My wife and I were married in June of 2005. She put a whole lot of work into it and it was really a beautiful wedding. At the time I had been working part-time for a web design and CD business card company. The owner did a lot of video work and he offered to video our wedding free of charge. After the wedding, we honeymooned in Scotland and then promptly moved to Boston so my wife could begin her master's program at Harvard.
A few months went by and I asked my former boss about the video. He said he hadn't had a chance to edit it yet, but he would get to it and send it to us. A little more time goes by and I ask him about it again and he says he still hasn't finished. I tell him to just send me the raw footage and I'll get it edited or do it myself. He says okay, and that's the last I hear of it for awhile. So again I email him and he replies that he sent it months ago when we last talked.
So now I'm pretty upset. It's the only video of our wedding, and now it looks like we're never going to have it. I regret having him do it, but there's really nothing we can do about it, except hope that it will show up one day.
Fast forward to last week. A day or two before my birthday, my best man, and best friend from high school calls me up. He had just gotten married in Hawaii, (sadly, we couldn't make it) and he tells me that he finally was able to get the video from my bachelor party on to a DVD. He was sending it to me along with video and pictures from his own wedding. A week or so later I get the DVDs and I pop them in the computer to watch the video.
The footage from the bachelor party was fun. We didn't do anything too crazy. Just a few guys being stupid, hanging out, and having fun. But when that stuff was over, the video cut to our wedding. Apparently, my best man had given the camera to my mother who video taped the entire wedding! We got to see the dancer at the beginning and all of the vows and ring exchanges and all of our groomsmen and bridesmaids on that wonderful day. We were thrilled to put it mildly. We had thought we would never be able to watch it again, and here we were seeing us get married all over again. It was really exciting. My wife insisted I call and thank my best man right away, and I agreed.
So props to my best man! Mad Dog, you know who you are! You're the best, and now it's on the internet so it must be true. I'm really going to make an effort to see you sometime soon as it's been too long. Blessings on you and your wife for years to come.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
The First of April
Today is my birthday. No joke!
I was born at 12:01 AM on April 1st. I sometimes suspect I was born on March 31st at 11:59 PM, but the doctor couldn't resist writing 12:01 to make me an April Fool's baby. I don't know if I will ever be able to verify this.
Surprisingly, I can't remember having very many April Fool's pranks being played on me personally. Nothing that really sticks out anyway. I mostly get the response when I tell someone when my birthday is, "Oh, guess your birth was a joke!" or some variant. But I've never had a prank or joke played on me.
Today I went to work, and tonight I'm going home, so I'm not doing anything special for my birthday like a party or anything. I really don't mind. I'm pretty content to stay home and take it easy. My wife and I may play World of Warcraft together, which I actually consider a superb present that she plays with me now. I am recording the event in my warcraft blog, Good Morning Azeroth! Which is funny because now that we play together, I play more in the evening to late night than in the morning.
So, Happy Birthday to me, and thanks to everyone that made me possible and has been part of my life these last 27 years. Couldn't have done it without you.
I was born at 12:01 AM on April 1st. I sometimes suspect I was born on March 31st at 11:59 PM, but the doctor couldn't resist writing 12:01 to make me an April Fool's baby. I don't know if I will ever be able to verify this.
Surprisingly, I can't remember having very many April Fool's pranks being played on me personally. Nothing that really sticks out anyway. I mostly get the response when I tell someone when my birthday is, "Oh, guess your birth was a joke!" or some variant. But I've never had a prank or joke played on me.
Today I went to work, and tonight I'm going home, so I'm not doing anything special for my birthday like a party or anything. I really don't mind. I'm pretty content to stay home and take it easy. My wife and I may play World of Warcraft together, which I actually consider a superb present that she plays with me now. I am recording the event in my warcraft blog, Good Morning Azeroth! Which is funny because now that we play together, I play more in the evening to late night than in the morning.
So, Happy Birthday to me, and thanks to everyone that made me possible and has been part of my life these last 27 years. Couldn't have done it without you.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Yet another blog
I finally started my World of Warcraft blog. The link is over on the right. I'm going to use it to write about anything and everything about the game I play the most, starting with the fantastic experience of getting my wife to play it with me just recently. If you've never played the game before, some of the stuff might seem unfamiliar, but it will make sense for anyone who's ventured into Azeroth.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
The Golden Compass
I didn't know anything about this book before I saw previews for the movie. It was being compared to The Chronicles of Narnia, but other than that I didn't really show an interest in it. A few weeks later, on one of my long commutes, I picked up a random newspaper to read on the bus and there was an interesting article. Its basic statement was that Christians were up in arms about the movie because the author of the book is an atheist and the movie's plot revolved around the idea of killing God. Add to that that movie's target audience is children and young teens.
I have to admit that this perked my interest. I am definitely not an atheist, but the idea of someone who writes a fantasy book that is seemingly very anti-church intrigued me. What was more interesting though is that I later found out the producers of the movie actually played down the anti-religious sentiments in the screen adaptation. I guess they were afraid of what an overtly anti-religious movie's effect would be on viewers. In just seemed contra to what one would thing Hollywood's position is. I'm not an authority on the subject, but I wanted to read the book and understand what people were saying about it for myself.
All in all, the book is quite good. The action moves fast and keeps you reading to find out what happens next, and a whole lot happens. The protagonist is Lyra, a young girl with a destiny. The setting is Earth, but there are subtle differences such as each person having a dæmon which is a personal pet of some sort that acts a conscience and friend. One of the major plot points revolves around how people are connected to these dæmons. The girl is reckless, spirited, and intelligent, almost to the point of disbelief. She is able to resolve situations that were it not a fantasy book, I would think they were impossible for a small girl. I also thought that some parts of the book the reader is given to little knowledge to understand what is going on. Even when the characters are answering some of the mysteries in the book, I still found myself not quite getting it. This may be intentional as there are two more books in the series; so much is probably left to be explained.
I'll probably watch the movie now to see what differences there are from the book and how they've portrayed some of the underlying concepts. It will be interesting to see how far the sequels go and if the movies continue to down play the anti-religious views or if they begin to embrace them.
I have to admit that this perked my interest. I am definitely not an atheist, but the idea of someone who writes a fantasy book that is seemingly very anti-church intrigued me. What was more interesting though is that I later found out the producers of the movie actually played down the anti-religious sentiments in the screen adaptation. I guess they were afraid of what an overtly anti-religious movie's effect would be on viewers. In just seemed contra to what one would thing Hollywood's position is. I'm not an authority on the subject, but I wanted to read the book and understand what people were saying about it for myself.
All in all, the book is quite good. The action moves fast and keeps you reading to find out what happens next, and a whole lot happens. The protagonist is Lyra, a young girl with a destiny. The setting is Earth, but there are subtle differences such as each person having a dæmon which is a personal pet of some sort that acts a conscience and friend. One of the major plot points revolves around how people are connected to these dæmons. The girl is reckless, spirited, and intelligent, almost to the point of disbelief. She is able to resolve situations that were it not a fantasy book, I would think they were impossible for a small girl. I also thought that some parts of the book the reader is given to little knowledge to understand what is going on. Even when the characters are answering some of the mysteries in the book, I still found myself not quite getting it. This may be intentional as there are two more books in the series; so much is probably left to be explained.
I'll probably watch the movie now to see what differences there are from the book and how they've portrayed some of the underlying concepts. It will be interesting to see how far the sequels go and if the movies continue to down play the anti-religious views or if they begin to embrace them.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
The Left Hand of Darkness
Light is the left hand of darkness and darkness the right hand of light. Two are one, life and death, lying together like lovers in kemmer, like hands joined together, like the end and the way..
I first heard about this book from a magazine on an airplane. No, not SkyMall. I forget which airline it was, maybe American, or United, but it had an article in their monthly magazine about good Science Fiction novels. I've probably read many more fantasy books than I have Sci-fi, but I've read a few and I really enjoy Star Trek, so the draw for this type of fiction is still there. This book was listed in that article, and it looked interesting, mentioning a genderless people and political overtones. I took the article out of the magazine to help me remember to get the book at the next opportunity. I think that was a year or so ago, maybe more.
More recently, my wife and I watched The Jane Austen Book Club. The movie itself was really good, but more relevantly, one of the characters, Grigg, was a Sci-fi fan and and a sub plot involved him trying to get a women to read The Left Hand of Darkness. Of course, I suddenly remembered I had never taken the time to read it myself and resolved to do so. I often have time to read now that I spend about 2 to 3 hours each day on the Boston subway and bus system to and from work.
The book was different than what I had expected, but it really was a good book. The plot revolves around an man from a group of planets and peoples known as the Ekumen who is sent to a planet called Gethen where the inhabitants are neither male nor female. His mission is to get them to join the Ekumen to share knowledge, goods, and information. We follow his failures and accomplishments in this mission, and his befriending of the people of the planet, and how he relates to idea of their not being male or female.
The book explores a world where none of the problems or comparisons that we see show up between male and female has ever occurred. Everyone is equal, and able to participate in work, play, politics and life without being hung up on male or female roles. They have their own issues and political powers of course, but they are derived of different natures. It may be of interest to note that on Gethen, there is no word for war, and there has never been a war. There have been fights, skirmishes, assassinations, and murder, but never on a large scale. This may in part be to Gethen being a planet covered in an ice age.
It was a really interesting read, and I don't do it justice in my few words about it. It's been around since 1969, so it's been reviewed and pondered over and over by smarter people that delve a lot more in to its message or meaning. One thing that I had a hard time with is that even though the people have no gender, the pronouns he and him are used extensively to refer to the people. The reason is that 'it' is dehumanizing and 'he' is less identifying than 'she' is, historically. The Gethenians themselves have pronouns that cannot be translated, but using made up pronouns was thought to be laborious for the reader.
I first heard about this book from a magazine on an airplane. No, not SkyMall. I forget which airline it was, maybe American, or United, but it had an article in their monthly magazine about good Science Fiction novels. I've probably read many more fantasy books than I have Sci-fi, but I've read a few and I really enjoy Star Trek, so the draw for this type of fiction is still there. This book was listed in that article, and it looked interesting, mentioning a genderless people and political overtones. I took the article out of the magazine to help me remember to get the book at the next opportunity. I think that was a year or so ago, maybe more.
More recently, my wife and I watched The Jane Austen Book Club. The movie itself was really good, but more relevantly, one of the characters, Grigg, was a Sci-fi fan and and a sub plot involved him trying to get a women to read The Left Hand of Darkness. Of course, I suddenly remembered I had never taken the time to read it myself and resolved to do so. I often have time to read now that I spend about 2 to 3 hours each day on the Boston subway and bus system to and from work.
The book was different than what I had expected, but it really was a good book. The plot revolves around an man from a group of planets and peoples known as the Ekumen who is sent to a planet called Gethen where the inhabitants are neither male nor female. His mission is to get them to join the Ekumen to share knowledge, goods, and information. We follow his failures and accomplishments in this mission, and his befriending of the people of the planet, and how he relates to idea of their not being male or female.
The book explores a world where none of the problems or comparisons that we see show up between male and female has ever occurred. Everyone is equal, and able to participate in work, play, politics and life without being hung up on male or female roles. They have their own issues and political powers of course, but they are derived of different natures. It may be of interest to note that on Gethen, there is no word for war, and there has never been a war. There have been fights, skirmishes, assassinations, and murder, but never on a large scale. This may in part be to Gethen being a planet covered in an ice age.
It was a really interesting read, and I don't do it justice in my few words about it. It's been around since 1969, so it's been reviewed and pondered over and over by smarter people that delve a lot more in to its message or meaning. One thing that I had a hard time with is that even though the people have no gender, the pronouns he and him are used extensively to refer to the people. The reason is that 'it' is dehumanizing and 'he' is less identifying than 'she' is, historically. The Gethenians themselves have pronouns that cannot be translated, but using made up pronouns was thought to be laborious for the reader.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Fantasy Books
I finished my last audit package last week, and all that really means is that the bulk of my busy time is done. I still have questions to respond to and items to clear up, but the deadlines are past and the clean up work is a bit less stressful. I mentioned before having some other things I wanted to do with the blog and having more time to write. I really like to write, but I know for a fact I'm not that great of a writer. It's really just for my own fun.
Growing up, I read a lot of fantasy books, and some science fiction too. I remember when I lived on a farm in Oregon, my Uncle Mike handed me a book, Dragon's Gold, by Piers Anthony and Robert Margroff, which may or may not have been the first fantasy book I read, but it's the first I remember. And it was definitely one of the first novels I read. I think I had tried to read Lord of the Rings and got mired in the middle and stopped. Anyway, after that I read a lot of Piers Anthony, the Xanth Series, and the Blue Adept series. I also read a lot from David Eddings, who at the time I really liked. I think I must have been 11 or 12 when I started. Thinking about it makes me want to pick them up and read them again.
The reason I mention all of those is because I think that early introduction to the fantasy genre is why I still love it. I enjoy fantasy books still more than others, and I love fantasy games, such as World of Warcraft, which is what I primarily play now. Those who don't play it might not realize it, but there's quite a hefty back story to World of Warcraft that has developed and evolved through the course of the original computer games (Warcraft I through III). There are wars, heroes, villains, magic, kingdoms in conflict, and as the game progresses, so does the story. So I've taken to writing stories about my character that I play in the game, usually from the first person perspective. It seemed like a natural thing to put in a blog, so I started another blog where I'll put the stories I come up with. I'll link it from here in the near future.
Growing up, I read a lot of fantasy books, and some science fiction too. I remember when I lived on a farm in Oregon, my Uncle Mike handed me a book, Dragon's Gold, by Piers Anthony and Robert Margroff, which may or may not have been the first fantasy book I read, but it's the first I remember. And it was definitely one of the first novels I read. I think I had tried to read Lord of the Rings and got mired in the middle and stopped. Anyway, after that I read a lot of Piers Anthony, the Xanth Series, and the Blue Adept series. I also read a lot from David Eddings, who at the time I really liked. I think I must have been 11 or 12 when I started. Thinking about it makes me want to pick them up and read them again.
The reason I mention all of those is because I think that early introduction to the fantasy genre is why I still love it. I enjoy fantasy books still more than others, and I love fantasy games, such as World of Warcraft, which is what I primarily play now. Those who don't play it might not realize it, but there's quite a hefty back story to World of Warcraft that has developed and evolved through the course of the original computer games (Warcraft I through III). There are wars, heroes, villains, magic, kingdoms in conflict, and as the game progresses, so does the story. So I've taken to writing stories about my character that I play in the game, usually from the first person perspective. It seemed like a natural thing to put in a blog, so I started another blog where I'll put the stories I come up with. I'll link it from here in the near future.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Almost done.
I've nearly reached the end of my busy time here at work, and hopefully with that, the chance to write more. I have a few ideas rattling around in my head that I'd like to try. They involve adding a couple topic specific blogs to this site so that it doesn't become a mess of different subjects. I'll say more about it when I'm really finished, but for now there is still much work to be done.
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