It has been a little less than a week since I returned from my excursion to the North East. I spent a little more than a week there and already it seems like it was so long ago. I left July 24, Pioneer Day here in Utah, and so I missed the fireworks but family is more important. Although family and fireworks together, that is even better. And I returned Aug 1st.
I spent a good chunk of my time with my sister in Portland, ME and almost a whole day with my Grandmother who is visiting up in ME. I think I spent the most time with my younger brother. We drove to Laconia, NH on the 26h and returned on the 29th. On are way back to Lewiston we had dinner with my older sister and the Sebago Brewing Company which was quite nice. Then on my last full day in ME I spent the day with my Mom and younger sister, which was also good.
Then on my last day I got to finally spend some real time with my older sister. I don't remember the name of the island, but we drove out to it and walked around the edge and spent at least an hour making fairy houses. Yes that's right, fairy houses. There were quite a few impressive ones already there and hundreds of other ones, but we added ours just the same. I would certainly have some pictures to post but I never got them from my sister.
In any case, I did quite a lot of driving over the week I was in Maine. And because my Brother, Sister and Mother all have stick-shifts, I got to get some practice in. My truck is an automatic, my Dad's vehichle is also an automatic, but since most of the rest of my family drive manual it is nice that I can still do it and only stall a little tiny bit.
Back to my main point, I spent probably at 10 hours behind the wheel of a manual and maybe closer to 12. I really didn't keep a precise log. I sampled three different vehichles, although mainly just my sister's and my brother's. I think I drove less than 30 minutes in my Mom's car. My brothers was the most interesting to drive as it had a clutch that you really had to push and manual steering so it was almost a work out. I'm sure if I drove it for any length of time the muscles in my left leg would start bulking up. And again my point in all of this is when I got back to Utah I discovered I had Phantom Clutch Syndrome!
Yes, Phantom Clutch Syndrome, or PCS is much like Phantom Limb Syndrome. It feels like you still have a limb when it is actually gone, it has been amputated. I first experienced PCS when I got into my Dad's vehichle the MMV. I put my foot down to engage the clutch and nothing was there! It really isn't as exciting as my narrative suggests. When my foot reached for nothing my brain clicked and switched back over into automatic driving mode.
I guess what was surprising that I had gotten used to expecting a clutch. What was even more surprising was for the next few times I started driving my foot still looked for the clutch. I'm pretty much over it though. I've reverted to my lazy left leg ways but I'm sure the next time I visit my family I'll get to do it all over again.
So some of you might be wondering, why if I spent a whole week visiting my family in ME that I spent the majority of it writing about PCS. I mean surely I had some great times with my siblings, relatives and Mom. And I did, but I wouldn't feel right just going into great depth about them and just giving a bare factual account doesn't seem quite right either.
I mean yes, I went with my sister and my mom to Taber's golf course and after that we got ice cream at Dairy Joy. My sister and I both got black raspberry and vanilla chocolate dipped cones and my mom got a parfait and after that we went to see Monster House at flagship cinema's and then spent an hour at Good Will buying some clothes, a suitcase and a Twin Brownie camera before going to a movie liquidation store and buying some movies. Then of course we all met up at Margarita's, a mexican restaurant across from the Lewiston Mall and had dinner. And that isn't bad description but it isn't great either. It means something to me because I can remember all the things I haven't said but it seems to be pretty much empty facts to anyone who wasn't there.
Monday, August 07, 2006
Friday, August 04, 2006
Christmas in July... err August!
Yay, I just got Christmas presents! I'm not sure what is from who because they weren't really labeled. But I think they are both from my brother and sister and thats the best part of all knowing that they were thinking of me.I know the Screamin Serpent roller coaster is from Ezra and the ancient TI Business Analyst - II calculator.
There is a dragon belt buckle that was wrapped in at least 3 layers of wrapping paper, but no label.
I also got two glow in the dark horns. Which are cool because the glow in the dark.
Probably the most amusing thing is the rolling Devon and Cornwall from the movie Quest for Camelot. As a way of explanation, there is stuffed animal that was passed back and forth several times that spouted out phrases, "My name is Devon his name is Cornwall" and "Let's Barbecue this buddy." As for the Daffy Duck figurine in a duckman costume, I have no clue to its significance.
Anyway I'm really glad to finally have my Christmas presents and now I can look forward to what I might be getting next year! Or I can just build a super roller coaster, if I ever manage to find any time.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
July Post
Since this is my first post in July and it will most likely be my last post in July and I have a couple different topics to cover I thought I would call this my July post. And with this completely useless paragraph out of the way I'll continue with the interesting stuff.
A very strange thing happened today. I went to church (no... That's not the unusual part) and there was someone there who doesn't normally come to our branch. Can you guess what who it was? Of course it might help if you were familiar with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (aka 'The Mormon Church').
Give Up?
Well it was the Prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley. This was a very surprising thing for me and I felt a little foolish for not knowing about it earlier till I found out that most everybody else didn't know about it until they arrived and only a few people had any advanced warning. I actually found out when a whole bunch of the young men from the other ward were milling about trying to get a glance inside the chapel. Some of you may be wondering what is the big deal, so to put it in perspective it would be akin to the Pope showing up or maybe the President of the USA sitting in and observing your town council.
On the surface it really was just another day at church but then again it wasn't. He didn't speak at all. He just sat at listened to the people who were already assigned to give talks and listen to the singing. I do have to say I don't think I've ever heard such enthusiastic singing though.
I know I couldn't help but think about it. I kept wondering why he was there and if he was going to speak. I've only seen him speak once before and that was before a huge audience in Portland, ME. Also I couldn't help but wonder if he was there because of me. I know that its somewhat vain and egotistical to think that, but I thought it just the same. Last week I was told that I was to be released as primary teacher because they've been getting rid of all male primary teachers and I couldn't help thinking that I might be the last, but no nothing special. I wasn't even released today despite being told that I would.
When I first got to church I noticed that to parking spaces had been blocked with cones and a car had parked in between them and I thought to myself, "How Rude." I thought that some person had just snuck inbetween the cones to get a better spot, but after I realized Gordon B. Hinckley was there I knew it was his car and I felt really foolish for thinking that. It really is better not to judge, especially when you don't have the full story. Anyway it was definitely a surprise.
Other than spending most of my time working or in school I spend in front of the TV and most of the TV I watch isn't worth writing about. Or I'd rather not write about I figure I can write about some of the movies I have seen. After all for those you who know me and care, you can see these movies too and imagine you are spending time with me. I know its a shoddy substitute.
Yesterday I went and saw Disney's The Wild, which is in many respects a copycat of the movie Madagascar. This really isn't surprising since Disney has done this before, but whatever the case it was actually a fairly amusing movie, although it was short. Much like Madagascar it is about some city zoo animals who escape from the zoo to stop a friend from going to/getting taken to the 'wild.' There is some action in the city, they get a boat and cross the ocean, they muck around with the dangers of the untamed jungle and unlike Madagascar they return home. In a way I actually liked this better, the animations were a little more realistic although they still seemed more like stuffed animals than living ones. Some of the jokes actually made me laugh. Like Madagascar the whole ridiculousness of the notion was a too much to suspend disbelief. For instance how did they survive the ocean voyage without food. At least the lion cub, Mason, who was trapped in a crate and not found at all should have been to weak to move after probably a week of no food or water.
Moving on last week I saw Howl's Moving Castle by Director Hayao Miyazaki and based on Dianna Wynne Jones' book of the same name. I would thoroughly recommend this to anyone who enjoys movies that I like to see. In my opinion Dianna Wynne Jones is an excellent fantasy author and puts books like the Harry Potter series to shame. Her stories are clever and engaging and after seeing the movie I was aching to read more of her stories. I've read the first couple Harry Potter stories and while they are interesting they've never really made me want to read more. And while I saw the last movie to come out it never made me wish to read the book it was based on. To clarify Howl's Moving Castle is an awesome piece of work in its own right and doesn't need the book to fill in things. It just reminded me of how much I've enjoyed reading some of Dianna Wynne Jones work.
I've Also see Superman Returns, which I really don't have much to say about. It was pretty good but it didn't exactly enthrall me. Of course I've never been a huge Superman fan to begin with. The one thing that really confused me though was why did he crash into the ground in a meteor when he returned? Was it so his mother could find him again like some warped present? I don't know. The only other comment is they had way too much money to spend on the opening credits. Way too much.
I just found this site the other day and I think it is really cool. The concept itself is really quite amusing and the fact that it was actually pulled off is really quite cool. Basically Kyle MacDonald took one red paperclip and through a succession of several trades has obtained a house. A real house and a pretty decent one too.
Now you might be thinking, well that's crazy, that isn't fair, I want to trade a house for a red paper clip. Well that's just ridiculous, you probably don't even have a red paperclip to trade. But that isn't the point at all, at least not for me.
The really important thing to take away from this is that anything is possible. Kyle put forth his plan and he followed through with it. He worked at it and eventually succeeded. That doesn't mean that if you want something you should do what he did, but that if you put yourself into it you can succeed. Just looking at some of his blogs he has inspired a couple spin-off ideas already. The person who got the fishpen (one of the trades) wants to send it around the world and use it as an encouragement to have people give to charities. It's started the KISS Snowglobe Army because Corbin Bernsen wants to be the greatest Snowglobe collector in the world.
It is just very inspiring. You can accomplish so much with so little if you are just willing to put the effort into it. I know I could do all sorts of awesome things if I ever actually cared to.
Well I went to the dentist a month or so ago to get my teeth checked and then I got some cavities filled and they convinced me that I should remove my wisdom teeth. So a couple weeks ago I had both of my wisdom teeth on my left side pulled.
Having them pulled was quite the unpleasant experience. Although I'm sure it was the right thing, after all my lower one was pretty much at a 45 degree angle pushing into the other teeth and the upper one just kept on coming down.
The upper one came out pretty quick and while unpleasant wasn't particularly annoying or frustrating. The lower one, the one at an angle, that was the tricky one. He had to cut off part of it, take two extra X-rays and spend was seemed like hours tugging and pulling on it. By the time it actually start to come out the anesthesia was wearing off so it was painful too. Not to painful or I would have had them stop but a nice unpleasant feeling in my jaw. I still have them both and I might take a picture and try and post them.
After it was over, they gave me instructions on what to do and a prescription for Tylenol-3 (which has codeine) which I never filled. So after the initial anesthesia I never took any pain killers. Hooray for me, although I never really felt the need to. It actually never hurt that much, except with I took to poking it. I didn't want to eat or talk at all for the first day and very little afterward for a while. The talking isn't too surprising I don't do too much of that anyway but I do like to eat.
The reason I didn't want to talk or speak was because while I was at the dentist I was warned that I wasn't careful the blood clots forming in the cavities might fall out and I'd get what is called dry socket which is supposed to be incredibly painful. Other than I was perfectly fine, so for the most part I was perfectly miserable. I watched the two sequels to Anne of Green Gables and read the Mutineer's Moon trilogy by David Weber and watched way too much tv in general cause I didn't feel like doing much else.
I'm doing much better now, I can eat pretty much anything without worrying and I can brush ok and I've started flossing again because I can open my mouth wide enough to do so. I feel much better about the thing in general but I still feel a bit betrayed.
I know it is silly but, I sort of went in with the idea that they'd just go in and yank them out quick. But no I had oral surgery. I even got to sutures. They sewed together the bottom gums because the space where the angled tooth was so big. Why would the difference between having oral surgery and having two teeth pulled by so different? That is a hard question to answer, but basically it comes done to the fact that I'm not to fond of doctors and I its hard to explain. I'm not really sure I can, of course part of it is the loss. I've lost a part of my body that I'll never have again and that is sad, even if it is better this way. Just like cutting off a frostbitten toe so you don't get gangrene and lose your entire leg. Not quite as dramatic but it is there anyawy.
A Surprise Visitor
A very strange thing happened today. I went to church (no... That's not the unusual part) and there was someone there who doesn't normally come to our branch. Can you guess what who it was? Of course it might help if you were familiar with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (aka 'The Mormon Church').
Give Up?
Well it was the Prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley. This was a very surprising thing for me and I felt a little foolish for not knowing about it earlier till I found out that most everybody else didn't know about it until they arrived and only a few people had any advanced warning. I actually found out when a whole bunch of the young men from the other ward were milling about trying to get a glance inside the chapel. Some of you may be wondering what is the big deal, so to put it in perspective it would be akin to the Pope showing up or maybe the President of the USA sitting in and observing your town council.
On the surface it really was just another day at church but then again it wasn't. He didn't speak at all. He just sat at listened to the people who were already assigned to give talks and listen to the singing. I do have to say I don't think I've ever heard such enthusiastic singing though.
I know I couldn't help but think about it. I kept wondering why he was there and if he was going to speak. I've only seen him speak once before and that was before a huge audience in Portland, ME. Also I couldn't help but wonder if he was there because of me. I know that its somewhat vain and egotistical to think that, but I thought it just the same. Last week I was told that I was to be released as primary teacher because they've been getting rid of all male primary teachers and I couldn't help thinking that I might be the last, but no nothing special. I wasn't even released today despite being told that I would.
When I first got to church I noticed that to parking spaces had been blocked with cones and a car had parked in between them and I thought to myself, "How Rude." I thought that some person had just snuck inbetween the cones to get a better spot, but after I realized Gordon B. Hinckley was there I knew it was his car and I felt really foolish for thinking that. It really is better not to judge, especially when you don't have the full story. Anyway it was definitely a surprise.
More Movies
Other than spending most of my time working or in school I spend in front of the TV and most of the TV I watch isn't worth writing about. Or I'd rather not write about I figure I can write about some of the movies I have seen. After all for those you who know me and care, you can see these movies too and imagine you are spending time with me. I know its a shoddy substitute.
Yesterday I went and saw Disney's The Wild, which is in many respects a copycat of the movie Madagascar. This really isn't surprising since Disney has done this before, but whatever the case it was actually a fairly amusing movie, although it was short. Much like Madagascar it is about some city zoo animals who escape from the zoo to stop a friend from going to/getting taken to the 'wild.' There is some action in the city, they get a boat and cross the ocean, they muck around with the dangers of the untamed jungle and unlike Madagascar they return home. In a way I actually liked this better, the animations were a little more realistic although they still seemed more like stuffed animals than living ones. Some of the jokes actually made me laugh. Like Madagascar the whole ridiculousness of the notion was a too much to suspend disbelief. For instance how did they survive the ocean voyage without food. At least the lion cub, Mason, who was trapped in a crate and not found at all should have been to weak to move after probably a week of no food or water.
Moving on last week I saw Howl's Moving Castle by Director Hayao Miyazaki and based on Dianna Wynne Jones' book of the same name. I would thoroughly recommend this to anyone who enjoys movies that I like to see. In my opinion Dianna Wynne Jones is an excellent fantasy author and puts books like the Harry Potter series to shame. Her stories are clever and engaging and after seeing the movie I was aching to read more of her stories. I've read the first couple Harry Potter stories and while they are interesting they've never really made me want to read more. And while I saw the last movie to come out it never made me wish to read the book it was based on. To clarify Howl's Moving Castle is an awesome piece of work in its own right and doesn't need the book to fill in things. It just reminded me of how much I've enjoyed reading some of Dianna Wynne Jones work.
I've Also see Superman Returns, which I really don't have much to say about. It was pretty good but it didn't exactly enthrall me. Of course I've never been a huge Superman fan to begin with. The one thing that really confused me though was why did he crash into the ground in a meteor when he returned? Was it so his mother could find him again like some warped present? I don't know. The only other comment is they had way too much money to spend on the opening credits. Way too much.
One Red Paperclip
I just found this site the other day and I think it is really cool. The concept itself is really quite amusing and the fact that it was actually pulled off is really quite cool. Basically Kyle MacDonald took one red paperclip and through a succession of several trades has obtained a house. A real house and a pretty decent one too.
Now you might be thinking, well that's crazy, that isn't fair, I want to trade a house for a red paper clip. Well that's just ridiculous, you probably don't even have a red paperclip to trade. But that isn't the point at all, at least not for me.
The really important thing to take away from this is that anything is possible. Kyle put forth his plan and he followed through with it. He worked at it and eventually succeeded. That doesn't mean that if you want something you should do what he did, but that if you put yourself into it you can succeed. Just looking at some of his blogs he has inspired a couple spin-off ideas already. The person who got the fishpen (one of the trades) wants to send it around the world and use it as an encouragement to have people give to charities. It's started the KISS Snowglobe Army because Corbin Bernsen wants to be the greatest Snowglobe collector in the world.
It is just very inspiring. You can accomplish so much with so little if you are just willing to put the effort into it. I know I could do all sorts of awesome things if I ever actually cared to.
Wisdom Teeth
Well I went to the dentist a month or so ago to get my teeth checked and then I got some cavities filled and they convinced me that I should remove my wisdom teeth. So a couple weeks ago I had both of my wisdom teeth on my left side pulled.
Having them pulled was quite the unpleasant experience. Although I'm sure it was the right thing, after all my lower one was pretty much at a 45 degree angle pushing into the other teeth and the upper one just kept on coming down.
The upper one came out pretty quick and while unpleasant wasn't particularly annoying or frustrating. The lower one, the one at an angle, that was the tricky one. He had to cut off part of it, take two extra X-rays and spend was seemed like hours tugging and pulling on it. By the time it actually start to come out the anesthesia was wearing off so it was painful too. Not to painful or I would have had them stop but a nice unpleasant feeling in my jaw. I still have them both and I might take a picture and try and post them.
After it was over, they gave me instructions on what to do and a prescription for Tylenol-3 (which has codeine) which I never filled. So after the initial anesthesia I never took any pain killers. Hooray for me, although I never really felt the need to. It actually never hurt that much, except with I took to poking it. I didn't want to eat or talk at all for the first day and very little afterward for a while. The talking isn't too surprising I don't do too much of that anyway but I do like to eat.
The reason I didn't want to talk or speak was because while I was at the dentist I was warned that I wasn't careful the blood clots forming in the cavities might fall out and I'd get what is called dry socket which is supposed to be incredibly painful. Other than I was perfectly fine, so for the most part I was perfectly miserable. I watched the two sequels to Anne of Green Gables and read the Mutineer's Moon trilogy by David Weber and watched way too much tv in general cause I didn't feel like doing much else.
I'm doing much better now, I can eat pretty much anything without worrying and I can brush ok and I've started flossing again because I can open my mouth wide enough to do so. I feel much better about the thing in general but I still feel a bit betrayed.
I know it is silly but, I sort of went in with the idea that they'd just go in and yank them out quick. But no I had oral surgery. I even got to sutures. They sewed together the bottom gums because the space where the angled tooth was so big. Why would the difference between having oral surgery and having two teeth pulled by so different? That is a hard question to answer, but basically it comes done to the fact that I'm not to fond of doctors and I its hard to explain. I'm not really sure I can, of course part of it is the loss. I've lost a part of my body that I'll never have again and that is sad, even if it is better this way. Just like cutting off a frostbitten toe so you don't get gangrene and lose your entire leg. Not quite as dramatic but it is there anyawy.
Monday, June 19, 2006
5 Mini Movie Reviews
Well It's been a while so I thought I'd post some mini-reviews on some movies I've seen lately. So with out further preamble.
I was really disappointed with this movie. The premise seems promising enough, alien falls to earth, gets stranded, uses advanced technology to create a huge company to fund a project to build a spaceship home. That has great potential. Unfortunately it doesn't really live up to it. It falls very short. It has one or two interesting moments but overall its hard to follow and blah.
Anyway I think the whole movie is best summed up by Richard Scheib who wrote, "The Man Who Fell to Earth could almost be a version of E.T. where instead of returning home E.T. just gives up, becomes disillusioned and turns into a wasted lush." And while that's pretty accurate it makes the movie sound a lot more entertaining that it really is. I wouldn't recommend it, with so many other movies I'm sure you can find something better.
The Man Who Fell to Earth on IMDB
Now this was an enjoyable movie. It is a bit strange and I'm probably a bit biased. I listened to the music some with my brother before I ever watched the movie. Some of the music is really awesome. The characters are interesting and it has a pretty decent message too.
I'm really not sure how to sum it up very well. The movie is really more character based than plot based. But basically a independent film uh... person makes a documentary about his life for one year.
In any case, if you like musicals, RENT is an enjoyable movie, go ahead watch it or not.
Rent on the IMDB
This is a new movie and based on the last two you would expect it to be really good. And in a way it was, it confused me at first. I left having enjoyed it but feeling vaguely disappointed. I really had to read a couple different reviews to figure why it didn't seem like a good movie. The thing is its got lots of good elements, cool characters with various powers, impressive special effects, a decent premise. Of course part of the problem is too many characters, you barely have time enough to really care at all what happens to them and others just seem to disappear. Basically just to much going on so why it was interesting it wasn't terribly engaging. There are much better reviews that go into more depths around but my advice is go ahead and watch it for special effects just don't expect much in the way of character development.
X-Men: The Last Stand on the IMDB
It really is amusing that in some ways I liked this movie more than the X-Men one. Mainly this is because I went in expecting it to be fairly corny and stupid. So when it turned out to be so that was Ok. Also I was pleased that they seemed to be able to put a few new ideas, the changing was a genetic mutagen or something and he could turn back by meditating. But in retrospect the movie was pretty juvenile and as it is a rehash of something that his done before. So if your not expecting anything classy and are amused by someone running around and making an utter fool of himself by acting like a dog you might get a few laughs.
The Shaggy Dog on the IMDB
This movie is not really something I would normally watch. But just because of that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. Although enjoy is a rather strong word, more of entertained or intrigued. The tale itself is rather bleak at moments. And understandably so considering the material it covers. Some of the cinematography was really well done and the acting was very good. If X-Men had no character development this had more than enough to make up for it. It is a really long move and while it does go places and has a plot it left me wanting more resolution. Still I think if you have a few hours available instead of watching one of The Extended Lord of the Rings you could watch this and expand your horizons.
Doctor Zhivago on the IMDB
In closing I would probably rank them in this order.
1 Rent
2 Doctor Zhivago
3 X-Men
4 The Shaggy Dog
7 The Man Who Fell to Earth
Yes I did skip 5 and 6 but I'm sure I could easily find two more movies much much better. In any case have fun and such.
The Man Who Fell to Earth
I was really disappointed with this movie. The premise seems promising enough, alien falls to earth, gets stranded, uses advanced technology to create a huge company to fund a project to build a spaceship home. That has great potential. Unfortunately it doesn't really live up to it. It falls very short. It has one or two interesting moments but overall its hard to follow and blah.
Anyway I think the whole movie is best summed up by Richard Scheib who wrote, "The Man Who Fell to Earth could almost be a version of E.T. where instead of returning home E.T. just gives up, becomes disillusioned and turns into a wasted lush." And while that's pretty accurate it makes the movie sound a lot more entertaining that it really is. I wouldn't recommend it, with so many other movies I'm sure you can find something better.
The Man Who Fell to Earth on IMDB
RENT
Now this was an enjoyable movie. It is a bit strange and I'm probably a bit biased. I listened to the music some with my brother before I ever watched the movie. Some of the music is really awesome. The characters are interesting and it has a pretty decent message too.
I'm really not sure how to sum it up very well. The movie is really more character based than plot based. But basically a independent film uh... person makes a documentary about his life for one year.
In any case, if you like musicals, RENT is an enjoyable movie, go ahead watch it or not.
Rent on the IMDB
X-Men: The Last Stand
This is a new movie and based on the last two you would expect it to be really good. And in a way it was, it confused me at first. I left having enjoyed it but feeling vaguely disappointed. I really had to read a couple different reviews to figure why it didn't seem like a good movie. The thing is its got lots of good elements, cool characters with various powers, impressive special effects, a decent premise. Of course part of the problem is too many characters, you barely have time enough to really care at all what happens to them and others just seem to disappear. Basically just to much going on so why it was interesting it wasn't terribly engaging. There are much better reviews that go into more depths around but my advice is go ahead and watch it for special effects just don't expect much in the way of character development.
X-Men: The Last Stand on the IMDB
The Shaggy Dog (2006)
It really is amusing that in some ways I liked this movie more than the X-Men one. Mainly this is because I went in expecting it to be fairly corny and stupid. So when it turned out to be so that was Ok. Also I was pleased that they seemed to be able to put a few new ideas, the changing was a genetic mutagen or something and he could turn back by meditating. But in retrospect the movie was pretty juvenile and as it is a rehash of something that his done before. So if your not expecting anything classy and are amused by someone running around and making an utter fool of himself by acting like a dog you might get a few laughs.
The Shaggy Dog on the IMDB
Doctor Zhivago
This movie is not really something I would normally watch. But just because of that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. Although enjoy is a rather strong word, more of entertained or intrigued. The tale itself is rather bleak at moments. And understandably so considering the material it covers. Some of the cinematography was really well done and the acting was very good. If X-Men had no character development this had more than enough to make up for it. It is a really long move and while it does go places and has a plot it left me wanting more resolution. Still I think if you have a few hours available instead of watching one of The Extended Lord of the Rings you could watch this and expand your horizons.
Doctor Zhivago on the IMDB
In closing I would probably rank them in this order.
1 Rent
2 Doctor Zhivago
3 X-Men
4 The Shaggy Dog
7 The Man Who Fell to Earth
Yes I did skip 5 and 6 but I'm sure I could easily find two more movies much much better. In any case have fun and such.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Valentine's Day
If I but had a sweet heart I probably would not be writing this post at all. Instead I'd probably be showering her with gifts of chocolate and flowers. No diamonds though, don't quite have that income yet.
But alas and alack, I do not have a sweet heart and so cannot celebrate this somewhat commercialized holiday to it's fullest.
Sorry to be a bit down but its a little bit hard when there is a holiday that you'd like to participate in but you don't qualify. In any case, maybe next year.
But alas and alack, I do not have a sweet heart and so cannot celebrate this somewhat commercialized holiday to it's fullest.
Sorry to be a bit down but its a little bit hard when there is a holiday that you'd like to participate in but you don't qualify. In any case, maybe next year.
Monday, January 02, 2006
Oh No!
I think that I really scared everybody off. Nobody will comment now for fear that i'll pick them apart. Oh it is very sad.
Anyway, it's a new year, many people have made new year resolutions. I have not made any, I have too much to do to worry about silly resolutions. I'm constantly trying to make myself better. Often I fail but every now and then I succeed in some small way and eventually with all the cumulative effect I might eventually do something really interesting.
Anyway, it's a new year, many people have made new year resolutions. I have not made any, I have too much to do to worry about silly resolutions. I'm constantly trying to make myself better. Often I fail but every now and then I succeed in some small way and eventually with all the cumulative effect I might eventually do something really interesting.
Monday, December 26, 2005
Merry Christmas
Yay, It's Christmas and It's Sunday. But you know what is even better? Someone commented on my blog! And although I appreciate the comment and all. I do have to say I'm a bit confused by it.
My anonymous friend said that they had almost given up on me and that they were surprised to have seen three posts since they last checked. Now on the surface this seems perfectly reasonable. But if you look at the facts closer you will see that the last three posts go back to Dec 1. and that the one before that was on Nov 30.
Now we can deduce from this that this person, if there statement is true, last visited between Nov 30 at 10:32 PM and Dec 1 at 6:06 PM. We can safely say this because if they last visited before or after this date then they would have seen that I posted either four or two times since they last checked being earlier or later respectively. Of course this is all well and good until you take into account the first statement which says they almost had given up on me posting at all.
Both of these statements cannot be true. For if my friend checked before they my last three posts they would have seen my Nov 30 post and had no reason to think I had stopped writing. But if they checked before it, which would give them reason to lose hope then it would be 4 posts ago.
So it is easy to conclude that there is something incorrect about this comment. It's simple enough in my opinion they just looked at how many posts and miscounted saying three instead of 4 and I suppose in my good grace I can forgive them for that. Especially after they commented and all.
I suppose you wanted me to write about Christmas though so I suppose I'll indulge your whims for the moment. I got up bright and 'early' this morning 8'ish so I could get to church on time. But of course I opened my stocking before hand and actually opened all my presents too.
My stocking was most satisfactory with chocolate, peanuts and citrus for consumables. A toothbrush to save my teeth, a little flashing squishy green tentacle ball, a flexible wooden snake, large bills (fake :( ) and a cute stuffed puppy wearing safety glasses sticking out the top. No bubbles.
The presents I received that morning included a remote control car, Star Wars Trilogy (4-6) and a emergency kit for my truck. All very awesome gifts, played with the car (8 hours later after the batteries had charged), watched A New Hope and will put the kit in my truck later.
Of course after the merriement of gift giving we rushed off to church for sacrement meeting and singing and listening to the primary sing very uplifting and especially nice because I didn't have to teach primary, yay!
Later we had lunch with Bonnie and played some games. 2 rounds of Chinese Checkers (Fast Mode, Bonnie Won, I won), Phase 10 (I won) and Zigity (Bonnie won).
That's pretty much it other than talking to my awesome family some on the telephone (cellphone). Well goodnight must sleep now.
My anonymous friend said that they had almost given up on me and that they were surprised to have seen three posts since they last checked. Now on the surface this seems perfectly reasonable. But if you look at the facts closer you will see that the last three posts go back to Dec 1. and that the one before that was on Nov 30.
Now we can deduce from this that this person, if there statement is true, last visited between Nov 30 at 10:32 PM and Dec 1 at 6:06 PM. We can safely say this because if they last visited before or after this date then they would have seen that I posted either four or two times since they last checked being earlier or later respectively. Of course this is all well and good until you take into account the first statement which says they almost had given up on me posting at all.
Both of these statements cannot be true. For if my friend checked before they my last three posts they would have seen my Nov 30 post and had no reason to think I had stopped writing. But if they checked before it, which would give them reason to lose hope then it would be 4 posts ago.
So it is easy to conclude that there is something incorrect about this comment. It's simple enough in my opinion they just looked at how many posts and miscounted saying three instead of 4 and I suppose in my good grace I can forgive them for that. Especially after they commented and all.
Now for the good stuff
I suppose you wanted me to write about Christmas though so I suppose I'll indulge your whims for the moment. I got up bright and 'early' this morning 8'ish so I could get to church on time. But of course I opened my stocking before hand and actually opened all my presents too.
My stocking was most satisfactory with chocolate, peanuts and citrus for consumables. A toothbrush to save my teeth, a little flashing squishy green tentacle ball, a flexible wooden snake, large bills (fake :( ) and a cute stuffed puppy wearing safety glasses sticking out the top. No bubbles.
The presents I received that morning included a remote control car, Star Wars Trilogy (4-6) and a emergency kit for my truck. All very awesome gifts, played with the car (8 hours later after the batteries had charged), watched A New Hope and will put the kit in my truck later.
Of course after the merriement of gift giving we rushed off to church for sacrement meeting and singing and listening to the primary sing very uplifting and especially nice because I didn't have to teach primary, yay!
Later we had lunch with Bonnie and played some games. 2 rounds of Chinese Checkers (Fast Mode, Bonnie Won, I won), Phase 10 (I won) and Zigity (Bonnie won).
That's pretty much it other than talking to my awesome family some on the telephone (cellphone). Well goodnight must sleep now.
Friday, December 23, 2005
I want more Readers!
Yes yes that's right I said it. I want legions of readers dropping by my blog, hanging off my every word. Writing insightful and interesting comments that will inspire me to write even more and better articles.
In any case this outcome is entiriley improbably at this point. I would have to write much more interesting and engaging articles to begin with instead of just some rambling nonsense. And while I do write a little better than that, it isn't much better.
I'm not really sure why I want more readers. Or maybe it's just that I want more comments. Either way it doesn't matter since I don't have either. I suppose it's because I want to make this worthwhile to think that lots of people care about what I write and think. The overwhelming power is part of it too I'm sure being able to control the thoughts of the masses and influence them for good or at the very least encourage them to think.
But again to do any of that I would have to right interesting and thought provoking. I also would need to write it on a regular basis. And in addition to that I would need someone else to pick up my articles and link to them so I could have an influx of traffic to my blog. Otherwise no one, except for a very special and select few who mean much more to me than everyone else, would even know it was here.
So yes I want more readers for both selfish and unselfish reasons. But the truth of the matter is I'm not likely to get many but I'll deal with it for now.
In any case this outcome is entiriley improbably at this point. I would have to write much more interesting and engaging articles to begin with instead of just some rambling nonsense. And while I do write a little better than that, it isn't much better.
I'm not really sure why I want more readers. Or maybe it's just that I want more comments. Either way it doesn't matter since I don't have either. I suppose it's because I want to make this worthwhile to think that lots of people care about what I write and think. The overwhelming power is part of it too I'm sure being able to control the thoughts of the masses and influence them for good or at the very least encourage them to think.
But again to do any of that I would have to right interesting and thought provoking. I also would need to write it on a regular basis. And in addition to that I would need someone else to pick up my articles and link to them so I could have an influx of traffic to my blog. Otherwise no one, except for a very special and select few who mean much more to me than everyone else, would even know it was here.
So yes I want more readers for both selfish and unselfish reasons. But the truth of the matter is I'm not likely to get many but I'll deal with it for now.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Narnia and Stuff
I thought I had something to write about but it seems that my muse has fled in fear of actually being used. Oh well. I'm not sure why but typing in this box is a bit sluggish. I'm going to switch to a real text editor, TextEdit to be specific. Yes that isn't very exciting but now you know and I've written an entire paragraph.
Now for paragraph two!
Well technically this is paragraph three but more to the point, I just saw "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" the movie. It was really quite good. There were some significant differences but nothing major. The story line was pretty much intact and most of the key points I remember from the book were there.
It made me wish to read the books again, even though I've read them all at least twice and most at least thrice. It made me wonder why is it that these fantasy worlds are so fascinating? Not just Narnia, but books and movies and TV shows and plays and so forth. (Interestingly enough, Safari 1.0.3 takes %80 of my processor time when it's open. That's just weird and wrong, I really need to update that)
Anyway, I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this but isn't the world we live in interesting and exciting enough that we don't have the continual desire to forget it? Or maybe that's just me. When I really get immersed into a movie or a book, I'm not really here at all and then it's kind of sad when it's over and I have to come back.
This world should be just as good as anything that we can dream up. So why isn't it? Everyone wants a better world so why don't we just get together and do it? Make a better world that is.
A better world? I say that as if something is wrong with this one. I mean it works we live, we breath, we sleep, we eat and so forth but... I don't know, It just seems that there wouldn't be such a desire to escape into fantasy if it was better here.
Now for paragraph two!
Well technically this is paragraph three but more to the point, I just saw "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" the movie. It was really quite good. There were some significant differences but nothing major. The story line was pretty much intact and most of the key points I remember from the book were there.
It made me wish to read the books again, even though I've read them all at least twice and most at least thrice. It made me wonder why is it that these fantasy worlds are so fascinating? Not just Narnia, but books and movies and TV shows and plays and so forth. (Interestingly enough, Safari 1.0.3 takes %80 of my processor time when it's open. That's just weird and wrong, I really need to update that)
Anyway, I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this but isn't the world we live in interesting and exciting enough that we don't have the continual desire to forget it? Or maybe that's just me. When I really get immersed into a movie or a book, I'm not really here at all and then it's kind of sad when it's over and I have to come back.
This world should be just as good as anything that we can dream up. So why isn't it? Everyone wants a better world so why don't we just get together and do it? Make a better world that is.
A better world? I say that as if something is wrong with this one. I mean it works we live, we breath, we sleep, we eat and so forth but... I don't know, It just seems that there wouldn't be such a desire to escape into fantasy if it was better here.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
A *Real* Post
I've got a question for all the bright minds out there: What do you do when you are too tired to work and too stressed out to sleep?
The obvious answer is of course post to your blog! Actually thats about it, do lots of little things that aren't really that important by not sleeping and not taking care of the things that are stressing you out.
For instance, I need to set up some subscription stuff and website stuff at work, did that get done? No. I also need to finish a website for both work and school. Did I do that either? No. I have a couple other large projects to take care of but did I start on any one of them? Do I really even need to say?
I was just to tired to do anything that required thinking and so while I did get some stuff done I really didn't get anywhere and about a million things are due next week and I really can finish them all. I do have barely enough time but not if I'm to tired to do it and if I'm to stressed out by what I need to do to sleep...
Well you get the picture. I know I'll be fine I just wish I was better organized and motivated and not so tired from staying up too late and then getting up the next morning. (Yes if I could just sleep in that would solve my problems :)
So what is my point in all this? Well I guess simply put is that I really need to stop worrying, relax go to bed and then get to work. It isn't that hard.
The question is why don't I do it?
The obvious answer is of course post to your blog! Actually thats about it, do lots of little things that aren't really that important by not sleeping and not taking care of the things that are stressing you out.
For instance, I need to set up some subscription stuff and website stuff at work, did that get done? No. I also need to finish a website for both work and school. Did I do that either? No. I have a couple other large projects to take care of but did I start on any one of them? Do I really even need to say?
I was just to tired to do anything that required thinking and so while I did get some stuff done I really didn't get anywhere and about a million things are due next week and I really can finish them all. I do have barely enough time but not if I'm to tired to do it and if I'm to stressed out by what I need to do to sleep...
Well you get the picture. I know I'll be fine I just wish I was better organized and motivated and not so tired from staying up too late and then getting up the next morning. (Yes if I could just sleep in that would solve my problems :)
So what is my point in all this? Well I guess simply put is that I really need to stop worrying, relax go to bed and then get to work. It isn't that hard.
The question is why don't I do it?
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
A Real Live *Christmas* Tree
Well well well, what have we here? I'm posting? No that can't be it doesn't make any sense you're just imagining this.
But since you are imagining it go ahead and imagine some other things. You could imagine me going to Home Depot and getting a nice pine tree for christmas and taking it home in the back of my pickup truck!
Well if you could imagine that, can you imagine me finishing an assignment for CS 2420? Well if you can you can probably imagine me passing it off today 40 points of extra credit? Now that is hard to believe that my Computer Science teacher would offer that much extra credit on a 100 point project. Of course to get that I would have to have completed a Hash table using probing that resized and a Hash table using chaining that resized.
Anyway, I'm sure you can imagine more and much more interesting things so I'll leave it up to you!
But since you are imagining it go ahead and imagine some other things. You could imagine me going to Home Depot and getting a nice pine tree for christmas and taking it home in the back of my pickup truck!
Well if you could imagine that, can you imagine me finishing an assignment for CS 2420? Well if you can you can probably imagine me passing it off today 40 points of extra credit? Now that is hard to believe that my Computer Science teacher would offer that much extra credit on a 100 point project. Of course to get that I would have to have completed a Hash table using probing that resized and a Hash table using chaining that resized.
Anyway, I'm sure you can imagine more and much more interesting things so I'll leave it up to you!
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Peer Pressure Post
I'm claiming to have been peer pressured into writing this post. But that isn't really true, especially since only one person has even mentioned anything about it.
I'm tired and its a bit late and I've been pretty busy and so yeah things have been going on and I have interesting things to say but I just don't have the time or energy to really put into writing much. Or maybe its just that I'm not used to writing that much. By the way its the start of National Novel Writing Month this month. Which is basically writing a 50,000 page novel in November. Now thats a lot of writing. I can type fast enough to type that much in a month but thats it. I can't even imagine making something that would make sense but apparently quite a few.
The school year is almost over and there are still about a million things that are left to do for that. I have a midterm test on friday. Final projects that are due by the end of the month as well as quite a few other minor assignmentns and then of course the dreaded and most feared finals. Of course on top of all of that I'm going to work and I have a whole bunch of things that need to get finished there that I'm behind on as well. And of course it doesn't stop there. Next year it'll start all over again. Or really it doesn't ever really stop, it keeps going and going and going with more and more to do. I'll survive I always have I always will but what kind of bruises and scars I get who can tell. I might come out completely unscathed or I might have a complete nervous breakdown and lose everything! Even my high GPA! Nooooo! Not the GPA!
----A few days later----
Well I've survived the last round of things due. Of course there will be more. I actually started writing this post on wednesday but never got around to posting it. So much for being pressured into it.
As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted by something I can't remember, last weekend I went up to Salt Lake City for the ACM programming content. It was pretty cool although we didn't do to swell. We only got one problem out of eight completed and working. We completed one other but because of an obscure error it didn't put out the right output.
Well thats all I have to write about at the moment so until the next time someone pushes me into posting, take care.
I'm tired and its a bit late and I've been pretty busy and so yeah things have been going on and I have interesting things to say but I just don't have the time or energy to really put into writing much. Or maybe its just that I'm not used to writing that much. By the way its the start of National Novel Writing Month this month. Which is basically writing a 50,000 page novel in November. Now thats a lot of writing. I can type fast enough to type that much in a month but thats it. I can't even imagine making something that would make sense but apparently quite a few.
The school year is almost over and there are still about a million things that are left to do for that. I have a midterm test on friday. Final projects that are due by the end of the month as well as quite a few other minor assignmentns and then of course the dreaded and most feared finals. Of course on top of all of that I'm going to work and I have a whole bunch of things that need to get finished there that I'm behind on as well. And of course it doesn't stop there. Next year it'll start all over again. Or really it doesn't ever really stop, it keeps going and going and going with more and more to do. I'll survive I always have I always will but what kind of bruises and scars I get who can tell. I might come out completely unscathed or I might have a complete nervous breakdown and lose everything! Even my high GPA! Nooooo! Not the GPA!
----A few days later----
Well I've survived the last round of things due. Of course there will be more. I actually started writing this post on wednesday but never got around to posting it. So much for being pressured into it.
As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted by something I can't remember, last weekend I went up to Salt Lake City for the ACM programming content. It was pretty cool although we didn't do to swell. We only got one problem out of eight completed and working. We completed one other but because of an obscure error it didn't put out the right output.
Well thats all I have to write about at the moment so until the next time someone pushes me into posting, take care.
Thursday, October 20, 2005
My First Comment
Oh it is a glorious day indeed. I have received my first comment. I probably should celebrate or something, but I guess I'll just write this post. Yes that would be good.
Thank you for your comment as I'm sure I'll be thankful for all comments, even though I might not say so.
I must add though, this probably isn't the best place to read about my daily life. My daily life is boring and probably not worth chronicling in on a public medium such as this. But if I want to I'm sure I will. I'll write about whatever I want to write about. Even it means I want to write about how I will write about whatever I want to write!
Confusing? Yeah sorry about that, I'm just a bit tired and have a lot of stuff that I should be doing because it will be due very soon. With that said I'll go get some work done.
Thank you for your comment as I'm sure I'll be thankful for all comments, even though I might not say so.
I must add though, this probably isn't the best place to read about my daily life. My daily life is boring and probably not worth chronicling in on a public medium such as this. But if I want to I'm sure I will. I'll write about whatever I want to write about. Even it means I want to write about how I will write about whatever I want to write!
Confusing? Yeah sorry about that, I'm just a bit tired and have a lot of stuff that I should be doing because it will be due very soon. With that said I'll go get some work done.
Friday, October 14, 2005
Joining the Bandwagon
Well, I've finally gone and done it. I've joined the band wagon. I've finally made a blog for myself.
That's right getting a blog isn't on the cutting edge anymore it's mainstream. Blogs are everywhere, just like iPods and cell phones and other things that ten years ago either didn't exist or just for people on the cutting edge. But now it seems everyone and their father has a blog.
Yup, that's right, my Dad got a blog before me. I've actually been wanting to have something like a blog even before I knew what one was. You can sort of see I was heading in that direction with the updates to my Secret of NIMH fan page, but I never really got the format. For one thing that webpage was about the Secret of NIMH and it didn't make sense to just put anything there.
But when I learned that my brother, Ezra had signed up at blogspot.com I thought that was pretty cool and almost did as well. Except I thought about it (a dangerous thing at times) and decided that I didn't want to look like I was just copying him. (Yeah, I know pretty petty) And then my younger sister got a blog and then my older sister and then my Dad. And now not only do I want a blog because I wanted to have a nice system that I could post whatever I wanted whenever I wanted and not worry too much about updating and html, but I feel a little left out.
So with that, I'm joining the band wagon, yeah I know not everyone has a blog, but now one more person does and there will be many more to come. So move over a little and share some room. Everyone has a voice to be heard.
That's right getting a blog isn't on the cutting edge anymore it's mainstream. Blogs are everywhere, just like iPods and cell phones and other things that ten years ago either didn't exist or just for people on the cutting edge. But now it seems everyone and their father has a blog.
Yup, that's right, my Dad got a blog before me. I've actually been wanting to have something like a blog even before I knew what one was. You can sort of see I was heading in that direction with the updates to my Secret of NIMH fan page, but I never really got the format. For one thing that webpage was about the Secret of NIMH and it didn't make sense to just put anything there.
But when I learned that my brother, Ezra had signed up at blogspot.com I thought that was pretty cool and almost did as well. Except I thought about it (a dangerous thing at times) and decided that I didn't want to look like I was just copying him. (Yeah, I know pretty petty) And then my younger sister got a blog and then my older sister and then my Dad. And now not only do I want a blog because I wanted to have a nice system that I could post whatever I wanted whenever I wanted and not worry too much about updating and html, but I feel a little left out.
So with that, I'm joining the band wagon, yeah I know not everyone has a blog, but now one more person does and there will be many more to come. So move over a little and share some room. Everyone has a voice to be heard.
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