Prepare for Your Weekend!!

First of all, I need to mention that THE NORDIC MOUNTAIN PEOPLE FOUND MY DAMN CAR KEY. HOLY LIVING CRAP. With that in mind, Michelle and I may make another run over there on Sunday if the weather’s OK. You wanna go?

Anyway, then last week I was listening the Brewers in spring training, and getting excited about the new baseball season, and I let my temptations get the best of me– I dug out my copy of the last MLB baseball game that EA Sports released (MVP Baseball 2005), which is not a particularly fantastic game, but it does let one run a “franchise” for up to 150 years, so I played the game this week. I played it too much, as usual (with the sports games in particular).

But, I had my fun, and now I’ve returned the CDs to my drawer at work, and it’s back to business at the homestead. Michelle is “staying in” this evening since she has to be up early for a cheer competition tomorrow, and that suits me just fine, since I was thinking of staying at home tonight anyway. Here’s my list of things I want or need to get done on Friday night:

– clean up all laundry
– clean up all dishes
– pick up the junk laying around the living room
– sort out/through ski clothing
– watch and return the current Netflixs
– scan in and shred some bills from the last month or so
– devise a plan for the balance of the weekend

There is a Bucks game on Saturday, and I haven’t been to the BC for one of those in almost 2 years. Is that right? I should ask Schneider, he’s great with calendars…

Oh, one other thing I think I’ll do, just to practice the technique, is to straight-euro-lace another pair or two of my shoes. It was the first hit on the Googles, so not a major “find” by any means, but I think this page is pretty neat. What are you doing with the Internet that’s useful or cool?

Finally, soloshootsfirst made me change my password today for the first time. Who knew? I hope I remember the new one…

And Then It Was Thursday

Last evening, I missed LOST, but I doubt there was much to write home about.

Instead, Michelle drove up because she really wanted to go skiing on what very well might be the last cold week of the winter. We took a ride over to Mt. Morris and Nordic Mountain. It was pretty nice, without a lot of people, several runs open, and some fresh snow from the day before.

This was my second ski trip ever, but I impressed myself by actually advancing a little in a relatively short period of time. I think properly-fitting boots and thinking through how skiing should work were a big help (and that’s not to mention my very sexy ski instructor).

We had gone down a number runs by 8:30, and for some reason I patted myself down at that moment, because I had my phone, my ID, and my car key all in pockets inside my jacket.

As it turns out, it was right about then that I realized the car key was no longer present. I didn’t freak out too much– felt really stupid, more than anything. I don’t know why keeping something important in a pocket that doesn’t zip or button closed seemed like a good idea when we first got there, but…

I also felt sort of bad about ruining that last hour that was had on the hill for Michelle– I know this was probably the only chance she was going to get to ski this year, and she had been spending the majority of the night babysitting me on the way down each run.

So between about 8:40 and 9:25, I was fumbling around in the snow in the one spot that I really took a digger earlier in the night, to no avail. Michelle gave the heads-up to the staff people, and one of the patrol dudes came out and ran his poles around in the snow with us a little. One of them tried to be optimistic, saying maybe the groomer would pick it up the next day, but I’m not going to hold my breath.

How did we get home, you ask? I’m lucky that I have a network of reliable friends who know that I’m a douschebag here in Oshkosh. Dave Schrubbe ran over to my house to open the door and retrieve my extra car key, and then Joe and April drove out to meet us there so we could get back home. This, and Joe had a paper to write for today, too. I didn’t realize that when I asked if they could help us out…

When all was said and done, we were asleep by about midnight, which probably wasn’t that much later than we usually would’ve gone to bed.  My shoulders and ankles are a little more sore than usual, but, all things considered, we coasted into Thursday no worse for wear.

The Continuing Downtown Renaissance

From a news brief on the Urinal-Sentinel:

The building also will have an Aloft Hotel. The new Aloft brand, owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., markets itself as a stylish hotel with a “hip, urban attitude.”

Oooh! Snap! What I love about it is that it’s “fresh” and “in-your-face,” kind of like Poochie.

Maybe they could get Poochie to do some hip and trendy advertising..!

Weirdos

There’s a freakshow in my neighborhood who thinks that his walk to class is a never-ending audition for American Idol. Seriously, 3 out of this last five days now, I have encountered this fellow that sings AT THE TOP OF HIS LUNGS as he walks down the street.

I’m all for letting the world know that you’re happy and you know it– good feelings usually make people feel good, and they should be shared.

Excessively good feelings, or feelings expressed in excessively strange ways, make you look like a nutbar.

Do you have any thoughts on why institutions of higher learning seem to attract the most looneys? Is it the free money, cute girls, and cafeteria food? Please, if you know– enlighten me…

Minor Miracles

Michelle and I got home from E.R. yesterday afternoon, and my laptop started back up like it wasn’t no thing. The hardware successfully PASSED all the system diagnostics.

I don’t get it, but I’ll take it.

Today’s walk to work was treacherous. There was about 2 inches of ice on top of the sidewalk pretty much all the way in. I was thankful to make it to work without falling once.

Then I opened the Internets this morning to find that Ahman Green now plays for the Houston Texans. Does anyone know if Randy Moss has ever run for 1,000 yards?

Preventable Accidents

Well, I suppose any accident is preventable, right? That would be the nature of an “accident,” wouldn’t you say? If someone could see it coming, then there would be a plan to prevent it.

Anyway…

Last night, I must have whacked a glass of water off my nightstand in my sleep. Most of it went in a shoe. Some of it went in my laptop, which I had set on the floor after I decided to go to sleep. I haven’t completed the troubleshooting and diagnosis of the resulting issues, but odds seem good that the lappy is boned. That is, screwed. I.E., “got a sleeper booked on the F-train.”

I’ve broken my fair share of laptops in my time, and while each incident caused me to hate myself a little bit, I have to admit that I’ve learned something from each of them. Here is a short list:
– Be very careful when drinking ANYTHING around your computer.
– Your laptop is not an old-timey console radio; hitting it will not help.
– The shock protection was tested at the factory. It’s not designed for home-testing.
– If you put your laptop on the floor, be awake the whole time it’s there. Otherwise, find a table, desk, or countertop.
– Keep unattended liquids away from ALL of your electronic devices.

So that’s where I’m at. I’m sure Mundschau is willing to help me out to be sure the lappy is indeed (once again) toast, but it’s depressing either way.

Car accidents are also easier to prevent is you exercise a lot of caution, so it remains to be seen whether or not Michelle and I will make it up north today. My gut tell me that we’ll probably be OK, since Hwy 45 is a major thoroughfare all the way up. Maybe an alternative would be to take Hwy 10 straight over to 51; you think that might be plowed better? Hmm…

Enjoy your weekend; I’ll try to post something from the Northwoods.

Technorrogy Good

I convinced myself to pony up the 15 bucks for unlimited online access to MLB gameday audio this season with this argument:
There’s no radio station carrying the Brewers up north, so we could still listen to Bob and Jim when we’re up by Mom and Dad.

So that works for me. I’m currently in the confines of my desk at work and happily listening to the Brewers’ TV team calling today’s game.

— Speaking of that: brewers.com had a live chat w/ the new TV guy (Brian Anderson, I think his name is), and in reading the transcript, he came off as a total douche. This is not the announcer’s fault, though; I think it’s the team’s fault for making him do one of those before he’s really familiar with the town or the team. He had a lot of canned, dipshit answers to questions. Basically, if you kept up with the news surrounding the Brewers over the winter (and anyone participating in a February chat definitely has), you had all the insight that he did.

As I listen to today’s game, though, he’s doing a good job. Seems on top of the action. Doesn’t *sound* like a douche…

It’s also fun to email the guys during the web-only broadcasts in spring. Smaller audience, more laid-back approach, also seems to encourage more interaction with the web-o-sphere.

I was over at Schrubbe’s the other day helping him run some cat5 for his new Xbox. I mentioned that of all the current generation consoles, the one I’d be most interested in is the Wii (pronounced ‘we’) from Nintendo. Then I read this review today, and I’m more certain than ever– I have to absolutely avoid purchasing one of these at all costs, because it would only be a time-waster for me. I still have enough old games to waste time on.

If you like me, please help by all means– if I ever mention buying a video game system to you, smack me upside the head and tell me to stop being such a hump.

Things That Some People are Passionate About, But Which I Just Think Make Sense

On the surface, it might seem like I just don’t have the motivation to become part of a “movement.” For a while, I self-diagnosed that as a problem, but lately I’ve changed my mind and decided that I’m simply calm and sensible about most things. If a person has an idea or a philosophy that they really believe in, there’s a chance it could consume them, and in turn, consume all their interpersonal interactions with the other humans.

I came up with a short list of things I really feel like I’m on-board with, but I try to make a point of NOT shouting from the rooftops about it…

(My apologies for the vast diversity of such a short list.)

Abortion
Let’s kick it off with the mother of all philosophical debates! I am not personally a proponent of abortion. I think it’s the wrong choice to make, and I hope that anyone considering such a procedure thinks long and hard about the future consequences, and moreover, talks to a professional about it. The idea of me being the parent of an aborted fetus actually makes me feel physically ill. It just *feels* wrong.

However, I understand that there are people who don’t feel the same way, abortion IS legal, and even if it weren’t, there would be women getting them somewhere. The way I reason it is: tell people what you think, if someone asks, discourage them from doing it, but leave the final judgement up to God.

Climate Change
I have had a more vocal, tongue-in-cheek debate ongoing on this topic with Dave Slotten for a while. But honestly, it seems really cut-and-dried for me: actual scientists, who enjoy “doing science,” have done actual science that says, “holy BALLS is it hot! It is going to get hotter and hotter and hotter because of these things that humankind is doing.”

I’m not looking to debate research here, or the capability of scientists to read the past and predict the future. The thing is, there’s no doubt that we’re doing things that are bad for the planet, and whether or not you want to believe there is a disaster looming, my reasonable brain says, “if there are more environmentally-friendly ways to accomplish the same things, what’s the harm in doing them?” If you’re not sure about the climate change thing, or don’t think you can trust scientists or lobbyists or former vice presidents, there’s still no harm in doing things that are good for preserving the planet. Right?

Al Gore did send me an email today, and I welcome you to take a look if you like.

3rd Parties and Term Limits
I am not ever going to write a song about Ralph Nader or move to Europe because I think they do democracy better over there.

It just seems to make sense that people should listen to as many voices as possible before making a choice about who is going to govern. If one of two parties has let you down repeatedly, and they don’t seem all too different anyway, it’s time to try something new. Kind of like if the lightbulb in your bedroom is flicking on and off, get off your ass, climb up on a chair, and screw it in a little tighter. Why put up with an aggrevating situation because you’re lazy?

That idea naturally leads me to the concept of involving more people in government by limiting the amount of time one person can serve. I say go to the max– one term per office per person. Can you imagine what might actually get done if a politician didn’t have to think about getting re-elected?

Linux and open-source software
This is obviously the least essential my logic-crusades, but it comes to mind in part thanks to Wil Wheaton, and in part because I’ve been using a Linux OS more and had contact with the meta-geek crazies on the extreme of that argument.

Look– the goal of a free software movement should not be to topple successful companies or do some sort of mass-conversion of the world’s computer users. The goal should be to offer people a choice. If someone says, “Damn, this software is expensive and doesn’t even do what I want!” there should be a reasonable person that communicates well to say, “You could think about trying this. It does all the same sort of stuff and you can get it for as little as zero monies.”

So that’s enough soapboxing for one day. In the end, I wish reasonable people could have reasonable discussions about things that they’ve thought about, instead of shouting matches across news reports or Internets that only make people angry. I guess a lot of reasonable people just don’t want to get all riled up about it.