MadMup.com

With thanks to bd for the image.

Labels: videogames, Wii

3 comments

Twitter saves lives.

So maybe more of you should join up. I worry!





(Thanks, Cousin Laura!)

Labels: technology, texting, twitter

2 comments

Thanks to everyone who entered my Fifth Year Anniversary Contest. I think maybe I'd have gotten more responses had I offered a new car or Wal-Mart gift cards instead of Star Wars DVDs and MadMup.com gear. Something to keep in mind for the next contest, I guess.

The actual numbers are as follows: 675 blog entries and 72 articles written for DEN. I don't know whether to be surprised or disappointed or proud of those numbers, but there they are.

The surprising thing is that the closest guess was only 2 off! My Oregon friend Bonnie guessed 673, and she was so confident of her guess that she didn't even put in a tiebreaker guess. Her gamble paid off! Bonnie, contact me about whether you'd like the Star Wars DVDs or some MadMup.com gear!

In second place was "The Obscure," whose identity is known only by a select few. Once Bonnie lets me know her choice, I'll let him know what his guess of 700 has earned him.

Thanks again for participating, and thanks for reading. You're always welcome back.

Labels: contest

2 comments

It was five years ago today that I started this blog. I wish my first entry was something memorable and different from all the other first entries to blogs, but it isn't. I remember wondering if the thing would even work and if I would ever do anything with it. Here I am, five years later, desperately clinging to some sort of misguided hope that this blog will turn me into some kind of writer.

In Internet years, five is an eternity - All Your Base gives way to Badgers gives way to Dramatic Prairie Dog gives way to who knows what else. It turns out that five years in "real" life is a long time, too. So much has changed in the last five years that it's hard to grasp it, really.

I don't believe any current reader of my blog has read through all five year's worth - and I'm not suggesting anyone take the time to do it now! - but take a look at the posts on the left under the heading "Some Favorite Posts" to see what I've enjoyed writing, if you're so inclined.

To mark (ha!) this grand occasion, I've decided to hold another contest:

How many posts have I written for this blog? This is kind of a trick question, because you won't be able to go back through and count them and get the right answer. I have written some/many/several entries that are not posted, were posted then removed, or have not been posted yet. I am going by the number listed on my Blogger Dashboard, so no one but me has any idea what it is.

Tie-Breaker: How many reviews/articles have I written for DEN? I've been writing for that site for four years now (even though I'm currently extremely behind on an article), and have enjoyed that as well.

So, leave your guesses in the comments. The person who guesses closest to the actual number will win either a set of DVDs of Episodes IV-VI of Star Wars, or something from the MadMup.com store - winner's choice. Second place winner will get whatever the first place winner didn't want. The contest closes at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, 4/24/2008.

EDIT: Since it's been asked a couple of times, let me clarify: it's just "closest," not "closest without going over." I couldn't get Bob Barker or Drew Carey to help out, so that's how we're rolling.

EDIT #2: The Star Wars DVD set is Region 1, so a winner outside of the US or Canada will have to be happy with MadMup.com gear.

Thanks for reading. I recently registered the domain name for another five years. I'm curious to see what they'll hold.

Labels: contest, meta

16 comments

Africa Edition!

• There are palm trees and coconuts in Africa.

Now, that might seem like a silly thing to you, but it was a revelation to me. It wasn't that I had decided on my own that there were no coconuts in Africa, it was more along the lines that I had not considered it and, when confronted with the idea, came to the idea that there were no palm trees in Africa.

I guess it's because I associate palm trees with tropical climes, and I, like so many others, think of Africa as being mostly desert. The biggest hole in that way of thinking is that "Africa" isn't like "Indiana" or "Texas" or even "The United States." Africa's a whole continent, second only to Asia in area, so it's crazy to not think that there'd be, you know, more than one climate represented.

I learned this new-to-me information from a girl (she's younger than me, so she's girl) who grew up in Africa, but is currently a part of our class at church. She's been a font of knowledge on the subject of Africa, and usually delivers it with a "How in the world do you not know this?" look that does a good job of reminding me that there's a lot I don't know, and some of the stuff I do know, I don't actually know correctly.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, lions aren't a common backyard nuisance in Africa like stray dogs are here. So that's two things I've learned.

Labels: things I've learned

3 comments

Pledge drives produce conflicting feelings in me, and I can't be the only one. I'm talking specifically about the pledge drives that radio stations do, as I rarely run across the TV ones, and even more specifically about a station here in town. I realize that non-profit stations need to raise money somehow, but there has to be a better way, doesn't there?

Most of the chatter they do to try to convice you to chip in can be pretty much summed up in the last thing Kramer says in this quote from an episode of Seinfeld entitled "The Pledge Drive":

Nana: Hello, I'd like to speak with Jerry. This is his grandmother.

Kramer: Oh, uh, Nana. Hello.

Nana: Tell Jerry I'm sorry, I'm going to have to write him some new checks.

Kramer: As long as you've got your checkbook out, how about forking a little over to PBS? You watch the station, don't you? You don't want to be a freeloader.

Here's this station that I've been sort of nonchalantly listening to when BAM! - pledge drive week. Now, rather than just listening, I'm being confronted with the fact that by not chipping in, I'm being an awful, awful person.

Sure, I realize this sort of thing is a necessity. It's nice to not have to hear commercials all the time, and the people that work at the station should get paid for what they do. In fact, there was a time in my life where I really wanted to work in radio. I still wonder every now and again if I'd have been any good at it. So I can understand that part of it.

But the hassling! These normally friendly people are saying things like "Only 5% of our listeners have donated" and "If you're not a part of this, you're missing out" and all it sounds like to me is a couple of knuckle-cracking thugs looking around and saying, "Nice radio you got here. Be a shame if anything happened to it."

So I'm equal parts ashamed and annoyed, the first because I can't bring myself to donate and the second because I can't bring myself to stop listening to them badger me. I'm some sort of sadistic freeloader, which seems like a contradiction in terms.

The good thing is that the pledge drive is over now. I guess we'll see if there's still a station to listen to in a month.

Labels: grr, Seinfeld

5 comments

I'm sure most of you know the story of Job or have, at least, heard of "the patience of Job." On top of the hardest time he's ever gone through, he's receiving really bad advice from his so-called friends. I can just imagine that he's had just about enough of their idiocy when he says the following:

Doubtless you are the people, and wisdom will die with you!

Job 12:2 (NIV)

It's one of my favorite insults - not only in the Bible, but just in general. It's "Ooh, la la, Mr. Smartypants" and "Look at the big brain on Brad!" all wrapped up in one.

It cracks me up every time.

Labels: Bible, it's been said

2 comments

I'm sure most of you have seen this:

While I was looking for that one, I found this one, the sequel:

I enjoy these for a couple of reasons, but the biggest one being the texting shorthand, this all-encompassing form of communication that all teenagers use all the time. The "big" news networks frequently trot out a list of abbreviations that "all the kids are using," and I know I'm not the only one that looks at the lists and says, "Nobody in the history of texting and IM has ever used that one!" It's like the kid they got to give them the inside scoop was playing games on them and just making stuff up.

In 40 years I'll be like the grandma in that second clip, texting my buddies down the hall at the nursing home instead of taking the trouble to get my walker and risk breaking my hip by going down the hall to actually see them. I text enough that I recently had to up my data plan for my phone, as I was going to go over the 1500 I was allotted monthly. Somewhat tellingly, at the same I was doing that, I also lowered my voice plan, as I wasn't getting anywhere near the limit on that one. I did, in fact, halve my voice plan, and it's still more minutes than I've been using on average.

It should be noted that I don't just use texting to avoid talking to people - it's also a useful tool for scheduling and reminding, and its big brother, multimedia messaging, is a handy way to document events as they happen by letting me send pictures to Flickr, other people, or my email account.

There's a few reasons I like sending and receiving texts on my cell phone. First, it's convenient. I pretty much always have my cell phone nearby, whereas I don't necessarily have a computer or a pen and paper handy. When the thought crosses my mind that I need to do something when I get home, I know from historical events that I will most likely forget it by the time I get home. If I text a reminder from my phone to my email, I'll remember to do it. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten home from being out, saw that I had an email waiting, and said to myself, "I wonder who it's from?" before opening it to find that I had, indeed, forgotten what it was I needed to do.

Second, it's unobtrusive. You've been in a store, a library, a theater, or maybe even church when someone's on their cell phone yapping away - we've all been there, and most of us have even been the person in question. It happens. Someone conversing via text isn't forcing you to be a part of their conversations about grocery lists, kids sports schedules, or, worse, medical conditions. Assuming the person has their phone set to silent or vibrate (as opposed to, say, a Murloc), they're not making any noise at all. And to the receiver, it's like getting a voicemail without the hassle of having to dial in to hear the message - "Oh, Mark's going to be late because his cat killed the UPS guy. He says we should start without him."

Third - and this is what I like most about texting - is that it makes you consider what you're saying carefully, at least it should. A well-crafted text message needs to consider there's no room for non-verbals, so it needs to say what it means to say. I actually consider this a plus, by the way, as I think non-verbals sometimes get in the way of what I'm trying to say or understand. Further, text messages are limited. If I go over 160 characters, the message gets split into two messages. I have to choose my words carefully, and there have been many times I've edited a message to get it in under 160, turning my Dickensian tomes into Hemingway blurbs. It helps me consider more specific words that do in one what I had done in three or five, and I'm sure there are some of you that wish I'd learn that lesson for blogging, too.

The side effect to all that is that I am thinking about what I'm saying. There's no "off the cuff" texting: you type what you mean to type (unless you're using predictive texting and aren't paying attention to the screen, that is!). For me, that means I'm considering what I'm texting before I text it, something I'm not as good at when I'm talking. I can't count how many times I've typed something out only to erase and edit it before I send it.

Furthermore, texts you get from me are 99% readable English. I don't use "u" for "you," "l8r" for "later," or "(=o=)" for "TIE Fighter." I capitalize and use punctuation. I may occasionally use a "btw" or an "lol," but those have almost passed into the vernacular at this point. I'm not the fastest texter, but I hope to be an accurate one. Getting a cell phone with a full QWERTY keypad has helped me a lot in that regard, and in a lot of ways I'm a better text-typer than an actual typer.

I know that texting cannot be a replacement for talking to someone, but it can be a good supplement to the relationship. I receive status updates on my phone throughout the day from Twitter and Facebook, and knowing what my friends are thinking throughout the day when I can't be with them all the time helps me feel more connected to them.

So please know that if I'm texting you, it's not me blowing you off, it's me communicating, just like you might pick up the phone to ask someone how many bags of chips to bring to the party. I'll still talk to you, and I'll even meet you for lunch or Starbucks. Just don't be surprised if I get a few texts while we're there.

Labels: friends, technology, texting

10 comments

When I leave for work in the morning, it's generally still dark. As summer goes on, it gets light before I'm out the door, so either way I miss the sunrise. There's something about the beginning of the day, whether it's cold and grey or warm and sunny or raining, it's a beautiful time and I'm sorry I don't see more of them.

I love this song by Cat Stevens, "Morning Has Broken" I actually fell in love with it hearing Ellen Greene sing it on "Pushing Daisies," but his is the original version (you can hear it here). Here are the lyrics:

Morning has broken, like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
Praise for the springing fresh from the word

Sweet the rain's new fall, sunlit from heaven
Like the first dewfall, on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness where his feet pass

Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning
Born of the one light, Eden saw play
Praise with elation, praise every morning
God's recreation of the new day

I love the pictures the song paints, and I don't really have much else to add to it.

Labels: IMJW, songs

5 comments