Don't Worry They Won't Look For The Bodies Here

What the hell

2011-02-03T15:31:00.001-08:00

After almost 2 years of not writing anything here I suddenly do. Why? Because Google finally releases a blogger app for android and I need to try it out.

Enjoy these pictures of my cat.

ADVENTure Wrap up - Coming Soon

2009-12-28T04:10:00.000-08:00

Somehow I always decide to post one of these when I have no time, but give me 3 days off and I do nothing. Go figure. This is a quick one, as we have week 2 of vacation camp going on this week at work, and I have to gets pretty soon, but just wanted all my loyal followers know that I have not given up on ADVENTure, far from it. It went very well, and its wrap up shall be posted. I actually have most of it written up and ready to go, but I just need to take photos of everything and plug them in.

Christmas was good. Becca and I hosted for the first time and had her brother, Dad, and their dog up for the day. Things went off without a hitch, the food was good, drinking was done, and many games were played (well, several anyways - Dog, Zombie Fluxx, and Metro. Power Grid was attempted, but we forgot how much prep and setup was involved and opted for something else instead). We watched a couple christmas specials and called it a day.

All in all a very good weekend. will have the ADVENTure wrap up soon.

ADVENTure Day 15 & 16: Looking Good

2009-12-16T05:05:00.000-08:00

Well hello! It ends up that I can open my ADVENTure gifts without Becca being here, and on top of it, she even claims its ok! So what have we in store?

Day 15
It really seems to be all about timing, because when I need something, ADVENTure provides. Be it food, drink, batteries. Yesterday I was in need of something to wear so I would not be at work looking uncivilized with no shirt, and yet what do I find in my giant box under the tree...
A new sweater. A good fit too, showing off all my quality assets in just the right way to make it look like I have arms and such.

Day 16
I've always liked the Carl Sagen approach to things ever since I saw Contact, which is when you only really need one of something to get by, why not get two? And this applies to most things in life, be it pants or gigantic gyroscopic space and time travel devices.
Now, you may think that new underware is not as exciting as gigantic gyroscopic space and time travel devices (its not), you have to admit that the penguins in sunglasses look a lot more awesome than the guy from Picket Fences who gets blown up by the religious zelot in Contact. well, before anyways.

In other news, I played Paranoia last night for the first time, and it is awesome and needs to be played again. Theres also a possiblity that Becca and I will be doing Christmas at our place, so that means we will need to deck the halls to all levels of holiday gaudiness - more on both of these later.

ADVENTure Day 10-14: Eating and drinking, socked out, and Powered up

2009-12-15T04:21:00.000-08:00

Recently I have been called out for sucking at keeping up with the daily ADVENTure by the international community, by which I mean Luke Milton, who has done the opposite of me and has managed to stay on top of his ADVENTure, as well as sprawl into new territory by reviewing holidays specials as well. Jerk.

Day 10
The scary thing you find when you don't do this daily like you are supposed to is that you start to forget what came when. As you recall, I have started to see a pattern in my daily gifts - food. The 10th day was no different, and is a favorite:
a repeat? Yes, but we knew that the rest of the bag would be finding its way to my belly sooner or later.

Day 11
now this is something new this ADVENTure and just in time too:

Neither of us has done laundry in quite a while, so this seems to be timed perfectly, and I like smartwool socks.

Day 12
another repeater this day, and while we currently do not need it like last time round, I am looking forward to getting to use it:

Day 13
This one was a surprise, and I really don't know what to say on it

Does this mean something deeper in the box will need these? should I use them up now, or should I save them for the future? Can they be used in Day 14's gift....

Day 14

No, but I will eat these as well in good time.

Becca left to go to Connecticut last night for a few days, so I am not certain of the rules and by-laws that dictate ADVENTure, and am not sure if I can open without her being here (wanted to say "present" but it would create this awesome double meaning that would blow your mind, but I need you continuing to read this), but know this friend - THEY WILL BE OPENED

Making Something Special

2009-12-10T04:55:00.000-08:00

Last May you should recall that Becca and myself, as well as the international community (mainly consisting of New Jersey and Western Australia) celebrated the greatest and newest fake holiday known as Lowemannzeit. With this, Becca and I spent time making a short stop-motion animated holiday special known as The Legend of the Norgenchewer, which can be seen here:

With Christmas coming, we've been watching some older holiday specials, including He Man/She Ra, Pee Wee Herman, and John Denver and the Muppets, and have been following friends blogs who have been watching and talking about them as well. This leaves me with a solid conclusion that I must make another holiday special.

So this leads us to the question, what kind of holiday special should I make, let alone for what holiday? Should it be another stop-motion? Should it be full of friends and guests singing and dancing like you'd find in a Bob Hope special? should it be bizarre, long, and depressing much akin to the Star Wars holiday Special? I need your thoughts.

Also, if I am to take this course of action, I may need your help. Are you up for the challenge? or will I be doing it all on my own, and by on my own, I mean Becca will be doing it too. What say you friend, all 18 of you?
This could be you and your excitement to be a part of something you might regret for the rest of your life.

ADVENTure Day 8 & 9: Gorging Myself

2009-12-10T04:31:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a very slow moving long day full of snow that produced nothing much. But thats not what you want to hear at the moment...its ADVENTure you need!

Day 8
Now, you may not have noticed but bread is good. Also, another wonderful thing in the world is beer. This is why having beer with sandwiches or french toast is a great idea. but the amount of work and effort it requires to drink AND eat at the same time can be too much. Enter Day 8...
Day 9
Yesterday had not much time for contemplation of what I received because we opened early and I was out the door and into the snow. this is actually very similar to how every morning starts for me - up and out the door, and in turn I don't really remember to bring anything aside from coffee. In turn, I've become very good at not eating during the day, but some times that just doesn't cut it and I have to break down and get something to eat. Knowing this, becca pickd up a gift card to a place that I tend to frequent due to its closeness to work.

All in all, I'm starting to notice a trend. Its almost as if she is trying to fatten me up...but for what? Better hide the knives.

ADVENTure Day 7: Looking good while I sleep

2009-12-08T04:42:00.000-08:00

Day seven has come and gone, and we are on the verge of day eight, waiting for Becca to wake up, but she better hurry because I needs to gets.

Last night was an ill night for sleep due to a small 18 pound furry feline named Elwyn
Do not let him fool you, he is vicious and cruel. This morning at 3:38am he decided it would be best to come in to the bedroom, purring up a storm and start pawing my face and eating my beard. Naturally, I push him aside and try to continue to sleep. However he is persistent and this continues until he gets bored and will leave. This time, he chose to walk across the night stand, knocking over the lamp, shattering the light bulb all over the floor. Awesome morning.

But Wait! All is not lost, because my sleep was had with my magical ADVENTure day 7 gift - pajama pants

These ergonomically designed sleep attire are the next best thing to a dressing gown for comfort. These are the pants that you want to go to work in because you feel amazingly professional in them and know that they will further your career just by having them. That is why when I was unemployed I would wear my current pair every day to keep me focused and on track with the job hunting.

Day 8 to come soon. The cat, by the way, is currently sleeping on top of my arms between me and the laptop as I type. that is a total of about 7 inches of space. I'm pretty certain my arms and hands are asleep because I don't even know if I am typing this.

ADVENTure Day 4, 5, 6: The Return of Hope

2009-12-06T06:11:00.000-08:00

I want to say that the last few days have been busy and I have not had time, but we all know that would be a lie. What has the last few days brought us in the realm of ADVENTure? Its been very much like the Epic and critically acclaimed film Conan the Barbarian, minus the sex slaves.

Day 4
In recent times, a precious heirloom was stolen from me by the hands of a dendrological smack talking red head that was in the form of a black giraffe bead that was entrusted to me by the mythical Bead King (surprisingly, this is actually true). Hope has been lost and has yet to be restored to me, but I take comfort in knowing that I have this malicious gingers travel coffee mug as a ransom until this treasure is returned to me.
Becca decided to try and speed up the process by giving me a new travel mug of my own in a similiar design so I might actually give the other one back. This is your chance Adams, don't dwell on it.

Day 5
In times not too dissimilar from now, I have been fighting an ongoing war within. It takes the form of plaque and gingervitus, and other hideous blights that has chosen my mouth as its battlefield. The weapons of this war have served me well, but alas, wars toll has been taken on them, just look at how it stands:
Yet, at the dawn of yesterday, a turn in the battle with the morning light - a new toothbrush has been gifted upon me
But whats this? Its not alone!!
Unfortunately for them, the proper feats had been taken to dual-weild, and no penalty shall be had this day. Roll for initiative and be damned.

Day 6
The battle rages on, yet today in the form of hunger. While I have been classically trained in the arts of not eating, this cankerous need still fights its way in once in a great while. And yet, ADVENTure provides to fight this ill-bitch by punching it in the face with this
Its like it is four almost-individually wrapped sticks of peanut butter dynamite to explode it into nothingness. Thats right hunger, your getting the middle finger in the form of alternating layers of peanut butter and wafers covered in chocolate times four today.

In other news, Becca left for a frisbee tournament at 5 this morning, so I've been up and bored. I did watch Empire Records though, so I got that going for me.

Damn the man, save the Empire

ADVENTure Day 3: Good Eats

2009-12-03T20:01:00.000-08:00

Long day and it was all out of sorts, but Becca came to work with me today to work with 3-year olds, so that was good for her, and thats the magic number for the day.

Not only is it Day 3 of glorious ADVENTure, but its also December 3rd, which Would be our 3 month anniversary had we gotten married in September instead of October. Its also how many gifts I got today

I got not one, not two, but thre Reese's peanut butter cups today, which is great because I really enjoy eating these. Now, if they were the christmas ones instead of the traditional everyman peanut butter cup, I would probably not eat them. I'm not secularist towards chocolatey treats that specifically celebrate a certain time of year due to their beliefs. I just believe that they are not good because they choose to look like trees. It may not be the most flashiest of gifts received or to come, but its much better than some of the filler gifts I have in store for Becca. Whats exciting to think about though that that there is an entire bag of these lurking about in the house that I must now find and exterminate.

Huzzah.

ADVENTure Day 2: Drink of Life

2009-12-02T19:51:00.000-08:00

Twice in a day, I must be awesome...why yes I am.

Today is the second day of the radical and bodacious ADVENTure, an event that makes Lumpy wish he was Christian so he wouldn't have to celebrate Life Day by watching Jefferson Starship. Now, I know that you have all been waiting to find out what I possibly could have gotten today since the nail-biting reveal this morning of what I opened yesterday (some sexy fish-themed underware for the lazy who hadn't read up yet). As we all know the second day could very well be a game changer...will it keep in theme with male lingerie and/or fish, or will it go in a completely different direction?

COFFEE!!! A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT DIRECTION AND JUST IN TIME TOO!!!!

As it so happens, we ran out of coffee Monday, and realised it yesterday. Fortunately for me, Becca had visited mystical southern Connecticut recently, and had stolen this treat from local Peruvian inuits who have learned the art of french roasting. God bless those who steal to give to me.

Still curious as to what I have been giving Becca? So are many others - harass her until she makes a blog to share. And stay tuned to see what other lies I tell in regards to the gifts I get.

ADVENTure Day 1: The ADVENTure box and the first gift

2009-12-02T04:50:00.000-08:00

Off to a great start by being late on the first day, so lets get going.

Last year I made Becca an elaborate ADVENTure box that was sealed off to the real world and contained nothing but joyful and magic and christmas cheer, that required you to pierce into it with a sharp knife and cut out your daily gift. This year Becca box is looking a bit lame, so I will have to fix that, but the box that she made for me...Oh boy.

What Becca has done is individually wrapped 24 gifts, and then tethered them to ribbons attached to numbered tags for the days of Advent. Every morning I get to pull out the number tab and follow the ribbon to my joyous gift. Its pretty intense looking inside the box right now.

So, when I pull out the first days gift, this is what I find at the other end of the line:

What can it possibly be? golf clubs? video game? another cat?
No, Its underware! But the are covered in the remains of a thousand dead fish, in celebration of the upcoming Dead Fish Run, so it makes it that much more awesome.

So what did I get Becca? Well, she doesn't have a blog or anything yet, but she was saying she is going to start one to share what she's getting. I'd suggest friending her on Facebook and telling her she needs to start one, even give her suggestions on what to call it. or just post your harrassment here in the comments and I'll make sure to tell her.

And so we return, as it begins

2009-12-01T03:57:00.000-08:00

Hi all.

Just about to set off on at least a 25 day blogging spree, as both Becca and I are taking part in ADVENTure this year, which is going to be awesome. Wait, whats that? you don't know what ADVENTure is? But...what?

The short of it is ADVENTure is the 24 days leading up to Christmas, and in turn you make your own Advent calendar for someone else. And if you're lucky, someone will make one for you. While this will be my first year on the recieving end of it, last year was the kick off inaugeral event, where I totally stole the idea from friends Luke and Suzanne (shh...they may not know)

So what have I been doing since Lowemannzeit? Well, camp came and went, and that was good, only minor issues here and there. Becca and I got married, and you can read about it at Together Without A Map or you can look at photos from our photographer (gallery is "Becca & Michael", password is beccaandmichael if it works). Then we went on an awesome honeymoon to Oregon and Washington, where we stayed in a treehouse, saw the redwoods, went horseback riding, explored Seattle, took part in an adventure race, and had a birthday! We came home two weeks later, and almost immediately fans were hit. Becca got the call from the state, and she had been laid off (the day we got back mind you) and then yesterday her bike was stolen (which was a wedding gift from me to her, and was just paid off the day before)

Thats short of it. Some other stuff happened in there as well, including starting a daily photo blog, A Step Ahead of the Composition. Becca got me a killer camera as a wedding gift, so been trying to make use of that as often as I can. Also, after taking part in the adventure race on the honeymoon, decided that I wanted to run one here, and thus, the Dead Fish Run has been born. But thats to come, so we'll leave that as it is for now. But the Dead Fish Run is coming, tell your friends.

So yeah, thats about it. Pimped five blogs, three of which are my own, not too bad. ADVENTure coverage should be coming this afternoon/evening, but wanted to get something out there while I'm thinking about it.

A Mighty Post-Norgen To You Good Sir

2009-06-08T15:54:00.000-07:00

Two months? Damn.

Lowemannzeit was this past weekend and it was quite a great day. The sun was shining, the breeze was blowing, and the drinks were a flowing. We got some ground to cover, so lets get started with the beginning of last week.

Monday
Lowemadness begins. In preparation for the big day, we needed to work with the International Lowemannzeit Preservation Foundation, or ILPF, in preserving and educating the populous about the joy and wonder that is Lowe. So, a trip out of the offices to our testing ground known simply as "East Sugarballs", we recorded several PSA/How-to videos. They are as follows:

Tuesday
All the Information in the world pertaining to Lowemannzeit is complied into its new official home at Wikimannzeit. This is done on a whim so the ILPF can keep track of what they are talking about.

Wednesday
Wikimannzeit goes live, much to the amazement of everyone thinking that it took many panestaking days and hours for it to look that good. ....yes, yes it did (Quiet Milton)

Thursday
Nothing really happened today, I was pretty busy at work.

Friday
With one more day to Lowemannzeit, everyone is giddy and nothing is getting accomplished. Work is dragging and its almost time to go, but not quite yet. Becca and I are hosting a Norgen Eve portal party since everyone is going to be elsewhere for Lowemannzeit. So, come 5:45 (issues at work caused our 5:00 prep time to be delayed) we are rushing from work to try to get to the costume shop so I can get a Abraham Lincoln hat so I could go as Cyber Lincoln, but they closed 3 minutes before we got there and would not open for us, no matter how much we begged and explained the mysteries of the Norgenchewer (we didn't). So we rushed home to get to the grocery and liquor stores to get supplies for the evening.

So, now that we were fully stocked and making up drinks as we went along (like the El Lowemannero - Tequila and Grenadine with an umbrella) it was time to celebrate properly

Pretty much people came, we drank, we ate, built the portal, and we exchanged gifts. The following are some photographic evidence to chronicle our journey:

Here's Becca in her Lowemannzeit finery, wearing pink fishnets to match.

This is me, wearing my uniform from the 4th Norgen War in Hawaii. You can tell whose side I was on by the color of the lay.

The Viking who showed up to drink and break everything with his own Norgensword. Click it to see the madness in his eyes as he prepares to pillage the woman. The blood will not come out of the couch.

This is our Norgenbait, it has been wrapped in bacon for three days.

This is the cat, infiltrating the present portal. My thoughts towards this is that the cat is taking part in the Norgen pagent, playing the part of the Norgenchewer. No one had it in them to tell him that the pagent was cancelled due to our lack of small children who could remember all their lines.
This is Johnny Depp wearing a viking helmet. Not much else going on here.

And yeah, that is about it. Wonderful time, and now eagerly awaiting next year. Heres to looking for something to fill the void.

to the dads of kids 6-14, i'm sorry

2009-04-10T15:13:00.000-07:00

right now I am waiting for my teen afterschool program at the local imax so i can give them their tickets, but they are running late (by like25 minutes, not impressed). but as i am waiting here I get to see all of the young kids who have been waiting for this day like they would for the norginchewer at lowemannzeit, and the one consistent thing I have noticed today is that everyone who is coming with parents, its 95% dads who are here. I'd like to know how that happened.

I am of course talking about opening day for the hannah montana movie.

having only 3 tv channels on a good day, I have been subjected to watching it on saturday mornings from time to time, and while it is not the worst show out there for kids (thats so raven and suite life of zach and cody however, are) its not really that great by kids standards. So how come its so great and how come dad has to take everyone? If this is the way of things to come when I have kids, I am really hoping that their mom takes them to see rambo 8, cause I would not wanting them to miss out on good parts of their childhood.

well, thats not true, I work with kids who have seen all the saw movies in one sitting and can repeat them verbatum and that is scarry. I guess the moral of the story is I don't like pop culture for kids today, and they should all listen to NPR.

The Script Frenzy NWWBW Challenge

2009-04-01T03:37:00.000-07:00

Suzanne told me (as well as everyone else) about Script Frenzy over at the NWWBW boards and has been rallying everyone to get with the program and do it, and I think I am going to try (and hopefully do better than my 5 word NaNoWriMo masterpiece).

Script Frenzy in a nutshell is that you have 30 days (April 1-30) to write a 100 page script, be it a screen play, graphic novel, tv show, or something else. With at least 5 or 6 people on board at NWWBW, it seems like a pretty good idea to at least try, though I have to be honest with you - going in, I have no plan. My approach will be simple though; be rediculous. I have no notions that my writing is amazing, and I have no intentions of being intentionally deep and/or metaphorical, but rediculous and stupid I can do, maybe even be entertaining in the process (at least to myself while its being written). It'll be a good challenge to do personally, even if it is just to find out I don't want to do it again.

If you think you are going to do it, head on over to NWWBW and talk about it. Thats all I got for now, just felt the need to share.

Being Busy is a Busy Thing

2009-03-27T04:38:00.000-07:00

Its been almost 3 weeks now with a job, and its a crazy thing going from having absolutely nothing to do to not having enough time to do it all in. I'm not complaining, but I'm just saying.

So you know, I took a job at a local Y as the after school and camp director. Its a bit of a change for me since my last job (where I was the camping and youth services director) it was about 85% all about camp, 15% youth enrichment programs (like sports, drawing, painting, and rocketry classes) with support by proxy to the after school program as needed. The new job is about 80% after school programs and 20% camp, so its a drastically different game now that I'm thinking about it, but its been very good. a good working environment, with new responsibilities and a great working dynamic, whats not to love? perhaps what I need to clean up.

The previous guy left back in January, and the position was filled by an interim who did exactly as she was trained to, but the problem was that the old guy trained her to do just the daily stuff, not the billing, not the grant work, not the payroll, etc. Basically all the administrative bits that keep the program going, so I've been working nonstop to try and sort it all out. And I'm happy to say that for the most part, its all sorted out, so now I can actually focus on getting the program better. or getting camp off the ground. Did I mention how there is nothing done for camp yet?

Typically promotion and registration, etc for camp would have started in January. I do not even have a location for the camp to be housed in. Looks like there is a bit more work to go. Again, don't think I'm complaining, because I'm not (venting maybe? don't know, but definitely not complaining). I love this sort of stuff, fixing the chaos. I also knew going in it was going to take some time to get things running how they should.

Oh, also, I finally got an xbox 360 to play in all my spare time. Oh the irony. Been trying to get on it for at least a little bit each day, and a friend loaned me a bunch of games to get me going, but I need to pick up a few new games to play, maybe something that doesn't involve me physically ducking and diving out of the way due to sniper fire like I do with COD4 or absolutely paranoid to whats around the corner and screaming like a girl when something comes out of the dark I wasn't expecting in Bioshock. is there a coloring game maybe? microsoft paint 360? lego games are a must, and will be acquired soon.

Every day is a great day

What I've been watching

2009-03-05T10:12:00.000-08:00

Today marks the 6 month"anniversary" of being laid off, which is pretty amazing to me because it also is the day that I officially have a new job (more on that later, but yay!) The last couple of days I have actually been posting again, which is good because it does serve as a way to inform my avid fan club of my happenings (the MKAFC for those of you in the know), but moreso a chance to look back on things, and what I've done. unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, not much of it has be uber productive. So, what have I done?

Caught up on some TV that I didn't know existed

This has been on and off as I start getting sucked into things. I've managed to successfully watch the entire run of the new Doctor Who series, which, if you have not watched, is absolutely wonderful. Its light-hearted with just the right amount of dark and seriousness for when it needs to be with an overarching plot over the course of each season, while still being able to be watched episodically without having to be aware of the "big picture". In turn, it led to watching Torchwood, its spinoff series, though I've only managed to make it through 2/3rds of the 1st series of this show. Its good, but I just need to be in the right mood for it. Its perfect for those who want a Who-flavored noir show full of sex and sci-fi.

Of recent days I have been devouring Dexter, a show about a serial killer who works for Miami PD who are in turn trying to catch serial killers, but they don't know that he (Dexter) is also a serial killer. For the most part, its fairly predictable, meaning I've been able to properly deduce whats to come a few episodes before it happens, but I've been happy to see that even though I've been right, I didn't see the path until I was on it. Good stuff.

Transitioning from Dexter to another show starring its main character (Michael C. Hall) brings us to another show about death - Six Feet Under. Its a show about a family in the funeral business, and has been enjoyable though we only made it about 4 episodes into the first season, which is right around the time that Beccas mother had died, and suddenly we were ready for a new show for a bit. Not to create awkwardness in my own post.

But, around the same time as that, i was introduced to a Sci Fi channel mini series called the Lost Room, which is the coolest idea for a show I had heard of ina while. There is a room that goes missing (gasp!) in time and space, and many of the rooms contents are shot into the world, except now they each have a power to them, like the bus ticket will teleport whoever touches it to a road outside of a small town in Arizona, or the room key that will open any door into the lost room for you to enter into. once inside, you can then reopen the door to anywhere else. theres more to it, including cults and factions that are searching for the items for varying reasons. The mini series ends with it set up to potentially become a show on Sci Fi, but considering what they had done within the show, it sort of made it difficult to really justify basing a series around it. Now, a RPG would be pretty cool though.

I also have finally gotten around to starting to watch Battlestar Galactica. I've had the original mini series and all of season one for a while now, but just never made the time to watch it. Finally sat down to watch the mini series, and damn. Just in time to have no time again,right?

Exciting News!!

2009-03-04T00:01:00.000-08:00

Today is my cat Elwyns 8th birthday!! Yay!!

Now, I know what you are thinking - why the hell is he talking about his cat, because I do not give a fuck. Well, let me respond to this with my cat is the best cat ever. As in throughout all of time.

Becca and I adapted him through a coworker of a friend who needed to find a home for him quickly. He was her daughters cat who was supposed to take him with her when she moved, but ended up moving into a place that wouldn't allow cats, and then the mothers living situation changed, and Elwyn unfortunately needed to go. He has been living with us since about the beginning of November, and was a bit skiddish, but quickly settled in (like 4 days later, which is pretty quick for a cat this old to be at ease with new owners).

To best describe him, Elwyn is a 200 pound orange and white cat with green eyes. He sleeps, as cats do, but he also secretly fights crime, just like Phantom Zero. When not doing that, he loves to make the rounds sitting in everyones laps or on top of computer keyboards. He fucking rules, and you can be friends with him on facebook if you are not already.
Also, I heard back from the job I was waiting to hear back from. I am their #1 pick. I meet with them again on Thursday to discuss specifics. Thats pretty cool too.

It's been weird lately

2009-03-02T06:37:00.000-08:00

It's been a while, but I haven't really been motivated to do much pertaining to writing of late. I tried to once a few weeks back, but opted to save and reread later when I was able to focus better, which worked out well since it was an absolute train wreck of a post starting with real life superheroes and ending with porn ("how can that be bad?" you say).

This times a bit more focused (and much more sober). I lost my job last fall, and have been unemployed since then. I'm hoping to hear back from an interview today, and from everything I have heard from people is that its all good, but I am not hoping to jinx it until I hear officially one way or the other, though with a nor'easter happening, and the majority of the state in a lockdown, I don't know if that will be happening today. In any case, on the verge of having a new job, I've been thinking back over the last several months and its just been so strange. It's been the first time ever since high school that I have not had a job, and I somehow felt overwhelmed by the fact that I had nothing to do. Typically, when I have nothing to do I like to try and do anything, usually involving building or planning something rediculous (say 13 hour engagements or internet decathlons) but this time round, I just couldn't focus. I had an "awesome" idea for the greatest contibution to the scientific community and had even built a team of intrepid and charismatic science enthusists, but it sort of off and died without meaning to.

Now that I am possibly going to be doing something again, I am almost aprehensive to return to the world and contribute something meaningful once again. The funny thing is that it would be in a job that does pretty much the same thing that I was doing before getting laid off. Go figure.

Like I said, its still to early for anything, but we're all hoping here that it'll happen, apprehension or no. actually having an income will be good again, especially since we have a wedding to pay for.

The Great Crap Swap 2008

2009-01-18T07:49:00.001-08:00

Welcome back friends, this time I post with some more joyous stuff. My last posting was a bit required almost, but now its all bullshit all the time. So lets get started.

So, for the past 4-5 years, We have gone to friends house for New Years Eve to ring in the new year with debauchery and incessant drinking (or something like that), and its a good time for all. One of the things that happens is the Yankee Crap Swap. For those of you not in the know, the Yankee Crap Swap is the same thing as a yankee swap or a white elephant except where as with those you give ho-hum gifts that are not bad but have no use for, in the crap swap anything goes, so long as its not trash (as in literal trash) and you did not buy it. In years past, I have given a night light Jesus and a framed picture of me holding a jug. This year, I feel that I did some pretty awesome gifting. Read on to find out more!

Starting things off right, I thought I would share one that is near and dear to us all, except I took the time to make it PG:
Printed onto a mini postcard sized canvas we had laying around, naked princess leia playing guitar hero also got a second stamp of a golden bra. this makes it 200% sexier than before because if you look closely, you will not that the bra is see through, so it has that extra bit of alure that everyone loves.

Up next, was this picture printed and wrapped in an old package of double stuffed oreos with 3 stale cookies remaining:
the printed one is better looking, but you can follow this link to see it in all its HD glory. Thanks Bill from Pawtuckett!

Now, this one you may or may not recognize, but this is an original by Luke Milton for an event in a contest I held over the summer of 2007, the CMX Decathlon:
This was printed to 8 x 10 and framed. I was happy that the person who got it was excited because apparently she was a closet KBZ fan. Who knew?

And finally, the gift that I loved to give and thought was hilarious when someone opened it and didn't know what the hell they were going to do with it:
Drywall. Man, this was great. I don't think anyone else thought it was quite as funny, but thats why I rule.

And thats it. I ended up with a pretty crappy gift (I think it was an animatronic George W. Bush dressed as a cowboy. I'm not really sure because it was taken outside and I haven't seen it since. I hope he's ok, its cold out there, and i don't think his winning smile and rheteric is going to get him out of trouble in the wilds of Southern New Hampshire).

Off to a Start

2009-01-04T21:03:00.000-08:00

First post back, and I bring you nothing good. In fact, its the exact opposite of good, well, maybe the exact opposide of goods cousin or brother. And, its also not really me bringing it to you either, its moreso Becca sharing it (via facebook and me here to all 6 of you who read this so as to explain my lack of presence) so here goes

So this is hard, and not very good news at all.

My mom, Esther Krest died Friday (1/2/09). We are doing ok here, my brother, dad, Mike and I are all together and doing the best we can. We will be in the process of making services this weekend and the coming week. Thanks again for your kind words and support. We all really appreciate them.

Love, Becca
(Craig, Mat and Mike)

and

Thanks again to everyone for their kind words and support. We have made some arrangements to say our goodbyes to my mom.

Mom's obituary will be listed tomorrow, Monday, January 5th in the Willimantic Chronicle and the Hartford Courant.

Her visitation will be at Potter Funeral Home in Willimantic from 6-8 p.m. on Tuesday, January 6th. We will be holding a memorial service at the First Church of Christ of Mansfield on Thursday, January 8th at 10:00 a.m.

Please, if you or your family are local, please give support to my dad and brother. Though times are tough now, they will defiantly need your support as time goes on. They will need you more then ever in the coming months and year and so on. Thank-you for all that you have done for us and all you will do.

Love, Becca

Needless to say, things are not going well, but they are getting better. I just ask that you keep Becca and her family in your thoughts and hearts.

http://potterfuneralhome.com/funeralwebsites/scripts1/obituary2.php?Counter=2043

Return to Sanctuary

2008-12-23T15:20:00.000-08:00

Operation: Awesome Week has been postponed. This is in part due to me not having many of the movies that I said I was going to watch, a general lack of interest from all parties involved, and this:
When this game came out in 2000, it took over our lives. I was in college at the time, and on a floor of about 20 strapping young men, it was the downfall of at least 4 of the 12 or so that played the game, and became a career for a short while for another one. We played this at all hours of the day and night. On more than one occasion, my friend Keith would kick my door or the wall to wake me up and so I could log in so we could get better drops. Somewhere between then and now I lost my copy of D2, and have been wanting to play ever since I heard the announcement for Diablo 3, but have been holding off due to cost. Well, this week the battlechest went on sale and I had no excuse, so I'm back into it now with a vengeance.

For those of you who don't know the story behind Diablo and Diablo 2, I'll sum it real quick.

Diablo

Diablo moves into the church basement in the local town of Tristam, and convinces everyone in the town that he fucking rules, so they rearrange city ordinances to give him all sorts of building permits to expand his dwelling. the townsfolk are in awe of him and are excited to have jobs again since they haven't in years due to the black plague killing everyone, but when its time for ole Diablo to pay the contractors, he turns them all into succubus and zombies and imps (cutely called Fallen). Deckard Cain is pissed so he calls in the repo men to get their money (thats where you come into the story). the Repo men have to wade through all the shit to find Diablo and take their payment, but he catches on pretty quick since he has survelance cameras everywhere (He's not stupid you know. He knows what Succubus do when they are alone with each other) and sends his hordes after them. If your good enough, you get to his panic room and fuck shit up. when you're finished, he drops a crytal shard, and then you slam it into your forhead for safe keeping. The End.

Diablo 2 picks up more or less where the first one leaves off, only several years into the future. the three repo men that you can play as classes (warrior, sorcerer, and rogue) have gone evil (apparently Diablo made a side deal with them) and the Warrior becomes the Wanderer that you are chasing down throughout the game.

My memories of the game are that the graphics were pretty ahead of their time when it came out, but playing it now it seems that not only have we caught up with the graphics, but have now passed it by a few years. That said, its still pretty good looking, and the cinema scenes are still really well done. The opening cinema left me with chills as I remembered the game.

as soon as I started playing everything slowly started coming back to me, and I am getting more and more excited to play more and more. I made a barbarian named "Running with Scissors" on the US East server, though the game only lets you have 15 characters in the name, so he's really called RunningScissors, but that with is there in spirit damnit. I think I am going to try and max out Leap and whirlwind and just kill everything in a fury of steel and then jump away.

Playing also reminded me of how much I used to smoke while playing the game too and my friend Chuck who was notorious for having multiple cigarettes lit at the same time in different ash trays around the computer while playing and would forget he had them lit and start another one. And Manowar. We listened to a lot of Manowar. Weird.

8 Bit Emanicipation has arrived

2008-12-19T10:17:00.000-08:00

I went out for a walk today to the bank before the snow hits and when I got back home, there was a massively massive package waiting for me from Championland. So, I did what any pre-pubescent 28 year old boy would do, and ran up the stairs to my room to start playing with Pixel Lincoln.

Please note that from here on forward are spoilers and can be considered a walk-through and counts as cheating. only move forward if you wish to disappoint yourself. In the meantime, here is a picture of Gladdys Knight and the Pips:
Ok, now that your ready, here we go. Pixel Lincoln, in case you didn't know, is a side scrolling card game developed by J of Championland (JTagmire at NWWBW) and has been met with rave reviews and takes advantage of some of the most cutting edge game engines out there. Looking through the box, and reading over the instruction manual (yes, there is one), game play is pretty straight forward, and I'll explain as we play. so we fire this baby up and heres what we see:
We have our first level loaded, as well as our life cards, and our dice (we will be using neon yellow today). and now that we have the stage set, lets go ahead and begin
I hope it doesn't do that every time
ok, here we go, first screen. We start the level in our time traveling log cabin (maybe, I might just be making that bit up) and it looks like we have a parachuting cat with a machine gun coming right at us. So...lets roll the dice and move
The way the game works is that you roll a dice and move accordingly, but always to the right. If something gets in your way, you (try to) jump on it, naturally. I rolled a 2, so I'll move right under the parachuting cat. Jerk.

Ok, so now I rolled a 4. You are not supposed to flip the next card until you reach it, but for the sake of journalism, I used a cheat to get a better shot. As it turns out, its a good thing because we have a...shark with a lazer on his head? how the hell am I going to get past this?

As luck would have it, a 4 is exactly what I need to jump the shark (aaayyy!). Jumping is done by moving diagonally up and to the right, followed by coming straight down. You can only jump if you have something in your way, and you can't stay in the air (meaning if you need a 4 to jump the shark, but you roll a three, you are stupid and get eaten by the shark and start the level over again). Ok, so I beat the shark, whats next? Roll the dice and...
A 6!!! Thats amazing!! I'm throwing rocks tonight! but whats that in the distance?

Oh crap, its a 2-headed cow! but watch this sweet move:

HAHA, I rule!
Rolled a 5 and...ah hell no, I hate that duck. He's killed me last time I played

ok, well here we go anyways

ha, fuck you duck. Rolled a 5, and....
Past one lazer-shark, and heres another. Rolled a 4, so 1 jump, 2 down, 3, 4 forward....
Shit.

BOOP-BOOP-BO-BOOOOOOP

Well, its working J, just like my old Nintendo memories. I'm ready to throw it across the room because it isn't fair. That hillbilly on a pig came out of nowhere.

Oh, and looking at the box, my names on it, what better reason to buy it!

Cat Off!!!!

2008-12-17T16:04:00.000-08:00

With Operation:Awesome Week planning underway, its time to do a lot of other stuff at the same time, including learning to sew a stuffed cat, so with that, I introduce
Thats right, one of the greatest competitions ever is about to take place and you can get in on the action! All you need to do is to make a cat. Any pattern is allowed, but keep in mind you don't have much time. Due to international copyright, we only have a window of about 4-5 days total to get your cat made. Once made, post them at the official forum of "Don't Worry They Won't Look For The Bodies Here" at No Week Will Be Wasted. Once all entries are in a winner will be selected and win and arbitary prize!

So hop to it awesomo because

Introduction of Awesome Week

2008-12-16T07:06:00.000-08:00

As some of you may know, I was laid off from my job back in September, and have been actively on the hunt ever since. Although I am still unemployed, I have been averaging an interview a week, and have been trying to keep myself busy and motivated as best I can. As a result of this, I have a lot of free time of late that I have been trying to fill with projects and/or reading, but surprisingly not so much on TV or Movies.

With it being the 16th of December, I am not so confident that much will come about job-wise in the next two weeks, or at least I wouldn't count on being hired and starting before the 1st of the new year, so I thought now would be a great time to introduce the concept of Awesome Week.

Awesome Week, strangely enough, isn't really so much awesome as it is watching movies that are awesome, and things related to them that are also awesome. In addition to watching the movies, I'm going to try to do things related to them as well and will post my plans here ahead of time so you can take part too.

Awesome Week will run for at least 5 days and consists of watching movies that are awesome. Every day will be a different series of awesome movies watched (more or less) one after another. The following is currently in the plans for Awesome Week:

Day 1 - The Star Wars Trilogy
Star Wars is awesome. I've had a falling out with it for a while, but in more recent times have come to appreciate it for what it is and have fallen in love with it again. I mean, something that can inspire people to do this:
and this:
and still have everyone think that what they have done would make George Lucas proud has to be good. The original trilogy will be watched only. Nothing against the prequels, I just don't want to watch them.

Day 2 - Indiana Jones
Indiana Jones is bad ass, and watching four films about him back to back sounds like it could be pretty draining, but this is the sacrafice I am willing to make for Awesome Week. I mean, this man has fought Nazis, Communists, and Cultists just to get nab something that would later be made into a keychain replica that you can buy in the gift store of the museum you're visiting with your family.

Day 3 - Back to the Future

1985 is a pivotal year for everyone, as this is the focal point of all things related to time travel. H.G. Wells knew it, JVCD knew it, and even fucking Doc Brown knew it. Its just a fact that all of human history revolves around this date. This is why it is important to include this three part documentary in Awesome Week. Delorians are pretty cool too.

Day 4 - Lord of the Rings
I've always been mixed bag on LotR, but as a movie series it is good, and I have not watched it in a while, so I'm thinking that it may be the dark horse of the bunch for me. I've never not liked it, but aside from all its epicness, its always been just alright. The fact that I only own the extended versions of it leaves me a bit worried, but I'm tough, I can do it. LotR doesn't get a picture because theres nothing that comes to mind as something that I would want to show off. Yet, I posted a picture of a trashbag Yoda costume....strange.

Day 5 - I don't know
I didn't want to limit Awesome week to only 4 days because its all I can think of (thats not true) but I didn't really know how to best fill this day. Time will tell, but if you have suggestions, please share. A couple thoughts would be Jaws, Pirates of the Carribean, or a Firefly/Serenity mix. Maybe Home Alone 1-5?

So there you have it, my shitty attempt at celebrating awesome movies. in total, were looking at 11 movies minimum, each averaging at least 3 hours (BttF may be the exception, I don't remember how long they are). I don't know if I am actually going to be able to watch everything, or if after the first movie if I will want to continue, or how much the holidays will mess with the plan, but there it is. I also only have LotR, so I may need to move pretty quickly to find the rest of the movies in time. I'm sure in the next day or so I will finalize the plans and offer up the schedule so all can participate in the festivities.

The Great Advent Event

2008-12-15T16:34:00.000-08:00

Christmas is only 10 days away, and I don't think that it has come quite as quickly as it has this year compared to previous years. Trust me, I have checked into it, and there is scientific proof that this holiday season is moving quicker. This means that I don't have nearly as much time to do things as I would like, which is pretty ironic all things considered. Becca and I still need to decorate most of the house, as well as figure out what we are going to do for Christmas cards this year (in years past we have made our own using a combination homemade stamp and a photo taken to commemorate the holiday. We plan to do the same this year, but were slacking), as well as figure out what we are going to do for the day of (stay and host or leave and visit family), as well as gifting for friends and family.

Fortunately, I actually am done shopping for Becca, and have been for some time (surprisingly), thanks to some inspiration from some friends. Luke and Suzanne had decided to create home made advent calendars for each other, and in turn they have been documenting their gifting on their own blogs respectively, and in doing so inspired me to steal their idea and make an advent calendar for Becca, though by the time I got to it, two days had passed, so I had to move quickly and become an engineer. Allow me to show you the "Advent Calendar 5000":

Now, on the outside, it may not look that pretty, and you may think to yourself "thats pretty great Mike, you got her a shitty old box and drew all over it" and you would be right, but this is an engineering marvel that would rival the tallest tower in Japan (which is much taller than you would think)

On five of the six sides to this box are drawn doors to the exact size and measurements needed to get one and only one gift. Becca is to cut open each door (as seen above) daily to get her gifts, leaving her with a box full of holes. But wait, theres more! every day, she gets to reach inside the "one a day" door and pull out an envelope full of puzzle pieces that when assembled will make a puzzle (I know, right?)

Now, I know all you out there are just dying to see the inside of the box, and I have a special treat for you. We have exclusive photos of the inside that you will not see anywhere else online! You don't know what we had to do to get these photos for you, so please enjoy them!

The marvels of modern science will never cease.

Already Off to an Awesome Start.

2008-12-14T18:59:00.000-08:00

Ever get the feeling that you are going to do something so awesome that you constantly think about it all the time, especially when you are not doing it so when you start you will create something that will just blow people away, but then you never get around to starting it? That seems to be what this is turning into.

I think I started this blog about a week or so ago, and everyday since my revelations about the mysteries of the inhabitants of Pluto I have been playing in my mind how great something I am going to write and post here is going to be, but then I go off and watch a movie, or move a fooz-ball table out of my kitchen, and never get around to it. I totally want to write about it all, and I just summarized all sorts of wonders that have filled my past week or so, but then erased it all because you deserve better than just a summary. You deserve the whole damn thing that will leave you in love with me, and not the cute boy meets girl type. I mean the "rent the house next to mine and watch me from the window with inappropriate drawings of me and you together tacked to your walls" in love with me.

So, starting tomorrow I will actually write and post things for you to be amazed by. I share this with you now so that when it comes time to read it all, you will have had time to prepare for it. I would hate for you to be blown away by an antidote I may share and shuffle away with an annurism. To get you through the next few painful hours until it is time to come back and read what I have to say, I have prepared the following three pictures for you to look at, as well as a recipe to pass the time:

Picture #1:

Picture #2:
Picture #3:

Recipe:

Cheesecake Brownies

One 9-inch (23cm) square pan

6 tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
4 ounces (115g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
2/3 cup (130g) sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup (70g) flour
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup (80g) chocolate chips

8 ounces (200g) cream cheese, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk
5 tablespoons (75g) sugar
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Line a 9-inch (23cm) square pan with foil, making sure it goes up all four sides. Use two sheets if necessary. Mist with non-stick spray or grease lightly.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (180C).

3. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and chocolate over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and beat in the 2/3 cup (130g) sugar, then the eggs.

4. Mix in the flour, cocoa powder and salt, then the vanilla and chocolate chips. Spread evenly in the prepared pan.

5. In a separate bowl, beat together the cream cheese, the yolk, 5 tablespoons (75g) of sugar, and vanilla until smooth.

6. Distribute the cream cheese mixture in eight dollops across the top of the brownie mixture, then take a dull knife or spatula and swirl the cream cheese mixture with the chocolate batter.

7. Bake for 35 minutes, or until the batter in the center of the pan feels just set.

Let cool, then lift out the foil and peel it away. Cut the brownies into squares.

Storage: These will keep in an airtight container for a couple of days. They also freeze well, too.

Pluto is not a planet anymore.

2008-12-05T10:39:00.001-08:00

In the last couple of days, this topic has randomly come up in conversation at no fault of my own. Its been,what, 2 years now since they decided that Pluto was no longer considered a full planet, and was downsized to a dwarf planet. There seems to be mixed feelings on this topic from the scientific minds that I have spoken to, but what really concerns me is when is this going to come back to haunt us?

For now, we have no known way of contacting extraterrestrial life if it exists, and since any attempt by Jodi Foster has been officially written off as a failure, we also have no current projects in the works. But what about radio waves? Its been said that radio transmissions once broadcasted will continue for an indefinite period of time, traveling through space, with the possibility of reaching others in the surrounding galaxies. Pluto was originally named and declared a planet by Earth in the year 1930, though word of its existence began ten years earlier when it was referred simply as "planet X". This means that conversations about this planet could have started as early as the 20s when commercial radio was just starting to become popular. Since radio waves travel at the speed of light, word of the discovery of Pluto by earth would have reached them in about 5-6 hours, depending on its current rotational orbit.

This means that for about 10 years, the average Plutonian would have been carrying on conversations with their fellow Voorg (their word, not mine) about what this mysterious "Planet X" that they have heard so much about is? They would have gagued their own theories and cosmologies based on our findings that they thought we were sharing with them as good neighbors. Then, May 1st, 1930, the Earth gives Planet X a name, and its Pluto.

All the Plutonians suddenly go "Holy shit! they've been talking about us all this time" and get pretty irritated by the whole ordeal. How could they have been talking to us all this time and not think it prudent to include us in on this conversation? I would imagine that on a planetary level, their view of Earth suddenly grew weaker. So, for just over 75 years they learn to live with this galactic snub and have moved on, planning to say "thanks, but no thanks" to any offers that were to come from Earth to them in the years to come.

But then, all of a sudden, in September of 2006, a scientist decided that Pluto wasn't big enough to be called a planet anymore. 5-6 hours later Plutos all "WTF Earth?" and theres blood in the air.

This is my concern - we've pissed them off almost 80 years ago, and now we made it worse. There is a very good chance that they are planning an attack and we don't know it because they are not important enough anymore to be a planet, so real scientists (or at least the ones who want a crack at real research money) just don't care. We should be either be preparing for intergalctic war, or start writing a retraction to be read on air by a prominent individual of respect, not loosing spiders belonging to a 3rd grade classroom in space. I'd like to suggest Oprah as our spokesperson, with George Lucas there as well. Why? Well, everyone here seems to like Oprah, I don't think I know a person who doesn't like her. Lucas is there because he gets this sort of thing, but he can't speak because then he'll fuck it up.

Spread Out the Plastic Sheets

2008-12-05T06:29:00.000-08:00

I've been toying around with the idea of starting up a personal blog that actually is a personal blog for a while now. After the huge and continuing success I have had with some professional side ventures, such as When Dinosaurs Attack, I found that I enjoyed writing, but I am not always as professionally minded to continuously write about the seriousness of Science on a daily basis, as the mind can not always process the raw awesome power of digging a hole through the Earth, and needs to expand into other things.

While I don't want to commit myself to writing daily here, I definitely want to try to write and post as close to daily as I can.

As always, stay Vigilant.