MadMup.com

I've come to realize another proof that blogging is social for me - I blog more when I have less contact with people. The more time I spend with people, the less I blog. You can go two ways with this: if you want me to blog more, ignore me. If you want me to blog less, hang out with me.

This summer is a big one for movies - Iron Man, Prince Caspian, and Indy IV already, with The Dark Knight and X-Files 2 coming up still. A dude could just geek right out if he was inclined to. And I am.

Speaking of Indy IV... I'm putting my thoughts behind a spoiler tag here so I don't ruin it for anyone who hasn't seen it. If you're curious as to what my thoughts on it were, click and drag over the darkened area:First off, it was great to see Indy back in action. The age thing wasn't even off-putting a little, and wouldn't even have been noticeable if they hadn't kept talking about it. Reuniting Indy with Marion was great, too, though it would have been nice for her to have more to do than just show up. I didn't even mind Shia LaBeouf as much as I normally do. So what went wrong? Pretty much everything else. Indy didn't really figure anything out on his own, aside from readin a language or two. He barely used his whip! The storyline... UGH. Aliens? Dumb. There were some great action sequences, but there was also a scene of Shia swinging through the jungle on vines. I give this movie 2.75 out of 5 stars, and that's mostly just because Indy himself is awesome.

I'm headed to Wisconsin this weekend for my parents' 40th anniversary. Forty years is a long time. Congrats, Mom and Dad!

Next weekend I'm headed to our nation's capital to hang out with a friend and see the sites. That's a lot of traveling in a short time for a guy who doesn't like to travel much, but I'm really looking forward to it.

Some of you might remember my experiences with Maya. She was very helpful, but I didn't stick with it for whatever reason, and now there's no room on the entertainment center for the old Xbox. Last week WiiFit was released and I got it, thinking it might be a different angle on the same issue. It, too, has a person being led in exercise by on-screen avatars, but this one has a method of feedback in the form of a balance board. It's slightly larger than a scale, and when a person stands on it, the program can sense the person's balance and weight. There are several games in four categories (Aerobics, Balance, Strength, Yoga) that use the sensing to see how a person is doing. So far my favorite activities are Advanced Step and Jogging, the latter mostly because it's fun to see the other Miis in my collection run past me and sometimes trip. I can't get the hang of Boxing, and Hula Hoop makes me feel like a durn fool. We'll see if WiiFit fares any better than Maya, who has shown great restraint in not writing me sad letters.

Most of you know I've been tired of apartment living for a while now. At the same time, the prospect of going through the process of buying a house is more than daunting to me. However, last week I talked to a lender which led to me talking to a realtor - mostly because there was a house I really wanted to buy. This led to me putting in an offer on said house this week. Things went a little quicker than I imagined they would because someone else put an offer on the house, too. Sadly, they accepted the counteroffer, which meant my offer didn't even get a chance to be considered. I know most people play pretty close to the vest when going through the whole house-buying thing, but I don't really know why. They talk of it in hushed tones and start with "Now, don't tell anyone, but we're looking to buy a house..." Meh. I don't get it, so I probably won't be like that. We'll see what happens from here. My realtor has already assured me that he has plenty of other properties in mind like the one I didn't get. I am not the least bit surprised.

The cats are doing well, thanks for asking.

Today's my last day in my office for a month or two. We're working in teams of techs this summer, so I will go help upgrade and replace computers in other schools, and then they will come to my school to help me. It's a tiny bit nervewracking, but it will probably be fine.

Those following my Twitter feed know that I've been eating chicken soup for breakfast a lot lately. Let me tell you, it's a great way to start your day. If we can eat pancakes for dinner (and we can), I say there's nothing wrong with eating chicken soup for breakfast.

Be well, netizens.

Labels: apropos of nothing

4 comments

Perhaps you've been saying to yourself, "Hey, I wonder what sort of crazy/cool links Mup stumbles across while he's surfing?" but didn't know what to do about it.

Today is your lucky day, my friend! Clicking this link right here will take you to my Google Reader Shared Items. To keep up with those things even more, you can add that page's RSS feed to your favorite RSS reader and be notified when there's new content.

Now, I'm not so much telling you about that because I think I come up with awesome links - in fact, I suspect nine out of ten of you won't be interested in most of them at all. It's really my way of showing you another cool Google feature. I use it to keep track of friends' links and I use Google Reader to keep up with them, along with the 40 or so blogs I follow. That way I don't necessarily have to check every blog every day, especially if they're notoriously bad at updating. I just get notified when they actually do update.

On top of that, I use iGoogle as my homepage to keep my most used and needed info in one handy place - email, RSS feeds, Google Calendar, a countdown clock, upcoming movie releases, all that. Very handy, and I highly recommend it.

Sure, I'm putting a lot of my eggs in Google's basket, but I've found that it has been really helpful to me. Perhaps some of it will be helpful to you as well.

Labels: technology

3 comments

When I see Wayne Brady on "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" or Turk on "Scrubs" do some fancy Michael Jackson-like dancing, it always makes me wish I could do it myself. Not because I want to hit nightclubs and enter competitions or anything, just because I think it'd be fun to be able to do it, and I like making people laugh. Doing an MJ impression in an improv show - a good impression, anyway - is a sure-fire laugh-getter. I can't explain it, but it's true. Sadly, it doesn't look like I'll be mastering that particular talent any time soon, and I won't explain what kind of research has been done to engender that conclusion.

Lamenting that got me thinking about other things that I've wanted to learn over the course of my life but never did. I present the following three in order of least likely to most likely still possible.

• Breakdancing - As if my age didn't reveal it anyway, this will certainly prove that I am a child of the 80s. I was always mesmerized by people spinning on their backs and popping and locking and flipping and all of that. I was amazed by the physicality of it all. One weekend in high school, I was going to stay overnight at my friend Larry's house, so I got a "How To Breakdance" book from the library. After everyone else went to bed, we went into the kitchen (it had the smoothest floor, see) and tried a thing or two... for about 2 minutes. It was about then that we realized a) learning dancing from books is futile at best and b) we were the whitest whites that ever whited. That was my first and last attempt at learning to breakdance.
  
• Skateboarding - You can add surfing and snowboarding to this one, because there's apparently something about riding a board of some sort that appeals to me - surfing's right out because of my lack of desire to drown, but the other two here still tug on me every so often. Several (15) years ago I bought a $20 skateboard at Wal-Mart and started riding it around in various church parking lots while on tour. I never did anything but ride it around, because that's all I could (barely) do. I wanted to Stalefish, Backside 540, and Ollie into a Nosegrind, sure, but I hadn't the foggiest idea how to go about any of it. I figured books wouldn't be much help to me, and I didn't know how else to go about learning. I met a fellow on tour who showed me how to do an Ollie, and I understood it conceptually, but could never pull it off, in part, perhaps, because my $20 Wal-Mart skateboard weighed as much as an M4 Sherman tank. Though my church has recently built a skate park, I think this one has passed me by, too, regardless of Tony Hawk's being 40 and still at it. I'll stick to playing his games and wearing his shoes.
  
• Martial Arts - We can thank Bruce Lee, - and, to a lesser extent, my friend Dave - for this one. Dave's the one who introduced me to Bruce Lee movies, and his dad studied martial arts (karate and Jeet Kune Do, I believe), and I thought it was just about the coolest thing that ever. Sure, the one-inch punches and flying kicks were what initially drew me to it, but as I came to understand it more it was the discipline and focus that became the draw. This one is still crawling around in my brain and actually has the most possibility of happening of any of these. While it would be difficult for a person my age to master a martial art, by design they can be picked up by people in almost any age group. The physical exercise and mental discipline would be good for me... but are also the biggest hindrances to me ever doing it.

I'm not sure why most of the things I'd like to learn are things that involve possible skull-cracking, but I can't imagine that doesn't play a big role in why I haven't done any of them.

So what's something you've wanted to learn but haven't? Anyone want to go dojo-shopping with me?

Labels: new things

5 comments

I'm currently reading the book Service Included - I'm not entirely sure why, as I'm not a foodie even a little bit. I'd heard it mentioned somewhere and read an excerpt that I found intriguing, so I got it. It's interesting enough, and an easy read, so I ought to be done with it soon.

The author is relating her experiences working at a high-class restaurant in New York, and I haven't been able to put my finger on what's been bugging me about it until just recently. It's the same thing that's always bothered me about autobiographical works: "I," "me," and "mine." "I accomplished so much" and "I did a great job" and yada yada yada. It's irritating.

I suscribe to the school of thought where I'd rather someone else tell me I did a good job than say it myself. If I say it myself, I rob anyone else of the chance to say it, and if I didn't really do a good job, it just looks stupid to tell people I did.

I have no deep thoughts to add here, just realized what was bugging me and wanted to share. I'll leave you with some George Harrison:

All through the day
I me mine
I me mine
I me mine

Labels: Beatles, books

6 comments

Labels: geekery

5 comments

It's actually been a very long time since I wrote a game review. Too long.

After seeing the Iron Man movie on opening day, I was pumped enough to go rent the videogame. While everyone else in the known universe was playing Grand Theft Auto IV, I was flying around and catching missiles. To each his own. I had to actually rent the game a second time to get all the way through it, but did finally have success.

My review of the game is here.

And if you haven't seen the movie yet and don't want to go by yourself, I'd go see it again. Totally.

Labels: game review, movies

0 comments

Make it a good day!

-SooAnn

I got that at the bottom of an email from my friend SooAnn a couple of weeks ago. I think the email was about setting up pictures for contacts on her Blackberry, I'm not sure. What struck me was that it wasn't "have a good day" or "hope your day's good," it was "(implied 'you') make it a good day." I determine how my day will be based on my actions and reactions. It's kind of a Carpe Diem kind of thing, and makes you want to march around your prep school's yard and stand on your desk.

It's a good reminder.

Labels: it's been said

2 comments

My brother sent these cards along to me yesterday, drawn by my nephew (6 years old) and niece (4). As I understand the procedure, the kids draw and/or write, the results are scanned, and then the scanned pics are fiddled with in Photoshop according to the wishes of the specific kid.



This one is by my nephew, and he's very aware of the cat situation at my place, i.e., that there are some. I believe the mouse is intended to be a gift to the cats for my birthday. The Photoshop filters used are his current favorites.

Natalie has chosen to write her birthday greetings to me, with translations by my brother. He swears these are word-for-word translations, and he's pretty sure that the "I hope you deserve something" in the lower right corner means she wants me to get presents and isn't some sort of judgment call on her part. William Munny would tell her "Deserve's got nothin' to do with it," but I still appreciate her intent.

Thanks, kiddos!

Labels: birthday, family

5 comments

525,600 minutes, 525,000 moments so dear.
525,600 minutes - how do you measure, measure a year?
In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee.
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.
In 525,600 minutes - how do you measure a year in the life?

525,600 minutes! 525,000 journeys to plan.
525,600 minutes - how can you measure the life of a woman or man?
In truths that she learned, or in times that he cried.
In bridges he burned, or the way that she died.

How about love? Measure in love. Seasons of love.

-Excerpted from "Seasons of Love"

I was given another year, and my memory doesn't allow me to remember everything that took place in it. The things that stay with me are the relationships built and friendships made. I wasn't always so good at everything this last year, but I have good friends, and that makes for a good year. Thanks everyone. I look forward to this next year.

Comic courtesy of PBF Comics, which aren't necessarily always something I'd recommend.

Labels: birthday, songs

8 comments

Today is New Boss Day at work. The boss that hired me retired last October, and we've had an interim boss since then. Today's the first day for the new fellow.


I can't speak for the rest of the people in my department, but I'm a little nervous. I like things to stay the same, and it's pretty much a sure thing that they won't. There's been rampant speculation on what might change, but no one knows exactly what will happen until it happens. We're meeting as a department tomorrow, so I imagine we'll at least get a partial picture of things to come.


Getting a new boss is trickier business than getting a new job, I think. When you get a new job, you know things will be different. With a new boss, you're more in limbo, unsure of what's going to happen next.


When I was the Director of Student Activities at the college I worked, I made a pretty big change my second year, one that required meeting with the President of the college several times, along with a few other higher-ups. It took a lot of convincing, but they eventually let me implement my ideas. What was the main impetus behind the change? My getting hazed seven years prior as a freshman in that same college. When students joined a society (kind of the small Baptist college version of fraternities and sororities, sorta...), there was one big night where the new members were inducted. Whereas it had once been a fancy affair with dinners and whatnot, by the time I was in college it had become a "throw eggs at the new person and yell at them" kind of thing. It left a bad taste in my mouth, and for the next seven years I noticed every bad thing about the current society set up that there was, and used them as my supporting arguments for change. I got the Dean of Men on my side and let him run with a lot of the details, and together we put together an alternative that focused more on helping people than throwing eggs at them and making them do push-ups.


You never know how something like that will work out, but they're still using that system now, almost ten years later. My brother works at that college, and tells me that there's good and bad with the system, and there've been some tweaks to it here and there, but it still seems to be working fairly well. I know that's got nothing to do with me, but it does serve as a reminder that sometimes change is okay.


I'll let you know in ten years how this one ended up.

Labels: change, job

3 comments