posted 2008/05/09 at 16:23
Steve Yzerman turns 43 today. Now that the Canadiens are out of the playoffs, I'm hoping that in a few weeks here we'll see Stevie Y. hoist his fourth cup, although it will be weird to see him do so in a suit and tie. Maybe he can slip on the number 19 again just before he gets down to ice level, who knows. On that note, let's play the friday5.org Friday Five.
1. When was the last time you had a needle stuck into you?
If we're counting pine needles, last January before Mom vacuumed up the remnants of the Christmas tree. If we're only talking about doctor's needles, then it was at my last physical, which was too long ago for me to feel comfortable mentioning here.
2. Who among your friends is the easiest target for needling?
Probably Jeff, but I rarely engage in that sort of stuff these days unless it's self-depreciating humour. I've gotten really sensitive and scared about these sorts of things, what can I say.
3. What’s something you can confidently do with a needle and thread?
Poke my fingertip. Actually, I used to cross-stitch back when I was in junior high, but I haven't done that in forever, and, well, video games have advanced a long ways since then.
4. About how many phonograph records do you have in your home, and when’s the last time you dropped a needle on one?
Were it not for the fire, we'd have several hundred here; as it is, I only have the three that were in my room at the time of the fire, an unopened copy of Tori Amos' Under the Pink on pink vinyl, and two copies of a picture-disc interview with the Sugarcubes, one of which has a clock mechanism jammed through it (it came that way). The last time I played an LP would have had to have been in the mid-80s, and I don't have any equipment to do so now.
5. Someone told us the other day about someone at a party using a flavor injector to spike a watermelon with vodka. Is this brilliant or is this stupid?
I'd say stupid, but then again I'm a teetotaler so that's kind of a given.
Labels: fridayfive
posted 2008/05/02 at 20:29
... to say that on this day in 1972 J. Edgar Hoover passed away. A quick Google scan isn't helping me find out who it was who took to answering his phone "Fuck J. Edgar Hoover" in response to Hoover's efforts to weed out so-called radicals and subversives, but I have to say that I've given a great deal of thought to coopting that greeting in the wake of the PATRIOT Act. Unfortunately, no one ever calls me, so I'd never have a chance to use it anyway. On that note, let's play the friday5.org Friday Five!
1. How do you feel about spicy food?
I really love some spices (garlic and red pepper), but not others (Asian-based spices and spice blends). I love the heat of spices, as well as their ability to help clear out my sinuses.
2. What kinds of condiments do you add to food in order to spice things up a bit?
I've never been one for condiments except for catsup; the only time I ever put salt on anything is when I'm eating hash browns at IHOP, which is a once-a-year thing at best.
3. Not counting salt and pepper, what’s your favorite flavor enhancer when cooking?
Emeril's original Essence blend. Apart from things with a tomato base, it goes well with everything and adds just the right flavour and heat.
4. What’s the spiciest food you’ve ever eaten?
That I can remember, Morningstar Farms' vegetarian buffalo wings. I'm sure I had spicier stuff when I was a child, though; I just didn't get emotionally scarred by it.
5. In what way might some other aspect of your daily life be spiced up, and what’s keeping that from happening right now?
I don't have time for a boyfriend or a girlfriend right now, and it's not like I've ever had much luck finding them anyway. That's all I can safely say here.
Labels: fridayfive
posted 2008/04/25 at 18:14
Two things stand out on this day in history, both from 1792. On that day, not only did Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle pen "La Marseillaise," the French national anthem, but the first execution by guillotine, another French invention, was also carried out. As I remind my students on a regular basis, just because two things happen close to each other does not necessarily mean that one thing caused another to happen, but in a case like this you just never know. On that note, let's play the friday5.org Friday Five!
1. What’s something you love and is quite bad for you?
Given everything I've gone through the past two months, I have to answer fatty foods here. Seriously, don't even ask.
2. What’s something you hate and is quite good for you?
Vegetables. For a vegetarian, I sure don't eat as many of them as I should.
3. What’s something that’s about equally good and bad for you?
Going out and trying to meet new people, like I did last night after work. I need to expand my horizons here, but I'm still not sure that I'm mentally prepared for that at this point.
4. What’s something you’ve been told is bad for you but you suspect is not as bad as people say?
I'd say some people who are trying to get me to really ratchet down on the carbohydates I take in when I diet. There's no doubt that I should be getting more protein than I do, but I don't think carbs are quite the monsters that some people make them out to be.
5. What’s something most people consider ugly but you consider beautiful?
I refuse to answer this question on the grounds that my answer may serve to bring me grievous bodily harm.
Labels: fridayfive
posted 2008/04/18 at 17:28
[Quick note: At least for the moment I am on Twitter. If I find it a useful tool over the next couple of weeks I'll add a feed to the .org; follow me at your own peril.]
Today is the 32nd birthday of actress Melissa Joan Hart. While the students I teach are more familiar with her turn as the titular character on Sabrina the Teenage Witch, people my age will likely always remember her as the titular character of Nickelodeon's Clarissa Explains it All. That makes her exactly one month younger than me, which begs the question, what in the Toot have I been doing with my life? On that depressing note, let's play the friday5.org Friday Five.
1. What’s a buzzword or catchphrase that gets overused at your workplace or in your classes?
I've been too busy with other things to spend time talking with the other instructors at MCCC, and I can't think of a phrase my students have used a lot in class lately. Given how much I try to encourage original thought in my students, I hope this is a good sign that I'm doing my job.
2. What item in your house has seen too much use lately?
My French press. I've been so pooped lately that I've developed the biggest coffee addiction I can remember having in a decade.
3. What’s a word or phrase your friends would ask you to use a lot less, if you were to ask their opinion?
The moment anyone who knows me asks me to talk less than I currently do is the moment I become a monk.
4. What’s something in your life that’s pretty much been used up and needs replacing?
I had to replace the black ink cartridge in my printer last weekend; does that count? Seriously, I overuse everything to death, so I can't come up with just one thing here.
5. In what way have you been overused lately?
Trying to figure out answers to the millions of questions Dad's death has raised, for the family and our lawyers and seemingly everyone else on the face of the planet.
Labels: fridayfive
posted 2008/04/11 at 20:40
On this date in 1921, Iowa became the first state to impose a tax on cigarettes. The very next day, the Libertarian Party was founded. Okay, I made that second part up. On that note, let's play the friday5.org Friday Five.
1. Among your acquaintances, who’s the best screamer?
I will simply say it's Katy, but I will not say how I am aware of this particular fact. (Seriously, how could I, or anyone, answer that question without raising eyebrows?)
2. When was the last time you had to shout in order to be heard?
Given how often I have my classes engage in small-group discussions over things, I invariably have to shout over them to get them back into a large-group discussion, so, um, yesterday.
3. When was the last time you cheered for anything?
When Darren McCarty got an assist in the Red Wings' last regular season game, although that wasn't a "cheer" so much as it was a fist-pump. The last time I seriously cheered was for Magglio Ordoñez ALCS-clinching home run in 2006. I'm not much of a cheer-er.
4. Whom did you last yell at?
It's been so long since I actually berated someone that I can't remember clearly. Sadly, I think the last person I can be said to have yelled at was Dad when he got on one of his "anyone who fights in hockey should be banned for life" tirades. (You see what the Stanley Cup playoffs do to my attention.)
5. When did you last lose your voice, or at least find yourself hoarse?
Just before last semester ended I got incredibly sick. My first day back I literally had to type everything I wanted to "say" to the class on the data projector.
Labels: fridayfive
posted 2008/04/04 at 18:50
Forty years to the day that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was fell by an assassin's bullet. Only in recent years has more attention been paid to the work he did in showing the plight of the poor and speaking of the injustices that got us into Vietnam, but of course his work on race relations transcends any superlatives that anyone could hope to attach to it. On that somber note, let's play the friday5.org Friday Five.
(Gee, talk about an uncomfortable segue ...)
1. Where can you get some really good pancakes?
Mom used to make great pancakes from scratch, as did Dad (although he tended to make them only at night for our "breakfast-as-dinner" meals), but ever since Fast Shake came out, that's been the standard in this house. When I get the craving for pancakes these days, I'm usually stuck going to IHOP (which only came to Toledo a few years ago, strangely enough).
2. How do you like your pancakes?
Normally with just a bit of margarine and syrup, but since I've been going to IHOP I've tended to get their fruit pancakes.
3. What’s your theory on why restaurant waffles are so much more expensive than pancakes?
Lack of demand, I'd guess. Either that, or they're much more time-consuming to make because of specialized equipment. Besides, as everyone who has watched MST3k's treatment of Viking Women Versus the Sea Serpent knows, waffles rule the world.
4. The pancake chef is going whip up a batch of the most interesting, creative pancake invention you can imagine. What will you order?
Probably something more familiar and comforting to me. I'm not in the mood to experiment with my food right now.
5. When was the last time someone made you pancakes, not counting visits to restaurants?
I honestly cannot remember; it would have had to have been before I went vegetarian, which was back in 1992. Egads.
Labels: fridayfive
posted 2008/03/28 at 14:36
I continue to be stressed beyond belief on this end with various things, keeping me from blogging as much as I'd like or even do much of anything. I can't find anything much to lead the Friday Five with today except that it's the 29th anniversary of the Three Mile Island accident, and I can't think of anything really profound to say about it. Let's just play the friday5.org Friday Five and get it over with so I can get back to other things here.
1. Who in your life would make a really good butler?
I wouldn't wish that kind of a job on anyone, even people I intensely dislike.
2. Who in your life would make a really good head of state?
Since I assume I'm not allowed to mention myself, I'll go with my sister here, since she doesn't take crap from anyone and can detect people trying to zoom her better than anyone I know.
3. Who in your life would make a really good TV talk-show host?
I think I'll go with Jeff here, since he has a knack for knowing the right questions to ask people to get them to open up. (I think his background in improv comedy really helps him with that.)
4. Who in your life would make a really good astronaut?
I don't know anyone who even likes to fly, let alone would think about going into outer space, but I know a couple of people I'd like to send into orbit. Not with a rocket, but I'd still like to send them into orbit.
5. Who in your life would make a really good movie director?
I'll go with Jeff again, but that's obvious because he's the biggest movie buff I know.
Labels: fridayfive
posted 2008/03/21 at 21:24
Today would have been Dad's 62nd birthday. There's really not much more I can add to that, so let's just get to the friday5.org Friday Five.
1. What was the last thing you filled out a written application for?
When I went to the BMV to renew my driver's license earlier this month I think I only had to sign a sheet after the attendant asked me a bunch of questions, so I won't count that. The last written applications of any kind I can remember are things regarding retirement funds and the like I filled out after I got hired at MCCC.
2. What computer application software last impressed you with what it could do?
I honestly don't have an answer here simply because I tend to use the same software over and over again. I intend on constructing Yggdrasil Mark II later this year, though, so perhaps I'll have a chance to try out some new stuff here soon.
3. Where did you last apply a Band-Aid?
Probably a finger; my hands certainly got cut to heck when I got a really, really bad case of winter skin about a month ago.
4. What’s a rule that applies to many people in your life but not to you?
Worry about the finances later. We will have some money coming to us here shortly, but I am perhaps overly paranoid in wanting to save as much money as possible here until we actually have the money that's coming in our accounts.
5. When were you last required to apply some elbow grease to something?
Fixing the keyboard drawer on my computer desk here when the screws on the right side came off. It's only on via a patch job now, but my sister finally found the anchor for my old articulating keyboard drawer here soon, so I hope to attach that to this desk sometime soon.
Labels: dad, fridayfive
posted 2008/03/14 at 19:54
My apologies for going silent for a whole week like that, but between business surrounding Dad's death and work for school I haven't had a moment's rest for a very long time. I'll have an update on that over the weekend, but for now I wanted to make sure I got a Friday Five in here.
On this day in 1994, version 1.0.0 of the Linux kernel was released. I actually remember some friends of mine from local BBSes talking about Linux back in the winter of '95, but it was only in the late 1990s when I finally took a serious look at Linux, thanks in large part to The Screen Savers on ZDTV featuring it so prominently. Leo Laporte and Kate Botello need to get back together on my television now. On that note, let's play the friday5.org Friday Five.
1. What were the events that led to your being in the most trouble with your parents ever?
I'm not sure if I can figure out a single episode that was the worst, and even if I could it is still far too soon for me to be approaching this topic. Pass.
2. What happened when you received your worst childhood physical injury?
The weekend before the last week of kindergarten I tried on roller skates for the first time in our garage. Ten seconds later I fell and broke my right arm and got to spend half of that summer vacation with a plaster cast on that arm, unable to swim in our backyard pool. I remember my sister drawing a huge Pac-Man maze on my first cast because I was big into Pac-Man then (and couldn't play it with my arm bent at the elbow the way it was while it healed).
3. What was the worst trouble you ever got into in school?
Just before my last year at That Private School, I was barred from campus for three months and had to be psychiatrically evaluated before I was allowed to return. The shrink who saw me agreed that if there were any mental problems, they were with the people who ran that school, not me.
4. What kind of trouble have you been in at work?
At MCCC I've only ever had problems getting behind on getting my students' work back to them in a timely fashion. I'm having that problem now, as a matter of fact, although my students have been understanding given the circumstances.
5. How do you usually deal with the knowledge that you’re about to be in big trouble?
I try to think things through and figure out how best to survive and get through things. That kind of sums up the last three weeks for me, actually.
Labels: fridayfive
posted 2008/03/07 at 22:01
Two of them on this day, in fact, both going back to the Steelers' glory days of the seventies. Franco Harris was born on this day in 1950, Lynn Swann on this day in 1952. This is particularly important to me right now because Harris was one of two men (William Shatner, of all people, being the other) Mom had a crush on when I was growing up. Mom says that there's no way she'll ever remarry, but seeing Harris' name pop up on Wikipedia today made me think. On that note, let's play the friday5.org Friday Five.
1. What is your keyring like?
It's got two separate rings, one for car keys and one for other keys. The car key ring is getting particularly weak, and I have to keep pushing it back into a ring every week or so or else keys start falling off of it. I also have discount cards for three grocers on my keyring, although one is for a chain that isn't even in Toledo any longer (Farmer Jack).
2. What is your purse/bag/briefcase like?
My purse is at once incredibly well-ordered because I like knowing where things are, and incredibly dingy inside because it needs a desperate cleaning. It's a Powerpuff Girls purse I picked up at Meijer at least eight years ago or so, and it's held up well after all this time. I really don't want to get a new purse unless I absolutely have to.
3. What is your wallet like?
My billfold is, again, very organized but also in need of a cleaning. I probably do need to get a new billfold soon just because I've run out of storage space for all my discount cards and such.
4. What is your mousepad like?
Very old and dirty; about a decade ago I bought one of the plain black ones that comes with a gel rest on the bottom for your wrist, and my gel rest has flaked away so much at this point that I had to cover it in duct tape to stop it from flaking away more. I need to get new gel rests for both my keyboard and my mousepad at this point.
5. What are the curtains in your bedroom like?
I don't have anything on the window in my bedroom because Dad never got around to installing blinds on the windows for either my room or the loft. At this point I'd rather not have them, though, because I use the window ledge to store too many important things (including my whiteboard and my cell phone).
Labels: fridayfive
posted 2008/02/29 at 18:40
Getting back to my normal activities is probably one of the things I need to do here in order to get healthier, so I'll do the Friday Five this week. A few weeks ago when I realized that I'd be doing a Friday Five on Leap Day, I kind of peaked ahead at Wikipedia's listing for this day to see if there was much of anything I could pull for the usual historical opener. I found some stuff that I thought I might be able to use, but I've kind of discarded it because there's only one lead I can go with here:
Today was Dad's memorial service up in Michigan. I love you, Dad, and I miss you terribly. On that note, let's play the friday5.org Friday Five.
1. How and when did you learn to swim?
I think the only real formal training I had in swimming came in second grade when we went to one of the local high schools (ironically enough the rival school to the one my sister was attending at the time). Given how often I was up at the vacation house my paternal grandparents had on Bois Blanc Island up on Lake Huron, though, and given how Mom always built small pools for me in the backyard in unused patches of her garden, though, I can't remember a time when I didn't know how to swim. I've never done it that well, and I don't think I ever will swim again for obvious reasons, but I can swim at least.
2. How and when did you learn to drive?
I first started driving school when I was 16, but I didn't get my license until I was almost 25. The driving school I went to had a deal where you paid a one-time fee, and in addition to the state-mandated number of hours you had to drive with an instructor, they offered to let you keep driving with their instructors until you were ready to pass the test. Well, I kind of used a whole lot of those hours because I really sucked at driving. Finally one day I almost ran a kid over going through the residential neighbourhood east of the school, and five minutes later I somehow had my graduation certificate. I think they just got sick of me and wanted to cut ties with me, but the incident kind of stuck in my mind for a long time there and made me too scared to drive. I got over it eventually, and these days I think I'm one of the finest drivers out there, but it was hard.
3. How and when did you learn to tie your shoelaces?
I don't remember the exact age, but I learned later than most (for all that I grew up to be so smart, I had difficulty with a lot of basic things back in the day), and I learned by practicing on a brick with holes in it through which Dad laced an extra pair of shoelaces. I can even remember the shoelaces being huge, and this absolutely hideous shade of green. (Green was Dad's favourite colour.)
4. How and when did you learn to cook?
I think I made my first Chef Boyardee pizza when I was thirteen; I can remember that I forgot to grease the cookie sheet, so the pizza stuck on like crazy. After that Mom taught me various things, and I watched a lot of The Frugal Gourmet and Ciao Italia and picked up things from the cookbooks there.
5. How and when did you learn to type?
I've never learned how to type properly -- I use my right hand for nearly all the keys, and keep my left pinky resting on the keyboard to the left of the tilde -- but I had classes when I was younger. Given that I was doing computer programming when I was four years old on Dad's Sinclair ZX-80, I think typing was just one of those things I picked up before I even knew what I was doing.
Labels: dad, fridayfive, personal
posted 2008/02/15 at 19:32
This week's Friday Five at friday5.org is just too cheesy for me to attempt, and the only date-related thing I can really talk about today is that it's YouTube's third birthday. In place of that meme, I'll link to you my Johari and Nohari windows, if any of you would like to fill them out or look at the results.
Labels: fridayfive
posted 2008/02/08 at 21:40
It was on this day in 1587 that Mary, Queen of Scots, was executed for suspicion of being involved in the plot to kill her sister, Queen Elizabeth I. Somehow I don't think it went quite like the BBC radio broadcast penned by Monty Python, but it's nice to think about. On that note, let's play the friday5.org Friday Five before it gets to be Saturday here.
1. When did you last use graphing paper?
I might have used some in high school algebra or trigonometry or even precalculus, but my last clear memory of using it is in eighth grade science. Funnily enough, my folks had bought me a bulk pack of graphing paper pads, and some of them are still on top of the bookshelf behind me as I write here.
2. When did you last use a highlighter?
When I was finishing up my MA thesis and highlighting bits of articles I'd photocopied. I've never been one for writing or highlighting in my books since I'm fussy like that, but when it comes to photocopies, I'll write or highlight however much I please.
3. When did you last cover a book?
Sixth grade, and only because it was required then. I try to save the paper covers of all the hardcover books I buy, though, even though most people I know pitch them out.
4. When did you last wear an apron or smock?
Third grade art class; when I started going to private school in the fourth grade, there were no smocks. (I only have bad memories of my art teachers at that school.) I could use an apron when I'm baking, though, given the messes I tend to make.
5. When did you last use glue?
If super glue counts, a few months ago to mend a figurine of mine. If this is meant to be Elmer's Glue, possibly eighth grade art class, maybe earlier than that.
Labels: fridayfive
posted 2008/02/01 at 20:00
Now, as a public service, I will repeat the introduction to today's blog entry for the hard of hearing: TODAY IS GARRETT MORRIS' 71ST BIRTHDAY!!! Okay, it doesn't translate so well to written form, but those of you my age or older and laughing right now, admit it. On that note, let's play the friday5.org Friday Five!
1. Which open-all-night establishment has been a lifesaver for you?
Meijer. Whether I need some doughnuts, underwear, or duct tape at three in the morning, it's just an eight-minute drive away.
2. What open-all-night establishment is closest to where you live?
The closest 24-hour establishment to me is a Speedway gas station about a mile away. Not counting that, there's a Kroger about five minutes away from my house that is open twenty-hour hours a day.
3. What nonexistent open-all-night establishment could you really use in your life?
Meijer and Kroger pretty much take care of anything I'd need twenty-four hours a day. Meijer's selection of entertainment media (books, CDs, DVDs, video games) isn't the best, but I do most of my shopping for those things on Amazon.com anyway. The only thing I need that I can't get from Meijer or Amazon is illegal to sell, anyway. (Ba dump bump.)
4. Which open-all-night establishment in your town is least likely ever to see your patronage in the wee hours of the morning?
The Wal*Mart a mile down the road from my house. If you don't know why, you haven't been reading my blog long enough.
5. Have you ever purchased anything advertised on television late, late at night?
I haven't, but back in the eighties Mom got me that "Where There's a Will There's an A" study programme, and back then I really, really wanted a Soloflex for some inexplicable reason. Something about the minimalist commercials appealed to me back then.
Labels: fridayfive
posted 2008/01/25 at 21:25
Although I'll still think of George Kell and Al Kaline's WDIV broadcasts when I think of the Tigers of my youth, there is no question that Ernie Harwell will always be the voice of the Tigers. Although he "retired" several years ago, he still pops in to do colour commentary on the odd game for Fox Sports Net Detroit, and famously gave advice to current play-by-play commentator Mario Impemba on how to call a no-hitter just a couple of weeks before Justin Verlander threw his no-no last season. Happy birthday, Ernie, and may your voice continue to grace Tigers broadcasts for many years to come. On that note, let's play the friday5.org Friday Five.
1. What was the last important thing you were late for?
I always show up to things a half-hour before I'm supposed to. That being said, I was late to one of my first comp classes at MCCC last semester because I tried taking an alternate route and wound up stopped by two trains in succession.
2. What was the last important thing you were late with?
Again with my first MCCC class last year, I returned one of their papers very very late because I had some family stuff come up that drove me to too much distraction.
3. What (or who!) is the most frequent cause of your lateness?
Bad luck. Given how punctual I strive to be, there's really no room for procrastination on my part.
4. Which of your close friends or relatives can you expect almost always to be inconveniently late?
My sister. I really don't want to say anything more than that.
5. What’s most likely to cause you to stay up too late before bed?
If I said it, every response I'd get to this entry would have "TMI" somewhere in it. Figure it out.
Labels: fridayfive
posted 2008/01/18 at 19:01
... because Wikipedia can't seem to make up its own mind, but anyway, it was a decade ago today or yesterday that Matt Drudge posted on that Website of his that Newsweek was sitting on a story about then-President Clinton having an affair with one of his interns, Monica Lewinsky. Remember what we as a country went through in the following couple of years, and compare that to what congressional Democrats have done so far to hold the current administration accountable for what they did to get us into that mess in Iraq. Insert joke about cigars and Nancy Pelosi here. On that note, let's play the friday5.org Friday Five.
... actually, I'm going to take a week off here. I don't know if I'm just in a bad mood right now, but the excessively punny nature of this week's five is just turning me off and no matter how hard I try I can't bring myself to answer it. Instead, I'll just link you to another meme I did on my LiveJournal earlier this week: http://seanshannon.livejournal.com/203579.html.
Labels: fridayfive
posted 2008/01/11 at 15:50
Former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien was born. He was Prime Minister for most of the time I regularly caught those two great Canadian political satire shows, Royal Canadian Air Farce and This Hour Has 22 Minutes, and his willingness to appear on the latter show multiple times just reinforced in my mind how much better Canadian politics are than ours. Contrast that to Nancy Pelosi's admonition to first-year Representatives not to appear on The Colbert Report's "Better Know a District" segment. Sigh. Anyway, let's play the friday5.org Friday Five.
1. Under what conditions can you have the perfect nap?
I don't nap unless I'm massively sleep-deprived, and even then my naps tend to be by accident. For sleep, I need comfortable sheets, not too much noise outside of the usual stuff that comes from the highway adjacent to our backyard, and a sleep mask.
2. Under what conditions can you let most of your guard down?
Only when I'm in the company of a very close friend, and even then only when I don't have too much on my mind. I used to be better at this, but after the betrayals of a few friends I've tended to be incredibly guarded at all hours.
3. Under what conditions can you do your best writing?
I used to write best in the wee small hours of the morning, but now I'm finding that I write best as early in the day as possible, usually before any working out I do that day. I have to hand-write poetry, but I prefer to work on fiction at my computer here (where I could use a more comfortable chair).
4. Under what conditions would you give away everything you own?
I wouldn't; I'm too materialistic, and I attach too much sentiment to physical things. (Examples: the comforter on my bed right now is the last present I got from my maternal grandmother, and the Björk t-shirt I'm wearing presently was one that I bought at the first, and so far only, concert of hers I've been to.)
5. Under what conditions would you kiss a stranger?
I wouldn't; I give close friends pecks on the cheek, but otherwise I'm far more of a hugger. (Don't even ask about the last time I made out with someone.)
Labels: fridayfive
posted 2008/01/04 at 18:44
This enables me to once again bemoan how chronically underappreciated Max Headroom continues to be to this day. In all seriousness, if there was ever one television series that proved itself to be more and more precient with each passing year, I'd like to know what it was. Okay, so maybe we all got hooked to our computer monitors instead of our television screens, but how many people are using the same screen for both now? Matt, you are missed as Max Headroom, and I can only hope that the upcoming silver anniversary will draw new attention to one of the great television shows of my youth. On that note, let's play the friday5.org Friday Five.
1. In 2007, who most made you laugh?
I really don't laugh that much, but if this can be redefined to mean who brought the most humour to my life, I'd say it was a tossup between Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Keith Olbermann. (It kind of figures that theirs are the only three non-sports shows I make a point of catching on a regular basis.)
2. In 2007, who most inspired you?
Given how stressed a lot of my students were, what with Michigan's economy continuing to go into the gutter, I'll give them the nod here.
3. In 2007, who taught you the most?
I'll go with my students again here. I can only hope that they learned as much from me as I learned from them.
4. In 2007, who encouraged you the most?
I'm not really sure how to quantify this, but my intuition says that any careful examination would yield Mom as the answer, so I'll go with her.
5. What did you do in 2007 that will have the most positive effect on your 2008?
Apart from that last month when I got so darn sick, I managed to stick to my diet for the whole year, and when I wasn't swamped with other things I got a lot of exercise in. I hope to continue that trend into the new year.
Labels: fridayfive
posted 2007/12/28 at 20:10
Seriously, what is with all the people who make the computer operating systems of our time remaining so freakishly young-looking well into middle age? Steve Jobs seems to be the only one who doesn't seem to mind showing some beard stubble and a little grey in his hair. Dick Clark has nothing on these guys. Anyway, let's play the friday5.org Friday Five!
1. What is an acronym specific to your workplace or profession?
SCF: Students Come First. Okay, it's not exactly canon, but I don't have the time to come up with a stronger acronym right now.
2. What is an acronym you use a lot in your personal life?
WTF. (I also tend to use FTW a lot, but in its pre-"for the win" usage. Yeah hi, it's been over seven years, why are you still reading this?)
3. Internet acronyms are unavoidable, but what’s one you particularly despise, and what’s one you particularly like?
I dislike BTW because spelling "by the way" out really doesn't take that much time. I guess WTF is the only one I actually like, mainly because it enables me to drop an f-bomb without actually having to spell it out.
4. What acronym could you create right now for some regular annoyance in your life?
IHBS: I Hate Being Sick.
5. What would be a memorable or appetizing acronym for your most recent meal?
My last meal was pizza, so there's absolutely no opportunities for making an acronym there. Cheese pizza would be CP, and that acronym is already in use for another big part of my life.
Labels: fridayfive
posted 2007/12/21 at 20:49
The L, of course, stands for Motherfucking. On that note, let's play the friday5.org Friday Five!
1. If money were no concern and LOOKS the only consideration, what car would you get yourself?
If money were no concern I'd get a hybrid, thanks. If I really had the money to spend, and I couldn't spend it on more worthwhile things, I'd probably get the hybrid painted black with dark purple and dark green accents.
2. If money were no concern and YOUR LIFESTYLE the only consideration, what car would you get yourself?
The hybrid minus the paint job. (I figure the custom paint job would make it a bigger target for thieves.)
3. What is the best thing about your current car? If you do not own a car, what is the best thing about the car you most often ride in?
It's been in a lot of accidents (never the fault of anyone who was driving it) and it barely has a scratch on it. It probably gets three miles to the gallon on a good day, but I can feel fairly safe for myself when I'm driving it. (Now if I could only feel that safe for other drivers.)
4. If cars could be skinned the way cell phones, laptop computers, and iPods can, what would be a really cool skin for your car?
The paint job from before. Let's just say a black base with dark purple mists on the lower half and a strip of dark green ivy on top of that. (Kind of like how the .org used to look before the most recent redesign.)
5. If you were going to decorate a friend’s car with a custom-made skin as a practical joke, whose car would you skin and what would it be?
I don't do practical jokes, thanks.
Labels: fridayfive
posted 2007/12/14 at 20:50
Very sick, as a matter of fact. I don't think I've had an infection this bad in several years, and it's left me bed-bound for the most part. Back then my computer was actually up against my bed, so I could keep bouncing around online as much as I wanted then, but now it's kind of an effort to stay sitting here for any period of time. I just hope I get over this bug in time to enjoy the start of winter vacation.
Still, it is a Friday, so let's do the Olbermann thing here. Today marks the anniversary of the end of that most bitter of American conflicts, the one that pitted brother against brother, and sister against sister, like none other before. Yes, on this day in 1836 the Toledo War ended. If you can believe it, Ohio and Michigan once raised militias and were prepared to wage all-out war just for the rights to have our little piece of the Great Black Swamp considered an official part of their state. Facing pressure from Congress, Michigan eventually gave up its claim on the land in exchange for most of what is now Michigan's Upper Penninsula. It sounds like a bad deal, but Michigan got the best out of it considering all the iron and copper deposits that were eventually found in the U.P., not to mention all the lumber they were able to sell, whereas Toledo ... well, we've got glass, or something that rhymes with glass, anyway. On that note, let's play the friday5.org Friday Five!
1. What’s your favorite song about growing up?
Good, just what I need: questions about music that require very short answers. This one's easy: Tom Waits' "I Don't Wanna Grow Up."
2. What’s your favorite song about cars or driving?
I'm not sure if this counts, but once before I die I swear I'm going to rent a convertible, put the top down, and drive around all day long blasting Tori Amos' "Cornflake Girl" at top volume. That song just strikes me as the perfect "convertible song" for some reason.
3. What’s your favorite song whose title is a person’s name?
I'm assuming fictional people are allowed in response to this, so Björk's "Isobel" gets the nod.
4. What’s your favorite get-up-and-dance song?
Given all the dancey games I play I'm tempted to answer with a song from one of those, but instead I'll go with Tori Amos' "Raspberry Swirl." It's the only song I can dance to without the aid of arrows.
5. What’s your favorite novelty song?
Given how addicted I was to Dr. Demento's radio show back in the early 90s, I could come up with a million answers to this. (My father's song that Dr. Demento played on the air back in 1994 would not be one of them, thank you very much.) 2nu's "Ponderous" comes to mind the most readily, so I'll go with that.
Labels: fridayfive
posted 2007/12/07 at 17:40
It's Tom Waits' 58th birthday today. Happy birthday, Tom, and on that note, let's go lickety-splitly to the friday5.org Friday Five.
1. What playground game do you remember most fondly?
None of them, really. The playground where I went to public school, and more specifically the kids in that playground, are the reason why I have a chip out of one of my front teeth (and a good part of the reason why I started going to private school).
2. What playground game did you just hate?
Pretty much anything that involved climbing. In addition to bring highly unathletic, I also had a fear of heights when I was younger. (I'm still a bit nervous around heights, but I've gotten better at controlling the fear.)
3. Which playground apparatus did you most enjoy?
Swings, although I never got good at being able to swing that high when I was younger. I finally figured out the physics of swinging when I was older, but by that point when I tried to swing high I just gave myself a really bad case of motion sickness.
4. Which playground apparatus did you generally avoid or not care much for?
At my public school there used to be this big metal sheet tilted at an angle, much higher on one end than the other, with an iron pipe above it. The kids there always scaled the bar from one end to the other, but as they did so their bodies were flat against the metal sheet, and particularly close to the summer months that thing reached about a million degrees. Shortly after I started going to private school, the apparatus was taken down.
5. What playground game might be really fun if grownups played it with adult rules?
Cops and robbers. What?
Labels: fridayfive
posted 2007/11/30 at 14:49
The reach of his magnum opus, Gulliver's Travels, on our culture cannot easily be overstated. Although those of us who have memories before 1994 will probably recall the image of the Lilliputians tying Gulliver down as the most iconic image of the book, its biggest influence in modern times comes from the name Swift invented for the deformed creatures Gulliver encounters near the end of his journey: Yahoos. Yes, Swift is responsible for creating what eventually became the name of one of the Internet's most popular and powerful portals. One can only imagine how history might have changed if Yahoo's founders had chosen the name of another fictional race from Gulliver's Travels as a name for their Website, say, Brobdingnag or Glubbdubdrib.
Although Gulliver's Travels is by far Swift's most recognizable work, his satire A Modest Proposal may be more appropriate reading for these ages. In it, Swift suggests that the poor families of Ireland might ease their financial troubles by selling their children as delicacies for aristocrats. Thus, Swift not only brought us the name of Yahoo, but he also may easily lay claim to being the father of neo-conservative thinking. On that note, let's play the friday5.org Friday Five!
1. Are you a mentalist or an illusionist?
I feel a need to explain the theme for this week's Five: These are questions taken from an interview Larry King did with Criss Angel earlier this week. I don't get the appeal, but I might as well play along. As for this question, I am neither mentalist nor illusionist, but most who know me would certainly agree that I am at least somewhat mental.
2. You’re on a roll. Do you feel the roll you’re on?
If the roll's just come out of the oven and it's warm and toasty, yes. If it's been left out in the air too long and has started to crust up, I'll certainly feel that underneath me. Otherwise I might just mistake the roll for a large pillow.
3. How many performances a week?
Life is a performance, so measuring performance by a number instead of an amount is fallacious.
4. Is there a little bit of Evel Knievel in you?
Unless Mom had some really freaky dalliance that she never let on to the rest of us about, no. Then again, I hear DNA testing kits are only a hundred bucks at Rite Aid now, maybe I should make sure of this before any rumours start spreading.
5. How much of what you do is physical, by the way?
Even if something I do is accomplished physically, it starts with a mental impulse, so ultimately it's all completely mental. Like me.
Labels: fridayfive
posted 2007/11/23 at 19:07
Adolph Marx was born, later legally Arthur Marx because he disliked the name Adolph. However, it was under his stage name of Harpo Marx he would become best known, as the always silent, usually lecherous, harp virtuoso of the Marx Brothers. While Chico's piano-playing captivated me as a child because of the tricks he did with his fingers while he played, Harpo's musical moments always touched me the deepest because they so totally broke from the ne'er-do-well characters he played throughout the rest of the movies, and were always elegant and beautiful. After that, though, it was usually right back to chasing after the young women in the films. On that note, let's play the friday5.org Friday Five.
1. If a really, really good photographer — the kind who always makes you look good and still look like you — were to take your photo right now, what would be a good title for it?
Such a photographer simply does not exist, but for the purpose of this exercise, let's say "Despondent."
2. If that photo were so good it belonged on the cover of a magazine, what would be a good choice, based on where you are and what you’re doing?
Bloggers don't have magazines; we publish what we do online. Seriously, I haven't done anything of interest today, so I have no idea how to answer this question.
3. If you took an interesting or aesthetically pleasing photo of something in your view right now, what might it be, and what would its title be?
The lightpole on the highway in our backyward just above my LCD right now, and for a title let's go with "Why it's so hard to see the stars at night."
4. Among people you know, who seems to have a knack for taking great shots of people?
Given that my family is more inclined to take shots at people than take shots of them ... yeah. I'll go with Lara here; her DeviantArt has a number of lovely photos on it if you're interested.
5. Are you usually happier with candid photos of you, or photos you’ve posed for?
I'm happier when there are no photos taken of me at all, thank you very much. (I will sometimes consent to have my photo taken if it serves a larger purpose, e.g. when I was in all those stories in UT's newspaper a couple of years ago, but otherwise I'm very camera-shy.)
Labels: fridayfive
posted 2007/11/16 at 20:38
Although later generations may only know of Leisure from reruns of Empty Nest, those of us who lived through all the eighties will never forget Leisure's brilliant turn as Joe Isuzu, the Isuzu television spokesperson whose lies about the company's cars were so over the top ("It gets twenty million miles per gallon" and the like), and delivered with such a deadpan charm, that Leisure may be one of the best commercial actors of my lifetime; certainly Joe Isuzu presaged Jon Lovitz' more popular "Liar" character. On that note, let's play the friday5.org Friday Five.
1. Where is the nearest playground slide?
I'm fairly certain several of the houses near ours have some kind of slide, but the nearest playground slide would be at Stranahan Elementary School, about half a mile from here.
2. What’s something you recently let slide?
Entirely too many promises from my sister to take care of her responsibilities. The less said about that, the better.
3. Who recently let slide something you did?
I polished off the orange juice this morning for breakfast, but the folks let it slide because my brother-in-law didn't buy bananas last night like he was supposed to. (Starting to notice a pattern here?)
4. Where is the nearest water slide?
I believe at a theme park up near Dundee, Michigan, about five miles north of how far I go up into Michigan on US-23 on my way to work.
5. When did you last slide down a pole, a rope, or an embankment?
The closest thing I can think of is when I slid down the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes up in Michigan when I was on a school trip up there in sixth grade. Yeah, I don't like sliding, thanks.
Labels: fridayfive
posted 2007/11/09 at 19:53
Garry Kasparov, himself then the age of 22, became the youngest world chess champion by defeating Anatoly Karpov. Kasparov's win crossed over into the mainstream news of the time not only because of his youth, but because he was already preaching political ideas that Western countries, still in the grip of the Cold War, approved of. I was 9 at the time of Kasparov's victory, and my father had already gotten me interested in chess, but I think Kasparov being in the news as I watched Today before school every morning was one of the main reasons I played as much chess as I did in my teen years. On that note, let's play the friday5.org Friday Five.
1. What’s something that’s hanging from your ceiling?
Cobwebs. We don't believe in hanging stuff from the ceiling in this house, and I can't think of anything I'd like to hang from the ceiling here. (Once I get my own place, though, that will likely change.)
2. What’s something that’s hanging on your wall?
The only thing that's actually hanging on the wall are brackets for some shelves above my television which currently house most of my old VHS collection and my Nintendo 64 games. Before the fire I had a bunch of Björk, Tori Amos, Sarah McLachlan, and Sugarcubes posters on my walls, but I've never bothered to put them back up. (I'm not even sure where they are right now.)
3. What’s something that’s hanging in your closet?
My clothes? Um, I guess the most interesting thing that's in there right now is my witch costume from that Halloween Party in 2003 that I still don't have my props back from ...
4. What’s hanging from your rear-view mirror? (for those without cars, what’s something hanging from the rear-view mirror of a car you’ve recently ridden in?)
It's actually against the law to hang stuff from your rear-view mirror unless it's a parking tag. UT used to have those tags, but MCCC uses a sticker for staff permits, so right now I don't have anything on my rear-view mirror.
5. What have you been hanging onto for too long?
Too many bad memories and bad feelings to even mention. Seriously.
Labels: fridayfive
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