Book Review: The Little Brown Book of Corporate Advancement

This gift from Michele contributed to the hilarity on my birthday at Waldo Pizza. You know, the whole place singing happy birthday and making my face red. Then getting this funny book was a nice added touch. The tag line is "The Employee Handbook for Brown-nosing Your Way to the Top".

The book is really not naughty or anything - most of the advice in the book is actually quite reasonable, but with a little sarcasm and some wit.

One of the first parts I read was also one of the funniest. It is Possible Hallway Greetings. Here a couple of them.

"How's It Going?" There's another human being in your vicinity! You can't register anything more specific

"There He/She Is!" Useful for when you really can't remember their name, but it's pretty clear what gender they are.


I also enjoyed the part about office sports. "If corporate softball is 'a chance to have some fun', why does it seem to matter more than anything else?" "Clearly, if you don't have it in you, you can't be a great softball player, but it would be a nice gesture to record the team's stats on a spreadsheet which you update every game so the boss can carry it around on his personal organizer"

The book explains common acronyms and jargon like "circle back", "downloading", "leverage", and "ping". It even has a jargon generator...I chose the word "Mission" from Column A, and mixed it with "Specific" from Column B and I have my new jargon "Mission Specific". I'm totally going to make up some words and start dropping them on people.

I also like the part where it pokes fun at popular business books, such as the ones that I've read : "How To Win Friends and Influence People", "Who Moved My Cheese", and "Freakonomics". "...if your boss or colleagues read them and start to apply what they learn. This can be incredibly disruptive: Clearly the law of averages and common sense suggests that at least a percentage of these works are written by charlatans who have nothing wise to say and no idea how to run a business. If your boss applies their ideas the result is likely to be chaos."

Overall, it was a fun and easy read, and I'll share it with some other people.

Running towards the goal

We are training for our annual Fourth of July Freedom Run.



My dad is the crazy one in the corner. Click on the picture to see his face!

Weddings are happy

We will be celebrating my cousin's wedding this weekend.

Coming up

Blog posts coming up:

• Review of The Little Brown Book of Corporate Advancement (thanks michele!)
• Review of the 1978 Best Picture winner The Deer Hunter
• STAR Team pictures. I realized I never made a blog post about that
• An inevitable post about Emily and Alan's wedding
  

Restaurant Review: Rice House

I'm kind of tired of writing reviews for Chinese take out places. This place at 87th & Lackman, in the old Dairy Queen, is just the same as all of the others. Ugly pictures of the menu above the counter, a picture of some Chinese landscape on the wall, cheap furniture, boxes stacked up in the corner. ( By the way, why did Dairy Queen go out of business? There are no other ice cream places around there. )

When I walked in, the first thing I noticed was the gold pot-bellied dancing Buddha on the counter. Or whatever it was. The person taking the order made a decent attempt at being friendly. The food was not as good as Taste of China, which is near 79th and Quivira. The portions are large, but I did pay for it as well - around $8.

Movie Review: Saturday Night Fever (1977)

This movie was recommended to me by one of my favorite coworkers. He is definitely the best at what he does. ( And he reads my blog). He reminded me on several occasions to watch this movie, saying that it a movie about a person putting aside his childish ways and becoming a man. Plus, the music is awesome. ("Bee Gees rule! he says")

I totally agree about the music - I had it in my head for a couple of weeks, and I realized disco is not that bad. But the plot left a lot to be desired. What I thought would be an entertaining movie about dancing, was more about a teen (Tony, played by John Travolta) who hangs around the wrong people, including having a bad family situation. So the gang he hangs out with are not good guys - lots of cussing, sex in the back of cars, fighting, drinking, drugs - and this goes on the entire movie. This was kind of a surprise for me - I guess I thought it would be more of a family film, or at least more mainstream, since it is a famous movie. In the 70s they made a PG version so that more people would see the movie, but our library has the original rated R version.

Tony's family treats him like dirt, and thinks his brother who became a priest is the best - it actually was interesting how this brother leaves the church, and this makes Tony feel better about himself. Tony is rude to his current dancing partner, who really likes him. He then leaves her for another partner that is not part of the gang. The new partner shows him that he can have a future, because she has gotten a job in Manhattan. But apart from his mad dancing skills and job at the painting store, he is pretty much not getting ahead, until the last 2 seconds of the movie where he decides to leave his old ways behind.

Best of April 2009

Best Movie That I Saw for the First Time: Annie Hall

Best Book I Read: A New Kind of Christian, by Brian McLaren

Best Life Happenings:

• BDay at Waldo Pizza
  
• Played Simon & Garfunkel songs for the RFKC talent show
  
• The police situation outside our house, where they stormed the house with a SWAT team. Only good in the sense that it was exciting
  
• Finished trim in living room, then we moved furniture back. Hung some doors back on
• Arkansas Trip
  

Worst Life Happenings:

Didn't really write down any

Best online video I watched for the First time: Lucky's Funeral




2nd place: Kite Aerial Photography


Picture(s) of the Month by our camera.
SWAT Team and my car in the foreground



Pierces


Shelby

Book Review: A New Kind of Christian, by Brian McLaren

A New Kind of Christian is a story of a pastor who is beginning to question the current way of doing things, and his new friend, who is a human encyclopedia about church history and church issues. Together, the friends discuss how the church can become something new.

For the sake of making things easier, I will refer to the characters by their first names. The pastor's name is Dan. The new friend is named Neo.

Pastor Dan's problem in particular is he is becoming detached from what is expected of him. He explains to Neo, "It's not just burnout. It's more like I'm losing my faith - well, not exactly that, but I fell that I'm losing the whole framework for my faith. I keep pushing things into....the little systems I got in seminary and even before that....But life is too messy to fit"

I love Neo's response. "Daniel, I think you're suffering from an immigration problem...You have a modern faith you have developed in your homeland of modernity. But you're immigrating to a new land, a postmodern world. You feel like you don't fit in either world. You can't decide whether to settle in a little ghetto or to move out into the new land. But you can't make the transition to the other side alone"



In their next meeting, over coffee, Neo explains that the Modern era began around 1500, and Neo claims that era is ending and being replaced by postmodernism. Some characteristics of the modern age are secular science, objectivity, analysis, machines, individualism, consumerism.

After this meeting, Dan writes in his diary that the phrase "God is in control" must have meant something completely different before the age of complex machines. He writes "we run the risk of importing and imposing our modern conceptions of clockwork, operation, mechanism onto [God]"

Christianity has interpreted the Bible in a scientific, mechanistic way, as if it is "God's encyclopedia, God's rule book, God's answer book". Neo summarizes "I think when you let go of the Bible as God's answer book, you get it back as something so much better....it tells the family story...a book that tells us who we are and what story we find ourselves in so that we know what to do and how to live". "I wonder what would happen if we honestly listened to the story and put ourselves under its spell, so to speak, not using it to get all of our questions about God answered..."

More profound thoughts from Neo
About sharing the gospel: "If Christians would take all the energy we put into proving we're right and others are wrong and invested that energy in pursuing and doing good, somehow I think that more people would believe we are right" A memorable section that I can't find relates that being friends with someone just to share Christ is not real friendship, and ultimately cheapens us and our message.

About other religions: "I'd have to say that the world is better off for having these religions than having no religions at all, or just one, even if it were ours. I wonder if these other religions might have a role much like Paul described for the Old Testament law back in Galatians - they serve as tutors or caretakers that preserve a culture until Christ can come to it with his good news. They aren't the enemy of the gospel, in my mind, any more that Christianity is the enemy - though of course, sometimes it is" (If you don't get this point, talk to me. Most people my age understand this concept of Christianity getting in the way of Christ.)

The rest of the book is not necessarily as captivating; it was perhaps written for people further along than me in thinking about these things. It's a good book - I want to read it again sometime. It was Courtney's birthday book to me, meaning that she gave it to me on her birthday for me to read. Her previous birthday books have scored #1 and #2 on my Best of the Year Lists.

Arkansas Trip - Wedding Anniversary 3

Arkansas got chosen as state #3 because it was within driving distance. Sure, we could have flown somewhere with low cost. But we didn't consider it. It turned out to be good because we spent time with family. Next time around I think I'll be ready for more adventure in some random state far away.

The lesson learned in this trip is to completely discuss all plans with your family ahead of time. It is not ideal to search the Internet for stuff to do WHILE in that town! It all turned out fine, but I can go without the stress. And to further reduce stress, we will definitely buy GPS before our next driving trip. I think I have always gotten lost on the way to places, but I didn't really notice until I got married and had someone get impatient with me for getting lost. To me, a main goal of trips should be to have low stress. I feel that having GPS and planning ahead are things I learned for next time.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

I am a very slow packer and reluctant to leave the house, so the fact that we left ahead of the planned time was an accomplishment. Courtney drove the first part of the way, all the way to Springfield. Along the way we made a stop at Osceola Cheese. When we drove up I said "I thought it would be a lot classier." The outside look didn't matter. They have hundreds of cheese samples it seems, and a lot of creative flavors, such as Taco, Pepperoni, Spicy Garden Vegetable, Hickory, and so on. We chose a gift for Uncle Paul and Aunt Martha, and settled on the Basil Tomato Cheese and we also got a summer sausage.





o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

As you drive into Arkansas from Branson, it gets really curvy and hilly. The scenery is beautiful, and I saw some camping areas that I'd revisit if I ever get into camping. A few hours later we reached Bradford, AR, the home of my aunt and uncle.


o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Paul and Martha live in a house with a long driveway. They have two dogs - one black one that barked at us the whole time, and didn't get close to us. He "took his job seriously". Then they also have a golden retriever that wanted lots of attention. Uncle Paul was mowing and welcomed us in, and Aunt Martha was visiting her mother, who had fallen recently and was in the hospital. He cut up the sausage and cheese we brought, and we caught up. Aunt Martha came later and we had a nice dinner together. Then we talked in the living room and caught up some more.


Me and the nice Golden Retriever


This clock is in their kitchen


The next day we went out and played disc golf, especially because rain was in the forecast for later that week, and we wouldn't get the chance later on. Uncle Paul went along. The course was in a town about 20 minutes down the highway. We got turned around and had to ask for directions at a gas station, and no one knew where the road was. And they pulled out a map, and it happened to be about 2 streets down. We couldn't find the first tee, but a shirtless middle aged man (it wasn't hot outside) sitting in a car told us all about the course. We had fun completing the course, and headed back to town. We had dinner with the family again, and packed up and headed down to Little Rock.

Courtney captured this stunning photo in Bradford, next door to their house:


o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

At the Ramada hotel we were greeted by a sign printed that said the pool was closed - sorry for the inconvenience. We didn't bring bathing suits, but we believe there should be some accountability for hotels and travel sites to communicate about broken amenities. The person at the desk was not really that friendly - and I signed a couple of things and gave a card for incidental damage. It was just not that welcoming. But the only thing that matters in hotels is a comfortable sleep, and we got that.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

In the morning we picked up Jennifer (got slightly lost along the way, even though it's a mile away from the hotel). She directed us to the Big Dam Bridge. There were two 5Ks ending, so we had to park a ways away, and we walked to the bridge




We headed down to the Clinton Presidential Museum. It truly is partisan and self-aggrandizing. I mentioned this and Jennifer said, "Are you really surprised?" The silence on the issue of Monica Lewinsky was screaming out in my opinion. But it is a good museum in the sense that it chronicles a lot of the political and cultural events of the 90s. It also has an impressive collection of gifts to the president from many countries.



We found a place to park and a place to eat at the River Market - Big Whiskey Bar and Grill. We really got to get to know Jennifer better. Then we *should* have walked down the street and gone to the Old State House museum because it was still open, but we did visit Ten Thousand Villages and some girly store. Then we went to Jennifer's apartment and played some Settlers of Catan. And we had dinner at Caruso's and continued to hang out with Jennifer, and then we took her to get her car from the shop, and headed back to the hotel.


o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Sunday was my favorite day of the trip, because it was the least filled with uncertainty about what we were going to do. This has to do with how Courtney researched things to do and wrote down directions to everything.

First stop: the Central High School museum. This is right across from the high school and chronicles when the 9 Black students showed up to the integrated school and were greeted by a mob. And the military came in to help the students go to class. Just imagine how they were treated on the inside. This museum is spectacular.



Second stop: Riverfront. We didn't really find the "art on the riverfront" but we had fun walking around. We eventually went inside the hotel there and looked at the trained ducks that they have in the lobby. We took a ride up and down the elevator.

We went next door to the Old State House museum. This was the previous state capitol building until it deteriorated in the early 1900s. The first area had documentation on how they made the building a museum. "A museum about the museum." But there were better things, like recreated rooms with original style of furnishings, and first lady of Arkansas inaugural gowns.

Then we drove across the river to get a tour of the Inland Maritime Museum. It's an old submarine that is sitting in the harbor.




We left the submarine museum and headed West, then North through the scenic route through the mountains to Fayetteville.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

When we arrived at the hotel in Fayetteville, the receptionist said, Mr. Gras? I asked how he knew, and he replied sarcastically "We're really busy." We watched the Simpsons, and then decided on a place to eat. Then we cruised around the U of A. It is really compact, and has less green space than K-State. I'd say it's not impressive looking for a major state university. But the sports complex is right on campus, which is nice.

In the morning we decided to go to Devils Den State Park, which is 30 minutes South of Fayetteville. I really enjoyed it. I think the most fun things Courtney and I have done on trips are the outdoor/ hiking things. We took a nice hike and looked at caverns and waterfalls. Then we headed back home. state #3 down. Happy 3 year anniversary!!

Movie Review: Annie Hall

This Woody Allen film had the distinction of beating Star Wars for Best Picture in 1977. It was actually one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. But not more deserving of Best Picture than Star Wars.

The opening scene was very good:



The "free love" and drug cultures were portrayed really well - I expected to see more of that in the 60s movies, but I guess the 70s is the time for that too. I wasn't sure what to expect from Woody Allen, who is generally known as a perverted old man. And his character was quite obsessed with sex, but came across as very endearing, funny man. The one-liners he shoots out are terrific, and it was a very good acting job, it almost looked improvised. Diane Keaton did a great job in her role, adding a lot of stuttering to the speech and clumsiness.

Paul Simon plays a role, and a young Christopher Walken has a very funny scene.

There are many creative film making methods in the movie, it seemed like they threw everything in there, such as freezing the frame as Allen's character speaks to the camera, or showing him as an animated character, and many other memorable things.

Book Review: 48 Days to the Work You Love, by Dan Miller

I checked out this book because it is recommended by Dave Ramsey, and quite honestly there was a scare several months ago at work, and I became interested in career books. The book is so popular at the library, that I waited 3 months to get it, and I had to read it in about 3 weeks, or else I was going to wait another 3 months to finish it. The fear and died down and things have settled, but I was still interested in reading the highly recommended book.

• I recommend it for Christians, because it speaks to issues that Christians have. It particularly addresses the misconception that you can sit on your butt and wait on God to provide for you. You should go out and work hard for the career that you want.
  
• Addresses the changing workplace. Due to changing technology, most of us will be doing jobs in 7 years that do not currently exist.
  
• Otherwise it is a typical career book - tries to apply to every career - and never written by an IT person -mostly directed readers who are unhappy in their careers or unemployed and has a section on starting your own business - sections on finding a career, changing careers, and applying for jobs, and interviewing. Along the way, it has lots of inspiring anecdotes and stories.

I recommend it as a one-size-fits-all "find a career book". By the way, the name "48 days" has nothing to do with the book. They just wanted to make the title catchier.

Good videos

I am posting some videos outside of my Best of the Month posts, because I came across a few good ones.

These are all thanks to Kim Komando's Video of the Day - see my Video of the Day link on the right-hand side of my blog.


What would happen if your local bank failed? Scott Pelley and ''60 Minutes'' were given extraordinary access, as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation moves in to take over a failed bank in Chicago.





This YouTube video is about an unusual photography technique. A photographer can snap pictures from the ground. And a plane can carry a camera high into the air. But that leaves an interesting low-flying area in-between.

This is where Architecture Professor Chris Benton likes to take photos. And he has some unorthodox methods. He uses customized kites equipped with a camera control rig. Benton builds this equipment himself in a basement workshop.





Here’s a look behind the scenes of home foreclosures. When a bank takes a home, the occupants have to go. They are given time to make plans and move. But many residents end up leaving in a hurry.

Few actually clean the home on their way out. In fact, some barely move out at all. Foreclosed homes are often left full of abandoned belongings. Cleaning out these homes has become a lucrative business.

The men hired to do this work are called trashout squads. But what is it like, throwing away other people’s things? Follow a Trashout Squad in this video.

Restaurants of Arkansas

We visited 3 new restaurants in Arkansas.

Big Whiskey's Bar and Grill Located in the River Market Area of Little Rock, right down the street from the Clinton Presidential Museum, which we visited immediately before. It offered a smoke free environment and good food - I had a loaded baked potato - good stuff. Jennifer (cousin) treated us to the meal - I was going to pay for her - but that was so nice! It started pouring when we were inside, and we ended up running in the rain to the shops nearby.

Carino's Italian Located in West Little Rock and was really great Italian food. You know what, they had a gluten free guide online! I had the lemon rosemary chicken, and it was better than that sounds - it was stronger on the lemon, weaker on the rosemary. It was a nice environment with good service. And it provided for a good evening activity and one last time spent with Jennifer. (Found out while writing this that one of these is by the Legends in KCK)

AQ Chicken House We were cruising around Fayetteville looking for a place to eat. The original planned place looked like a dingy bar, but down the street we found the AQ Chicken House. The inside is decorated in a weird way - the wallpaper on the ceiling, golden borders, chandeliers - I am not an observant person, but I noticed that the decor was wacky. I wasn't sure if I could eat anything. The waitress plopped down a basket of buttery rolls at the beginning - kind of the chicken house version of chips and salsa at a Mexican restaurant. But there were several possiblities on the menu - I had the lemon catfish on rice. I enjoyed it.

Busy week - renovations, Easter, friends, and Arkansas trip

My strong desire is to document our trip extremely well on this blog. With many pressing things to do, that probably won't happen. But I will get pictures posted somewhere. Until I can get something better here is my sketched out notes about our week

4/11/09 Finished trim in living room, then we moved furniture back. Hung some doors back on

4/12/09 Easter at CCC. Andrew Taussigs visited our house. Then we spent the evening with the Bades.

4/13/09 Went to Audrey's parents' house and played Blokus and Rock Band

4/14/09 BJ and Natosha stayed at our house and we ate at OK Joe's and toured the Plaza.

4/15/09 Took the day off but spent most of it doing finances which I hadn't touched for March and April

4/16/09 Left on time for Arkansas. Stopped at Osceola Cheese. Drove through Branson, through mountains, and arrived in Bradford. Talked with Uncle Paul, and Aunt Martha arrived later. Aunt Martha's mother had fallen and gotten a fracture. I was really tired (look at the 5 previous days), so we didn't do much in the evening.

4/17/09 Walked around the property. Played disc golf in Searcy (I need GPS). Had dinner, and drove down to Little Rock.

4/18/09 Picked up Jennifer (got lost - need GPS). Walked on pedestrian bridge. Went to Clinton Library. Had lunch afterwards at River Market. Went to Jennifer's apartment and played Settlers. Had Italian dinner. Took Jennifer to get her car. Went to hotel.

4/19/09 Visited Little Rock Central High School museum, across from the high school. Visited riverfront, while it was raining. Took picture by the river. Visited Peabody hotel with the ducks. Visited Old State House next door. Visited submarine museum. Drove to Fayetteville - took scenic route on 71 Hwy.

4/20/09 Went to Devil's Den State Park and hiked a trail. Stopped by Fayetteville National Cemetary. Went home. (Wrote this post!)

Waking up Canadian

I found it interesting that Canada changed some laws, and now some people "woke up Canadian" today. It is of special interest to me since I am a Canadian citizen. My citizenship was never in doubt since I was born there.

This ad that they made to spread the information seems to make fun of Canada


The government web site here, to see if you are Canadian: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizenship/rules-citizenship.asp.

arkansas is beautiful

Arkansas is beautiful, and Paul and Martha's house/acreage is as well. The property goes back about half a mile, and the house is back from the road, with a long driveway. We are going to play disc golf with Uncle Paul. He had never heard of it before. But there is a course in the town where Martha's mother lives, about 30 minutes away. It's really warm, so I might wear some shorts. It's going to be rainy when we are in Little Rock, so it is good that we are playing disc golf now, in case we don't have the opportunity later.

Together for 5 years

Courtney and I have been together long enough to have 5 years of pictures!!

Here are pictures from around April each of the past 5 years

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Movie Review: Bound for Glory, Not Blades of Glory

This movie was nominated for Best Picture in 1976. I knew it would be a risk for a waste of time, because as we know even today nominees can be not worth watching. But what pulled me in was that the movie reviews said it was a good depiction of the Dust Bowl. Courtney just read a book called The Worst Hard Time about the Great Depression and Dust Bowl, so I thought this movie would be a good bookend on our learning about that. It is also a movie about Woody Guthrie, and musicians interest me.



The movie indeed was interesting about this time period. Woody Guthrie left his family for California when the economy was suffering in Oklahoma. His journey was amazing. But the second half of the movie documented Woody Guthrie's California life in painstaking detail. This California isn't even the time period where he became famous.

Ironically you end up hating Woody Guthrie after the movie, even though it is based off of Woody Guthrie's autobiography. He left his family multiple times, and had integrity with his music and with "the people", and no integrity in other areas of his life.

I don't know if it was worth watching or not. Let's say not.

Not to be confused with Blades of Glory, which I don't plan on seeing:

Best of March 2009

Best Movie That I Saw for the First Time: Jaws

Best Book I Read: Not any

Best Life Happenings:

• Joined a small group at church
  
• Dr. Kwon fixed my car for free - putting a bolt on a part that was loose
  
• Played bass for children's musical "It's Cool in the Furnace"
  
• Courtney made fajitas with some really nice big gluten-free tortillas!
• Watched RiffTrax to the Matrix.
• Church passed vision statement 155-17.
  

Worst Life Happenings:

• 
  
• A couple of coworkers quit

Best online video I watched for the First time: Kittens Inspired By Kittens





2nd place: Miniatur Wunderland


Picture(s) of the Month by our camera.
Ice Storm in Late March

Bday

Here are some pics from my birthday

Book Review: The Obama Nation

I finally finished this - it has been popular with library patrons, so i've had some extended times of waiting to get the book. I think I started reading it in November.

The 2nd half of the book was a real bore - I felt like I was living through the Presidential campaign all over again, and we've all had enough of that!

The 1st half was really good - explaining Obama's history from childhood to Chicago.

Short points:

• It is extraordinary how dysfunctional Obama's family was during his childhood. His father had three wives at the same time, left the family to go to Harvard. Eventually he died while driving drunk in Africa. Obama's mom then married an Indonesian muslim. Then she left Obama by himself in Hawaii to be raised by his grandparents. The one good thing that came out of it was that Obama's grandmother made a good income and they were able to send him to a good private high school. I wonder if there are any other presidents with such a broken family life.
• For a lot of his life, Obama has hung around and admired people who were Communists and socialists
  
• The author was really cocky about how certain issues were going to bring down Obama's candidacy. "...and this is why McCain will win in November...
  
• Obama was good friends with a former terrorist, Bill Ayres, starting his political career in his house.
• He won his first election by getting everyone else disqualified from the ballot, including the person who generously introduced him to people to get him started in politics.
  
• Obama was part of a church for years that is anti-American and that has strong anti-White rhetoric. Not only that, but they are kooky, thinking that the American government created the AIDS virus to hurt Black people.

On this side of things, Obama's socialist tendencies are really disturbing. We can only hope that his policies don't screw up the country too much.

Typical Chinese place and Riff Trax

I have some catchup to do here...

Last weekend we hung out with some old friends of Courtney's as has been documented many places. It snowed, as you all know.

Instead of going out to eat, we went to go eat Subway. Since I can't eat anything there, I went next door to Chinatown Restaurant. It is one of those hole-in-the-wall chinese places. It was so typical with the ghastly pictures of all the plates above the counter, and a big picture of a Chinese mountain with a tree. It was very fast - 5 minutes. Unfortunately, I didn't think it tasted that great. I should have tried Fritz's Chili which is a little bit further down.

Then Brian got a movie projector, and we watching the Matrix, except we turned the volume down on the Matrix, and also played something called RiffTrax. RiffTrax is guys making wisecracks during the movie - by the same people that did Mystery Science 3000. It's really funny - you should try it out. http://www.rifftrax.com/rifftrax/matrix

Poll: Pizza

Should I get

• Sausage and onion
• Veggie: Mushrooms • Onions •Green Peppers • Black Olives • Red Peppers • Artichokes
• Or, something with Sun-dried tomatoes...

I went about 5 years (2002-2007) without eating pizza from restaurants, and then I ate at Waldo Pizza three times last year. I'm excited to go again for my birthday dinner tonight.

Here's the menu: http://www.waldopizza.net/glutenfree.pdf

Addiction broken

I broke an addiction during Lent that was not even anticipated.

For a few years I have relied on 1 or 2 cups of hot cocoa when I arrive to the office. Since coffee makes me sick, this has been my favorite, and the office has supplied the hot cocoa packets. We even have had hot water on tap to mix with the packet.

Then one day, the office manager bought three huge cases of Swiss Miss. I was already not a fan of Swiss Miss, and I prefer the Nestle Brand. The Swiss Miss did prove to be disgusting.

But I still drank it.

Then a few weeks later, I was using the hot water on tap, but it came out cold. I looked under the sink for a quick fix, but didn't see any. I tried adding cold water, and then heating it in the microwave. The result was so disgusting that I really just quit.

Now there are still 2 big cases of Swiss Miss to go through, and I don't plan on drinking any of it. If Nestle comes back, I will probably go back to my old ways, but I'm not going to request it.

Reunions

Courtney has some friends that served at Circle C camp back in college that get together every once in a while....and it is happening tonight. It really happens whenever the guy in Nebraska can be here. This is the same person we went to see in Nebraska when we picked Courtney up from Covenant Cedars Camp (Hordville, NE), I had a really bad cold the entire time.

So we are going to go out to eat, and then go to someone's house and watch the KU game. I think there are about 10 people total.

Speaking of reunions, Courtney and I both have our high school 10 year reunions this summer. I honestly have doubts that it is worth it, since I actually don't know most of the people that are going. But to me, it's a one-time thing , and maybe the fact that we are there will be an encouragement to someone else who has the same doubts.

something about life

I feel bad that I only put really non-personal reviews and things on here, so here is something about life.

We're doing a lot of painting. Within three weeks, we may be able to move furniture back to the edges. Then we will be able to redecorate.

My birthday is soon.

And for our 3 year anniversary we are going to Arkansas. We'll see Uncle Paul and Aunt Martha, and cousin Jennifer. We'll visit Little Rock, and a few other places. We'll probably visit some disc golf courses, as is our habit when we travel.

Both me and Courtney had our direct supervisors leave to go work at other companies. Courtney's is more stressful, because her supervisor is one of those people who keep the company running and knows everything - the CFO for over 10 years. My manager has only been with the company for 1 year.

Movie Review: Rocky Balboa

In substitute of watching the best picture winner of 1976 (Rocky), we watched Rocky Balboa (2006). Rocky Balboa could also be considered to be Rocky 6.

I had heard a lot of good things about this one. If you have seen the rest of the Rocky sequels, you know that they were really bad. So Sylvester Stallone wanted one more try.

At times, it came across like a made-for-TV movie, in terms of the feel of acting and effects. It didn't feel like a big screen movie.

However, Stallone really got the feel of the original Rocky character. Tough but tender. Lots of good sayings like "Why do you have to owe something to get something?". And it's inspirational like the first one.

Anyway, you need to see this clip. One of my favorite movie clips ever:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z5OookwOoY

Restaurant Reviews: Wallaby's and Taramuhala, or whatever

If we didn't have other people taking us to restaurants, I wouldn't have reviews to write!

The first is Wallaby's Grill and Pub, at 95th and Lackman. Nell and Erik suggested it. I didn't even know about it, because it is hidden in the back of a strip mall. Despite the bad visibility, there were a lot of people there enjoying happy hour. It didn't reek like smoke because of new smoking bans in the area. Seems like it would be a good place to watch a game, if you're into that kind of thing.

The food took a long time to come out, but it wasn't so bad because we were with friends. But I was starting to get antsy. My bunless burger turned out pretty good, and I ate the tons of fries that they gave me. We went this particular night because there was a discount for half-price burger with the purchase of a drink. Even though I stuck with water, they gave me the discount anyway. I was impressed! So because of that, I'll try to come back sometime.

The second was ....wait let me look this up.... Tarahumara Mexican Restaurant. It is located just West of the JoCo Central Library. Dad wanted to take me there. He couldn't remember the name. I thought it was his usual quirkiness. But when I saw the name, I realized what he meant. When we left, I vowed that I would remember the name, and I couldn't. We asked them what it meant, and it represents an Indian tribe in Mexico. Nice genuine people there, but you want customers to remember the name of your restaurant, so that they can recommend it.

And I do recommend it. On the menu, there were more appearances of "corn tortilla" than any other Mexican restaurant around. I only order entrees at Mexican restaurants when the description says "corn tortilla", so I was quite pleased. The decor is really bright and cheery. The food was excellent. I had a really good experience and plan to go back.

Thoughts on the economy

As I'm going through the first economic crisis in my adult lifetime, I have some thoughts about this.

It's interesting to see the Invisible Hand affecting peoples' decisions. (I'm referring to Adam Smith's writings, not God). At least I'm thankful for a capitalistic system where the market can adjust itself. That's why the government is so irritating right now - their actions of stealing my money to give it to failing companies and failing people is disgusting. And it also messes up the market's ability to adjust itself.

But anyway, my point is that a bad economy is a cleanser of sort. It causes us to ask "What could I do differently to make money again?" "What products can I add?" "Am I really that good at what I'm doing?"

I believe that trials will make us stronger. In that sense, I am thankful for a bad economy. And I believe that innovation and correction will make it stronger. The governments efforts will make it weaker. I may not be voting Republican or Democrat, because they have both lost my respect.

Also, my thoughts have been with 3rd world countries. Here I am worried about losing a few dollars, and someone living in squallor across the world would still be shocked at my wealth. And that is the problem some people have had with the capitalist system - with some of the injustices that go along with it. And I am not a scholar on that subject. I will just say that I am thinking about my wealth - I am so stinking wealthy compared to the rest of the world.

I'm not against American wealth. I'm just want to make a case for contentment.

Movie Review: Jaws

JAWS was nominated in 1975 for Best Picture. In my opinion, it got robbed of the award. But the Academy is apparently a fan of good acting, and that is why it went with "One Flew". I assume that bad acting is also why Star Wars didn't win, but we haven't gotten there yet. Overall, I wish the Academy would recognize how great these movies were.

I think the actual shark model in Jaws looks fake, but maybe in 1975 it was really awesome. Overall, it's the suspense of the movie that makes it great. The other things that make the movie great are the amazing technical challenges that went into filming the movie, and some of the techniques that Steven Spielberg used.

JAWS opened up the era of the summer blockbuster. I talked to a friend who said that movie tickets went up from $1.75 for a double feature, to $3.00 for one feature. So essentially, movie prices went up over 300%.

I also enjoyed how the film featured actors from previous Best Picture Winners. Robert Shaw played Quint in Jaws, and Lonnegan in The Sting. Roy Scheider played Brody in Jaws, and Russo in the French Connection. And this was the earliest film I've seen Richard Dreyfuss in.

Wish List

My 28th birthday is coming up in April!

Wish list

Best of February 2009

Best Movie That I Saw for the First Time: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
hon mention: School of Rock

Best Book I Read: The Inner Game Of Work

Best Life Happenings:

• Wifie reached her weight loss goal!
  
• We painted the walls
• Bought my first laptop! Using it to write this post, while in the kitchen
  
• St Louis trip
• Our church is changing for the better - the rough draft vision was presented to the church
• The place that lost Courtney's wedding dress found the dress

Worst Life Happenings:

• Went to a "awesome" furniture sale, but everything was sold already, and it was stressful, because we went during dinner time and "rush hour" on the highway.
  
• A couple of friends on my immediate work team got transferred to a different team, so I don't get to see them as often
• My car is making loud and embarrassing rattling noises

Best online video I watched for the First time: Really Funny Ellen Show- Watch This





2nd place: Her Morning Elegance



Picture(s) of the Month by our camera.

Movie Review: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

1975 Best Picture winner - I believe it was the first Best Picture winner we watched out of town, but not sure.

A criminal named Randle McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) gets sent to a mental ward of a hospital, because he has been acting crazy, but he is not crazy at all. He pumps some life into the overly medicated and oppressive lives of the patients. The nurse in charge of the ward, Nurse Ratched, seems only interested in keeping them sick. And so the criminal and nurse butt heads and fun stuff happens and sad stuff happens, and surprises happen.

So yeah, I don't know what it is about this movie that I don't like - i think maybe it is that it is not clear what kind of message it is sending. One message I got is that our institutions can fail us by making things worse than they were already. But mostly it's just a story, and doesn't really have a point.

But i think it is definitely a classic -lots of funny parts, lots of good acting, and the end was the most memorable other than Casablanca, Bridge over the River Kwai, and The Sting.

St Louis Trip - Feb 2009

The fact only two people commented on my previous post could mean several things:

1. Not enough people even read my blog
   
2. People somehow feel uncomfortable commenting that my wife is attractive!
   
3. I maybe didn't write the post well enough to elicit comments.
   

In any case, I will keep blogging now.


We trekked to St Louis last weekend, and had brought the nieces along on the return trip.

The first thing we did was to walk to the local art muffin shop. Avery and Maya were upset that they didn't get to eat muffins right there. But we distracted them by making it cool to use crayons to decorate the box that they were in. A 5 minute trip turned into 20 as Avery looked for "treasures" as we went along - rocks and other stuff.






Then we had some King and I Thai food - at least the third time I had been there through the years. And I learned first-hand about the challenges of sitting down in a restaurant with a 3 and 1 year old. (Is there a theme yet about how kids change everything? I don't mean this to come across negatively - just making observations.)

Saturday we visited the gem stores of Brentwood - Trader Joe's, the Container Store and REI. Trader Joe's was great as usual. I'm looking forward to trying out my dried dragon fruit, whatever that is. REI was like a small Galyans - i almost bought a small Nalgene. And Container Store was actually disappointing to me. I wanted to see some awesome displays about how to organize my garage. But it turned out to be like a Wal-mart or Target, just with a bunch of products on shelves.

That night, Steven put on his movie-watching glasses, and we watched "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", our next Best Picture winner. I went in with high-expectations, and i don't think they were met, but it was still an entertaining movie throughout.

Sunday morning, we loaded the nieces into the Jeep, and left town in a new way because of a highway closure. Then with only one stop we made it home.

My Wife Looks Good - Please comment and encourage

Can I get a witness?

Not blogging until I get more comments!

Book Review: The Inner Game of Work

Short Review:

• This is a book by W. Timothy Gallwey. He wrote the Inner Game of Tennis, and now has applied the same logic to other fields, such as work in general.
• The book is about how we have two selves: Self 1 is the criticizing voice telling you what to do, and Self 2 is what you'd do naturally. How this applies to tennis, is that Self 1 becomes so loud that it gets in the way of improvement.
• He champions the idea that work should be the same as learning and enjoyment. I have done well at this so far, and it has worked out for me.
  
• I like the STOP method - Stop, Think, Organize your thoughts, and Proceed. this means you don't find yourself reacting to everything, but you decide what really needs to get done to move the company forward.
  
• Also, the point is that the teacher-student model (handing out instructions) gets in the way of learning, and the coaching method (holding up a mirror to the student) is effective.
• At the end the author is candid that he doesn't like the idea of God telling him what to do, because it causes Self 1 interference. This surprised me, I understand his objections, but don't agree.
  

Longer review:

The Self1-Self 2 concept was really eye-opening. I think a lot of Gras' (my family) have a loud Self 1 - we are kind of self conscious. It would be good to let some of that go, and just live in the Self 2.. The book expands on this much better than I would be able to here. See below "More from an earlier post"

I've used this STOP method. It seems so simple. But I had gotten into a habit of reacting to every email immediately. Now, instead, I write down exactly what needs to happen during the day to move the company forward, or move my life forward. I have enjoyed it so far. I also tried to apply this to my life, but got stuck on really deep questions, like what is my purpose in life? This question was really heavy, and I think the answer is multi-faceted and I don't know it exactly. But it is something to think about.

At the end the author is candid that he doesn't like the idea of God telling him what to do, because it causes Self 1 interference. I agree in the fact that many Christians struggle with guilt or other problems due to "laws". But I would disagree that what God has said is not worth paying attention to - in other words, I want to obey - I willingly subject myself to His commands, even though it can limit my freedom, because He loves us.



More from an earlier post:

I am currently reading a book The Inner Game of Work, by W. Timothy Gallwey. It has turned out to be a deep book about psychology. I really like it. Here is a long quote:

When I was growing up, the voice of "the others" seemed very big and powerful...So a Self 1, which embodied these voices, emerged within me. It looked for approval and direction from those it was dependent upon for safety and acceptance. Whether I was alone or with people, Self 1 was always there, a judgmental audience ready to make its criticisms or grant its approval. The goal was to become someone worthy of respect in the eyes of this audience.
Meanwhile, Self 2 [DG note: the true inner self] was relegated to a background position....it was not until I was in my thirties that I came to recognize and again honor Self 2

In terms of my own application, it means that the critical voice is not necessarily something that is making me better, but may be distracting me from finding joy in being my self. The purpose is to minimize Self 1

Movie Review: Vincent: The Life and Death of Vincent Van Gogh

Quick facts for those who don't want to read my longer review:

• This was a documentary
• This made me more interested in Vincent Van Gogh, and art in general.
  
• There were some really weird parts to it that I could have gone without
• The movie consisted of a guy with a heavy English accent reading Vincent's letters to his brother Theo. As he reads, there is video of nature, pictures of his paintings, and a few acting scenes of townspeople he might have encountered.
  

Longer review:
This movie was made in 1987...but the jacket didn't mention that...instead it said One of the Top 10 documentaries the year it was released"...probably a marketing ploy. It was produced/directed/created by Paul Cox, a very independent film maker. I watched the appended documentary about him, and he is kind of odd, but I appreciate his skills.

The heavy accent of the guy reading Vincent's letters (John Hurt) - I'm positive that was a mistake - it made me want to turn it off immediately, but I persisted.

I found it interesting that Vincent started out wanting to be a preacher, but was rejected, and he was also rejected by a woman that he loved. He quickly became cynical about religion. Around that time, he decided he wanted to paint, and became obsessed with it. In his 10 year career, he made 1,800 works, and only sold one. His brother Theo sent him money for supplies, and otherwise Vincent would not have survived for so long.

The creativity and color that Vincent used amazed me. I can't really see colors well, but I am way impressed with the boldness of the colors. And the number and variety of them used to make a whole. It makes me think of music - how the care put into it, and the complexity creates admirers - and how much dedication is necessary to create that.

I admire Vincent's dedication to his values - his love for nature. He did not want to be a slave to a job - and this led to his downfall - but we are left with beautiful paintings - makes you wonder. He struggled with insanity, but continued to paint until his suicide.

The song Vincent is one of my favorite songs (and of Courtney's). Here is a video

Best of January 2009

Best Movie That I Saw for the First Time: Ken Burns Jazz hon mention: Elf

Best Book I Read: For the first time I haven't read one! It has a lot to do with how I had to return one to the library, and then be on the waiting list for weeks to get it back.

Best Life Happenings:

• LaVergnes taught us Cities and Knights (expansion for Settlers)
• Listened to Bill Frisell - Blues Dream - great jazz album
• I had a good experience of leading worship
• The new season of 24 started
• Michele called to announce she is pregnant
• Game Night at Meadors
• Trip to Zona Rosa to see Devin perform magic

Worst Life Happenings:

• The gym smelled like polyurethane when they redid the basketball court, and it was almost suffocating!
• I messed up on something at work that could have caused the company some embarrassment. Thankfully, I caught it in the nick of time. Also thankfully, this is not a monthly occurrence.
  
• Spent all day on Saturday sanding walls.

Best online video I watched for the First time: The Don't Song



2nd place: Waking Up is Hard To Do



Picture(s) of the Month by our camera.

didn't really take any of note

Restaurant Review: Joe's Crab Shack

1) We pretty much never eat out 2) we never eat out for seafood. So this was almost a once-in-a-lifetime thing for me. Courtney's parents and aunt and uncle went to eat at Joe's Crab Shack and we went along.

I ordered crab legs. It is "a lot of work for a little food" as Kenny said. I had a special plastic tool that they gave me to open them and get the food out. It was difficult at first, but I got used to it.

The crab legs also came with sausage, potatoes, and corn on the cob, and shrimp. Needless to say, I had some leftovers that I am taking home. It all tasted great!

The interior really looked like a shack - wooden walls and tin roof.

We were the special needs table - Courntey said she is highly allergic to shrimp. They said they couldn't promise that steak or chicken wouldn't be cooked on the same grill as shrimp. So she got a salad. It was nice of her to hang in there. Laurie had them turn the strobe light off because it would give her a seizure. I didn't even say anything about wheat.

The waiters do a little dance - really fun- I've never seen that before in a restaurant!

Right before we left, the Steelers scored that 100-yd interception return on the little TV we were watching. Bummer.

Movie Review: School Of Rock

This one was on our list to watch for a while. Out of the 3 comedies we've seen recently (Evan Almighty, Elf), this had the most chance of being realistic...but they didn't do too well. The Battle of the Bands was in the middle of the work day for example - how does that make sense? But the definition of a comedy seems to mean that it is not realistic.

Jack Black does a great job of being an unsuccessful rocker who assumes his roommate's identity as a teacher at a high end prep school to make money for rent. He of course knows nothing about teaching, and makes the students start a rock band. They get into it, and aren't supposed to tell their parents about it. It all comes to a head on Parents night (why would the parents wait until then to express their concerns?).

Anyway, Jack Black is hilarious in the movie.