That means when it's 5 pm, it's still as if it was 4 pm. So it's lighter longer in the evening.

That was a stroke of brilliance. What wasn't was saying then that we'd go back to normal time at the end October of each year. I would much rather drive to work in the dark than drive home. In the morning, all you have to look forward to is work. In the evening, all you have to look forward to is everything else. When you're still asleep in the morning, why not just drive in the dark? And then when you're asleep in the evening after a day of work, it's much better to have the daylight to be awake to and enjoy.

So when I left for work this morning. It was light out, but not that pretty kind you get at the end of the day as the sun is setting. No, this was the harsh gray morning light of a cold day. The car said it was 32 degrees out, so there'd be no walking before work. And since it will be pitch dark by the time I leave work, there probably won't be any walking afterwards. I may just ask for a permanent change in my work hours to work from 7 am to 4 pm. I wouldn't be surprised if I could get it.

A cool place to visit?

Opens in 2010, I think.
http://www.earthpark.org/

iStockPhoto

This is a cool site:
This is cool... http://www.istockphoto.com/

A friend of mine has set up a site and already made $100:
http://istockphoto.com/roundhill

I was thinking of starting one, but now I don't think I will, it would have just been another thing to maintain.

Man, what a day

Today has, by far, been the one of the most irritating days I've experienced in recent memory. On the whole of it, a majority of it centers around inconsequential materialism, but out of it has come not-so-material and not-so-inconsequential and I am just irritated beyond words right now. I guess you just keep moving forward because anything else wouldn't make any sense whatsoever, but beyond committing it to words here, I don't know what else to do. And writing it down really isn't doing anything to alter the mood I'm in and certainly can't fix things, material or otherwise. I've hurt, I'm hurt, things have been broken and I've broken things. And as great as things ultimately are, this is really not how I expected things to be ten months ago when plans started to take shape. It's different, and infinitely better, but in some ways, it's exactly the same. And that pisses me off. Because it makes me feel like a failure. And when something comes along offering the chance to change that and put things "right" something else comes along to make sure the status quo is maintained. And I just don't get that. I feel like so much of this is my own fault, even what's not and I'd really like that feeling to go away. I'm not to blame for everything. And in some cases, no one is. And at the same time something in the back of my head still points the finger back at me. If there's anything to be celebrated, I can still passionate about something material being damaged or destroyed (no, the car is fine). But it doesn't feel good and it's not well received. I never had much growing up. And what I did have, I worked hard for. And by working hard I mean that it took a lot of my time at low hourly wages to get what I had. Even if the work wasn't hard, it took a long time to get the money to pay for it. So now I'm an adult, things should be easier to pay for. There should be money for stuff. I know it's just stuff, but something breaking shouldn't be a big deal and should be something you shrug and replace. I'm conflicted and I feel like I can't even figure out what I want to say which probably is part of the reason I'm unable to feel any better about it. And so I let it color my entire day and spill over into other things. And even by sitting down here at the computer I'm not helping matters much. But it's probably the best place for me because I'm not making matters worse by being somewhere else. I thought at the very least, I could regain some sense or order, power, justice, whatever, if I could at least fix something I broke earlier this week. But that was not to be the case and instead now I'm just messy and dirty and I have a room to clean. Maybe that will have to be my salvation for this evening, at least I can vacuum and turn mess into clean and have some sort of control over the universe, or at least my little square corner of carpet. *sigh*

Good morning, world!

Today's starting great. I got up pretty early, showered, came downstairs and put in just over an hour doing contract work and wrapped up just as Rachel and Lori were stirring. So I went up and greeted the two of them, played and just had a good time. Now I'm back down feeding the dog who is being cooperative because it's cold outside. Today we'll join my parents at Woodland Park Zoo, should be a nice time.

Halloween Candy

As I was munching on Halloween candy last night, I realized that it was just about a year ago that we made our commitment to move.  I remember sitting at the computer with Lori looking at homes on Windemere.com and JohnLScott.com, thinking about the possibilities.  I never could have predicted this last year, never even imagined it.  It's been so amazing and almost 100% good and positive.  I am so thankful, so blessed.  And once again enjoying Halloween candy early. 

I saw this today...
Bernard Baruch - "Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why."

A Public Service Announcement

Just a reminder, if you're voting in Washington State. I am running as the write-in candidate for State Supreme Court, Justice Position #8.

I would also welcome write-in votes for any of these as well:
State Supreme Court, Justice Position #9
Court of Appeals, Div. No. 1, Dist. No. 1, Judge Position No. 4
Court of Appeals, Div. No. 1, Dist. No. 1, Judge Position No. 7
District Court Southwest Electoral District, Judge Position No. 1
District Court Southwest Electoral District, Judge Position No. 2
District Court Southwest Electoral District, Judge Position No. 3
District Court Southwest Electoral District, Judge Position No. 4
District Court Southwest Electoral District, Judge Position No. 5

But for sure, write me in for SCC, JP8.

Dominos

This is kinda cool... an amazing domino (and then some) chain of events display.
http://one.revver.com/watch/42920

Ow, my eyes. Make it stop.

Gee, thanks, Todd. (Sarcasm heavily intended.)

Mexico Is At Fault

You know what? I don't care if there are illegal immigrants here or not. I mean, I sort of do, but it's like looking at a stab wound and dabbing it with a square of toilet paper. You're not asking "Hey... how come I'm bleeding? How come I'm in so much pain?"

The problem isn't feeling crossing our border seeking work, the problem is why. Why do people feel the need to flee their own country, often under very dangerous conditions? What are they after?

When planks of wood are paddled from Cuba, we say they are seeking better opportunities and the choice to live without oppression.

Is it really that different, people coming from Mexico?

It's not. I'm no expert, but it's really not hard to see that this is Mexico's fault. Sadly, American companies (like Subway, Sears, probably Home Depot) are happy to be complicit in the problem, but first and foremost, Mexico's government is to blame. Laws and failure to provide stability lead to the lack of investment and growth, the lack of long-term viable decent jobs and keep its country oppressed. We think everything's great because our governments are pals, but we shouldn't stand for this. There was no sucking sound after NAFTA because the Mexican government is too stupid to take advantage of what was handed to them.

Real immigration reform will only happen when the compulsion to flee is abated, when the people of Mexico don't have a reason to leave, when they can be proud to be allowed to grow their own country.

Of what little I know, that means that foriegners must be allowed to own land, companies cannot be allowed to continue to hire people for three months at a time to avoid providing benefits and the government needs to step up and provide stability and a pro-people economic environment.

Until then, all you can do is slap the hand reaching into the cookie jar. But if it's the only place to get a cookie and there are more hands than you can possibly slap, it's going to be worth the risk. It's time Mexico got back in the kitchen and started making its own cookies.

Yes, I'm advocating a Mexican revolution.

Senator Dummy

always used to think that being a U.S. Senator was prestigious and that only intelligent, highly educated individuals sought the office. (Pork-barrel notwithstanding, of course.)

Apparently not.
http://www.sealsforcongress.com/

*shudder*
http://www.wrightforcongress.net/

I like the repetition of the theme across the top. Almost makes up for the broken images. Sad that he's co-chairman of the Congressional Internet Caucus. Cool name, though.
http://bobgoodlatte.com/

Copyright issues? What are those? (If he's a Republican and they're lost, shouldn't he be happy to let them stay lost?)
http://indianadan.com/

Hope he didn't pay very much
http://www.stephenlynchforcongress.com/

Code it like it's 1992
http://connerforus.com/i_am_running_because.htm

And his dog runs his blog...
http://www.odonnell06.org/nucleus/index.php

I'm sorry, but is there something, like, you know, mentally wrong with him?
http://www.inglisforcongress.com/default.asp

Like the popping up head behind the door... is he short? Do people keep
not answering the door for him? Click that link to find out how to avoid him.

Or, this... what the heck?
http://www.inglisforcongress.com/BigBobInglisCongress.asp

More, More, More

Today wasn't a day for quiet introspection.  For the second day in a row, despite completely different planning and activities, I ran out of the day later than intended. But today the radio was on and it couldn't be loud enough, the music good enough or the beat fast enough.   The traffic couldn't move quickly enough and the lights couldn't be green enough.  I didn't even notice a lot of the drive, basically just focussed on getting it over with.  What a change.  Not road ragey, mind you, just ready to be done with it.  Checking the car as I pulled into the lot, saw it was 41 and decided that I wouldn't be walking before work today.  So instead I've started work earlier which means I can goof off a little more during the day or get some work done for WC, which would be great.

Weird Al

It sounds like Weird Al's "White and Nerdy" will finally land Weird Al a top 10 after 30 years. Good for him. I don't know the song that this one parodies, but it's solid enough on it's own that I'm not surprised.

Busy Day

Man, oh man what a busy day. I cannot believe it's already 5:25 pm and I am still here in the office. I'm probably not going to walk tonight which is a shame because I didn't walk at lunch because we went out to lunch for people's birthays. And so I didn't get to eat as healthy as I otherwise would have, either.

I sometimes wonder what people would think if they could peek into my brain. I often feel like the best description might be an butterfly on speed with ADD. Flitting from idea to idea without even stopping to complete one before moving to the next. I think it's why it's hard sometimes to talk because I get too excited and get so far ahead of myself that I have to stop and figure out what I just said and remember what I had been thinking at the time I started speaking. I wonder if I would be a high-functioning mental case or something. But that's ok, I find it kind of amusing. I just wish I could do something with all the ideas in my head.

I also wish I could capture in words all the experiences I have in the day. Driving to work is a great opportunity to really experience the world but then it's so hard to try to remember stuff long enough to commit it to the screen and/or figure out if it's worth remembering, or if I should just flit along to something else.

This week I've driven to work with the radio off. Once just to listen to the rain and once because I was hoping it would rain and just to see what rattled around in my brain without outside stimulous to guide it. I was all over the board, looking at the line of cars I was in as we crept and winded over hills, a long catepillar with red lights along its body.... it's been dark lately when I left and gotten light as I drove. I like the dark. The headlights piercing the darkness feel warm to me when it's 45 degrees outside. I'll probably have to stop walking in the mornings because it's getting too cold. Anyhow, the lights feel warm to me. Lori and I were looking at a painting at Target the other day. It was of a San Francisco street. It was obvious how the reflections of the headlights were painted on the ground that it was supposed to be raining, or at least the ground wet. The picture had lots of gray, muted colors, except for the brightness of the headlights. Lori found it dark and depressing but I found it cheery. To me it symbolized warmth and made me think of
Christmas. Which is 61 days away now. I know, I know, I didn't start this paragraph off trying to be random. I just lacked an agenda. And look what happened. In the car it can be quite a bit worse and sometimes I can't even figure out how I get from one place to another as the thoughts pop and pop and pop like overheated popcorn unattended on the stove.

And now I need to pack up and go home. I want to walk, but it's late. I probably could have walked instead of sitting here writing this, but it has felt good to write a little bit. I'm sure it will seem much narrower on the blog versus this e-mail program where the writing pane is really huge.

Sluggish

Blogger's being sluggish tonight. Somewhat annoying. I want my money back.

Man if today just didn't get busy beyond belief. I had to run so bizarre reports and work on a major project. Apparently the guy who normally gives us the stuff for the project each month eliminated the one useful thing he normally provided. Apparently the other stakeholders found it to be unfriendly. Unfriendly, maybe, but the only usable thing for us. Rather annoying.

I read that Panama is widening the panama canal. I guess it will create 40,000 construction jobs and they'll be able to make the money back quickly. Right now 9.5% of Panamanians are unemployed, but I don't know how many there are, so I don't know how huge (or not) 40k of new temporary jobs are. I could look on Wikipedia but I can't be bothered at the moment.

I did not get to any of the websites I had intended to for the day, so maybe tomorrow. I did walk a total of 9 laps, which was 9 miles and rode the bike a total of an hour and did 100 jumping jacks. Tonight I read Proverbs 27 to Rachel tonight. She still mostly tolerates me reading, but some nights she's not as interested in just hanging out and wants to do her own thing. Tonight was all about fools and something about a fool repeating themselves being like a dog going to check out its own vomit. Funny stuff.

I cannot believe the day is already over. I'll go read some more. I had some good ideas today. One of them I realized that it would make one of my jobs much easier for 99% of the stuff, but for that other 1% it would make it much more difficult, so much so that it's not worth it for the other 99%. Oh well. The other idea, I really like it. It's the idea of my organization picking a single country each year and pushing a lot of its effort towards that country. It seems like it would be a great way to really be able to show progress. I get the idea from a former boss who was credited with really raising the profile of VH1 early on... he had started doing "artist of the week" -- it made artists happy, made record labels happy and they in turn were happy to do favors for that network.

Anyhow, that's enough from here.

Foggy Day

It was foggy during the drive in. That was kinda cool. It was really cold while I walked before work. I got three laps (1 mile in). Unfortunately all the podcasts on the iPod were from last Friday. I haven't quite mastered the podcast updating, apparently. I don't know why it doesn't just simply get the new ones and drop them on. Now I'm going to have to go
and think, darn it.

Rob did devotions this morning and he read this really depressing story about a woman and her daughter trapped under rubble after an earthquake in Russia. Her sister's body was laying right next to her and she and her daughter were spared, trapped in an 18" pocket. She found a jar of jam that survived and gave it to her baby daughter who made it last 2 days but then was crying for food and water. The woman had been in the process of trying on dresses at her sister's house and was only wearing stockings and a slip at the time of the building collapse. She wrapped her daughter in the stockings for extra warmth and slowly lost feeling in her hands and feet during their time of being trapped. The baby continued to cry out "Mama, please give me some water." Finally the woman, remembering something she had seen on a survival story on TV started cutting her own fingers with broken glass, allowing the baby to suck on her fingers, getting sustenance from her blood. After 8 days both the woman and the baby were both rescued. I think. The story said they were down there for
8 days and the narrative seemed to indicate that an adult told the story, but it had said earlier that the woman was pretty sure she wouldn't survive. It was supposed to remind us of how Jesus' shed blood saves our lives, but it kind of hooked and depressed me to think of a baby crying "Mama, please give me some water." (Allison, don't know if this qualifies as uplifting or not.)

Just went to an HR presentation on the new health benefits. In typical HR fashion, it was an hour in length, had lots of powerpoint slides, which they neglected to give us copies of. They said there were handouts at the end, but they were just a few pages stapled together that we've gotten before and had access to online. If you're in HR anywhere and you're reading this, if you do an hour-long HR presentation of new material, you need to print-out the slides and hand them out before the meeting. I don't know if you're afraid we'll read ahead and get confused, but trust me on
this, if we can take notes with the slide, we'll understand and retain the information much more. Especially if we're expected to relay the information to others, like our spouses.

Today Will Be a Good Day

I'm gonna try something new... I'm going to start now (6:45 am) and go throughout the day with what I find to be interesting. Not so worried about the audience as capturing what I found interesting today.

Alarm went off at 5:20. Tried to reset it for 5:40 but the snooze still triggered at 5:35, so I laid there for 5:40 just thinking and resting. Then I got up, showered, got breakfast and went downstairs.

Did 50 jumping jacks and began riding the exercise bike. Breakfast: grape nuts and yogurt. Read John, chapters 3 and 4 -- that's where Jesus talks to the Samaritan woman at the well (c4) and the very famous "For God so loved the world..." verse. And another favorite of mine "Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." It also tells of a man who comes to Jesus believing He will heal his son, if Jesus will only come to the man's house. Jesus is so amazed at the man's conviction that He tells him the boy will be fine and sends him on his way. On the way back people from the house come to meet the man and tell him that his son has been healed.

Then I read chapter 3 in "Your Marketing Sucks." I actually wanted "Your Management Sucks" but the library didn't have it yet and Lori wondered if I had the title wrong. I hadn't, but said I was interested in this book and it's really good. Chapter 3 says to throw out everything. The example is a company preparing a new brochure. They pull out all their competitors' brochures and dissect, picking out what they like and don't like. He argues that when you do that, you've given up marketing and you've engaged in an egotistical oneupmanship to see who can produce the best brochure and you're no longer focused on the goal: making sales.

Last night we had a meeting at church to discuss their desire to build a new addition. We currently meet in a facility that was supposed to be the fellowship hall. They had designed but never built the new worship center years ago because they didn't bother to find out if they could afford it before they started planning. Fortunately they figured it out before they started building. Anyhow, one of the things they told us was that they had met with the city and the city said that they were going to add street-side HOV lanes down the main street next to the church and expected us to pay the half-to-one million dollars it would cost to implement in front of our church. That doesn't make any sense... they're going to take away some of our land and then ask us to pay for it? They agreed and we're going to give them 10x800 feet along one edge of the property and not pay anything for the HOV lanes they want to build.

Looks like last week's rally of the market is over and the market will go lower today. People are becoming more worried about a housing slump. And Wal*Mart is going to grow its overall coverage (square footage) of our planet by 7%. And add 600-700 new stores around the world this year. Heaven help us.

6:54... time to go upstairs and get ready for work.

To check out in the next few days...

http://blog.fastcompany.com/
http://www.emotionmap.net/
http://www.mashable.com/
http://www.swarmingmedia.com/
http://www.jimcollins.com/
The New Capitalists - Davis/Lukomnik/Pitt-Watson
Mavericks at Work - Taylor/Labarre
Fast Company's Greatest Hits - Vamos/Lidsky

My Brain is Buzzing

I recently received a subscription to Fast Company. It's a rather interesting magazine about technology and new ways of thinking and stuff that could eventually see the light and/or change the world in the years to come. I just finished reading an issue and it's weird... I want some of the theoretical stuff they described and I find myself really compelled to spend more time in thought. About what, and to what end, I dunno. But I always had crazy ideas at Lake that sometimes I could try out and sometimes I couldn't. I'd like to have that kind of pop going off in my head again.

Cringley Strikes Again

November 17, 2005
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20051117.html

Today:
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20061020.html

Details:
http://www.sun.com/emrkt/blackbox/index.jsp

Of course, if I were Sun, I would paint "Matson" or "Roadway" on the side and bang up the boxes a little bit first so they look less like a target when they're parked in parking garages.

Can You See Me Now?

Invisibility Cloak Almost a Reality

Five months after publishing a paper detailing how it might be possible, a semi-working prototype is unvieled.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15329396/

Laguna Nigel Needs a Hobby

For lack of anything else to do, the town has already penciled in July 14 as the day to go moon Amtrak.
http://www.moonamtrak.org/

Of course, advertising it seems to be a great way to risk a nuisance fine from the poh-leese..  Unless that's a ruse and the real day is the 13th.

Don't want a speeding ticket? Change lanes.

Simple math... if a driver in a 45-MPH zone passes A at 5 pm and 1 minute later, passes point B 1 mile away, how fast is he travelling? And more importantly, is he speeding?

Well, this would be more relevant in metric, but we'll save that for another day. In UK they have cameras that track you as you travel. If you pass two points too quickly, then you're obviously speeding. A major flaw? You can outwit the system by simply changing lanes.

That seems like a major flaw.
http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/16/uk-drivers-change-lanes-to-outsmart-specs-speeding-cameras/

Pakistan Photo Gallery

Here's some photos of live starting to return to some sense of normalcy.  There's a long way to go, but people are starting to get regular access to food, some kind of shelter, and so on.  Gallery presented by World Vision.
http://meero.worldvision.org/gallery_reportage.php?reportageID=27

So Bad, It's Bad

The Star Wars Holiday Special
http://youtube.com/watch?v=YmGzizktCiI

Funny Way of Repeating Itself

According to our Baptist pastor, Lutherans believe that when you take communion, that you're eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Jesus.

I thought that was Catholics.

Oddly enough, that's the argument I had x many years ago in Swormville, New York at, and after being at, the church I was looking at last night in the satellite maps. I guess it was wrong of me to have taken communion at the Catholic church because I believed that it was only a symbol of Christ's gift to us. But she stuck to her guns, good for her, good to have convictions.

That wasn't the reason, but I'm not going to become a member of this church. I'll probably attend here for decades, but I won't join the church. I think Christian is as specific as I want to get. I've been a member of several Lutheran churches and a non-denominational, and now I'm weary from the labels and specifics and happy to be just a Christian... I don't want to be Catholic or Lutheran or Baptist or Pentacostal or Four Squarey or whatever... I just want to work on living a life that pleases God, recognizing Christ as the only path to salvation and that I will always will fall short and be unworthy, but through Jesus Christ's sacrifice am redeemed. Not because of who I am, but because of what You've done. Not because of what I've done, but because of who You are.

A bigger issue is my baptism, apparently. I was baptized as a baby, by loving parents, who were making a public commitment to raise me up in a Christian home, to teach, guide and shape me, to love me and give me all the opportunities possible to choose to become a follower of God. As a parent, I realize now that I don't think that's the way to go. We've participated with Rachel in two baby dedications, making those same commitments, but she won't be baptized until she chooses to, after committing her life to Christ. A decision that's solely hers to make, but one that we're praying for and one we're hoping she will choose based on the opportunities we make available to her and the lives we model. I wonder if there are critics who would call it brainwashing, but then there are critics that suggest the same is done by public education. Besides, she also knows that Home Depot and Starbucks are great places that daddy loves to go to. And what's that? Branding? Positive Experience? Consumer education?

At some point in my future, I will probably be baptized again, the full immersion "correct" way to do it. At my last church, they said it wasn't a Main thing, something to fight over, but here it's apparently a Main thing. I get their point and I think it was well presented in the membership class today, but I'm not ready to do it. Not because I am unwilling to make that kind of a commitment before the world -- fill the Tacoma Dome and put me in the middle with a microphone and I'll tell you exactly what I think and the desire of how I want to live my life.

But I kind of see baptism as a sacred or somewhat holy act and so it seems foreign to me, the idea of just repeating it, if it detracts from my parents' intent and the commitment to me. Or, it's just all ceremonious hoo ha and just another artificial barrier that bothers me.

He also called PLU only slightly-slightly-religious and I had to concede him that point. Though it looks like it's a little more so now than it was when I was there.

In other news, in addition to my work at World Vision, I'm doing contract work for a very large non-denominational mid-western Christian community church near a windy city named after a tree and a body of water. Negotiations have mostly concluded and all that remains is paperwork and finding time to get the work done. This is an answer to a prayer we hadn't been praying all that hard about, but it was something I couldn't possibly say no to.

Satellite Maps: Small World

I was playing around with the map websites again and found myself in upstate New York. Made me start wondering. A search for Barbara Beckinghausen turned up three links... two at a church she took me two twice during my visit to her parents' back in 1994 and my blog from the last time I posted this list looking for people I had lost touch with. It was interesting to look right down on the church from a satellite view. I remembered the church, the parking lot, the Y-intersection nearby, but beyond that, I couldn't quite remember where things were. To be honest, I was quite disoriented during that entire trip and never really got my bearings.

Anyhow, it would be interesting to reconnect with her and others on this list to see where they are now.

In alphabetical order...

• Jamie Anderson - Pacific Lutheran University, The Mast, now Idaho or something?
• Frank Anino - Warner Bros. Online
• Andrew Alexander - Washington, D.C.
• Patty Armstrong aka Patty Hoem see also Patty and Hayden - last seen during Christmas break 1995
• Paul Bates - Bethel Lutheran Church
• Barbara Beckinghausen - Swormville, Amherst, SUNY Fredonia
• Shannon Carvey - University of Washington, Silverdale Lutheran Church
• Tighe and Susan Carvey - Little Caesar's
• Becki Brunelli - she's on the cover and one of the subjects of a book my wife is currently reading
• Wendy Ehrlich - tried writing to her last week, no response... she may not want to be found, not sure I blame her, I took the layoff hard. But I didn't blame her.
• Eric Funk - former DJ, KPLZ, sorry, I mean STAR 101.5
• Darice Good - thespian
• Holly Grellier - last seen in San Francisco, 1998 or 1999
• Doug Hahn - Portland?
• Pastor Robert Hoem - now a shared pastor at a few small Lutheran churches in NW Washington?
• Kathleen and Susan Jacot - Pacific Lutheran University
• Scott Kim - laid off with me at Warner Bros.
• Glenn Krauss - El Camino
• Dexter Lo - Lake Avenue Church
• Carol Maakestad - formerly of Silverdale Lutheran Church, last seen teaching at a school in North King County during Christmas break 1995 when I was taking the last of my stuff from home back to school with me
• Richard Mar - Olympic High School
• Eric McGraw - last seen probably on graduation day from high school.
• Marshall B. "M.B." Miller IV
• Jamey Peterson - last heard from by mail in late 2000
• Amy Reynolds - now married, that was her maiden name
• Chris Wilkinson - Silverdale Lutheran Church
• Robin something - from SLC... can someone remind me of her last name?

And some successes since last time I posted this list --

• Adam Bargmeyer - actually, his wife Naomi found me after the last time I posted this list. That was kinda cool. He and Naomi also reconnected me with Sean whose daughter (Rachel's age) just successfully came out of a bout with cancer


• Deryk Stilwell - Still at Bethel Lutheran, now married(!!!)


• Andrew Eichner - still has the same e-mail address, now living in New York


• Brian Fischer - he found me on MySpace days before the move back to Washington

Friday, Oct. 13

Happy Birthday,

Kevin

Interesting Evening

"Have an interesting evening," she told me.

A rather odd statement for someone working the graveyard shift at a bank. Judging from her accent, she was probably on this coast and that, plus the fact that we had talked about my daughter, she should have known my evening was pretty much over.

"Have an interesting evening." Not a good one, or a great one, but an interesting one. That kind of bugs me. Interesting doesn't equal positive. Interesting can be bad.

In this case, I don't expect what's left to be interesting. I'll do some more work on here to get more money moved around and then I'll go read a book for a few minutes and then go to bed. It won't be interesting.

Pet Peeves

According to a morning radio DJ it's Pet Peeve Week or something.

Ironically, one of my pet peeves is the unnecessary creation (by...
Hallmark? People with no lives?) of events to commemorate things that need
not be commemorated. Like Kiss Your Poodle Day or White History Month or
Pet Peeve Week.

Knock it off. Is it supposed to bring cheer to our lives or get us out of
the mundane or something? Are there people out there who flip the calendar
over to a new month and squeal with joy because on the 15th it will be
National Bring Your Pet Rock to Work Day or next Tuesday will be George
Lazenby Lookalike Appreciation Day? Get a life already.

Smells Like Payola

You'd think if you were paying for music, you'd get to listen to music you
like. I mean, that's supposed to be the whole premise behind LaunchCast
Plus from Yahoo! It's supposed to learn your musical tastes and the more
you rate, the better it gets at playing music for you that you'll like.
That works to a point.

When doesn't it work? When stupid songs pop up that have been "Recommended
by Yahoo! Music" -- and why has it been Recommended by Yahoo! Music?
Because they've been paid to recommend it to you. Nothing to do with the
kind of music you like, no regards to your preferences. Just a bunch of
garbage foisted on us by the music industry. I thought that was payola or
pay-for-play... or worse, advertising! I pay $30 for the plus features,
one of which is no advertising. Apparently that just means no ads for
Doritos. Ads for rap music are still ok, apparently.

In Your Eyes

Anyone who knows me knows that I really like the song "In Your Eyes" and the movie "Say Anything" (partially, of course, because it takes place in Seattle)

It seems like for a lot of artists, one song they do haunts them. So infinitely popular, it resonates with the audience for so long that it can probably become somewhat annoying to be asked to sing it over and over and over again, or that it's expected in concerts years later when you're ready to give new stuff and all they want to hear is that old song over and over again that you're somewhat tired to death of.

For Michael W. Smith, it's that "Friends" song... he kinda whined a little bit about that fact before playing it at a concert we went to a few years ago.

But not Peter Gabriel. Lately more and more versions of the song has been cropping up on Launchcast. Instead of just wearily phoning it in for the millionth time, he's been having fun with it, inviting other performers to join him on stage and sing it, or I imagine -- in some cases -- to stand center stage and sing while he looks on approvingly from the sidelines. There've been other singers and other musicians performing on it, and he always takes time to mention them by name during the song and to really get the crowds into a frenzy. It's kind of a neat way to recognize the fans and give them something new and familiar at the same time without being
completely crushed that they won't move on as you have and are stuck with a little song from the '80s instead of understanding how much you've grown in depth as a performer.

Or at least that's my impression.

Hamster Power

Some guys built an alternator and connected it to a Hamster wheel.

Whenever Skippy runs, it charges batteries. Whenever it gets dark, the light comes on. (Alternatively, they had it hooked up so that it came on whenever he ran.)

It's also hooked up to a bicycle computer so they can see how much Skippy has run and his top speed. (from Rob, link above)

Congrats, Lori!

She's my favorite little Lamb, too.

Stock Surge

The stock market closed at an all-time high today, slipping after surpassing another record-breaking all-time high during the day today. Last time it was this high was right before the dot-bomb. Most analysts suggest that we're not on a bubble of irrational spending this time, so that's really excellent news.

The Birthday Girl is a Better Photographer

Poor Lori was under the weather today, on her birthday. Me, on the other hand, not sure what my excuse was. I just realized that I didn't take any photos of her today. Opening presents, enjoying dinner with family, cake, etc. I also did not put up any streamers. I feel really bad about that. It was a family tradition growing up that mom and dad would hang streamers and balloons and stuff up while we were sleeping so that on our birthday we'd come downstairs and the pocket door to the kitchen would be closed (it was rarely closed otherwise) and we'd open the door and there would be the kitchen all decked out. One of our first years married my parents even mailed Lori a box of streamers and signs and stuff so she could hang them for me. Was so sweet.

I did bake Lori a cake yesterday. I did have a little help from Rachel who helped me mix and Lori did take the cake out of the oven herself while I was at the store getting stuff for the party, but I did make a carrot cake from scratch, including some of the shopping for it. But that's really not an excuse. Frankly, it slipped my mind and I think I did a shoddy job this year. Lori was the one who invited the friends and family who came over tonight. All I did was pass along regrets from someone who couldn't make it.

Despite my shortcomings and her own grogginess, she seemed to enjoy the day and so that's good. I know for me there are parts of a birthday that should no longer be celebrated and I suspect the same holds true for her. But the parts that should -- good food, family, cake and cards* -- that was all there.

*Lori has the rare sixth gift not discussed in the Five Love Languages book -- cards. Can't forget the cards. Not gifts, just cards. She loves receiving cards. I think they're overpriced pieces of paper that never exactly say what I want to say, but to her they mean so much and she spends so much time finding the perfect card when she's the giver and then always fills them with really wonderful writings. I have several stacks in drawers of cards she's given me over the year.

So, in the end, I would be really remiss not to post today and wish a very

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LORI!