Social Networking

My willingness to engage in social networking oscillates between "totally pointless" to "gotta share everything". I almost never hit the extremes, but I am always moving back and forth on the continuum between the two. While reading this GQ article I realize that the changes in my feelings are probably directly proportional to my need for affirmation at the time.

I agree with almost everything the author of this article has to say. He is able to write those thoughts a lot more eloquently than I ever could.

The Viral Me: Devin Friedman Investigates the New World of Social Networking: Big Issues: GQ

Rahul isn't worried about people knowing who he is; he's worried about not enough people knowing who he is. I had this idea when I was in the midst of my ill-fated share-athon the previous month: Maybe the social layer could be a kind of mass experiment in the liberating nature of extreme truth. We'd all be exposed as needy, nostalgic, compassionate self-Googlers. But to people like Rahul, an open society isn't one where people have access to the real you. It is simply providing access to the identity you very carefully construct for human consumption."

Merry Christmas!

Christmas sneaked up on us big time this year. It is hard to believe it is here already. When I was younger it felt like an eternity between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now it goes by in a flash. Tomorrow will likely be the most uneventful Christmas I will ever experience.  It is just us here in Arkansas this year. It is sad we won't be spending it with family. It won't really feel like Christmas since I won't be sitting in my parents' living room opening gifts with the rest of the gang.  Too bad Mom didn't have a web cam she could put on the end table and I could sit here at my computer and witness the mayhem as discarded wrapping paper fills the room; and my brothers and brother-in-law chime in with their funny comments.

I wanted to post a much better picture of the tree. My last one was rushed and completely unsatisfactory. This one almost captures how nice it actually looks in person.

We hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed Christmas 2010! Enjoy a great time with the ones you love!

Trash Day

Around here Friday is trash day. The picture here is a normal site in our subdivision on a Saturday afternoon. I consider myself a pretty easy going guy but for some reason this just makes my OCD flare up something fierce.  Looking at trash bins out on the curb after trash day triggers a hatred deep inside of me that I can't explain. It's just one of those things.

It isn't uncommon for half of our street to still have the bins out on the curb at noon on Saturday.  It is ridiculous. How difficult and time consuming is it for you to roll your trash can back up to the house?

There is no logical reason why something so asinine should bother me.  I just need to take a deep breath and deal with it. When I go out to get the paper tomorrow morning there will undoubtedly still be a few trash bins out on the curb. I just can't let that ruin my day.

Instagram

I'd heard about the Instagram iPhone app and I was intrigued. It works on my iPod touch since I have a camera. The camera on it doesn't look great, but I was happy with the Instagram results. Both of these pictures look pretty decent considering what they were like before.  For some reason I love the one of Div-bone... it is great. I think it is the big smile on my wife's face over his shoulder.  The picture of me looks like it came straight out of the 50's.  Anyway, Instagram is pretty fun. If you have an iPhone or new iPod touch check the app out.

Not much of an update, I just wanted to share the pics. We're back in the groove around here. Work has been extremely busy for me the last 2 weeks. I am looking forward to the Colts game tonight and the weekend is just a day away!

The Tree Is Up

We got our Christmas tree up this weekend.  Well, my wife got the tree up. I was just in charge of getting everything down from the attic.  We may skip doing outdoor lights this year since I am the one who would have to be in charge of it. Once the tree is up it really starts to feel like Christmas. It's gonna be so weird staying in Arkansas this year.

It has been really cold here lately. I am ready for spring already. I used to love winter and snow, but that is before I payed for heating bills and had to drive to work.  Even though the tree is up it never totally feels like Christmas until there is snow on the ground, which doesn't happen here very often.

No-Shave November: The Finished Product

I made it to the end. My beard is pretty respectable for only 30 days. I am happy with it.  Yesterday at work I met a customer and he gave me a "nice beard" as a greeting.  That was awesome.  I am planning on keeping it for the winter. I will probably trim it up a bit, but not much.  I don't want to scare little Amelia when she gets here. What are your thoughts?  Keep it? Shave it?

And... We're Back

We had a great trip home for Thanksgiving. It was nice to be back in Indiana. It was a relaxing week with no responsibility or work to do. I got to try out the new camera a little bit, but not much as I thought I would. Here is a shot of the woods behind the barn at my parents' house.  I miss that scenery.  It's amazing how you can't truly appreciate something until you leave. When you come back only then can you understand how much you loved it. I spent a lot of time roaming around our farm, and I took it for granted.  I had a great time growing up there.  One of the good parts about moving away is how it has allowed me to recognize the unique and wonderful experiences I had as a child/young adult.  Only now do I truly understand how lucky I was to have such a great family and great environment in which to spend my formative years.

Short Visit To Purdue

Yesterday we made the drive to Purdue to watch the basketball team play Austin Peay. I went with my 2 brothers and brother-in-law. I only had 3 goals. I wanted to buy a new Purdue sweatshirt, see th new Niel Armstrong building, and eat some Mad Mushroom cheese sticks. Mission accomplised on all fronts. Plus I got to see the Boilers play in person.

The power of facebook let me know that my friend Lindsey and her husband were also at the game. It was a nice bonus to get to see them.

We didn't stick around campus after the game was over as we had to drive home. We ended up spending more time in the car than actually at Purdue. Still, it was nice to go back and see the place. I was surprised that other than the construction on the new sports complex and the aforementioned Niel Armstong building the campus looked pretty much identical to when I had been there. We didn't go everywhere around campus but what I did see looked the same. I don't know why I expected it to be different, but don't we always when we haven't been somewhere for a while. Then we always come back and act surprised when it is pretty much the same.

Alma Mater

Tomorrow I will set foot on the campus of Purdue University for the first time since I graduated over 5 years ago.  It is sad that I haven't been back for so long.  I truly loved every minute of the 4 years I was there, even though they were the most stressful of my life thus far.  (This may change when baby gets here in several weeks.) However, I am not too upset that I haven't been back.  Even tomorrow will be a quick trip. I am not going to spend a lot of time walking around campus reminiscing.  

College was fun, but when it was over it wasn't something I tried to hang on to.  I don't think I will ever be the guy that walks his kids around campus and tries to tell stories about the "good old days".  I might change, but at this time I don't have any emotional attachment to the place.  In Latin "Alma Mater" literally means "nurturing mother". In my experience Purdue wasn't very nurturing.  If she were a mother she was the hard-ass kind that made you cry every now and then and didn't let you have fun until your homework was done... and homework was almost never done.  Still, I appreciate everything Purdue gave to me. Now I feel a little like the kid who put mom in the nursing home and went on with his life.

Tomorrow I will go back and probably buy a hooded sweatshirt just like every other poor sap that visits the place.  Hopefully we get some Mad Mushroom cheese sticks before we leave.  I've missed those things. Maybe we'll walk by Grissom Hall where I spent most of my last couple years during school. Oh great...  In the few minutes I have been writing this post the memories are coming back. I am starting to miss it a little bit.  I better start exaggerating refining my stories so they won't be so boring when Amelia is forced to listen to them.

No-Shave November: The Halfway Point

I last shaved on October 30th and have not done so thus far in November. I guess that means no-shave November has been a success. My beard is looking... beardy, and I have made it through the itchiest part.  I just need to keep letting it grow longer so I look even more like a hippy. As the cold weather moves in at least my face skin will be nice and warm.

A Few Test Shots

I didn't get as much of a chance this weekend to try out our new camera as I would have liked, but I did take a few shots. I am impressed by the indoor performance with no flash, and the outdoor full-light shots are great. I am surprised by how easy the manual adjustments are, and find that I am not using auto-mode much at all.  I am able to get better color without it.  Here are a few shots I took yesterday and today. So far it looks like we made a good purchase...

Keep going to check out more photos...

Smart People Stay Up Late

This makes total sense. No wonder I can't ever get to sleep at night... I am just too dang smart.

Smart People Stay Up Late and Sleep Late - Asylum.com: "There is evidence to suggest that those with high I.Q.s stay up later and sleep later.

Researchers from the London School of Economics have found that people with high I.Q.s are more likely to be night owls, whereas folks with lower I.Q.s are more likely to wake up early and function their best during the day. Other studies have found a link between 'eveningness' and getting good grades in school.

However, all is not well with those who burn the midnight oil. People who are disposed to staying up late are less reliable and more likely to suffer from depression and various addictions when compared to early risers."

New Camera!

I have wanted to get an interchangeable lens camera for a long time, but I never had enough motivation to spend the money.  The baby's impending arrival gave me the incentive to finally pony up the cash.  I thought I would get a Nikon DSLR. They take awesome pictures. However, the large body and huge lenses are a lot to lug around. We're already going to be carrying enough junk around for the baby; we don't need a dedicated backpack for our camera. There is no replacement for their performance, but we were willing to live with a lesser camera in order to save money and size.

Most likely I was going to buy a mid-range shooter; not one that would allow me to swap out lenses.  Then I discovered the micro 4/3 cameras.  They offer most of the same benefits of a full-sized DSLR, but in a much smaller package.  The body and lenses are significantly more compact.  You surely don't get everything that a big-dog Nikon would offer, but I am not enough of a photo snob to notice. Not yet anyway. I chose to get the Olympus E-PL1. It has really good reviews. I also like that it looks "retro", and not like every other DSLR you see. I would still like to get a DSLR down the road, but this will be a fun camera to get me started.

That Didn't Last Long

Last week I did a really good job at waking up on time.  I had prepared myself to take advantage of gaining an hour in the morning. I was hoping to get to bed on Sunday night before 10. That did not happen. For some reason it was one of those nights where I just layed there and couldn't fall asleep. The last time I remember looking at the clock it was just before 1.  

Monday morning was the exact opposite of how I imagined it. Not only did I fail to get up early, I slept through my alarm and woke up even later than I usually do. I jumped in the shower and got out the door in a hurry, but I still missed my 7:30 meeting.  I started the week off at a disadvantage. It always seems like when I sleep in once I have a hard time getting on schedule for the entire week.  

The only thing worse than having a bad habit is failing to correct it every time you try.  When you are trying to form a new habit what steps do you take in order to make sure you follow through? Even though I want to go to sleep earlier I can't force it to happen. I have tried to do things that are supposed to promote sleep, but it never seems to work. When I am consciously thinking about getting to sleep earlier it never seems to work out well.  

I haven't completely given up on this week. I will try again tomorrow morning to wake up earlier.  I am already looking forward to the weekend.  Maybe I can relax and reset, then get things on track next week.  

Standing Room Only

Tonight my wife and I decided to go have dinner at one of our favorite places; Marketplace Express.  It is never busy on a Friday evening, it is pretty fast, and the food is really good.  When we first walked in I noticed a group of about 10 people that had a few tables pushed together. They seemed to be finished and were standing up getting ready to leave.

We placed our order then went to grab a seat.  The group had all stood up by now, but were gathered next to their table in the middle of the restaurant talking.  We sat down a little ways away and waited for our food.  The group had formed an oblong circle along the one side of the restaurant and they were still just standing there exchanging pointless dialog that did not warrant their continued presence.  This went on for quite a bit longer.  It seemed like it was about to break up and they were going to finally get out the door.  A few people shuffled around in order to say goodbye to those on the other end of the amoeba shape they had now formed.

New Neighbors

When I came home for lunch there was a bulldozer clearing the lots behind our house.  There was a decent sized tree back there, which they took out.  There is going to be a house right behind us within the next couple months.  We have had 4 years of a nice open view from the back deck, but that is all over now. It is sad.

It is a good sign for the economy that our subdivision is filling up.  It will probably make it easier to sell our house someday if there aren't a ton of empty lots.  I'm not looking forward to the next few weeks with the construction going on. Hopefully it won't be bad.  It is getting cold so we haven't been spending a lot of time outside. Still, it isn't fun to have to hear the trucks and hammering all the time, especially right out our back door.  I guess we will make it through these tough times.

I am not extremely excited to be getting new neighbors right behind us.  We will be able to look right in their back yard, and visa versa.  I'm not feeling too good about that.  Hopefully they don't have a dog.

A Small Victory

This morning I was able to wake up on time. I definitely didn't get up "early", but I didn't have to scramble around. I had plenty of time to make my coffee. This is pretty good for a Monday morning after staying up and watching Sunday night football. I will be up again tonight watching the Colts game. Hopefully tomorrow morning will be a repeat performance. If I can get up with my alarm every day this week maybe I can form a habit just in time for daylight savings time to end.

While I am creating habits I have another one I need to work on. I don't know about you, but I hate mail. I have a tendency to let mail stack up for weeks. Most of the time I open the important stuff, but every now and then something that requires attention gets lost in the junk mail pile. This weekend I spent over an hour going through mail. I need to stop letting it get to that point. If I spent a few minutes every couple days it wouldn't be a big deal, but I never make myself do it. I consider myself a fairly organized person, but I stink at managing our mail. Any tips?

Anyway, happy Monday. I hope you have a great start to your November. I've decided to let my beard grow again. Let's see if I can get through the first couple weeks of not-shaving without going crazy.

Morning Routine

Every morning I have a 7:30am meeting.  This is the working equivalent of the 7:30am college class, which I always seemed to have.  This would be fine, except I am not a morning person.  I have never been able to hop out of bed ready to take on the day. To make matters worse, lately I have been staying in bed until the last possible second. I finally climb out from under the covers with just enough time to jump in the shower, get dressed and get out the door. Some mornings I have enough time to make coffee, and sometimes I set it the night before or I don't get any. Which makes everything worse.

I have always wanted to be able to wake up early and have time to enjoy my morning routine.  I would really love to be able to get up with enough time to take a short walk or a run. I have tried several times, but I have never been able to form the habit. It is dark and cold in the morning now, and all I want to do is stay in bed. 

Sunday, October 24th, 2010

It has been a pretty uneventful week around here.  Thursday was our anniversary. We went out for a nice dinner.  I ate sushi for the first time in a really long time. Of course Amanda didn't have sushi. Even if she were not pregnant and allowed to partake, there is no way she would touch the stuff.  This year our anniversary was a pretty low-key event.  We thought about going to Kansas City or Tulsa for the weekend, but we ended up being totally unmotivated and ended up just staying home.

Yesterday it was stormy and rainy so we made the rare trip to the movies and saw Jackass 3D.  I do like Jackass, but I wouldn't say I am a huge fan.  I was intrigued by the fact it was shot with 3D cameras.  They even used a new technology that allowed them to capture 1000 frames per second resulting in super slow-mo extremely clear 3D.  That was enough to get me to the theater for a matinée.  You can read more of what I thought at my movie site.

We Got It Together

We got the dresser put together! It looks good, and fits perfectly. It wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected, but I did get frustrated in the middle and had to take a break while Amanda put the drawers together.

We are very happy with the finished product. 

Sunday, October 17th, 2010

Another week is in the books.  It was a stressful one at work.  I was glad when it was over.  I am not sure I am ready to go back tomorrow.  I wish I had a couple extra days to relax.  I just crossed my 5 year anniversary of working there. I got to pick out a 5-year service award.  We had quite a bit to choose from, but nothing too exciting.  I ended up picking a drink mixer.  Like the thing they have at Dairy Queen that they stick the cup up under to mix up your blizzard.  I would have rather had a couple extra days off.  I have to wait until 7 years to get another week of vacation.  

Last week we ordered a dresser for the nursery.  It came in on Wednesday so Friday night we went to pick it up.  We were going to bust it open immediately and start putting it together.  When we got home I didn't feel like it so we put it off, intending to get it done yesterday afternoon.  Well, we still haven't started, and I don't know if I feel like doing it today either.  I can't put it off forever.  I should at least unpack the box and take inventory of the fun we are in for.  

Boiler Down

Three years ago Purdue started 4 freshman on their basketball team, and they had an awesome year.  Even back then I was looking forward to this year when they would all be seniors.  Quite a few things have changed with the team over the last couple years, but the anchor of that young team was still there, and things looked promising.

Robbie Hummel suffered an ACL tear in the second half of last season.  Immediately the team seemed to go from contending to surviving in the Big Ten.  He had the spring and summer to recover, and this fall he was going to come back to lead the team to the top of the conference and beyond.  This morning on the first practice of the year Hummel re-injured his ACL and it out for the season.  Upon hearing the news my level of excitement for this basketball season instantly tanked.  This was supposed to be the year that it all came together.  This was supposed to be the year Purdue made their run.  Hopefully they still have a good showing.  It just stinks that Hummel has to miss the entire season. They aren't going to be nearly as strong without him.

I'm sure they will hit him with a medical red-shirt so he will still have another year of eligibility.  Maybe next year they will put all the pieces together.  Having injured the same leg twice, he may never be able to play at the same level he did his freshman and sophomore years. I don't want to write off this season entirely, but it is tough to be extremely positive about it.  Hummel's injury has probably taken Purdue from the top of the Big Ten to the middle of the pack.  It's definitely a major bummer.

Saturday, October 9th, 2010

I have given up on trying to think of titles for my posts. If one doesn't come to me right away I am slapping the date on there and moving on. I guess this post will have no central theme. It is just going to be a melange of uninteresting information.

Fall finally came to Arkansas.  The weather has cooled off, and this past week has been amazing.  The mornings bring that cool fall crispy air, but the sun comes out and warms the day.  As I sit at my desk I imagine myself playing golf, tennis or just walking around outside with a sweatshirt on.  Unfortunately work has been extremely busy lately. Every day I feel like I am behind on everything.  There are always 50 unread emails in my inbox and 5 voice messages on my phone. I have been staying late to catch up.  By the time I get home I just want to turn on the tv and zone out.  Somehow this last Wednesday afternoon a switch got flipped.  Thursday and Friday were back to a manageable level of work. I was keeping up with my email, and I was even able to work ahead on a few things. I am not sure what happened, but this return to a "normal" level of work made the days quite tolerable; even enjoyable.  I have no clue what it will be like when I go back on Monday, but I am hoping things don't get crazy again.

You're Killing Me Colts

The Colts just lost a heart-breaker to the Jaguars on a last second 56-yard field goal by Scobee. They are 0-2 against teams in their division, and the way Houston is rolling it looks like Indy might have to depend on a wildcard spot. Hope is definitely not lost, but it has been a tough start to the season.

Most years I care about watching only one game most Sundays. That is the Colts game. This year however, I am playing fantasy football for the first time. Now I have some sort of investment in nearly every game. Seeing my Colts win has almost taken a back-seat to keeping track of how my fantasy team is doing. In fact, the guy I am playing against this week has Reggie Wayne on his team so I was actually rooting against Wayne getting the TD when the Colts took it down on their last drive. I was pumped when he got tackled and they scored on a pass to Austin Collie a couple plays later. Collie is on my team. Addai had an awesome game, but I had him on the bench because he was "questionable" to play this week. I was happy to see him perform well, but pissed at the same time because I wanted those points.

This year football has been a lot more engaging and entertaining to watch.  However, I feel like this fantasy football business perverts the fan inside me. There is this very meta game on top of the real games that has taken priority in my mind.  It is a ton of fun, but at the same time it is a bit disconcerting. I always scoffed at those guys who talked about their fantasy teams.  I thought it was pointless and stupid.  Now I am one of those guys, and I am not totally sure how I feel about it.

More Painting...

It has been another pretty normal week around here. Another extremely busy week at work, and another weekend of relation, sports, and projects. Yesterday the air was crisp and cool, which meant I no longer had the excuse that it was too hot to stain the deck. We made a quick trip to Home Depot yesterday afternoon and got the supplies. I started shortly after we got home, but I think it might have been too late. I was out there in the dark trying to finish it up. Hopefully I didn't make too many mistakes. There is still some detail work that needs to be done, but the sunshine this morning revealed an overall much better looking deck.

Photos after the break.

It's Been A Rough Week

The last few days have been pretty hard on me. Last Monday I was really tired all day, and in the afternoon I started to get a scratchy throat. By bedtime I was running a fever. All Monday night I oscillated between burning up and freezing cold. When I woke up Tuesday morning I was in no condition to go to work; so I called in sick. I had a fever of 101F for most of the day.  I was able to log into my work computer and get some work done, but for a large part of the day I just slept.  I slept all evening, then woke up and went right back to sleep.  Sometime in there my fever finally broke.

I returned to work on Wednesday, but I still wasn't feeling great.  A lot of people with allergies had a hard time this week also. Amanda thinks that most of my problem is with allergies.  It is all up in my head.  I have been stuffed up, had a sore throat and a dull headache for 3 or 4 days now. I have been taking medicine, but nothing seems to be able to knock it out.   I went to sleep early last night, and today I took a couple good naps.  I'm still not feeling great, but hopefully things will clear up tomorrow.

Our Next Project

Today UPS brought us Amelia's crib. Exciting! Now we get the joy of trying to put this thing together. I've never been fond of assembling furniture, but this one is going to come with a little added pressure.  I am sure the recommended assembly time will be about an hour, but I will spend no less than 3 hours making sure everything is up to code.  Our baby is going to be sleeping in there, we need to make sure it is put together right.  The last thing we need is an injury, or an early example of my inadequacy as a father.

In the next couple of days Amanda and I are going to have to put on some nice relaxing music and gather up all our patience and love for one another and knock this sucker out.  Hopefully it won't be too bad.  However, our patio set almost came to fisticuffs earlier this year.  That table and chairs was nothing compared to what we are going to face with this crib. I am expecting the worst, so our actual experience can only be more positive than what I'm imagining.

Now we have the crib, bookshelf, car seat, stroller, bumbo seat, and quite a few clothes.  The room is painted.  I'd say we have a pretty good head-start on things.  We can't relax. We still have a bunch of stuff to do/buy/prepare and I'm sure the time is gonna fly by.

The Weekend Of Sports

I am a little late on getting this one posted. We have already embarked on our next work week. It is hard to believe that it was only a week ago today that we had the gift of Labor Day. A 4-day work week. A week with 9 fewer hours of soul crushing drudgery. Actually, that was not the case for me at all. I was somehow able to pack into 4 days the same number of hours I usually work in a normal 5 day week. When Friday afternoon rolled around I was even more excited than normal to get outta there and not think about trains or dollars for two whole days.

With the return of college and NFL football this time of year is always exciting. For the first time I joined an NFL fantasy league. I can already tell I am going to enjoy it quite a bit. It engages you a little bit more with the games, even though normally they would be of no interest to you. We cut it close with our draft. We didn't finish picking our teams until about 15 minutes before the game started on Thursday. This was also a good weekend for college football. I always enjoy seeing Notre Dame lose. Purdue isn't going to give me much to cheer for this year so I will mainly be looking forward to watching the bigger match-ups of the weekend. Maybe I will even root for the Razorbacks a few times. In addition to football this weekend was the semis and finals of the US Open. The men's semi-final between Federer and Djokovic on Saturday was insane. It was so much fun to watch. This also was the weekend for the LPGA Tour event here locally. We have gotten tickets every year so far, and always enjoy spending at least one afternoon out there. Sunday we decided to skip the Colts game and go walk the course and watch Michelle Wie play. She was in the lead, but got caught on the back 9 to lose by one stoke. It was a beautiful day to be outside and we had a fun time.

We're Having A Baby Girl!

We found out yesterday morning that we are having a little girl! Amanda and I are both super excited. I was hoping for a girl, and even though Amanda thought it was a boy she was secretly really really hoping it was a girl. It seems crazy that we know already, but it still feels like such a long time until we will really be able to lay our eyes on little Amelia. Yesterday we got a glimpse of our sweetheart. Here is the ultrasound!

The Productive Weekend

I will be the first to admit that I am not all that handy around the house. I don't have many carpentry skills, and I just generally don't get into household projects.  For some reason I was motivated to get things done this weekend.  By noon today I had accomplished more than what I have in the past 10 weekends.

Friday at work was another rough one for me.  It seems like Fridays, especially Friday afternoons, are some of the most hectic times of the week.  Friday should be the day where you can mentally check out a little bit; enjoy yourself a little bit more.  That happens sometimes, but not this week. When I finally got home I just wanted to veg out.  I resisted the urge. We went to dinner then made a quick stop at Home Depot to pick up some trim.  As we got home the sunlight was waning, but I had just enough left to get the front door painted.  Our front door was looking pretty shabby.  It needed perked up a bit.  I spray painted it; which I was worried about.  I thought it might look pretty ghetto to put spray paint on a front door.  However, I had used the same paint on our back patio furniture and it looked really nice.  I really didn't have anything to lose.  The door wasn't going to look any worse than what it already did.  Everything turned out great.  The door looks 100% better.  I should have painted it a long time ago.

Our Brief Voyage North

This past weekend we decided to have a very mini vacation and make the 12 hour drive home.  I took Friday and Monday off of work.  I was really wanting to take a couple days off of work.  The weekends weren't cutting it anymore.  So, the long weekend came with good timing.

We packed up our duffel bags last Thursday evening, then got to bed early.  Friday morning we were up by 4am.  We loaded up the dogs in the car and were on our way before 5.  We sailed through Missouri and Illinois only to get slowed down by afternoon traffic in Indy .  Our goal was to make it to Ft. Wayne around 5:30pm, and we just barely missed it.

While it was nice for me to get a couple extra days off of work, the main purpose of the trip was to meet Mr. Ethan Nathaniel Roy Miller.  Ethan is one of Ft. Wayne Indiana's newest residents, and subsequently the offspring of my best friend since 1988; one Justin Miller.  I am Justin's elder by 9 months.  Ethan will be roughly 7 months older than my developing child.  Undoubtedly, they will be best friends.  It was imperative that we introduce them to one another even though Baby Bidwell is still in utero.

We spent Friday evening hanging out with the Miller clan.  Saturday we attended a baby shower slash welcome-to-the-world celebration. The rest of the day we visited with family, and had dinner.  On Sunday we went to church, then grilled out for lunch at the Bidwell farmstead, then had dinner with the Pelfreys.  Monday morning it was once again time to hit the road and follow our still-fresh breadcrumbs back to Arkansas.  We drove about 26 hours in the matter of roughly 84 hours. Assuming we slept 7 hours each night that left us with 37 waking hours that were pretty special.  It also left us exhausted on a Monday night, with the knowledge we had to get up the next morning and return to work.

Overall it was a great weekend.  Not something we would want to repeat very often, but definitely glad we did it.  You can see lot of pictures from our weekend over at my wife's blog.  Yes, I am so lazy that I am not even going to post any of them here, but I don't see the point in duplicating efforts.

The Mattress

I think the nesting instinct has kicked in and Amanda is ready to get the baby's room going.  While we're at it, she also wanted to sell the futon in our 2nd extra bedroom so we could buy a more comfortable mattress for when family comes to visit. I got a call at work on Wednesday saying that she found a full mattress on Craigslist that she wanted to buy.  She called the guy and let him know we would be coming to look at it.  I got another call later letting me know that I was to go get the mattress after work, she had arranged for a friend with a pickup truck to come pick me up around 6.  This is the most promptly executed plan I have ever seen from my wife.  She must really want this mattress.

As a rule I try to avoid Craigslist if at all possible.  The whole process of going to some stranger's house based on a shady internet post feels kinda rapey to me.  Regardless, my ride arrived and we headed to some unknown location in the Arkansas backwoods. Actually it was only a few miles out of town, but it wasn't a very nice neighborhood.  We pull up to this house with an old man standing in the driveway.  His garage door is open and it is filled will all kinds of shit.  He had at least 6 mattresses stacked up, along with several appliances, and pretty much any other junk you could think of.  I knew nothing of this mattress I was sent here to buy. He pointed out the merchandise in question that my wife had called him about. At that moment I wanted to kindly thank him for his time, and get the heck out of there.  However, I didn't drive... and I would feel really bad making this guy that was nice enough to drive me all the way down here just have to turn around and take me back home.  So, I bought the dang thing.  It was a clean mattress, which was what the posting had claimed.  However, I wasn't expecting it to be from 1975.  It was also very clear that this was not THIS GUY'S mattress... not saying that would have made me feel any better.  The point is, I have no clue where the hell this thing came from.  He probably bought it at some estate sale.  There was probably a dead body lying on this mattress mere months ago.

Phones Aren't For Talking

I was reading an article in a magazine last night and I came to a realization that most people probably understood years ago.  Phones are not for talking anymore.  As a 28 year old I am still fairly young, but I can remember very clearly the times before cell phones were so commonplace.  It doesn't seem like it should be possible, but I can remember back to before everybody had their own email address.  It hasn't been all that long ago that the only way you could communicate with somebody was to talk to him, and he had to be at his house, or you had to be standing right next to him.

Face to face conversation has always been, and always will be the most meaningful form of communication.  Now with Apple's front-facing camera on the iPhone, that experience can be somewhat duplicated on a mobile device. It still has a little ways to go. The most synchronous and pure form of communication will probably always be two people, in the same place, talking back and forth.  As a society we have always had the desire and the need to communicate at a distance. Back in the day one's options were limited.  A letter could be written, transported over several days, at which time the letter would be read and responded to.  This is one of the most asynchronous forms of communication that we could ever imagine.  In striving to shorten this gap we got the pony express to speed up the delivery of letters. Later we had the telegraph, the first form of the text message.  Then came the wonderful invention of the telephone.  This gave us instant information, and allowed humans to interact across distances in the most synchronized fashion possible.  This was such a good technology, look how long it has remained the communication medium of choice. 

Journaling and Pens

*just a warning - after writing this post I went back and read it, only to realize it was the most boring and pointless thing I have ever written.  you might as well just skip it

Yesterday was my birthday.  I am now 28 years old.  I don't feel any different or anything like that, and I didn't find it to be such a momentous occasion.  Birthdays are fine, but in the end it is just another day.  Maybe when I turn 30 it will seem more important.  More likely it will just feel more sad.  For my birthday my wonderful wife bought me a gift I Have been wanting for a very long time.  She got me a moleskine notebook.  I realize moleskine notebooks are a very hipster trendy thing to own.  I don't own it so I can look cool and artistic while I write at Starbucks. I freaking hate Starbucks.  No, I just really enjoy writing.

I have been keeping a journal since my freshman year of college. I wish I would have started writing one during high school. I would love to go back and read that now.  I don't really know why I started one, but I have done a fairly decent job of keeping up with it on a regular basis for the last 9 years.  I started out with pen and paper.  For the first couple years I wrote only this way.  Then I realized how much faster it is to type things out.  I started a soft-copy version, and rarely wrote anything in the hard-copy version.  To add to the fragmentation, I started this blog.  This is hardly a journal at all, I am not even sure why the hell I feel the need to write on a website that everybody can read.

Motivation

I never intended this blog to turn into a cycling journal but I am going to use it keep myself motivated over the next few months.  I started riding in 2006.  This year has by far been my worst year about putting time in on the bike.  I haven't had any motivation.  I made a lot of excuses for why I wasn't riding.  In the spring my allergies were so bad and spending time outside made me feel horrible.  Then the heat of the summer came and gave me even more reason to stay off the bike.  August is almost here and if I don't watch it I will have wasted an entire season of riding.  This is likely the last year I will even have the freedom to go out and ride whenever I want.  Just after the first of the year there will be a tiny human demanding (and getting) all of my attention.  As the air starts to warm up next spring I will not be out pedaling the miles away.  That is for sure.

The Storks Are Busy

Big news from the Bidwell household broke this week on facebook.  Amanda is pregnant! Thirteen weeks today.  We are super excited.  Everything is going well so far.  The estimated due date is January 23rd.  Man, that seems like a long way away.  I am sure it will be here before we know it.  We of course have a lot of crap to buy, and preparations to make for the room.  I am sure we will get an early start on all that stuff.

We also got some great news this weekend.  My best friend had his baby yesterday afternoon.  Everything was normal and mother and baby are perfectly healthy.  We are so happy for them, and we can't wait to make the trip home to meet the little guy.

Happy 6th of July

I hope everybody had a great holiday weekend.  We had a good time here in Arkansas.  We normally make the trip up to Indiana for the long weekend, but this year we went in June and stayed home for the 4th. We're glad we stuck around cause we had some friends come into town and stay with us for the weekend.  Candace and Dave are about two of the nicest people I have ever met and it was really good to visit with them.  We hadn't seen them since they moved to Tennessee well over a year ago.  We didn't do anything too exciting... just a lot of eating and hanging out.

The Heat Is On

This past week has been a hot one here in Arkansas.  I definitely haven't been spending much time outside lately.   Thursday I mowed the lawn.  There was a storm a brewin'  which cooled it off quite a bit.  Don't get me wrong, it was still hot.  It doesn't take me very long to mow our grass, but it was by far the most time I had spent outside in over a week.

Lately I have been sitting in the AC and watching a lot of sports.  We have the world cup going on, last week was the NBA finals and the US Open golf tournament.  Now Wimbledon has started up, and next week will be the first stage of the Tour de France.  For some strange reason I feel the need to follow all major sporting events.  It isn't even that I necessarily enjoy watching it.  I didn't watch any NBA games all season, but I felt compelled to watch the finals.  I have never played, nor expressed an interest in soccer my entire life.  However, I am checking on world cup standings and looking forward to when matches are on in time-slots I can watch.

Back From Vacation

Each year I get two weeks of vacation.  A couple weeks ago I used one of them.  In normal fashion, Amanda and I made the 12 hour drive up to Indiana to spend the week with friends and family.  It was a good time; a nice relaxing week.

The week started out on Sunday with the high school graduation of my nephew Nick.  It was so weird being back at East Noble.  We grilled out that evening and had a bonfire.  It can't be a trip home without having an evening bonfire.  The week flew by, but we got in pretty much everything we wanted to do.  I got to hang out with Justin and Steph a couple times and see their great new house.  We went up to Amish-land and got some good food at the flea market.  Mainly I got to relax and spend time with family.

Nine Years

Yesterday I returned to my high school gymnasium for the first time since I left it after my graduation 9 years ago. It was bizarre how recent the memories seemed. It was staggering to think that it has really been 9 years. At the same time it is crazy to think how far removed I am from that time. Standing there in my cap and gown I had no clue what I was going to do. Now looking back it is difficult to imagine things going any other way. I have lived one third of my life post high school graduation. It seems like a blink.

The passage of time is such an enigma; impossible to grasp or understand. Yet, it is also so very basic. It is constant. Each second that goes by is the exact same length as the one before it. However, even the concept of "a second" is something man-made and arbitrary. We have tried to apply something concrete and measurable to something that defies understanding. Time is the one thing we can't have enough of, yet we struggle to know what to do with what we do have.

It's All Over

LOST is no more.  We will never see a new episode of our favorite television series again.  I should feel sad.  Deep down I kinda do, but I was ready for it to end.  The magic was starting to wane; the wonder was starting to fade.

Now that the finale is over and all the questions that are ever going to be answered are out on the table I have to keep telling myself one thing.  It was a great journey, and you can't let the ending take away from how much fun you had along the way.  There was no possible way to present an ending that would totally satisfy.  It just couldn't have been done no matter how much time they spent on it.

This is a long one, keep truckin'.......

The End Is Near

It is amazing to think that the series finale of LOST will take place tomorrow. It doesn't seem possible that it can be over. At the same time, I am almost happy to see it go. There has been a lot of talk about quitting while you are on top. At the start of Season 5 I would have agreed that was exactly what would happen. They would blow us away with a solid final 2 seasons. However, I cannot feel that way anymore. The second half of last season and this entire season has been a major disappointment. The show had so much going for it. It is hard to imagine that it fizzled out so much for me at the end.

I don't have a problem with the story that is being told. There is no way I could have planned out and written a better ending for the plot. My problem is with the execution. Aside from the great characters and writing, LOST was so good at telling the story. The way the events have played out over the past 20 episodes has been a mess. Back in the day I loved analyzing everything that was presented to us, and thinking about what it could all mean. I listened to podcasts that talked about the show and how everything connected. This past season I have only had brief moments of interest like that. This season I have stopped listening to the podcasts. I have stopped even getting excited for the new episodes. I watch because I want to know what is going to happen, but I no longer really care about it. We are getting answers to the questions we so badly wanted to get, but they are being presented in a way that is completely anti-climactic.

"Hello old man, It's 27 year-old me"

It is a Saturday night around 8:30pm and I am considering lying down and going to bed. My wife is already in bed reading her book. I feel restless, not sure what to do tonight. I don't really feel like watching a movie, but there is little else to do. I am experiencing this really odd feeling. It comes around almost every weekend. All week long while I am at work I long to be able to just relax; to have nothing to do. On the weekend I usually have nothing planned, so I literally don't do anything.

I have this feeling of restlessness, but no motivation to actually get up and be active. During the work week I long for the weekend. I feel like I have so much I want to accomplish. When I really think about it, the only thing I want to accomplish is doing nothing. I really need have better purpose for my time on the weekend. It doesn't help that I have been on a streak of disappointing weekend circumstances. As you probably already know, my allergies have been heinous this spring. I have been pretty much eliminated for outdoor activity, lest I want to feel like total crud for a couple days following. My allergies have subsided in the last few weeks, but 2 weekends ago I was really sick. Last weekend, and this weekend so far, have been rained out. I have been stuck inside, and I am starting to get a little bit stir crazy.

"Mr. Outgoing"

I am being a lousy secret public journalist. My whole goal with this blog was to write often. I wasn't going to be so concerned with quality, as long as I had the quantity. Writing is like most anything else, practice makes perfect. If you do it often enough you will eventually become better. I am lacking subject matter, but I need to stop using that as an excuse for not writing.

If you know me very well, you realize I am actually a pretty shy person. I will not command a room, or go out of my way to talk to a neighbor. I have never been one for small talk; I would rather have a meaningful conversation than engage in pointless banter. I am quiet when I meet new people, or when I am in moderately sized groups. In my personal life these attributes are pretty much without consequence. However, my introverted nature is proving to be a liability in my career. As an engineer I got away with it. I wasn't expected to be "Mr. Outgoing". As long as I could communicate effectively on a technical level I was good to go. Now that I am on the business side of things I am expected to be more friendly. My job performance no longer depends on my critical thinking ability. Now I have to be nice.

This is actually a good thing for me. Lately I have been making an effort to just generally be a more positive person. Over the past few years I have somehow become a really cynical person. I don't know if was my entrance into corporate America, or my hobby of film criticism; but I was becoming bitter. I always saw myself as an optimist, but I could not deny the fact that negativity was getting the best of me. Hopefully I caught it early, and I am on the path of reformation.

Facebook Fan Page

I was convinced today to create a facebook fanpage for the pretend film critic.  I already have a few fans, now make sure you add your name to the list.  I realize that I have all these facebook accounts, twitter sites, and blogs.  It gets to be a bit circular reference-y.  I promise that I am done setting up profiles, buying domain names, and generally complicating your digital life.  Add me on facebook to see my comments on what I am watching, and get links to trailers, and read my general movie chatter.   If you like movies, "like" me on facebook.

Pig Latin

From a very young age I have had a strange relationship with sleep.  I like being asleep.  For the most part I really enjoy being awake.  It is the transition between the two that I have always struggled with.

When I was a young boy I used to hate going to sleep.  I have never been the type of person who can easily pass into dreamland as soon as his head hits the pillow. I would lay in my bed and contemplate the silence.  My mind would start to wander.  Undoubtedly it would settle on the evil that was just outside my window, plotting how to get inside.  I planned out escape routes and developed action plans for when the intruder finally came to murder me.

Nowadays things are not much different.  I still lay in bed and imagine what I would do if someone were to come crashing through the big window on the front of the house. However, most of the time my mind just wanders; jumping from one thought to the next; all connected by a series of loose strings.  My mind will be so active that it becomes nearly impossible to fall asleep.  One strategy that I have for relaxing myself and slowing down my brain is to focus on a single memory and try to recall every detail I possibly can.  If I put all of my effort onto one thing from my past it will hopefully keep my mind from jumping on the thought train that is always chugging away from slumber.

Making Things Official

I have been keeping up with my movie site for well over a year now. I decided to finally make it somewhat official.  This week I bought the domain name http://pretendcritic.com.  Everything is the same for the most part, you just don't have to type that pesky .blogspot into the name anymore.  If you haven't visited in a while make sure you go check it out.  I have added a bunch of reviews and changed the look quite a bit.

While I was on the kick of buying domain names I thought I might as well go ahead and get dericbidwell.com too.  I knew there were a bunch of people just dying to own it.  I wanted to snatch it up before it was too late.  From now on this blog will appear on dericbidwell.com.

Storytime

Remember how excited you were when the teacher announced it was time to go sit on the carpet and listen to her read a story?  I loved it, and all these years later I have been able to recapture a similar feeling.

Whether you realize it or not, you know who Stephen Tobolowsky is.  Undoubtedly, you have seen him several times in various movies and tv shows.  He may have one of the largest imdb lists ever.  Like most everybody else, I recognized him, but never really knew who he was.  This past fall he was a guest host on one of the movie podcasts that I enjoy listening to.  Shortly after that he started his own weekly podcast called the Tobolowsky Files, in which he tells stories from his life.  I was interested, so I listened to the first episode.  I was immediately a fan.  Stephen Tobolowsky tells these great stories so eloquently and personally.  When I listen I feel like I am right there with a friend; hearing him recount a story from his life to help me better understand my own.  I love listening to stories, especially when they are being told with the sincerity and personality that Mr. Tobolowsky brings to them.  This may sound really cheesy, but I kinda feel like he is a friend now.  He obviously has no clue who I am, but I feel like I know him well.  When I see him in a role I feel like understand who that person really is.

LOST: The Final Season

From the beginning of the show I felt like the writers were walking along a path and I was eagerly following behind.  I was excited for this final season to see where they would lead me in the end.  However, from the first episode of this season I have felt uneasy.  I feel like I stopped being able to just follow behind the story.  Instead the story has turned around, put me in a headlock, and forced me to go along with it.  Every once in a while it loosens its grip and allows me to breathe, but it hasn't completely released me yet.

The last few weeks have been a lot better, and I am excited to watch it this week.  It seems they had to forcefully take me off of the main path onto some side path I never would have willingly followed them to.  Now that we have reached this new path the writers are going to release me and walk on ahead, allowing me to resume following as I was before.  I will obediently follow to the final destination.  I have been critical of this final season thus far, but I am back on the wagon now.  Now I just have to see where it takes me in the end.

Even if the final episode of LOST totally stinks I will still not regret watching all seasons of the show.  It has been a really entertaining ride regardless of how they decide to end it.  Surely they won't answer all of the questions they have posed.  The first season was packed with tons of questions, most of which remain unanswered to this point. However, most of those questions seem completely irrelevant now.  They didn't answer the questions, but they somehow made the show seem so much bigger than that.  No matter how it ends, I will always be a fan and supporter of LOST.

-deric

Just Me Whining

I don't want to come across like I am complaining, although I might be a little bit. For the last month work has been insanely busy. I am not used to having that much of a workload on my plate every single day. It all got be very overwhelming. A few times I reached the point where I have so much to do, and so many people pulling me in different directions, that I start to have some sort of panic attack. I just have to stand up and walk away for a bit. Once I have relaxed I can come back and prioritize.

I feel like I have always been a pretty easy going guy. I want to perform well at my job, but I have never let work affect my mood too much. If something bad happens at work I am not going to get all pissed off and sulk about it. Lately things have been so crazy that I am in a state of panic from the moment I get to work in the morning until the moment I leave. It is really difficult to be patient and helpful when you have that much stuff to get done. At the end of the day I am so mentally exhausted that all I want to do is come home and space out.

Fun Times In Branson

This past week was spring break so my parents decided to make a trip down south for a visit.  They also brought my niece and nephew along for the ride.  Usually when they come down we just end up hanging out around the house and going out to eat.  This time we wanted their trip to be a little more eventful, so we decided to meet up in Branson and take in a show.

I have now been in Branson, MO three times in my life.  It is a very surreal experience for me that a place like this can exist, let alone thrive.  I don't know how well the folks of Branson are doing, but every time I have been there, it is packed.  Maybe there just isn't anything better to do in the mid-south, but it seems crazy how many flock to this little town every weekend.  My previous two trips to Branson were fairly uneventful.  We didn't go to any shows, we just randomly observed the town.  This trip we decided to attend the ultimate Branson experience that is Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede.

Parenthood... someday

From a young age I always thought about fatherhood as an eventuality that would come sometime in the way distant future.  Even when I got married the reality of becoming a father lived someplace undefined by time.  It was going to happen, but it was still quite some time away.  A year ago when my wife started talking about it, things got real.  Now we were actively going to try to make this future become a reality, and it was kinda scary.  Over the next several months I had time to let the idea sink in, and I was starting to be okay with it; even excited about it.  All the while the fear was growing.

Just a couple weeks ago I walked in the house on a Monday evening after a day of work.  My wife was looking pretty pleased with herself as she told me I had a gift.  I opened it up to find a onesie, a bib, and a positive pregnancy test.  This is one of those occasions in life that is momentous. We have all seen movies depicting men experiencing this same news followed by a variety of reactions.  American's Funniest Videos has surely aired tons of clips featuring fathers with shocked faces, or jumping around screaming.  All of those images give you a template for how you are supposed to respond.

Thoughts On "The Office"

Last week I mentioned that I was less-than-impressed with this season of The Office.  I caught up on the last couple episodes this week.  The entire time I was thinking about why I feel the disappointment that I do.  I still really enjoy the series, and it continues to be better than a lot of other stuff on tv.  When I watch it I still laugh.  There is just something different about it. I have great memories of the second and third seasons.  Those seasons were able to capture a sort of magic that has been missing since.

A television series that goes on for several years allows you to spend so much time with the actors in their roles. This is great when you want to create depth and really explore all aspects of the characters.  However, there is only so much depth that can be achieved, and then you are tasked with maintaing consistency.  The Office did a really good job of creating the characters.  Even the secondary characters are fully realized.  However, now the secondary characters are only there to deliver their same old quips.  They each have their own quirks, and all of their jokes have to play on that. It is still funny, but it is starting to feel stale. I don't know how much longer that formula will continue to work.

Sweater Weather Is Waning

The weather this past weekend was pretty much perfect.  It is always such a good feeling to experience the first warm days of spring.  Outdoor activities are once again novel and exciting.  The air seems easier to breathe, and the sun seems to shine a bit brighter.  We grilled out Friday night.  I got to ride my bike for the first time of the year on Saturday.  Sunday we relaxed out on the deck.  It was a good weekend.

This springtime excitement is pretty much universal.  It must go back to our days as school kids.  The warm air was a sign of the nearing summer vacation.  Here in the real world there are no more summer vacations.  Work goes on, and we are left to stare out the window and think about the fun we could be having.  Our years of school have conditioned a Pavlovian response in us.  We cannot avoid this strange sense of optimism we feel, though there is no good reason for it.  The rising temperatures are only going to force us to mow the lawn, and increase our chances of seeing somebody at walmart wearing jean shorts, a tank top, or both at the same time.

LOST: "Sundown" & Other Crap TV

Another episode of LOST has come and gone.  I don't know what it is, but this season just isn't doing it for me.  I don't feel nearly as excited about it as I should.  This season seems really awkward, and the flash sideways thing still isn't working for me.  Just a few weeks ago I loved the episode with the strange little kid and the cave.  Those memories seem like they were so long ago.  They haven't been able to recapture that excitement in me.  I think a lot of LOST fans really enjoyed "Sundown", but I didn't care for it that much.

I don't know what I was expecting out of the final season, but I don't feel like my hopes were too high.  I wanted them to answer questions, and hopefully bring a satisfying conclusion to the story arcs of our favorite characters. They are definitely answering questions, but not much has been satisfying about it.  There are moments in every episode this season that are really good.  I will undoubtedly continue watching.  There is just something that feels very empty about it all. For me, they haven't been able to create the high stakes like they did in past seasons.  I am starting to not even care, which would be the most disappointing end.

LOST: "Lighthouse"

After last week's episode of LOST I was really excited about the remainder of the final season.  However, that excitement was significantly tempered after this week's episode.  I am not able to articulate why I didn't like it, but I really didn't like.  The flash sideways stuff really seemed to drag, and the on island stuff was meandering and unsatisfying.  I have heard a lot of positive talk about this most recent episode, but I don't agree with that at all. I thought it was weak.  Even though it gave us some more answers than "What Kate Does", I found it just as pointless to watch.  Maybe I need to watch it a second time and see if I will change my opinion.  


This episode did remind me how much I enjoy the character of Hurley.  I love how he says the things that the audience is thinking.  He is one of the few things about LOST that has been solid from the beginning.  I love the show, and without Hurley, I wouldn't like it nearly as much.  The other thing this episode reminded of is how much of a bitch Jack is.  I really liked the guy at first, but as this series has progressed he gets worse and worse. When he smashed the mirrors I actually got a little pissed.  It seems like the characters of LOST are always undermining their own chances at making sense of their situation.  When Jack smashed those mirrors he screwed us.  The is the final season and there aren't that many more episodes left.  He could have turned the thingy and we all could have seen what Jacob looked at as he checked in on his candidates, or whatever he was doing.  Instead of indulging us a little bit, Jack had to go and bust shit up.  How much longer are the writers going to pull this crap.  We're running out of time.

LOST: "The Substitute"

Holy freaking crap LOST was pretty awesome this week.  There was a lot of information, but I am not sure how many answers were given.  There were a lot of things to talk about in the episode, but I will try to focus on just a few things in an attempt to keep from rambling incoherently as is so common when attempting to discuss LOST.

Let's make one thing clear.
Man In Black = Smoke Monster = Evil Locke = Fake Locke = Flocke

First off, I wanted to make an observation about the episode "What Kate Does".  We still don't know what is possessing Sayid, but there were a lot of clues that would hint it is the same thing that Russo thought to be possessing her crew back in the day.  As part of the test to see if Sayid was "infected" they electrocuted him.  Not coincidentally when Sayid first met Rousseau back in season 1 she strapped him down and electrocuted him.  In that meeting Rousseau was very skeptical of Sayid saying things like "I know what you are" and "you, and the others like you". At the time the meaning was unclear, but she seemed to be saying he was "infected". After shocking him a bit they start to talk about Nadia.  Sayid states that she is dead because of him.  Upon hearing this Rousseau completely changes her tone and touches his face, looking very close into his eyes.  Like the temple dwellers, was Rousseau testing Sayid by shocking him?  What was it that made him pass this test back then, that he now failed?  Whatever has taken over Sayid is going to be very important to the rest of the season, and remains a pretty big mystery right now.  I am confident that when we find the answer to that, we will also learn what was going on with the French crew, and possibly other inhabitants of the island. (Christian Shepherd, Claire)

Happy V-day

Another weekend is over, and another work week is upon us.  This, like every weekend, went by way too fast.  I feel like I just left work on Friday evening moments ago.  This Valentines day was fairly uneventful, which is completely okay by me.  Hopefully it was equally okay with my lovely wife.

This past week has been described by several terms including "snowpocalypse" and "snow-mageddon".  The northeast saw 50+ inches of snow coming in a chain of storms over the last several days.  The federal government was shut down Monday through Friday this past week, at an estimated per-day cost in lost productivity of $100 miillion.  Late in the week a storm shut down our operations in the Dallas area.  They saw more snow than they have seen in years all along the southern US.  Save Hawaii, every state had snow on the ground at one point last week.  That is pretty impressive.  Ironically as the winter Olymics kicked off in Vancouver, they were dealing with warm temps and rain; putting a major damper on the outdoor events.

Another major event that highlighted this past week was the creation of my custom-made argyle snuggie.  Amanda has been on a sewing kick and has been pumping out the snuggies.  I am sure I will post a picture of me in my snuggie at some point.  It still isn't 100% complete.  Amanda still needs to attach the custom pockets to hold my cell phone and ipod.  When it is finished I will add a picture to this post.

That is about all I have for this week.  Didn't have much to say about the most recent LOST episode; not enough to justify a post anyway.  There is another new episode this week that focuses on Locke that I am definitely looking forward to.  Hope y'all have a good week, I will try to check in again soon.

-deric

LOST Is Back: LA X

This past Tuesday we all got to watch the first episode of the final season of LOST.  One of my biggest fears was realized when we saw them all on flight 815 making their way safely to Los Angeles.  However, I think the writers tempered my disappointment by having the alternate timelines.  We aren't sure exactly what is going on, but it seems like there is an alternate universe where Jack's plan worked, and the plane never crashed.  It is unclear whether there is any connection between this alternate world, and the one we are seeing back on the island.  There were a few small clues that may suggest that for instance that the Jack that landed in LAX is effected by things that happen to the Jack that is on the island, and visa versa.  I have no clue whether this actually is the case, but it will definitely be interesting to find out.  I have a feeling that at the end of this season the two timelines are going to merge, and somehow become one.  No real evidence for that, I just think that might be the direction they are going.

There were a few small, but noticeable changes from the flight 815 that crashed, and flight 815 that lands safely.  I need to watch the episode again, but here were the ones that I picked up on.  First off, Hurley makes it a point to say that he has only had good luck.  He doesn't have to worry about getting scammed because nothing can go wrong for him.  This is very different from the "original" Hurley who is convinced that the numbers have cursed him.  We also saw a different attitude from our buddy Boone.  He was flying back to LA alone, unable to convince Shannon to come with him; and he seemed happy.  I thought it was a nice touch that at the end of his conversation with Locke he made a comment to the effect of: "If this plane goes down I am sticking with you."

Things Of Relative Importance

1. Colts won this weekend! The Indianapolis Colts defeated the NY Jets for the opportunity to go to Miami and compete in Superbowl #44.  Their opponents will be the New Orleans Saints quarterbacked by none other that Purdue alum Drew Brees.  It should be less clear who I will be rooting for.  However, there is no doubt that I will be donning the blue and white and cheering for my Colts.  I wish Brees and the Saints the best, but I hope they lose.

2. Today Apple released the "game changing" iPad.  It seems to me that it is just a ipod touch that is too big to fit in your pocket.  For all the hype this product has got it seems pretty lackluster.  Don't get me wrong.  It looks cool and I wouldn't complain if somebody gave me one.  However I will not be running out to buy one when they go on sale.  I am looking forward to see what they do with the iPhone this year.  Maybe they will finally get me to drink the cool-aid and pony up the cash.

Colts !!!!

Last night the Colts came to play, and their defense looked good.  As expected the offense got out to a slow start, but they scored enough to get the job done.  The defense completely shut down the Raven offense for most of the game.  I had my reservations, but the Colts seemed to have successfully rested up and came ready to play.  For the time being, it looks like the coaching staff made the correct decision to rest the starters at the end of the regular season.

In other good news, the Jets just beat the Chargers for the chance to take on the Colts in the AFC championship game.  Indy always seems to have trouble with San Diego, so I guess it is a good thing that they have been eliminated.  However, the Colts will be favored and have higher expectations with the Jets coming into town, and they have been red hot lately.  It seems like the Colts might be once again set up for failure, but hopefully they can rise to the occasion for the second straight week.  This entire season the Colts looked so impressive, but for some reason I never thought they would actually make it to the Superbowl.  For the first time this year I think they will not only get there, but they have a pretty good chance of winning it all.  Now that I have said that, I have surely jinxed them.

-deric

Colts????

Later today the Colts will play the Baltimore Ravens in the second round of the 2009-2010 NFL playoffs.  The Colts started out this season with 14 straight wins.  Having locked up home field throughout the playoffs they decided to rest their started for the last two games.  They lost them both.  The coach opted to prepare for the playoffs rather than go for a perfect season.  Today we find out if that was a good decision or not.  Last week Baltimore beat the Patriots in convincing fashion with a solid running game and strong defense.  The Colts had the first round bye, so they took the week off.  Considering they took the last 2 weeks off of the regular season, tonight will be their first real game for a month.  If they get off to a slow start Baltimore could take early control of the game, then use their running game to control the clock.  Baltimore has a very good chance of winning tonight.  If the Colts do indeed lose, fans are going to be pissed.  They will have given up their chances at making history only to be sent home after one playoff game.  It will not sit well with me, or any Colt fan for that matter.  Here's hoping they made the right decision, and get the win tonight.  I don't mean to sound negative.  However, the Colts have put themselves under a lot of pressure to preform.  I am nervous about the game tonight, but that is what makes watching sports so much fun.  I am glad that I can care this much about a professional football game.  It is a sure sign that life is good.

-deric

Sleeping through the New Year

For the first time in my memory I didn't stay awake to ring in the new year.  This year we opted to stay home rather than attend some lame party.  However, staying home on new years is pretty lame in itself.  We made some dinner, watched some tv, then headed to bed by 10.  I was sleeping when 2010 arrived, and it seems like I have been tired ever since it got here.  Last weekend we got some snow and the temperatures dropped down into the single digits this week.  The house always seems to be freezing cold.  When my alarm goes off in the morning it is dark, and the last thing I want to do it get out of my warm bed.  This entire week I sat bleary eyed at my desk sipping coffee, trying to wake up and get motivated.  It didn't really work.  By Tuesday I was just waiting for the weekend to get here.  Now the weekend is here, and it isn't all I was hoping it would be.  Our Friday night was pretty lame, and Saturday isn't looking good either.  The wife is gone.  I am going to watch a movie and go to bed.  Tomorrow I will probably sit around and watch football and complain about having to go to work on Monday.  Most likely I will oversleep Monday morning and have to rush in to work.  I will undoubtedly be tired.  By Tuesday I will be looking forward to another uneventful weekend. Thus the monotony continues.  Happy 2010.

-deric