MadMup.com

I'm still alive, in case you were wondering.

I just don't have much to say these days. I realize that hasn't stopped me in the past, but it seems to be stopping me now.

If there's a subject you'd like me to ramble on about, leave a comment to that regard.

Other than that, well... hi, I guess.

Labels: meta

3 comments

Though there might have been some flakes earlier this month, we've got snow going on right now that's actually sticking to the ground, cars, trees, slow-moving children, etc.

Snow!

Ugh. Growing up, Thanksgiving Day was always the official "you can start expecting snow now" day, but that was in Wisconsin. I'm south-er now! Snow should be put off for a couple of weeks!

Ah, well. This will just encourage me to turtle the whole long weekend... which I was going to do anyway, but now I have a socially acceptable reason. 7 comments

It's important for a person to find his purpose in life, I think. Today I think I discovered mine.

It is this: to learn things and share them with you so you don't have to learn them yourself.

Today's lesson is this: if you are planning to carry a 9-volt battery in your pocket, be sure to empty all the change in that pocket beforehand.

Why? Because if you don't, that battery is likely to heat up hotter than you'd imagine a 9-volt battery could.

There's your Thing Learned! (tm) on the day. 3 comments

Two things happened this past Friday night that were fairly exciting:

1) I had a good improv show, the first in a long time. I've been in several shows over the last few months, but they've mostly been ... okay (imagine waggling of a hand at this point). Nothing spectacular, but not awful. Just okay. "Okay" is fine if people are laughing, but it gets old and gets depressing. "On fire" is more where you want to be, and I was told by a couple of fellow performers that I was.

Though I can generally tell when I'm "off," I rarely can tell when I'm "on." It's weird, this self-critiquing gene I have. It is maddeningly selective. It was nice to hear from others that I was having a good night.

(Please don't take the preceding paragraphs as boasting, as that's not how they're meant. I have way more off nights than on anymore.)

2. At the show, the lady who did the announcing for the show (Kathy) said, "Hey, I've got something for you." I only ever see her at shows, so I couldn't imagine what it might be. Turns out, it was a program signed by John De Lancie - and not just signed, but signed, "To Mark."

Not all of you are geeks, so I shall further explain: John de Lancie played "Q" on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Sure, he's done other things, but this is his claim to fame. In the very first episode of ST:TNG ("Encounter at Farpoint"), when Captain Picard and the gang run into weird happenings, Q shows up and says he'll be testing the crew and watching them to see how they'll react. Since he can do pretty much anything, it's a little frightening. The point of the character, of course, was to show Gene Roddenberry's beliefs that humanity is basically good and can overcome evil on its own. It's a bunch of hogwash, but it's at the core of Star Trek. The Q episodes were always some of the most enjoyable (and he even turned up on Deep Space 9 and Voyager, largely because fans loved the character), so it's a real treat to have his autograph.

He was in town with Ed Asner and Alley Mills (she played the mom on "The Wonder Years") to do a production of "The Great Tennessee Monkey Trials" at Purdue. (Semi-interesting side-note: John replaced James Cromwell, who also played Zefram Cochrane, an important figure in Star Trek history, in Star Trek: First Contact. Zefram Cochrane invented the warp drive, without which interplanetary travel would take far too long.) Kathy did lights or sound or something for the show and ended up spending a lot of time with John de Lancie. Kat and Matt went to the show, and I had asked them somewhat jokingly to get John's autograph for me, never figuring they could. Kat passed my request along to Kathy, and there's your story.

If I were going to start keeping a record of how many celebrity autographs I had, the official number would now be "1." 2 comments

Though it's still technically Autumn, Winter is right around the corner. It rained most of the day today, but "they" are saying there's a possibility for snow as soon as tomorrow.

This is not cool.

I grew up in Wisconsin where the winters will push you down, take your lunch money, and call you names. I can remember a specific time when the wind chill was -83° Fahrenheit... and I can also remember going shopping with my mom and my aunt during that stretch.

Here in Indiana the winters are more likely to whine at you and complain that you never hang out anymore, but it's still annoying. The first year I was here I wore my Spring jacket until the second week of December. Sure, it was a little chilly by that time, but it wasn't too bad. Since then, though, I've lost my tolerance for cold weather. Every year I move the Winter Jacket Breakout up, and this year it looks like tomorrow's the day.

I still haven't turned the heat on in my apartment, though. I'm holding out as long as I can on that. I'd much rather sit on the couch bundled up in a sweatshirt and several blankets than have the heat on, for some reason. This really isn't a change from summer - I like to have the air conditioning on cold enough during the summer that I'm comfortable with a blanket wrapped around me. It doesn't make sense and it gets expensive, but that's just how I am, for one reason or another.

David Letterman likes to keep the Ed Sullivan Theater where The Late Show is taped pretty chilly - around 50° by some accounts. When asked why, he generally says "To keep the comedy fresh!" I'd like to think my chilly apartment accomplishes the same thing, but my few visitors would probably tell you differently.

I do like the fact that the cats are more likely to curl up next to me when it's chilly in the apartment. They apparently don't realize it's my fault it's so cold. I like the extra attention I get from them, even if it is under false pretenses.

I'm sure I'll fold soon. It's great to go to sleep at night when it's chilly, but getting up in the morning when it's cold is almost more than I'm able to do. The three minutes between getting out of a warm bed and getting into a hot shower are the longest three minutes of the day.

For now, though, I'm happy to bundle up when I get home. As soon as I have to start scraping frost of the TV in order to watch it, though, I'll probably turn the heat on.

Probably. 5 comments

There isn't much I can say about this game, frankly. It wasn't very good.

Labels: game review

1 comments

From last week's episode of Smallville:

I thought I was the last son of Krypton, but you people keep popping up.

-Clark Kent

Maybe it's just me, but that's an hilarious line.

Labels: it's been said

0 comments

I'm leaving for Wisconsin in a little bit here and won't be back until late Sunday night. I'm sure that you wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't said anything, but I felt like telling you.

Enjoy your weekend! 2 comments

Last week on my Tuesday run to Best Buy I ran into an old friend. I hadn't seen him in two years, for a variety of reasons, and it was a bit surprising. After exchanging pleasantries, he dropped this:

"Did you know my wife is expecting quintuplets?"





No amount of double-returns at this point will adequately express the jolt this was to me.

I congratulated him and made some joke about how it was a good thing he was stopping by Best Buy when he could since he wasn't going to have any more time to do that kind of thing. He smiled and nodded before saying he had to get going, and then he was on his way.

Looking back on the encounter I'm struck with one particular thing: the look on his face. He seemed ... stunned. It was somewhere between "I've just been told I own the Statue of Liberty" look and the "I've been told I'm going to be spending next week being chewed on by rabid badgers" look.

(The other thing that struck me afterwards was the fact that I borrowed a game from him a couple of years ago - Final Fantasy VIII for the PlayStation, I believe. I never played it for more than an hour or two and at this point, I never will. I ran across it when I moved and thought about getting it back to him, but wasn't sure how I'd go about doing that. I mean, it's not like he's going to be playing it any time soon, but I feel bad that I've had it this long.)

I tried putting myself in his position and I think I understand. I mean, some days two cats is more than I can deal with, and I've been around people with a new baby and seen how difficult that can be. I cannot imagine getting five new babies all at once. Heck, being around five regular people at one time can be difficult for me! I wish them all the best.

Yikes. 3 comments

Lately I've been noticing how much weight I've put on in the last year. It's not surprising, really. Restaurant meals are bad for you and they make up 75% of my diet. The other 25% is made up of cake, Zingers, Dove Chocolate, cookies... well, you get the idea. The only exercise I get on a daily basis is holding my stomach in when I'm around other people.

In plain English: I'm tubby. I weigh more than I ought to weigh.

You need proof? Fine.

Earlier today, in my office at work, I was sitting in front of my computer and I stretched... and the button popped off my pants.

I'll repeat that in case you missed it: the button popped off my pants.

Okay, so this is not my proudest moment. But it's worse than it sounds. These pants already had a problem: the zipper wouldn't stay up. I have been using my system of a rubber band wound through the zipper pull and looped up around the button. Once the button was gone, the zipper could do as it desired. And it did.

This happened pretty early in the day. I never know how to react in a crisis, even a semi-unimportant one like this. Do I go home at lunch and change? I don't really have any other suitable pants there, do I? Do I stay locked in my office all day? Should I go buy a new pair of pants? Should I take my lunch at 9:30 in the morning to do it?

I ended up going to the mall at lunch and buying some pants. Kat actually met me on her lunch break so I didn't end buying a completely stupid-looking pair (this is more of a danger than you might realize). Kohl's ended up being the place with the pants (which, incidentally, would make a great slogan for them: "Kohl's - The Place with the Pants") today, and I'm glad, as it was the first place I looked.

After I bought my pants, we had lunch. At a restaurant.

I will never learn. 8 comments

Despite what the title might lead you to believe, this isn't the best review of Spider-Man ever. Rather, it's a review of a game called "Ultimate Spider-Man."

Labels: game review

1 comments

You'll find it here, if you're looking for it.

It's been a long time since I played a videogame for fun. I don't really count World of Warcraft, since it's more of a lifestyle choice. I think a lot of it is because I haven't seen a game I had an overwhelming urge to buy and play. And I heard just recently that they've pushed the next Tomb Raider game back until next year. Grrrrrrrrrrrr. I was looking forward to that.

You probably need to know this about me: I've played every Tomb Raider game there's been, and I've finished all but two of them. In fact, I only bought the original PlayStation because Tomb Raider II didn't get released on the Sega Saturn. I also hate it when they add new abilities in the game and take away ones I'm used to. Frankly, when I like a game, I want the sequel to just be like playing more of the game. I seem to be alone in that regard, and sales of the Tomb Raider games haven't been all that great the last few times out. The next one looks all revamped and stuff, but I'm still psyched about it. Now I have to wait :(

Also, I won't be getting an Xbox 360 at launch. As much as I want one (the fancy version, not the lame cheaper one!), I just can't afford it. I've got more bills than I know what to do with and Christmas is coming, so I need to save for gifts. Plus, I really need a bed and a new couch.

Oh, well, right?

So, there's your review of FIFA 06 in case you were planning to buy it.

Labels: game review

3 comments