Living the Middle Life

Food Channel

2009-07-21T11:42:00.001-05:00

This website could be dangerous...

http://freetubetv.net/index.php?view=4Zm9vZHR2

A keep everyone wants to defend!

2009-07-02T15:02:00.003-05:00

I built a LEGO castle. Thought I'd share. It is perfectly symmetrical, the same on the right as on the left. The next three pictures are of the whole castle, and close ups of the parts of the outer wall.

The next photo is an up close of the keep. It's stairs and ladders, it tiers and battlements. Then are photos of the back side. The whole backside of the keep is wall-less, this allows for easy access to the inside. Also you'll notice I used base-plates for the floors. This is a long standing type of archetecture used at our house to allow for even better access to the inside, for they can simply be slid out. Another nice sliding piece is the staircase. I have two staircases on the inside of the building. However, to make them easier to use, the second one slides out, making it easier to use the one on the bottom. Also, you'll notice that to hold up the second staircase I used tiny pips on the side of the wall, designed to be as unobtrusive as possible.

Here we have an upclose of a nice part of the courtyard. See the floor of the castle is divided into three sections by two walls. The center is a wide corrodore that makes the invaders easy picking to the defenders. However, to make movements easier in peacetime, there are gates made, that cleverly slide out to make it harder for attackers to climb over.

Stalkers are Creepy

2009-06-13T19:47:00.000-05:00

This has been a Public Service Announcement.

Maturity

2009-05-07T23:18:00.002-05:00

Maturity is, I believe, the ability of a person to deal with life.

It is most emphatically not about whether he acts like a two year old or a seventy year old. It's not about being goofy or serious. It's about understanding people, events, situations, and dilemmas.

A fellow might be totally calm. Carry on pleasant small talk with the older folks as an equal, doesn't engage in much activity, and yet doesn't stand up for his principles when they are attacked.

He might freak out when his car runs out of gas on the limited access highway, he might stare blankly, his mind reeling when someone insults him, he might be upset and confused for days when his girlfriend breaks up with him.

All these show that he's not mature.

Yet someone could understand the complexities of life. He could understand that bad things happen, that dirty jobs have to get done, realize that sometimes other people just have bad days, and he could dance around like a monkey to Raffi music, being completely mature.

A La Mode

2009-05-02T19:33:00.003-05:00

It's when there are more muslim gods than any other religion.

Self-Esteem

2009-04-27T00:55:00.002-05:00

I have a paper due in 12 hours that I’m only half don with. And it’s past midnight. So I thought I’d write a blog post.

What about self-esteem?

Growing up, our family never held a high view of this “self-esteem” idea. Why should we have a high esteem for ourselves? Are we really that great? Surely not. We are miserable sinners; we aren’t that great. Isn’t it wrong to think of ourselves as better than we are? That’s a whole load of overconfident bologna.

Worst part is that society loves to push it. They love to talk about how this self-centered view of the world is a good thing. They love to talk about how it’s good to be arrogant. They love to talk about how it’s desirable to cling to a self-image that is false.

It’s just a dumb, dumb, dumb thing.

But I don’t know.

Certainly it’s bad to be over-confident, but isn’t it good to be confident? There are insecure people in the world. I talk to them all the time. There are two aspects about them that I see most. They always talk about themselves, and they avoid anything and everyone that make them seem inadequate.

They talk about themselves because other people wont. They brag about what they can do, their impressive collections, or their cool friends. You know, the ones that you never met, so they’re my friend, only my friend, and not yours, so their coolness rubs off on me, and not on you. They’ll do anything for attention. (They’ll even do all those dorky moves on the dance floor at weddings, just so people will look at them.)

If they had a little confidence, if they had a little self-esteem, they wouldn’t feel so insecure. They would understand, not that they are great, so why worry, but that everything is okay. They’ll be able to focus on other people. The other people will appreciate not having every conversation hijacked to talk about how Bob is such an authority (or whatever) and they’ll want to be Bob’s friend.

Well, they’ll want to be his friend so long as he doesn’t threaten them. To be more accurate, so long as they don’t perceive him as a threat.

This could take any form really. They might think Bob is better at sports, or maybe Bob is more popular, or many he’s more hansom. Whatever it is, they must think the person is better than themselves at something they think is their specialty.

“Max is getting a better biology grade than me! That can’t be, I’m a Bio major, and he’s a dumb jock.” “She can’t get that role in the play! I always play the lead! She’s only a freshman.”

They’ll deny, or make excuses about facts. “I was sick, I wasn’t running at my full speed, etc.” They avoid reality; they avoid anything or anyone that makes them seem inadequate.

If these people had a little self-esteem, they wouldn’t be so obnoxious. If they had self-esteem, they wouldn’t have to try so hard to prop themselves up, and would be able to focus more on others. Having some self-esteem would make them self-less, not self-centered.

They need to know that it’s all cool.

Lamentation

2009-04-20T08:51:00.003-05:00

Always try and see the best in people.

They might be wrong sometimes, not just in what they say, but in personality. They might have a disposition that isn’t perfect. But, no one is perfect. Not even myself. So why look at them as wrong? That will only cause pain. That will only cause frustration. That will only cause depression.

So why put yourself through that?

Look at them as someone who simply has a different disposition. Yes, they might be a little bit of a jerk, but don’t dwell on that. Don’t look at them as wrong; look at them as mistaken. As someone who hasn’t figured it out yet. And most importantly, see how you match up.

Always try and see the best in people.

Yet this is hard to do, when people don’t see the best in each other.

There are people, certain people, who always over-analyze the situation. Every time you engage in conversation with them, you can see them picking apart everything you say. Looking, evaluating, and deciding. Picking out exactly why you are wrong; picking out exactly what makes you horrible. Every time their eyes sweep the room, they are sad at how everything is terrible. And they do it all with a smile.

That is: they lie about it.

Their eyes clearly despise you, their eyes clearly are tired of people, their eyes look a little depressed, and their eyes are not looking at the best in people. Yet, their body language conveys a sense of happiness. Their facial expression perks up when you enter the room, except the void in their eyes, which grows dull. They want to put the best construction on things. They want to see the best in people.

But they don’t. They can’t.

They make up by pretending to be happy to see people. People they don’t particularly like. People they have so many problems with. Their body language says, “you are my friend,” while their eyes say, “you are socially inept,” “you need to grow up,” “you annoy me.”

Be careful when they are girls. An analyzing eyes portrays a sense of intelligence, and a smile is the prettiest ornament a girl can wear. intelligent and beautiful. Beware.

These girls will be the smartest and prettiest girls you know.

Always try and see the best in people.

These and Those

2008-07-19T20:16:00.002-05:00

Tim Buckley has a great post here. So many videos. Watchmen, Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, and Heroes: Villains. Watch them, watch them all!

Also, be sure to watch this: http://www.starwars.com/clonewars/site/index.html?topLevel=2&subLevel=1
it might take a while to load fully, so have patience.

'96 Dodge Intrepid

2008-07-10T06:31:00.003-05:00

It rained yesterday; I took some pictures.

On another note, does anyone know if the Dodge Intrepid is a good car? The 1996 model to be exact. Would you be suspicious if someone was selling it for $2,500? I noticed the model won some kind of award some years ago. Like best car, or consumer award, or whatever it is self proclaimed important people call it when they want to promote the sweet new toy they just bought.

Didn't look like any rust in the wheel wells, I don't know the mileage (yet).

Windows Firewall

2008-06-23T21:54:00.002-05:00

Windows firewall seems rather pathetic.

For example, I just told it to block everything, no exceptions. This should mean that not only can the internet not access me, but I can't access the internet.

Goes both ways, see?

Now, this works all fine and dandy for things like uTorrent or America's Army, but for some reason some programs, like Firefox or iTunes, can just bypass my firewall. Without my knowledge or consent.

I mean, honestly... Common programs that everyone uses can just waltz right through a perfectly solid firewall. A firewall with no holes, no forwarded ports, nothing. Right now my computer should be completely cut off from the internet. Just as if I didn't have a wireless card at all.

Yet here I am, posting this.

Ergo, there are holes in my firewall. Holes that windows says doesn't exists.

You know what that means?

Windows lied to me.

Do you know what happens when you lie?

You die.

You die and go to hell.

Maybe then it might learn something about inescapable fire.

...all of this to say... Does anybody know of any really good firewalls? Heck, it doesn't even have to be any good at all.

Goddbye

2008-06-21T13:42:00.002-05:00

My car broke.

The break lines running the length of the car are shot. Rusted right through. It wouldn't have been too bad to fix, except that the fuel line is badly rusted too. It would probably have ruptured during repairs.

So it got sold.

Now I have no car, this will make college harder.

...though not as hard as if I had a nice little debt instead of no car.

Continuing the Patrick Henry Discussion

2008-06-15T16:03:00.004-05:00

This isn't about forced servitude, that is, honest slavery, but rather a slavery to the government. About how poorly the government can treat you "for your benefit." This isn't about automatic, instant, death, but a premature death, or maybe, not even your premature death, but the premature death of your grandchildren.

This is all about environmentalism, more specifically, Global Warming.

This country has been hit with a green fever, and the people are all clamoring for the government to take action, to fight a war on warming.

The Clean Air Act, Carbon Credits, renewable energy subsidization, mandating ethanol, outlawing incandescent lights and plastic bags, and most of all, energy caps. We're getting more and more government control.

What's next?

At what point do we decide that living like pack animals is not worth it? At what point do we agree a beautiful earth is desecrated by an ugly administration? At what point do we yell, "To hell with the earth!"

Surely if the only way to save the environment is to turn the world into a living Orwellian nightmare, the environment is not worth it. Why should we work to preserve the future, if the future IS slavery?

Nat commented on how the real question is about serving your neighbor. True. But think. In the case of your unborn children, the children to whom the future really belongs, YOU have to chose what freedom, and what slavery they will live with. And to choose, you must decide what option is best.

In fact, with that thought, we have destroyed all relativism, and forced ourselves into a choice of absolutes. Instead of choosing what we want, we have to choose what is right, what is right for future generations.

As I mentioned in my first comment to my previous post, it's relative, relative of how much life, to how much slavery. Certainly, most people will be fine with a few extra taxes to put public trashcans in parks, but how far do we go? Are we all really okay with turning our lives over to a new Hitler or Stalin, Voldemort or Big Brother?

Do you agree with Patrick Henry?

2008-06-06T17:43:00.003-05:00

I will be leaving for vacation tomorrow. One week family reunion.

While I'm gone, I want you to think about something: Is it better to die free, or live a slave.

Now think about it, really think about it.

If freedom will eventually kill you, is it better to turn over all your liberty to the state? If the state can protect you from your inevitable demise, is turning over your land and property, your options and choices, and your dignity and livelihood, over to government bureaucrats acceptable?

Should you turn over your lives work and accomplishments to "the people" for a longer lifespan?

What about the lives of your children? Or your children's children?

Now think about it, really think about it.

Post a comment when you know what you think. I hope to follow this thought up when I get back.

My Life's Soundtrack

2008-06-02T17:00:00.003-05:00

I saw this on Ethan's Blog, and thought about doing it, but then I saw Nat did it too, and that kinda cinched it for me. (I'm just keeping up the chain of blame.)

This is the soundtrack to "Your Life: the Movie." Put your playlist on shuffle and hit play. For each song you hear, put it down for a specific event in your movie-life. Don't skip songs or questions, just put them down as they come. Don't cheat to look cool.

---

Opening Credits: Nightmare World, Narbacular Drop
[This is a dark, instrumental piece from the game Narbacular Drop, Portal's predecessor.

Waking Up: Song 6, Daniel Powter
[I think it's about a guy deciding he wants to try going out with a certain girl, but with contemporary musical lyrics, who knows what he's saying. However, the tune has a sort of "We can take on the world," attitude, which would make for one amazing morning.

First Day At School: Break Anotha, Blake Lewis
[A very pop/techno tune, sung by a guy warning his friend that her new boyfriend is not of highest integrity. Best I can figure is that my childhood friend who is starting school at the same time as me finds a guy really, really, fast. Just don't ask me why I'm friends with that kind of six year old.]

Falling In Love: Don't Let Go, Weezer
["But if there comes a day/You should turn your heart away/I'll be down on my knees/Beggin for that girl to stay." Very appropriate. Like most Weezer, it is in a Rock/Alternate genera,]

Fight Song: Good Go Bad, Cheyenne Kimball
[It's actually about breaking up. I guess her guy went from good to bad, so she's singing him this rock song. Maybe I'm fighting an evil ex? Dern, am I hitting a girl. Maybe I'M the evil one.]

Breaking Up: Stick to the Status Quo, High School Musical
[I must have done something my girl didn't like, something out of characters something not cool, something nobody thinks I should have done.

Maybe I hit my ex?]

Prom: I Gotta Go My Own Way, Highschool Musical 2
[Gabriella brakes up with Troy. Boy did Prom ever suck. Way to round off an evening. I have absolutely NO luck with women.]

Life's OK: She Amazed Me, Rivo Drei
[Remember back to this morning? When I woke up? When I had no idea what this day would be about because I had no idea what Daniel Powter was singing about? Yeah. This is a parody of contemporary pop music. The lyrics are complete gibberish. I love this song. However, these constant break ups and the stress of my ex turning to the dark side must have driven me insane. Life is only OK in my heavily padded room. Que next scene.]

Mental Breakdown: Head Over Heels, ABBA
[Listen to those lyrics. Just listen to those lyrics. "Her man is one I admire/He's so courageous but hes constantly tired." Dern it. As soon as I get out of the mental institute, I get a new girl. That kind of girl. No wonder I go back.

Driving: Mambo #5, Lou Bega
["One, two, three, four, five/Everybody in the car, so come on let's ride/To the liquor store around the corner." Monica, Erica, Rita, Tina, Sandra, Mary, Jessica, and You. Maybe I'm better?]

Flashback: Do What You Want, OK Go
["Do what you want/What could go wrong?" That's me remembering my freind telling me it was OK to GO ask her out. On a side note, I find it interesting that Ethan had just told me about Aleister Crowley before WMP gave me this song.]

Getting Back Together: Most Girls, Pink
[What kind of girl did I get back with? Or rather, a better question is WHY this girl got back with me, a guy? This is a pop song about a girl that says she don't need a guy.]

Wedding: Yume Oboro, Eri Kitamura
[This is a kinda heavy beat pop song, but it also has a very distinct traditional Japanese sound to it. It's very cool. Excuse me me while I go look up what they lyrics mean, it's all in Japanese...

Heh, I should have known, the lyrics are more senseless than "She Amazed Me."]

Birth of Child: I Am Your Man, Rockapella
[Eh... I just can't think of an explanation for this.]

Final Battle: Hello Goodbye, Cheyenne Kimball
[I like to battle with Cheyenne Kimball. Maybe she's my evil ex? The song is about a guy that don't get his girl don't want him anymore. However, I ought to be married by now, why am I chasing a girl that doesn't want me? Maybe I married my evil ex? Are we fighting about a divorce? My my, this is just depressing.]

Death Scene: Oxygen, Colbie Caillat
[It's about a girl who meets a guy who she falls head over heels for. He steals all the oxygen from her lungs. It's not a dying song, but I guess it could mean I suffocate.]

Funeral Song: Quit Playing Games (With My heart), Backstreet Boys
[I guess it symbolizes that the girls will no longer be able to break my heart.]

End Credits: Knowing Me, Knowing You, ABBA
[Oh my gosh, this is perfect! It fits with the whole theme! It even makes a wonderful ending song. Simply perfect.]

[...and Nat's category,]

Trailer: Crab, Weezer
[I don't know what this song is about either, but it does make refference to a "her," so it can't misrepresent my movie too poorly.]

Cool Song

2008-05-16T16:48:00.002-05:00

I don't know if any of you will either recognise or remember this guy, but I thought I'd share. It's a pretty cool song anyhow. (he's also got a Myspace page, with a few more songs.)

BrickFish

2008-05-15T17:26:00.002-05:00

I entered a cartoon a brickfish competition. It's for a scholarship. Don't vote for it if you don't like it though. It'd be kinda cheep if I won just because I have a lot of friends.

Besides the votes, they also calculate how "viral" my entry is. That is, how many people get linked to it from outside sites. So maybe they do want my many friends to help me win. (or they just want publicity for their site.)

Immigration Illustration
Brickfish

Yesterday

2008-04-24T12:54:00.003-05:00

...all my troubles seemed so far away, no, that doesn't mean today is bad. Today is great.

Turns out I did get financial aid information yesterday.

At the other house.

I got just about what I had anticipated. Around 6.4 thousand. That makes Bethany a couple thousand cheaper than UW-M.

That's how much I guessed I'd be getting, but I had hoped for more. I feel almost torn, half of me is happy and ecstatic that I'm getting anything at all, the other half is sad and gloomy that I'm not getting 10 thousand.

Shall we all try and focus on the happy then? That'd be great.

All's quiet on the western front.

2008-04-23T16:42:00.002-05:00

Well, considering my last post, I've got good news and no news.

The no news is that I didn't get a letter from the college about financial aid. There is no news to report about it. I should have expected it. After all, it took a week for my information to get to them, it oughta' take a week for their information to get back to me. They weren't figuring it would take a week when they told me how long it would take to get to me.

The good news is that I got a job at Noodles & Company. mmm pasta!

Today

2008-04-23T09:04:00.001-05:00

I have a job interview in an hour and a half, and the college said I should be getting the financial aid information in today's mail.

I hope this will be a good day.

Trees

2008-04-18T15:11:00.003-05:00

See that? I cut that down. Almost all by myself.

I saw this other picture a couple weeks ago. It was a little startling. Our tree has... a... face... Wild.

I'm gonna be in Antigo this weekend. It's gonna' be awesome.

I've been looking into getting a job at radio stations. It's turned up fruitless. It seems they don't really hire part time.

See, the kind of job I want with them falls under the description of "Internship." I want to learn a little bit about the business, and get a little experience under my belt. To help a future career. (That kind of ambition should look good on any application.)

See? Intern. But they want interns who are already in college, not ones planning on attending soon.

Her Name is College, Bethany College, Bethany LUTHERAN College

2008-04-11T12:46:00.003-05:00

The cost of college, the bottom line, the room, bored, and tuition of one year:

For Bethany it's about $24,600
For UWMilwaukee it's about $15,100

Bethany has already giving me the Luther Scholarship, which is $5,000 a year. If they give me at least $5,000 more in financial aid, it would actually be cheaper to attend Bethany.

Still, it would be some $15,000 out of my pocket. A year.

Bethany is a great college. After last weekend I really want to go there. It's small, only about 500 students. They have a strong communications major, it's in the top three in the state.

The biggest benefit about Bethany is that it's only about two hours away from River Falls. Yeah, that's a blog. A blog written by a girl. A particular girl. If you can't figure it out, then... well... I'm sure your mother will be able to figure it out for you.

Now children, "showers" rhymes with "flowers."

2008-04-10T14:33:00.003-05:00

If the amount of April showers we get is proportional to the amount of May flowers that will bloom...

...We'll be making Ethanol out of flowers.

We'd have so many that even the government bureaucrats couldn't ignore the reality of supply and demand over their big fat paychecks. And that's saying something.

(Eaten any good corn lately?)

Oh my gosh, I'm older than my mom!

2008-04-02T13:26:00.004-05:00

I mentioned the Song "Hey Mickey" by Toni Basil at lunch today. You know, "Oh Mickey you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind," "Oh Micky what a pity, you don't understand, you take me by the heart when you take me by the hand." It was released in 1982.

My mom didn't have any idea what I was talking about.

Honestly, It's an old song. Parents are supposed to know all the old songs. How is this right?

I learned about Happy Tree Friends. Wow, it's like Itchy and Scratchy.

I also learned about Eurovision. It's like American Idol meets Miss America. Miss American Idol. Each European country sends one performer, who then performs. Then, they all rank the other countries performances, and a winner is found. This year it's the week of the tenth of May. I'm gonna have to watch it.

The only two winners I recognized were Abba and Lordi.

Rachel showed me the preview for the Zelda movie. It was awesome. After browsing around a little, looking for a place I could download the video (Which I eventually found.), I came across this awesome commercial for A Link to the Past. (that's a wmv file)

Enjoy!

My train of thought

2008-03-25T23:35:00.002-05:00

So I reversed traced a train of thought I had, and decided to give it to y'all.

Well as far back as I got it was about how I was a terrible flirt, and how Matt was saying last Thanksgiving/Christmas (whatever) that it wouldn't be hard to impersonate me. He'd just have to say something terribly witty and then... give a charming smile.

Yeah, I should have told him he's just jealous that can get me a hundred girls, and that he's stuck with my sister.

He'd resent that. You know, I've never looked up the word "resent" does it really mean "I don't like what you're saying," "That's not true," or, "That's quite offensive"? It sounds so much like "regret" that it throws me off.

He'd just tell me he has no regrets. "Life well spent!" Just like the comic book guy from The Simpson's Movie. When he finds out he's going to die he's all like, "I've spent all my life collecting comic books and action-figures, and I just have to say, LIFE WELL SPENT!!!"

Geeks! Ha, I just saw that one Robot Chicken clip about Star Wars nerds and Star Trek geeks beating each other up. They were all ecstatic over Leonard Nimoy doing the Vulcan thing.

Woh, if I were some famous dude, would I have geeks over me like that? If I wanted to go to a nerd convention, would I have to wear sunglasses so no-one would recognize me? Everyone would want to have their picture taken with me. Well, I'd have my picture taken with all the cute girls, but that's it.

Those geek chicks probably aren't Lutheran though. Shame.

Haha! I just watched Enchanted, and the girl that plays Giselle was also in Catch Me If You Can and has this great line"

"Frank Abagnale: Brenda, I don't want to lie to you anymore. All right? I'm not a doctor. I never went to medical school. I'm not a lawyer, or a Harvard graduate, or a Lutheran. Brenda, I ran away from home a year and a half ago when I was 16.
Brenda Strong: Frank? Frank? You're not a Lutheran?"

Isn't it great? Hehehe. I'm gonna' have to see that movie now.

In Soviet Russia, Sparta is THIS!!!

2008-03-22T15:13:00.002-05:00

You'll be doing alright,
With your Easters of green,
But I'll have a white,
White Easter.

Tintin

2008-03-18T20:11:00.005-05:00

Today I went to Mitsuwa Marketplace and bought Pocari Sweat. It was pretty good. I thought it tasted like Sprite flavored Gatorade. Matt agreed with me. I'm gonna save my bottle.

When we got back we played wii bowling. Voldemort vs. Picard vs. Morphius. Battle of the balds.

Yesterday I went to the library and got me a library card. Not only does the local library give normal sized library cards, but also gives out the key chain sized ones. It's so cool. I've got a library card - ON MY KEY CHAIN!!!

Mom also found a book I had wanted for a long, long time.

Yeah, that's right. I got it, and I read it. How awesome is that? That means I've only not read the Alpha-Art, but that wasn't completed, so I don't think it counts.

Beware

2008-03-15T22:04:00.000-05:00

...The Ides of March.

Beware.

Our House, in the Middle of Our Street

2008-03-12T13:14:00.005-05:00

Father wears his Sunday best
Mother's tired she needs a rest
The kids are playing up downstairs
Sister's sighing in her sleep
Brother's got a date to keep
He can't hang around

Here I am. Here. Not there, here.

Recognize that living room? Of course not. Recognize that furniture in that living room? Of course so. (no, wait, let me redo that, it sounded funny.)

BAM!! IT'S A WHOLE 'NOTHER... err... HOUSE!!

I thought I would wonder around this place for several days before it finally sunk in that this was a different house.

I didn't.

Novelty shouldn't wear off that quickly.

Time seems to have gone into slow-motion. Last Saturday was weeks ago. There is so much doing being done. Gosh, just yesterday, I replaced the dryer outlet (which was much harder and longer than the guy in the hardware shop said), built the last of the three new bookshelves, put all the bookshelves in the basement on 2x4s... after I had completely rearranged all the boxes down there, varnished new table legs and baseboard, took out the tin can recycling shoot (we don't drink enough pop here for that stuff), and STILL had time to blow (quite a bit of it) on computer and piano.

Plus two whole hours of American Idol in the evening.

Gosh golly gee-wiz.

I've been going to bed around 9 o'clock a lot lately. Early to bed and early to rise ~~makes a man stupid and blind in the eyes~~ makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.

I should check my email now, but I'm scared too. I haven't touched it in weeks. Who knows what might have grown. It might attack me.

ICO

2008-02-26T13:03:00.002-06:00

If you right click on a folder icon, and select "properties," the properties menu comes up. The menu has three tabs at the top. "General," "Sharing," and "Customize." Under "Customize," You'll find a button that says "Change Icon..." It will give you a large list of icons to choose from.

With this, you can change your icons to any other icon they have listed. How cool is that?

I did this with a couple of my folders. It was cool. But I wanted more options then they gave me.

So I found this site. It's full of .ICO image files. ico's have several sizes of images, all in one image. So no matter what size you tell it you want it, it'll change size.

Just download whatever image you want, and load it from the "browse" option in the "customize icon..." window.

It rocks. It really does.

Decisions, Decisions,

2008-02-25T16:21:00.004-06:00

It's not good to make the wrong decision. Making the wrong decision would be a mistake. That is, after all, the definition of the wrong decision.

Is it ever good to make the wrong decision? No! That is also part of the definition of the wrong decision.

So should we be sure that people never make the wrong decision? No.

WHAT?

Freedom is the freedom to make the wrong decision. If we take the freedom to make the wrong decision away, we take away their freedom. How is there any choice if the only choice is already made for you?

Is Freedom even a good thing then? After all, if freedom means making poor choices, why should anyone be free. Why should anyone WANT to be free?

First of all, I want to make sure we all understand that that is a very good question. Don't just blindly accept the notion that freedom is always a good thing, and to simply dismiss anyone who ever says that it might not.

Even though they are wrong to say that freedom is bad, we still need to know why freedom is good. We need to understand it ourselves. What is the absolute? What makes it good? Why should we care?

Engage bad ideas. Not for the benefit of the one who is wrong, but for your own benefit.

Know what you believe.

Why is it good to be free to make the wrong decision? Because if you don't make the decision, someone else is. A government bureaucrat most likely. A Bureaucrat who don't know you, doesn't know what you want or need.

Who knows you better than you? (Besides your family that is.)

All of this in short,

Don't save people from themselves. Freedom is the freedom to make mistakes.

You can help them after they've fallen, but don't control their life to prevent them from falling in the first place.

Simon Cowell Would Cringe

2008-02-23T17:43:00.005-06:00

I was gonna write about something serious, but I ran across this video, and I had to share. How can someone sing on such a large stage, and be such a terrible singer?

In Communist China...

2008-02-20T16:25:00.004-06:00

Browsing Blogger profiles is rather amusing. I clicked on the interest of "justice," and got some interesting results. Namely, this guy. What is up with his list of interest? It's gotta' be some sort of joke.

I liked her interest list. Namely, the fact she had mercy and justice right next to each other. Throw in coffee and bicycles? Just cool.

I wonder what my interest list says?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCwut-wg7fE

I found this video on my YouTube favorites list. I don't know how it got there. I've never even seen it before. I guess someone added it when I wasn't looking.

Apparently China has only one timezone.

One People, One Timezone, One Party. (hehe)

In Communist China there isn't one timezone for the people, there is one people for the timezone!

February 19th

2008-02-19T20:06:00.002-06:00

Today is Wisconsin Primaries.

I voted for Hilary.

Way I see it McCain has already won, so I have a choice between a McCain/Hilary race or a McCain/Obama race.

So It's more Anti-Obama, than Pro-Hilary.

And if McCain doesn't win the primaries, well that's good. Because ANYBODY would be better than McCain. (But Huckabee isn't going anywhere.)

This is a little odd.

2008-02-09T20:06:00.000-06:00

When I first saw this video, I knew what it was about. But only because I was told. I honestly don't think I would have gotten it at ALL if I wasn't already aware.

What do you think it's about? Please, do tell. There are a few clues, but not many.

This thing just keeps growing.

2008-02-05T15:59:00.001-06:00

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition, Unabridged. 1951

ap'er (ap'er), n. One who apes.
a'per (a'per), n. [L.] The European wild boar.
aper-. For words beginning aper-, see forms in APPER-.

fine... fine, I'll find a REAL book, even if it isn't as close...

"The Old Testament Speaks," by Samuel J. Schultz. Second Edition, Copyright 1960.

At the strategic location on a hill three miles north of Jerusalem, Saul fortified Gibeah to counteract the Philistine military superiority. By capitalizing on the successful attack by his son Jonathan, Saul routed the Philistines in the battle of Michmash (I Sam 13-14). Among other nations defeated by Saul (I Sam 14:47-48) were the Amalkites (I Sam. 15:1-9).

LOST

2008-01-31T17:24:00.000-06:00

Season 4 premier tonight 8/7c. If you want to watch, but haven't been keeping up, here's everything you need to know about LOST in 8 minutes and 15 seconds.

http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/index?pn=index

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Cronicles

2008-01-30T17:44:00.000-06:00

Last Sunday I found out there's a Terminator television show. Pretty cool, eh? I had thought it looked like it premiered yesterday, but I was mistaken. They just re-aired the premier. I was rather excited though. For a moment I thought I had learned of a show only a day before it aired.

I taped it. But it really didn't matter. Fox let's me watch it online. It loads faster, and has better quality than YouTube. Nifty!

There are only three episodes out so far.

Best part: It has Summer Glau.

I was in Sheboygan this past weekend. I took pictures. [1] [2]

Now I PROMISE to do email. (Gosh, it's been some two weeks now? Sorry y'all. I just hope I didn't win the Spanish lottery and have missed it by now.)

Where I was all of last week.

2008-01-24T16:16:00.000-06:00

All last week I was in Fort Wayne, Indiana for the Concordia Theological Seminary's symposium. The theme of the symposium was The Atonement: a rather simple topic to have some 15 lectures about. As I told the Casey boys, "It's like having a mathematician tell me that 2+2=4, except in dull, dry, monotone voices with long words and run-on sentences."

And now, the rest of the story...

The first day wasn't big or interesting. I worked for four hours in the morning, got home, grove to Indiana, and hung out with Nathan and Katie. They served us Hamburgers for supper. I also got a late Christmas present: slippers.

On Tuesday we went over to the seminary. I ran into Pr. Borghardt's group in registration. I got a DVD about hymns with my registration, I have yet to watch it. There were a couple simple, dry sections before Chapel, in which I happened to sit next to Sam. Now, I hadn't realize it at first, because I had never met him before. I only found out when I started chatting with him. (Yes, I chatted. I started only because I recognized the preacher, but couldn't remember his name. It was Dr. Rast.)

During Tuesday lunch, I was invited to sit next to one, Pr. Hampton from California. Knows Pr. Cwirla. He was sitting with the Pastors from Vietnam, but they weren't very talkative. After I finished my lunch, I hunted down Alex. He was still eating lunch, and talking to Pr. Dreyer. I sat down opposite Dreyer, so Alex didn't notice me right away. It took him at least five minutes before he saw me. it was hilarious.

That evening we all stayed at Nathan and Katie's again. I decided not to go to the Mouth House thing.

Wednesday morning I bopped around seats during the first few speakers. I bumped into Jon almost accidentally. I barely recognized him with his large scraggly beard. That morning I also made the conclusion that the coffee they had tasted nasty. I guess I had been putting in too much sugar and creamer in to notice before.

I left during the Q&A during the last speakers presentation to get a good spot up front during lunch. A nice visible spot near the door, so people I knew (coughRachelAlexandJoncough) could see me and sit with me. I didn't see Alex or Jon, and Rachel couldn't sit with me because she had to talk to a deaconess. (Why did she have to go sign up as a perspective student, why?) Another lady sat at my table though. I forgot her name, but she had a daughter who was studying as a deaconess there. I made very pleasant small talk; I was quite proud of myself for it. I bragged about it that evening when we visited Casey's.

Dreyer came and joined my table as well. He did his job of trying to recruit me. I hadn't signed up as a perspective student (Even though I was 100x more likely to attend there than Rachel was.), but he still gave me a good "sales pitch." It was cool though, or rather, it was cool because Dreyer is cool. He had me so close to promising to attend Christ Academy this year.

After lunch I joined Rachel's table as she was finishing her lunch with the deaconess. I chatted (There I go again!) with a seminarian who took Pr. Anderson's seat after he left. His name was Matt something. I couldn't remember his last name. But he was a polite, dark fellow with slight balding spot. He help with Vespers that evening.

After Rachel finished her lunch, I joined her to go to the Bach Organ Recital. However, even though we started out with plenty of time, we didn't get to the chapel until the recital was almost over. The reason for this? Rachel's dad is a chatty fellow. He's worse than my dad. (Extroverts, bah.) It didn't help any that he kept running into people he knew.

Then we listened to Dr. Gathercole speak. Now, I will explain the content of his paper to you. This is because I asked him a question, and I feel it will not to simply state that I asked a question. I feel I must explain all about the question.

The first half of his paper was devoted to why the Vicarious Atonement (That is, Christ's death on the cross. His taking the punishment for our sins.) was NOT cruel. That it was wrong to say God the Father was cruel to send God the Son to earth, to die. He gave two reasons. the first was that God would be glorified in the end, so it was all right. Suffering and death is an okay trade for eternal glory. The second one was that it was his selfless love. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. I thought these seemed contradictory. After all, the first seems selfish, while the second seems selfless. I asked him to clarify this for me. His answer? "Err... uhh... hmm... I don't think we should ask that question. It's not our place to try to understand the workings of the mind of the Son of God."

Well if that wasn't satisfactory...

As I was walking back, the Reverend Doctor Scaer stopped me. He asked me my name, and told me I meant to say "self-centered" rather than "selfish." When I told him who I was, and asked him what the difference was, he told me that selfish implies manipulating others, while self-centered was just thinking about ones-self, and that I looked like my mother.

After that incident I needed to get myself some tea. I was shaking all over. It was that nerve racking. I couldn't stop my legs from shaking. I kept shifting my weight to stop myself from bouncing all over the place. My hands had a high enough frequency to shatter glass.

That evening, as Vespers, we had a thirty minute cantata. In German. It would have been absolutely wonderful to listen to if I was cleaning, or doing school-work. But sitting on a hard pew? No.

Every Symposia I learn the same thing. I hate choirs. I forget when I hear nice choirs. The ones that sing a few small, short pieces every now and then. NOT the ones that sing in German for thirty minutes, and sing my favorite hymns for me. (God's Own Child is such a good hymn.)

Then we went over to Casey's for spaghetti. Delicious, delicious spaghetti.

Thursday, me Rachel and Alex skipped the ELCA guy after lunch and checked out the vender booths and seminary book store. I feel good about it. I think it was a considerably more edifying pastime than listening the ELCA trash.

I managed to pay attention during the Reverend Doctor Scaer's lecture. That was good. Because his and Dr. Weinrich were the highlights of the conference. (I think we can put Dr. Rast in third.)

Issues etc. was broadcasting from the student commons that afternoon. I tried paying attention but it isn't as gripping watching in person than listening over the radio. I saw a pastor who was wearing a shirt from Ghana. I thought at first it was a Chasuble designed T-Shirt.

Then we had divine service at Redeemer. Beautiful liturgy, but the incense got to me. I ducked out right before the Epistle and got a seat in the back. Afterwards we went to the saber presentation. I had my picture taken with just about every pastor there. It was cool.

Friday was the lecture by Weinrich. (Which, unfortunately, I couldn't pay attention to.) There was also a Itinerarium in which synod president Kieschnick preached. It was an okay sermon. It was a bunch of mild gospel. The only law was a very little third use at the end.

The goodbyes were not good at all. Especially when we hit Chicago on a Friday afternoon.

The only rule is that there are no rules!

2008-01-12T11:53:00.000-06:00

Isn't the sentence, "Beware of Dogma," a dogmatic statement itself? This billboard is telling you to beware. It's not telling you why or how.

This FFRF believes that dogma is evil and destructive. So they decree that, "Thou shalt beware of dogma."

I just finished reading George Orwell's 1984. I find it interesting that just before I see this sign, I was learning what doublethink was.

It reminds me of the tolerant people who are intolerant of intolerance, or the post-modernists who pointedly declare that only ~~sith~~ the close minded deal in absolutes.

(photo courtesy of The Badger Herald.)

Moving

2008-01-09T16:44:00.000-06:00

[edit]

Speaking of College... I just got an acceptance letter from UWM. That means all three colleges I applied to have accepted me. (CUW, BLC, and UWM.)

Career wise, I've been looking at becoming a pastor, or going into Information Resources. Those two have waxed and wained in appeal for months now. I noticed that I've been looking at it as an "either or" choice.

Choice for deciding what college I want to go to, that is. Rather, If I look for a college that goes in-between, I can stay indecisive about it for another couple years.

I like the sound of that.

Dishes!

2008-01-06T21:20:00.000-06:00

I was washing dishes; Dad was scrubbing a pot, a very dirty pot. It was so gross and dirty that Dad's scrubby wasn't tough enough to srub. So he reached over and took a knife I had washed.

A knife I had washed, but hadn't rinsed.

It didn't register at first, but I almost had a heart attack when I did. I mean, I hadn't rinsed that thing. He shouldn't be using it. I was using it, using it with water and soap. Using it to make it clean. He was making it dirty. Couldn't he let me rinse it first? I mean, it wouldn't take a second.

That was silly. It was clean-ish, and it wasn't like he was eating with it. It was okay, I could deal with it.

...except I couldn't. I told myself it was stupid. I told myself he could use it, but I kept thinking about it. The more I thought about it, the more it consumed me. It was a downward spiral of thought. It was the yodel that starts and avalanche and sweeps a small Swiss village right off the map.

Yet the stronger the impulse to cry out, "STOP," grew, the more time had passed. The more time that had passed, the harder it became to drag up such and old and delayed subject. So the emotions built up. I wanted to weap, I wanted to laugh, I wanted to lunge accross the room and knock the knife out of his hand, I wanted to roll on the floor and beg for Dad not to scrub with that tool, anything but that.

...but that would have been ridicules. I mean, come on. It's no big deal.

It was a big deal. What about germs, what about soap contamination, what about knife fairies, what about... what about...

so...

#1) I had to share the bizarrety with you.
#2) I had to let it all out.
#3) This is totally fact number five for me. Remember the sevens? Yes, I'm still doing that. And I'm almost certain I'm on number five. As to what it is, don't ask me. Some sort of obsessive compulsiveness gone bad.

08 Elections

2008-01-03T11:33:00.000-06:00

This morning as I was creating a key-ring to hold a spare SD chip, I realized I didn't know anything about the Republican presidential nominees.

Actually, I wasn't as ADD as I make out. Dad had Charlie Sykes on, who was talking about the debate tonight. I noticed all of the Conservative Talk Radio I've listened to seems to cover the Democratic nominees more than the Conservative ones. I know every small detail of Hilary Clinton's

So I decided to investigate. And my super secret resources [Wikipedia] told me everything I wanted to know.

I looked at John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, and Ron Paul.

From what I read, I like Thompson and Paul. Unfortunately, they seem to be hanging around the bottom of the poles lately.

Huckabee and Romney would be okay, but their not as good as I would like.

McCain I don't think so highly of, and I don't like Giuliani at all.

This little piece from Thomson is good, really good.

Bethany

2007-12-30T12:00:00.000-06:00

So yesterday, I said to my mom, "Bethany sent me a free T-Shirt!"

Mom looks confused. "Why would Bethany give you a T-Shirt?" she asked.

Hehe...

Unterlanders Heimweh

2007-12-28T19:52:00.000-06:00

So I was trying to find some "CD+G .GI"s around today, and was turning up zilch. So I decided I would try finding a .Kar/MP3+G converter, so that I could turn kars into karaoke disks. That didn't turn up much either.

But I did find this nifty midi database.

after listening to a couple songs, I asked my brother who was walking past, "Do all midi files sound like they're being played on an electric keyboard?" (They do.)

After the brief discussion that followed, I decided I needed to find that old demo song Casio used to put on their keyboards.

I soon found out, from the Homestar Runner Wiki, that the song was called "Unterlanders Heimweh." With this information, I found a jazzed up marching band version of the song. (I found a different song with a similar name on the same database, I thought it was cool enough for a shout out.)

With a little more effort, I found another fellow's blog, telling about his need for the same song. With the information he gave me, I soon found my elusive quarry.

Behold!

Sweet

2007-12-27T13:31:00.000-06:00

This is the coolest thing I've seen in a long time.

The fourth seventh.

2007-12-13T18:29:00.000-06:00

Fact # 4: I think Carmen Sandiego is hot. So do you, don't deny it.

-----

Andrew decided to watch Labyrinth today. I decided to join along. I hadn't seen that movie in a long time.

I didn't remember Sarah being so... Self absorbed, thinks the world is out to get her, daydreams about being a princess, hates her life, wants to live a fairy tale, etc.

I can just imagine her with a myspace and livejournal. Filling the internet with her pathetic moanings about the tragedy that is called, "Her Life."

...and posting trash on Elfwood.

Bed time

2007-12-10T17:39:00.000-06:00

It was quarter to ten in the evening, and the parents, still, were not home. I had all my evening activities and chores finished, except for my shower. That was all I needed, a quick shower before bed. It had to be quick. I had to get up at six o'clock the next morning for work. I needed those precious eight hours of sleep dearly.

So I gathered my things and entered the bathroom ready for this quick, quick shower.

There was no shower curtain.

Blast!

Now what was I supposed to do? I only had a few minutes to think about it. There wasn't another shower in the house I could use, but I was too lazy to bother hunting down the shower curtain AND hanging it up. That left only one option: I had to take a bath. Like a real BATH. You know, the kind were you sit down on the floor of the tub?

I hadn't had a bath in years. No, years OF years. Do you know how long years of years is? I know it doesn't make much sense, but just trust me on this, it means A REALLY, REALLY LONG TIME. It was just that long. Really.

It was awkward, being exposed to the whole bathroom like that. Yeah, sure the door was close... but do you honestly think that made any difference? (If you do, you're an idiot.)

The worst part was my hip. My right hip. It hurt like crazy. Not like white lab coat crazy -- like car crash crazy. See, there was hardly enough room for me to sit down in the tub. My leg had to sit in a weird position, so, yeah, it kinda' hurt. (by "kinda'" I mean "SWEET MOTHER OF THE MILITARY!!! MY LEG HURTS LIKE CHARLES DICKENS'S 'A CHRISTMAS CAROL'!"

I'll only ever do that again if there is a bigger tub, and a smaller bathroom.

2007-12-09T11:26:00.000-06:00

For Zion!

-----

Who loves games? I got a small list of cool games I've come across recently.

Chzo Mythos:
Four small RPG-ish games. They are, in order of release, only around 2 megs each.
5 Days a Stranger
7 Days a Skeptic
Trilby's Notes
6 Days a Sacrifice
I've played the first three, they're pretty cool.

Portal: The Flash Version
An online game. Puzzles with portals.

OMGWTFOTL
It's pretty weird. I think Philip might like it though, it's very... Japanese.

Narbacular Drop.
It's sort of like an earlier version of Portal. It's interesting.

Freespace 2
It's about a gig an a half download. Pretty big. Completely legal. For some reason it won't work right on my computer, keep jogging. It's strange, I know it's fast enough for it.

Still Alive
It's not a game, it's a song. Only some 5 megs. It's played with the end credits when ya' beat Portal. It's a great song.

Don't you know it's Christmas time at all?

2007-12-07T19:38:00.000-06:00

You know what the problem with Christmas music is? It's not that it's played constantly for the two months before Christmas. It is not that there is too much of it, it's that there isn't enough.

That's right, there's not enough of it. There are only, like, ten different Christmas songs total. Granted, every different person who is anybody at all has done a new rendition on at least one of them, but there's still only so few. We are forced to listen to Rudolf and Frosty, sung by 12 different singers each, four times a day.

Not.

Cool.

The first person who can find more than ten different Christmas songs gets a hug from me! (That should stop people from proving me wrong.)

Mark Belling was talking about how we need harsher punishments for internet trolls a few days ago. Honestly.

PS:

2007-11-28T21:20:00.000-06:00

Just to clarify, The crucifix is, indeed, on a chain, to be worn around the neck. And the gloves are to be indoor gloves, no silly mitten on the back of the hand that gets flipped over the fingers for insto "gloverage coverage." Thin, sleek, black, finger gloves.

Rachel, you asked?
http://www.chiyochan.net/azu/Azumanga-Princess.swf

Did anyone see that comment on my last blog post? The Dear Santa post? The comment that was all weird and illegible?

It was Portuguese. Babel Fish translated it thusly:

"Oi, I found its blog for google is well interesting I liked this post. It would like to speak on the CresceNet. The CresceNet is a dialed supplier of InterNet that remunerates its users for the hardwired time. Accurately this that you read, is paying you to connect. The paid supplier 20 cents for the moment of connection dialed with local linking for more than 2100 cities of Brazil. The CresceNet has a connection accelerator, that leaves its faster connection up to 10 times. Who uses broad band can also profit, is enough to register in cadastre itself in the CresceNet and when it will be to sleep to connect for dialed, it is possible to pay the ADSL alone with the money of the dialed one. In the schedules of only minute the expense with telephone is minimum and the remuneration of the generous CresceNet. If you I to want to linkar Cresce.Net(www.provedorcrescenet.com) in its blog I would be been thankful, until more and success. If is possible add the CresceNet(www.provedorcrescenet.com) in your blogroll, I thank. Good bye friend."

interesting, no?

Dear Santa,

2007-11-23T12:30:00.000-06:00

For Christmas, I would like world peace.

(coughrollseyescough)

As cool as that would be, howsabouts I set my eyes on REALISTIC and ATTAINABLE Christmas gifts?

1:) iPod. It doesn't have to be an actual iPod. Actually, I think I'd probably prefer it to not be one. Just a generic MP3 player would be fine. I'd also like an earphone. Not earphoneS mind. Just one bud for one ear, leaving the other one free to hear real things and real people. That's just a bonus though, I don't even know if "they" make things like that.

2:) USB Flash Drive. Also known as Jump Drives. 1Gig is fine.

3:) Computer Bag/Messenger Bag. Sort of a dual purpose bag. I noticed Dad's computer bag has one compartment for the computer, but a smaller one one the front for peripherals. Just keep both slots the same size, it should work fine.

4:) Crucifix. That's a crucifix, not cross. The crucifix is the one with the corpus on it. I'd like somewhere between 1 and 2 inches tall. Silver, not gold. (actually, that should probably be more like, "steel, not brass..") Both together is fine. Actually, that would probably be cooler, just more expensive.

5:) MechWarrior Miniatures. If the guy at the store what you want, mention "Dark Age," "Age of Destruction," "Wizkids," or, "Clix."

6:) New Slippers. I've had my current ones for several years, and they are quite literally falling apart. I don't have a right big-toe on it. They're also plaid. Not that their's anything terribly wrong with it mind, just, not as desirable as basic black (or dark grey, green or blue.)

7:) Typing Gloves. These are gloves with an inch or two of fabric missing from the fingertips. I don't want just cheep gloves with the fingers cut off, I already have those. Infact, I'm wearing them right now. However, the ends are fraying. This means I cannot wash them, and they will destroy themselves in a few months. I'd like something black, clean, WASHABLE, and has no thumbs AS WELL AS no fingers.

8:) Undergarments. Shirts and pants. I have only one pair of long-johns, mediums, 32-34, fits fine. Now, I don't want underwear SHIRTS see, but warm, tight, longsleeved shirts. I know Matt (brother-in-law) has a few of the type I have in mind. (unless they're $50 a pop) I'm also about Matt's size. Just talk to him for info. (or steal his shirts)

9:) A Hat. Trilby or Fedora, preferably trilby. Matches my coat, the snazzy one. I don't want the hat to be too small mind. My head is 23.5 inches around. Don't know how that translates into hat sizes, but a little bigger is better than a little smaller.

Now, I don't expect you to get me all of these, but if you, the Easter Rabbit, and the Great Pumpkin, all go together, I might get a few. Just be sure you communicate with each other about what your getting me. I'd rather prefer you didn't all get me slippers. Thanks.

Sincerely,
Paul

"That's like the fake phone number of food."

2007-11-21T18:22:00.001-06:00

me: well, one of Ethans friends gave a free ice cream cone cupon

Rachel: Was it a girl?

me: yes

Rachel: Sweet

me: but it expired the day previous.

Rachel: Oh

Not so sweet

me: I think she was in cahoots with Ethan

Rachel: That's like the fake phone number of food.

An expired coupon

me: That is getting quoted.

hehe

Rachel: hee hee

Go for it

Zoophobia

2007-11-17T11:20:00.000-06:00

Fact # 3: I think I'm slightly zoophobic.

It's not like I'll see a cat and run away screaming, but I do feel a little uneasy around animals.

The first time I visited the Rheins', I didn't see their dog until the morning of the second day. Looked like a small long-haired bear. I paused, my knife half-way through my bagel, watching it very, very cautiously.

I don't pick up the cat. Other people pick up the cat. Just grab her and pet her while the walk the ten feet into the next room. I will occasionally grab her around her middle, and throw her three feet off to the side if she's in a place she's not supposed to be, but never more than that. I'll pet her, but I'm always watching her claws.

Everyone in my family loves horses. Just loves them to pieces. They're okay, except when they're being stubborn and stupid, which is all the time. I haven't met a horse that seems to like me. I hear comments about how whatever horse I'm leading is usually nice. Right... Do you have any idea how big their hoofs are? They could kill a man with one swift kick, he wouldn't have any idea what hit him. (get it? eh? eh?)

Kill the Beast!

2007-11-15T13:01:00.000-06:00

BELLE: My father's not crazy and I can prove it! Show me the beast!

(The magic mirror shines, then produces the image of
the Beast. The crowd oohs and aahs at it.)

WOMAN 1: Is it dangerous?

BELLE: Oh, no. He'd never hurt anyone. Please, I know he looks vicious, but he's really kind and gentle. He's my friend.

GASTON: If I didn't know better, I'd think you had feelings for this monster.

BELLE: He's no monster, Gaston. You are!

GASTON: She's as crazy as the old man.

The beast will make off with your children,
he'll come after them in the night.
We're not safe 'till his head is mounted on my wall.
I say we kill the beast!

Man: We're not safe until he's dead.
Man 2: He'll come stalking us at night.
Woman: Set to sacrifice our children to his montrous appetite.
Man 3: He'll wreak havok on our village if we let him wander free!

Gaston: So it's time to take some action boys!
It's time---to---fol---low---me!

Through the mist, through the woods,
through the darkness and the shadows.
It's a nightmare but it one exciting ride.
Say a prayer, then we're there,
at the drawbridge of a castle,
and there's something truly terrible inside.

It's a beast, he's got fangs razor sharp ones.
Massive paws, killer claws for the feed.
Hear him roar, see him foam,
but we're not coming home,
'till he's dead, good and dead. Kill the beast.

Belle: NO! I won't let you do this!

Gaston: If you're not with us, you're against.
Bring the old man!

Maurice: Get your hands off me!

Gaston: We can't have them running off to warn the creature.

Belle: Let us out!

Gaston: We'll rid the village of this beast, who's with me?!

Chorus:
Get your torch, mount you horse,

Gaston:
Through your courage to the stinking place.

Chorus:
We're counting on your stud to lead the way.
Through a mist to the wood, where we see a haunted castle,
something's lurking that you don't see every day.
It's a beast, just as tall as a mountain,
We won't rest 'till he's good and deceased.
Steady fourth, tally ho! Grab your sword, grab your bow!
Let's get on and here we go!

Gaston: We'll lay seige to the castle, and bring back his head!

Chorus: We don't like what we don't...
understand and in fact it scares us,
and this monster is mysterious at least.
Bring your guns, bring your knives,
save children and and your wives,
so save our village and our lives!
LETS KILL THE BEAST!

Cogsworth: I knew it, I knew it was foolish to get our hopes up.
Lumiere: Maybe it would have been better if she'd never come at all.
Dog barks
Lumiere: Could it be?
Mrs Potts: Is it she?
Lumiere: Scara bleu! Invaders!
Cogsworth: Encroachers!
Mrs Potts: and they 'ave the mirror!
Cogsworth: Warn the master. If it's a fight they want,
we'll be ready for them. Who's with me! Arrrgh!

Gaston: Take whatever booty you can find, but remember!
THE BEAST IS MINE!

Castle Furnishings:
Find a place, stand aside, we go marching into battle,
unafraid of all the things you just decreed.

Village chorus:
Raise the ram, sing this song,
here we come at fifty strong.
If fifty frenchmen can be wrong,
let's kill the beast!

Where are they getting all this from? "He'll make off with your children," "He'll wreck havoc on our village." Gaston's just making this stuff up, and the people believe it? They lock up Belle, the only person qualified to talk about The Beast, and refuse to listen to her.

Why?

Well, I suppose one could say it's just a movie, which would be true, but it's also an excellent description of human nature. They want to have danger, adventure and a problem that they can fix.

Especially a problem they can fix.

They don't want to hear the goo news. The news that even though The Beast was rude and hot tempered, Belle already put up with it for them, and tamed him. He's not mean anymore.

They would rather deal with The Beast themselves.

People are much happier when told they can make a difference. They love to hear there's a problem, because then they can fix it by their own power.

(And Gaston is Al Gore. That thought made me crack up. I giggled for five minute straight. I'm still laughing.)

Reading Level

2007-11-14T18:28:00.000-06:00

Get a Cash Advance

Take that Rachel! Ha!

Green Poodles Are Bent on World Domination

2007-11-09T15:31:00.000-06:00

I got tagged a while back. I suppose this is a little late... but I'll give it a stab.

...

...

Naw... I guess not.

...

...

Naw... I'll do it, just take a different approach. Instead of doing it all at once, i'll go little bit at a time. For #1, I'll go with the ACT post I made a while back. So,

#1: I move slow. I am cautious.

Now number two will be from story from my visit to the doctor the other day.

I'm always tired and worn. sleeping 10+ hours a night and a couple naps a day. I tried the theory I was dehydrated for a while. That would also explain the constant headaches. So I drank water, a lot of water. It didn't work. My next theory? Still dehydration, just that I didn't have enough salt to retain the water. So I bought one of those tubs of powdered Gatorade.

Didn't work either.

Next theory. Anemia.

I had a doctor appointment last tuesday. It wasn't as scary as I imagined. They drew blood to take tests on. The needles feels weirder coming out than going in. The blood is rather dark when it hasn't been exposed to air. That must be what makes is so easy to see under my skin.

But before the blood drawing I had to talk with the docter. An interesting fact came to light.

I eat tones. Almost literally. I eat sooo much. I drink a lot of water. I rest a bunch too.

That's a lot of energy. Why am I always tired?

So fact nunber 2 is now here.

#2: My body has energy leeched from it to fuel a pocket dimension full of green poodles. (it's the only rational option left)

Snorg

2007-11-08T11:09:00.000-06:00

I just ran across this website called Snorg Tees. It's got quite a few funny tee shirts.

A Two-Act Piggly Wiggly Drama

2007-11-02T19:10:00.000-05:00

I have a visit to Concordia University Wisconsin scheduled for the tenth. That is a Saturday. Now, even though I'm not usually scheduled to work on Saturdays, it can happen. So for a while now I've been meaning to tell my boss about this. I want to make sure that I'm not scheduled to work, and to visit a college on the same day.

Notice I've said, "For a while now." Notice how that implies that I haven't yet mentioned it to my boss. I didn't write that by accident. I wrote that because I have, infact, failed to mention it to this boss of mine.

So this morning at around 8 o'clock, just before work, I sprint upstairs to his office to tell him. It needs to be before work because this day is Friday, and Fridays are when the schedules for the next weeks are written. He was discussing something or other with our "Scan Coordinator Manager" who was seated opposite from him across the desk. Apparently it wasn't too important or urgent because he was able to attend to me as soon as I walked through the door.

"Quick, before you write the schedule, I need to tell you I'll be up in Mequon next Saturday," I say, rather hurriedly.

He look a little thoughtful for a moment before responding, "Okay, thanks." But our "Scan Coordinator Manager" asked, slightly sarcastically, "Mequon? What are you doing there?"

"I'll be visiting CUW," I respond. "It's a college," I add, realizing that they might not recognize CUW as an acronym for Concordia University Wisconsin.

"Aw crap," our "Scan Coordinator Manager" mutters, "We're gonna' loose Paul too."

I felt kinda bad about it, but I also felt good. It means they like me.

---

Near the end of my four hour schedule my boss asks if I could stay another hour. Until 1 o'clock instead of 'till noon. Now, I'm using my parents' car instead of mine because it's in the shop. I tell him I'll have to call home to ask if they mind me keeping the car a little longer.

I get behind the counter of the service desk, figure out the complicated phone, and call home. Nobody answers. I call the church line. Nobody answers. My logical conclusion? That nobody is home. Now, If nobody's home, nobody will be the only body to care that the car isn't back at noon. I (and the car) can stay.

At about quarter after my mom shows up. She had been waiting out in the parking lot for fifteen minutes for me to come out. Fifteen minutes. Why was she waiting for me for fifteen minutes?

Apparently the stove wasn't working right, and everyone had bundled into the van to go to the Pizza Hut down the street from my store. Their plan was to be at Pizza Hut at noon, and drop mom off to intercept me as I left Piggly Wiggly.

That was why nobody was home. And even though nobody was home, a body did care about me staying too long. Four bodies to be exact.

I have to admit, it was a pretty clever plan. It just happened that the one hole in it managed to get exploited. I don't often get asked to stay, but today was a rare exception, with major consequences.

The Legend of Zelda TV Show

2007-11-01T17:18:00.000-05:00

As Philip put it, "This is bad, this is quality bad."

The Dell Vostro Notebook

2007-10-28T11:55:00.001-05:00

I'm looking into getting a computer. Thinking laptop. They're portable, but they can't play games. If this is going to be the computer I use at college, I don't want to be playing computer games, I want to be studying. That's a double win for the laptop.

Nathan pointed out the Vostro Notebook. I compaired it to notebooks from the Best Buy and Wal-Mart websites. It looks like a pretty good computer for it's price. Add to that the fact I can get it with XP instead of Vista and it's on sale. If I get the second column, the first upgrade (Fall Super Sale, Smart Value Package), It's $165 off, plus free shipping.

The biggest problem I can think of is that it's only got 80G of hard drive space. But I can get an external hard drive for that.

Does anyone have any comments? Critisizm? (besides the fact that it's a Dell )

Screeeeeee

2007-10-27T18:58:00.000-05:00

From the last episode of Heroes, "I've never been in an Irish pub before. Do you have Haggis?" Bwahahaha! So funny. :'-)

Something cool, the last manager of the meat department at our store was named Greg, the new manager is named Matt. (I'm pretty sure the guy two managers before Greg was named Rick, but that was a long time ago.)

I had the ACT today. "OOoooo... spooky." Not really. It seemed more spooky in anticipation than in play. Totally. I forced myself to not stress over it. It wasn't too hard if I just forgot about how important this test is. Not bad. It was just whenever I asked myself why I trying to keep calm that I thought of it, and in doing so, ruined my plan.

The reading test wasn't as bad as the practice tests made it seem. All the practice tests were like, "What does this mean," or, "What does the author intended to say." But the real test were only questions about what was actually stated, and what was actually not.

The hardest part of the test wasn't until it was over. They made us copy out a sentence that swore I was who I said I was (and not some smart guy Paul hired to score well for him) and that I wouldn't disclose any of the questions on the test. It doesn't seem that daunting, but nooo, it is, because they had us write it out in cursive. I don't use cursive; I'm waaaay out of practice. I had to have held up the whole thing for a minute after everyone else was done.

I was so slow that the guy observing the test asked me afterwards about why it took me so long. It wasn't like he chased me down after I left the testing room or anything. He was just putzing around the room after everyone else had left, and I was the last of "everyone else" to leave. The very last. That's not a metaphor; it's literal. Not only am I slow at writing cursive, I'm also slow at leaving the room.

It's same way in my writing class up at Gateway. I'm usually the last to leave the room, and when we did the in-class essay, I was the very last to finish writing. (I actually just barely went over the end of class) In Driver's Ed we had no time limit on the tests, so, naturally, I was the last to finish. (I almost failed my driving test because I was too cautious. I only didn't fail because the tester couldn't fail me for that reason.) At work I've been reminded a few times that I don't go quite as fast as I should (nobody ever has, I honestly think their standards are ridicules), I haven't been fired because I'm just so darn good at EVERYTHING ELSE.

And back to the ACT, I never finished the tests, time always ran out first. I got between 4/5 on Math to 1/2 on Science. If it wasn't for the five minute warning I wouldn't have been able to quickly fill in all the answers I didn't get to (ensuring me about a 1/4 point for everyone I missed.) But the ones I did answer I'm pretty confident about. There are only a few questions that I said to myself, "I'm not too sure about this one, but I think it's D..."

I often think it would be fun to sew costumes. Cool costumes. But then I think to myself, "There's no point in even trying if I'm not going to do a good job."

I guess that's just the kind of guy I am. I prefer "quality over quantity." "Haste makes waste," and "Slow and steady wins the race."

Can be a pain sometimes.

Jelly Belly Bele-Garth

2007-10-25T17:34:00.000-05:00

I mentioned earlier about how there are people in Burlington who do a pseudo Belegarth thing. I mentioned how they seemed lax on the rules. After some thought I think I figured out why. It's not that they're irresponsible; it's that they don't go all out when the fight.

They took really light hits. So light, that I would hear people calling out across the field that they killed some guy. This guy didn't lie down because he really couldn't feel it. (well, I think that was why)

I got scolded for hitting one guy twice in a row really fast. The first time was enough. I got used to hitting people twice previously when I needed to make sure people took their hits.

When people aren't doing risky things, there isn't any need to take preventative action.

(Though the fact that they allow the blocking of arrows with swords isn't explained away by this fact.)

High School Musical

2007-10-16T17:45:00.000-05:00

It's an awesome movie. Seriously. Ethan would like it; one of the lines in there is, "Shut up Zeke."

I had a cool birthday even though I was sick.

unfortunatly, Pirate cars wouldn't work, fortunately, The Merchant of Venice was awesome

2007-10-11T17:13:00.000-05:00

I was going to point out how sails on cars wouldn't actually work, but Nat already did that. It would only work when the wind is going FASTER than your car (which are pretty darn high winds), and when the wind is at least somewhat coming from behind you.

This means that most people wouldn't use their sails more than two times a year, the cost of installation would quickly dwarf that.

Now, about The Merchant of Venice. It was an awesome play.

One of the people in the talk-back asked some question about the play being anti-semitic. I hadn't noticed this. Sure the Jews didn't look too good, but neither did the Christians. They both hated each other and wanted nothing more than each others complete and total eradication. At the end when Portia decides to spare Shylock's life, Antonio and Bassanio's friends are displeased with this, they want him dead.

Everybody is ruthless.

Another person asked if Portia's demand that Shylock become a Christian was mercy or revenge. The general consensus among the actors was that it was revenge.

After some thought I noted it was about Baptism. Because we have been saved from death by Christ's death on the cross, we are Christians. Because Shylock was saved from death, he is a Christian.

...and the Law and the Gospel, how many times did Shylock say, "It is what The Law demands!" The Law demands death.

It was an awesome play.

Pirate cars

2007-10-09T17:51:00.001-05:00

That light at the corner near where I work tried to kill me again. It had been nice to me for some time now, why did it have to back stab me so?

It's a windy day. As I was driving up to class I could feel my car pulled by the wind. It got me thinking about aerodynamics in cars. What if we put giant sails on our cars? That would give us better mileage while driving with the wind. It would also look awesome.

oooo... title.

2007-10-04T16:55:00.001-05:00

I really need to blog more often.

I think I'll start all my posts this way, and, to keep it all true, I'll not post often enough. I wouldn't want to lie to y'all. That would be horrible and stuff.

I'm actually writing this at gateway right now. I never seem to get enough time at home to do these things.

I'm having horrible attention problems right now. I was going to write about doing this LARP thing in Burlington last Sunday, but I don't think I can.

I can give it a shot.

I wanna write about Merchant of Venice. That was a great play.

So this one guy at class found out I did Belegarth. He invited me to come to a group he had over in Burlington. It sounded cool, but I was a little reserved about it. I decided to go, alone, just to check it out. It wasn't bad. They mostly followed Belegarth rules, but had a few discrepancies.

I'm still a little leery of the whole thing. They seemed a little too lax on safety rules for my comfort. I might drop in every now and then, just because it's closer than Madison. A round trip to burlington is the same time as just getting to the UWM stock Pavilion.

This place is huge. This school is huge. The few high schools I've been in are all huge too. How do politicians keep pushing through massive school budgets? Do we really need them? I just don't get it.

Despair, for it's your birthday.

2007-09-26T15:11:00.000-05:00

My sister Rachel and my friend, Heidi M, have birthdays today. And just so I don't have to send out two seperate songs, I'll put it right up on my blog. (No, I lied. I just put it up here because I wanted to show everyone the amusing lyrics I got off of this one SCA filk website.)

Happy Birthday,
Happy Birthday,

It's your birthday; never fear,
You'll be dead this time next year,

Happy Birthday,
Happy Birthday,

People living in despair,
Children dying everywhere,

Happy Birthday,
Happy Birthday,

Typhoid, plague and polio,
Coffins lined up in a row,

Happy Birthday,
Happy Birthday,

One year closer to death,
When you'll draw your final breath,

Happy Birthday,
Happy Birthday,

The many candles on your cake,

Burn as a bomb's destructive wake,

Happy Birthday,
Happy Birthday,

Your neighbors steal, your man's untrue,
Your children plot to murder you,

Happy Birthday,
Happy Birthday,

Your daughter's face could crack a mirror,
Your eldest son is acting queer,

Happy Birthday,
Happy Birthday,

(...and because Heidi's turned 18.)

Now your jail-bait days are done,
Let's go out and have some fun!

Happy Birthday,
Happy Birthday.

:-D

Jack Bauer Facts

2007-09-17T16:20:00.000-05:00

So in my last post I apparently misspelled Jack's last name. It's "Bauer," not "Bower." When Philip pointed this out to me I quickly got on blogger to fix my mistake.

Just to be sure I got it right the second time I typed it into the Google bar Firefox has up in it's top right corner. You know, that one that gives commonly searched suggestions? Yeah.

This is all about one of those suggesttions it gave me.

When I typed in "Jack Bauer," the first option on the list was "Jack Bauer facts." I was intrigued. So I opened a new tab and checked it out. I got this web page.

http://www.notrly.com/jackbauer/index.php?topthirty

Hilarious.

I then looked up some "Chuck Norris facts." Just to see how the two lists of facts compare.

http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com/

I noticed that a few of the "Jack Bauer facts" were simply modified "Chuck Norris facts," but not many. I also noted how those were my least favorite of all the "Jack Bauer facts."

Much Ado About Nothing

2007-09-15T19:17:00.000-05:00

We went to APT yesterday. It was quite a day.

We spent Thursday night in a hotel on the west side of Madison. It was a Radisson. Quite a fancy little joint. They had a small gym, bacon and eggs for breakfast, and conference rooms. Schnazzy.

I remember being told that it was by the China1Buffet place that we had dinner with Bartletts the one time. "By" was an understatement. It was right across the little street. We could have read the days special on their sign if they did that sort of thing. Which they don't.

Being about an hour and a half closer to Spring Green than we usually are, we had time to kill before leaving. I took advantage of the Cable to watch that Jack Bauer show. You know... the one where he saves the world every 24 hours? Yeah. It was slower than I realized. Having everything in real time is reather disconcerting.

The play was awesome. I'd seen the Kenneth Branagh version once a long time ago, but had fogotten most of it. I Benedick seemed like a bit of a dork. Not just in the way he was portrayed (which was a bit dorky) but in what he said.

I liked Friar Francis's line, "She must die to live." That was cool.

Afterwards on our way over to the other side of the city, we stopped by a shopping center on the West Side. The parents wanted something at some store. I don't know what they wanted, or what the store was, but across the parking lot I saw these two buildings.

I was amazed at how... modern they looked. This picture is a little grainy, so it ruins the effect a little, but it's still striking.

After a whiles reflection I think it's not entirely the style that makes it look modern, but how it's got that "just built" look. The buildings are clean, the trees are small, the parking lot is smooth, etc.

But still. The roof, the pillars, and the windows, especially the windows, are all quite a modern style.

It's just missing a Starbucks.

My poor neglected blog.

2007-09-13T11:35:00.000-05:00

I have an excuse though. It's not just any old "Dog ate my homework," kind of excuse, it's a good one.

I haven't been able to get at the computer.

For weeks now I've been so diligently picking at my school work that I have little time left for fun stuff. The necessary "alone time" has been eating bigger and bigger chunks of "free time".

Now that I'm finished with the anime "Mai HiME,[1] [2]" I should have more time for internet and reading.

I've been plucking away at that Douglas Adams book for almost a year. I really have to pick up the pace a bit.

Just an update for anyone what doesn't read my mom's blog, our waters been out. The septic tank has disintegrated. We can't drain water. We can still use the taps, which helps greatly, but we just can't drain it all.

Don't worry. We've been surviving.

Miss Teen USA

2007-08-31T19:37:00.000-05:00

So I ran across this video on Youtube.

It's hilarious. Simply hilarious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww

(no, It's not Rick Astely, That's here. I also found a "You Got Rick Rolled" website.)

Piggly Wiggy Radio

2007-08-27T19:30:00.000-05:00

I noticed last Friday morning when we played KT Tunstall's "Big Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" and Chris Daughtry's "Home".

We've never played those before.

Later, when we played Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie", I knew it for sure.

Someone had changed the radio.

When I went on my break, one of the girls from up front was in there making a call. I heard her say something about the radio being changed and if anyone had noticed.

When she got off the phone she told me all about it. The Dairy manager had finally got fed up with it all and changed it. Apparently they had an R&B station on first, but were responsible enough to stop playing it in a grocery store.

The cashier said she thought it was still pretty boring music, but at least it wouldn't put the customers to sleep.

Indeed, at least half the time we still got music that was on the old channel.

One of my co-workers assured me that we played Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats" three times. Though I only counted twice.

There are a couple dance re-mixes on the downstairs computer, for which we played the original songs at the store. I can't seem to find their names right now. (and I'm to lazy to look)

sniff... I miss Rick Astly. ;-)

Written communication

2007-08-21T19:23:00.000-05:00

So I'm taking a writing class up at Gateway tech. As my mom put it, "Paul thinks he's going up there to learn, I just want him to get a grade from someone who's not me. I could teach him writing myself if I just wanted him to learn"

My first class was today. I don't know why they're starting so early.

I decided I ought to listen to Lyrical Life Science on the way up. After all, if I have to do a forty minute drive there and back 32 times this fall, I might as well get some extra schoolwork in there.

Unfortunately the power adapter I brought along to power the CD player refused to work. I found out later, after I got home, that this was because the outlet didn't work. Why didn't the outlet work? Because it wasn't attached to any cables. the whole outlet just came right out in my hands.

Shame.

I got there really early. Boy was it ever dark in there. So my first act was to find the lightswitch.

Funny thing: We naturally divided up into a girls side and a boys side. All but one guy sat on the one side of the room. (no, that guy was not me :-P )

The first class was less of a lesson, and more of an introduction. We were given the syllabus and were told to write a short paragraph about an interesting event of our lives. (I wrote about dancing like a crazy maniac. It got quite a few laughs.)

The teacher then read all of our paragraphs, and we were to try and guess who wrote them. It was a combined: name learning exercise, learning small bits about classmates, and giving the teacher a sample of your writing.

I must be a pretty suspicious guy, because people kept suspecting me. One time, even thought I told them I was only 17 earlier, they still threw me suspicious looks when someone wrote about going to the Bahamas where the drinking age was 18, and getting totally plastered. :-P

I'm really such a nice guy, why do people keep calling me evil? 0:-)

The only homework we were assigned was to read a two page story about "Engfish", and try to figure out what it is. (Apparently Engfish is the dull, unimaginative way of writing they teach you in schools. I didn't figure out 'till the end that Engfish was supposed to be a bad thing, so it was a bit confusing for me.)

After class, when I was on my way to the car to go home, I noticed a bunch of classmates hanging around a table with food on it. Remembering the teacher had said they were giving away free food that day, I went over to check it out. The one guy who had written about Kendo in his personal paragraph was there. I noticed he had on the "3vil l33t" shirt. Turns out he was also homeschooled. We shared Chuck Norris quotes.

Mine: "Chuck Norris sold his soul to the devil for his good looks and martial art abilities. He then round house kicked the devil and took back his soul. The devil, who knew he should have seen it coming, couldn't stay angry and now they play poker every Saturday night.

His: "When Chuck Norris eats salad, he leaves nothing but the bones."

"People argue that Chuck Norris can't be the best at everything, because he had learned everything from his father. The truth is that he invented the time machine, went back, and fathered himself."

Stardust ...again!

2007-08-17T17:51:00.000-05:00

Every time I hear the Can-can I'm going to think of Robert De Niro in a petticoat.

Other than that it was an awesome movie. A grand adventure and an excellent fairy tale. Septimus was an excellent villain and Tristran a true hero.

It followed all the proper rules for a good fairy tale/fantasy novel, and yet was still original. A superbly climatic ending. Just all around done well.

Even though I haven't read the book, (which I'm sure I'll have to do now) I'm quite certain that there were many parts that deviated from it. Just by looking at how it was presented.

Though it seems to me that the more a director tries to keep true to all the details of the book, the more the movie lacks in overall presentation of the movie. Books and movies are fundamentally different media outlets, much is lost in translation. It always pleases me to see a director deviate the movie just enough from the book so that it's enjoyable to those who have not obsessed over the book.

(Yes, this means I fail at being a geek. Sue me.)

Solitaire ...again!

2007-08-13T17:31:00.000-05:00

So me and my brother went up to see Solitaire - The Movie yesterday. It was a bit of a rush to get out of the house on time. I had to gulp down my food speedily.

On the drive up we saw nine cop cars in the space of about two miles. Nine of them. It looked like some sort of horribly disorganized speed trap.

That is, horribly disorganized. Note the emphasis.

Despite the fact that there was some sort of summerfest like thing going on not a mile from the theatre, we didn't have too bad of traffic. We actually got there just in time for the movie. Or so we thought. (They started ten minutes late, so we actually got there like fifteen minutes early.)

It was a cool movie. Done quite nicely for amateurs. Excellent camera work. There were times when they redid some of the lines and inserted that audio into the film. That was good. The times they didn't do that, it was hard to hear. (So much that I could almost always tell when they did that.)

Andrew convinced me to drop by Matt and Rachel's "Because I hadn't seen their place since they gotten it straightened out." Last I'd seen it was when I helped move, and there were boxes everywhere.

I hadn't planned on staying long, but the visit turned out to be a little over an hour. Rachel pushed cake onto me and Andrew, and showed us her "Animal Crossing" video game.

I had heard her speak of Animal Crossing before. And had always assumed that it was some show on Animal Planet. (dunno' why)

Andrew borrowed her PotC, AWE sound track, and I two webcomic books, Mega Tokyo and Penny Arcade.

I didn't notice the title of the PA book until I had gotten home. When I saw it, I burst out laughing. It was soo funny.

Now, I could tell you what the title was, but it just doesn't have the same effect unless you see the cover art with it, which can be found here.

Vacation Bible School

2007-08-07T11:28:00.000-05:00

So Yesterday evening we went up to Peace, Sussex for VBS. Now, I had seen "VBS" written on the calender for this week, but I had no idea we were going. about fifteen minutes before were were supposed to leave mom calls out to us to ask if we're ready to go.

I'm rather glad I've trained myself to not ask questions. Because if I had, we would have had a long conversation explaining everything. And then I still would have had to end my three chats, put on my shoes*, and make a sandwich. So we would have been late.

As it was I only just asked why we were going, and was told VBS. and during the course of the preperation for leaving, I found out it was at Pr. Bender's church. Now, in the car ride up, I did ask more questions. Like, "why were we going?"

See, when I think of VBS, I think of 1st and 2nd graders doing craft projects. This is, after all, the only kind of VBS I had, up to that point, known of. It was also the only kind I've heard my friends talk about. So I had no idea why we would be driving a whole hour just for that.

It turnes out that it's not "traditional" VBS. It's really just an excuse for Pastor to have a week long bible study on prayer. Which is cool. I would have hated to spend a week doing "crafts".

*which are more like boots, so it's a bit of a chore.

Higher Things, For You, Post #2

2007-08-04T17:04:00.000-05:00

Okay, what I really thought of the conference. ;-)

I could pay attention. I have a terrible attention span. Terrible. So, when it's about half way through Pr. Stiegemeyer's second sectional, I realize that I've been paying attention. Not just to his sectional, but to all of the so far. I could remember them, all of them, with an unnatural clarity. That I began to freak out. Not big, nothing that would be noticeable by others, but I did. Took me a while to calm myself down.

Yet, even though I could pay attention really well, I don't think I learned as much as I did other years. Don't get me wrong, it was fun, and I did learn loads. Just... not as much.

As much as I'd like to think that's just because I'm smarter now than I was then. I honestly think it was toned down. (This was why I could pay attention, it was made easier to understand.)

I remember Pr. Wilkin's plenary section. He took one whole session to say that "everybody loves Jesus". Not the true Jesus who died for you and took away your sins. But a fake, happy, all smiles, buddy Jesus. He spoke slowly and clearly, he showed us lots of pictures that reinforced his point (and were often humorous), and really nailed that point into us good and solid.

I don't think he said that much. But what he did say, he really made us understand.

...which is good. I'll probably remember a lot of what I learned last week for longer than what I've learned at other conferences.

I think my only major irritation (besides the constant stream of jokes about "for you", having half the housing over a mile off site and the ballgame take 3rd and 4th) was the poor job of naming the sectionals. The titles seemed largely disconnected from what the topics where really about.

My only excuse for that is that in past years i usually picked sectionals based on which pastors where teaching them. But this year (because I knew so few pastors there) I picked them based on the topic. So maybe I never really went in looking for an exact topic before.

On the whole I very much enjoyed it. At least as much, if not more, that last year's "The Feast". (though I did miss all y'all who weren't there)

Solitaire

2007-08-02T20:08:00.000-05:00

So, Old Munk Productions has come out with a movie. A whole whopping movie. Not just some short video. But a movie. I believe it's over an hour in length.

And they're showing it in a movie theater. Granted, it's not a big theater, but nevertheless...

It got two showings, at 1:30 and 3:30 on Sunday, August 12. It'll be two dollars a ticket. I'd encourage all y'all people in the Milwaukee area to go see it. (I'll have to poke Ethan about it, he knows the OMP people too.)

Never fear! I have not forgotten to give you the website. http://www.solitairethemovie.com

Higher Things, For You, Post #1

2007-07-28T10:39:00.000-05:00

I just got back from my week of Lutheran awesomeness. The conference was really cool. Lots of cute Lutheran chicks. Me and some other guy I was sitting next to (I didn't catch his name.) during the ball game agreed with Pr. Preus, Lutheran chicks are the cutest. (We got on the subject because we were discussing how the national youth gathering may have more chicks, but the HT one got the more doctorally sound ones.)

On Wednesday I picked up one "girlfriend", and on Thursday I picked up two more.

I didn't pick up any on Friday. ...but after the Divine Service when I was leaving the chapel, I bumped into the Swedes. Pr. Olaf was talking with Pr. Cwirla. I managed to get in a quick picture of myself with Pr. Olaf. I then started taking pictures of all the Swedes who were waiting for their Pastor. (I took a lot of pictures of people I didn't know.) There was this one girl didn't want her picture taken. (Shame, because she was kinda cute.) But I made a deal with her. If I wasn't allowed to take her picture I had to get a hug. Which she agreed to with an expression of bewilderment and amusement.

And then I got hugs from a couple more of the Swedish girls. and I gave a manly gangsta hug to one of the guys.

What? You say the conference wasn't all about girls? Thats... crazy... What was it about then? :-P

I'll post an actually serious post about the conference later. But first I'm going to have finish Harry Potter, catch up on over a week of interent, post the 120+ pictures I took up onto facebook, and probably a few other things I've not thought of yet.

Being sociable with used car salesmen

2007-07-19T20:46:00.000-05:00

So I'm going up to Janesville to drop off the van at the auto shop. Something with the gas tank not opening up when you try to refuel it. My mom and brother were supposed to meet me there with the sedan so I'd have a ride home.

Now, as I swung by Mike's house to drop off his sketchbook, I expected to get to the auto shop at least ten minutes after they did. Yet as I pull up, they were nowhere to be seen.

I thought that they must have parked over by the dealership office on the other side of the parking lot. What because it has air conditioning and all. So I decide to check it out, just in case.

Now, there's a bunch of fellows hanging about the entrance of the office. I think to myself, "I don't have to talk to them, I'll just be able to take a quick look through those massive windows they have in place of walls. I'll be able to see if they're inside."

At this thought I slapped myself. That's no way to act! Talking to people isn't going to kill me. But it would look strange if I walked by just looking, then left again. So I decide to walk straight up and take a look about. Even make an inquiry if the atmosphere is light enough.

It did indeed turn out to be plenty light and friendly. One of the salesmen walked up to me and asked if I needed help with anything. I thanked him for his offer, and told him I was only looking for my mom. He said he hadn't seen them, but if they showed up, he's point them my way. I thanked him again and took my leave.

I suppose it's pretty sad to be this proud of being so assertive and sociable. But it's cool. That good feeling of being proud of myself will help me be friendlier in the future. ^_^

The Paris Salon

2007-07-17T15:15:00.000-05:00

So I'm reading these books called "Getting to know the world's greatest artists" by Mike Venezia. It's a series children's biographies on the great artists.

I'm just finishing up the Impressionists.

Each biography of an Impressionist tells about how the absurdly elitist Paris Salon art show wouldn't take their paintings. They wouldn't take them because the painting were thought to be done "wrong". It was all blotchy, less pictures of objects and more impressions of objects. Silly art show, don't they know any better.

But one thing I just noticed now was the reasons he gave for why certain artists are good, despite what the Salon might think. And his reasons are almost always "He used bright colors." Also, any artist he DOESN'T say this about, he ALWAYS finds some complement about the color they used.

When you think about this, this is really the same as the Salon. He has his own views as to what is right, and what is wrong, art. Yet even though he is the same, he must refute the elitism of the Salon, because that's the historical dogma of today.

It's a nifty example of a thought I've had for some time. That is that society doesn't betters itself over time. It never breaks free from tradition and other so called "hindrances to free thought". These only change form.

Ethan posted another example of this on his blog some time back. It was mostly based off of Professor Peter Saccio lecture series... something or other.

http://stormman.blogspot.com/2007/02/dating.html

This all, in turn, places a huge impact on the argument we sometimes hear that goes something like, "Well, they were just brainwashed back then."

"Brainwashed" meaning being heavily influenced by whatever it is that influenced people at that period in history.

We look at them and see their hopeless, brainwashed state, and we feel proud of ourselves that we're out of that philosophically dark era, and into the light of the presence. But we don't see that we are just as foolish and influenced as they were.

Nothing ever changes. They were all brainwashed then, and we're all brainwashed now. I know I'm brainwashed, and I'm proud of it. :-D

New Bedroom

2007-07-10T17:32:00.000-05:00

I got me a new room.

The reasons why I switched rooms with my sister are long and mostly nullified now. So it seems like it ought to be futile. But I did get a bigger room, with more windows, out of it. It also got me motivated to throw a bunch of junk out. (I did ended up keeping at least half of my useless junk, yet, at least that means that I threw out half :-D )

I wanna get a giant white board to hang on my wall. That would rock.

But I'm not allowed to put stuff up on my wall for at least another three weeks. Apparently new paint and wacky-tac don't mix.

I took four pictures while I was in the middle of putting things away.

The world's smallest political quiz

2007-07-05T12:47:00.000-05:00

I found this through the Rachels on Facebook. It's the worlds smallest political quiz.

http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.html

It's very short, and very easy to tell what answer you will get before you tell it to "score it". But it's really cool, and really good.

My score was 80% personal and 100% economic. What'd y'all get?

Star Wars vids

2007-07-03T16:42:00.000-05:00

A bunch of videos I found, some that were directed to me. All pertaining to Star Wars. Some are absolutely brilliant, some are just okay. I put the time of the videos under them. Chad Vader is an entire series, there are eight episodes out now.

Darth Vader being a jerk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJK1MSwXGnk