Wednesday, October 31, 2007

HP Laserjet 4100

I've learned a few things toiling in the computer mine. The most valuable bit of new knowledge I have gained is how completely worthless UPS is as a shipper. I've learned that if you have an option other than UPS, be it Federal Express, DHL, Speedee Delivery, or a crackhead with a mule, you are better off with the crackhead and their mule than trusting anything with the boys in brown.

The most recent thing that UPS has managed to smash into little tiny bits was an HP Laserjet 4100. No small feat considering that this printer is mostly made out of metal. No cheap feat either considering that this printer used to damage a guy's wallet to the tune of a thousand bucks.

The latest destruction by UPS did allow me to test myself. You see back when I used to work nights at the Dasher Mismanagement dive in Boone I was the master of Milk Crate Toss. I could throw a milk crate into the corral from 70 feet, easy. Nobody could top me for distance and accuracy.

This skill has not come into play much in the last few years, but once I got my hands on that LJ 4100 I knew I needed to see if I still had it. I had Jesse snap some photos of me testing me. It was dark, so these pictures are what they are:



















It makes me wonder how I would still fair in events where I was competitive but not dominant. Events like Jug Kicking, Ditch Hockey or Playplace Tag. I already know that if Jeff Vickers and I were ever to walk onto a Paper Towel Football field we would still dominate the competition.

I'm sure I would be remiss if I failed to point out that my near infinite range with the milk crate did lead me to once hitting The Edge in the head with a milk crate from about 50 feet. Although I felt bad and did take him to the emergency room to have staples put in his head, I still have to admire the throw.

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Tuesday, October 30, 2007

September of 2007

I have finally compiled the video of photos from September. If you do not see a video below, your boss has blocked YouTube.





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Saturday, October 27, 2007

BSVRR!

I mentioned that I was going to celebrate the peak of fall colors with a little train ride. The pictures from the train ride are now posted. Just follow the link below:



BSVRR


It was a very overcast and dark day. That meant a large aperture and slow shutter speed, which is the worst possible combination for landscape pictures from a moving object. Hopefully you will still get the idea.

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Friday, October 26, 2007

I'm Vi Woodcock

One last Kubrick reference for the week and for the people that aren't sick of Kubrick yet*. I feel when discussing retirement or of quitting a job that one loathes the movie most apropos would be Spartacus.

When I had a job I hated I often dreamed of leading my own slave rebellion. A Wage Slave Rebellion. I never got the chance to lead my own rebellion, (even though I am technically still a wage slave) but I do still take the time to enjoy and celebrate when somebody that is dear to me leaves a job they despise. My joy is doubled when their freedom also weakens the evil empire known as Dasher Mismanagement. My joy is tripled when that person is retiring.

This morning I got the joy of attending a retirement party for Vi on her last day chained to the oar at work. It is a great and wonderful day and I look forward to discussing the many things that Vi is getting to do with her new freedom at church on Sundays rather than trying to talk her into retiring. This leaves only a couple of people left that I would like to see escape the demon clutches of Dasher Mismanagement.

Below is a picture of Jay, Vi, and I at the retirement shindig.




I have not imbibed a single morsel of food from a Dasher Mismanagement dive in over 18 months. I confess that I was tempted today to have some milk from their cooler. I looked at it and considered it (because I did not pay for it - I haven't give them on red cent of my money in years) but in the end I just threw it away. (They still lost about 20 cents by my throwing it away. A little victory.) I did not want their poisons flowing into this temple.

* Warner Bros. did release new versions of Lolita and Barry Lyndon on Tuesday. However, since neither one was anamorphic I can't quite figure out why they wasted their time. I will not be purchasing these "new" versions. Who am I kidding? It is 50-50 on whether or not I buy them. The fact that they aren't in snap cases might be motivation enough.

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Thursday, October 25, 2007

The 4th Crack

Some more leaf pictures.

































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Oklahoma

"It had been a wonderful evening and what I needed now, to give it the perfect ending, was a little of the Ludwig Von."
- Alex DeLarge (A Clockwork Orange)


If all things are relative, the loss to Oklahoma on Saturday felt like a win since it was an incredible improvement over the Texas game. I have to admit to feeling pretty good when I left Jack Trice. I did not listen to Beethoven on Saturday night though. I mostly sat around thinking about how I left some necessary documents at work and then fell asleep.

Unfortunately, there are no moral victories. Iowa State did lose. My Beethoven CDs still collect dust. I did however get the pictures from the game up on the website moments ago.


Iowa State Cyclones vs. Oklahoma Sooners


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Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Fuzzy Warbles

"What you got back home, little sister, to play your fuzzy warbles on? I bet you got, say, pitiful, portable picnic players. Come with uncle and hear all proper! Hear angels' trumpets and devils' trombones. You are invited!"
- Alex DeLarge (A Clockwork Orange)


If you are a lover of high quality music, angel trumpets, and/or devil trombones then I have some good news for you. The Boone Big Band is going to be having a show this Saturday. Don't take my word for it, read the following blurb I stole from their invite that I'm now trying to regurgitate as if it was a press release. I learned that trick from the fine reporters at the Boone News Republican.


The Big Band of Boone will be performing at their annual autumn Hangar Dance on October 27th, 2007 at 7 p.m. in Boone, Iowa
.

Many members of the Big Band also perform each summer with the Boone Municipal Band and are either current or former music educators or professional musicians. Big Band members Connie Younger and Paul Navara recruited 18 other talented central-Iowa musicians from Ames, Ankeny, Boone, Madrid, Ogden, Osceola, Renwick, and Stanhope to participate. The band’s repertoire includes classic 40s and 50s era big band music as well as contemporary arrangements of well-known hits.

Big Band members include the following:
Saxophone Section: Connie Younger, Dick Humeston, Laura Britton, Christine Heintz, and Joel Jacobson.

Trumpet Section: Bill Martin, Dan Sprengler, Deidre Malmquist, Linda Younger, Jo Howell, and Steve Weigel.

Trombone Section: Dave Richardson, Larry Moeller, Dale Schoening, Lowell Davis, and Ted Erickson.

Rhythm Section: David Howell on Piano, Dave Swenson on Bass, Mark Astleford on Guitar, and Paul Navara on Drums.

The Hangar Dance will be held on Saturday, October 27th, 2007 at the Boone Municipal Airport in Boone. CY Aviation is co-hosting the event with the Boone Area Pilots Association. Dancing and music begin at 7:00 pm. Seasonal snacks and beverages will be provided and pop will be available for purchase. Dancers and music lovers of all ages are invited to attend. Admission is $10 per person and tickets are available at the door.

When: Saturday Oct 27, 2007
7:00 PM

Where: Boone Municipal Airport
BOONE, IA 50036
The United States of America

***

Now I haven't decide whether or not I'm going to attend, but if YOU'RE not there, I'm not even going to bother. Or will I?

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Pictures Size Test

This blog is just to test how different sized images will look in this journal. The picture is the picture that FNSC and auxiliary member Jesse Howard will be sending to our sponsored child in Uganda if I ever get off my duff and print it up and send it to him.


























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Tuesday, October 23, 2007

The Third Crack

"Oh bliss! Bliss and heaven! Oh, it was gorgeousness and gorgeousity made flesh. It was like a bird of rarest-spun heaven metal or like silvery wine flowing in a spaceship, gravity all nonsense now. As I slooshied, I knew such lovely pictures!"
- Alex DeLarge (A Clockwork Orange)


I might have written that a few weeks back that a certain Tuesday was the greatest New Release Tuesday of the year. When I wrote that remark it was true. However, today's New Release Tuesday has eclipsed that previous greatest day. What was released today to set a new high water mark? Today is the day that the Stanley Kubrick boxed set was released.

I do own all of the Kubrick movies on DVD already (except for Fear and Desire* which is unavailable in any format), but when his Warner Bros. movies were released a few years back the job that was done on the movies was subpar at best. The transfers were not cleaned up in the slightest bit. The transfers were not anamorphic. The soundtracks were mono. There wasn't an extra feature to be found on any disc. To cap off the indignity, since most of these discs were released by Warner Bros. the discs were housed in their terrible cardboard boxes.

I could deal with the lame boxes and the dearth of special features. I could handle the soundtracks being mono because Kubrick released his movies with mono soundtracks. (Not because he feared surround sound soundtracks, but because he did not trust the sound systems of most theaters to divide the tracks properly so he released his movies in mono because they would sound good even on the worst theater's sound system.) The fact that the pictures were not anamorphic was tolerable because I did (and do not) have a television where such a thing would be painfully evident. However, the wretched state of the transfers was sickening. The scratches and the marks. The loss of color. It makes me nauseous thinking about it right now.

Warner Bros. has tried to atone for their past sins by releasing 5 of Kubrick's last 6 movies. Curiously absent from this boxed set is Barry Lyndon. Perhaps not so curious since nobody loves that movie. The new boxed set is anamorphic, has 5.1 soundtracks, 4 out of 5 are are 2 disc special editions, and are in real cases. What about the transfers?

As I sit typing this entry out, I have cracked into the A Clockwork Orange disc. It is easily the best transfer of this movie I've ever seen. The video is pristine and the colors are wonderful. I can't wait to crack into 2001: A Space Odyssey, Full Metal Jacket, Eyes Wide Shut, and The Shining. I'm also excited to watch the documentary about Kubrick included in the boxed set.

My hope is that some other studios (and Warner Bros. because they still own the rights to some of his other movies) release some very good DVDs of his other movies. As of right now there are really only passable DVDs of Spartacus and Dr. Strangelove. I would definitely like to see improved versions of one of my personal favorites Paths of Glory, Lolita, and even the much maligned Barry Lyndon. I can handle the current versions of The Killing and Killer's Kiss, but I wouldn't mind seeing better versions of those movies as well. I guess I'll have to wait and see what happens.

To sum up my feelings about the new boxed set in terms that Alex DeLarge would understand, "It makes me feel real horrorshow!"


Enough about Kubrick, below are some pictures from Saturday.


















































* This was thought to be a lost film, and one researcher, Mark Carducci, had suggested that Kubrick destroyed the negative following the death of Joseph Burstyn, the film's distributor. Bootleg copies abound, however, and there is one (legal) print in all of the Americas. It is located in the Kodak archives in Rochester, New York; the Kubrick estate allows viewing of the film with the provisos that it is screened by individuals (not groups), that the print never leaves the building in which it is housed, and that it cannot be duplicated in whole or in part.

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Does Size Matter?

This week's full Moon will be the largest full Moon of the year. The two days to get outside and enjoy the largest full Moon of 2007 are Thursday and Friday. I lifted this article below from SpaceWeather.com for your perusal if you are interested in more information.

This week's full Moon is the biggest full Moon of 2007. It's no illusion. Some full Moons are genuinely larger than others and Thursday night's will be a whopper. Why? Read the answer below.






The Moon's orbit is an ellipse with one side 30,000 miles closer to Earth than the other. The full Moon of Oct. 25-26 is located on the near side, making it appear as much as 14% bigger and 30% brighter than lesser full Moons we've seen earlier in 2007.

In the language of astronomy, the two ends of the Moon's orbit are called "apogee" and "perigee." Apogee is the farthest point, perigee the nearest: diagram. This week's full Moon is a "perigee Moon" with extra-high "perigean tides."

The Moon is 14% bigger, but can you actually tell the difference? It's not so easy. There are no rulers floating in the sky to measure lunar diameters. A fun experiment: Take a friend outside Thursday night and ask if they notice anything unusual about the Moon. Explain perigee after they answer.


Source URL: Space Weather

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Friday, October 19, 2007

Possible Preview

This might just be a preview for a new feature of this website or at the very least, a new endeavor for yours truly and Mr. Janson. If you do not see a video below, your boss is blocking YouTube.






I am planning on going to see Things We Lost in the Fire this Sunday, so the review could conceivably be up some time next week.

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Thursday, October 18, 2007

Crack 2

Images from today.













































































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Wednesday, October 17, 2007

First Crack

I took my first crack at some fall pictures during my lunch break today. I wasn't 100% pleased with anything. However, I will go back out for my lunch break tomorrow with a guy holding an umbrella. That guy is Jesse. It is good to have him back at the mine.

Hopefully I will be able to get what I'm looking for tomorrow. I've made a commitment to only eat out for lunch one day a week in an attempt to eat healthier and save some scratch. This has been going pretty well and it opens up my lunch breaks to pursue my other interests.

So below is the best of what I captured today.



















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Sunday, October 14, 2007

Texas Sized Beatdown

"Sorry don't get it done, Dude. That's the second time you hit me. Don't ever do it again."
-John T. Chance
Rio Bravo (1959)


The Iowa State-Texas game was over about 2 minutes into the sad, sordid affair. It was a rainy, gloomy day. The pictures from this debacle are up on the website any way. I think the highlight of this new gallery might be a picture of Jay on his way to a lumberjack competition.


Iowa State vs. Texas

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Whoops!

You know how newspapers can print absolutely anything despite the facts and then when somebody actually calls them on it they run a retraction buried on page 12F in the smallest font imaginable? Well I'm not a newspaper. I'm not anybody even pretending to be a news outlet. So I'll print my retraction right here.

This weekend wasn't the weekend when fall colors are going to peak in Central Iowa. It is next weekend. I made this mistake because I still haven't gotten any quality sleep and I labored under the thought since Friday that this weekend was the weekend of the 20th.

So I will celebrate next weekends fall color explosion (although predictions are for a moderate explosion at best) with going on a train ride.

I did go out with my new toy on Friday night, but realized that I forgot to grab a battery. So I had to drive back to Boone after FNSC. By the time I got back out to a relatively low light pollution zone, the clouds that had parted while I was at McFarland Park had come back. In the end, it was a fairly barren source of amusement.




















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Friday, October 12, 2007

A Very Non Exciting Announcement

I was counting up the ways that a person could make contact with me and I decided that I needed one more way. So I actually took the time and energy and told the guy that hosts my website (Frank) to give me an address at my own domain. So now if you want yet another e-mail address to write to me at:


bennett@photography139.com


There might* be a prize for the first person that e-mails me at my new address.

I am excited that this weekend will be the peak of fall colors this year in Central Iowa. I hope you are able to spend some time outside this weekend to enjoy the beauty of nature. I think I might just celebrate by taking a train ride.

The Fausts are going to be joining FNSC this evening. They have been given the rare privilege of picking the location for FNSC. This is a very rare honor only given to the most highly regarded. They did not make a mistake with their choice. They have chosen the West Street Deli, which is home to the world's best club sandwich. I'm not joking about it. If you haven't had the club at The West Street Deli you are missing out.

Tomorrow is an exciting day as well. The Iowa State Cyclones will attempt to BBQ the Texas Longhorns. I have little doubt that the Cyclones will leave Jack Trice Stadium victors, but that isn't why tomorrow is so exciting. Tomorrow is exciting because Jay and Derrick are attending their first Faust tailgate. They will get to witness first hand Faust doing his Johnny Cash impersonation (it involves standing on the cooler) and after the game, they might get to see him bust out the Humpty Dance. Although the real highlight of any Faust tailgate is watching him yell at Bret over the music selections. Nothing is better than Faust getting mad when Bret won't play "Not as Good as I Once Was". He points at his damaged foot and screams, "That's my song. I'm not as good as I once was". Priceless merrymaking.

I should make a confession. Almost a month ago, Stephanie gave me the Sufjan Stevens album Illinoise. She was really interested in me giving her feedback on my thoughts about the album. I think she was hoping for me to just agree with her that it is one of the greatest albums of all time. The problem is that she also gave me a copy of the Eric Lindell album Change in the Weather. I just can't bring myself to listen to the Sufjan Stevens album because I LOVE the Eric Lindell album so much. In fact, I've taken to surrounding myself with a constant flow of music from the following albums: Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace** by the Foo Fighters, Change in the Weather by Eric Lindell, Once the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, and Every Second Counts by Plain White T's. I hope to add Shannon Curfman's album Fast Lane Addiction to the mix, but I have to find some place that is selling it first. Stupid Best Buy. Stupid Target. I'll get to Sufjan, I swear it. Just not on anything important.

I received some exciting news this week. I'm not ready to share that information yet, but if you want a sneak peek, you can head over to the FUMC in Boone on Wednesday night at 7 pm. You will want to go to the parlor. There are a couple of strings attached. You have to be a woman, lady, female, or girl and you have to be interested in knitting, crocheting, quilting or something of that ilk. I'll just leave this tease stand for now. Hopefully I will have a picture next to make you understand why I'm excited. Well I can't make you understand anything. It will be an illustration of my excitement though.

I got another new toy for the "rig"*** a couple of weeks ago. I'm hoping to go out tonight and get some use out of it. If everything works out there might be some interesting night pictures in our future. Makes you wonder what toy would help with night photography, doesn't it!

*By "might", I mean there isn't a prize.
** Even though Cory from work disagrees with my assessment, I think this album is pushing "The Colour and The Shape" for the title of the best Foo Fighters album.
*** Terminology used by the dude who annoyed me a couple of weeks ago.

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Thursday, October 11, 2007

Renaissance

"Every renaissance comes to the world with a cry, the cry of the human spirit to be free."
-Anne Sullivan Macy


Jesse has been sitting on his couch for the last eight weeks watching reruns of Hannah Montana and dreaming of a day when he could return to his office at the computer mine. Today he walked into the mine and handed me a note:





You might not be able to read the scribbling of a doctor, but I can assure you that this note says that Jesse will be returning to work on Monday. He is pretty excited to be returning to work, even though he will miss Hannah, Lilly, Jackson, Robbie, Oliver, and Rico.

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Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Slake

I've always been the type of person that feels that anybody that is getting much over 6 hours of sleep is a big iris*. How much sleep does a person really need? Do you want to spend 1/3 of your life or more sleeping? 25% is all the sleep time you are getting out of me lifetime!

For the seventh straight day I've gotten close to 8 hours of sleep. This has not made me a well rested and content individual. On the contrary for 7 straight nights I've had very vivid dreams, the entire night. I would not say that they are weird dreams. One of the word orderings that escapes the mouths of others that annoys me the most is "Dude, (yes most of my friends start their sentences with the term 'dude' because they are surfers) I had the weirdest dream last night." Almost all dreams are weird compared to our daily existence. For me to have a dream I considered weird in the context of the dream world, the dream would have to be completely mundane.

I would fall asleep and have a dream where I was making macaroni and cheese on the stove, while watching re-runs of Scrubs followed by The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. This would be weird, because every day that I don't have a post computer mine social engagement, I go home and make and eat supper while watching re-runs of Scrubs, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report on Comedy Central. It would also be weird because I hate macaroni and cheese. I even hate cheese and macaroni.

It is weird because I am not the type of person that usually remembers their dreams. I can literally go months without remembering a dream. That is the ideal situation for me. I can't shut my brain off during my waking hours. Not really. If I am awake, I am thinking. I have problems shutting my brain off to go to sleep. I finally learned in the last few years that the best way for me to shut my brain down and fall into the sweet darkness of rest is to listen to talk radio. The banality of Michael Reagan or the Coast to Coast guy allows my brain to just shut off and give me a break from it.

I'm not a person completely devoid of dreams. I have one recurring dream that I thought would have gone away at least 5 years ago, but instead still waits to meet me in the night on occasion. I also on occasion have the dream that predicts the future. When I write that these dreams predict the future, I don't mean they predict the future in the way John of Patmos, Nostradamus, or fortune cookies (I'm still waiting last fortune cookie fortune) predict the future. More in the way that I'll be in a sometimes mundane event and have an overwhelming feeling of already having this experience and then I will realize that I dreamed this event a few days prior. While this phenomenon (although in actuality almost a statistical certainty rather than a coincidence or divination) did occur at least once last week, these are not the type of dreams I've been experiencing.

The dreams have been very vivid. The problem is that I'm not getting my vacation time from my brain. The problem is that I'm sleeping longer than I normally do and when I wake up, I'm more tired than I was when I went to sleep. Every morning I wake up and feel more tired than I did the day before.

So if my brain short circuits in the next few days and I do something stupid like get into performance art or buy a Kid Rock CD or eat at Happy Joe's or watch CSI: Miami or read US Weekly it isn't my fault. My brain has permanently shutdown.

* I recently learned that the President of the Central Iowa United Way receives $153,058 in compensation, so I've decided that I need to start my own charitable organization. My charitable organization is going to attempt to raise awareness about the toughness of the pansy and defame and humiliate the iris based on its feebleness. This new charity has yet to have a name.

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Tuesday, October 09, 2007

New Post Secret Book

Today is the day the new Post Secret book is released. To celebrate an event of this magnitude, I've decided to throw up some of my favorite postcards from the past. (Okay in reality a lot of these postcards are the ones currently on the Postsecret website.)






















































Sara is currently taking a class on "Art Therapy". This is the first time since her return to higher education that she has taken a class that sounded interesting. Sara is the person that really turned me on to PostSecret. Today she is doing a presentation on PostSecret for her Art Therapy class. This weekend I spent some time downloading the video below off of YouTube and putting it on a disc and teaching her how to use VLC. She is just hours from using the video in her presentation. I know that it will go well. I'm an excellent teacher. I have posted this video before, but I'm posting it again because I like it so darn much.




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Sunday, October 07, 2007

Amy's Wedding

The gallery of pictures from Amy's wedding is up for those interested in perusing such a thing.


Amy's Wedding

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Johnny Consumer

I'd like to think that I had a better than average week this week. It started out poorly as the Padres lost to the Rockies in a play in game and despite the fact that the umpire blew the call that gave the Rockies the win, I accept the loss because the umpires also blew a call that would have given the Rockies another run and ended the game in their favor after 9 innings.

Tuesday night I got the pleasure of changing the spark plugs in my car. So now when I'm cruising up the entrance ramp on my way home from work the engine doesn't misfire or hesitate. Then on Wednesday night I changed out both front wheel bearings on the car, so now instead of listening to an intense grinding noise where ever I go, I hear only the sweet hum of my engine and whatever tune is currently emanating from the iPod.

In all honesty (I worry that I'm pointing out my honesty too much lately, which might make me seem like a less than honest person. Truth be known, I'm an honest person face to face. It is only in these blogs that I tell half truths [such as there is no Book of Maximum Overdrive - at least one that isn't a prophetic text] to slightly skew the perspective of these tales.) it is my brother-in-law Jason that actually changed the sparkplugs and the wheel bearings, but I did stay in the garage to provide enlightening and engaging conversation, in addition to moral support.

On Thursday night I got myself a haircut from Monica. During that time I learned that Monica had briefly dated a guy that played the bagpipes. I couldn't believe that she had broken up with a piper. I know the strong spell that the sound of bagpipes put on the women folk, even though this "fact" was called into question by some women folk on Saturday night, I stand by my assertion.

After the haircut, I attended an Ames Jaycees meeting with Shannon. It is the contention of Shannon that if I were to join the Jaycees, I could take pictures of "ground zero" at next year's Independence Day fireworks display.

The meeting took place at the Jaycees haunted house which is just north of the Halloween "Bootique" in North Grand Mall. The meeting began with a tour of the haunted house. This year they are having a pirate themed haunted house that is sure to scare the "ship" out of you. Don't blame me if you didn't like that play on words. I'm just reporting the facts.

After the tour everybody was guided back to an extremely large bathroom where the meeting was held. I think that Shannon thought that this aspect would be my favorite part of the meeting. This aspect was amusing, but it wasn't my favorite part of the meeting.

A little while back I (at least I believe) mildly offended Shannon by calling her hyper-organized. She confessed (yes I'm acting like being organized is a crime) to be organized, but not to an insane degree that one would need to use or even manufacture a label such as "hyper-organized" and apply it to her.

Shannon is a Jaycees bigwig. Although I don't believe that I'm revealing any Jaycees secrets by letting you know that in fact the bigwigs do no wear big wigs, to indicate the amount of power within their grasp. They just sit at the front of the room.

There were times when the meeting would seem to lose its focus. I would describe the meeting as having gone off on a tangent because of my love for mathematics. Others in the room would describe such a set of circumstances as "chasing rabbits" based on their love for Jefferson Airplane. Regardless of what euphemism you would use to describe the situation, on at least three occasions Shannon had to redirect the meeting to bring it back to its agenda prescribed focus or to point out some error the meeting had made in parliamentary procedure. Each time, despite a game effort to conceal it, she clearly displayed an amount of irritation. These moments were my favorite aspect of the meeting. But she isn't hyper-organized.

After the meeting I went out to supper with Monica and Suzie. It was an excellent opportunity to learn more about the piper. However, it was slightly disappointing as it turns out the piper never once fired up the bagpipes for Monica. Although he did once show her is rather large and extensive collection of bagpipe CDs.

FNSC met at Dublin Bay. There is not a tremendous amount to report from those proceedings. Just the usual. Trying to get Willy to sign off on one of us wearing a bear suit and jumping out and surprising the people he hikes with on Saturdays so that he could look like a hero in front of them when he wrestles the bear and wins.

On Saturday night I was spared listening to the Cyclones thrashing by Tech by going out to eat with Russell, Andree, Jason and Janelle to celebrate Janelle's emancipation from Dasher Mismanagement.

This was a good time as I learned that Jay "Mr. Secret" Janson has been keeping a secret from me, again. You have to keep an eye on that guy and that Janelle is actually more over insured than I am.

It is always an enjoyable night with those guys as I get to listen to Russell reveal one crackpot sports opinion after another. (Texas Tech is a top 25 team, Nebraska is going to be good this year, Bill Calahan is a good coach, Terrell Davis isn't a Hall of Famer, the Celtics are winning the East next year) Then Jason gets to try to defend the Chiefs and Andree provides the only other voice of reason. Janelle is a Cubs and Bears fan, so it is was a good time watching the Diamondbacks eliminate the Cubs. The highlight of the night being when the Cubs loaded the bases with one out and some Cub grounded into a double play to end the inning. As for the Bears? Just discussing the NFL in front of a Bears fan is usually punishment enough for them. Some of them actually thought the Bears were going to be good this year.

After the Emancipation Celebration, I hopped into my quiet smooth running car for the trip down to Beaverdale for Sara's birthday party. I had been charged with the task of inviting her Boone County friends to the party. Although I was diligent in my duty, I was also derelict in my execution.

I spread the word, but I spread the wrong time. In fact, it wasn't until late Saturday afternoon that I learned that I had spread misinformation. Due to a new set of signs(indicating the need for quiet to facilitate or respect the "world class support" going on in our midst) at the computer mine, I now have my phone on vibrate all the time and now I never get my calls.

I missed a call from Jen. She called to tell me that the party was at 8, which was super since I told everybody 7, and asked if I would like to carpool with them down to the social event of October. However, I would not be able to reach her at home because she was going shopping. I would not be able to reach her on her cell phone because the battery was dead. Furthermore, I would not be able to reach Derrick on his cell phone because he had left it at home. Therefore I was to call Derrick at work and reveal my answer.

Sara's party was yet another stunning success. I can't lie. Sara goes through a dizzying array of Des Moines friends. They usually range from intolerable to "how has this person not been choked to death?" Sara's party last year was a quick adventure for me. I made it 5 minutes before it was time for me to leave.

However, the current crop of Des Moines friends are keepers. I look forward to seeing them at social engagements in the future. I even learned their names for future reference. Something I've never done in the past.

Also, I got to discuss the movie "Once" with Derrick. That was another win for me, because at this time, I really enjoy discussing this movie.

Now might be a good time to discuss the future. Not the important future. Just the future of where some of my money is going to go.

As everybody knows, Tuesday is the day that new movies, CDs, and books get released. This coming Tuesday might be the greatest Tuesday of 2007.

Why?

Two great things are being released on Tuesday. First is Stephen Colbert's new book "I Am America (And So Can You!)". Secondly, a new Post Secret book is being released. I can't wait.

I'm so excited I just think I might embed a video about Post Secret.


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Monday, October 01, 2007

Clans

I wrote recently that the Herrick family was always intertwined with the destiny of the Bennetts. There is another family that also has always been side by side with the Bennetts. That clan is the Maddux clan.

I don't think that I had seen a single Maddux this year until Saturday at Amy's wedding. I took the opportunity to get my picture with Scott and Mike. Logan took the picture.







After the picture was recorded Mike wanted to know if we should go to the backyard and play some baseball. I was game, but it did raise a question for me. Do they still make Nerf baseballs?

After that picture was taken we added Earl and Curt to the picture. Teresa took the next picture.







If you are wondering, yes Curt has won a few mustache contests in his day.

I learned how some of my family's and friend's family's histories are more intertwined than I had known.

Willy's grandma passed away on Thursday. For the last couple of months my mom has been a volunteer visiting people in the nursing home. One of the people that she has been visiting is Willy's grandma.

I thought it was kind of a strange quirk of destiny that my mom would be visiting one of my best friend's grandma's, but they had a connection that actually dates back further than my friendship with Willy.

Willy's grandma used to run the high school cafeteria kitchen. My mom worked for her for one year.

Sunday was the visitation. I was looking at the pictures of Willy's grandma's 1933 softball team with Willy when Curt walked in. It was strange because I haven't see any member of the Maddux clan for over a year and now I have seen them on consecutive days.

It turns out that Willy's grandma was Curt's aunt. One of those "small world" things.




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