Fenris Ulf

How much better would the world be if all the money spend on politics and campaigns went to something that was more socially positive, assuming you are like me and don't consider the large sums of money spend on political campaigns to be a great value on the socially redeeming scale. I know I would rather see cancer cured than see a bunch of mud slinging politicians on TV not to mention the annoying phone calls. The next time a political group comes and asks you for money think "would I rather see another commercial or have a cure to cancer" and give your money appropriately.

Went to the Cirque du Soleil show last night. It was good. I think I am getting desensitized to their shows because I have felt that the last two shows I have seen in Minneapolis are not absolutely amazing like the first couple of shows I have seen. I am sure I will go to the next show that comes to town and would still recommend seeing this one.

Wow was that a big storm. Photos

I have been listening to podcasts lately. If you have any good suggestions for podcasts that I should listen to drop me a note.

Podcasts are cool.

http://www.ipodder.org/

Man does it suck when someone burns microwave popcorn at the office to the point it almost starts a small fire. This office stinks so badly now...Building management had to bring up one of the big floor fans.

Farwell.

-Fenris

So just how many people get Monday, February 21 off work for Washington's Birthday? Wish I did... sigh...

If Purdue women's basketball is dragging on the court tomorrow it is because the ate at Rudolph's BBQ tonight. Needless to say such a large group being served impacted our service in a negative fashion.

Happy New Year!

Vote early, vote often.

Have not been writing much since I have signed up for Hollywood Video's MVP program that lets me borrow movies at a flat monthly rate. I have been getting caught up on my movie watching and then some... I have not seen anything that is life changing so I will not bore everyone with the details of the movies I have seen. It has been an enjoyable form of escapism from day to day life.

Work has been slow and I have been spending much of the day expanding my knowledge base (reading). I have even broke down to the point where I decided to start to read about lotus notes something I have been avoiding as I do not really care for the product. I am in need of a big project at the office that I can be passionate about.

As of this morning there is one less mole in my yard! :) Man can those little guys do a lot of damage.

Well I went to the great MN get together (state fair) yesterday. Did a lot of walking, people watching and ate the required greasy food meaning cheese curds and pronto pup. I did not really notice too much new this year: then again, I was not really looking for anything new. It was a little rainy which really sucked as I was not dressed for it but I made it through alive. My aging knees and feet are paying the price today for all that walking; perhaps walking more often would help mitigate that issue when I want to do these all day events. Something I walked through for the first time was the State Fair museum in Heritage village near the midway. It was fun to see all the old photos of the fair going back to the sometime in the 1800’s. They showed a picture of one of the early fairs when it was out at Fort Snelling.

I felt sorry for some of the people who came with their kids in wagons and bike or running strollers that are larger and more difficult to push around not to mention most of those where also filled to the brim with extra toys blanks and other must haves for the kids. I am sure they had a good day but with the crowds it is hard to move with such a large wheeled extra in the group and patience would be necessary on a scale I am not sure I could manage.

I must confess that it is amusing to observer what the current teen generation considers to be cool, hip, trendy. I would consider some of the things people wear to be a definite fashion risk at best. Not everyone can look like the current teen pop star no matter how much they want it.

The sun has finally made it to my house! If I wanted to live in a place that it is expected to rain all the time I would move there!

I have been neglecting my LJ so I will do a dump of some of the DVD's I have seen and neglected to comment on.

Mystic River. This movie moved a little too slow for me and I found much of it predictable. I don't think I will be watching it again anytime soon.

The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, well so much has already been said about this movie and I might have been the last person on the planet to see it. Very enjoyable and sure to be an epic that is watching by many for many years to come.

Paycheck: This was a fun movie to watch plenty of action and some good twists and turns. Worth the 3 bucks and the 2 hours time to watch.

Big Fish: Interesting story telling and stylist cinematography. I enjoyed this film but it is more of a "film" than a "movie"

Cheaper by the Dozen would not be my first choice, mildly entertaining and beat watching repeats on TV.

Gothika This was a thriller and who doesn't like Halle Berry. Quite a few twists and turns but over all a pretty average movie.

The Last Samurai: This movie received a lot of attention but I would have liked to see more of the cultural and philosophical aspects of a samurai. I guess it was a little too Hollywood mainstream to get those ticket sales. Still enjoyable.

Matrix Revolutions Lots of tech, lots of action. not much plot. Fun to watch if you enjoy action and want a movie with not much else. I didn't get sleepy or bored watching this movie and at times I do enjoy pure action movies.

Master and Commander: the Far Side of the World. This was a good period piece although I know nothing of the period to know how accurate it was I do know that it was enjoyable to watch. Had some good cannon battles that wake you up.

Mona Lisa Smile. This has become another in a long list of forgettable movies I have seen.

Scary Movie 3, stupid, campy, low budget movie we have some to expect after seeing others in this series. No surprises and it was what I expected.

School of rock. I enjoyed the music in this movie Jack Black was fun to watch and I believe he truly enjoyed himself making this movie and it showed. As for the plot is it is nothing really new.

Love Actually I am not a big fan of Romantic Comedies. Some funny scenes in this movie but not really my thing.

Watched Kill Bill Vol 1 this weekend. Lots of action gotta love Tarantino. Tons of action throughout the movie mixed with very stylistic filming. The ending was pretty lacking in my opinion and I am sure that is because the series should really be watched in a single sitting. I was disappointed that there was not much for extras on the DVD. It is one of the better movies I have seen of late.

I went to Bills Gun Shop for a gun show yesterday. They had many of the manufactures there and you could try their guns for free! All you had to do was purchase the ammo. I had a chance to shoot Sig's new GSR 1911 it is an excellent gun to shoot out of the box. I also shot a Springfield 1911 that shot well. This is a great opportunity to talk to the factory reps and try out some hardware if you are unsure what you want or want to shoot something outside your budget. :)

What a joke, most every time I go the new title I want is not available, some "Guarantee." At first I thought this was not a bad program if the title I wanted was not in I would get a rain check and pick something else up. Sometimes I would even get a couple of rain checks more than one title I wanted was not available. Then a while back they changed the rules, yeah the ones that are not published or written anywhere, so that you could only get one rain check per visit. I thought this was pretty roguish but I could almost understand their point that they do not want to give away so many free movies. From my point I found it extra irritating to have two of the titles I wanted that are "guaranteed to be in" not available. I guess they do not see it as disappointing me twice in one visit. Tonight was the final straw on the Guaranteed in Stock saga when I asked for a rain check for the movie I wanted I was told as long as we have it in at least one format we do not give rain checks. Huh, I don't do VHS anymore so this really sucks.. I can't help it their video buyer is an Idiot and can't count! I guess I should have never left my independent video store on started to frequent the big chain. On the up side when I start to go to the independent I will be able to get the unrated and directors cuts and not the sanitized version Hollywood video thinks I should be watching.

Today on the way to the office I got to experience how a single highway patrol car can impact traffic. On the way to work as I entered the freeway I notice a highway patrol cruiser behind me, the truly sad part was the entire open road in front of me I could not exploit to its full potential. After setting my cruise control to avoid making a donation to the state, I check my mirror for the cruiser, which was slowly creeping up on me and notice a large pack of cars all keeping pace and distance behind the cruiser giving me the feeling of being pace car at Indy. It was a strange sight to be sure.

Well, it looks like we have survived the first day of the bus strike and the world did not end. It is unfortunate that a majority of those that will be most impacted by the strike are those who can least afford to take the “hit.” The change in my life at this point is very minor, the biggest thing I notice are no busses blocking traffic when they stop to load and unload. For me this morning traffic did not seem much heavier than normal but the percentage of annoying and dumb drivers did seem greater than previous to the bus strike. I wonder if some gypsy cabs will start to pop up if the strike goes on long enough?