| Countdown to Rochester! |
[Jun. 30th, 2009|12:21 pm] |
I'm excited because I'm heading back to Greece this weekend. Alissa & I will leave on Thursday and start driving back to Rochester to spend the weekend with my entire family. My dad retired from Kodak earlier this year, so for the first time since my wedding back in January 2007, everyone will be together including both of my brothers, my sister-in-laws, all of my nieces (3) & nephews (2), my Mom & Dad as well as my grandmother. It will be a really memorable fourth of July! Hopefully, it will be a smooth drive out there and the weather will remain blissfully nice.
This weekend, we had improv-a-mania. Thursday, the under-30 set of Stevie Ray's improvisers performed at the Twin Cities Improv Festival. We had a solid set alongside North Dakota's Bearded Men and I had the opportunity to sing an epic song about baldness with Mr. Litz, which is always a highlight. You can see a video of the festival which includes some clips of Stevie Ray's in action! http://twincities.decider.com/articles/video-recap-twin-cities-improv-festival,29776/
On Friday & Saturday nights, I had shows at the cabaret with my Stevie Ray's team (Dave K., Peter R., Maureen T., Tom R., Brittany P., Adam F. and Brett W.) and we had solid, very different shows on either night. Friday was pretty sparse - we only went an hour - but I was Thomas Jefferson, eating Avocados and performing a headstand. If that isn't improv, what is? On Saturday, we had a full room and I got to guess in party quirks which is always enjoyable and challenging. Dave came up with some fun new structures to try and it was really enjoyable doing new stuff on stage, sometimes for the first time ever!
I'm teaching class tonight & I taught a class last night, so it's been a full five days. (I have rehearsal tomorrow, additionally.)
On Friday night, Alissa & I went to the Brave New Workshop to see my favorite improv group in the world - IRON COBRA from Toronto, Canada. Geva Comedy Improv did a workshop and show with Iron Cobra several years ago. That's still one of my favorite shows - especially the scene with Graham talking about "goo!"
Anyhow, Iron Cobra ROCKED despite it being approximately eight million degrees in the theatre, and nine million degrees on the stage.
So, during our long drive, Alissa & I might watch/listen to some West Wing episodes. Melissa has loaned us several seasons worth - any particular season worth watching? We'll have 16-18 hours and a portable DVD player. Do suggest!
Mook |
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| Board Game Reviews! |
[Jun. 22nd, 2009|09:23 am] |
On Saturday, I went over to my friend Jason's house and played a variety of board games along with his pal Abe. Here are some reviews and links to the Board Game Geek (BGG) website! We had about 6 hours of fun and I found at least two games (Puerto Rico and Thurn & Taxis) which I'm excited about sharing with my family in the near future.
Puerto Rico - Rio Grande Games - I bought this boardgame back in 2004, but have never played it. Luckily, Jason & Abe were up for the challenge! With six different roles and a lot of text, it was easiest to just choose a role each round, read the rules, play them out and then learn slowly! I like the economy balance in this game as well as the growing incentives to choose neglected roles (Citidels could learn from this!). Again, it's hard to "hurt" other players -- you could choose the production tile they wanted or fill up the salehouse or ship before they could load the good they wanted to send, but overall I think there's a lot more cooperation and independent gameplay, which I enjoyed. It's important to emphasize that earning victory points is the point - not goods or money or even buildings. I would love to play this with 4-6 just to see how things change. With only three players, the number of colonists ran out rather quickly and we reached the end of the game. This is definitely a keeper and obvious why it's #2 over at BGG. Along with Power Grid, this is my favorite new game that I've played in the past twelve months! Overall grade: A.
Thurn & Taxis - Rio Grande Games - The Bavarian Postal System has FINALLY been converted to a board game experience! Sound ridiculous? It's not. In fact, it's tremendous (as evidenced by all the awards this title has won). The simple directions combined with the quick nature makes for an enjoyable experience. Only the geography, which might be a bit vexing to intuitively guess at first, can be difficult. An American adaptation for this would be well-welcomed! It was fun with three and would play just as well with four! A game where you're mostly playing independently - you can take a card that someone else wants to grab to vex them, but overall it's largely how you play your own cards. You might want to pay attention to how your opponents are scoring but it's not like you can do an immense amount about it! Good stuff - overall grade: A-.
Saboteur - Z-Man Games - This is card-based game for three to ten players. It's a fun, multi-player game where some players are dwarves attempting to reach the gold caches while other players are secretly Sabotuers. I've played this with 3 players and 5 players, and while I enjoyed the three player outing more, I think the game really is meant to be played when you have 7 or 8 players. With 5 you have two saboteurs and three miners. With 3 you have one saboteur and two miners. Neither are really great ratios. We played the optional rule that if any miners are incapacitated when the gold is revealed, they do not receive any goodies because otherwise what's the point of playing a round where all three players are miners (besides the luck of the draw for the gold pieces). It's a quick game and doesn't take too much work, though finding pieces that can build in the right direction are often a challenge. I'm happy they found a strong game for a multiplayer environment. Overall grade: B.
Bootleggers - Eagle Games - After some initial confusion, this turns into a fun little game of economic trickery as you battle fellow mafia stars for whiskey production, the best shipping trucks and control of the various speakeasies. My impression was similar to what I'm reading on the BGG site - it would be much better with 4-6 players, especially 6. With three, you're only making deals with player A or player B - pretty much flipping between them because you don't want to enrich either one too much. With more players, a much better division of factions would emerge. Overall grade: B-.
Goldbräu - Rio Grande Games – This game comes with coasters. They play no role beyond being an effective advertisement. However, I can’t imagine playing this board game while drinking because there is some math involved – especially partial shares and division between breweries, beer gardens, bosses and multi-owners of each stock. While this sounds like the sort of game that I would love, it got some perceived flaws that really keep me sour (such as if you become the boss of place where you have no stakes, you can spend the entire game as the boss and yet never receive money for it!) I think it would play much better with four players rather than three. The messy math and relatively uneventful play nature create an adequate but less than exciting experience. It’s not a bad game, but it’s something that I could never get anyone besides the most enraptured or captive friends to play. Overall grade: C. |
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| Comedy Sketch Run-down |
[Jun. 3rd, 2009|09:47 am] |
We performed the Stevie Ray's Sketch Showcase last weekend at the Cabaret. I received some positive feedback on my piece, Obama's Morning Briefing, which I owe a lot of thanks to Alissa & Adam for making funny. They helped a ton with the content, jokes, pacing and subject matter. Basically, I typed it up and that was about it.
Doing this inspired me to collect my managerie of sketches (both performed & unperformed) into a single webpage so I don't lose them:
http://chris.harrington.googlepages.com/comedysketches
READ & ENJOY. Many of the unperformed pieces are far from finished.
I've got cake to eat & MS Access queries to run. ROCK~! |
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| BIOHAZARD WARNING~! |
[May. 29th, 2009|12:49 pm] |
Adam was out sick on Tuesday. Actually, he's been ill for several days as he wasn't able to make the Memorial Day BBQ we held on Sunday. So, since he returned on Wednesday, I've made sure to mark his cubicle with an adequate warning symbol each day:
WED
THURS
FRI
It's important to make sure your co-workers & friends know that you care!
In other news, I broke 110 wpm on some facebook typing test! Also, Alissa & I have been cleaning the house top to bottom this past week. We moved the living room furniture (glass tables, mostly) to the basement. We bought new tables for the Living room. We moved the eletric piano to the basement and with the help of Melissa, my wife built an IKEA Sideboard/Buffet cabinet. She's amazing! I even mowed the lawn before the mower went kaput. We installed some solar lights and added a flag light but isn't nearly as powerful as we originally hoped. Still, it's nice to have a clean new house. This was all kicked off last week when Alissa came home with a new drawer "as-is" piece from IKEA which was installed in the basement resulting in a dramatic overhaul of our giant bookshelves of doom down there. ROCK!~
I've been teaching Improv Classes regularly for more than a year now. I just finished another round of Improv Tech I (this has to be the fourth or fifth time I've taught the course by myself) and next week I'll have Improv Tech II class starting with at least five or six students so that should be fun. I'm finishing up my sketch comedy class tonight with a presentation at 930 PM (free if you just come to that) at the Sheraton Hotel in Bloomington following the usual Stevie Ray's Improv Show that my team is performing. This summer I'll perform at the Sunday Park Show (at Lake Harriet Rose Garden) on June 13 & August 2 (5 pm & 7 pm). I wrote a sketch called, "Obama's Morning Briefing" which I am pleased with. Ultimately, I'm glad that I wrote a new sketch but I can't say that I learned as much as I hoped for, especially for the price of the class.
Work has been pretty busy but I'm keeping my head above water. Mel remains funny. Life is good! Have a nice Summer. |
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| Coffee / Lawns / Me |
[May. 22nd, 2009|09:52 am] |
If you put a mustache on Blagojevich, he looks like Charles Bronson.
Yesterday, I mowed my sod-foresaken lawn. Until my mower died on me. At least I got the front so my neighbors will stop sending me the evil eye.
Eariler in the month, I heard a Terry Gross story with an entomologist named Doug Emlen. He told quite the story about instant coffee (starts moments before 35 minutes into the interview). This bugged me for days (pun intended) until I realized that they always tell us that eating insects would probably be healthy. Then I felt better.
If you put mustard on Blagojevich, it sounds like an Polish sausage.
I played Atari 2600 for awhile last night. Some of the games included:
* Fast Food (You're a pair of lips!)
* Ms. Pacman (great music!)
* Jr. Pacman (huge scrolling levels!)
* Towering Inferno (my version wouldn't let me play)
* Amidar (painting!)
* Jungle Hunt (can you believe that Edgar Rice Burroughs sued them being too "Tarzan"-like?)
* Kung Fu Master (I like this better than the NES version)
* E.T. (the graphics are really tremendous - especially the FBI men; I couldn't remember what the arrows/icons were supposed to be telling me though!)
* Galaxian (Galaga is SO much better.)
* Infiltrate (Robots on Elevators! I thought maybe it was going to be related to the Apple ][ game Infiltrator II.)
* Trick Shot (it can fight with Lunar Pool for randomness)
ROCK.
Also, is there any port ever as ugly as Donkey Kong for Atari 2600?
Look at Kong?! |
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| POP QUIZ: FLASH by Queen |
[May. 12th, 2009|01:26 pm] |
According to Queen, what is Flash?
x A tropical Fruit
x A Mighty Fortress
x King of the Impossible
x Doctor Hans Zarkhov, formerly at NASA
How should Flash be considered?
x As a miracle
x As a disaster
x As a question to be pondered
x As a war rocket Ajax
Who will Flash save?
x Extraordinary Intergalatical Upsets
x Solar Eclipses
x Not the Golden Grail
x Every one of us
ROCK |
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| Who Framed Roger Rabbit is Awesome |
[Apr. 27th, 2009|08:45 am] |
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit is Awesome: It's an incredible movie. I really haven't seen it in at least five years and watching it once more, I'm stunned by the several levels how many levels all of the writing works. It's on the top five movies alongside my favorites (namely Clue).
BIG MIXX CEREAL~!
What happens if you lease a Car from a dealership and they go-under/close? Is the Lease really with a Bank so you're protected? Do they transfer your services/warranty to another dealership?
Anatomy of a Bank Takeover - great NPR/Planet Money story from 3/26/09 - by Chana Joffe-Walt. Maybe I should go work for FDIC?
Mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooookie ROCKS. |
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| 4/25/09 - World Malaria Day |
[Apr. 22nd, 2009|01:00 pm] |
Instead of Earth Day, I'll be making a fuss about Malaria Day - 4/25/09.
http://www.rollbackmalaria.org/worldmalariaday/
Over 350 million people a year are affected by Malaria, especially in Africa & parts of Asia. It's a disease that can be controlled and combated. If I was ever on Celebrity Apprentice, that would be the charity I would be working for.
In other ideas: I was playing a typing game today and got to thinking that these sort of exercises could be used for transcription services, especially for old documents. You would show a line from a document several times to several people. Then, based on the results, you could project the most likely transcription based on how similar the results were. Obviously, with OCR software the easier type-written papers can be analyzed, but I imagine hand-written papers could be tackled via group efforts.
Rock. |
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| 4/21/09 = .021164021... |
[Apr. 21st, 2009|01:47 pm] |
* I can't seem to break the 135 wpm barrier on the Twitter typing game over at fast140 ( http://www.fast140.com/mookieghana ). Basically, it gives you someone else's tweets and you retype them as quickly as you can. As you will see, most of the messages are about Perez Hilton/Miss USA, Susan Boyle, Columbine and Chuck. Still #215 isn't a shabby standing, right?
* I have a Pigs in Space postcard in my cubicle. It rocks.
* I've been playing Fantasy NASCAR this season. I don't watch the races or really care about the results. The fun is in the picking.
PRESEASON
"Budweiser Shootout : 14 Tony "Stacker 2" Stewart
Rookie: Scott "IBS" Speed
Make: Chevy Kodiak
Champ: Cale Yarborough. Failing that, Nord Gordley. Failing that, Stroker Ace. Failing that, Jimmie Johnson. Failing that, Ichy McGhee. Failing that, Skinny Mike. Failing that, Tayler Malsam. Failing that, Hicky Dicky Doo. Failing that, Alaska Senator Ted Stevens.
Daytona 500: Mark Martin / Kurt Busch / Lothar the Destroyer
Duel 1: Jeff "I took a whiz on the World of Coke" Gordon
Duel 2: Elliot "Don't call me Hermie because I took a pill and got
that problem fixed" Sadler"
WEEK ONE:
Kevin "But Greg Biffled in my Childress!" Harvick
Aaron "Hey Kid, Want to buy some candy?" Fike
Jeff "Don't Call me Lance" Burton
WEEK TWO:
UNSCRAMBLE!
Rad Rads Clew (hint: "I married Iron Man's sister!")
Handymen Nil (hint: Nannerpuss!)
WEEK THREE:
pick #1: 03, 0C, 09, 0E, 14, 02, 0F, 17, 19, 05, 12
pick #2: 07, 12, 05, 07, 02, 09, 06, 06, 0C, 05
Where will Jason put you in? "03, 0C, 0F, 13, 05, 14"
WEEK FOUR:
Pretend that the car #s were in fact the current ages of my picks.
In eight years from now, the sum of their new ages would be equal to
twice the current age of older one of them. Conversely, nine years
ago, one was then three times older than the other one.
WEEK FIVE:
10 HOME
20 ?"WELCOME ROB!"
30 INPUT "Driver #1: ";X$
40 INPUT "Driver #2: ";Y$
50 IF LEN(X$)=11 THEN Z$=X$:X$=Y$:Y$=Z$
55 Z$=""
60 FOR T=1 TO 12
70 READ X
80 Y=ASC(MID$(X$,T,1))
90 Z$=Z$+CHR$(Y-X)
100 NEXT T
110 ? Z$
120 Z$=""
130 FOR T=1 TO 11
140 READ X
150 Y=ASC(MID$(Y$,T,1))
160 Z$=Z$+CHR$(Y-X)
170 NEXT T
180 ? Z$
190 END
300 DATA 15,8,-9,-2,-5,0,-4,8,-6,0,-4,11
310 DATA 2,-4,12,13,0,0,0,-4,1,-16,-45
DRIVER #1 is "SMELT DIGLEY" (all caps)
DRIVER #2 is "LARS GONE?!" (all caps, include the exclaimation point
and question mark)
WEEK SIX:
10 GR
20 HOME
30 COLOR=1
40 FOR Q=1 TO 2
50 FOR T=1 TO 3
60 READ X,Y,Z
70 IF T<>2 THEN VLIN X,Y AT Z
80 IF T=2 THEN HLIN X,Y AT Z
90 NEXT T
95 NEXT Q
100 DATA 10,30,10
110 DATA 5,10,30
120 DATA 25,30,5
130 DATA 10,30,30
140 DATA 25,30,30
150 DATA 25,30,25
190 ?"DRIVER #1":?"PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE"
200 GET X$
500 HGR
510 HCOLOR=3
520 HPLOT 10,10 TO 10,80
530 HPLOT 80,10 TO 10,40
540 HPLOT TO 80,80
550 HPLOT 90,10 TO 100,50
560 HPLOT TO 110,10
570 HPLOT 100,50 TO 100,80
580 HPLOT 120,10 TO 120,80
590 HPLOT TO 145,80
600 HPLOT 155,10 TO 155,80
610 HPLOT TO 175,80
620 HPLOT 155,10 TO 175,10
630 HPLOT 155,50 TO 175,50
640 HOME
650 ?"DRIVER #2":?"PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE"
WEEK SEVEN:
Solve these Gaming Puzzles and you'll find my picks!
XzzYzz & zzzz: (sequel was set on Funkotron)
zXYzzz zzzzzz: (has Abobo)
XYzz: (defeat "Mr. Big" - shoot the enemies or arrest them so they are "BUSTED")
zzzz zXzzY'z zzzzz zzz: (Soda Popinski haunts your dreams!)
Xzzzz zzzYzz: (join the Federation of Space Loonies)
Pick #1: XXXXX
Pick #2: YYYYY
all the z's are letters that can be ignored!
WEEK EIGHT:
Open a New Excel Spreadsheet
in cell B1 enter the formula on the next line
=CHAR(MID(A1,1,2))&CHAR(MID(A1,3,2))&CHAR(MID(A1,5,2))&CHAR(MID(A1,7,2))&CHAR(MID(A1,9,2))
then in cell A1 put this number in: 8479788983
replace cell A1 with 7565836989 to see pick #2 |
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| Wrestlemania Review |
[Apr. 5th, 2009|10:32 pm] |
1 CM Punk defeated Kane, Mark Henry (with Tony Atlas), Montel Vontavious Porter, Shelton Benjamin, Kofi Kingston, Christian and Finlay (with Hornswoggle)
Good match with a few notable oops - including CM Punk cheesing on Christian's unprettier and Shelton Benjamin being denied the sunset flip-powerbomb. Kane was also especially inept at catching tonight - setting the stage for the later encounter with UT. I wish the crew hadn't bumped for Hornswoggle's dive but instead treated him like Lightning Kid (no sell!) and just thrown him back into the ring. I'm completely indifferent to CM Punk winning - Shelton or MVP or Christian would have invoked a lot of caring. Finlay would be amazing too, but I know that's not going to happen. I'm glad it wasn't Kofi - who set up a whole day of pelvic-bone related injuries with his Bobo Brazil legdrop spot on the ladder.
2 Santina Marella defeated 24 current and former WWE Divas, last eliminating Beth Phoenix and Melina.
The Kid Rock concert was unforgivable. Why that and not the Tag unification match? BS. Santino was comical. There was too many group shots and no chance to see half of the girls. They were mostly completely interchangable except for the legends which were sadly underrated.
3 Chris Jericho defeated Roddy Piper, Ricky Steamboat and Jimmy Snuka (with Ric Flair)
Steamboat was AWESOME! He got a little blown up towards the end. Jericho must have been in heaven taking armdrops from Ricky. Flair taking a back-bodydrop - the only one of the night? Snuka barely left the ground when he gave the headbutt. Oldest man in a WM match!
4 Matt Hardy defeated Jeff Hardy
Jeff went all "Johnny the Bull" and destroyed his tailbone (twice really, since Matt cracked it with a chair). These guys alternate between good and bad matches together so we got a good one this time. Wasn't expecting Matt to stay in the table sandwich! Jeff's wacky makeup was weird but at least made sense. Glad Matt won - exactly the right finish - Jeff crashes and burns and Matt hits his finisher without doing the insane flashy spot.
5 Rey Mysterio defeated John "Bradshaw" Layfield (c)
Definately what needed to happen. However, Rey's mask & gear was dumb. Dark Knight is soooo last year; not only that - Joker isn't a hero! Plus Jeff was basically doing the same gimmick IN THE PREVIOUS MATCH. Weird. JBL's quitting angle leading WGN superstars announcing spot?
6 The Undertaker defeated Shawn Michaels
Definately match of the night!! I thought Undertaker was dead when he went head-first following that plancha-of-doom. The cameraman must have been Kane in a wig because he did nada to catch 'em. The finish was perfect with HBK's moonsault being caught (great balance and conditioning from Undertaker) into the Tombstone. Loved it! Will love to watch this again. Undertaker's chest was torn up from those chops. Awesome. Has Rey & Undertaker ever wrestled?
7 John Cena defeated Edge (c) and The Big Show
Good match but definately wasn't near the level of the previous match. The finish really exemptlified Cena's strength and his celebration with NASCAR's Carl Edwards was a bit unexpected. I'd like to hear more of a backstory on that!
8 Triple H (c) defeated Randy Orton
Blah. I was either burned out or just indifferent. Why didn't Randy win to lead to a big six man for next month? HHH looked absolutely jakked.
UT/Shawn rocked and all of the men's matches were good. Great PPV. I wish we'd seen the Tag match though! |
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| Oconomowoc~! (Umiliani) |
[Mar. 24th, 2009|10:25 am] |
Wikipedia on "Mah Nà Mah Nà"
Alissa, Melissa, Adam & I just returned on Sunday night from a fun weekend adventure in Wisconsin. We left St. Paul a little before Noon on Friday and drove to the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company in Chippewa Falls for our first stop. After a nifty brewery tour (complete with trivia for Pencils and discovering a seasonal brew called "Apple Spice"), we bought some glasses in Ye Olde Gifte Shoppe and were given a recommendation of a local deli serving delicious food including non-meat varieties for the Friday During Lent non-meat eater Catholics in the car. After a roundabout adventure (creating a molecular space from the curb during Parallel Parking), we arrived at the Deli where we discovered that the owners was from Hopkins, Minnesota. After a yummy lunch, we were given a bag of chocolate malted milkballs as a gift from the properiter which was a really swell thing to do. Next, we continued outwards and onwards to the Olympia Spa and Resort in Oconomowoc. (You might remember our 2007 visit.) This time we decided to stay in the hotel where the Expo was taking place. Alissa & Melissa were going to visit the epic Spa for Massages & Facials on Saturday while Adam & Chris combed through the extensive dealer booths and arcade machines of the Midwest Gaming Classic.
After checking in at the hotel, we took the Aztek downtown where we parked at the local Lutheran High School and ate at Todd's Grill. The glasses of booze they served were about the only thing that wasn't deep-fried in the joint, but that was some yummy food for a tired bunch of folks. We headed back to the hotel where we encountered KAROKE. It was epic and we had to check it out. Melissa, Alissa & I braved the smokey-bar in the corner to drink their left-over Green Jello Shots from St. Paddy's Day while the locals performed epic renditions of YMCA, Willie Nelson Songs (I'm convinced wars have been started and won in less time than a Willie Nelson song takes to sing) and Neil Diamond. It was a little heavy on the country-western theme and when they started singing Toby Keith's "Beer for my Horses", we decided it was time to get out of there. (As well did the few African Americans who were in the bar up until then.) Perhaps the original song was written entirely in the context of the Old West (which I would point out had plenty of racism & lynching) but when I hear someone sing,
"Take all the rope in Texas
Find a tall oak tree, round up all of them bad boys
Hang them high in the street for all the people to see that"
and then spend the next verse talking about "gangsters" - I can't help but believe that the singers might be hinting towards a specific group of people.
On Saturday, after a delicious and surprisingly cheap buffet breakfast at the hotel, we split up (Alissa/Melissa @ Spa, Chris/Adam @ MGC).
There's four main parts of the Midwest Gaming Expo:
* Museum (play popular as well as rare, unusual consoles from late-70s to now)
* Speakers / Movies
* Dealers (Selling Video Games/Systems/Stuff)
* Arcade Machines/Pinball Machines
There are particular items showcased (such as Ben Heck's area where he showed Portable Versions of Systems like his portable XBOX360)
Some good pictures from the convention are up at the AtariAge forum: http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=134787&st=150
more info soon.. rock |
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| Laparoscopic cholecystectomy |
[Mar. 11th, 2009|01:37 pm] |
So, I spent many hours this weekend exploring our U.S. Healthcare System. Obviously, since I work for a major nutrition company this is a subject of much discussion throughout my week, but not often do I spend a day in the E.R. and a day in a hospital room. The good news is that now Alissa is doing a lot better albeit sans a gallbladder. (When I shared that my wife had surgery this weekend to remove her gallbladder one of my improv students asked if it was a common procedure. My response was, "Within two years, I'd wager you'll know someone else who has it." For instance, last month my brother Jim had his removed!) Alissa went to the emergency room on Friday after some intense pain that would not cease. About three hours later, we actually got into the treatment area and they ran a lot of tests: blood, urine, CATscan, Ultrasound. The results were not completely clear (for instance, no gallbladder stones) so they admitted her for overnight care and she was moved into a Hospital bed by midnight and got to sleep by 2 AM. I returned the next day and they had a nuclear test that basically replicates eating a fatty meal. This demonstrated that Alissa's gallbladder was definately not functioning correctly and shortly thereafter a surgeon came to the room and scheduled the procedure to remove the gallbladder (in big kid Margaret-speak: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy). Basically, if the surgery is done laparocscopically (good scrabble word!), they make four incisions and if everything goes great, you can go home that same day. Alissa had the surgery, everything went great, and she came home that evening which was very joyous! Knowing a family history of trouble with general anesthesia, I was nervous. However, there was no complications and she woke up just fine. Still, it's not trivial surgery and the pain is considerable. She's recovering at home this week - often with her friend Melissa or myself at her side. Whenever someone isn't there, we've had our energetic puppy Meliora at Doggy Day Care so Alissa doesn't have to worry about the dog jumping on her stitches when she tries to lick her face. Mel has been exceptionally good at listening to us and seems to understand that she's not allowed near the upper-half of Alissa right now. So, it's a slow & steady recovery -- the Vicodin helps control the discomfort but she's exhausted and can not lift anything over 15 lbs or even remain sitting in a chair for more than 10 minutes. I'm very happy that after this is all done, it'll mean no more Gallbladder attacks which, from all accounts, are uncomfortable and very displeasing experiences. (Hint: if you're experiencing yellow discharges and pain in your abodomen, especially after you eat meals -- you probably have a gallbladder problem!)
In other news, Alissa, Adam, Melissa and I head to Wisconsin next weekend for the Midwest Classic Gaming Convention/Hotel Spa. It will Rock. This weekend is my last week with my current Stevie Ray's Team with Jason, Cristi, Adam, Samantha, Kevin and Tim. I don't know what will happen after Sunday's auditions, though I dearly hope I get to work with many of the same people again! Be good to one another!! |
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| List Locations of M.A.D. crimes in Inspector Gadget |
[Mar. 5th, 2009|09:22 am] |
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List Locations of M.A.D. crimes in Inspector Gadget
Winter Olympics
Monster Lake
Missile Silo
Amazon Jungle
Health Spa
Cruise Ship
Booby Trapped Castle
Car Race
India
Concert of Rick Rocker
El Dorado
Movie Set
Amusement Park
Museum of Modern Art
Volcano
London's Interpol Conference
Pharaoh's Tomb
Steel Foundry
Train
Southern Pacific Islands
Police HQ
Plant Nursery
Old-timey Western Town
Space Shuttle
African Jungle
Switzerland
Bermuda Triangle
Japanese Computer Factory
Middle Eastern Oil Field
South African Diamond Mine
Netherlands Chocolate Factory
The Balkans
Metro City
Opera House
Underwater Base
North Pole
Kingdom of Pianostan
Caribbean
M.A.D. Academy
Ireland Blarney Stone
Romanovia Gypsy Camp
Rocky Mountains
Prison
Air Force
Fort Bricks
Tibet
Paris
World's Forests
Turkey
North Africa
French Riveria
Quiz Show |
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| Food on TV Thoughts |
[Mar. 2nd, 2009|02:20 pm] |
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I agree with this article: Why Top Chef Was Right To Pick the Wrong Winner. Television is a game; this isn't a real competition based on cummulative track records. Carla blew her chances when she failed the dessert test. Steffan was pompous and his final meal didn't satisfy the American judges. Hosea was terribly medium - he managed to win by not being the worst. And I applaud him! Alissa & I watched "Chopped" last night; it's like a series of Quick Fire Challenges hosted by Ted Allen. After the show, she gave it a C- (where D is "turn it off to watch something else"). For a show, It's terribly bland. Oddly enough, Bravo whomps Food Network when it comes to Reality Television about Food. Iron Chef America is about their only redeeming entry. All elements of "Chopped" take place in the same dark, damp studio - the judging, the preparation, the discussions. "Top Chef" thrives because they are constantly moving location to location; the judging & cooking & discussion are rarely ever in the same place. All of people involved with "Chopped" - from the judges to the cooks - looked like rejects from other TV Food competitions. Suddenly you realized how much of good television depends on people with exciting, strong personalities that AREN'T like regular people. That's why it's soulless entertainment instead of pure, soulful art. And why not? I can't believe they earned $10,000 rocking dollars for a series of dishes each more inedible than the last. Remind me never to pitch a reality series again! Reminded me of the Charlie Sheen Bachelor Iron Chef sketch on SNL years ago. |
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| Snow Day in Minnesota |
[Feb. 26th, 2009|06:27 pm] |
We're getting a pretty serious helping of snow today (4-8 inches) so I left work around 2 pm and promptly spent two hours getting home. However, I made it home safely and shoveled the front walk and the back driveway. Nicely, someone from the neighborhood plowed our back alleyway. Unfortunately, this left a mountainous ridge right behind my car. Luckily, he came back with a snowblower and saved me. I'm very appreciative! Meliora is enjoying bounding through the cold, fluffy snowflakes so she's in a good mood.
However, I'm losing my voice and until about an hour ago felt pretty yucky. I'll probably need to avoid singing tomorrow night at my Improv shows. I was supposed to do KARE-11 morning show on Wednesday and awoke with my teenage-boy-in-puberty cracking baratone at 4 AM yesterday. I got dressed up in my snazzy "I'm doing a wacky Improv Networking Bit" outfit and drove out to the Sheraton Hotel in Bloomington by 5 AM. Since the normal back-door entrance was locked, Tim & I had to drive around the building to the main lobby. We met the wonderful people from KARE-11 and waited and waited. Unfortunately, Stevie Ray wasn't able to join us so the segments (for 530 and 630 AM) ended up being cancelled. Ever wonder why the Morning Weather guy has so much time to banter? Because of incidents like this! All in all, it was just unfortunate circumstances. I enjoyed meeting the anchor & cameraman (Brandon, even though Mr. D called him Brad!) and Tim & I did our darnest to recruit them for future classes at Stevie's because they had wonderful charm & wit. If I hadn't lost my voice, maybe I would have tried to fake it but at that time in the morning, I felt as ridiculous as the oversized Star of David Ottoman (picture coming this weekend) they have in their lobby.
Even though I work in Minnetonka and the hotel is in Bloomington, I still drove back to St. Paul. See, over the weekend I had an "incident" with my back window of the Aztek (Dr. X!) and an opened gate to the dumpster at a Mexican resturant. Result? A big whole in my Aztek which is currently filled with Glad Clingwrap, Masking Tape and a little bit of purple Duck tape. So, Alissa & I have been using her Saturn to get around. So, on Wednesday at 8 AM, I was on for the glass repair place. It was impossible to locate because they somehow managed to get their address as Hwy 36 and be in a plaza that is mislabelled (for 1715, I turn into the place called "1600 Plaza"). I finally found it and parked my car in the weird strip mall (in front of a dumpster, an ominous sign if I ever heard one!) and went in to wait. Since I'd been up since 4 AM, I'd had a Pepsi and lots of Clorospetic throat spray. I was looking forward to my individually brewed Kruenig Coffee Cup. I made my Green Mountain Mix and let it cool while I read the day-old Star Tribune Business section about which U.S. President had the worst first month as measured by drop in the DOW? (answer: Ford.) Then just as I went to sip the warm goodness, the lead at the glass repair case called me over. I put my coffee down and walked over to him where he kindly explained that my Aztek part was rare (no surprise), coming from Idaho (some surprise) and not in their shop (big surprise). I had booked this appointment on Sunday morning through my Insurance Company. This was disappointing. So, they were going to call me when the part showed up for real (their supplier failed to obtain it the day before and also failed to tell them that). He handed me my keys and led me to the workroom where I had to back out my car and narrowly avoid running over any of the employees. Next thing I knew I was back on Highway 36, with my coffee cup slowly cooling on the waiting room floor by my seat, still undrunk. I miss you coffee. Call?
Even though I was in Maplewood and I work in Minnesota, I still drove back to St. Paul once again. (Are you noticing a pattern?) I needed to trade cars with Alissa because she's been saintly and taking the Aztek to work (5 minutes away) to park in a secure garage. Luckily, she hadn't left yet so parked the Aztek in the driveway and we decided that I would just drop her off at work. I rolled into Nestle Nutrition around 9:15 AM (a surprisingly short commute) and finally, with Adam, got my precious cup of coffee. Nespresso Joy! Have you ever tasted so good?
So my "trio of ugh" (sickness, 2 hours at hotel for nada, 1/2 hr at glass repair place for nothing) is matched by some good news. First, I am getting a bonus at work. That's somewhat of a rarity in the world today and I am very excited, pleased and thankful for that. I think we'll end up with a real back storm door very soon! Second, I am now the World Record holder for fastest playthrough of Maniac Mansion. I hope to soon add to that record by dividing all of the ways you can win (send meteor to space, arrest the meteor, make the meteor a star and feed the meteor to a plant) into seperate accomplishments and setting those records too. Twin Galaxies Fame! Huzzah. Third, I performed on Monday Night at the aptly named Monday Night Comedy Show at The Beat Coffeehouse in Minneapolis with the uber-talented Zach & Cristi, and the performance earned us an invitation to perform at the Bryant Lake Bowl for a comedy show in April. One of my goals this year is to really start getting myself out in the Twin Cities comedy community more so this is definately a win! So, just as my mother predicted, there were three good things to balance out my earlier challenges. Rock!
Tonight, I have been relaxing by eating my Peanut Butter & Maramalade sandwich, watching the results of last night's Top Chef, finishing the documentary on Johnny Cash (awesome), rewatching my favorite moment in Night Court and taking some medicine which is helping a lot. Tomorrow morning, I head back to get the Aztek glass repaired so that's a good thing. Time to do some laundry and get rid of the box-crease marks on my Maroon shirt so people stop making fun of me!!! |
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| Farley |
[Feb. 17th, 2009|05:01 pm] |
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I nicknamed one co-worker (co-studyee) Lunkhead Johnson after the movie "Cheerleader Massacre". My boss (actually my second boss; the first one quit about two days after I started) would do the same impression of Chris Farley as Matt Foley/Tommy Boy every single day. So, when I was endowed with Chris Farley on Saturday night, I did an impression of my old boss doing an impression of Chris Farley. ROCK. SIGH. |
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| Hail Lincoln! And Zachary Taylor! And George M. Dallas! |
[Feb. 16th, 2009|05:27 pm] |
(Best part is the Zachary Taylor's wikipedia page has this line, "For the Power Rangers character, see Zack Taylor.")
I've got a day off work. So, what does that mean for a Mookie?
* Wash some Dishes
* Buy a PediPaw and watch the training video
* Enjoying 31 year-old John Cusack play 27 year-old Martin Q. Blank in Grosse Pointe Blanke
* Ingest a Gangsta Rap trio meal with: Inside "Yo! MTV Raps!", "Tupac: Resurrection" and "NWA: The World's Most Dangerous Group" on VH1 Soul
* Have a delicious lunch with Alissa at Princess Garden (footnote 1)
* Beat the dungeon level on Warlords III: Reign of Heroes
(footnote 1): The Chow Mein was not yummy. I hate celery and always forget that's in Chow Mein. They have great Lo Mein. I should have begged them to give me that. Or just ordered it. Alas! Alas! Alas!!
I joined Twitter because I read an article on NYTimes about it and somehow that changed my mind about it. I guess because I've always wanted to dismiss it and suddenly it made more sense. Or less sense. I can't tell. But I'm now following a guy in Singapore that I don't know; and I haven't figured out if that's a good thing or not.
Two shows this weekend (as usual) and I'd give myself a 6 for Friday and a 4 for Saturday. I hosted on Friday so I was pleased that I made it through relatively unscathed, including trying some new stuff like Very Touching&Special Moment and Group Serenade of Antonio Jose. I had a real stinker of a scene on Saturday when I tried to play Carrottop, Mr. T and Spongebob Squarepants. Character impressions aren't my strong suit. Or even my back-up suit when I've soiled my good pants. I also did Chris Farley for dating show which was definately a first (footnote 2).
(footnote 2): I had a terrible job right after I graduated college. I shouldn't even call it a job. It was more of a terrible scam. Basically, I was training to sell life insurance. I would wear a suit every day and drive to a strip mall where I would study for my tests (Series 63 & 6) and practice the awful insurance pitches ("Imagine if your entire family were to die; how would you pay for the coffins?"). I did this for several weeks and the only useful thing about it was two of my co-workers have inspired improv characters. More on this after dinner! Rock |
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| Organism Suitability Material |
[Feb. 9th, 2009|09:35 am] |
A few months ago, I placed a request to find a manufacturer similar to the Staples "That was Easy" button on the sourcing website alibaba. I have yet to find a company that is capable of creating the product, but I have received a somewhat hilarious stream of "offers" from Asian companies hoping to help me. Unfortunately, my use of the word "button" is different from buttons in the clothing sense. Here is my latest response, this time from Korea:
Titanium button
1. This is an excellent price competitiveness. (Existing titanium products, 50% or less)
3. The world's first All pure titanium Button
4. New creation.
5. The temperature is good protection.
6. Organism Suitability Material
7. Bio-compatible, Bio-activity material
8. Immortality
9. Enable to realize colors on the surface.
10. Hgh Strength / Light weight / Corrosion
11. Desistance Strength: Twice of the iron, 6 times of the aluminum
12. Weight: 60% of iron and stainless
13. Superior Corrosion Resistance:
Titanium has created a natural
Multiple-coated membranes (NMCM) with
chemical reaction in atmosphere.
And, If the NMCM is hurt, it will reproduce
for high endurable
14. Implement a variety of design
15. Mass production
16. Automated production
17. Excellent price
18. Manufacturing technique
New technology TMIM: titanium Mult Injection Molding
19. 3 D image, the product can be manufactured.
20. Good temperature characteristics.
Order: Order a variety of sizes
order Price: FOB Incheon / Consultation
About Us
- Certificate of New Excellent Technololgy
- Company : MTIG Co., Ltd.
- Homepage : www.mtig.co.kr / www.donacelli.com / www.swanee.co.kr
- CEO : Young-suk, park
- Phone : 82-2-540-3617
- Fax : 82-2-540-3616
- Email : ceo@mtig.co.kr / parkys@kbs.co.kr
- Head Office : 2F, Nonhyeon-dong 268-2, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Korea. 135-833
- Factory : 686-5, Seokpo-ri, Jangan-myeon, Hwaseong
Message Origin:Korea, Republic of
http://us.my.alibaba.com/img/product/nova/6/kr/10/45/98/55/kr104598556/57432120.jpg (picture of the button)
http://us.my.alibaba.com/img/product/nova/6/kr/10/45/98/55/kr104598556/57432122.jpg (alternate picture of button)
ROCK. |
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| How to prepare.. |
[Feb. 1st, 2009|12:56 pm] |
What I do to prepare for my evening Improv show:
* Awake. Make a Lean Cusine Meal for Lunch.
* Watch "Heroes of World Class" DVD courtesy of Wells
* Set a world record on Maniac Mansion at 10:30 Speedrun for NES (record on VHS, submit to TwinGalaxies)
* Shower
* Walk my Schnoodle Meliora
* Drink a Sparks
Today's plans:
* Buy "Escape from the Kingdom of Frome" choose-your-own-adventure-esque books (entire series) using a giftcard from my Matt & Rachel
* Eat a delicious brunch over at Granite City
* Perhaps leave my cell-phone there (sad emoticon)
* Rock out to a Steelers Win
* Enjoy a new episode of the Office |
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| Happy Anniversary! |
[Jan. 29th, 2009|07:35 pm] |
Alissa & I celebrated our second wedding anniversary this week. We went to the Happy Gnome yesterday for a delicious dinner. My wonderful wife gave me two stupendous gifts this month - (for both my birthday & our anniversary) - two great DVD gifts: King of Kong and Viva La Raza.
Can someone explain this to me --
"The mother of two earns just over $40,000 a year working full-time and is looking forward to finding out what her refund will be. .......Tax preparer GeorgAnn Burns says Eicher is also saving at least $400 on what the filing would have cost at the average commercial firm."
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/01/25/taxes/
Four hundred dollars for tax preparation? To file for someone who makes $40k a year? Is Turbotax suddenly $350 more expensive than I remember??
I asked AWFers this question, "How many superheros wear ring(s) on their fingers which give them powers?" and this is what they told me:
brian: "Off the top of my head, Green Lantern is the most famous ring-based superhero. Sinestro is his arch-enemy who also wields a power-giving ring, only his is yellow. Apparently now in the DC universe there are a ton of ring-based "Lanterns" with all different colors representing different emotions used to activate the rings: Green = fearlessness and willpower, Yellow = fear, Red = anger, etc.
There's an out-of-continuity Batman comic where Bruce Wayne gets the Green Lantern ring instead of Hal Jordan, but I don't think that counts since it was a one-issue special.
Mandarin is an Iron Man villain who had ten rings, each one giving him a different superpower.
The Wonder Twins use rings to activate their powers."
gw: "The only superheros I can think of whom wear power rings are the Green Lantern Corps. (a number of different people and aliens who hold the rank of "Green Lantern") and the Wonder Twins from that shitty Superfriends cartoon.
I believe in the 60s The Flash stored his suit into some kind of magic ring, and when he needed to become the flash, his outfit would burst out of the ring and grow to his size or something like that. But the ring was not the source of his power. Also, Lex Luthor had a ring with a piece of Kryptonite in it for a while, so he could be protected from Superman. Batman has a similar ring 'just in case' Superman ever goes berzerk.
And I guess you could include Mr T into that group? His powers come from his bling, right?"
brian: "I'm not counting Mr. T. Anyone whose weakness is warm milk and heights is not a superhero."
gw: "Hey. MacGyver didn't like heights either. Are you saying Mac isn't a superhero? He's like a real life Batman."
brian: "there's a difference between not liking heights and going up anyways and not liking heights and having to be drugged by your friends in order to get on a plane.
Batman doesn't like magic, but will still work with magic-based heroes. The Justice League doesn't have to slip him sleeping pills if Captain Marvel is coming by for a visit.
MacGyver is a hero for acknowledging his weaknesses and overcoming them. Mr. T is not a hero because he does not."
gw: "Good point. I'll concede the argument. Mr T is not a hero. He did do funny snickers commercials though.
A few more people who rely on rings for their power - Lonestar, Yogurt, and Dark Helmet. "
brian: "Not to contradict you again, but I believe the real message of "Spaceballs" was that the Schwartz was in Lonestar all along. Yogurt got the ring in a Cracker Jack box. I don't know about Yogurt, but I have to assume if he's telling Lonestar the ring is fake, then he himself doesn't rely on it.
Dark Helmet, on the other hand, may not be able to tap into the Schwartz as Yogurt and, ultimately Lonestar can, so he may rely on the ring for power."
So, the questions to you:
(a) Is Mr. T a superhero?
(b) What other Superheroes wear rings?
Answer (a) = And Mr. T is a superhero, but B.A. Baracas is not.
On other website, zach: "Well, there's always the Thing (70s cartoon version). Hanna-Barberra made an awful show where a little boy named Benji Grimm found a magic ring that turned him into an orange rocky dude in a speedo when he said "Thing ring, do your thing!!" I am not making this up.
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/547/740/1600/Thing%20Transformation.jpg
Others brought up Captain Planet, "the Legion".
ROCK.
BTW, I made that webpage with my pro-wrestling statistics!!
http://chris.harrington.googlepages.com/mookieghana-prowrestlingstatistics |
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