It's the final countdown....

The countdown has begun. In exactly one from today, I will be running a marathon. Actually, by this time, I should be all done, and probably laying in the hotel room, after showering, trying to motivate myself to get back to the finish line to cheer on Jen as she finishes walking. Since we're doing the race with Team in Training, part of the money we raised goes to our hotel room, a dinner the night before, and a post race party Sunday night. The funny thing is that at that party, they are planning on having a DJ and dancing. Normally, that makes for good times, but after running 26.2 miles, I'm not sure about how many people will be physically able to dance. But, we'll see. Maybe if they play a slow song, Jen and I can just stand still on the dance floor and nobody will notice that we're not actually moving. Or to bring back a fond memory of my high school grad nite, a fine session of chair dancing might be in order.

Here's me, and my newest niece... in one of the few 4-week-old moments of non-crying from hunger. The guy in the back, well, right after we took the picture, he walked over, and asked if I wanted to try a sip of his delicious beverage. I declined, which made him quite sad. Actually, he was asking me where the elevator was... who can figure it out?

Dub

I did it... I ran 20 miles. That's 35200 yards, 105600 feet, 1,267,200 inches, 32,186,880mm. I ran across 300 football fields. I ran the equivalent of the track of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disneyland 39 1/2 times. And today, I hurt.
I hurt all over (from the waist down). I hurt in ways I haven't hurt yet in my training. Muscles are tight, I've got knots pretty much everywhere, the joints don't want to move. It feels awesome.
And when I do the race, in three weeks, I have to do the same thing, and add 6.2 more miles. And then go to work the next morning.
LOL

So this past weekend, my improv group had planned to do a few shows over 2 days. The first day was down at Mariner's Church in Irvine (I hadn't been there before, and I enjoyed it. Reminded me of Saddleback as far as size, but the architecture was more of what I would call University style.... which is probably a horrible description). That day, we were actually scheduled to do three shows, of about 15-20 minutes each, or about 2-3 games. These shows were for foster kids, and their foster families, or other people close to them. The second day, was at a home in Chino for kids who had to be removed from their homes by the state because of abuse or neglect by their parents/caregivers. Needless to say, we were somewhat apprehensive for both days. For one, doing Improv for kids is tough, because unlike adults, who are pretty afraid of yelling things out, kids love to yell all the time, and it can be pretty easy to lose the audience. But more importantly than that, our job was going to bring laughter to kids that so far in their lives, they've experienced loss, and pain, beyond what most of us have experienced as adults. Don't misunderstand me, I wasn't scared of the thought of not getting laughs (because my jokes create silences a lot) for my own benefit, I was scared that we wouldn't be successful at creating smiles. Now, one of the games, which we call Uncle Jim's Storytime, involves 3 of us going outside, while the fourth staying in, and getting characters, a setting, and other details about the story. Then we come in, and as he tells each part, we assume the characters, and create the story. This will come in handy in a moment....
Well, we did the shows, and we got laughs, we had people thank us, and it was good.
Then today, I get an email from one of the other guys in the group. He was eating lunch at Chik-fil-a, and a little boy runs up to him at histable, and just stared at him for a few seconds. Then, the boy says, “Thanks for the story.” My friend says “excuse me?” the boy says again, “thanks for the story…. I saw you at camp and you told a funny story with a funny guy playing Frosty. That was the best day… thanks…”…. And then he runs off….

So, lets just say that I feel pretty good about the whole thing.
And no, I wasn't Frosty, we had frosty twice, and I was either Soldier Boy, or Barney, depending on the show he saw.

World of Lame

So, I was at the gym the other day, and while listening to my random music selections saved on my phone, there was a news story on cnn, or msnbc, or one of those, about Second Life. If you don't know about second life, it's an online world, where you can create a character, and.... well..... be there. It's pretty dumb, to be honest. Which was somewhat of a disappointment to me, since I tend to like most things computer. But this just wasn't interesting. There was no objective, nothing to gain. If I wanted a house, or a piece of land, I had to pay the in-game money for it... which I have to buy with real money. Fine, a game that costs money, I already have that with WoW, but at least in that world (of warcraft) there are objectives, there are things to do, and it's interesting. All I learned in my hour of trying out second life is that people don't actually want to chat, and that flying isn't actually cool, since it's a pain to control properly.
So, if anyone had wanted to check it all out, save your time... honest.
Go buy WoW, and play with me!

Yay!

Ok, so the yay part isn't till the end of this 2 subject post.

Subject #1 : running against strong Santa Ana headwinds for the final 9 miles of an 18 mile run sucks. I was so mad at stupid running and even stupider wind. My mentor was running 20, and is fast, so when he passed me, I entertained him by answering his question of "how are you doing?" with "I'm pissed off at wind". It took me 4 hours to do it, way slower than it should have, but I was without any motivation, running alone, and recovering from running fast at the Dana Point Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving day and eating full blown Thanksgiving dinners both Thursday and Friday. Yikes! 2 days later, I hurt, but not nearly as much, and I think I'll be happy to run again this Saturday.

Subject #2 : New Baby!!

No, not mine, but my baby brother is now head of a 4 female household. Madison Catherine Murphree was born on Friday, and I must admit that she's cute. Most newborns look the same, and don't actually look unique to me until a couple months have passed, but this one is a good one. So, the main thing we're thankful for is that little one. Oh, and the website of the hospital has a little page with pics, and it also tells what the name means of the baby, and we found out that Madison means "daughter of Matthew" which my brother and I both thought was pretty funny, me more than him. heh.

Subject #3 : I lied

Ok, so there were supposed to be 2, but I thought of another one! Thanksgiving of last year, Jen's brother Jeff came to stay with us. While he was here, one of the days we went down to the beach and watched the sunset. We were photographed by some guy taking pictures down there. Thought nothing of it again until flash to this year. Jeff is visiting again (he's an awesome houseguest, btw), and we decide to go back down to the beach. I think we all had forgotten we did the same thing last year. While there, the same guy is there, taking the same pictures. He doesn't even live down here, and didn't realize it was us until we walked back to the sand from the water. Weird! This time, I gave him my email, and we were able to get one of the pics. Good stuff.

The three dots are Jen, me, then Jeff, left to right.

OC? Really?

Just found out that the Angels have traded Orlando Cabrera for some White Sox pitcher. Really? So a team that has great pitching, has decided to add another pitcher? Really? And what did they decide to give up for him? A shortstop. But not just any shortstop, a shortstop who wins Gold Gloves. Wins Gold Gloves and is a consistent hitter. Oh, and he's also already won one World Series. That's a good idea? Are you sure?

No recent posts, I'm a bad bad person.
Ran 16 miles yesterday. No, I didn't make it the whole way, but the vast majority of it. By the end, I was running until the fire in my calves and hamstrings and the ache in my knees were too much and I would start walking. I did that for as long as I could, until the pain in my hips got too intense, and back to running. Basically, I got to the point where everything hurt so bad that all I wanted to do was lay down on the ground, extend my legs as straight as I could, and not move. Even my jaw was tired by the end... and I have no idea how. The thing I found most interesting was that when I would switch from running to walking, somehow I was able to limp on both legs at the same time. I can't explain it, because limping means putting less weight on one leg, so technically it shouldn't be possible, but I did it. I really feel like I've accomplished a major milestone in human history.
Now that I've ran for 16 miles, I've realized something.
Going to 10.2 more than that in January.... is probably going to suck.
Luckily, we have a bottle of Ibuprofen from Costco, that has 500 tablets in it. We should be fine!

I think I'll...... think.

Went for 10 miles on Saturday, did about 4 today. It's very interesting to run that far. The first 2-3 miles (it's crazy to think that 2-3 is the beginning part and not the whole run) are fairly painful. It's cold, the muscles are arguing with me about not wanting to work so hard, the 'not' shin splints hurt, and I get this weird thing where my calf muscles on the front on my right leg pretty much just stop working, and my toes slap into the ground with each step. Then, I usually do a little stretching, run some more, and before I know it, I'm fine. From then on, it's just a mind game, to see if I can keep my thoughts distracted enough and busy enough to not realize that I'm still running. Then, at about mile 8ish, when I figure I should walk for a bit, I find out that walking actually hurts more than running, so my choices are to completely stop and lay down on the pavement (which sounds like a fantastic idea at the time), or just keep running till I can sit down. Did the 10 miles in about 2 hours. My rough goal is to finish in under 5 hours, but that's not nailed down at all, it's my first one, and I want to enjoy it, to see if this is something I'd like to do more often. Not sure if I'm up to the training involved to try and qualify for Boston or something like that, but running is pretty fun. There's no thoughts of needing a more expensive bike to be better at cycling, or a faster car for racing.... I go as fast as I can go. That's it. If I want to go faster or further, more expensive shoes aren't going to help, fancy pants that add support around the legs would only add a little, at best. Speed in running requires that I go faster. It's fun to think about, and trust me, 2 hours pretty much alone, with only the thoughts in my head to listen to, there's a lot of thinking going on.
Fundraising, well, not nearly as successful as the training. I've gotten lots of money from unexpected places, and very little from the ones I figured would be first to donate. If you're visiting my site, the links on this page take you to the websites for our fundraising... even 5 bucks helps!

Double digits

Saturday was a big day for me, I ran 10 miles. It's the longest distance I've ever ran, and it was a loooong ways. Had a rough time for the first few miles though, both calves cramped up and it was quite painful. After some stretching and walking it mostly went away and I was able to make it. After the big runs, I like to tell myself how many more of those I have to do... Like back when we did 3 miles, I knew that we had to do 9 of those. And now, I just have to do about 2 1/2 times what I did on Saturday. Whoa. We got some more donations over the weekend, which helps a lot. I just hope we get close enough so that in a couple weeks we can realistically commit to doing the Phoenix one instead of the OC one, since that's the one we want to do. We're working on a few other fund raising ideas, we'll see what happens with those too.

the sights of my town

While running my 5 miles last night, I saw quite a few interesting parts to my town. I saw a 3 person family make eye contact with me, then proceed to not move out of the way on the sidewalk as if they didn't see me. I saw 3 little girls, one crying, one consoling the cryer while yelling at the third, and the third picking up her bike to leave. Wish I could have seen what had happened to lead up to it. I passed a homeless man wandering around the Jack in the Box, then about a minute later, a can of soup that looked like it had been accidentally dropped and spilled out.. was it his? I passed a guy in all green, smoking and yelling at the traffic, and as I passed he yelled "you're nothin marine, you're nothin!" Not sure if he was yelling at me, but I'm pretty sure he was. There was the other running guy, going the opposite direction, that I passed twice. The really rough part is passing the pizza place, because it smells so good, and it's near the end of the run, and it's before dinner. Altogether, a good run.
Recommitment is in a few weeks for the marathon. Basically, that's when we decide whether or not we can still continue, depending on how much money we have raised. Jen has nearly half, I do not. I don't want to do the OC marathon instead, but we have to raise a lot less so it's easier, since however much we're short, we have to pay ourselves. I guess we'll see in the next few weeks!

Hmmmm

So, I'm not going to try and pretend to be an expert or anything, but since my wonderful Jen is much more knowledgable and much more associated with learning disabilities and that type of thing, I have more of an interest in this than most, which gives me a reason to vent for a minute about Autism. For some reason, it's becoming the new 'thing' with Hollywood. That's all fine and dandy, as long as they're trying to help something, I guess that's all we can ask. The problem is that they're trying to cure Autism. It's not a disease people! You can try to find out why it's increasing in occurrence, which is probably because they now have a better idea of what it is, and people who used to be diagnosed with something else in the past are now labeled as autistic.... and because there is more of it. Find the cause, sure... or find new ways to help autistic people function in society, great, but don't try to 'cure' it, as if there is something wrong with that person. Like Rick says, there can be accidental parents, but no accidental children, you can just as easily say that there are no accidental autistic babies. God made those kids with autism, just like he made me to not be built for professional sports. There's a reason, maybe we won't know what it is in this lifetime, but there's still a reason. It just makes me angry that people treat it as a horrible affliction, like it's something to feel sorry for. I'll tell you what, in my limited exposure to that population, I've seen that people with autism are not looking for us to feel sorry for them, or try to cure them. Sometimes they need our help, sometimes they seek it, which actually doesn't show weakness. Picture this, you, as a "normal" person are having difficulty doing something that 99% of people around you are able to do with ease. You think it would be easy for you to ask one of those people for help? One could actually make a point that people with disabilities are stonger people than the rest of us. If we have kids with learning disabilities, which is somewhat likely since the occurence of it in Southern California is higher than anywhere else in the country, it will be challenging, frustrating, angering, it will make us cry, it will make us want to give up at times, it will make us fight, it will cost us money, it will change our lives more than we can imagine, but it won't make us want to cure them, of fix them.

Now, if they don't have disabilities, I expect them to be professional baseball players, and when they are 2 and 3 years old, and they cry when I drop them off at Sunday school, we'll be ok... we won't have to be in every class they're in, to make ourselves feel better..
but that's for another post.

still running

Well, last Saturday went 7 miles. Actually, I think I went a little over it. Don't really know for sure, since myself and the person I was running with at the time somehow missed the turn we were supposed to make, and after running a while past the 6 mile turn around point, we figured we had gone too far. Still doing good, I get frustrated when I have to walk, because it's not from muscle fatigue, but from stabbing pains in my shins. I call them shin splints, which everyone else would call them, except that the physical therapy doctor didn't see it that way.
Me: I got these shin splints, ice, ibuprofen and raising them, right?
Doctor: Who diagnosed it as shin splints?
Me: Me, I have had them before, cross country and track in high school.
Doctor: Probably not shin splints then.
And that was it. Thanks Doc! So, I ice, and ibuprofen, and raise them up.
Still trying to raise money, and still quite a ways away. We don't want to have to spend it ourselves, but if it comes down to it, we will, but $6200 total for the two of us is a lot.
If you are new, and feel like donating, we'll gladly accept, the links are on the right!

Runnin on empty

Well, today, as we inch closer to the marathon, training went 6 miles. It seems pretty far when running it, until I remind myself that I'll have to do just over 4 times that in January. Actually, running the distance is nothing compared to trying to raise the money. There's still time, so I'm not going to harass people yet, but as it gets closer, you can bet that I'll get a little bit more pushy about it. It is fun to be able to run that far... I'm not the fastest, at all, but like Jen says, it's not so much a race. But actually, it is, it's a marathon. I just don't want to be last, since there's no way I can be first. Pretty fun!

Oh bee-utiful

Well, after 33 years of success, I have failed..... I have been stung by a bee.
Was down at the beach, just walking and hanging out in the sand. I found a little bee wiggling in the sand, probably in the last stages of life. For some reason, I have found many bees in the sand dying or dead, it's like that's where they to to die or something. So, to help this little bee out, I dropped a rock on him. I felt very little-boy-ish, but also very humane, like putting down a horse with a broken leg, all at the same time. About 10 minutes later, I felt a sharp pain on the bottom of my foot, yup, the bottom, so I turned my foot over to see what it was, and there was a little bee, stinger planted in my foot. Now, I don't know if it was the same bee or not, and really, it doesn't matter, the irony of the whole thing is quite funny to me, but the sting, and moreso the end of my streak of bee sting freedom, well those are not quite as funny.
Lame.

A teen-cy bit scared....

Jen and I were talking the other day, about our petrified feelings about someday having teenagers, and the possibility of them turning away from our beliefs. I had the thought that when kids are brought up going to church, and it's all they believe and have learned to believe, that once they get into teenage years and college years, and get exposed to other thoughts and beliefs, do they have more of a tendency to turn away than someone who wasn't brought up in the church? And what makes the difference between someone who grew up believing, and never stopped believing, but in the middle part kinda turned to their own ways for a little while, like she and I did, and someone who grew up believing, and then at some point decides not to believe? And how many people just decide to ignore their deep down beliefs because being a "church person" seems too scary because of what kind of a person they think they need to be? I guess basically it makes me sad to think that there are people who don't actually investigate and make an educated decision about their beliefs, that they just believe what they believe by what they've seen other people do, or how they act. I mean, either there is a heaven and hell, or there isn't. If there isn't, my life will be spent trying to better myself and better the lives of people around me, and trying not to only think of myself. If there is, than all I do is for something that is so much bigger than me, that I'll be rewarded for later.
Thoughts disorganized? That's me!

So, a bit of a delay since we got back from vacaion in the Dominican Republic. This is the beach at our resort, Sunscape the Beach. If anyone has ever been curious about the all-inclusive idea, I highly recommend it. It's pricey up front, but never having to spend once you're there, is so much better than having to carry around cash to pay for stuff. We did bring money, it's a very poor country, and the dollar is worth a lot, so we were very good tippers, but by no means was it expected by anyone.

This is a shopping area in the capital city of Santo Domingo. We took a tour to the city (3 1/2 drive there and back but well worth it) saw a bunch of old buildings from Columbus' time, ate at a Hard Rock Cafe (kind of a let down, but we figured they do it for the not so adventurous people on the tour) looked in shops, and did a good bit of sweating.

This is the reason we went there... one of Jen's college friends got married there, and this is the wedding area before the ceremony. Everyone working at our resort was great. Every member of the staff greeted every person with a genuine "Hola" when they passed by and were always happy, and helpful. Very hard workers too, there were numerous times that we would see someone working in the morning at breakfast, and see them working that night in a different restaurant. The entertainment staff hangs out by the pool and the beach all day, running games, teaching songs and dances, giving spanish lessons, and then at night do a show in their open air theater, and after that, at about 10:00 go to the disco and have a great time there. I never saw a single person with a look on their face like they wished they weren't there, a great break from what we usually see from employees here.

Here we are just after the ceremony, isn't Jen hot? I'm so grateful that we were able to afford to go, time-wise and money-wise, and enjoy a relaxing vacation that also benefitted us with a view of part of the world that most people wouldn't go to. It was also a great look into the lives of people that couldn't care less about whether or not they had a brand new gas-guzzling SUV (gas was $5 a gallon), the latest tv, the biggest house, or any of that. They were happy to have a 75cc motorcycle that cost them at least 6 months of work to buy as their only transportation, a roof over their heads, and a job. They all worked hard, and the attitude wasn't "feel sorry for us because we're so poor", it was "we're poor, but we work hard, and it will get better".
If you ever have the opportunity to go, do it... your spanish is better than you think it is, believe me!

magically delicious

Went to the angels game last night. Started off with one of the giant hot dogs from the place behind center field.... huge. Then enjoyed a fantastic game, topped off with us winning by a walk-off hit by the rookie, 7-6 over the Yankees. Lead changed places a few times, so it was a really good game. It's always fun to go to a game, but more so when it includes a little baseball magic. What is baseball magic? It's when you're team is down by 3, in the bottom of the ninth. your team gets 3 men on base to load them up, but also gets 2 outs. Then, your biggest hitter steps up, and proceeds to get into a full count. Then, he fouls off about 4 or 5 balls to add to the tension, before belting it out of the park. Things like that are baseball magic. Last night, Ryan Budde (pronounced like buddy) hit a double right in between Melky Cabrera and Bobby Abreu, which knocked in a run... the place went nuts. That's baseball magic. It's also somewhat magical to see a girl get arrested right behind us, and while she was being forcefully escorted away by a couple police officers, she decided it would be a good idea to attempt to kick one of them in the hoo-haw place. Great idea.... especially if you really like the taste of concrete immediately afterwards. What an idiot. Good part was that she was a Yankees fan, so that entertained a lot of the crowd.
Good times.

here we go!

Mere hours left until departure. We're pretty excited about the whole thing, that's for sure.
Served with the 3 year olds last night instead of tonight, since we were leaving, and then had our show. It went really well, had a good crowd (except for the constantly yelling kids, and the random man who was talking throughout, as though he was talking to a tv), got good laughs, got some good footage for the website... all in all, very good.
We went to Saddleback San Clemente this morning, and really enjoyed it. Kinda bummed that their service is ours a week later, so we heard one we already heard, but it was a good one, so it's ok. It is nice to only have to drive about 5 minutes to get to church, instead of 30, but since we're with the 3s up there, we're there anyway.
Had our first meeting for Team in Training, and it was fun. No running, that starts next week, when we're out of town, but it was more about meeting our mentors and coaches and all those people. It's vacation first, then it's down to the runnin! Although, I'm not nearly as intimidated by running 26 miles as I am about raising 3100... each.

countdown on

Well, the day is finally here. This is the last day of work before vacation. I know I'm going to have to be there late, to write down everything that's going on with all my cars, but hopefully not much more than an hour or so. So, if you hear someone going down the freeway accompanied with a "yah-hoo!" at about 645 or so, that was just me. We've still got a lot of packing to do, and trying to remember to bring everything we want to bring, but we'll finish that up tomorrow or Sunday before we leave. Tomorrow morning we've got our first Team in Training meeting, which should be fun, then working with the 3 year olds at the 430 service, then food, then my show. So, it's not like free time starts tonight. But I will be playing a little WoW, just because I can.

ummmmmm

Found this picture on another person's blog, and man, I have nothing to say but it's awesome. I haven't yet found it available for purchase as a poster, but if I do, Jen says I can buy it.

Well, just 3 more work days until we're on vacation, and let's just say work is getting more difficult. Well, more difficult to stay motivated for, anyway. heh heh

Run Matt, run! Run like the wind!

Well, we did it.. we signed up for the marathon! We each have to raise a lot of money, so it's going to be a challenge, and then there's the challenge of actually running it! If you feel led to donate, thank you in advance! Every little bit helps, and if you do it following the links, you'll get immediate docs for your taxes! Also, please please please send the link to anyone you know who might want to donate!

Posh, and Becks, and us on the run

First off, we caught a bit of the NBC show about Victoria Beckham coming to America. I have to say, she does seem a bit wacky, but not at all ridiculous. If they play it again, watch it for a few minutes, just to give it a try, you'll be entertained. But that's not the big news...
Jen and I signed up for this:
Rock and Roll Marathon in Phoenix
We are going to do it through Team in Training. This means a few things. First, we'll have coaches, mentors, group runs, motivation, gifts, food, flights to Phoenix, and a hotel room right by the starting line. Also, we're going to need to raise about $3100 each. So, don't be surprised if you get a letter in the mail, or an email asking for support.
Why are we doing this? Well, the race itself is on Jen's 30th birthday, so she thought that it would be a fun thing to do on her birthday. The reason we're doing it through Team in Training, is that 75% of the money we raise will actually go to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. When Jen and I were freshly married, we were in a small group with other newlyweds. There was a couple, Aaron and Amanda, who were around 21ish. She had already had her lifetime dose of chemothrapy, and her cancer had come back. She was an amazing, and caring person, and for someone that young, she had more people at her funeral, who had their lives' touched by her than most people who have lived full lives. She died two years ago, yesterday... the day we went to the information meeting to sign up for the marathon.
I love when "coincidences" happen.

Dear people who own cars and get in an accident:
When you pick up your vehicle from the body shop, before you look at the work done, ask yourself how closely you inspected your vehicle when you first bought it. Just because it's a new car, DOES NOT mean that it's in perfect shape, and does not mean that it hasn't already been fixed before they sold it to you. Yup, you heard me right.. If it's below a certain amount, door dings, etc, they don't have to tell you. Could have happened at the dealer, could have happened at the loading or unloading docks and fixed before it even gets to the dealer.
Anyways, just remember that.

Also, it's just a car.

9 times.

9 more days. Just 9. They are working days, not weekend days, but when you're counting down to vacation, weekends don't count. Let me say that I am plenty ready for this vacation. Work right now is tough. It's very difficult to learn something very complex, while being very busy at it. I just hope that the mistakes I invariably will make will not cause the shop to lose one of our accounts. It's unlikely to happen, but not at all impossible. I guess that's part of making the big bucks.. Or at least having the possibility of big bucks. Ahhh comission. It weird though, because although we work on comission, it's not like we go out to make sales. Someone gets in an accident, they call their insurance who recommends a shop, or they already know where they want to go, or a friend tells them. It's not like I go out on the street and look for accidents and then try to sell them on our shop. So I don't have direct control over the sale. The only thing we have control over is the current customer's experience, so that if they ever get into another accident, or someone they know does, then they'll recommend us. I guess making money off of other people's lack of driving skills is kinda odd in the first place. It is interesting though, to see how cars are put together, how they hold up over time, which ones are good (toyota) and bad (don't buy a VW... ever), how different models hold up in accidents. Good times. Well, speaking of it, time to shower up and head on in, one step closer to the Dominican Republic!!

3s, not 3's

Only had 10 little 3 year olds today, so it made for an extra fun one. No criers, and one that possibly drank 3 red bulls before being dropped off. It was physically impossible for him to be still. During the story, Jen, in her brilliance, took him into the little room to "help" her get the snack ready. Was the abridged story of Moses going to Pharoah to free the Isrealites. Went well, they seemed to be paying attention, and even remembered Moses' name when I asked them at the end. Good times!

Fire!

So, my little brother, who has been trying to become a firefighter for at least 5 years now, had his first day as one yesterday. They had an actual fire, to which he and his partner were first on scene (which means he ran a hose, went in the building, the whole deal). As soon as that was done, they had to go take care of an 8 car pileup on the interstate, and at 1 in the morning, a whole family brought in their dog that had got caught up in some barbed wire. Quite a day. The thing that's so awesome about it all, is that not only our whole family, but an unknown number of other people have been praying for this for a long time. The best part is, that about a month ago, he decided not to give up on it, but to go for something else that was a little more for sure, to put his family and their needs before his dream. And just a little bit after he let it go, Someone Else took it and ran with it. Amazing.
Also, they're going to have a little girl in Nov. Another great thing, cause they won't have to buy new clothes, since they still have Mackenzie's old stuff!

rat-a-tat-tat-oooooweeee!

Saw Ratatouille last night with a buddy. I loved the way it looks. It's not like they were trying to make it look completely realistic. I get the feeling that now that they can make it look real, they're focusing more on having it just look good. You can tell it's animated, but not because of lack of reality, the way the characters move are very fun to watch, especially chasing the main rat through a building in Paris. But, that reminds me of a problem with it. I have no idea of the character's names. Don't know the rat's name, the evil chef, the dead chef, the girlfriend, or the kid. It wasn't as geared towards kids, I thought. Not like jokes geared for adults, just felt more like an adult story. I wouldn't recommend going to the theater to see it, unless you take the kids.. the ones in my theater laughed throughout, but I also heard many questions from them to their parents as to what was going on.

It's exactly what meets the eye...

Transformers rocked. I absolutely loved it. I think that even if Transformers were not my favorite toy as a kid, and if I hadn't watched the cartoon show, or movie, and even if I had not decided beforehand that I would love it, I still would. Jen loved it. There was even a group of teenage girls walking out next to us talking about it, and even they said that it was way better than they expected. And teenage girls don't like anything.
So, I recommend you go see it, somehow, go see it. Don't wait for dvd, go now.

iDon'tcare

So yesterday was the big iPhone release day. I did not get one. I'm okay with that. I actually have nothing against it, for what it is. It's fun technology, gadget, all that stuff. But, it's 600 bucks. That part is what's so ridiculous to me. It's like when plasma televisions came out. People spent so much money on them, and now, you can get better quality for about a third of what was spent.. and with the rapid decay of a plasma, those people are now buying new ones.. so they're spending even more. Don't all the people in line for days for the iPhone realize that in probably less than a year, Apple will come out with a new, better, larger storage version for probably less? Do they just not mind that they'll be spending extra? I've thought about whether or not my feelings are from jealousy, and I'm pretty sure they're not. I still don't own an iPod, I don't need texting because I don't see the use in it. I think I'm just upset that people would be willing to spend that much. On the other hand, I would easily be happy to shell out 300 for a 10,000 piece Lego Star Wars Star Destroyer set. So I guess we all have our things.

A side note about texting... I was getting ready to do a couple things for the concert on Thursday night at the worship conference, talking to some of the other people. There were three girls, all 14 or 15 years old, so I decided to get to the bottom of why they were able to have thousands of text messages in a month. Here were their reasons for why they like texting:
they liked being able to express something to someone that they "didn't feel like talking to"
it was good for talking to people when you can't speak out loud, like in class or church

When I was a teenager, I decided that I was going to be one of those adults that understood teens, and thought their stuff was cool.
Now I'm not a teenager, and I realize I was wrong, I don't get teens.

Die Hard-core

Went to see the latest installment in the Die Hard series last night with a couple friends. It was just what this summer movie season needed! Explosions, guns, fighter jets, special effects, computers, unkillable hero, and so full of holes, inconsistencies, and incorrect things (hitting the front of a car will not set off the airbags... it needs to be moving, or hit really hard and really fast)... all wrapped up into a couple hours of good times. I had asked Jen the day before if she cared about seeing it. Her response of "I think I've already seen it" not only made me laugh, she was right. I had seen it already too, but I was ok with it.
Go see it, just go with the expectation of good times, not accuracy or realism, and you won't be disappointed.

Well, no sweep, but we did win 2 out of three. Fun series to watch.
I'm sick, have been battling this since last week, so I'm pretty sick (heh!) of it now. It's getting better, so that's good, but I'd rather it be all gone, instead of partly gone.
Went over with Gerry to one of his friend's places to watch some UFC, which I'm not really a fan of, but was entertained nonetheless. I also noticed how marriage has changed me in the past 2 years. It's not that their place was messy or dirty or anything like that, but if was pretty obvious that it was a guy only house. If someone were to have asked me before this weekend whether or not our place has a lot of girl influence, I would have probably said that there were probably a couple things, but over, not really. Now, after being reminded of what a guy only place is like, yeah, there's a girl living here. Heh.
And I sure am glad there's a girl here.

Angels start a 3 gamer at Dodger stadium tonight. Man, it would be sweet if they could sweep away the blue again, but we'll see!
Also, stupid National League, they really need the designated hitter rule. Having to have either an easy out when the pitcher is up to bat, or having to switch him out of the game prematurely sucks.

that really bugs me

Hmm, the night before last, I got a bug bite on my forehead, it's pretty much gone today. But, when I got out of the shower this morning, and was drying off, Jen walked in (it still feels kinda naughty that she sees me nekkid) and said "What happened?"!!! I look at my back in the mirror, and see this on my shoulder.

Nice huh? They don't itch, don't hurt, but look like I got brutally attacked! The weirdest part, Jen got nothing. I think it's just because I'm so sweet.

Jen also said that I'm "one of those people" that post things like this. lol

I sincerely apologize to my readers for my recent lack of entries (both of you). It's not that I've been too busy, I've just been too lazy. My bad. So, here is the most recent things:
-Rick wants us to perform again our show we did a couple of weeks ago, this time at the worship conference, which is really cool, and good for the drama ministry as a whole. (we don't get used all that often)
-went camping last weekend. It was really nice, except for the mystery animal right outside our tent that woke up Jen (but not me) by growling.
-I have somehow caught a cold overnight
-I got a bugbite on my forehead last night while sleeping. I know that bugs crawl on us while we sleep, and sometimes we eat them, but to have one bite me, that's just rude!
-I'm possibly going to be at a different shop. Probably more money-good, farther from home-bad, closer to church-good(on tuesdays). It's still kind of up in the air.
That's it for now!

Ummm, no new posts, I'm a slacker this week.
Bad me!
I'll try to add one tonight.

Whew!

This was a good weekend.
My niece, who just turned 10 this month, flew in from AZ to visit us from Friday until Monday. We had a really good time. Went to a BBQ at Jen's cousin's house, saw Pirates (which was one of the most enjoyable movie-going experiences I've had in a really long time.. go see it!) went to the Discovery Science Center, went to the beach, went to church. It was pretty busy, but really fun. Jen and I are also both really proud of that little girl, who is growing up really fast, but really well. She's very polite, considerate, and just an all around joy to be with. Also proud of my little brother, who, with the help of my sister-in-law are doing a great job raising her. Hopefully we'll be able to have her over again sometime this summer.

Oh, go see Pirates, I'm not kidding, go see it.

Happy Birthday!

Star Wars is 30 years old today!
And, Pirates opens today!
And, it's a Friday!


Today is a good day.

Ouch! hee hee hee

Sorry Dodgers fans... it just wasn't your weekend I guess.

Don't cell your soul...

Anyone ever left their cell phone at home on accident? I did it today, and it's driving me crazy. Not because I use it at work, I really don't make too many calls on it, and am usually only able to answer half of any that might come in, it bothers me because I habitually check my pockets to make sure everything is still in them. So, every time I check that pocket, it comes up empty, and there is a moment of mini-panic as I wonder where it could be. It's the same thing as when I go into the ocean and leave my wedding ring with Jen on the beach, I habitually adjust it on my finger, and, once again, mini-panic sets in when I think that I've lost it. So, at least I'm not super addicted to having it so I can always be on the phone, just addicted to having something in my pocket.
Part 2 of the cell phone story is about the Cingular web site. See, I'm in the market for a new phone, and I'm pretty sure I know which one I want. It's a refurb Cingular 8125, and it has been 79.99 after an online rebate. A couple weeks ago, it was 49.99. Went to buy it the next day, and it was back up to 79.99 again. Yesterday, I checked, and it was 59.99, so I figured I'd get it after this next paycheck. Just looked again, yup, back to 79.99. So, I guess the lesson is when it goes down, it's going back up soon and I better buy it!

I was able go to the Honda Center last night with a friend who has season tickets for a little playoff hockey action. I had only been to one game so far this year, so I was excited to go.

This is part of the opening and introductions, pretty cool. you can't see in the pictures, but everything is supposed to look like it's on fire, you can see smoke even coming from the scoreboard. It was a neat effect live.

The togo's blimp is about 12 feet long and remotely controlled. It flies around the arena between periods right over the people (this pic is at one of it's highest points in the journey) and drops goodies on the people. It didn't drop on us, so I don't know what the goodies are.
I didn't take a picture of the final score, because by that time, I was too depressed to take any more pics. Ducks lost, 5-0.
And, as it always does, watching hockey made me wish I still played. It's just way too expensive for me to be able to right now, and I don't really like roller hockey.

hmmm

A thought popped into my head, while reading blogs today, about race. I hate racism... hate it. One of my best friends in the world is a black guy (and yes, he's fine with me calling him that, even though he was actually born in Africa so is a true African-American), and I can recall numerous stories he's told me about what he's experienced. DWB (driving while black) might be a silly joke, but I can testify to experience while in the car that they do happen. Having the officer walk up to the car and say "I just wanted to make sure everything was ok" is just plain sad. But that is not the point of this post, this one's about using a person's race in a description of them. Now to me, I'm super hesitant to describe someone by their race, unless it's the only way to do it. For example, pointing out someone in a group as the only way to describe them.. same as the short guy, the old guy, the asian guy, that sort of thing. What kinda makes me feel weird is when the addition of their race into their description isn't really needed. Like telling someone about the service they got (good or bad) at a restaurant and adding, "our server, a black guy, did a great job." Even if you were to say they did a good job, or a bad job, the addition of their race, to me, isn't really needed, and in fact, I find it to be a bit racist. Not because you may not like that person's race, but because you are noticing it and pointing it out. I cannot claim that I never do it, and I really think it's super difficult for anyone else to not notice the races of the people around them, it's what you do with and how you use that information that determines your inner thoughts.
comments?

he's edumacated!

This past weekend went back to Flagstaff for the youngest brother-in-law's graduation from Northern Arizona University, where my wife's whole family has at least one degree each. This is their dome, before the Houston Astrodome was built, it was the biggest dome in the country. It's a really cool building, and it's got the kind of acoustics that are great for echos. I asked Jen about it, and she said that during games, it's crazy loud in there. We'll have to go to a game one of these years. It was a great weekend, I'm so grateful for this new family. They are all so cool, and bring new personalities into my life, I'm happy. Had a great time hanging out with them all for the weekend, and playing Wii for many hours, good times.

On another note, Jen made me chuckle today.. she was talking to one of her credit card companies, transferring our rapidly shrinking balances to them with a smaller interest rate. The person she was talking to, even after helping him to pronounce our last name correctly (which most people are unable to do), was trying to get her to sign up for their identity theft protection plan, but still using the bad pronunciation of Murphy. My brilliant other half, in her attempt to get him to understand that she didn't want to sign up, told him that she wasn't worried about having her identity stolen if that guy couldn't even say our name right. Still makes me giggle.

Too many posts for today, I know

Quick question, what's the deal with texting? Maybe I'm too old for it, maybe I just am not used to it since it costs extra on my plan, but if you have something to say that requires more than 1 text each way, why not just call the person? If you're in a situation where talking wouldn't be good, then doesn't that mean you shouldn't be texting either? Someone please explain this to me!

Fear

My mom's latest post about fear is very interesting. She's much more well spoken than I, probably because I'm in more of a hurry and don't take the time to thoroughly think through my words. But, at least I can spell. Anyway, check this out:
Fear

SNL 90s

Watched some of that show from Sunday night about Saturday Night Live in the 90s. It's fun to watch little bits of things I haven't seen in years, "the Stingmeister, makin' copies!" I also heard one of them say something that is very true. Whenever you ask people what they think of SNL, most of the time the response is something about how it isn't so good now, but it used to be great. No matter when it is, people tend to think it used to be better, just the cast before this one. Me, I love it, all the time. Sure, some are funny, and some are not. But they literally finish writing some of the sketches minutes before the show starts. They showed Mike Myers saying how one time they were opening the show with Wayne's World, and were finishing it up 33 seconds before going on. That takes talent to pull off, no matter who you ask. Whoa.

Gettin Hitched!

This year, Jen and I are going to 7 weddings. Yes, 7. Possibly 8, depending on when my brother-in-law has his. We also are missing one, due to the fact that it is happening at the same time as the one that we'll be attending in the Dominican Republic. We enjoy it though, because we get to just sit back, and relax, and watch it all commence (and critique it all too). Went to one last Sunday (our third of the year) with the ceremony in a park in Orange, and the reception at an Italian restaurant right by Santa Margarita and Marguerite. Both sets of parents were Romanian, so they split up the two rooms, one with the older crowd for all the Romanian traditions (circle dancing) , and one for the American traditions (not really anything). The speeches were good, but I always prefer ones done on the spot by an overly intoxicated best man, way better than watching a train wreck. We saw one once a couple years back where the best man was cussing his way through it and telling the kind of stories that aren't supposed to be told about the groom. Pretty much he was the only one laughing, with the rest of us staring at him amazed. It was awesome.

Acting 101

So, I should start by saying that I'm not a basketball fan, so I'm a bid non-neutral on this. I was watching the Lakers-Suns game last night. Well, not really watching, but it was on. Basketball is kinda lame. I hate how someone gets bumped, not hit, bumped, and that makes them fall to the ground with their hands up in the air as if to say, "Look how innocent I am, I didn't touch him!" That stops play, so that someone gets to take some shots. Plus, when these guys fall on the ground, the just lay there for 3 or 4 seconds. I love it when the refs don't call any foul on it, then that player looks like a moron, just laying there while play continues. If you fall down, you jump back to your feet and keep playing! I'm not saying that they aren't talented, I have absolutely not basketball talent, at all. They can move with the ball and shoot with all the talent that a pro should have. But, when someone is standing under the basket, doing that fake up and down pump thing, and someone stands behind him and puts his hands in the air over his head, I know what's gonna happen. The person with the ball will jump up into those hands, and a foul will be called. Hey, don't jump into the hands! I suppose I shouldn't worry about it too much, because I think basketball players are slowly but surely driving their sport into the ground, with their self-centered ball-hogin ways.

My rant for the day, sorry about that.

Someone get these guys an Oscar!

Practical Joke

After the Angels game was over last night, I was caught a show about an Angels fantasy camp they had last spring. At one point, all the guys were in the locker room, and the coach was talking to someone else about how he used to be able to squat about 700 lbs. The guys said he couldn't lift that much now, but he was sure he could do 600. So, they got three of the players to lay down on the ground, like that guy was going to lift them all. To be able to do it, the trainers came along and tied the three of them together, with their hands, legs, etc, to make them one unit. The lifter came up, grabbed his "handles" and told the guys to close their eyes and concentrate on being stiff to make it easier to lift. Then they counted, one, two, and on three, about 10 other guys who were in on it dumped flour, ketchup, mustard, and who knows what else all over them. Of course, since they were laying on the ground on their backs all tied up, they couldn't do anything to protect themselves. Pretty funny stuff.

Grrrrrrrr

Dear everyone in Orange County who owns a house:
Would you mind doing all of us renters a favor and all move away? That way, supply will go through the roof, prices will drop, and I won't have to worry about if my neighbors have left their clothes in the washer and dryer for 3 days, preventing me from doing laundry because I will be able to afford a house and have my own washer and dryer.
Sincerely,
Matt

Wiki game

So I've invented a type of game using Wikipedia. You know how words in articles are hyperlinks to other entries? I'm thinking that there must be a way to get from one topic to another, but while only using those hyperlinks. For example, is it possible to get to the article about dolphins by typing it in, and then using only clicks, getting to something like Harry Belafonte? There's the challenge, dolphins



to Harry Belafonte.



If anyone can do it, let me know!


EDIT: It is possible to do, I have done it. I am invincible!!!

Double Duty

First item is this:
Yesterland

I haven't had a chance to see everything, but it was fun to look at some of the stuff that was there when I was a kid, and especially during my 8 years of employment (1991-1999). Everyone that lives here in SoCal used to work there, or knows someone who did. So, if you didn't fall into either of those categories before, now you do.

Oh, and No, there is not a city of tunnels under the whole park. Disneyworld, yes, but not Disneyland. One tunnel that starts across from the Prince and Princess bathrooms that goes next to the stage at Tomorrowland Terrace (or whatever it's called now) and ends just under the America Sings building aka Innoventions. There's a big kitchen under New Orleans square, but it's more like a basement under it all than a network. Any other Disneyland questions you've got? Ask away, or you can also read Mouse Tales, or More Mouse Tales for lots of employee stories.

Second item:

Rode the train overnight Thursday-Friday to Flagstaff to meet up with my wifey for a wedding. It's not easy to sleep on a train, that's for sure, in the seats anyways. Had a great time, beautiful wedding (even though they nearly lost the ring between the slats of wood on the deck), and great visit with two of my three brothers in law. If you've never been to Flag (as people in the know call it), I recommend going... especially if all you've ever seen of Arizona is Phoenix, Tucson, or the Grand Canyon. Flag isn't the desert, it's a mountain town. First time I saw it, I sure was surprised that something like that existed in AZ. Yet another in a long list of how my wife has opened my eyes to more of the world. The town is trying to explode right now, but the city isn't letting it grow too fast, which means that housing prices are climbing. Not quite to our levels, but still high. Not sure I would want to live in a place that small though, everywhere we went with people who live there, someone in the group knew at least one person who walked/biked/drove by all over the place. And since I'm a fan of not seeing people I know in public (I don't know why, I'm just weird like that. Maybe it's the unexpected surprise of it, I don't know), it would be tough for me to be in that situation, at least at the beginning. But, I could be wrong. Here's what it can look like in winter:

We drove back home yesterday and got in fairly late. I think an early bedtime will be in order for tonight.

Wiser Meisner

Last night there was a workshop type of thing at the church for people in the arts minisries. They had instructors in many areas, dance, singing, songwriting, drama, instruments, etc. Went to the drama one, where we learned about The Meisner Technique . Now, I've never had any type of acting classes, so it was all new to me, but it was really interesting stuff. Not that I'm planning on being in any sort of major production, but I do wish that Jen was able to go, I think she would have enjoyed it a lot.

Useful information?

Wiki how cracks me up. While wikipedia usually contains interesting information, wikihow tends to just have random stuff, which is why I love clicking the random how on the right side of the page, you never know what you'll learn how to do. Just in case you don't make it around Dead Man's Curve is very useful.

Wisdom

Last night, I heard a fantastic definition of what wisdom is:
Skill at living.
Before it was "the application of knowledge" but that one sounded too textbook-ish.
As my year and a half old niece would say:
I yike it, I yike it!!

2 things from lunchtime at work

First, Picassa by google is a fantastic app. A great way to organize all my photos, and it makes creating posts that have photos even easier than before. I highly recommend it to everyone. Although, I will say that I am slightly in love with Google. Not as in love as with Sony, but they are creeping up quickly.
Second, today hit 99 days left until the big vacation. Some people don't like counting down to things because they say that the time goes by slower. For me, the time goes by at the same rate. I just enjoy doing it because it builds up the anticipation and excitement. I counted down for more than 300 days until my 30th birthday, and am currently in 3 countdowns... the vacation, my wife's 30th birthday, and my dad's 60th. Hmm, maybe I should start counting down hours until each weekend. No, that would be silly!
Anyone else countdown things?

Count to 12

So I've seen this enough times, thought I'd give it a try...

1 - empty glass
2 - surfboards
3 - speakers on my computer
4 - full bookshelves
5 - full glass bottles of soda
6 - blank CDs in the stack that had 100
7 - CD cases
8 - my wife's workout tools (weights, exercise ball, etc...)
9 - PS2 games in the rack on the wall
10 - Lord's a'leaping (just seeing if you were paying attention)
11 - wooden matches left in a matchbox
12 - pens in my Darth Vader coffee mug

That's harder than I thought it would be.

deep thoughts...

So, if wisdom comes from the application of knowledge, is it possible to have knowledge that can't be fuel for wisdom? And is the gain of knowledge only for the sake of having that knowledge bad, or a waste of time?
Kinda deep, I know, just got to thinking about it last night.

Gotta hand it to the croc, he wins!

This look interesting to you?
Check this out!

no feel like it

I don't feel like working today, I feel like sleeping more, and then sitting around.
That is all.

We went for a one night camping trip to San Elijo State Beach, down by Carlsbad and Encinitas. It was a really neat place. We usually like camping away from stuff, and this for sure wasn't too remote, but having a tent on a cliff over the ocean, pretty sweet. Here's our campsite with our sweet tent.

This is one of many pictures of the awesome sunset we were priviledged enough to see.

I love fire. Also, notice how the flame made that little face on the right side, creepy....

We also treated ourselves to a delicious snack. Neither of us had eaten these in more years than we could remember, and they were still just as delicious as they ever were.

The campsite was rather expensive, 35 bucks a night, but for a one-nighter, it was worth it.

grrrr

When the Angels lose to the A's, I worry about their position in the division, and it makes me hate the A's.

When the Angels lose 10-1 to the Red Sox, it makes me angry. Not regular angry, the kind of angry where I want to punch every Red Sox player in the face, and especially all the fans.

Is that bad?

BBQ

Wednesday after work I was sent to Costco to make some purchases. I then, that night, Thursday night, and Friday morning worked on the prep for the big feast at work today.

I caramelized a bag of onions, and sauteed a bunch of mushrooms. I also cooked then wrapped in foil with butter and garlic salt 32 of these:

I used a 20 lb bag of potatoes to make a ton of this:

I grilled up the wrapped up corn and 32 of these:

After we ate pretty much all of it, I heated up a pot of this (It's bananas foster):

It all turned out really well, I was pleased. Everyone seemed to enjoy it too. Good times.

Did it make me miss cooking as my job? A little, until I realized I was going to be off work tomorrow, and every upcoming weekend, and I felt better about it.

Dominican

So, I was doing a little googling about the Dominican Republic to remind myself to save money so we can make the trip in August. I found some reviews of the place we're going, Sunscape The Beach which I was reading through. Most of them gave very high reviews. Main complaints were that doing extra stuff away from the resort took time to get to, and were expensive. Well, we plan on staying there, so who cares about that. Then I found one that made me laugh. This guy, who chose the 35-45 age category, could barely say anything nice. He complained that the road from the airport was in bad shape, and even went as far as to complain that we had to share the road with vehicles from farms. Ummm, the DR isn't a very wealthy nation, which shouldn't be news to someone going there to visit, so the roads aren't going to be perfect. He also complained some that most of the staff didn't speak perfect English, and he was horrified that nobody at the airport spoke English. Maybe he got on the wrong plane to go there and was expecting to end up in Miami or something, but I would think that if someone was to travel to a foreign land, where the national language is Spanish, you shouldn't expect everyone to speak your language. I was pretty baffled that someone could be so "American" that they would expect the whole world to be like home. As for the actual quality of the resort, he said the rooms were nice and the food was good and the beach was nice. But overall, he would not recommend it as a destination, because it was too different I guess. It kinda makes me sad, but then again, I'd think that it would be a better time without people like that there, so what can ya do? Part of the reason to go is to experience something different. And, for those of you wondering about the Spanish part, no, I'm not fluent. I can get by from what I know, but mostly I'll be relying on my lovely wifey of 2 years, who speaks it like it's going out of style. Yay for a wife who knows more than me!!

wow

While following links to blogs, I ended up finding this. good stuff.
The Personalized Easter Story

10 words

I am sorry. I was wrong. Will you forgive me?

So I goofed. It seems that me and planning ahead are not getting along lately. We have an Improv show on the 28th, and that has been known for a while. I also have a wedding to attend in Flagstaff, AZ that same day, which has also been known for a while. Basically I forgot that they were the same weekend so I have to back out of the show, and I didn't figure this out until last night. After notice was given to Slice, after everything was set up. Ugh. So to Ron, Jeremy, Jennifer, and Jim, I apologize.
Also, if anyone needs a guilt trip email done right, ask Ron. Ouch.

No title.

Yes, this is an actual backyard in Texas. Awesome. The large metal tub in the background of the bottom pic is either going to be a fish pond, or a swimming pool, that hasn'e been decided yet. The top one is the big mystery. A cut in half trash can attached to the stand alone piece of fencing. I can't figure out what it's for. Maybe a planter of some sort? I really can't tell.
I should also explain that in no way do I dislike Texas. Every time that I've been there in different parts was a pleasant experience. Very nice and friendly people. Just a very different culture, and fascinating.

two more things

Check this out, the future is getting closer to being here.
laser keyboard

found this poster too, i wish it was a t-shirt

Chewie

Arrrgh! (not like a pirate)

So I'm a little torn right now. Here's the story.

While waiting in line for our hot dogs at the game Monday night, a guy walked up and started complaining that there weren't any more onions. Saying, "If you guys are out of onions I want my money back because there's absolutely no way I'm eating a hot dog without onions." Ok, fine, he likes onions, but he already irked me with his rude attitude to the workers (I firmly believe every single person should work in food service at some point in their lives). So after that, Jen and I were across the way putting the good stuff on our dogs, and he was right there next to us. During the time we were there, I heard him make three phone calls to three different voicemails of, I assume to be, Angels employees. All of his messages were extremely rude and had the attitude that he should be treated like a king and that not having onions was the worst thing they could possibly do to him. Here's how I'm torn, on the last message, he left his cell phone number. I entered it into my phone and I now have it. I haven't called him yet, but I want to, and say a number of things:

-That I work for the Angels and that we have some special seats for him, just talk to so and so at the next game, etc.

-Just that the season ticket holders who sit next to him say his breath stinks too much and that they complained that he didn't need any more onions.

-call a morning radio show and have them call him

-pay one of those search engines to find the address and mail him an onion a day for a week
(i'm not actually doing that one, but it sounds like fun right?)

The worst part is that he was in the same section as us, and he acts like a normally nice guy to the people around him, and I assume is pretty well known amongst the season ticket holders in that area because of his signature thing he does at each game.

I suppose I could also just let it go, but I just hate for people to be treated like lesser beings by someone who thinks they deserve whatever they want whenever they want.

Any ideas?

Frozen Napoleon

Went and saw Blades of Glory last Saturday before performing a sketch for the 430 service then doing my show at night. Oh yeah, and we went and picked up a new couch before that. It was a busy day.
Anyways, the movie was good. Not as many laughs from what they said as from funny visuals, so this one might end up being less funny the more times you see it, but maybe not. I sure did laugh though, but Jeremy and Ron laughed way more than I did. I guess I'm just a stick in the mud. Saw the new Spiderman 3 preview, and when it was over and quiet, I said "oh man" probably a little too loud. But, I like to do that, wait for the silence then give my opinion of it.
The sketch for church went really well, but we got cut after the first one. It's ok though, it was fun to be in big church and force myself to do something out of my comfort zone. The improv doesn't make me nervous anymore, I'm way more comfortable making stuff up on the spot than memorizing it. That show went great, had a really good turnout, thanks to some Doug Plugs in church the weekend before and some flyers that got passed around. I guess advertising really does work!

So I have a set of wheels and tires I've been trying to sell for a little while. I've had them in the recycler and on Craig's list, and still no real interest. But, what I do get is emails for this scam. They are all basically the same, for some reason they make up, someone in another country wants to buy the stuff. The plan is that they have someone here who owes them money supposedly, so that person will be sending me a bank check, which I deposit, then wire the rest to this overseas buyer, then they'll have someone come pick up the stuff. Actually, it's a counterfeit check which will take about 1 to 2 weeks to bounce back to my bank, in the meantime, the scammer will have removed the money that I wired, and now I'm out the cash. The stories all change a little, sometimes it's a company who wants to hire me to collect checks, and deposit them, but usually it's supposedly to buy the stuff. The emails never mention the wheels, and usually ask for a picture, which there are 4 of with the article.
This one is my favorite so far, got it last night. Completely unedited, mind you...

Hello,

I already scrutinize through the site, I saw your goods and service which turn out to be impressive to me. My interest is not only captured but I have the zeal to patronize you for effective and prolong transaction.

I am hoping to get you directly involve in my sequence of market, where I sell in unit and buy either whole sale price or unit depending on the taste and request of my customers. So, I do not mind the price but to get in race with the request of my customers because business is all about promise and deliver.

I will be glad if you would turn out the mode at which you have loved to be paid, after I purchase from you. Then I will turn out the list of items I have pegged to buy from you. And please you can help me with the picture of your product.

Your quick respond is always a gesture of strong dedication and wiliness and that is my principle, and I will be hoping to hear from you. I don’t like gaps between myself my business associate, so don’t hesitate to reply me via this mail.


Thanks

Yours Faithfully
Ray

It's even more fun if you read it out loud to someone standing close by. Do people actually fall for this? I guess they must, but to me, even if it was worded correctly, it would reek of scam.
Good times.

Now all we need is pirate warrior

http://www.g4tv.com/ninjawarrior/index.html
This show is awesome, awesome, and more awesome, with a side of sauteed awesome, scalloped awesomes, and awesome brulee for dessert.
I'm not joking. I love the Japanese.

sweet...?

Got this picture sent to me from the Texas friend.
This is the backyard of one of his employees.
Yes, the bathtub works, and has hot water. Apparently he likes to fall asleep in it, until the water gets too cold and it wakes him up. Then he drains the water, and refills it and goes back to sleep. I'm pretty confused within my own head as to weather or not this is really awesome and I wish I had a backyard to do the same thing in, or kinda weird.
Oh, and I have no idea whether or not he actually bathes in it (au natural style) or just soaks like a hot tub. I guess the answer to that would have an impact on my opinion...

Only sure things in life? Death and Texas

So, my buddy who moved to Texas (Dallas area, not middle of nowhere) this past weekend went to a mud bog event. Was this at some sort of arena, or park, or racetrack you might ask? Nope, in some guy's backyard. Yikes.
I guess this is what you do in Texas, go to a backyard, drink beers, and watch guys who have drank a lot of beers drive their trucks that they've spent a lot of money on through a lot of mud.

WoW

So, yeah I'm still playing the game, but I'm also having fun messing with pictures. So this is the new version of the cover, with me and my little niece on it. Good times!

So I had a pretty good scare yesterday. Well, not just me, there were plenty of people who had some stress-filled days yesterday. Everything turned out great, but man, I already knew I wasn't ready for my dad to go, but now I really know it. So, if you're reading this pops, keep up the good work of being healthy. I'm not done learning from you yet!

Mini Angel

Took the car to the church, it was a lot of fun. There were a number of people who were just and entertained at the mini as Jen and I were. I also got Garret Anderson to sign my Angels hat, so it was double fun! Also met and got an autograph from Mike Sweeney, who was a really nice guy. Makes me all ready for baseball to start.

mini doesn't mean small, it means awesome!

They're having a combo little league spring training clinic (with Garrett Anderson there) and classic car thingy at the church this weekend, so we're taking the mini. I'm looking forward to being that guy sitting in his fold-out chair next to the car. Should also be entertaining because it's in now way close to being restored, so I hope to park it next to the nicest looking old car, just for the amusing contrast. Good times. I'll try to remember to bring the camera and take some pics to post.

Yikes Dykes!

For those of you who don't know, Doyle Dykes (www.doyledykes.com) is a crazy awesome guitar player. He was at our church this weekend, and played a concert after the Sunday night service, which Jen and I stayed for. We were kinda hesitant to stay, just because we weren't sure if we wanted to stay up or not, but we were very glad we did. Amazing. During the show, while tuning his guiter, he told a story about why all of his guitars have a white rose on the end. (is that part called the head? i don't know) I'll do my best to recreate it.

When his oldest daughter was 4 years old, Doyle was in her room with her, and she said she wanted to pray and ask God for a rose. So, Doyle prayed with her, then forgot all about it. The next day, his daughter asked him why God didn't bring him a rose. Doyle, not sure how to respond, told her that it was because she didn't ask for a specific color. So, they prayed again, and she asked for a white rose. Doyle had a show that night, and didn't really make any plans about getting her a flower or anything like that. At the end of the show at this little church, a lady came walking up to the front. She was special needs, about 30 years old, but mentally about six. She had a piece of aluminum foil wrapped around something and said to Doyle, "God told me today that I was supposed to give you something from my garden." Doyle thanked her, and told her that he would enjoy eating it. She kinda laughed and said, "I sure hope you don't eat it." Doyle opened it up, and sure enough, inside it was a white rose. He told the lady that the rose actually wasn't for him. She again told him that God had told her to give him something from her garden. He took it home with him, and as soon as he pulled up, his daughter came running out to him, gave him a big hug, and said, "He brung it to me, didn't he?" (they're from the south, he actually did say brung, i didn't make that part up)

Let me tell you something, that story really got me. Miracles happen everyday, but it sometimes seems like people could explain them away as coincidences, or a doctor who went to a good school, or something like that. But things like this, things that you cannot explain away, are the ones that you remember. I don't claim to have any clue as to the big plan, but I'm sure at some point, someone asked why God would let that girl be born with special needs, and that story, I'm positive, is one of the reasons.

slumber par-tay!

For Christmas, Jen decided to give her cousins (9 & 14, both girls) and invite over to our place for a good old fashioned slumber party! They did finger painting, facials, backrubs, slept in a tent in the living room, ate pizzas and ice cream sundaes, watched a movie, and stayed up late. Then this morning, I made french toast with some orange rind, cinnamon, and a touch of mint in the egg mixture. It was a good time. I spent the evening playing WoW. Of course, it made us doubt our abilities for parenting, but we realized that starting off with one brand new one at a time is way different than suddenly have two that have personalities that we're not used to.
So, I guess we'll have them at some point, when is still our own little secret.
heh heh heh.

Confirmation of awesomeness

No, not the confirmation of my awesomeness, that was confirmed a long time ago, I'm referring to the awesomeness of the expansion for WoW.
Stepped through the portal to find two large stone elemental creatures battling two large demons. Behind them, was a half dragon/half man thingy about 3 times the size of the first four, just watching. All were a level so significantly higher than me (at 60), that I don't actually know their levels. So, following the quest set before me, I just skipped around them and flew to some castle. Their I had to logout due to lack of time, but rest assured, I'll find out all about it tonight, after the gym, and after finishing my bible study for Thursday night.
I'm a busy guy I guess!

Sorry, I can't....

You see, unfortunately, for the unforseeable future, I'm busy....

Burning

Well, it's a big day. Technically tomorrow is the big day, but today is when I reactivate my WoW account, in preparation of tomorrow, when the expansion pack comes out. Gotta make sure that I have all the patches downloaded before tomorrow night, want to get all installed as fast as I can, after I get home from Improv.
Not so sure if Jen is as excited as I am, but that's just because she doesn't have her own account, I'm still pushing for that, but not holding my breath.
The rough part is that it came faster than I expected it to, so Final Fantasy XII isn't quite finished yet, in fact, I don't really know how much more there is to it. I've read something like 100 hours to finish it, and since I'm at about 30, I just don't know. Although, that 100 hour mark was how long to complete every aspect of the game, and that's not what I'm after, I wanna defeat the big boss. The weird part is that at this point in the game, I still don't know who it is. Oh well, just have to do it.