Saturday, December 31, 2005
Monday, December 26, 2005
Good News/Bad News
Ok, so the bad news first. That's how it goes, right? We noticed that Spaz (that's what we named our hamster) was not happy and was getting more lethargic and depressed looking each day. She also smelled horrible and wasn't eating. So we took her back to Petco on Saturday to see what was up. Turns out she had wet tail, the hamster version of diarrhea. I felt horrible when the salesperson told me that she probably got it from us not washing our hands before we touched her or something like that. I already was sick and was hopped up on cold medicine so I got kinda weepy when we decided to just return her and have her treated in the store.
The good news is that we picked out a different hamster and brought him home. Well, Adam kind of picked him out because I was scared and sniffling. He picked a male that was kind of running up to the glass begging to be taken home. On the way home he got ahold of one of the air holes in the box and almost chewed his way out. I had to cover the hole he ripped open so he wouldn't escape into the car. While we cleaned out the cage and washed everything off to make sure no wet tail germs remained, we stuck him in the old cage where he preceded to chew on anything he could get his teeth around. When we got him into the new cage he explored for a bit and then went to work chewing at various parts of that cage. It was decided that "Chewy" was an appropriate name because it's apparently his favorite pasttime, followed closely by obsessive cleaning and food hoarding.
He's being a much more normal hamster with a healthy appetite and frisky personality. This leads us to believe that Spaz probably was sick before we got her here and it just got worse over the week we had her. This doesn't make me feel completely better, but it helps.
He's cute too... and he's scared of me, just like Spaz was...
The good news is that we picked out a different hamster and brought him home. Well, Adam kind of picked him out because I was scared and sniffling. He picked a male that was kind of running up to the glass begging to be taken home. On the way home he got ahold of one of the air holes in the box and almost chewed his way out. I had to cover the hole he ripped open so he wouldn't escape into the car. While we cleaned out the cage and washed everything off to make sure no wet tail germs remained, we stuck him in the old cage where he preceded to chew on anything he could get his teeth around. When we got him into the new cage he explored for a bit and then went to work chewing at various parts of that cage. It was decided that "Chewy" was an appropriate name because it's apparently his favorite pasttime, followed closely by obsessive cleaning and food hoarding.
He's being a much more normal hamster with a healthy appetite and frisky personality. This leads us to believe that Spaz probably was sick before we got her here and it just got worse over the week we had her. This doesn't make me feel completely better, but it helps.
He's cute too... and he's scared of me, just like Spaz was...
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
New Family Member
We went and bought a hamster on Sunday evening. I don't really remember how the whole subject came up but we talked about it for like 2 days and then went out to Petco and bought one. It's a light brown teddy bear (female.) We don't have a name for her yet, but Spaz or Psychotic seem appropriate. She is so skittish and nervous all the time. Maybe it's just because she seems to hate me... I don't know. But she needs to calm down or else she's going to give herself a heart attack.
I'm sure there will be a ton of pictures of her on this site. She's so cute... She needs a bigger cage though. She is a lot bigger than we thought she was. We're working on that...
I'm sure there will be a ton of pictures of her on this site. She's so cute... She needs a bigger cage though. She is a lot bigger than we thought she was. We're working on that...
As promised...
Not a very good picture of the license, but you can still see the horrible red gradiant thing they went with...and my awful, awful picture. *sigh*
Friday, December 16, 2005
Dumb Commercials
There are some really dumb commercials on tv this time of year. There are certain stores I will never shop at/item I won’t buy simply because their commercials annoy me. Most famously for that is Van Vreede’s. Their commercials are just pictures of their merchandise with this obnoxious voice-over by this man and woman. Right now their thing is no interest, no payments, no down payment etc. The lady says the “no” part and the guy says the other part. But she says it gradually louder until she’s yelling. No interest, NO payments, NOOOOO down payment!. It’s so annoying! I hate Van Vreede’s.
Another obnoxious commercial are those Welch’s grape juice ones with that little girl. Her voice alone is grating. Add to that the stupid dialogue and her screaming “forty” at the end of the purple grape one. Ugh! Good thing I don’t like grape juice in the first place because I definitely wouldn’t be buying Welch’s.
Winning the prize for most unrealistic is the current Aleve commercial. In each situation, this person doubles over in pain and whoever is with them whips out this box of Aleve and says, “Here, try this.” Who carries around Aleve still in its box? How ridiculous…
Don’t even get me started on those Stein Mart commercials. Who wears clothes like that? *shudder*
Then there are these LoanMax commercials. They had some on tv last year which were more disturbing than annoying. They had this big dude (think Jolly Green Giant) dressed up as an elf and this little dude (think Mini-me) dressed as Santa. For some reason he was driving this miniature car. It was just odd… I haven’t seen that yet this year, but now they have some radio spots. It’s quite obvious that these commercials were made in a different part of the country. As a native Wisconsinite, I realize we have quite the accent and an uncanny ability to completely change the pronunciation of any word just because we feel like it. Like the lake right next to 21 is Lake Butte des Morts. Proper French dictates that this should be pronounced “Beuooht day more.” But no, here in Wisconsin, it’s “beudemore.” Anyway, in this commercial they list off locations of their businesses in the area. The announcer pronounces Fond du Lac quite correctly “Fon doo lock”, but anyone from this area knows it’s really pronounced “Fon duh lack.” They pronounced Green Bay with the emphasis on “Green” when anyone from around here knows the emphasis is on “Bay.” They don’t really mess up Appleton, but that’s kind of hard to mispronounce. In this commercial they even have weird pronunciation of car and cash and catch. It’s the “a” or something. I don’t know. It just bothers me every time I hear the commercial.
Another obnoxious commercial are those Welch’s grape juice ones with that little girl. Her voice alone is grating. Add to that the stupid dialogue and her screaming “forty” at the end of the purple grape one. Ugh! Good thing I don’t like grape juice in the first place because I definitely wouldn’t be buying Welch’s.
Winning the prize for most unrealistic is the current Aleve commercial. In each situation, this person doubles over in pain and whoever is with them whips out this box of Aleve and says, “Here, try this.” Who carries around Aleve still in its box? How ridiculous…
Don’t even get me started on those Stein Mart commercials. Who wears clothes like that? *shudder*
Then there are these LoanMax commercials. They had some on tv last year which were more disturbing than annoying. They had this big dude (think Jolly Green Giant) dressed up as an elf and this little dude (think Mini-me) dressed as Santa. For some reason he was driving this miniature car. It was just odd… I haven’t seen that yet this year, but now they have some radio spots. It’s quite obvious that these commercials were made in a different part of the country. As a native Wisconsinite, I realize we have quite the accent and an uncanny ability to completely change the pronunciation of any word just because we feel like it. Like the lake right next to 21 is Lake Butte des Morts. Proper French dictates that this should be pronounced “Beuooht day more.” But no, here in Wisconsin, it’s “beudemore.” Anyway, in this commercial they list off locations of their businesses in the area. The announcer pronounces Fond du Lac quite correctly “Fon doo lock”, but anyone from this area knows it’s really pronounced “Fon duh lack.” They pronounced Green Bay with the emphasis on “Green” when anyone from around here knows the emphasis is on “Bay.” They don’t really mess up Appleton, but that’s kind of hard to mispronounce. In this commercial they even have weird pronunciation of car and cash and catch. It’s the “a” or something. I don’t know. It just bothers me every time I hear the commercial.
New License
I forgot to mention previously that on Monday we went to the DMV to finally get our addresses changed. Only took a couple months… If I’m feeling brave perhaps I’ll take a picture of my new license. I decided to get a completely new one since my old one said I lived in Sheboygan and had the glaring red box around my head announcing that I was underage. The new licenses are pretty ugly. They’ve got this red gradient thing going on. My picture isn’t the greatest either. I look retarded. *sigh* Of course Adam’s picture came out all cute. Grrr. Life is unfair. :(
The Apprentice Finale
So the Apprentice finale aired last night. (The Donald version, that is.) I actually fell asleep while watching the Discovery Times channel so I missed the first 15 or 20 minutes of the program. The show was scheduled to go to 2 hours. Surprisingly, the first hour and a half was made up of the carrying out of the final tasks with minimal introduction and stupid comments from Donald and the announcer at the live party out in New York. After all of that, Donald spoke briefly with the eliminated candidates. I must say that Alla has really disappointed me. From the beginning of the season, she was one of my favorites. If you recall I actually predicted that she had a good chance of winning. All of the sudden in the last two episodes she turned into this monumental bitch with such an attitude that even Donald told her to shut up numerous times. Last night was no exception. She jumped all over Rebecca seemingly unprovoked and Donald had to tell her to back off yet again. *sigh* Is she ticked because everyone knows about her pole-dancing past or something? Yeesh.
This finale had little of the suspense or uncertainty of past seasons. It seemed from almost the beginning that Donald intended to hire both Randal and Rebecca. I mean this whole season has been out of the ordinary with multiple firings on one night and the total elimination of a team twice. When the candidates chose opposing projects it seemed to solidify that hunch. So when Donald said, “Randal, you’re hired” I really wasn’t surprised when he interrupted Randal’s celebratory dance and asked him to come back to the conference table. I WAS surprised when Randal did a 180 and let his ego get in the way of who he had projected himself to be throughout the whole interview process. When Donald asked if he thought that Rebecca should be hired as well, Randal selfishly proclaimed that the show was called “The Apprentice”, not “The Apprenti” (which, by the way, is NOT the plural form of apprentice…it’s not even a word! Nice going Rhodes scholar with 5 degrees…) so there should only be one - him. The crowd quite rightly booed while the credits rolled.
Last season it seemed that it would have been the right thing to do to hire both of the ladies in the final two. Kendra and Tana were two very different people and each one was suited for one of the two projects Donald lined up. It was a shame he chose to hire just Kendra. This season was even more shocking. I’m still hoping he’ll come back and tell Randal to get bent and hire Rebecca anyway. I think Randal lost a lot of supporters with that stupid move. It was totally out of character (unless he was just acting this entire time and this is a glimpse of his real self…)
All in all, a rather disappointing ending to an otherwise entertaining season. Kind of left me with a bad feeling.
This finale had little of the suspense or uncertainty of past seasons. It seemed from almost the beginning that Donald intended to hire both Randal and Rebecca. I mean this whole season has been out of the ordinary with multiple firings on one night and the total elimination of a team twice. When the candidates chose opposing projects it seemed to solidify that hunch. So when Donald said, “Randal, you’re hired” I really wasn’t surprised when he interrupted Randal’s celebratory dance and asked him to come back to the conference table. I WAS surprised when Randal did a 180 and let his ego get in the way of who he had projected himself to be throughout the whole interview process. When Donald asked if he thought that Rebecca should be hired as well, Randal selfishly proclaimed that the show was called “The Apprentice”, not “The Apprenti” (which, by the way, is NOT the plural form of apprentice…it’s not even a word! Nice going Rhodes scholar with 5 degrees…) so there should only be one - him. The crowd quite rightly booed while the credits rolled.
Last season it seemed that it would have been the right thing to do to hire both of the ladies in the final two. Kendra and Tana were two very different people and each one was suited for one of the two projects Donald lined up. It was a shame he chose to hire just Kendra. This season was even more shocking. I’m still hoping he’ll come back and tell Randal to get bent and hire Rebecca anyway. I think Randal lost a lot of supporters with that stupid move. It was totally out of character (unless he was just acting this entire time and this is a glimpse of his real self…)
All in all, a rather disappointing ending to an otherwise entertaining season. Kind of left me with a bad feeling.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
I've got no title for this...
I finally got my act together, finished my letter and sent the cards out. If anyone who reads this wants one (and doesn’t get one) it’s because I don’t have your address. It’s up to you to get it to me. I figure anyone who’s important enough should let me know if they’ve moved. We’ll see if I get any of them back as undeliverable.
There’s not much going on here lately. The weather sucked for awhile, got better, and now it’s supposed to dump 6 inches of snow tonight. There’s no way to win weather-wise in Wisconsin. If it’s not the snow, it’s the -15 windchills or the roads of solid ice. Ugh. But once again it’s my own damn fault for not moving somewhere else when I had the chance…
The next few weeks are going to be interesting. Boring at times, perhaps, but interesting nonetheless. This week is pretty normal except that I had vacation yesterday. Adam went to the Packer game on Sunday night so I knew he’d be getting home in the early morning hours and would wake me up so I didn’t want to have to go to work after that. We did some shopping and caught up on some sleep. I’ll be in New London tomorrow (hopefully) finally getting the fixed assets inventoried. We’ll see how much the weather messes with those plans. The rest of the week should be relatively uneventful. I think the monthly meeting is Friday, but I’m not involved with that. I just reap the free donut benefits. Then I have plans to go hang with the accounting guys from college after work on Friday for a while. Hopefully some of the professors will show up since it’s the end of the semester over at UWO.
Next week I work Monday and half of Tuesday and then I’m off on vacation or holiday until the following Wednesday. Heh. This is what happens when you wait until the last minute to use your vacation time. Not that there’s really much going on during that time anyway. Pretty much everyone else is off anyway. IMA has their holiday meeting next Tuesday night and hopefully things go well with that. The speaker had been contacting me about setting equipment up (which I’m pretty sure isn’t in my job description) but I think I managed to get everything taken care of. Adam plans to come with me since it’s the “bring a guest” meeting of the year. I’m afraid he’ll probably be bored out of his mind and wonder what kind of person he’s with after meeting some of the IMA members. Eh. He should get a good meal out of it at least.
When I return to work on the 28th it will be time to gear up for year-end stuff. I’ll be out in New London again on the 30th to do some major job closings and G/L clean up before the end of the year. I caught the year-end closing right at the end last year so it will be interesting to see how things go from the start. Presto’s year-end always seemed pretty low-key. I came in on Saturday or Sunday a few times, but it really didn’t seem much more strenuous than a normal monthly close (excepting adjusting entries for taxes, accruals, etc…) I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.
Holiday-wise, I think I’m pretty much done doing whatever shopping I’m going to do. I still have to come up with something to get for Angie, my boss, though. I’m not sure what the appropriate gift is. Adam’s idea of a pen didn’t really do it for me. I’ll have to keep thinking on that one. As for other people, I’ve got a couple more ideas floating around in my head, but I’m not sure I’m going to act on them. I’m more focused on what kinds of things I want to get myself after Christmas :) I’ve really been making good use of my new mixer. This weekend I baked two different batches of cookies (peanut butter chip and peanut butter/chocolate chip) just because I felt like it. It was fun, and they turned out great. Made the house smell good for awhile. Kind of got rid of the onion smell that had been hanging around since I made meatballs. I’ll definitely be getting a food processor, but I’m also looking at getting serving dishes since I really don’t have anything like that. I’ve also been eyeing a few other things, but I only have so much space in the kitchen. I suppose we really could get rid of the duplicated appliances (like the two coffee makers sitting in the closet…) but I don’t know. I have this problem throwing perfectly good appliances out just because we found a better one. I don’t think Goodwill takes stuff like that either… *sigh*
Anywho, hopefully this “getting a cold” feeling will go away and I’ll be able to stay healthy during the next few weeks.
There’s not much going on here lately. The weather sucked for awhile, got better, and now it’s supposed to dump 6 inches of snow tonight. There’s no way to win weather-wise in Wisconsin. If it’s not the snow, it’s the -15 windchills or the roads of solid ice. Ugh. But once again it’s my own damn fault for not moving somewhere else when I had the chance…
The next few weeks are going to be interesting. Boring at times, perhaps, but interesting nonetheless. This week is pretty normal except that I had vacation yesterday. Adam went to the Packer game on Sunday night so I knew he’d be getting home in the early morning hours and would wake me up so I didn’t want to have to go to work after that. We did some shopping and caught up on some sleep. I’ll be in New London tomorrow (hopefully) finally getting the fixed assets inventoried. We’ll see how much the weather messes with those plans. The rest of the week should be relatively uneventful. I think the monthly meeting is Friday, but I’m not involved with that. I just reap the free donut benefits. Then I have plans to go hang with the accounting guys from college after work on Friday for a while. Hopefully some of the professors will show up since it’s the end of the semester over at UWO.
Next week I work Monday and half of Tuesday and then I’m off on vacation or holiday until the following Wednesday. Heh. This is what happens when you wait until the last minute to use your vacation time. Not that there’s really much going on during that time anyway. Pretty much everyone else is off anyway. IMA has their holiday meeting next Tuesday night and hopefully things go well with that. The speaker had been contacting me about setting equipment up (which I’m pretty sure isn’t in my job description) but I think I managed to get everything taken care of. Adam plans to come with me since it’s the “bring a guest” meeting of the year. I’m afraid he’ll probably be bored out of his mind and wonder what kind of person he’s with after meeting some of the IMA members. Eh. He should get a good meal out of it at least.
When I return to work on the 28th it will be time to gear up for year-end stuff. I’ll be out in New London again on the 30th to do some major job closings and G/L clean up before the end of the year. I caught the year-end closing right at the end last year so it will be interesting to see how things go from the start. Presto’s year-end always seemed pretty low-key. I came in on Saturday or Sunday a few times, but it really didn’t seem much more strenuous than a normal monthly close (excepting adjusting entries for taxes, accruals, etc…) I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.
Holiday-wise, I think I’m pretty much done doing whatever shopping I’m going to do. I still have to come up with something to get for Angie, my boss, though. I’m not sure what the appropriate gift is. Adam’s idea of a pen didn’t really do it for me. I’ll have to keep thinking on that one. As for other people, I’ve got a couple more ideas floating around in my head, but I’m not sure I’m going to act on them. I’m more focused on what kinds of things I want to get myself after Christmas :) I’ve really been making good use of my new mixer. This weekend I baked two different batches of cookies (peanut butter chip and peanut butter/chocolate chip) just because I felt like it. It was fun, and they turned out great. Made the house smell good for awhile. Kind of got rid of the onion smell that had been hanging around since I made meatballs. I’ll definitely be getting a food processor, but I’m also looking at getting serving dishes since I really don’t have anything like that. I’ve also been eyeing a few other things, but I only have so much space in the kitchen. I suppose we really could get rid of the duplicated appliances (like the two coffee makers sitting in the closet…) but I don’t know. I have this problem throwing perfectly good appliances out just because we found a better one. I don’t think Goodwill takes stuff like that either… *sigh*
Anywho, hopefully this “getting a cold” feeling will go away and I’ll be able to stay healthy during the next few weeks.
Saturday, December 03, 2005
Community Property
Adam and I had a conversation about weddings and marriage and the like last night and it got me thinking about Wisconsin's screwed up community property laws again. One of the main reservations I have about getting married is because of these laws. I saw how they screwed my mom big time during her divorce and I have no intention of getting myself into that same boat. Not that I expect that to happen, mind you. You never know though.
I was just doing some research and it looks like a prenuptial agreement trumps the community property laws. This makes me feel a little better about the whole thing. There are only 8 states that have these stupid community property laws and Wisconsin has the most messed up version of them. Washington is one of the other seven. Evan & Jodi, I was wondering if you've come in contact with anything about the laws out there and what you think of the whole thing...
I was just doing some research and it looks like a prenuptial agreement trumps the community property laws. This makes me feel a little better about the whole thing. There are only 8 states that have these stupid community property laws and Wisconsin has the most messed up version of them. Washington is one of the other seven. Evan & Jodi, I was wondering if you've come in contact with anything about the laws out there and what you think of the whole thing...
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Funny how things work out...
While I was looking for the most recent copy of my resume (that being one of the things swept away into oblivion by the terrible hard-drive crash(es)) I ended up in the file manager of my geocities website for the first time in quite a while. I kind of stopped updating or changing that once I got my independent blog and photo sites. As I looked through all the pages there, I came to my “What I Want in a Man” page . This was up for a while, linked to my Yahoo! profile, just as a kind of guideline for all the loser guys who would randomly IM me. I figured if they could get through an entire page of bitchy text, they deserved my attention. I took it down soon after I graduated. Then something else in the file manager caught my attention. It was a page simply entitled “Adam.” Funny thing is this page was created (according to geocities) on March 13th - a month before I/we got my/our act together and became all official. Interesting…
John Irving Movies
My brother had written a blog entry about John Irving’s The Cider House Rules a while back and I had intended to comment on it. I didn’t get around to it and the more I thought about it, the more I thought I should give this topic its deserved amount of attention. There are those who would rather see a movie based on a book than read the book itself. There are those who would rather read the book than see the movie. To each their own, I say.
To my knowledge, these are the JI books that were adapted to the big screen. Let me know if I’ve missed any:
The World According to Garp (1982)
The Hotel New Hampshire (1984)
A Prayer for Owen Meany (as Simon Birch (1998))
The Cider House Rules (1999)
A Widow for One Year (at least the first half – as The Door in the Floor (2004))
I’ve seen them all and read all of the related books. I think I actually own all of them (the books) but Garp…
The World According to Garp
This is perhaps not the best JI book or movie to start with because it’s perhaps the most bizarre. That’s not saying much though, as most of his books are kind of out there. Big screen wise, Robin Williams plays the title character, Garp, with Glenn Close as his mother. Overall the movie was very well done. I’m not sure what else to say about this one. I’ve only read the book once and although it has one of my favorite completely messed up scenes ever (the one in the car in the rain…when she bites off his…you know…) I never really got into it too much.
The Hotel New Hampshire
I actually just finished reading this one for the third or fourth time last week. The movie has a lot of relatively well-known actors (Rob Lowe, Jodie Foster) but it is really just poorly made. It sticks to the general plot points of the book but it just doesn’t give it the pizzazz I think it could have had. Maybe it’s because it was made in the 80’s, but it just has that low budget look. The book itself is one of the stranger ones. There are several themes that keep finding themselves in JI’s books: prostitution, weight-lifting, wrestling, strange sexual situations, strained relationships, death in weird ways. Someone always seems to end up in Amsterdam or somewhere else in a German-speaking European country. This book has it all.
A Prayer for Owen Meany
This is actually the first JI book I got. It was a gift from Evan (although I believe he told me that Jodi is actually the one who picked it out.) It was interesting enough, but it’s really not one of my favorites. Too much overtly political commentary I guess. The movie kind of altered the story a bit and kept Owen (aka Simon) as a child throughout the entire film rather than have him grow up as he does in the book. The overall theme therefore changed quite a bit, but the ultimate “Owen/Simon as a hero” plot point remained. But a lot less politically motivated, with no mention of Vietnam. I found the movie (starring Ashley Judd, who I’m not too fond of) to be a little dippy. A feel-good movie of sorts I suppose, but just not my cup of tea. They had to take out all of the good parts because they altered the story so much from the original.
The Cider House Rules
I read the book before I rented the movie. Therefore I didn’t have that preconceived idea of what the characters should look and act like that my brother mentions. Charlize Theron is a beautiful woman, but I didn’t really like her as Candy. I don’t know. Something about her bothered me. My favorite character in the movie version was the man who played Mr. Rose. While I must say that The Cider House Rules is perhaps the best adaptation of one of JI’s books, I’m afraid there are some problems with it. Most noticeably, the character of Melony doesn’t exist in the movie. She is a rather important person in Homer’s life in the book. I just couldn’t understand why she had been eliminated in the movie version. I saw or read an interview with JI somewhere discussing this point. Apparently he believed that her character was too strong and would ultimately overpower the other more important plot points. I guess he has a valid point – and it’s kind of hard to get a 500+ page novel into a reasonable length movie. There are other changes that were made from the book and, while I thought the movie was pretty good, the book is definitely better.
A Widow for One Year
I must say that I was the most disappointed with this movie adaptation. What I think is most disturbing is that in the extras on the DVD there is an interview with JI and he appears to have been satisfied with the whole thing. *sigh* How can you be satisfied when someone turns your awesome book into some boring hour and a half long melodramatic snore-fest? I was really looking forward to this movie as this book is one of my favorites. Granted, they only tell half of the story in the movie. The cast was decent (Jeff Bridges, Kim Basinger) but it just never gathered any momentum. The book is full of great scenes and lots of heartbreak and emotion that the movie never seems to capture. Not to mention that the second half of the book is probably the better half… Eh, I was highly unimpressed with the movie. The book definitely wins in this case.
I guess it must be mentioned that in order to get a decent rating from those parents over at the MPAA, each of the books that has been made into a movie had to lose some of its JI charm. He definitely has a messed up sense of humor and is, at times, quite crude. I mean, the subject matter alone is enough to put some people off: abortion (The Cider House Rules), incest/rape (The Hotel New Hampshire), swinging – the partner-swapping kind (The 158-pound Marriage).
Anyway, I guess my point is some authors write in such a way that it’s difficult to get a decent movie out of the original publication. Most of JI’s books are near or over the 500 page mark. They’re full of wonderful description and dialogue, but it’s just not practical to try and cram all of that into a movie. Of the attempts that have been made, I’d say that CHR was the most successful. He even got an Oscar for that. (Funny about that…in his most recent book, Until I Find You, the main character is a screenwriter of sorts and JI has him fictionally win that Oscar since he didn’t want to take the award away from someone else.)
Wow, I’ve almost written an essay here. Sorry about that. :) That’s just my two cents (or perhaps a dollar or so in this case.)
To my knowledge, these are the JI books that were adapted to the big screen. Let me know if I’ve missed any:
The World According to Garp (1982)
The Hotel New Hampshire (1984)
A Prayer for Owen Meany (as Simon Birch (1998))
The Cider House Rules (1999)
A Widow for One Year (at least the first half – as The Door in the Floor (2004))
I’ve seen them all and read all of the related books. I think I actually own all of them (the books) but Garp…
The World According to Garp
This is perhaps not the best JI book or movie to start with because it’s perhaps the most bizarre. That’s not saying much though, as most of his books are kind of out there. Big screen wise, Robin Williams plays the title character, Garp, with Glenn Close as his mother. Overall the movie was very well done. I’m not sure what else to say about this one. I’ve only read the book once and although it has one of my favorite completely messed up scenes ever (the one in the car in the rain…when she bites off his…you know…) I never really got into it too much.
The Hotel New Hampshire
I actually just finished reading this one for the third or fourth time last week. The movie has a lot of relatively well-known actors (Rob Lowe, Jodie Foster) but it is really just poorly made. It sticks to the general plot points of the book but it just doesn’t give it the pizzazz I think it could have had. Maybe it’s because it was made in the 80’s, but it just has that low budget look. The book itself is one of the stranger ones. There are several themes that keep finding themselves in JI’s books: prostitution, weight-lifting, wrestling, strange sexual situations, strained relationships, death in weird ways. Someone always seems to end up in Amsterdam or somewhere else in a German-speaking European country. This book has it all.
A Prayer for Owen Meany
This is actually the first JI book I got. It was a gift from Evan (although I believe he told me that Jodi is actually the one who picked it out.) It was interesting enough, but it’s really not one of my favorites. Too much overtly political commentary I guess. The movie kind of altered the story a bit and kept Owen (aka Simon) as a child throughout the entire film rather than have him grow up as he does in the book. The overall theme therefore changed quite a bit, but the ultimate “Owen/Simon as a hero” plot point remained. But a lot less politically motivated, with no mention of Vietnam. I found the movie (starring Ashley Judd, who I’m not too fond of) to be a little dippy. A feel-good movie of sorts I suppose, but just not my cup of tea. They had to take out all of the good parts because they altered the story so much from the original.
The Cider House Rules
I read the book before I rented the movie. Therefore I didn’t have that preconceived idea of what the characters should look and act like that my brother mentions. Charlize Theron is a beautiful woman, but I didn’t really like her as Candy. I don’t know. Something about her bothered me. My favorite character in the movie version was the man who played Mr. Rose. While I must say that The Cider House Rules is perhaps the best adaptation of one of JI’s books, I’m afraid there are some problems with it. Most noticeably, the character of Melony doesn’t exist in the movie. She is a rather important person in Homer’s life in the book. I just couldn’t understand why she had been eliminated in the movie version. I saw or read an interview with JI somewhere discussing this point. Apparently he believed that her character was too strong and would ultimately overpower the other more important plot points. I guess he has a valid point – and it’s kind of hard to get a 500+ page novel into a reasonable length movie. There are other changes that were made from the book and, while I thought the movie was pretty good, the book is definitely better.
A Widow for One Year
I must say that I was the most disappointed with this movie adaptation. What I think is most disturbing is that in the extras on the DVD there is an interview with JI and he appears to have been satisfied with the whole thing. *sigh* How can you be satisfied when someone turns your awesome book into some boring hour and a half long melodramatic snore-fest? I was really looking forward to this movie as this book is one of my favorites. Granted, they only tell half of the story in the movie. The cast was decent (Jeff Bridges, Kim Basinger) but it just never gathered any momentum. The book is full of great scenes and lots of heartbreak and emotion that the movie never seems to capture. Not to mention that the second half of the book is probably the better half… Eh, I was highly unimpressed with the movie. The book definitely wins in this case.
I guess it must be mentioned that in order to get a decent rating from those parents over at the MPAA, each of the books that has been made into a movie had to lose some of its JI charm. He definitely has a messed up sense of humor and is, at times, quite crude. I mean, the subject matter alone is enough to put some people off: abortion (The Cider House Rules), incest/rape (The Hotel New Hampshire), swinging – the partner-swapping kind (The 158-pound Marriage).
Anyway, I guess my point is some authors write in such a way that it’s difficult to get a decent movie out of the original publication. Most of JI’s books are near or over the 500 page mark. They’re full of wonderful description and dialogue, but it’s just not practical to try and cram all of that into a movie. Of the attempts that have been made, I’d say that CHR was the most successful. He even got an Oscar for that. (Funny about that…in his most recent book, Until I Find You, the main character is a screenwriter of sorts and JI has him fictionally win that Oscar since he didn’t want to take the award away from someone else.)
Wow, I’ve almost written an essay here. Sorry about that. :) That’s just my two cents (or perhaps a dollar or so in this case.)
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Thanksgiving Weekend
We did the Thanskgiving Day meal over at Adam's parents' house as planned. We also did the "secret Santa" arrangements as planned. Since I highly doubt anyone involved (except Adam) reads this, I think it's safe to reveal that I picked his mom. I think I'm pretty much done shopping for her already. She was easy :) I'm not really planning on getting too many other people actual gifts, but we'll see how things go. I've got my letter pretty much typed out and I bought cute snowman paper yesterday while we were out shopping. The meal itself was good, as usually. Slightly non-traditional (lasagna), but good. I couldn't find my Lactaid before we left so we stopped at Wal-Mart on the way. Turns out it was hidden way in the back of one of the cupboards so now I have lots of it. I still maintain his older sister was glaring at me throughout the entire meal (she was sitting across from me) but Adam says she's just crabby all the time. Hmmm. I don't know. It was also kind of odd when his mother and younger sister kept asking what the rest of my family was doing for Thanksgiving. I guess they'd find it strange that we don't really talk to each other much, but I just gave them as much information as I had and sat there feeling stupid. *sigh* Oh well.
On Friday we had our own Thanksgiving shindig here at our house. I made cornish hens with cornbread stuffing, broccolini (baby broccoli) with lemon and garlic, mashed potatoes, biscuits, and champagne. Ok, I didn't make the champagne, but you get the idea. Pictures of the scrumptous meal can be found in my photobucket album. After making all of that I posed the idea of having Christmas here instead of at Adam's parents' house. His mom said she'd think about it, but I'm not holding my breath. That's ok though. Less hassle for me.
Saturday was our shopping day since neither of us was insane enough to go out and try and do anything on Friday. We got ornaments for the tree and garland for outside on the balcony. We bought and returned two stars before we found one that wasn't too tall or too stupid looking. Overall I think the tree looks pretty good. I might be biased though because I decorated it... It's a good thing Adam got the garland and lights up outside yesterday because it's been raining all day today. I was going to try and get a picture of them after they went on at dusk (we got a timer...) but I think I'll postpone that until it's less wet out.
Overall it was a relaxing and productive weekend.
On Friday we had our own Thanksgiving shindig here at our house. I made cornish hens with cornbread stuffing, broccolini (baby broccoli) with lemon and garlic, mashed potatoes, biscuits, and champagne. Ok, I didn't make the champagne, but you get the idea. Pictures of the scrumptous meal can be found in my photobucket album. After making all of that I posed the idea of having Christmas here instead of at Adam's parents' house. His mom said she'd think about it, but I'm not holding my breath. That's ok though. Less hassle for me.
Saturday was our shopping day since neither of us was insane enough to go out and try and do anything on Friday. We got ornaments for the tree and garland for outside on the balcony. We bought and returned two stars before we found one that wasn't too tall or too stupid looking. Overall I think the tree looks pretty good. I might be biased though because I decorated it... It's a good thing Adam got the garland and lights up outside yesterday because it's been raining all day today. I was going to try and get a picture of them after they went on at dusk (we got a timer...) but I think I'll postpone that until it's less wet out.
Overall it was a relaxing and productive weekend.
Christmas Tree
Just a quick post here to say that we got the tree up on Friday, decorated it last night. Here's a picture:
And here's our special ornament for this year:
Yeah, I know. Cheesy.
And here's our special ornament for this year:
Yeah, I know. Cheesy.
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
TV
I have a lot of free times these days. That of which isn’t spent eating or messing around on the computer is generally spent watching tv. I’ve kind of gotten into a pattern. Most days I get home around 5 and watch re-runs of “7th Heaven” on ABC Family. Then at 6 I switch over to “Good Eats” on the Food Network followed by “Wheel of Fortune” at 6:30. I’m going to win that prize one of these days. I can just feel it. On Mondays I watch the new episode of “7th Heaven” on the WB and then by 8 I’m usually wiped out enough to go lay down in bed. On Tuesday we’re generally at the gym or doing other things. There’s nothing good on Tuesdays anyway. Same goes for Wednesdays. I started the season watching Martha Stewart’s version of “The Apprentice” but I very quickly lost interest. I still check it out every once in a while, but I usually end up watching the Food Network. On Thursday there’s Donald’s “Apprentice” which I watch weekly as a devoted fan. I’m rooting for Alla. :) Friday’s are pretty boring because it seems that the television programmers decided to put every horrible show on Friday. The weekends are up in the air most times. I watch a lot of “In the Kitchen” on, once again, the Food Network. Sometimes there’s a good movie on, but most times I get so bored I go and do something else. Sunday offers football and, later in the evening, “The Simpsons”, “Family Guy”, and “Desperate Housewives.”
I watch way too much tv and should really try to scale it back. It’s not as though my life revolves around it though. I am going to have to tape the special 2 hour long “Apprentice” on Thursday though because we’ll be over at Adam’s parents’ house…
I watch way too much tv and should really try to scale it back. It’s not as though my life revolves around it though. I am going to have to tape the special 2 hour long “Apprentice” on Thursday though because we’ll be over at Adam’s parents’ house…
Winter
Well so far winter sucks. And it isn’t even really winter yet. Last week Wednesday it snowed and rained and the temperature was just right so the roads froze over into a sheet of ice. Luckily for me, my body decided to give me a migraine headache that day so I spent my time in bed. There were something like 200 accidents on highway 41 in the couple of counties nearby. People just don’t know how to drive in this kind of weather. I have many pet peeves as I am generally annoyed about something all the time. One of my main ones around this time of year is horrible driving skills and etiquette. Last week I had to drive up to the casino in Green Bay for my IMA meeting. It was raining and dark and generally icky out. I was driving about the speed limit, leaving plenty of space between myself and the car in front of me. I just hate when you’re following a car and their tires kick all kinds of crap up on your windshield. So, a car passes me and then cuts me off, eliminating that cushion I had created. This pissed me off. I wasn’t leaving space there so he could move over. I was leaving space because that’s what you do when it’s crappy outside and you have no desire to end up with your front end smooshed into the back end of someone else. Driving in snow and ice isn’t really that complicated. You just have to be extra cautious and especially aware of the other drivers around you. People always drive too fast and that is what causes most of the accidents on highways during the winter season. I guess these people haven’t heard of “leaving a little early to give yourself some extra time to get places safely.” I am confident in my ability to drive in snow. I just doubt that ability in the other drivers on the road.
It snowed again last night and was still snowing this morning as I left for work. This is most snow in November we’ve gotten in 5 years. I’m not too thrilled with it. I had to brush a good inch or two off of my car this morning. It never fails that as I’m brushing a pile off the top of the car a gust of wind blows the whole thing back at me, dousing me in snow. It’s so annoying. The drive in to work wasn’t too bad. The snow was just beginning to get gloppy on the roads. I left about 45 minutes earlier than I usually do. But not because of the snow. I figured the earlier I got here this morning, the sooner I could leave. Traffic wasn’t too bad and there were only about 2 people who were apparently in a great hurry and rudely rushed by, endangering the lives of everyone else in the vicinity. *sigh* It’s going to be a long winter.
It snowed again last night and was still snowing this morning as I left for work. This is most snow in November we’ve gotten in 5 years. I’m not too thrilled with it. I had to brush a good inch or two off of my car this morning. It never fails that as I’m brushing a pile off the top of the car a gust of wind blows the whole thing back at me, dousing me in snow. It’s so annoying. The drive in to work wasn’t too bad. The snow was just beginning to get gloppy on the roads. I left about 45 minutes earlier than I usually do. But not because of the snow. I figured the earlier I got here this morning, the sooner I could leave. Traffic wasn’t too bad and there were only about 2 people who were apparently in a great hurry and rudely rushed by, endangering the lives of everyone else in the vicinity. *sigh* It’s going to be a long winter.
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Christmas Gift Ideas
So this whole gift exchange thing with Adam’s family… I have to come up with some ideas of what I want for Christmas by Thursday. This is difficult for me. I’ve never been one to ask other people to get me things. I don’t know if it’s my independent streak or if it’s something else. I am just not very comfortable asking other people for things. I even feel bad about eating food in the house that I know Adam bought. I know it’s completely ridiculous. We alternate weeks, taking turns as to who pays when we go grocery shopping. It’s generally pretty equal this way. I still feel weird though, eating stuff on weeks when I know he paid. I guess it’s just something I’ll have to get over. Anyway, back to the gift exchange. Adam tells me to just put down places I could use gift cards for. I don’t know. Gift cards are en vogue these days and all, but I just think it takes the fun both out of choosing the gift and getting the gift. Plus then you know exactly how much the person spent on you. The problem is I don’t know what else to ask for. I don’t need anything and I don’t know what I want. I don’t want to ask for stupid things that I don’t need just because I have to put something down on that piece of paper. Does anyone have any ideas of what I might want to ask for? Leave me a comment if you’ve got suggestions. I’m struggling with this whole thing. Just one of the many reasons I dislike the last two months of each year…
My Problem (ok, one of them...)
There are times when I’ll think of something I really want to write about and post here. The problem is that by the time I get in front of a computer, I’ve completely forgotten what it is I wanted to write. I’ve come up with a solution. I think. I’m trying to write down the subjects I want to touch on in my little notebook and then write about them later on. We’ll see how well this works.
Monday, November 21, 2005
DB vs DC
I hate holidays. If for nothing else, I hate them because it means the few days leading up to them are the longest days at work ever. This is because all of the people who have been here for a few years have earned enough days of vacation to leave about a week and a half before the actual holiday. I think most of my office has off for the entire month of December. Me, being a humble employee with less than one year of service, does not have this luxury. So I sit here, in my cube, in the deafening silence. Today wasn’t so bad. I had stuff to do and also had a meeting about the new profit sharing plan they’re implementing, so that took up some time. Tomorrow also shouldn’t be too horrible. Residual stuff to do from today. It’s Wednesday that is going to be absolutely terrible. My manager is off as is her manager. Actually, her manager is off all week. I am guessing there will be about 5 people here on Wednesday. And by that time I will have pretty much nothing to do. The middle of the month tends to drag because not much is happening in my world. I’m not looking forward to it.
Now about this new profit sharing thing here at work… Formerly they had a defined benefit pension plan. With my vast accounting knowledge, I can tell you that these kinds of plans are a pain in the butt. But actuaries like them a lot because they keep them employed, coming up with complicated formulas and pulling numbers out of the air and all. The company finally decided that it was time to change. This was not particularly a big surprise to me. DB plans are kind of like the original version Nintendo. Or maybe even the Atari. They’re old news. What’s big and hot are the DC, Defined Contribution, plans. Otherwise known as your 401(k). These are much easier to manage and a lot of the responsibility is put on the employee rather than on the employer. Of course, the employer is still responsible for ensuring that the money they say they’re putting aside for the employees is really there (there have been quite a few debacles around that subject lately), but there are no funky formulas and the company isn’t the one putting up all the cash. Pretty nice deal for their side, eh? Understandably, this is causing a bit of a ruckus among employees who have been with the company for a while but not long enough to be grandfathered under the old plan. This doesn’t affect me as I’ve been here less than a year. I am not even vested in the pension plan and will therefore not even be included in the people who will have their service years frozen.
I’ve digressed. My original plan was to talk about the new profit sharing program. Now, when I worked as an intern over at Presto Products, I was very familiar with their profit sharing program. Heck, I did all the payout estimates and booked the accrual each month for three years. I knew what elements were measured and what the payout percent would be for each level attained. I must say, they had a pretty good program. If the company did well, employees could get quite the bonus. This bonus was in the form of a check sent out in February. Cash. Moola. That employees could spend right away on whatever they wanted. Good deal. Now, this new “profit sharing” plan that Bemis has come up with is different. This incentive will come in the form of contributions to the accounts you have elected for your 401(k) to go to. You can’t touch this money until you retire. It’s based on % growth of EPS year to year. At a minimum, everyone will earn 2% (of your wages, that is.) At a maximum, 5%. I don’t know. It’s not smart to complain about “free” money, but it seems like we’re getting a bum deal somehow. I know Americans in general really need to learn how to save and it’s good that the company is trying to help secure comfortable retirements for their employees. I guess it’s not fair to compare one company to another, but it just seems like something is off. Maybe I came into this company with too much knowledge about what kind of benefits other people get…
In any case, I’ve bumped my 401(k) contribution up to 8% to get the maximum company match starting January 1st. That’s another point I could grumble about (they contribute, at max, 2.5%) but I won’t. I can’t complain too much or I might get in trouble. :)
Now about this new profit sharing thing here at work… Formerly they had a defined benefit pension plan. With my vast accounting knowledge, I can tell you that these kinds of plans are a pain in the butt. But actuaries like them a lot because they keep them employed, coming up with complicated formulas and pulling numbers out of the air and all. The company finally decided that it was time to change. This was not particularly a big surprise to me. DB plans are kind of like the original version Nintendo. Or maybe even the Atari. They’re old news. What’s big and hot are the DC, Defined Contribution, plans. Otherwise known as your 401(k). These are much easier to manage and a lot of the responsibility is put on the employee rather than on the employer. Of course, the employer is still responsible for ensuring that the money they say they’re putting aside for the employees is really there (there have been quite a few debacles around that subject lately), but there are no funky formulas and the company isn’t the one putting up all the cash. Pretty nice deal for their side, eh? Understandably, this is causing a bit of a ruckus among employees who have been with the company for a while but not long enough to be grandfathered under the old plan. This doesn’t affect me as I’ve been here less than a year. I am not even vested in the pension plan and will therefore not even be included in the people who will have their service years frozen.
I’ve digressed. My original plan was to talk about the new profit sharing program. Now, when I worked as an intern over at Presto Products, I was very familiar with their profit sharing program. Heck, I did all the payout estimates and booked the accrual each month for three years. I knew what elements were measured and what the payout percent would be for each level attained. I must say, they had a pretty good program. If the company did well, employees could get quite the bonus. This bonus was in the form of a check sent out in February. Cash. Moola. That employees could spend right away on whatever they wanted. Good deal. Now, this new “profit sharing” plan that Bemis has come up with is different. This incentive will come in the form of contributions to the accounts you have elected for your 401(k) to go to. You can’t touch this money until you retire. It’s based on % growth of EPS year to year. At a minimum, everyone will earn 2% (of your wages, that is.) At a maximum, 5%. I don’t know. It’s not smart to complain about “free” money, but it seems like we’re getting a bum deal somehow. I know Americans in general really need to learn how to save and it’s good that the company is trying to help secure comfortable retirements for their employees. I guess it’s not fair to compare one company to another, but it just seems like something is off. Maybe I came into this company with too much knowledge about what kind of benefits other people get…
In any case, I’ve bumped my 401(k) contribution up to 8% to get the maximum company match starting January 1st. That’s another point I could grumble about (they contribute, at max, 2.5%) but I won’t. I can’t complain too much or I might get in trouble. :)
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
I'm going to asphyxiate myself with my phone cord
It’s amazing that phones with cords still exist. Sometimes I would kill for a cordless phone at my desk at work. Over the past week or so, my phone cord has become a knotted mass of plastic. When I pick up the receiver to answer, the entire base of the phone scoots along my desk after it. I have to lean my neck down in order to talk into the phone at a distance where the person on the other end can hear me. It’s just ridiculous. So today I took action. I took the receiver off the base and dangled it over the edge of the desk. I watched it twist and turn for a few minutes. It didn’t get all the knots out, but it’s a vast improvement. Unfortunately I’m certain this is just a temporary fix. Stupid phones.
Not much has been going on lately. Can you tell? I’ll be up in Green Bay this evening for the joint IMA meeting. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long night. If I get too bored, I suppose I could just sneak out and go to the casino that is next door. Heh. Adam is left to his own devices this evening, as he has the night off and I’ll be out. Tomorrow and Thursday I’ll be working up in New London on the fixed asset inventory I think I mentioned before. It should be interesting. The Plant Manager has assured me it will definitely be a painful experience. And he wasn’t joking. Between tonight and two days breathing in ink fumes, I should have one heck of a headache for the remainder of the week. Yay! Good thing nothing of much importance is going on. The monthly executive meeting is this Friday, so I’m looking forward to the free food that generally accompanies it. One of the perks of working at the corporate office I guess.
I bought Christmas cards yesterday while shopping at Shopko. I haven’t started working on a letter at all, but perhaps I’ll get on that this weekend. It’s still relatively early, so I’m not too concerned. I do like to get mine out early though. That way people who forgot I existed still have the chance to reciprocate the card before the time has come and gone. Aren’t I nice? Since my twice in a row computer hard-drive meltdowns, I have been backing my hard-drive up every couple of weeks. This means my address file should be safe. Of course, if anyone reading this knows for a fact that I don’t have your address or the address I’ve got is wrong, let me know. I don’t really plan to send out a “give me your address” e-mail at all. I figure if someone moved and didn’t bother to tell me, they don’t deserve a card. So there.
Now some random blogging about stuff in the news that caught my attention:
* As it has made national headlines, I’m sure most of you have heard about Steven Avery and Teresa Halbach. I just find it kind of fishy that this guy is released from prison in 2003 after it is found that he didn’t really rape someone and then he goes and (most likely) murders this woman, hides her car and possessions, and burns her body. It seems kind of suspicious to me. His previous conviction was overturned due to DNA evidence that proved it wasn’t him. This additional testing only came at the insistence of a group called the Wisconsin Innocence Project, which is associated with the University of Wisconsin Law School. Now, it’s not that I’m doubting the reliability of DNA evidence. It just seems odd that he is almost certainly responsible for this new crime. When he was released from prison 2 years ago, he appeared all over the news saying he had no hard feelings for the DA or the courts for their mistake. He is currently in the process of suing for wrongful imprisonment or something. Then he goes and does something like this? But apparently the whole family is kind of shady. They own an auto yard in Mishicot or thereabouts and even most of the neighbors are wary to talk about them on camera. He has been formally charged of the crime this afternoon after being held for a gun violation. It should be interesting to see how this plays out. His brother is already crying out that he’s been framed by the local police who apparently have it out for the entire family. But it has also been reported that some of the family loyalty is waning with all the evidence that is being released to the pubic.
* Last week an 18-year-old was elected mayor of a small town out in Michigan. He beat out the incumbent by something like 2 votes. And some people say their vote doesn’t count? Granted, this particular town only has 8,200 residents. It should be interesting to see if he shows up in more “important” races down the line or if this first taste of political action kills his desire to lead.
* They’re going to raise postage by 2 cents on January 8, 2006. Oh no! Thank goodness it doesn’t take effect until AFTER Christmas cards are sent. That increase could send some people into bankruptcy.
* The Advance Titan is the newspaper associated with the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. I know a few people who are still on staff there and all I can say is that I’m embarrassed for them. The paper has been degraded to such low quality journalism that it isn’t even funny. Add to that the joke that is the comments section on their website and you have a perfect display of how colleges have been forced to admit just about anyone in order to make ends meet. I actually know the EIC, and although I can believe that he is doing some of the things he’s doing, it doesn’t seem like it would be good move, career-wise. He can’t just go and delete everything he wrote here when he decides to finally graduate and get a “real” job. I continue to read the online version every week because, let’s face it, who can resist a train wreck? What I’d really like to know though is where the faculty is in all of this. I know the paper is not associated with the journalism department, but perhaps they should be. It pains me to be associated with this level of moronism. But then again, if you think the AT is bad, you should check out Life and Liberty News, “UW-Oshkosh's #1 Source for Political Commentary,” (aka UWO’s right-winged newspaper wannabe.) It really is quite amusing and possibly worse journalism than the AT.
Not much has been going on lately. Can you tell? I’ll be up in Green Bay this evening for the joint IMA meeting. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long night. If I get too bored, I suppose I could just sneak out and go to the casino that is next door. Heh. Adam is left to his own devices this evening, as he has the night off and I’ll be out. Tomorrow and Thursday I’ll be working up in New London on the fixed asset inventory I think I mentioned before. It should be interesting. The Plant Manager has assured me it will definitely be a painful experience. And he wasn’t joking. Between tonight and two days breathing in ink fumes, I should have one heck of a headache for the remainder of the week. Yay! Good thing nothing of much importance is going on. The monthly executive meeting is this Friday, so I’m looking forward to the free food that generally accompanies it. One of the perks of working at the corporate office I guess.
I bought Christmas cards yesterday while shopping at Shopko. I haven’t started working on a letter at all, but perhaps I’ll get on that this weekend. It’s still relatively early, so I’m not too concerned. I do like to get mine out early though. That way people who forgot I existed still have the chance to reciprocate the card before the time has come and gone. Aren’t I nice? Since my twice in a row computer hard-drive meltdowns, I have been backing my hard-drive up every couple of weeks. This means my address file should be safe. Of course, if anyone reading this knows for a fact that I don’t have your address or the address I’ve got is wrong, let me know. I don’t really plan to send out a “give me your address” e-mail at all. I figure if someone moved and didn’t bother to tell me, they don’t deserve a card. So there.
Now some random blogging about stuff in the news that caught my attention:
* As it has made national headlines, I’m sure most of you have heard about Steven Avery and Teresa Halbach. I just find it kind of fishy that this guy is released from prison in 2003 after it is found that he didn’t really rape someone and then he goes and (most likely) murders this woman, hides her car and possessions, and burns her body. It seems kind of suspicious to me. His previous conviction was overturned due to DNA evidence that proved it wasn’t him. This additional testing only came at the insistence of a group called the Wisconsin Innocence Project, which is associated with the University of Wisconsin Law School. Now, it’s not that I’m doubting the reliability of DNA evidence. It just seems odd that he is almost certainly responsible for this new crime. When he was released from prison 2 years ago, he appeared all over the news saying he had no hard feelings for the DA or the courts for their mistake. He is currently in the process of suing for wrongful imprisonment or something. Then he goes and does something like this? But apparently the whole family is kind of shady. They own an auto yard in Mishicot or thereabouts and even most of the neighbors are wary to talk about them on camera. He has been formally charged of the crime this afternoon after being held for a gun violation. It should be interesting to see how this plays out. His brother is already crying out that he’s been framed by the local police who apparently have it out for the entire family. But it has also been reported that some of the family loyalty is waning with all the evidence that is being released to the pubic.
* Last week an 18-year-old was elected mayor of a small town out in Michigan. He beat out the incumbent by something like 2 votes. And some people say their vote doesn’t count? Granted, this particular town only has 8,200 residents. It should be interesting to see if he shows up in more “important” races down the line or if this first taste of political action kills his desire to lead.
* They’re going to raise postage by 2 cents on January 8, 2006. Oh no! Thank goodness it doesn’t take effect until AFTER Christmas cards are sent. That increase could send some people into bankruptcy.
* The Advance Titan is the newspaper associated with the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. I know a few people who are still on staff there and all I can say is that I’m embarrassed for them. The paper has been degraded to such low quality journalism that it isn’t even funny. Add to that the joke that is the comments section on their website and you have a perfect display of how colleges have been forced to admit just about anyone in order to make ends meet. I actually know the EIC, and although I can believe that he is doing some of the things he’s doing, it doesn’t seem like it would be good move, career-wise. He can’t just go and delete everything he wrote here when he decides to finally graduate and get a “real” job. I continue to read the online version every week because, let’s face it, who can resist a train wreck? What I’d really like to know though is where the faculty is in all of this. I know the paper is not associated with the journalism department, but perhaps they should be. It pains me to be associated with this level of moronism. But then again, if you think the AT is bad, you should check out Life and Liberty News, “UW-Oshkosh's #1 Source for Political Commentary,” (aka UWO’s right-winged newspaper wannabe.) It really is quite amusing and possibly worse journalism than the AT.
Sunday, November 13, 2005
PCD
Ok, a couple different things I want to touch on in this post.
First of all, I broke down and bought an actual CD this past week. Normally I'd do the "borrowing from other people illegally" thing, but I decided to do the right thing on this one. It's the Pussycat Dolls. I'm not sure exactly what possessed me to go ahead and purchase this CD, but I'm kind of glad that I did. Now, the Pussycat Dolls appear to be the lead singer and then four or five backup ladies who dance around in their underwear, thrusting their hips, acting like hookers, asking whether you want your girlfriend to be a freak like they are. Surprisingly, very few of the songs on their CD are anything like their "Don'tcha" hit. There are a few tracks that even have a blues kind of mood. The lead singer, Michelle, actually has quite a powerful and amazing voice. Sometimes she sounds like Natalie Cole, sometimes like Christina Aguilera. If you can ignore one or two of the songs, the CD itself is pretty decent.
Secondly, we went and got a Christmas tree this past Thursday. It is sitting in the box in the second bedroom and will probably stay there until after Thanksgiving. It's a 7 foot Alleghany Pine or Fir or something. Fake of course. (I think the "it's in a box" thing should have given that away.) It's a cute tree. Hopefully it will fluff appropriately after being de-boxed.
As of now, it looks like we'll be going over to Adam's parents' house on Thanksgiving evening, after Adam is done at work. They're not quite sure what they'll be doing yet. It all depends on how his mother feels - she had shoulder surgery this past week and is hopped up on drugs. Adam works again the day after Thanksgiving, but not until 5pm, so we plan to have a quasi-Thanksgiving thing here in the morning or early afternoon. We saw this good looking recipe on Food Network yesterday morning for cornish hens with cornbread stuffing, so we're going to give that a try.
I admit it, I'm totally addicted to the Food Network. I recently got one of Rachel Ray (i.e. the lady who does 30 minute meals)'s cook books and made her pretzel coated chicken this afternoon. Yum-O! LoL.
Anyway, for Christmas, apparently it's a tradition to do a "secret Santa" deal with his family, so I'm included this year. It should be interesting. I'm not real big into the Christmas/holiday thing, so we'll see how well I handle this.
I'm going to make a concerted effort to go to the gym (or do Tae Bo here at home) everyday. I went alone on Friday and we went together on Saturday morning. Including Tuesday, I figure I did about 5.5 or 6 miles this week. *sigh* I need to be more motivated.
Anyway, I've spent the day cooking and cleaning up after myself interspersed with episodes of "Sex and the City" and some football. I can't believe the Vikings pulled another field goal out of nowhere to win. So awesome...
First of all, I broke down and bought an actual CD this past week. Normally I'd do the "borrowing from other people illegally" thing, but I decided to do the right thing on this one. It's the Pussycat Dolls. I'm not sure exactly what possessed me to go ahead and purchase this CD, but I'm kind of glad that I did. Now, the Pussycat Dolls appear to be the lead singer and then four or five backup ladies who dance around in their underwear, thrusting their hips, acting like hookers, asking whether you want your girlfriend to be a freak like they are. Surprisingly, very few of the songs on their CD are anything like their "Don'tcha" hit. There are a few tracks that even have a blues kind of mood. The lead singer, Michelle, actually has quite a powerful and amazing voice. Sometimes she sounds like Natalie Cole, sometimes like Christina Aguilera. If you can ignore one or two of the songs, the CD itself is pretty decent.
Secondly, we went and got a Christmas tree this past Thursday. It is sitting in the box in the second bedroom and will probably stay there until after Thanksgiving. It's a 7 foot Alleghany Pine or Fir or something. Fake of course. (I think the "it's in a box" thing should have given that away.) It's a cute tree. Hopefully it will fluff appropriately after being de-boxed.
As of now, it looks like we'll be going over to Adam's parents' house on Thanksgiving evening, after Adam is done at work. They're not quite sure what they'll be doing yet. It all depends on how his mother feels - she had shoulder surgery this past week and is hopped up on drugs. Adam works again the day after Thanksgiving, but not until 5pm, so we plan to have a quasi-Thanksgiving thing here in the morning or early afternoon. We saw this good looking recipe on Food Network yesterday morning for cornish hens with cornbread stuffing, so we're going to give that a try.
I admit it, I'm totally addicted to the Food Network. I recently got one of Rachel Ray (i.e. the lady who does 30 minute meals)'s cook books and made her pretzel coated chicken this afternoon. Yum-O! LoL.
Anyway, for Christmas, apparently it's a tradition to do a "secret Santa" deal with his family, so I'm included this year. It should be interesting. I'm not real big into the Christmas/holiday thing, so we'll see how well I handle this.
I'm going to make a concerted effort to go to the gym (or do Tae Bo here at home) everyday. I went alone on Friday and we went together on Saturday morning. Including Tuesday, I figure I did about 5.5 or 6 miles this week. *sigh* I need to be more motivated.
Anyway, I've spent the day cooking and cleaning up after myself interspersed with episodes of "Sex and the City" and some football. I can't believe the Vikings pulled another field goal out of nowhere to win. So awesome...
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