MadMup.com

I'm convinced that it's a good thing most of these people are actors/actresses - they do a fine job when given words to say, but when they've got to come up with it on their own, they don't do so well. 2 comments

For those of you who are wondering where the THorum is, it's having trouble right now. Brian's aware of it and is working frantically on a resolution. Fret not!

UPDATE, 7:00 p.m. : It's back up. Go on about your business. 1 comments

I called today to make a haircut appointment only to find that the lady who has been cutting my hair for the last year is no longer there.

I don't know if you know this about me or not, but I don't like change.

When the lady on the phone told me this sad news, I was audibly dismayed. I remember saying things like "She didn't check this with me!" and "Noooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!"

The very nice phone lady said, "Why don't you come in and I'll cut your hair myself and we'll see how it goes?" It must have been my weakened state, but I agreed.

Turns out, she's the owner of the place.
Turns out, she's been doing this for thirty years.
Turns out, she was super nice.
Turns out, I think I might be okay.

She even trimmed my goatee, which is the first time it's ever been professionally groomed. 7 comments

Another change, race fans.

The commenting system is different. It should work pretty much like the last ones did, but should be mo' better integrated and easier to administrate.

Sadly, that means you will be unable to read through all the old comments, at least for the time being. Brian A., who of course accomplished all this, was able to save them, and I just need to figure out a good way to include them or include a link to them.

Many thanks to Brian A! 9 comments

Quoted here (in bold) with his permission. He didn't give me permission to bold them, but I wanted to distinguish his list from my comments on his list.

10. I’m not sure I’m ready for something that seems so high-maintenance.

A person writing a blog to attract a large audience does, in fact, need to keep up with it. Daily posts are almost a requirement. In the fast-moving world of the Intarweb, people don't like to check a page once a day (or many times a day) and not see any change. The larger the audience, the more important it is to update frequently. And if you've set a certain expectation that you'll pdate at a certain time every day, keep that appointment!

9. BLOGs make me feel like I’m at a party where the only person I know is the host and I am vying for his attention with thousands of other attendees.

Thousands? Ha. I wish. About half of the people that visit here in a given day have gotten here from a search engine that spits my page back as a result to some really weird word combination. Since I've talked about so many strange topics, search engines spit me back a lot.

8. I would not comfortable even admitting some of the things that everyone blogging seems so compelled to discuss openly.

Not everyone who blogs is so personal. In fact, I tend to not be personal here, for a variety of reasons. Different people have blogs for different reasons, and one of my reasons is to entertain. I occasionally delve into personal stuff, but I leave the more for LJers.

7. I feel inferior because my thoughts throughout the day are rarely clever enough to entertain the people who would happen across them on the web.

If you knew Dave like I knew Dave, this would strike you as hogwash. A common problem is remembering the cleverness long enough to get it into some sort of print.

6. I feel inferior because when my thoughts are that clever, I rarely take the time to write them down.

Laziness, too, is a common problem.

5. I feel frustrated because when my thoughts are that clever and I do take the time to write them down, I can’t stop tinkering with them get that “perfect version”. (Guess how many revisions this list went through! In years to come bootleg versions of the lost copies will most certainly be in circulation—the most sought after draft will be the one in which reason #9 contained an alternate spelling of “vying”.)

I've got ideas flying around in my head that have been there literally for years that I haven't put on paper for this exact reason. I can't get them just right, and I don't want to give them short shrift. Oddly enough, one of the ideas is a sitcom pilot that Dave and I have discussed on and off for a couple of years.

4. The word “BLOG” sounds like a scary monster in an old movie.

Agreed.

3. Every time I read a BLOG, I get the creepy feeling that any connection I might feel with the writer is nothing more than the chance result of my happening across a web page meant for others, but not really me, and is therefore not “real”.

This speaks to the fear that we can't really know a person or have any sort of relationship with them in an online-only fashion. I've talked before about some of the friends I've made online, so I won't rehash that. It seems to be true, though, that forming a "real" relationship requires more than just reading and commenting on a blog or in an online forum. Further contact and communication seem to be necessary. Email is a logical next step, followed by instant messaging , but then it tends to move towards "real world" means like phone calls and meet-ups. Just ask Mike and Meags. Who's to say where they'll end up? It's likely they'll get married, but even if they don't, I am sure they would both tell you that they have had a "real" relationship up to this point. So, yeah, happening across a random blog won't give you an instant connection with the author, but if it piques your interest, you might form deeper connections down the road. It all depends on what you want to put into it, I guess.

2. When the proprietor of that BLOG does not put his picture on the page, the feeling detailed above is compounded.

I've tried to combat that in recent days by including my current THorum webcam picture on my blog here. Granted, it won't necessarily always be an actual picture of me, but it sometimes is, and it always gives a window of sorts on my current life or state of mind.

1. I am afraid that any connection I might feel with the writer may be more real than “connections” I have with people see on a somewhat regular and consider friends.

They say the key to any relationship is communicating. If you're not communicating with the people you see regularly but you are getting frequent updates from a blog you read, it's possible you could feel more connected to the blog author than someone you see every day. If you like the connection, follow up on it, I say. You never know where it could lead.

Now, if any of you need to buy a snake, Dave should have more available in the next year. He just sold the last of his last litter, so you're out of luck for a bit, but his snakes really are quite beautiful, so it might be worth your wait. 1 comments

It's been a while since I updated ya'll on improv, so how about I give that a shot? This weekend was improv-intensive, so it seems a fitting time.

I took last Friday off, for a couple of reasons. I had a huge project at work that I finished on Thursday and needed to recuperate a bit, but the biggest reason is that I was on the radio Friday morning. One of our improv group members got us some time on WAZY's morning show, which is basically a couple of DJs who do the typical morning show banter. Three of us were on for about a half hour, talking about the upcoming shows and doing a couple of games with them. It was fun, particularly since I've always had a slight interest in being in radio. I do have a recording of it, but I haven't edited out the commercials and stuff yet, but I'll host it and post it once I get that done.

After the fun of that, I went to get my taxes done. Ugh. I'm all for paying taxes, though I wish I could designate what things I want mine to go toward, but I am NOT in favor of having to scrape together a little more than $600 by April 15th. Grrr.

Then I went to the chiropractor. I've had neck and back problems a little bit more frequently since I started this new job. I'm guessing stress is playing a part.

Then I went to lunch with a friend/cow-orker at a Greek place in town. I got a plain gyro - just meat and bread. Very tasty.

(Okay, so far it hasn't been so much about improv as it has been about my Friday.)

I think I used Friday afternoon to catch up on some TiVo holdings, but I don't remember. Improv rehearsal started at 6, with the show at 9. Rehearsal was bad. I was off. Way off. I didn't feel funny and couldn't come up with anything. The good news, though, was that I was on a team with my two best friends on the team, and that happens rarely. We were pretty excited about that opportunity.

We have three main types of shows: the Civic Theater shows, the Lafayette Brewing Company shows, and corporate gigs. Civic and LBC shows are once a month, with the Civic shows being billed as "family friendly." While the LBC shows are billed as "Over 21 only," they generally aren't bad. There have been very few occasions when there have been uncomfortable bits, but it's generally PG-13 at its worst. Friday's show was at LBC.

It was a huge crowd, actually our biggest one there ever. We had 100+ people, which helped our energy levels a lot. It's also fun when people say something to you when they're coming in that lets you know that a) they remember you, and b) they remember you specifically because of something funny you've done at a past show. That happened on Friday, and it was a nice feeling.

We debuted two new (to us) games on Friday, and they went well. Actually, the whole show went well. People laughed, and that's what we're after. However, the show also got more foul than it normally does. When a scene heads that direction, it bothers me for a few reasons. First, I'm not a fan of foul in general. Second, I think it takes more talent and work to be funny without being foul. If I'm set up with something that would naturally lend itself to foulness, I do my best to turn it upside down and steer it in a different direction. It doesn't always work, and I sometimes just hang back and keep from being part of a scene. It was interesting to me that several other people on the team, in discussing the show afterwards, also felt that it had gotten too foul and that we were better than that and didn't need to do things that way.

Overall, though, a good show. And it was the highest paying LBC gig I've been a part of up to this point. The corporate gigs tend to pay a little better, but this was pretty close. We split the gate amongst the group, so a bigger crowd equals a better payday. I don't do improv for the pay, but a little extra cash is always nice - especially with tax bills due...

Saturday was a downer day, mostly. For some reason, LBC shows take a lot out of me and I'm worn out the next day. I felt pretty ill most of the day, really. In the evening, I went to see a movie with my improv friends, and then to a local eatery. I've really fallen behind in my movie watching this month, after the fantastic start in January. I need to step up here, I guess.

So there you go. More info on improv than you wanted. There's another show this weekend at Civic, but I'm not in it. I will most likely go see it, though.

Be well! 0 comments

Names are weird. Most people have three names: first, middle, and last. That's considered "normal." Parents choose a name they like for the first name, then sometimes "honor" someone in the family tree by using their name as a middle name. This is why, I believe, most people are shy about telling you their middle name. It's usually something like "Fogbert" after their great-great-great-great-grandfather on their mother's side who fought in the Civil War. My middle name is "Allen," which is also my father's middle name. My older brother has my dad's first name as his middle name, which makes me wonder what would have happened if we'd had another brother.

Some people go by their middle names because their first name causes problems. I have a friend named David William who named his first son David Winfield. So far in his life, the younger David has been called Winfield. Some people don't like their first name, so they go by their middle name. Maybe it's an attempt to sever ties with that first name person and start over with the second name person - kind of like a second lease on life, maybe.

Some people have two middle names. President George Herbert Walker Bush (the first President Bush) is a prime example. While the giving of two middle names generally seems high-falutin', it isn't necessarily so. Consider "Mary Jo Anne Pinefield," a name I just made up but gives more of a Southern flavor than a high society one.

There are some people who don't have middle names at all. After struggling over a first name, the parents just said, "Forget it. It's too much work. No middle name for you!"

Other variations on the standard are having two first names, or a first name that is all one word, but sounds like two words. "Marianne" might look like one word, but that's two names, and I don't really know what kind of con you're trying to pull, missy.

When you get rich enough and famous enough, you can drop all those extra names and just go with your first name, even if it's one you made up. Madonna, I'm looking at you. Sting, you're also on my list. Bono - well, you just confuse me. Is that a first name? a last name? What is a "Bono" anyway?

(A side note: at one of the middle schools I where I used to work, one of the secretaries there was named "Madonna." She is in her late 50's or so, so I don't think she was named for the singer/actress?/jewel thief.)

If you've got a name that's got too many syllables in it, prepare to have a nickname. People don't want to yell "Hey, Strazcinski!" at you when it would be much easier to call you "Zinc" or "Ski" or something easier. (Another side note: when you're naming a pet, use the two-syllable rule. It's much easier to call them if you've got two syllables to work with. One feels foolish, and three or more will just get shortened to two, anyway.)

These are all things you aspiring parents should consider. Don't give your kid a name that will get him or her beat up. "Percy" is a horrible name for a kid, whether or not your great-uncle Percival discovered a new element. Also ask yourself, "How will this name sound on them when they are a grandparent?" "Grandma Brittany" certainly seems wrong, doesn't it? Trendy names will be an embarrassment to the human race should we ever have to entertain aliens:

Aliens: "Take us to your leader."
Us: "That'd be President Tiffany."
Aliens: *snort*
Aliens: *guffaw*
Aliens: "You will all die now."

Of course, I don't care what your name is, because I'll have forgotten it two seconds after you've told me. I really try to remember names, but I just can't seem to do it. Once I've been introduced to you four times and I've embarrassed myself by having to ask you your name two other times, I might get it, but there's no guarantee. I'm fully in favor of all citizens having to wear a photo ID with their name emblazoned on it. For now, though, I'm associating new teachers I'm meeting with what computer problems they're having. "Ah, yes, Miss No Email. How are you today?" Isn't that how English-speaking people got their last names anyway? "Johnson" came from "John's son." "Smith" is because the patriarch was a blacksmith. "Selleck" is from the root words for "awesome stash, man."

I think we should start over with last names and modernize them a little. We'll have Johnny Nascar, Jennifer Webmaster, Jeffrey Psycho, Tonya Kneecapper, Winona Swifthands, and - well, you get the idea. And maybe it isn't such a good one after all.

But if you don't like your name, you can always change it legally. People are always doing this in an attempt to get a better name, but you never hear of anyone picking "Jeremy L. Smithenston" or "Faith S. Wynnsong." No, they're always changing it to ridiculous things like "Optimus Prime" or making a joke with their name like "Warren Peace." You might as well stick with what you've got, because elementary school kids are going to make fun of your name regardless of what it is.

Me, I'm changing my name to "Max Power." Middle name: "Imum."


(The blog entry title is from T.S. Eliot's "The Naming of Cats.")

(This blog was by request, though I'm sure she regrets it now.) 0 comments

I have been crazybusy (yes, that is one word) lately, but I just wanted to say hi and let you know I haven't forgotten about you.

Hi! 0 comments

There was a baby goat in my school this morning.



It apparently was rejected by its mother and needs constant care. I don't know about you, but when I was in school, we weren't allowed to bring animals in.

Kids these days.












*Bad Pun Alert 0 comments

(RESE? I never did understand that part of the song...)

You find occasional people you immediately respect. There are others who earn your respect over time. There are others you want to respect you. I've found that Respect Street is two-way, and usually I want the people I respect to respect me. The type of people we want to respect us changes with time. In school, it's usually a peer. Further school, a teacher. Later: a boss, other co-workers, customers, pastors, relatives, and random strangers. We want to be respected for our knowledge, our skills, our talents.

We do weird things to try to earn respect. Some people boast, which I find to be the stupidest way in the world to try to earn respect. It's so much better to let people find out you're great (if you are) than to tell them. Even if you are great, your telling them takes away their opportunity to tell you that you are. And if you tell them you're great and you're not, well, you just look dumb, and you certainly aren't earning any respect. I always think about people who study the martial arts when people boast. The kid who has taken four lessons comes out jumping around and attacking things and making the "hoo-AH" noises and talking about how he can beat people up. On the other hand, the master never says a word about his abilities. He doesn't brag about how many boards he can break in a single punch or how quickly he can dispatch a gang of toughs. If the situation called for it, though, who do you want in your corner?

The desire for certain respects is fleeting. I no longer care if Jimmy from fourth grade respects me. I no longer care if Coach P. from high school respects me for my playing ability. I no longer care to have the respect of certain people that will only respect me if I do a certain thing or act a certain way.

However, there are respects that outlast specific time periods. You'll meet a handful (or less) of people that you want to be respected by the rest of your life. You might not ever see them again, but you think about them every so often and you want to believe that if they heard news of you from someone, they would smile and nod respectfully.

I've got a short list. There are names on the list that I know I will never be able to earn back respect I've lost with them. (Like a currency, I spent the respect I had with them in one gesture or another like buying one of those cheap toys from a vending machine.) There are others I may never see again and will therefore never know my account balance with them.

There's one person on my list that crosses through my mind at least once a week. She was my favorite teacher in college, and even though I didn't ultimately end up with a degree in her particular field, I will never forget her. What was it about Miss W. that commands my respect, even all these years later? I haven't seen her in 7+ years, but like I said, I think about her or talk about her at least once a week.

I skated through high school and continued on that course in college. It wasn't as smooth in college, but if I was passing, I was happy. I started having classes that I actually had to study for, and I didn't like it. English and literature classes came rather easily to me, and class discussions were usually enough for me to connect a particular author with a particular work. I liked to read, so the assignments weren't drudgery, either. Tests weren't hard when they dealt with facts, but I learned very early on with Miss W. that essays and composition projects would never again be what I had come to know.

There was something about her, see, that let her see right through me. There was something in her that saw something in me that I didn't see. Though I would write technically correct essays, she wouldn't let me get by with them. She challenged me (oftentimes in ways that might have seemed to an outside observer to be mean) to do better and told me she wasn't going to let me slack off in her classes.

It might have been my appreciation for the subject matter, but I think it was more the way she dealt with me. Most teachers had enough students that they couldn't necessarily pay close attention to one in the crowd - she had just as many students and she was always busy, but she always had time to talk to me and challenge me to be better. "You can do better than this." I remember hearing that phrase from her more than once.

(An aside: Once in English Lit, she asked for a volunteer to read Robert Burns' poem "To a Mouse."I quickly volunteered with a nefarious plan in mind. Robert Burns is the most famous of Scottish poets, and I intended to read it with a Scottish accent as far as she'd let me get. Turns out, she let me read the whole way through. I fully expected to be stopped in mid-stanza, and when I wasn't, I felt my face getting redder and redder and I felt more and more foolish. When I finished, she said "thank you" and intimated that she appreciated the reading in the spirit the poem was written in.)

I like to think that I take criticism well, but in truth, I usually bristle. I tend to think I know all the ins and outs and intricacies of what I am doing and that there is no possible way for the critic to know all of that, so their opinion doesn't carry as much weight as they might like it to. For some reason, when Miss W. critiqued and suggested, though, I saw it and wanted to change. I wanted to be who she thought I could be. I pushed myself and did better in her classes.

(An aside: in American Lit, when we were studying Emily Dickinson, I raised my hand and casually remarked that a good majority of Emily's most famous poems could be sung to the tune of the Gilligan's Island theme song. She took it in stride, having come to expect these sorts of things from me. For the next few semesters, I would seek out someone taking that class and convince them to do the same thing when they got to the Emily Dickinson portion of the class. It was the third or fourth semester when I checked back with whatever cohort it was that I received the report, "I didn't have a chance to say anything - she told us all about Gilligan's Island when we started talking about Emily Dickinson." That was one of the biggest smiles I ever had in my life.)

I took several classes from her over the course of my studies at college - about seven, I think. I tried to take any class I could from her. I loved every class except for Lit Crit -I couldn't get the hang of it, and she cut me more slack in that class than she ever had. Somewhere along the way, she and I became friends. She became a trusted advisor in more than just English classes. I had more respect for her than anyone I had ever met, and in return, I wanted to earn her respect.

As I've mentioned a couple of times, I haven't seen her in years. She's Dr. W now. I've taken many twists and turns since then, and I've failed most people I've met in one way or another. I doubt very much I've done much since then that would earn any respect from her.

I have a good friend who called and asked my opinion on a specific Shakespeare play. I gave him my thoughts, but immediately followed it up with, "You know who would be a better person to ask? Miss W." He said, "Yeah, I'll write her an email." "Tell her I said hi!" I said.

A day later, I received a forwarded email from my friend and I learned there's something better than respect. Though I've known where she is and how to contact her, I've been hesitant to do so because of these feelings of failure on so many levels. In the email he forwarded to me, she said "Send me Mark's telephone number - I need to reestablish contact with him. And tell him 'love never fails'."

That's a quote from I Corinthians 13:8.

Respect is good, but love is better. 5 comments

I made a trip to Lansing, Michigan this weekend with a couple of friends to visit the sister of the only one of us who has a sister (not me). It's Michigan State University territory and I got great joy out of wearing my Purdue garb there. Sure, I've never attended a single class at Purdue, but I live near it and have been infected by its black and gold Boiler Virus.

I had a bite of baked potato pizza this weekend and it was better than it sounds.

I still hate driving/riding in cars.

I'm listening to music I'm borrowing from Brian that can be best described as "disco," and I don't hate it like I probably ought to be. I'm also not dancing, so it's probably okay.

I have an automatic kitty litter box for my cats, but one of them is way too finicky for her own good. When the "reception box" is full, one of the little darlings will purposefully miss the litter box by about 10 inches. I suspect Dala, but cannot prove it. Grrrrr.

All I did this weekend was drive, eat, and sleep.

I'm a little afraid of Maya, and I know she'll chastise me tomorrow when I show up for my workout because I didn't workout over the weekend. I'm actually semi-considering setting my Xbox clock back a day so she doesn't know I missed a workout on Saturday. How pathetic is that?

If you were to come up to me and say, "Hey, I really like ice cream and I know the best ice cream there is" but you've never been to a Cold Stone Creamery, please excuse me if I don't believe you. I might also be expected to scoff at you, and chortle a bit. While I will still maintain that Culvers has the best frozen custard, Cold Stone Creamery will make your ice cream-loving taste buds dance like John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever.

That last analogy was kind of dumb and not really fitting. I blame the disco-ish music.

I don't really care who wins the Super Bowl. As I write this, it's 24-14 in favor of the Patriots, and I've watched maybe two minutes of the game. I'm contractually obligated to not like the Eagles since they're in the same division as the Cowboys, but I have no love of the Patriots, either. Best I can muster is a "meh."

As much as I wish it were possible, I really don't believe time travel will ever be a reality. Sorry, dudes. I wish it were so I could go back and videotape historic events.

I can't ask off work for May 19th because that's when finals start for the students and I need to be there for that, I guess. I'm pretty bummed by that because it means I probably can't go to a midnight showing of Star Wars Episode III. Though I don't hold out any hopes that it will be good, I'm still planning to see it. I'm hoping Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader very early on so we don't have to see Hayden Christensen's tortured attempts at acting.

Even though the "celebrity" I most look like is Gordon Freeman and even though I've had Half Life 2 for months now, I haven't finished it. My computer really isn't good enough to handle it. What I have played of it is pretty cool, though, and I've heard nothing but good things about it. Now that I say that, though, it occurs to me that I really haven't sat down and played any video game for a while now. The last one was Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II over Christmas break. I go through spurts where I really get into games and I'm in a non-gaming spurt right now, I guess. I haven't gotten any games to review for a long time, either, so that's probably part of it. Again, meh.

Time for bed, I think. After two nights on a couch, I think a futon will seem surprisingly comfortable.

Labels: apropos of nothing

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Maybe you've been wondering what sites I might recommend to you if you were of a mind to ask me to recommend sites. If so, you've come to the right blog entry! Some of these are already linked over there on the right-hand side of the blog, but I present them here with commentary:

NetFlix - if you've got a DVD player and you like to watch movies, here's a service you should be using. It's a monthly fee for as many movies you can get sent to you, watch, and send back in that month. They've got a great selection and a recommendation system that will help you find other movies you might like. The downside is that you're at the mercy of the mailing time, so if you're in a mood to watch Labyrinth tonight and nothing else will do, well, you might have to make other plans.

Dictionary.com - I literally use this site every single day. Whether it's to check the spelling on a word or to get a more specific idea of what a word means, this is my go-to site.

Digital Entertainment News - sure, I write reviews for them occasionally, but I still check it for videogaming news daily.

Journal and Courier Online - it's my hometown newspaper, in convenient webpage form!

Right Wing News - I'll get the most complaints about this one, I'm sure, but I do like to see what he's got to say about current topics. He also includes satirical bits that often poke as much fun at Republocrats as Democricans. If you're conservative, you'll like the news. If you're a liberal pinko Commie who hates America*, you'll like getting worked up into a lather over his articles. It's win-win!

Slashdot.org - A news-gathering site for tech-related stuff, otherwise known as "News for Nerds." Chances are, if you're interested in the stuff they talk about, you already know about the site.

CNN.com - I've tried other news sites, but I always come back to this one, largely because of its layout.

Sharing Steve - I've linked to a few of the blogs I read on a daily basis, but this one is different. It's a blog dedicated to posting news bits about Steve Martin. I found it recently and it's a great source of info on him.

Internet Movie Database - If you need to know the name of a movie, or you need a list of what movies a person has been in, or you want to see if Jim Carrey was ever in a movie with Meryl Streep (he was!), this is the site you need.

Musicplasma - Like music? Want to know if there's an artist you might like based on artists you already like? This site helps you. When you put in an artist's name, it shows you visually (with all sorts of neat circles) some other artists that other people who have like your artist have liked. (That was a confusing sentence.)

The Official US Time - I reset my watch by this every so often because I'm like that. It's accurate within 0.5 seconds!

80s Tees - Where else you gonna buy a Thundercats T-shirt, a Knight Rider T-shirt, and a Rambo T-shirt?

MC Hammer - I go here more than you might think.

The THorum - Of course. I've met a lot of great people over there, and there's a good likelihood that if you're reading this, you're from there anyway.

I won't link to all the comics I read, as that would take forever. You can get a sampling of them from the list on the side there.

So there you go! Maybe you found a new link, maybe you didn't. Either way, I hope you have a fantastic day.


*This is meant as a joke, so don't get all bent out of shape over it, I'm begging you.
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Hey, it's Brian A's birthday today. Go over there and wish him a good one. If you're really wanting to help him have a good birthday, you can contribute to his iPod fund.

I've known Brian for almost a year now. We met over at the THorum - I think he initially sent me a private message offering to host my website and we struck up a friendship from there. It turned out we had a lot in common (even if he is a dirty Nintendo fan instead of having glorious Sega leanings) and we really understood each other's backgrounds almost immediately. We've had some similar struggles and some similar triumphs, and I'm really glad I've been able to be friends with him.

I missed an opportunity to actually meet him last year, and I've regretted it ever since. My old van wasn't really up to the trip, but I really should have found some way to make it.

I still haven't taken him up on his offer to host my website (contracts, obstinancy, yadda yadda yadda), but I have sent a few others his way. If you need reliable hosting at affordable prices, check out pixelReflections. The few problems that have surfaced with sites he hosts have been dealt with quickly and efficiently, and you won't be sorry if you have him host for you.

Happy birthday, Brian. I hope it's a fantastic one.
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