Well, we are still on the grid. Both of us got snow days, because the offices are both without power. However, not only do we have power at the homestead, but we also have cable and internet. So far, this ice storm thing is working out. It's supposed to get colder tonite, so we'll see if that holds up.
Just in case you're wondering about the new graph on the right, Katie and I are starting on a serious exercise initiative. So now you can watch the minutes climb and see who can keep the edge in our big challenge.
So, we put up a Christmas tree yesterday. That was an experience all by itself and I will let Scott tell that story. My intention for this post: currently taking bets on when the cats will tip it over. Takers?
For Thanksgiving, Katie and I traveled back to the Hoosier State. We decided to drive it and do some sightseeing on the way. After leaving Hutch on Tuesday, we stopped in Kansas City tuesday night. Wednesday morning, we checked out the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and American Jazz Museum in Kansas City. Both were pretty interesting. The NLBM had lots of nice artifacts from the many Negro Leagues that existed from the 1920s to the 1960s. The Jazz Museum was also pretty cool. It had a ton of neat interactive displays and audio to listen to and play with. 
After those visits, we hit the road for Thorntown. While we were there, we had Thanksgiving and Christmas with my parents, and we checked out the Thorntown Library. They underwent a lot of renovations since the last time I had been there, including the installation of a replica of the Anson Mills Statue, which used to sit at the intersection of Main and Market Street. We also toured the Sugar Creek Art Center, a new art studio in one of the old Thorntown Factories. It was pretty impressive.
Sunday, we attended the ninth annual Ball State Thanksgiving. It was nice to see some friends and have another huge meal. We left Sunday evening to head back to Kansas, stopping in St. Louis. On Monday morning, we checked out the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, including the Gateway Arch. The weather was pretty crappy, but we got to check out some pretty cool stuff.
Even though we all know that weather is what you talk about when you really don't have anything to say, and you're probably talking to people you don't want to talk to, I'm going to do it. It doesn't make sense, because I don't have to talk to you, but seriously, how often – on November 19th – do you walk out of work into a dark sky, and the temperature is still 73 degrees? The first person that says no more than once a year... just don't. It's nuts. I think it got up to 82 today. Tomorrow it's supposed to be 74. Then the fun happens. Wednesday's high is 44. Should be a nice shocker. Anyway, headed back to Indiana for the holiday, so we're out from Tuesday to Monday. Maybe we'll see you there...
So I'm totally a professional photographer. Quitting my day job to be like Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window.
Check it out at: http://www.schmap.com/berlin/sights_churches/#p=160608&i=160608_18.jpg.
Well, even though we waited until the last minute, Katie and I managed to get our pumpkins carved. And even though, it's now November, I'll go ahead and put them up, just because mine is so awesome. I'll let you guess which one is which. So anyway, Happy Halloween!
This weekend, Katie and I made the trip to Buhler, Kansas and visited the Gaeddert Farms/Martisko Farms Corn Maze & Pumpkin Patch. We took a spin through the Corn Maze, which was surprisingly difficult. We also each picked out a pumpkin to use for some future carving, which I'm sure will be documented at a later date.
Well, we get another year. As you can see, the sun came up, and it's a pretty nice day today. Hell -- once again -- didn't freeze over. The Cubs were swept by the Diamondbacks in the NLDS. We all hoped they would win, but they didn't even get a chance. They got beat really badly. I'll be happy to not see another double play for at least 5 or 6 months. So, the Cubs made it 0 for their last 99, and we'll see if the 100th time's a charm next year.
Some thought while I watch the Cubs fail miserably in game 1 of this series:
1) Big thanks to MLB, TBS, and Cox Communications for their hard work in taking us back a decade. MLB gave more than half the postseason to TBS even though most of us don't get TBS in HD. Then TBS decided to create and HD channel, which they launched in September, giving cable companies only enough time to scramble and get it to major markets. Needless to say, Hutchinson is not one of those. So I'm stuck watching the MLB playoffs in standard definition for the first time in like three years. Well played.
2) Along with the fact that it's standard definition, TBS also chose to give the D-Backs-Cubs series a couple of the worst announcers I've ever heard. Where do they find these guys? I've heard more mispronounced names and incorrect information tonite than ever before. I'd rather have Hawk and Darren Lewis from the White Sox broadcasts doing the game. At least they know baseball.
3) The Cubs have to score some runs... this is terrible.
4) Thanks to MLB for keeping me up until midnight. I'm glad I'm at least in the Central time zone and not Eastern.
The Major League Baseball season is over and the Cubs somehow managed to pull out the NL Central. Maybe it wasn't the prettiest of seasons, but none of that matters now. The Cubs will face off in a best-of-five series with the Arizona Diamondbacks, starting Wednesday evening in Phoenix. Prepare yourselves for a little more baseball coverage until the Cubs win the World Series... or fail miserably and I snap. Anyway, just wanted to congratulate the Cubs and throw my support out there.
Well, what we planned on being a nice, relaxing weekend turned into an ulcer when Ball State decided to give #24 Nebraska a run for their money in Lincoln. Katie and I drove to Malcolm, Nebraska on Friday night and camped out at Branched Oak State Recreation Area, a pretty big lake outside Lincoln with about 18 different campgrounds. 
We got up Saturday morning and had breakfast at Sundaes and Fundaes in downtown Malcolm, had a nice conversation about football and Muncie and parking and other stuff, and then drove to Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. Although I knew the BSU football team was much improved from my time in Muncie, I don't think even I expected them to be as much a test for the Huskers as they turned out to be.
They were ahead by nine points with about seven minutes to go, before blowing the lead and missing what would have been a game-winning 55 yard field goal. Final score: BSU 40, Nebraska 41. If Ball State had caught one of the three dropped passes that were sure touchdowns, it would have been a very different outcome. Regardless, it was a great game, rivaled only by the win over #23 Toledo in the old college days. (Spazz, you were there... on the 50... with six seconds left on the clock.) 
After the game, we slowly made it back the the car and headed back to the campground for another night of camping on the lake. It was a pretty good weekend, but a couple more points would have made it just a little bit better.
As many of you have probably read, a meteorite has struck in Peru and people are now getting sick (article). Being the rocket scientist/astronomy guru that I am, I know that it is more likely the meteorite has struck a particular spot in the ground that is now releasing gases, making the villagers ill. However, the initial idea certainly makes you want to run screaming for Tommy Lee Jones and Clint Eastwood or Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck.
Today I got a bike. Now I'm sore. I also got a sweet blue helmet that I didn't wear. Katie got her million dollar bike all tuned up for the... upcoming winter, so I decided to pick up a cheap bike just to hang out with her. I'm finding out that it's more of a workout than I expected, especially in this brutal Kansas wind. Maybe I'll get in shape after all.
Monday after work we decided to go for a walk on the walking trail between Carey Park and Rice Park. While we were out there, I snapped a few photographs, including this decent shot.
Even though the Colts already opened the season with a big win, today is finally the reall beginning of football season. And you know what that means... it's Fantasy Football season! So today, I'll be watching all my players hoping for big yards and a lot of touchdowns. I'm sure there will be more posts on this in the future, and you will all love it.
Today we had to drive back to Hutchinson, but on the way, we stopped in Ashland, Nebraska at the Simmons Conservation Park & Wildlife Safari. Yes, it was as awesome as it sounds. Most of it was a drive thru nature preserve, but we also got to do a little hiking in a few areas. We saw quite a few North American animals, including elk, bison, antelope, wolves, and black bears. It was actually a pretty cool place, with a lot of land. The animals really felt like the weren't captive for the most part, even tho they are probably totally domestic. Anyway, it was a good way to break up the drive and get in a little more outdoor time before we start the work week up again tomorrow.
Today, we went tooling around Sioux City looking at museums and historical landmarks. Turns out Sioux City is a very important location on the path of Lewis and Clark. The only guy on the expedition who died is buried in Sioux City. We checked out the Lewis and Clark interpretive center in Sioux City and another museum next to it that's on an old steamboat. We also went to the Seargent Floyd Monument where Floyd was buried. It's like a miniature Washington monument, but it was there before Washington's.
Today, Katie's family came to the Mohning residence for some lunch, tubing, and outdoor enjoyment. After a much shorter mass than the first one I attended, we got back to the house and had a really good lunch and some beverages. The younger kids then hit the lake for some swimming and tubing, all of which later involved Katie's grandpa jumping into the lake. Later that evening, we ordered pizza and watched some Sound of Music. Brandon, I'm wondering about you now. Then I spent hour upon hour cutting out little pieces of paper for Katie's brother's wedding invites and then watched quite an interesting movie with Katie's dad that starred Charlie Sheen and two of the main guys from Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Today I managed to go to Art Splash with Katie and the fam down on the river in Sioux City, Iowa. It had lots of paintings, sculptures, pottery, etc for sale, a handful of things for kids to do, a few performers, and a lot of fair-like food. Not a bad time. After it started warming up, we made our move to head for home, stopping a few times, including Best Buy, where I picked up a brand new Nikon D80 with an 18-135mm zoom lens. So let's just say I took a picture or two the rest of the weekend. I'm sure they will follow. Once we got home, we headed out onto the lake and did some tubing (for about 10 minutes). Katie and I are unexplainably sore, and apparently very old. We got back to land, cooked out some steaks, and had a nice dinner on the waterfront deck at sunset. Pretty good day.
So evidently Hutchinson is becoming something of a police state. We were told it was a pretty quite little town when we moved here, but we've had some serious problems lately. Here's a recap of the last week or so:
On Thursday, luckily we were on our way to Indiana, because there was a standoff about 4 blocks away from our apartment. Apparently police had reason to believe a parole violator was in on of the apartments nearby and spent five hours trying to get him out. They had blocked of a 6 block radius in all directions, which would have included our apartment, so we wouldn't have been able to get home. The ordeal ended with broken windows and teargas... and no sign of the guy they were looking for. I posted his picture, in case you see him somewhere around the world.
Then, yesterday, we had a bomb threat and hostage situation at the grocery store we shop at. It was apparently part of a larger scheme that is happening all across the country. You'll have to read the story if you want a lot of details, because I'm not repeating them all, but it involves phone calls, nudity, bombs, money, and cutting off fingers. Not a bad movie plot.
So, what could possibly happen today to continue the story? Another call came into another Dillon's grocery store that's about two blocks away from my office! Same story, but they got people out of there pretty fast this time. They closed the street down for a while and then it was all over. But, some goobers in town thought it would be funny to call Wal-Mart and a couple other grocery stores in town and make bomb threats. They did it with their cell phone, and police caught them later this evening. There were about six of them and they all had outstanding warrants.
Here's a photo from a storm we had about a week ago. I was pretty pumped that I caught some lightning, but it took me quite a few tries.
The Cardinals will have high hopes this season with Nate Davis behind center, but I thought this would be the first season since 1997 that I didn't make it to a game. However, I received a tip that BSU would make a trip to fabled Nebraska in September. So I put in some calls to my powerful connections and managed to secure tickets to the game, despite Nebraska's record of 282 straight sellouts. Katie and I will head to Lincoln on Sept 22 to cheer on the Cards to... a respectable showing, hopefully.
Obviously, there's not a lot of blogging going on this month. We've been busy with visitors all month, and we're only about halfway. Last weekend, my parents were in town for about five days. We did a few dinners and they spent some time over at the Cosmosphere. We also showed them around Hutch and gave them a little bit of an idea what we've been up to around here, and also played a little Wii. It was pretty nice to see them and actually get to spend some time with them, unlike most of the times I went home even when I was in Indiana. So that'll be the last time I see them until the end of August. We'll be in Indiana a few days for a wedding.
This weekend, Katie's parents were in town. They came with some friends, and we spent most of the day yesterday at the Cos. We also did a couple dinners and breakfasts with them and played a little Wii. It's pretty fun to watch the 'non-gamers' pick up the Wii and learn it so fast.
Next week, Katie's gone to Houston and then some of her friends come into town on Thursday. They'll be here until Sunday and then Katie goes to DC the next week. After that, I think crazy time might be over for a couple weeks at least. I'll try to keep things updated a little more from here out.
Well, I thought Scott would mention this story, but he is apparently trying to pretend it didn't happen. Tuesday night/Wednesday morning we were in a hot game of Mario Party and during the last mini-game, baseball turns up. So Scott and I get to it and I'm swinging away and all the sudden there is a defeaning crash and the table, the couch, the blanket, the cat and Katie are covered in glass. Apparently, Scott was a little too close to his drinking glass and a little too in to the game. :) I seriously wish I had stopped to take a picture. I have never seen so much glass. I am also amazed Scott didn't break a finger. The base of the glass was 8 feet away from where the glass had been sitting. Anyway...just thought you should know.
Hope everyone had a good day off yesterday. We spent the morning sleeping in and then went to Daniel, Kim, and Allie's for some pork chops, cheese potatoes, Wii, and crazy war-zone fireworks action. Apparently fireworks have only been allowed in town for a couple years, so the people out here are still enjoying their newfound freedom. From dusk to about 1am, nearly every backyard in Hutchinson was exploding. There is a big display at the state fairgrounds that there seemed to be a lot of people at, so I'm not sure who was lighting all the other ones, but it was a barrage of sounds like I've never heard in Indiana. We lit our meager $30 supply of fireworks and then headed home and sat out on the front steps for a while watching professional looking fireworks explode all across the sky. Anyway, it was pretty interesting, and people here clearly take their freedom seriously.
I took a minute of video when we got home last nite just to see if i could capture the sound. I haven't had a chance to check it yet, but if it's good, I'll put it up later.
Saturday night, Katie finally decided to take advantage of her Christmas present, so we went to the Crown Uptown Theatre in Wichita for Clue The Musical. It was pretty cool. We got there around 6:30 or so and headed for our table in the crowded theater. It probably held 3-400 people. There was a buffet dinner with entrees including pork loin, chicken cordon bleu, and pot roast. They also had some tasty mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and a salad bar, among other things. Afterwards, we had a decent piece of carrot cake and a drink. The entertainment started out with three people in the crowd choosing cards, just like in the board game. The cards were placed in an envelope and then the crowd played along with the story. We even had little forms to check things off as we got more and more clues. After Mr. Boddy was murdered, we had a 20-30 minute intermission. Then the detective came in and figured it out. For those of us who ended up with right answers (me), we got a $5 off coupon for the next show in the fall. Anyway, it was a pretty good time, and I'm sure we'll head back for the next one when they start it.
So it happened, as it was bound to. Although the Wii gives you numerous warnings, Scott and I were sitting to close togther and I got nailed. Luckily it was my arm and not my face. Live to fight another day!
I'm 100% sure I'm not the only shaving technology aficionado out there, so I just want to address a situation. I had recently run out of razor blades and used my last one past the point one should, so I made the trip to Target this evening to replenish my supply. I am currently a Gillette Fusion Power user. (duh, what else would anyone use?) I arrive at the shaving aisle and easily locate the bright orange area of Fusion blades. Lo and behold, there are two different options: the Gillette Fusion blades and the Gillette Fusion Power blades. I don't want to get into the details, but lets just say the Power blades are about a quarter more apiece.
Out of curiosity, I take both off the pegs to compare the packaging. They are nearly identical. Both packages contain the nearly identical statements: "All Fusion cartridges can be used with all Fusion razors." and "Fusion Power cartridges can be used with all Fusion razors."
I found two differences. One was the color of the plastic around the blades. Not really worth a quarter. The other was the note on the packaging that Fusion Power blades are "PowerGlide™ Blades," which means they have a patented blade coating for incredible comfort. I couldn't determine if the regular Fusion blades included the PowerGlide™ coating or not.
Either way, I bought the Fusion Power blades. Once you reach a certain threshold for cost, you just go for the gold, even if it's fool's gold.
Side note: As I was looking for links for this post, I checked out the Gillette Fusion website. Holy crap, talk about overkill. There's also a weird section for "razor bumps" that actually targeted toward black men, but it never actually mentions that. Are razor bumps more of an epidemic in the African-American community? I know they're a problem for me. And that music is pretty annoying. Interesting site. Apparently the new Phantom razor has an automatic shut off and battery light indicator... is it time for an upgrade?
Normally, I'd just comment, but this would be a little longer response. One of the reasons I wasn't keen on getting a Wii was due to the low resolution it supported (which I had heard was 480i, but is actually 480p, standby). Once I decided I wasn't that worried about that, I bought it and fired it up to see what I would end up with. I was expecting it to need to be in normal mode on the TV, leaving me with black bars on the sides. No big deal. However, once I started setting it up, I found a few settings that made things a little better.
1) The Wii has a Widescreen mode. The way it works is not very high definition or anything, but it fills the screen without making things out of proportion. It actually keeps the picture at 720x480, but it squishes the picture to fit in that area. Then you can change the wide mode on your television to stretch it out to the right proportions.
You can see how the effect works in the picture above. It definitely does the trick for my eyes, but maybe I'm just not that picky.
This method has varying results. That bowling game is from the "free" game that comes with the console that I didn't technically pay anything for. However, in Mario Party 8, which I did pay for, the menus and animations are all widescreen, but once you get into the game, the game actually has built in bars... kinda lame. Hey, but at least they're nice blue argyle.
2) The Wii supports progressive scan. It's not high def or anything, but 480p is better than 480i. Unfortunately, you have to get a component cable to make this work. It didn't come with the console. So, I don't know if it actually works or not, but the option is there. I'll let you know when I pony up for the cable to see how it works out.
Got this shot earlier this evening while I was sitting out on the back patio grilling some burgers for dinner. Not a terrible view.
I guess it's been a while since the last time I posted anything on here. The funny thing is, Katie was gone most of last week and she just left again today, so I've actually had more free time lately. Actually, I had so much free time, I went out and picked up a Nintendo Wii to fill a little bit of that time. So I guess maybe that's why I haven't been doing anything else.
After laughing at Jeff for about month while he tried to find controllers all over the state of Indiana, I felt kinda bad going and grabbing one at only the third store I walked into, but since setting it up almost a week ago, I've been playing it a little each day, working my way up the rankings in Wii Sports. The bowling game and the tennis game are both pretty killer, and I enjoy doing the Fitness test each day, even tho I'm not sure it's a very good judge of my fitness. I'm pretty sure bowling is my best event; I've scored 235 and worked my ranking up above 1200 already.
We also picked up a copy of Mario Party 8, which is pretty similar to the Gamecube version, as far as I can tell. The boards are different and the minigames are different, but it's still the same game. I'm looking forward to having four real people play it together instead of Katie, me, and two computer guys who rip us off. Anyway, it's pretty fun.
And if you want to be our Wii Friend (Jeff) our Wii number is 4620 0202 3248 2630.
We just got back from a trip to the Sedgwick County Zoo. We rolled out of bed bright and early this morning and headed down to Wichita with our friends Daniel and Kim and their daughter Allie. I haven't been to a lot of zoos, but I always thought the Indianapolis Zoo was nice and this was easily as nice, if not nicer. The zoo was divided up into each of the continents and had some really cool design and decor to add to the feel of each continent. They also had a lot of animals and some good food.
Anyway, I took a barrel of pictures, but here's a selection of the finer ones:
As I'm sure you all know from the barrage of advertisements, Sonic was giving away free root beer floats from 8pm to midnight tonite. So you know where Katie and I were from 9-10! We had a tough decision on whether or not to pull into the parking lot, due to the mass of cars and people who were also in attendance, but we pulled through and managed to get some rockstar parking in the process. After that, we stood in like for about 20 or 25 minutes probably, and snagged our floats. We made a quick getaway and were home a little before 10. We managed to get some guerrilla footage of the action with a secret spy camera and we're posting it here for you all.
The new couch arrived. We got it put in place and are lounging on it currently. I figured I'd throw a picture up so you could all see it in place.
When I was in Indiana and the weatherman said the forecast was windy, it usually didn't mean anything. I just assumed it would be breezy, and it wasn't a big deal except maybe back when I had practice or a meet. Now that we're here in Kansas, if they forecast it to be windy, you have to take note. It's always windy, so if they bother to mention it, it's going to be bad news. Today, the wind is gusting up to 50 miles an hour. Other than than it's a beautiful day. It's pretty strange.
The old fold-out couch has been dropped off at the dump (preciate it Daniel). The living room is looking pretty empty, and the new couch won't arrive until Tuesday. However, once the new couch arrives, life will be pretty good. Surely I'll blog at least twice as much due to the comfort I'm lounging in.
The school year is over, and the "space camp season" has officially begun. The Cosmosphere held a cook out to kick it off, and now no one will be hanging out with me until like September. So if you feel the need to chat, call, or visit me at any time, sometime in the next three months would be optimal. There will be a new couch on the 5th with lots of room on it. My TV is reasonably big, and I have lots of movies. Please let me know if you're interested.
Regardless, being a lifetime hoosier, I still have a little soft spot for the 500, and it's been kinda fun to watch it. Now they're in the middle of a rain delay, but it looks like they might get to run a few more laps before calling it a day.
It's really too bad that the race isn't that big a deal anymore. It's kinda sad to watch how much they talk about history and tradition; they need something to make it big again. Maybe if Danica Patrick were to win, that would do it. But I doubt it, NASCAR has just taken over racing in the US. The speedway is lucky they got on that bandwagon while they could. Anyway, I'll keep watching it to see what happens.
The subject line was just for Jeff...sorry. There was no drama in the couch shopping. In fact it went remarkably well. I believe we have settled on one. We just need to measure to make sure the new couch will fit but I think we'll be purchasing this weekend (mostly because it is on sale).
Currently seeking skilled carpenter with experience in boat making. Large project, requring boat big enough for two of every animal...
A sign of the apocolypse has arrived...Hutchinson is flooding. I know have a lot of respect for a car that (only just two days ago) I was calling a 'little girl car'...my Pontiac Sunfire. Through wind, rain, rain, rain, rain my little car actually got me home. It downpoured today making it close to impossible to get home. I arrived, after only a few detours, just shortly after Scott who I am sure will chronicle his own adventure. I drove through water I should not have, and Mom you had every right to lecture me. I was not getting stuck at work! If it keeps raining, as expected, the next few days should be interesting.
Jared, you and Ryan should consider yourself lucky. You two are among the few guests who will get to see portions of the museum for awhile, at least until the carpet cleaners get in there. Apparently, the area under the Titan rocket (outdoors) flooded and sent water into portions of the Mercury/Gemini gallery. To all you artifiact watchdogs, do not fret, it is just carpet damage.
I've started a new project. It may take me forever to build, but I'm going to start working on a new site with some games on it. I mostly want to keep up with Flash, because I'm not doing as much Flash work in the office as I used to. I think it'll be a good chance to combine a lot of stuff I've learned and put together some cool stuff for people to play with. Once things get moving, I'll start posting some stuff about it so you can check it out. It should - if nothing else - make for some good competition among those of you who participate.
The White Sox are on the north side this weekend for the first Cubs-Sox series of the season, which always means bad news for the Cubs. However, the Cubs won yesterday 6-3 in a pretty good game, and they are now winning 11-6 in the 8th inning right now. Derrek Lee just hit a pinch-hit grand slam, and I don't have anyone to celebrate with. So I'm celebrating by typing it out. (And messaging any White Sox fans I know about how great their bullpen is.) Go Cubs!
I got up this morning to head over to the bank and run some errands. Katie is back in Iowa for some family graduation stuff, so I'm on my own for today. My friend Jared is going to be in town for a couple of days starting tomorrow, because he's working in Wichita and is going to come up here after that. Anyway, I get home and flip on the TV to make sure I set the DVR to remind me the Cubs are on at 3, and lo and behold, we now have TNT HD. Not having that channel was pretty much the worst thing about being here. I had it in Muncie, and it was probably the channel I watched the most. When nothing else was on, you could count on TNT to be running a Law and Order or Without A Trace, both of which are pretty much universally watchable. Anyway, it's a great moment for me, and I wanted to share.
Also, I do not endorse Katie's potty mouth and I refute any accusations about my language in the comments section. ;)
Scott and I are about to watch this week's episode of Lost and as we were watching the 'previously on lost' I was reminded that Jack has turned in to a total douche. I just want the record to reflect that.
Scott and I have decided on the adventure of couch shopping. I am looking forward to seeing how our tastes match up. I like couches you can sink in to but that will also have at least a slight modern look to it. I also like neutral colors. Hopefully it will go smoothly and I'm sure it will. Scott and I seem to agree on a lot but I know some of you (ahem Jeff) look forward to our little family dramas. So, enjoy the fireworks that may ensue...
I'd just like to comment on some television, since that's what I've been doing a lot of.
First off, Lost is awesome. It seems like it gets better every week. It's nice to know that it has an end point now, but I can't wait to see the season finale. I can't believe that Ben shot Locke right when I was starting to like him again.
Second, I don't know if any of you watch it or not... but The Unit is a pretty solid show too. It's a good week to week show, but the season finale was last week, and they had a heck of a cliffhanger. It's going to be a long summer waiting to see what comes out of it.
As far as 24 goes, I bailed on it. It was ok, but I totally don't miss it. So I guess that was a good decision. I heard from someone yesterday where the story went, and it sounds a little outrageous anyway.
Also, even though it's been over for a while, Prison Break ended pretty wild. I can't wait to see how all the alliances change and they get these guys out of the Panamanian Prison. Man that place looked scary!
Another wildcard in the whole picture... Planet Earth on Discovery HD Theater. If you don't have HD, Discovery HD Theater is a good enough reason to get it, and Planet Earth is the best use of HD footage in HD history. The BBC took cameras all over the Earth for five years and then spun it into about 11 episodes of nothing but money shots and footage of things "never filmed before." Check it out sometime.
We're reporting live from our half-bathroom during a siren filled evening in Hutchinson. The storm is barrelling through central Kansas and heading northeast. The wind is picking up and the rain is coming down.
Actually... the storm is already past. The power never went out. The whole thing was pretty lame. Apparently there was a touchdown somewhere around town, or they wouldn't have set off the sirens. We didn't see much of anything besides a dark cloud or two. So we sat in the bathroom for about 7 minutes getting bored and then came back out and turned everything back on. Good times.
Tomorrow will be the first race I've run since the Chicago Marathon in October of 2004. Granted, it's only a 4 mile race, and it's only in Hutchinson, but I'm feeling pretty good about it. The bad news is, like all races, I have to get up at like 6:30 tomorrow morning, and it is threatening to rain, but that's the way it goes. I'm still looking forward to getting back on that horse. It's been 80+ lately, so it's probably better to do it in the morning anyway.
I will also be using the Nike+ setup to chart my run. You should all buy in so you can participate in all my challenges and general activity. We are also planning on hitting up a JuCo track meet here in town later in the day. I look forward to reliving all my better days in my head while watching the real kids who can still do it.
I made a quick trip back to Indiana for the weekend. An old friend of mine from like fourth grade through college got married on Saturday, so I got to make the trip in on Friday night, hang out with a few friends then and drive up to Pine Village, Indiana for the wedding on Saturday. Then I found my way back down to Indy to make the flight back to Wichita on Sunday morning. The wedding was nice. It was actually the first time I'd met his wife. Didn't get to talk to her a lot, but I'm sure she's cool. Anyway, made it back to Hutch and got to work on time this morning. Pretty solid trip.
Isn't it funny that I'm the one who grew up on bacon grease and my cholesterol is juuuuust fine?
Anyway, we had our ribs and potatoes and green beans slathered in grease, and it was pretty tasty. DFW has nothing on me. We spent the evening cooking and partaking of beverages and had a pretty good time. The weather has been mid-70s and it's so nice to get outside and grill something up.
Ok, yes, I have resisted having grease in my food and taking up space in my fridge. Like Scott I did not grow up in the South. My family is all from the midwest. In addition to being raised in the wonderful heartland, my mother is a cardiac rehab nurse. We just didn't eat much bacon...or red meat for that matter. We ate a lot of chicken and rice, as one would expect when the person doing the cooking watches people die from clogged arteries. On top of that, my family has a history of high cholesteral. Some of you don't know me, but I am 5'6 and 115 pounds. I'm in fairly good shape, though don't work out as much as I should and I have high cholesteral. Am I worried about eating foods cooking in pork fat? Hell ya! I'd like to live. I'm too young for lipitore.
As I am sure Scott will post later, I have conceded and there is pork fat in the fridge as I type. Tonight we are having ribs with green beans (cooked in pork fat) and potatoes (cooked in pork fat). What can I say, baby? You're the one that I want...
OK, I know that some of you have been waiting for the fighting to begin so that we can take our arguments public and you can watch everything fall apart, before I come running back to Indiana a lonely and broken man. So here's the beginning. There is an enormous bruhaha over bacon grease. How can bacon grease lead to a broken relationship, you ask?
My family by no means grew up in the south. In fact, even counting every living member of my extended family, there are only about 5 or 6 people who have lived outside Indiana, and that was in the west. However, my family cooks using bacon grease. Yes, the remains sitting in the pan after you cook up some bacon for breakfast. As far back as I can remember, my mom had a dish in the fridge with some grease in it, and she added to potatoes and green beans regularly, among other things. It just adds some flavor that you can't recreate with spices or anything else.
Katie is not fond of this. She doesn't like the idea of cooking with it, and she definitely doesn't like the idea of keeping it sitting around. I'm not going to try to quote her, because that will only make things worse. Maybe she'll post her side of the argument, but it doesn't seem likely. Regardless, we fight day and night.
Last night I cooked up some burgers and threw some bacon the griddle - partly to accompany the burgers, but mostly to start up the grease stockpile. So now there's a tub of grease in the fridge. We'll see how long it is before it "disappears."
Anyway, where do you all stand? To grease or not to grease...
Katie's working late, so I'm sitting here watching TV alone. There's not much on, so I'm watching the Twins and Mariners. The Cubs already lost today in 14 innings... which is always nice. I am a proud subscriber to the Extra Innings package, so there's pretty much some baseball on at all times.
Other than that, I've been watching every channel run stories about this Virginia Tech thing. I'm sure it would have been a bigger deal if it happened while I was in school, but I dunno. Honestly tho, think about all the people that were in your classes... how does this not happen all the time? I always had people in my classes that seemed like they could lose it at any time. People probably thought that of me in some of them.
Anyway, Katie just got home, so that's all you get from me.
Friday the 13th happens once or twice a year or so and everyone kinda makes a small deal about it, but nothing ever goes wrong. Well, this year, it falls in April, and you'd think it would just be another uneventful day. But it's not. And here's why:
So this is pretty fun. These photos are from about an hour ago; it's still coming down. And on my way home from work, I actually saw the whole sky light up and there was a thundercrack that lasted about 10 seconds. Anyway, pretty sure this qualifies as bad luck.
Sorry, didn't realize anyone would be so interested in that one. I expected to get made fun of and asked to fill you in on what I had for dinner. Here's the email:
everyone said the same thing about PCs. that older people would never buy them. Same with DVDs and cellphones.Regardless, I'm right.
when all the extras come included in the tv and they can click on the remote, it will be natural, not something extra the y have to do
thanks,
M
This morning I read an interesting article about the future of TV, Web 2.0, and PCs on Mark Cuban's Blog. I have kinda been following him lately hoping that he would write about how he's going to buy the Cubs and get them to the World Series as soon as possible, but he hasn't. Anyway, I read the article and was compelled to comment, partly because I had an opinion and partly because no one else had yet.
His basic theory is that the web and internet video are both fairly mature and have nowhere to go. Thus, new products like the Apple TV are pushing the wrong direction by taking video from your computer to your TV, rather than connecting your TV to the internet. Even Mr. Cuban would agree that he has a vested interest in HDTV, but I'm sure he wouldn't have this interest if he didn't think he was right.
Cuban says he expects everyone to upgrade their TVs as regularly as they upgraded their computers in the past decade, because computers haven't been making advances and TVs have. I'll give him that. If I need a computer to check the my email and browse the internet, like probably 75% of people in the world, the computer I have will work for quite a while (minus Microsoft and Apple creating new OSs with features I don't need and requiring me to upgrade to them, but that's another story).
However, where I disagree is the idea that the average Joe Schmo is going to be interested in interactive TV. I really don't believe that regular people are going to be interested in applications and development platforms on their televisions. TV is passive. People like to veg out in front of it, not deal with it or play against it. That's what video games are for. I wrote a paper in college about this actually, I'll have to see if I can find it. (Edit: found it)
Cuban closes by saying, "If the question is "Whats Next ", the answer begins with "Watch TV"," but I don't think 'watch' is the word he meant.
Anyway, he replied to my comment via email, so I am the proud owner of an email from a billionaire. Needless to say, I didn't convince him, but I didn't really expect to. Anyway, I know no one cares, so that's it for that one.
Happy belated Easter to everyone. We spent the weekend in Iowa with Katie's family. It was about a 6 hour drive up there, straight into the wind... which sucked the gas like you couldn't believe. We got there Friday night in time for dinner, and then spent Saturday morning doing some shopping in Sioux City.
Later that evening, I attended my first Catholic mass, which was pretty interesting. That's a pretty good way to make yourself feel uncomfortable. But now, I've banked a couple hours of church, and I've been soaked with flying holy water, so I'm feeling pretty good about myself. Let's just hope I didn't inadvertently get myself kicked out of my own church. Not that they'd miss me I'm sure.
Sunday we drove to Katie's aunt's house and I got to meet lots of her mom's family and have a great lunch. I also got to watch her cousins wrestle and do gymnastics, and I got to watch a little bit of the Cubs game. Then we embarked on the drive home, getting back to Hutch at about 10pm, just in time to go to bed and get up for work. Pretty solid weekend. Maybe you'll get her side of the story if you beg or something.
I've been sick with a cold or allergies or something and working on a side project for the whole weekend, and I've reached the point where I'm finding anything I can to do in procrastination. So that sounds like a good time to write a blog entry! I went out around 3:00 and ran for an hour, ending up at about 6½ miles. Needless to say a new record. I'm pretty sure I got sunburnt, which is a new concern for me in the running world.
This seems like a good time to mention that Nike+ is a heck of a motivator. Warrants its own post, maybe I'll do that next.
Right now Katie is baking cookies, which I am pretty fond of. She makes the best chocolate chip cookies ever. If you ask really nicely, she might give you the recipe.Not bad, eh? Think she'll find this?
Other than that, the weekend consisted of (for Katie) working, grocery shopping, and homework, and (for Scott) cleaning, "working," laundry, and trying to stay alive. The upcoming week is going to be a struggle; I have a site at work that needs to be done by Friday, and a lot of other things to take care of before next weekend. We're going to Iowa for Easter, so next weekend will be non-existent.
Anyway, enough procrastinating (at least with this method).
Lately, as I've gotten back into HTML and CSS and all that good stuff instead of only using Flash, I'm starting to learn or relearn a lot of new things. I've decided to start cataloging all that information, partly cuz someone else might find it useful, but mostly because I'm pretty forgetful. So, without further ado... I've started another blog. It keeps all my geeky mumbo jumbo off this one and spares you all from reading it (unless you actually want to).
It can be found at this URL.
Or go learn something about cross domain policies.
Last night we watched the movie Blood Diamond, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly, and Djimon Hounsou. It is about the diamond trade and diamond smuggling in Africa, particularly Sierra Leone around 1999. I bought the DVD based only on the theater preview, and it turned out to be worth it.
The movie overarching message is pretty chilling, and makes you think twice about the jewerly you have bought. There is pretty good dialog and lots of action. It really reminds me a lot of Hotel Rwanda, which is another great movie with a similar 'world-ignoring-Africa' theme.
Clearly the goal of this movie was to move the viewer to the point where they would not buy these 'conflict diamonds' and thereby help the situation in any small way they could. However, I think there's a problem with that motive.
*MODERATE SPOILER ALERT* If all these movies that are trying to change the world focus in on a happy ending about one person instead of the hundreds, thousands, or millions of deaths and terrible endings, people here are never going to get it. I don't know if anyone would go to a movie that had a bad ending, or if a bad ending would even constitute a movie, but when Solomon walks into the G-8 conference to speak and gets a standing ovation, that's not a typical ending. Everyone leaves the theater feeling better about that than if he didn't make it. That softens the message on the way out the door and helps you forget all the stuff you saw before that. There has to be a way for Hollywood to solve this problem.
We went and saw the movie Shooter this past weekend. It stars Mark Wahlberg, who, much to my chagrin, is becoming one of my favorite actors. He's been pretty good in a ton of movies, and I personally thought he was great in The Departed. I had been looking forward to Shooter since seeing it in a preview, and then I kinda forgot about it. When we were driving around looking for movies Saturday, I saw it had come out and we decided to see it.
Turns out it was a pretty awesome movie. I'm always a sucker for a conspiracy movie or a police chase movie (Yes, I'm still hung up on Prison Break). Combine the two and add some good acting in; you've got quite a movie.
Anyway, I'm not going to give much of it away. I think the promos make it known that Mark Wahlberg is hired to help plan out an assassination of the president, in order to "stop it from happening." Then, the "company" (who seems to have turned up a lot in movies/tv/entertainment lately... tells you what we think of the government) frames him for the job. The rest of the movie is his attempt to save himself/get out of it. I'd recommend seeing it, and seeing it in a theater with some good speakers... the audio is really great.
We went to Carey Park today and I took some pictures. I'm trying to see if this photo album thing I built works, so here you go... maybe:
Well, I haven't been able to find any documentation about comments, so it is proving difficult to program my comment scorecard.
However, I have manually added it, and we'll see how well I can keep up. Good luck to you all.
Today we watched a little basketball and ran a few errands at Target, where we bought 'Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.' Yeah, I bought the fullscreen edition. Don't get me started. This topic warrants an entire post of its own. So I took it back, and they didn't have the widescreen. We ended up heading down to the big park in Hutchinson and strolling around a little to check it out. The park is pretty nice; it's really huge for the size of this city. There are a lot of ponds and a couple waterfalls and bridges. There's a bunch of shelter houses, park equipment, baseball and softball fields, and a bike path that goes about 4 miles to another park in town. Anyway, it was pretty cool, and I'll have to take some photos and put them up when it gets a little greener. After that we rented Anchorman, and it was decent. I wouldn't give it four stars or anything.
Also, all four of my Final Four teams are still in the tournament.
So, back at the end of January Brandon mentioned it wouldn't be long before Scott was forced to watch HGTV and Oprah. I claimed, with zeal, I do not watch that stuff...which I stand by. However, Scott was shocked and apalled to discover the DVR set to record Girls Next Door. I have no idea why I watch the show. Perhaps it is jealousy for their lifestyle (the living in a mansion with a sexy wardrobe and butlers not the living with an old guy part). More than likely it is just the 'girl' coming out in me. On my own behalf, I watched almost three days of basketball. I consider myself well-rounded.
Although it took me about three hours, I have successfully put together our new grill. I'd put a real picture of it on here, but the door that came with it was broken, and it was too dark outside. So now I'm waiting 7-10 business days for a new door and it will be complete. Luckily it was the door and not a burner or something. Anyway, the grill will be in full effect Friday for the March Madness celebration. I'll let you know how it goes.
So a couple of days ago, one of the kittens escaped. She managed to jump out a window thru a space she shouldn't have been able to get through. As I'm trying to recover the youngster, she decides she's scared and I'm not making the situation better. So when I reach down to get her, she proceeded to scratch the hell out of me. (Graphic is for illustrative purposes, and is not actual scratch.)
Anyway, Katie still loves the cats, so make your own inferences.
