Vomit Blog #2

Well, this isn't happening nearly as often as I had kind of hoped. Oh well. Here it is, vomit blog the second. :-)

#1 A bad reputation can be incredibly difficult to move past. I've noticed that in a lot of the things that I've been trying to change in my life lately, a past reputation can be really damaging. As I've started to realize this, I've been thinking about how it applies to maybe a more severe situation. What about someone labeled as a sex offender? I know that's an extreme example but the same principle applies. You get labeled with something like that, how the hell do you move past it. I don't know how many sex offenders really change their ways and try to improve their lives but how on earth could you? The same idea really applies to everyday life for most people. Even your own friends' preconceived notions of you, based on past reputation, can be really damaging to trying to make any real change in your life. It's kind of frustrating.

#2. Sneezing while driving is pretty much the most terrifying thing in the entire world.

#3. Service Fees. I'm certain that I"m not the first person to complain about this online and I certainly won't be the last but seriously, knock it off. If you need to charge me an extra $8 for admission, that's fine. I can deal with that. But don't tell me that the ticket is going to be $20 and then when I get to the checkout, oops, SURPRISE!!! It's actually $28. Just tell me 28 to begin with. I don't want to know what kind of shenanigans you had to pull to get that number. Let's just start at the real price and everyone can go home happy.

#4 Welcome to my world. Everyone should stop saying this and every variation or it. It's annoying, insensitive and does nothing but let people know that your problems come before theirs. Show some damn sympathy. 

SOPA Box

So yesterday as I was killing some time, I came across a bit of information about SOPA. I realized that I really didn't know anything about it so I thought, hey, it might be a responsible thing to do to try and learn about this issue as it is definitely a topic that isn't going to go away. So like any normal, sane, electronically connected person, I posted on Facebook asking if any of my friends knew of any unbiased, factual information that I could read on the subject. I was shocked when only one person responded and it was not with any kind of information. How in the world is this possible? Four months ago, two thirds of my friends list had posted pictures, comments, wall posts or status updates protesting SOPA and PIPA. For almost an entire month, you couldn't get away from it. People were signing petitions, removing their profile picture and replacing it with a protest image, shouting all over the internet that SOPA was going to destroy us all. What happened?
I can really only think of two possibilities as to what went down.
1. People on my friends list don't care or read my posts. However, I really have a hard time believing this as if I were to post a picture of a cat sniffing a dog's butt it would get tons of comments and every person wasting time on Facebook would click "like." So I guess that isn't a reasonable conclusion after all.
2. 90% of the people protesting SOPA in January had NO IDEA WHAT THE HELL THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT. This is ridiculous. I realize that, yes, even idiots online have their right to free speech but come on guys. We should be better than this. If we are going to take the time to scream about an issue, at least take five minutes to find some actual information and learn something before you start blinding protesting and agreeing with every internet powerhouse that tells you to sign a protest or petition. Up until now, I have not known much about what SOPA was or how it could affect me or the internet so I've kept my mouth shut about it. I spent a few hours reading up on it yesterday and while I'm no expert, I believe that I have a fairly good understanding of what it entails and can fairly confidently say that while I agree with the fact that this issue needs to be tackled, this is not the way to go about it.
Whew, okay, I think that pretty much covers my feelings on the issue. If you are one of the few that educated yourselves on the issue, congratulations and thank you. I appreciate that some people actually do know what their talking about when these issues come up but it is very hard to pick you out in the spew of "copy, paste, and post" that happens here on the internet. Those of you who didn't know what you were talking about, please, next time you go preaching about the next stupid thing the government is going to do to ruin your lives, find out what the hell you are talking about before you go spouting off about it.

A Fond Farewell

I am really terrible about keeping up with this thing. At least I'm only a week behind on this one.
Last Saturday, I announced my resignation as director of the Mystery Theatre. I have thoroughly enjoyed myself working on the show and helping to make it into what it is today. I am very proud of the work I have done and excited that it is doing so well. Leaving the show was not an easy decision to make by any means and I will miss it immensely but I came to the realization that my schooling and my career need to take priority right now.
Anyway the point of this story is that when I announced it to the cast, all of them stood up and applauded me. I was blown away. Working with such a fantastic group of people has been a rare privilege for me. The gratitude I received from them in that moment was humbling. I could not have asked for a better send off or a better thank you. To those members of my cast, thank you. You have all been a huge part of my life for a very long time and I will deeply miss working with you all.

Giving

I am way behind on posting this story.
This happened probably about a month or so ago and I've been meaning to post about it since then. At work, we were working on a project that had one of our guys in China working with a manufacturer and as such, on a completely different time schedule from the rest of us. I found out when I was on my way out the door to go to class that there were some files that he needed sent to him right away. The files had to be converted to a different file format as they don't have the same software in China as we do. All in all it was only about an hour's worth of work but I had to get to class and couldn't stay to finish it. Unfortunately, no one else was able to do it so my boss asked if I could come back later that evening and complete the task. I agreed before I even realized that I would be in class until 8:00 PM that night and probably not back to work until almost 8:30. Upon leaving the crumminess of the whole situation hit me and frustration set in by the time I had gotten out of class. I was grouchy and tired and just grumpy with the whole situation.On the way back to work, I stopped at a 7-Eleven for a drink. When I walked in there were two little girls in front of the counter who must have been eight or nine years old. The two of them were talking about a bag of Cheetos that they were wanting to buy, hoping that they had enough money to get it. When they asked the cashier how much it was both of their little heads sunk in disappointment and I, being the super-rich guy that I am offered to buy the snack for the girls. Both of them lit up and they excitedly talked while I payed for my things and theirs. As I was paying I heard one girl say to the other, "He's nice!" This comment alone would have been more than a sufficient thank you for the whole $1.69 I was spending on them but that wasn't the end of it. When I finished paying, I handed the bag of Cheetos to the girls and told them to have a good night. As I turned to leave I was asked to wait, they had something for me. One of the girls held out her hand making a bowl and told me to do as she had done. I held out my hand and she pulled a small felt bag out of her pocket, emptying the contents into my hand, "We wanted to give you this." The girls ran out of the convenience store and I was left with 79 cents in pennies and a feeling of really having accomplished something. It was such a tiny little thing for me but it clearly made a huge impact on the girls' night and their gratitude made a huge impact on mine.

Mystery, Good Friends, and a few drinks

This weekend has been one of the best I've had, ever. It started out with a birthday dinner on Friday night for my little sister. As per usual the family met at Village Inn. Not perhaps the greatest meal in the world but definitely a good time. Afterwords my sister and her husband came over for a bit to see my new place since they haven't been here since I moved. It was probably going to be a fairly short visit but we ended up watching several episodes of "How I Met Your Mother" together and had a great time. Sure, I should have been doing homework but family is more important right? We also agreed on monthly game nights starting in April with dinner at Bonsai followed by games at my house. I'm really excited for that.

Last night was a truly incredible night. Both showings of the Mystery Theatre were reserved either at or very close to capacity with people that truly had a great time. The second show included some very good friends of mine. Watching them go through the show and enjoying themselves was more gratifying than I could possibly explain. Even the more shy members of the group really got into it and had a lot of fun. Seeing that made an already awesome show that much more enjoyable for me. Both shows had people that, although they were confused at the story line, took the suggestion to use me for help in solving the mystery. They came to me with their questions and I was able to help everyone to get the most out of the show and find the information they needed.

Following the show, I went out to Maggie's with the group of friends that came to the show. We had a few drinks there and then came back to my place to have a few more, listen to music, and make plans for training for a marathon. Shane and I start training runs next weekend. :)

The weekend isn't even over yet. Brian and Brie are coming over today for a Dexter season 6 marathon and dinner.

Best. Weekend. Ever.

Understanding Exposure

As many of you know, (it's funny how I say many regarding the 5 people that read this) I have lately been fumbling my way around a Canon Rebel XSi. Now, granted, I have been able to snap some pretty neat looking photos considering my knowledge base, but I have felt that I'm missing a great deal of what my camera can do. I have been aimlessly snapping photos and messing with settings. Typically I will shoot for an hour or two, take hundreds of photos and end up with 5-10 that actually look good. NO MORE! For Christmas, my sister gave me a book called "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson. This book is awesome. I'm maybe two chapters into it and already I feel so much more confident with my camera. I've read several articles on the interwebs and parts of a couple of books but this one blows them all away. Most of what I have read up to this point deals in lots of numbers and tries to make things overly complicated while overlooking some of the really basic functions of the camera. This book really breaks it down from a very basic standpoint and basically takes you by the hand and says, "Look, this is how it works." It is fantastic. I'm so excited to take my new-found knowledge into the real world and start taking some awesome pictures. I need the sun to come up already!!

Vomit Blog #1

This could be kind of interesting. I've found since I started blogging that I've had lots of ideas that I wanted to write down that I didn't feel necessarily warranted their own blog post. So, I'm creating what I have decided to call the vomit blog. I'm just going to list all of these random thoughts. I think starting now I'll keep a running vomit blog and post it occasionally as it fills up. So here we go with vomit blog #1.

1. The reason there are very few pictures of drummers is because it's extremely difficult to do. They're moving fast, the lights on the stage are not placed optimally to get light on the drummer and it's very hard to get enough light on them to get a good picture and have an exposure time fast enough not to be a blurry mess. A lot of that could have to do with my crappy lens. :P I'll keep trying.

2. Every time I see someone speeding and driving like a jack ass I wish that they would run into a concrete barrier. It pisses me off that people feel like where ever they have to be is far more important than the safety of everyone on the road. Also, I am constantly amazed at how pissed off people get at other drivers who are actually going the speed limit.

3. In order to avoid all of the stupid warnings we have to put on everything to keep the idiots of the world safe, every product package should have the following statement; "By opening this product you assume responsibility  for any and all risks of use/misuse of this product by you and any others using/misusing the product. Manufacturer makes no guarantee of the product's safety."
Seriously, put it on everything. Let the idiots of the world strangle themselves with lamp cords. We'll be better off in the end.

4. People need to either be more careful or more thorough when putting qualifiers on multiple choice questions. What if my answer is somewhere between "A.  Yes, I fucking LOVE chocodiles" and "B. No, I am really damn sure I asked for pecan sandies." Either stick with just yes/no or make sure you include "C. Yes, I would enjoy a chocodile, but in truth I did ask for pecan sandies."