And Stuff Like That: Reloaded

Hippies & OCD: Bizarre Social Stereotypes OR Don't Be Afraid Because I'm Barefoot

2009-05-28T15:32:00.007-05:00

In case you didn't know from Facebook or Twitter, I have become quite fond of going barefoot. I'm not talking about just around the house or -- gasp! -- driving barefoot, but going out in public to businesses, retailers and other places without footwear. For more info as to why, see my previous blog post.

For me, one thing that keeps coming back to the fore when addressing the issue of going barefoot is the whole idea of foot protection. Someone usually says or asks one of three things.

"I don't go barefoot very much since I (somehow injured my foot) as a kid."
"But what if you step on a nail or some broken glass?"

Yes, that's only two things. Just a moment. To those, my reply is always this: "I stepped on a nail and got stung on the sole of my foot as a child. That isn't going to make me wear protective gloves for the rest of my life, though. The same goes for feet and shoes."

The other protection issue is diseases. "You never know what kind of diseases you could pick up off the floor into the bottom of your foot."

So then THAT got me thinking even more:

Each time some sort of flu outbreak makes the news, medical folks always say the same thing. I work in a hospital and they drive it into our minds almost every day. "Washing your hands," they say, "is the best way to prevent the spread of disease.

They DON'T say, "Wear gloves all the time."

But what if someone DID wear gloves all the time? Wouldn't that help prevent the spread of disease? After all, medical people do it all the time when they draw blood, perform surgeries or take part in any number of other medical procedures.

But that doesn't make sense, right? I mean, come on. What would happen if we saw someone walking around the mall or Walmart, touching everything with gloves on?

We'd say they have OCD.

Maybe they're just being extra careful and don't care what everybody else thinks.

What if they came up to us and asked, "Why aren't you wearing gloves?" "Aren't you afraid of getting diseases?" "What if something cuts your hand?"

Seems pretty silly doesn't it?

So like I said earlier, I like to go barefoot in public. I wonder what would happen if you saw me or another barefooter walking unshod around the mall or Walmart, touching everything with bare hands.

You might say we're hippies.

Maybe I'm trying to give the 52 bones and dozens of ligaments, tendons and muscles in my feet a chance to move the way they were intended. Maybe I don't want my feet to get sweaty confined in shoes. Maybe I like feeling the slight variations of temperature and texture on the ground below me.

Never mind the fact that I'm touching merchandise with my unwashed-since-this-morning hands. Now bare feet (that only touch the floor): that's gross!

So when we probably should wear gloves more often because of how many people don't wash their hands and more people should go barefoot because it's better for our feet, our society has somehow evolved our thinking to be completely opposite.

Do you know why we don't wear gloves all the time? Because we're not that worried.

Do you know why I don't wear shoes most of the time? Because I'm not that worried.

And you needn't be either. I wash my feet.

Barefoot Q&A

2009-05-20T10:38:00.011-05:00

As a person who prefers to go barefoot outside my home to many various public places, I'd like to go over some of the comments/questions that we "barefooters" often hear from those who are more comfortable shod. Hopefully this will clear up some misconceptions and help others understand why I, and many others, find great comfort in walking on the feet that the good Lord gave us.

Is this some kind of foot fetish thing?
Hah, no. In fact, while researching about bare feet and their benefits, I've found all kinds of interesting sites and videos about bare feet, dirty feet, foot fetishes, etc. that I really wouldn't want my kids to see. While I do find everything about women attractive, including their feet, there's nothing about feet that "turn me on" in a sexual way. This is about health and comfort. Read on for more.

Isn't it against health codes and/or illegal to go barefoot in public places?
Actually, no public agency has enacted any health or safety regulations that require customers to don footwear in public. Many retailers and other businesses certainly have the right to restrict unshod customers from conducting business and may even ask a barefooter to leave. In those situations, barefooters like myself must decide if we want to put on shoes or take our business elsewhere. You'll find that many times we choose the latter. For the record, food service workers and other various kinds of job categories are regulated by health agencies and OSHA and are often required to wear protective footwear for safety.

Okay, but it IS unhealthy to go barefoot in public places. There's all kinds of nasty things on the floor!
How so? Sure, your feet could get dirty, but dirt is only that. The idea that there are numerous diseases spread out all over the floors of businesses is unfounded at best. Even if there are, the likelihood of actually catching a disease from briefly stepping on one is low. As you continue to walk it'd be wiped off your sole very quickly, rendering little harm to you. Incidentally, many larger retailers like Wal-mart clean their floors thoroughly every day.

But let's look one step further at the issue of cleanliness. On any given day, how clean would you say someone's bare foot is compared to their shoe? Remember that most people wash their feet in the shower every day. How often do people wash their shoes or clean the soles of them? Additionally, I've got to believe that our hands are typically more "dirty" than our bare feet that haven't been inside shoes. Think about it: after walking around barefoot in a retailer like Wal-mart, the bottoms of my feet may have collected a fair amount of dirt on them. Otherwise, what else could have made them unclean? On the flip side, how many people before you have touched the handle on the freezer door? How many employees and customers have touched the hanger of that dress you're admiring? How clean were their hands when they did it?

Aren't you concerned about diseases?
No, I'm not overly concerned about getting my feet dirty or even stepping on floors that have microparticles of who knows what. I figure I'm just as likely to get a disease from the floor through the soles of my feet as I am from a toilet seat through the skin of my rear end. I am only slightly more concerned about who all has touched the shopping cart handle before me and if the milk I'm buying is within its proper sell date. Our bodies are made to learn how to resist bad things, and that applies from head to toe. All things considered, what my toes are walking on is the least of my worries.

What about sharp objects? What if you step on some broken glass, a nail, tack or something similar?
This question gets asked a lot, and the fact of the matter is that there's not nearly as many of these hazards as people would like to believe. For the ground to regularly be such a risk to walk on, people would literally have to break glass objects all the time all over the place, drop lots of nails and lose a lot of thumb tacks.

So what if I were actually to step on one of these? First, a piece of glass would likely be fairly small if not cleaned up after an accident. From personal experience stepping on lots of rocks, I can tell you that our feet are pretty tough. They're also very good at instantaneously compensating for sharp pressures on the soles. A piece of glass, if stepped on, would likely be compensated for by the feet and not penetrate the skin. As for a nail, most nails do not lay point up. The same sort of compensation would occur with them. If a nail was face up and did penetrate the skin, my tetanus booster is up to date. Such a piercing wound would hurt, but it would also heal pretty quickly and could be safely covered. Tacks? They're just smaller, shorter nails.

I should note that when I was a kid, I once stepped on a nail at home that pierced my feet and a bee stung the bottom of my foot at the pool. Both hurt, but I recovered.

I would think businesses would often not allow barefooters due to liability reasons. What if you get hurt and sue?
First, I would only sue if the business was so negligent that, barefoot or shod, I would have been injured anyway. Secondly, most barefooters agree that bringing suit against a business for injuries sustained as a result of being barefoot would get that suit thrown out of court. When I go barefoot, I realize that I take on some risks, and those are risks I'm willing to take.

All that said, it just seems like our bare feet are just so vulnerable without footwear.
And I would argue that's because we've pushed aside our sensation and awareness by wrapping our feet in shoes all the time. Why bother caring what's going on around your body at floor level if you have those man-made barriers in place? Our bare feet are really only slightly more vulnerable than our hands without gloves on. Sure, we are a lot more likely to stub our toes than jam our fingers, but once you begin going barefoot enough, you become more and more aware of your surroundings. You subconsciously survey the walking surfaces ahead of and around you for potential danger. As mentioned before, your feet instantly compensate for sharp objects underfoot, rendering them harmless. In the end, going barefoot makes you operate just as finely with your feet as with your hands. Sure, accidents and injuries happen. But just like I wouldn't start wearing gloves all the time because I cut my finger, I don't have to wear shoes all the time because I stepped on a nail as a child. You deal with such things and move on. The benefits outweigh the concerns by a large ratio.

I hope you don't drive barefoot. That's illegal, you know.
Actually, it's not in any of the 50 United States, unless you drive a motorcycle in Alabama. Then it's illegal. All that said, many public safety agencies will recommend that you wear footwear for "safety" purposes. I suppose that in an accident my foot would be somewhat more protected if wearing shoes, but that's a risk I'm willing to take.

But don't you have less less control/force on the pedals barefoot?
I feel more confident pressing on the pedals with bare feet than any other way. Flip flops feel too flimsy and slide around. Shoes don't allow me to use all of the muscles in my feet to sense the pedals and depress them as efficiently. Barefoot driving is the way to go!

Going barefoot too long isn't good for our bodies. It can mess up your back and cause your arches to fall.
Hah! So you're saying that the very feet we were born with are bad for us? I will tell you that I've read numerous stories of people who had back problems disappear after kicking off their prescription shoes and orthotic inserts to go barefoot.

Let's remember here that God made our feet to work a certain way. If you don't subscribe to theism, one could argue that our feet have evolved for millions of years to be the way they are. It's been only in the last few hundred years that we've bound them up in shoes. Looking at the entire history of humanity, shoes are not the norm.

You see, our feet are designed not only to connect ourselves to the world beneath us, but to act as our very first shock absorbers. From what I understand, there are 26 bones in each of our feet and a total of 206 bones in entire human body. That means 25% of our bones are below our ankles! Not only that, but there are 33 joints and more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments in each foot. They are made to move, shift and bend. Our arches don't need to be held up by shoes because they're designed to be held up by our own strong feet.

But most of the time our feet are not that strong. Each day millions of people wrap their feet in shoes that are inflexible and confining. It's like putting casts on our feet each morning. What's more, those shoes are often thick around the soles, causing us to rely on the shoes' cushioning to dampen our steps. All of this weakens our feet and throws off our gait.

Almost anyone will agree that babies learning to walk should learn barefooted. "It helps their feet develop," you might say. "They can balance better that way," one might continue. I agree. What I don't understand is why so many people think that those same principles wouldn't work for adults. Go barefoot! You were born that way for a reason!

Now, there is one caveat to this: I have read that diabetics must be very careful about going barefoot due to poor circulation in their feet. Many of them don't have good sensation in the soles of their feet due to this and can injure their feet by stepping on something dangerous that they can't feel. If you are diabetic and have circulation problems in your feet, consult with your doctor about whether it's wise to go barefoot.

Well, you may have a lot of answers, but I don't care what you say. Bare feet are just unsanitary and gross!
First of all, I'm sorry that you feel that way. Hopefully I can put your mind at ease about some concerns about how sanitary our bare feet really are, or can be.

The first thing you have to ask yourself, though, is why do you think bare feet are gross? Is it because they are often sweaty? The irony here is that feet are usually sweaty because of shoes. If left to their own devices, bare feet sweat no more than bare hands. Confined in shoes, feet are unable to ventilate and become overly warm. As a reaction, feet sweat causing a moist, warm environment for your feet (and other interesting things) to fester. Unshod, feet can breathe and stay cool enough to sweat far less. It removes an environment capable of growing nasty things like athlete's foot and the like. So what if your feet get dirty. They can be washed.

One question I have for those who think bare feet are gross is, "Are bare feet more gross than those wearing flip flops? If so, why?"

But Michael, even Jesus wore sandals.
Even if you want to argue that, I would retort that times were different back then. Sewage ran through gutters alongside the streets. Diseases and illnesses were far more prevalent. Even the surfaces on which those people walked were more littered with debris, animal feces and other really gross stuff.

If you think about it, bare feet have it made here in the 21st century! We have modern infrastructure to eliminate our waste, our streets and sidwalks are fairly free of debris, and our homes and businesses have high-quality flooring (compared to days of old).

What's more, there really is no better feeling that walking through a grassy lawn barefoot. If you give it a chance and take a moment to really feel the earth beneath you, you begin to feel connected to all of nature. You begin to feel like a part of the earth instead of a being living on it. It's even such a stress reliever. I've found it hard to be upset when I'm barefoot. When I do get upset, usually with the kids, it is always lesser than I would be wearing shoes.

Okay, fine, maybe feet aren't gross. But going barefoot in public just isn't proper. It's uncivilized and makes you look like a poor hippie.
Well, I can't say that I have the pot, cut-off clothing, dreadlocks or other stereotypes to qualify as a "hippie," but if that's what you think, so be it. Just consider this: Do you feel it isn't proper for women to wear anything but a skirt? Do you feel that black people should go to separate schools? How about children being "seen but not heard?"

Our society has blown away so many stereotypes of what's "proper" or "civilized" and have come to embrace our humanity more and more each time. I see bare feet in the same way. Okay, so maybe there's a lot of people that think it's improper to go barefoot in public. It just makes me want to open their minds to other possibilities, not change who I want to be.

And back to the hippie thing: Which would you prefer in a public place with your family? A well-groomed young man with nicely-cut hair and clean contemporary clothing walking barefoot OR an un-groomed young man with tattered, dirty and holey clothing who smells like he hasn't showered in weeks but has nasty old shoes on? Which person is "healthier?" Which person is more "appropriately" groomed to be in public? This isn't a judgment call on how good each person is, but our perception of what's appropriate in public places.

I welcome whatever other questions/comments you have.

Barefoot in Public? You're Grounded!

2009-05-08T00:31:00.008-05:00

Spring has sprung, the grass is green and flowers are budding! If you've paid any attention to my status updates the last couple of weeks, you've seen me make mention several times to going barefoot. I thought I'd take just a moment to explain myself a bit more and share why I am becoming a bigger fan of "barefooting."

We all have had moments of our feet hurting after a long day at work, walking around Santa-Cali-Gon Days or another activity where our feet are used a lot. When we finally get to kick off our shoes, we curl up our toes and stretch our ankles. What a relaxing feeling, right?

Over the past few years, I've become increasingly interested in having those relaxing, free feelings in my feet. The more that I wear shoes, the more my feet feel confined in them. I have begun to notice the little pressure points that eventually leave red marks on my toes or the top of my feet. It's not fun.

On the flip side, I've discovered how amazing it can be to go barefoot beyond the confines of my own home. When I go barefoot, I feel more connected to every environment in which I am.

The ground beneath our feet feels amazing, friends. Different kinds of carpet have different textures. The concrete and asphalt outside can feel different temperatures depending on where the sun is shining and where it is shaded. Even the pedals in my car have texture to them and I find that I can feel the vibrations of the road and tiny minutiae of the car's operation.

What's more, my feet have enjoyed being free of unwelcome pressure points and from being essentially locked in limited positions while inside shoes.

Try this: If you are wearing shoes, take one off and any sock you may be wearing on that foot. Now move your ankle, foot and toes around. Really get a sense for how your foot can curl and move. Try the same exercise with your shod foot. How much can you move your toes around? What range of motion do you have with your ankle? See what I mean?

I've done a bunch of researching in the last couple of years about the benefits of going barefoot and how unnatural it is for our feet to be trapped inside of shoes. Through this research and reading (linked later) I've found that going barefoot is a good thing!

All of that said, I know what you're thinking.

There's all kinds of reasons we have developed as a society as to why we feel it's necessary and socially appropriate to wear some kind of footwear, especially in public. I assert that it only takes a moment of reflection to begin shedding ideas about bare feet and the necessity to wear shoes in our society.

Consider the following questions:

Why do many people feel that feet are gross?
From what does footwear protect our feet?
What are the differences between how our hands touch the world and how our feet touch the world?
At any given moment, how "clean" are the soles and insides of the shoes you're wearing?

I understand that many people think only "hippies" and southerners go barefoot all the time. I get it that many people feel that going barefoot is gross. And I'm definitely not stupid. I realize that there are situations in which we are placed that shoes are necessary.

It's just that I've come to the realization that feet are NOT gross if taken care of. What's more, there's really very little from which we need to protect our feet with footwear. And when I read the research that going barefoot is better for our bodies than shoes, I'm pretty much sold.

But what really drives it home for me is how being barefoot feels. If you give yourself a chance to do it long enough, you'll find it starting to feel "right" and natural. As time goes on I have become a little more bold with my own comfort level.

If, even now, all of this is hogwash to you and you think I've lost my frikkin' mind, so be it. If you are intrigued, I DO NOT think you should throw off all footwear and go shopping barefoot at the mall to start.

My challenge to you is this: Try going barefoot one "step" more than you're used to. I know someone that doesn't even like to walk around without socks on. To that person or others I say, "take off those socks and walk around your house barefoot!" If you'll go barefoot in your home, walk around outside. Feel the texture of the concrete vs. the grass. Sense the difference in temperature between sunlight and shade. If you go out shopping wearing flip flops, try kicking them off for a little while. If you drive while wearing your flip flops, take them off and drive barefoot (It's not illegal, contrary to popular belief).

The links below offer up a lot of answers to questions you might have and give a lot of good information about safety and health concerns of barefooting.

The Society for Barefoot Living
http://www.barefooters.org/
These people are HARDCORE. While I'm not necessarily to the place they are, their site provides a lot of good information about health, safety and legal concerns.

Living Barefoot
http://www.livingbarefoot.info/
While not as hardcore, this site offers a lot of good information as well. In addition, it lists a number of footwear alternatives to give you that barefoot feel without many of the typical concerns.

"You Walk Wrong," New York Magazine, April 21, 2008
http://nymag.com/health/features/46213/
A GREAT article addressing the problems with modern footwear and explaining why it's so good to go barefoot. It's a bit New York-centric, but still good info.

"The Definitive Guide for Going Barefoot," Real World Strength Training
http://johnsifferman.com/blog/the-definitive-guide-for-going-barefoot/
A good, simple article about the benefits of running barefoot. It includes one researcher's video that shows side-by-side comparisons of the mechanics of barefoot running versus shod running.

So there you have it...for now. This was pretty wordy and it didn't address nearly all of my thoughts on going barefoot. But expect to see my bare feet more often. I hope to see yours too.

I welcome your comments and/or questions.

Programming Note

2007-10-26T10:45:00.000-05:00

All future updates about Katherine will now be posted at her blog:

KatherineTiona.Blogspot.com

Apartment Dweller

2007-10-26T09:07:00.000-05:00

Hey again, friends,

It's day 3 of being in this world and it's been kind of difficult for a little body like mine to keep up with everything. Life inside mommy's tummy was a LOT less stressful!

So here's how things are going: The mean nurses moved me into my own little studio apartment. It's a lot quieter in here and they say it helps them to keep me warm.

My temperature's all well and good, but apparently I'm just not feeding enough, so they've put this icky tube in my nose that goes all the way to my stomach. That was rough on Mommy and Daddy to learn that, but in the end it's going to help me get back up to the weight they want me to be.

The doctor told Mommy and Daddy that I will probably be here at the hospital for two to three more weeks. Sigh. I'd really like to go home, but I guess that this is best for me right now. Whenever I can keep my weight up and stay warm then I guess they'll let me blow this popsicle stand.

Thanks so much to everybody that's sent good wishes and congratulations. Mommy and Daddy said they're so grateful for everything.

We'd all like to ask that you keep praying that I get bigger and stronger as quickly as possible so I can get this stupid tube out of my nose, leave this apartment and go home.

Love,
Katherine

Now pictures from Thursday!

I like to strike poses for the camera.

Big brother Benjamin checks out my studio apartment.

Bear watches over me while I rest.

I like this picture of Mommy and Benjamin!

An Open Letter from Katherine Tiona

2007-10-24T22:01:00.000-05:00

Dear Friends,

Through the miracle of modern technology -- in this case Blogger -- Daddy said he'd pass along this note and a few pictures from me.

I'm doing pretty well and spend a lot of time under the warmer in the nursery. Sometimes the mean nurse lady tries to wake me up so I can "feed" or something, but I'm usually SO TIRED! They get me awake long enough to eat some, but then I just drift back to sleep again. That's okay, though, 'cause I'm getting a little better at feeding every time I try it.

Mommy will be officially released from the hospital on something called "Thursday," but will be "board" staying in the same room while I stick around here and get stronger.

The mean nurse lady says that I have to do that feeding thing really well, stay warm on my own, and keep a lot of sugar in me -- though I don't think that means I can eat candy bars all the time -- before I can go home. I'll work on that, because I'd much prefer to snuggle with Mommy and Daddy at home than lie in this warmer most of the time. They won't even let me go to Mommy's room to hang out and watch cable TV. Nuts!

I need to mention this brown-haired boy who's my new big brother. He's cool! He and I had a little chat the morning after I was born (see the attached picture). Well, he did most of the talking, but I like hearing his voice. Here's the best part: He gave me this really cute white teddy bear with pink dots all over it as a present for me being born. Isn't that sweet?! The bear sits in my warmer with me and keeps me company.

So that's it for now. Check out the pictures of Daddy holding me at about 15 hours old. I liked having him hold me. I just looked around and stuck my tongue out at him sometimes. :-) Anyway, Mommy and Daddy love me so much. It's awesome!

Well, bye for now,
Katherine

Isn't She Lovely...

2007-10-24T21:56:00.001-05:00

We have a baby girl!

Katherine Tiona was born Tuesday, October 23, at 10:34 p.m. She was 5 pounds, 6 ounces and 18 inches long. Although she was born at 34 weeks, 2 days -- just shy of 6 weeks early -- she's doing really well and her lungs are great!

In case you're wondering, Tiona is Tahitian for "Zion."

Baby Ticker

2007-10-22T07:31:00.002-05:00

After 7 1/2 months of pregnancy, a few trips to the hospital for (really bad) false labor contractions, and a period of bed rest (in progress), our little girl is getting closer to making her way into the world! More later.

10 Things I Hate About Star Trek

2007-07-22T15:35:00.000-05:00

From here. Seth, you'll get a kick out of this. :-)

10. Noisy doors.
You can't walk three feet in a starship without some door whooshing or screeching at you. My office building has automatic sliding doors. They're dead silent. If those doors went "wheet!" every time a person walked through them, about once a month some guy in accounting would snap and go on a shooting rampage. Sorry Scotty, the IEEE has revoked your membership until you learn to master WD-40

9. The Federation.
This organization creeps me out. A planet-wide government that runs everything, and that has abolished money. A veritable planetary DMV. Oh sure, it looks like a cool place when you're rocketing around in a Federation Starship, but I wonder how the guy driving a Federation dump truck feels about it?

And everyone has to wear those spandex uniforms. Here's an important fact: Most people, you don't want to see them in spandex. You'd pay good money to not have to see them. If money hadn't been abolished, that is. So you're screwed.

8. Reversing the Polarity.
For cripes sake Giordi, stop reversing the polarity of everything! It might work once in a while, but usually it just screws things up. I have it on good authority that the technicians at Starbase 12 HATE that. Every time the Enterprise comes in for its 10,000 hour checkup, they've gotta go through the whole damned ship fixing stuff. "What happened to the toilet in Stateroom 3?" "Well, the plumbing backed up, and Giordi thought he could fix it by reversing the polarity."

Between Scotty's poor lubrication habits and Geordi's damned polarity reversing trick, it's a wonder the Enterprise doesn't just spontaneously explode whenever they put the juice to it.

7. Seatbelts.
Yeah, I know this one is overdone, but you'd think that the first time an explosion caused the guy at the nav station to fly over the captain's head with a good 8 feet of clearance, someone would say, "You know, we might think of inventing some furutistic restraining device to prevent that from happening." So of course, they did make something like that for the second Enterprise (the first one blew up due to poor lubrication), but what was it? A hard plastic thing that's locked over your thighs. Oh, I'll bet THAT feels good in the corners. "Hey look! The leg-bars worked as advertised! There goes Kirk's torso!"

6. No fuses.
Every time there's a power surge on the Enterprise the various stations and consoles explode in a shower of sparks and throw their seatbelt-less operators over Picard's head. If we could get Giordi to stop reversing the polarity for a minute, we could get him to go shopping at the nearest Starship parts store and pick up a few fuses. And while he's shopping, he could stop at an intergalactic IKEA and pick up a few chairs for the bridge personnel. If you're going to put me in front of a fuseless exploding console all day, the least you could do is let me sit down.

5. Rule by committee.
Here's the difference between Star Trek and the best SF show on TV last year:

Star Trek:

Picard: "Arm photon torpedoes!"
Riker: "Captain! Are you sure that's wise?"
Troi: "Captain! I'm picking up conflicting feelings about this! And, it appears that you're a 'fraidy cat."
Wesley: "Captain, I'm just an annoying punk, but I thought I should say something."
Worf: "Captain, can I push the button? This is giving me a big Klingon warrior chubby."
Giordi: "Captain, I think we should reverse the polarity on them first."
Picard: "I'm so confused. I'm going to go to my stateroom and look
pensive."

Firefly:

Captain: "Let's shoot them."
Crewman: "Are you sure that's wise?"
Captain: "Do you know what the chain of command is? It's the chain I'll BEAT YOU WITH until you realize who's in command."
Crewman: "Aye Aye, sir!"

4. A Star Trek quiz:
Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and 'Ensign Gomez' beam down to a planet. Which one isn't coming back?

3. Technobabble.
The other night, I couldn't get my car to start. I solved the problem by reversing the polarity of the car battery, and routing the power through my satellite dish. The resulting subspace plasma caused a rift in the space-time continuum, which created a quantum tunnelling effect that charged the protons in the engine core, thus starting my car. Child's play, really. As a happy side-effect, I also now get the Spice Channel for free.

2. The Holodeck.
I mean, it's cool and all. But do you really believe that people would use it to re-create Sherlock Holmes mysteries and old-west saloons? Come on, we all know what the holodeck would be used for. And we also know what the worst job on the Enterprise would be: Having to squeegie the holodeck clean.

1. The Prime Directive.
How stupid is this? Remember when Marvin the Martian was going to blow up the Earth, because it obstructed his view of Venus? And how Bugs Bunny stopped him by stealing the Illudium Q36 Space Modulator? Well, in the Star Trek universe, Bugs would be doing time. Probably in a room filled with Roseanne lookalikes wearing spandex uniforms, walking through doors going WHEET! all day. It would be heck. At least until the Kaboom. The Earth-shattering Kaboom.

Sounds like there was a lawsuit somewhere...

2007-06-17T23:37:00.000-05:00

Below are ACTUAL instructions from our recent Farberware 12" skillet wedding present. Note that the following are the very first instructions after the obligatory "Thank you for choosing our cookware.....These instructions are for your general safety....blah blah."

"Safety: Keep small children away from the stove while you are cooking. Be careful around the stove as heat, steam and splatter can cause burns. Fumes from everyday cooking can be harmful to your bird, particularly smoke from burning foods. Overheating cooking sprays, oils, fats, margarine and butter may create dangerous fumes which a bird's respiratory system cannot handle. Scorched plastic handles or utensils can also contaminate the air and endanger birds. Nonstick cookware with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) coating can also emit fumes harmful to birds."

I tought I taw a teflon pan -- aghch! RIP Tweety.

Wiggle It, Just a Little Bit...POP!

2007-05-29T22:40:00.000-05:00

Glenda and I have experienced a first together as parents: A lost tooth. Yep. Benjamin lost his first tooth Monday and it was something that neither Glenda nor I had ever done with him before.

She's been with him through numerous illnesses, accomplishments, and oddities. But not a lost tooth until now. We both got to experience it with him for the first time...together. It was great.

And Benjamin now has a hole in his face.

By the way, the going rate for a tooth nowadays is $1.

Be Original!

2007-05-10T07:29:00.000-05:00

Here's a little pet peeve of mine:

I think it's corny when the media or event planners adapt the name of some previous event to show how big of a deal the new thing is supposed to be.

For example, adapting the name of the Watergate scandal to something today like Libbygate.

Other examples include adaptations of Lollapalooza (like Ya'llapalooza), Woodstock (Swampstock), etc.

It's dumb. Don't do it.

Another Fun Survey About Me

2007-05-02T11:23:00.000-05:00

Childhood
1. What’s the earliest toy that you remember playing with? Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars
2. Did you sleep with anything special? Not that I recall.
3. What’s a strange commercial from your childhood? The classic "Where's the Beef?" Wendy's commercials.
4. What was your first favorite song as a little kid? "Jesus Loves the Little Children"
5. What was your favorite food? Kraft Mac and Cheese
6. What did your mom feed you most of the time? An all natural peanut butter and honey sandwich EVERY DAY. She believes it kept me from getting sick.
7. When you were little, what was your dad’s job? Accountant for a school district
8. What was your mom’s job? She owned her own floral business.
9. During your 12 (or whatever) years of school, how many schools did you go to? 4: elementary, gifted program, junior high, high school.
10. Name of your first pet? Tawny

Random
11. What did you have for breakfast today? Toasted english muffin with butter and strawberry "fruit spread"
12. What’s something about you that even your friends don’t know? I think it would be cool to be a dancer. Just not a male ballerina.
13. Why did you buy the brand of shampoo you’re using right now? My hair stylist recommended it.
14. What would be the perfect kind of place for you to live (city, beach, the mountains, etc.)? On the shore of a large lake somewhere in the south in a not-so-big town.
15. How many colleges have you attended? Only one.
16. What is/was your favorite subject(s)? Ethics and Philosophy were pretty cool.
17. What was your first job? Working at a mall toy store.
18. Neat freak or slob? More slob than neat freak -- but I know where everything is!
19. Baths or showers? Showers
20. Sweet or salty snacks? Depends on my mood, but I like both.
21. What’s your bedtime “routine”? Change into PJs, brush teeth, go pee, wash hands, put on hand lotion, plug in cell phone and set alarms, take multivitamin, put on chap stick, turn off light, get in bed, kiss wife goodnight, sleep.
22. Have you met any of your neighbors? Some of them
23. What do you collect? I don't try to, but I collect tons of paper things (bills, postits, kid's work, etc.) that really need to be better sorted or thrown away.
24. How easy would it be to part with your collection(s)? If I took the time it would be pretty easy to throw a lot of that stuff away.

Ever been . . .
25. In a flood? No
26. In a fire? No
27. In a hurricane? No
28. In a tornado? No
29. In an earthquake? No

30. On a ship? Does a speedboat count?
31. On a plane? Yes
32. On a motorcycle? Yes
33. On skates? Yes

34. In a fire station? Yes
35. In an ambulance? Yes, but not as a patient.
36. In a real deli? No
37. In a subway/underground? Both subway and cave.

Just Your Opinion
38. SUVs - Good for outdoorsy, off-road stuff. Most people don't need them.
39. Classical music - Relaxing, but I don't listen to it regularly.
40. Baseball - America's pastime! MLB players make way too much for how little work they actually do.
41. Snakes - Intriguing
42. Frozen pizza - Hard. Tastes better cooked.
43. Neckties - Snazzy and no longer uncomfortable since I have to wear one pretty regularly to work.

Favorites
44. Candy? Hersheys Nuggets with Peanut Butter
45. Appliance? Toaster
46. Favorite beverage? Sweet Lipton sun tea.
47. Season? Spring
48. Video game? I won't list a specific one, but I'm partial to driving games.
49. Person? My wife Glenda.
50. Novel by Charles Dickens? A Christmas Carol

Little News

2007-04-26T07:56:00.001-05:00

Things have been busy. A lot is going on and even more will be taking place in the months to come.

Why?

We're going to have a baby! Yeah, yeah, we didn't wait long. After we got married we didn't actively try to get pregnant but we didn't try that hard to NOT get pregnant. We figured God would give us a baby when He was good and ready -- and I guess He was! Glenda's due right about December 1, 2007.

We're excited. Benjamin is looking forward to being a big brother. We need a mini van.

Smiles.

Hindsight.

2007-04-17T07:45:00.000-05:00

Today is a pretty significant day. Sure, it's "tax day" this year, but that's not what I'm talking about. This is an anniversary of the beginning of two big relationships in my life.

Four years ago today my friend Cara and I had our first email exchange that led to the friendship we have today. It was one of those things where we just "clicked" and became friends. It's funny that the best friendships I have never seemed like they required any work. They just happened.

Cara was the secretary for the Electronic Media folks at the Community of Christ Church and e-mailed me on April 17, 2003 to ask what to do with my pay stub for work I'd done there. One thing led to another and we're good buddies now. For quite a while we talked on the phone every day ate lunch once a week to catch up on stuff. Good times. Cara, you're a blessing.

Another big anniversary started one year ago in a fast food restaurant. I had been driving randomly down M-291 highway here in Independence searching for a place to eat. I ended up going to Wendy's there and saw my future in-laws and son. Glenn, Sally, and Benjamin were dining there and I stopped to talk to them when I was leaving. Benjamin introduced himself to me and seemed like such a great little kid. He was outgoing, friendly, and so full of cheer. Glenn and Sally gave me an update on how their daughter and my old friend Glenda was doing. I gave Glenn another of my business cards -- he'd received one a while back but washed it in the laundry -- and then said goodbye and left.

That evening my relationship with Glenda sparked again and would eventually become our marriage. She called me to say hello, and after a brief "what have you been up to?" exchange, we ended the call with the intent of contacting each other again sometime. That sometime didn't come until more than a month later, but it DID happen. What I find interesting is the blog entry I wrote that night with the subject line, "A Lot To Look Forward To.":

Today was a good day. After more than a year of work and hope and stress, the City Council approved our purchase of a new routing switcher and related equipment for my job. We're talking almost $200,000 worth of equipment and related stuff. This will allow our video productions to go "to the next level," and basically set us up for proper expansion and upgrades in the future. It feels good to have had a hand in such a big project, especially knowing that the equipment is going to improve our jobs so much.

I also got in contact with an old friend again today. Glenda used to be a classmate and really good friend of mine in grade school and junior high. Unfortunately, our lives eventually took us in different directions and we fell out of touch. Well today at lunch I saw her parents again. After a nice chat I left my business card with them to give to her and she called me tonight while I was headed home from work. It was good to hear her voice again and it'll be nice to catch up with her as time goes on.

My, oh my, did we catch up. A year later we're married and very happy. We feel much more purpose and direction for our lives. God has truly blessed us.

Smiles.

Free or Offensive?

2007-04-11T08:01:00.000-05:00

I've got to say that I'm pretty concerned about a trend that is becoming worse and worse in this country: A lockdown on offensive free speech.

It now appears that free speech no longer applies if you offend someone publicly. In that case you should lose your job and be publicly chastised for being racist, sexist, homophobic or any other kind of bigot. Oh, and don't bother apologizing because it won't matter to the offended. They'll want your head on a silver platter, but since that's not entirely legal they'll go for your paycheck and reputation instead.

Now I don't want to come across as someone who agrees with the offensive things that are said. They're usually in poor taste, tactless, and indeed offensive. But, by golly, they have a right to say it in our country! The First Amendment of the Constitution guarantees their right to say what they want to say.

Who are we to begin slowly and unofficially putting limits on our Constitution? Who are we to say to someone else that their speech should be limited just because it's offensive? Free speech is too important, even if it means that it allows something we don't like or makes us feel uncomfortable. No matter how poor the taste of the speech and how "wrong" it is, we shouldn't start limiting our Constitution.

What we really need to do in correlation with promoting free speech is practice forgiveness. Jesus Christ told us to forgive "seventy times seven" (Matthew 18:21-22). Along with forgiving someone for saying something offensive we need to reach out to those people to show them who we really are or how things really ought to be. I would think that firing the guy is too easy of a way out. It really doesn't make anyone involved feel that much better anyway.

5 Guys in a Limo

2007-04-05T07:23:00.000-05:00

In a world where movie trailers need voice-overs, these guys are kings....

What Do You Call a Male Ballerina? Gay.

2007-03-22T13:47:00.000-05:00

At work we've got a satellite feed of Classic Arts Showcase, a 24-hour service that shows different performances of the arts. Every once and a while they show a ballet routine. A lot of those routines have dudes...in tights...leaping.

I'm sorry but male ballerinas -- or whatever they're called -- are just wrong. While I could see a woman doing pretty much anything a man can do, including construction or firefighting, the same doesn't apply for guys. Men should not prance about like that. It's just weird.

So saith me. :-)

p.s. Then again, maybe some guys get into it just to be around hot, skinny women all the time. :-\

The First Week of the Rest of My Life.

2007-03-10T15:35:00.000-06:00

Married life is grand! I have to say that I feel like I really fit well into being a married man. I love helping my wife out with things around the house (that she had to do before). I love hanging out with our son together and having all the fun that that entails. Without getting to long-winded, I'm enjoying married life so far.

See wedding pictures at our wedding blog, "For as Long as We Both Shall Live."

We're still working on getting things settled in our new apartment. It's a slow, but steady process. We'll have a telephone line set up the middle of this week and our DSL will be installed sometime before the 21st. Yikes! I'm typing this on a computer not in our apartment, obviously.

I really feel good about all this. It's amazing how far my life has come in less than a year. Almost exactly a year ago today I was moving out of my brother and sister-in-law's house because they were pregnant and needed my bedroom for a nursery. I was moving back into my parents house with a feeling of failure bubbling up inside of me. Life sucked a year ago.

But look at me now: Married with a little boy...and happy. :-)

Get Me To the Church on Time.

2007-03-02T08:30:00.000-06:00

This is my final blog entry as a single guy. This evening I will marry Glenda Jean Dunlap in a small, simple ceremony while surrounded by family.

Single life was...interesting. I always knew that there was so much more to life by having a companion, but I'd never known what that meant before Glenda.

Though I didn't date around that much, I learned a lot from dating who I did. I wouldn't say that I learned a lot about what I want in a companion -- after all, I didn't know what I needed or wanted until I gave up what I thought I needed and wanted. Instead, I learned more about myself. I learned how to act in various different situations. I learned about my flaws, because a couple of times they were thrown back in my face as an excuse to break up.

Above all else, I learned to be patient and trust God's timing. That was REALLY difficult. If you go back and read my previous blog entries, you'll read a lot of impatient thoughts. You'll see a picture of a guy that thought he knew what's better for him than his creator does.

At this point, I need to give a shout out to my friend Seth. Man, you gave me the best advice that I could have possibly received, and it came at just the right time. A little less than a year ago, you and I sat in Denny's on 291 and talked about my romantic future. You told me that I need to give up this notion of knowing what I want for myself and just let life happen. You encouraged me to give the next lady a chance and to not be so quick to get out if it seems like things aren't "clicking." That invaluable advice saved me from giving up on Glenda. That sound advice helped me to finally let go of the intoxicating infatuation I had for someone else for so long. Thank you, Seth.

This is my final blog entry as a single guy.

Tonight I will become a married man.

I'm ready.

Benjamin's Tough Break

2007-02-22T08:38:00.000-06:00

Our son Benjamin broke both bones in his left forearm Wednesday evening.

He and Glenda were over at my house having dinner, and Benjamin had gone back and forth from my room a couple of times to get Puffs Plus for his stuffy nose. The last time, he started running back to the kitchen, tripped on an ethernet cord I had running across the doorway on the floor and fell into the hallway wall. The force of the fall completely snapped both bones with such strength that his forearm became bent out of alignment and was noticeably misshapen. We heard the thump of him falling and he immediately started crying and yelled, "my arm!" As soon as he said that I knew something was wrong. I got to him, saw and felt it, and immediately told Glenda and Dad, "his arm is broken." That was at about 5:50 p.m.

At first we took him to the urgent care clinic at his doctor's office where we waited for quite a while. Once the doctors (finally) saw him, they realized how badly the arm was broken and did their best to splint it before having us go down to Children's Mercy hospital. They even took some pictures to show to medical students. The clinic staff were also able to give Benjamin some pain killers and called ahead for us to put the pediatric orthopedist on notice that we were coming to Mercy. On the way to the hospital Benjamin fell asleep in the car.

Amazingly enough, things went pretty smoothly at Children's Mercy. When Benjamin woke up he was in much better spirits. The pain had apparently subsided to the point that he wanted to go over to the little table in the waiting room to color with the other kids. We told him that wasn't the best idea. At one point the orthopedist came out and confirmed with us that the arm was misshapen, and he said that he was going to get things hurried along.

Once we got into the triage room -- where they do the initial vitals and check the seriousness of an injury -- we were quickly moved through to get Benjamin taken care of. The triage nurse said that the E.R. staff wanted to see him "right now." We got taken for X-rays and then to room "Ortho 2" where we spent the rest of the night.

They got him an I.V. line, told us what they were going to do and then proceeded to fix his arm. Because of the nature of his break, they had to essentially knock him out to put it back into place. The stuff they gave him made his eyes glaze over and he fell into his own little dream world. They had us leave when they were doing the actual work and we took the time then to update family on what was taking place. About 30 minutes later he was done getting fixed and we went back in to see him. While the meds were wearing off he had double vision for a bit. We had to stay in the room for quite a while during his recovery period.

We ended up leaving the hospital shortly after 11:30 p.m. After a brief run to a 24-hour pharmacy for his pain meds and picking up Glenda's car, we took our baby home.

He's with his grandma and grandpa today. Glenda and I both needed to go to work today, so it's been a bit tough. He'll be fine though. In six weeks he should get the cast off and be pretty much back to his normal self.

Benjamin is quite the trooper. I figured seeing his arm misshapen like it was would have made him completely FLIP OUT, but he did really well the whole time. Sure, it hurt. Sure, he cried. But all in all he was awesome. I love my son. :-)

I'm kind of kicking myself for not taping that cable down in the first place. There's a lot of "what ifs" in this situation, but Glenda reminds me that it could have happened at her apartment with one of his toys on the floor. I'm honestly not being too hard on myself, but I look at that (now taped-down) cable across the floor and know that my son is in a full arm cast for six weeks because of that. It stings just a bit, you know?

But hey, that's life. We are just grateful that he only hurt his arm and didn't hit is head or break his neck. We're grateful that we have a support system of family and friends to uplift us and pray for a speedy recovery. I'm personally thankful that I have Glenda and Benjamin in my life, even if it means that he ended up tripping over a cord at my house and breaking his arm. He has a dad now and I have a son, and that's pretty cool...plaster cast and all.

Smiles. Oh, and be careful, okay?

Spring is Springing!

2007-02-20T07:18:00.000-06:00

The snow is melting, the temperatures are rising, and the birds are beginning to chirp outside again. Winter is FINALLY leaving after an annoyingly cold, snowy and icy season. Woohoo!

Farewell, Dear Friend.

2007-02-16T08:37:00.000-06:00

I'd like to take a moment to mourn the loss of a dear friend: My Powerbook's internal hard drive. After a long bout of grinding and slowing access speeds, it crashed yesterday.

Don't worry, I made arrangements to have all of its files backed up shortly before its passing and should be able to recover darn near everything that was on there before.

Sometime I will have it replaced, but for now I'll just have to stick to the Power Mac G5 on which I'm typing this. You know, wedding stuff and everything is more important to pay for right now.

In lieu of flowers, the Powerbook requests you make a donation to the "Powerbook Hard Drive Memorial Fund," care of myself, which will go toward final expenses and a swank new drive in the future.

I promised myself I wouldn't cry!

Love Is In The Air Everywhere I Look Around.

2007-02-14T08:06:00.000-06:00

This Valentine's Day is far different than any I've experienced in the past: I'm engaged to be married! Love has found me for life in the form of a wonderful woman named Glenda. I just want to reiterate how blessed I am to have someone who is very different from me but complements me so well. I feel honored that I get to be her companion and thoroughly enjoy making her feel like a queen. It is truly in giving love that we receive.

Even if Valentine's Day has become yet another overly commercialized holiday, I like being able to officially take a day out of the year to celebrate our love for each other.

Glenda and I also have an annoucement to make. Read about it at our wedding blog, "For As Long As We Both Shall Live".

Happy Valentine's Day!

To Be, or Not To Be...on DVD? Ah, To Be!

2007-02-12T11:16:00.000-06:00

For those of you who have seen or are interested in Kenneth Branagh's 1996 release of Shakespeare's Hamlet, I have some good news:

Thusfar, this film has been available on VHS but NOT DVD. That is supposed to change this calendar year. Apparently it was a big and expensive task to transfer the four hours of 70mm original film to the digital domain, but that part of the process is complete. Now it's down to producing the special features and so on that will accompany the DVD release.

Read more of "Mark Cassello's Successful Quest to Get Shakespeare's Hamlet Starring Kenneth Branagh Released on DVD."

So...

2007-02-06T07:48:00.000-06:00

I haven't been blogging lately partly because I've been so busy, but also because there hasn't been much to blog about.

I got through the busyness and stress of youth rally and now am staying fairly busy at work.

Glenda, Benjamin and I are doing well enough. It's been tough being a "family" without me living there. It's like a reverse divorce: We're getting the separation part of our relationship out of the way now instead of later.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Poor TV.

2007-01-19T08:32:00.000-06:00

Hey Glenda, remind me to keep the paint out of our kids' reach. Wow.

Stupid Busy

2007-01-19T07:51:00.000-06:00

Are you ever so busy that you feel your IQ slipping downward? I feel like that lately.

A lot's going on at work and Youth Rally is coming up next week. So much to do, so little time...and I'm getting stupider for it.

What a Difference a Year Makes.

2007-01-10T09:13:00.000-06:00

As a new year gets started, I wanted to do my typical look back and look forward. It's interesting to think back about how much changed in the course of a year. Let's reminisce:

"...it would be safe to say -- and this is the first time I've ever said this to anyone -- that I don't like myself very much lately. In 2005, I honestly believe that I had no impact on society other than being a small oxygen-sucking carbon dioxide factory. I have all these aspirations for myself, and I just feel the last year or two has been a consistent period of laziness and apathy toward everything my heart really wants for me." -- My blog entry on Dec. 26, 2005

I was in a rough spot then. Not a whole lot was looking up for me, however I had a sense of what it would take to turn my life around:

"I think it's going to take a combination of friends, family, church, and maybe professional help to turn this boat around. Sure, there are good days. I put on a convincing demeanor most of the time, but deep down inside I'm not the same as I was a couple of years ago. It's very disconcerting."

It took a while for 2006 to show some promise, and when it did, boy was it big! I was still down a lot in the first half of the year. Romance -- or lack thereof -- was hitting me hard. Just when I thought I should give up hope of ever finding the love of my life, along came an old friend named Glenda.

In one fell swoop I got a new friend, a new family, a renewed dedication to church, and I didn't need any professional help! To make a long story short, Glenda and I fell in love and I fell in love with her son Benjamin. I saw hope for the future. I saw a reason to wake up. I found a dedication I hadn't had before. I was given someone who loves me for who I am and fits me to a "T".

In 2007 Glenda and I will marry and I will adopt Benjamin as my own son. My life will change dramatically from where it was only one year earlier...but I welcome it! There's so much to look forward to! Glenda and I can see a wonderful future together as husband and wife, father and mother.

I very well may get a new job this year, too. I've been with my current job for more than four years now and I'm ready to try something else. I want to get a job that gives me more opportunities for advancement, better pay, but most importantly challenges me and makes me want to get up in the morning. We'll see what happens.

I look forward to 2007. There's so much to look forward to. One year ago I wouldn't have been able to say that. God has truly blessed my life. May he also bless yours this year.

Smiles.

Not Forgotten

2007-01-05T09:08:00.000-06:00

Fear not, dear reader. I know I haven't posted in a while. I plan to soon post my 2006 recap/2007 look forward. I've just been so busy!

Smiles.

Peace and Joy to You.

2006-12-22T10:44:00.000-06:00

For you, dear reader, I wish you good will during these holidays. To my Christian friends, Merry Christmas. May you remember all that is good about the baby Jesus and the promise of salvation that would come from Him. To my Jewish friends, enjoy the Festival of Lights and all the good that it brings.

I wish peace for you, dear reader. Peace is not just the absence of conflict, but the existence of all that is right for each one of us. Enjoy your family and friends as you celebrate in the coming days. Reflect fondly on all the good that took place this year and all the promise that lies ahead for 2007.

Smiles.

Half-Way There and Free Tickets

2006-12-11T07:48:00.000-06:00

On Saturday Glenda and I celebrated six months of being together. It also marked six months left until our wedding day. To mark the occasion, we did a little bit of Christmas shopping, ate dinner at Carrabba's, and saw the moving Stranger Than Fiction. All in all we had a very romantic and nice evening.

Sunday the two of us went to the Chiefs' home game against the Ravens. I'd managed to get offered a couple of free tickets from a gal at work, so we took her up on it and went. It was the first time going to a Chiefs' game for either of us, so that was kind of cool. The Chiefs didn't do so well. That aside, however, I didn't see how paying so much money for tickets (which we didn't have to do), parking and food (which we did have to do) to see the whole game from one spot -- even though the crowd environment was charged -- was worth it for the long run. It's one of those things you should do once in your life for the experience, but I'll just stay home for any other games from this point forward.

Smiles.

Open Wide for Me!

2006-12-05T23:33:00.000-06:00

Today was a really good day.

Everything just seemed to click in that way that you look back on it and say, "this was a good day!"

I was very productive at work, getting a number of needed things done and setting myself up for another productive day tomorrow. Besides getting some busy work here and there done, I troubleshot some final quirks with our routing switcher. That now means that I can do some really good programming tomorrow and set us up a really functional system.

For lunch I had a really good mini pizza at Minsky's while I finished re-watching my favorite episode of Ed on the iPod. Minsky's "Prime Cut" pizza is like Meat Lover's and pure heaven combined into one mouth-watering pie of pure bliss. The episode of Ed is called "Live Deliberately" and is always a good reminder for me of making the most out of life.

The best part of the day was this evening: Glenda was in a play kind of thing for her church so I watched Benjamin for her. This was another step in my blossoming fatherhood as I'd never before gone through the whole process of putting him to bed by myself -- especially without her around! Everything went great, though. I must say that it was interesting to brush another person's (very little) mouth. Not gross or anything. It's just one of those things where you've never had your muscles go through those exact movements before, so the entire time you're thinking, "well this is new." Also, five year-olds have far less teeth than adults. I guess part of me knew that, but didn't realize how big the difference is.

We had so much fun overall and he seemed so excited that his new dad got to spend so much quality time with him. I know I loved it!

Epilogue: Glenda, upon returning home saw how happy I was and said I was "glowing." The most touching part was when she said that fatherhood "becomes" me.

I can get used to this.

Shootin' the sh*t.

2006-12-04T15:33:00.000-06:00

This afternoon I had the...ahem...pleasure of videotaping the installation of the latest addition to one of our local parks: a prefabricated restroom building. The City found that it's about $20k cheaper to pre-fab it and install it than to build on site from scratch.

I go on some interesting shoots working for the City. The funny part now is...

My job has literally gone to the crapper.

I wish I weren't so nosey.

2006-12-02T15:59:00.000-06:00

I'm really tired of being sick. Earlier this week I got sick AGAIN with sinus drainage, aches, and even a fever! It all has culminated into a full-blown sinus infection for which I now am taking an antibiotic.

I got a referral from my PCP to go see an ear, nose, and throat doctor. I've been having problems with severe nosebleeds for the last few years. Every now and then -- more often in the winter -- I'll get one. When they happen, it's always the right nostril and it's always a geyser of blood. Twice now I've been told that it could be a superficial blood vessel in my nose that may just need to be coterized (sp?). Until something fixes it, I'm now gun-shy to blow my nose at all. I'd like to blow my nose. It's a good thing.

With that, you have a nice day. :-)

Smiles, Michael

For As Long As We Both Shall Live

2006-11-20T07:09:00.000-06:00

On Thursday, November 16, 2006, I asked Glenda Jean Dunlap to marry me. She said yes.

Here's how it went down:

My parents and I went over to her parents' house, where Glenda and Benjamin were having their regular Thursday dinner. I called her to have them all come outside with their coats on. I was waiting at the end of a candle-lit path down the front walkway of the house, and my parents stood on one side of path in the lawn. I had her parents stand on the other side and the proposal began.

First, I talked to Benjamin. I told him that there was something I hadn't told him yet. I wanted to tell him that I love him and I want us to be a family. After asking what he thought about that he nodded and said, "That's fine." I then said that I needed to talk to Mommy about some things and had him stand next to Glenda's parents.

Then Glenda came over to me. I reminded her that the day was my 10,000th day of being alive. I said that, even though we've known each other for a majority of those days, the last 160 since we'd been dating were the best of my life. I shared that I want to spend the rest of my days with her and then I popped the question. After a warm embrace, I reminded her that there was one more piece of "business" that I needed to do, and that was to put the ring on her finger. After the little proposal ceremony was over, everyone congratulated each other and we began the process of informing family.

What was special for all of us was having all of the parents there for the proposal. After all the time and love that our parents have invested in our lives, I figured it would be neat for them to be there when we made such a big step. They were all very appreciative.

So now comes the wedding planning. Glenda and I both thought it would be cool to share our thoughts on the process, so we've set up a wedding blog. Along the same lines, we also set up a wedding Web site at the Wedding Channel. Most of my comments about wedding stuff will be contained to those sites and you'll still get my good ol' fashioned thoughts and rants here.

Smiles!

I don't feel a day over 8,472!

2006-11-16T08:59:00.000-06:00

Today is my 10,000th day of life. No more am I bound to quadruple digits for my daily count.

Several years ago, I wondered how old someone would be (in years) when they've lived 10,000 days. I figured roughly 27.4 years and then got especially curious as to when MY 10,000th day would be. First, I figured it out the hard way. Taking leap days into account I figured out that today would be number 10k. Then, to verify, I found a Web site that automatically calculates such things and it verified the date.

Then I got to thinking: It's all well and good to celebrate yearly birthdays, but that has no real bearing on how you live your life on a regular basis. We package the good and the bad into blocks contained by when we wake up in the morning and when we go to bed.

Sometimes, right before I go to bed, I catch myself thinking, "this was a really good day!" The pieces all came together to make for a really rewarding experience. I praise God for each of those. Then there are those that make me think, "I don't know if anything else could have gone wrong today." The sum total of experiences leaves a lot to be desired. I then pray that I will learn lessons from that day and ask God that He help the next day to be better.

We should not discount the importance of each and every day in our lives. Recently one of our City Council members lost her husband to a heart attack. One day he was fine, and the next day he was gone. Thousands of Americans said goodbye to their loved ones on a September morning years ago and never expected the terror that would take place and affect their families forever. Those are the tragic days that we can never anticipate but will change us so deeply.

We must try to find the most good out of every day we live. Sure, there are the really good days like birthdays, wedding days, graduation days, Thanksgiving Days, etc. But every other non-"special" day, we should see how much good still lies therein. We should bless the Lord for a little child slurping the milk out of their cereal bowl. We should thank God for being able to hang out with friends to watch a football game. We should always be grateful for every good thing that happens...every day.

Have a good day, friend. Smiles.

Super-Quick Update

2006-11-14T09:28:00.000-06:00

After a very stressful couple of weeks at work recently, things are a lot less relaxed approaching Thanksgiving Day. As hard as retailers are trying, I refuse to get into the Christmas spirit yet. Let me eat my turkey and stuffing first, damnit!

Things with Glenda and me are great! Big news coming soon...

Ballsy.

2006-10-28T15:01:00.000-05:00

Ever catch a ball at a major league baseball game?

This guy has nearly 3,000 of them:

Happy Birthday to You, iPod!

2006-10-23T07:56:00.000-05:00

Apple's iPod turns 5 years old today. It's hard to believe that the little guy has been around for so "long."

More than 67 million of the mp3 players have been sold since their introduction October 23, 2001. Because I got in on one of the first million sold, it's been interesting to see their boom in popularity happen. Now, the term iPod is as commonplace as Walkman, Velcro, or Kleenex.

If you love music and have never owned an iPod, I recommend that you or a loved one get one for you for Christmas, a birthday, or bar mitzvah. They really are handy, fun little devices.

Three Hundred MILLION People! Mwahaha!

2006-10-17T08:27:00.000-05:00

The 300 millionth American was born today. Happy birthday little buddy!

An Olfactory Conundrum

2006-10-16T16:12:00.000-05:00

I think it was a skunk. That's what it smells like.

I was driving home from Glenda's the other night when a brick wall of stink hit my nose. Even now, every time I get into the car I still notice the smell. I get used to it after a minute or two and Febreeze doesn't seem to help.

I can only surmise that a skunk crawled up underneath my car while I was parked at Glenda's, got agitated when things got hot and started moving at 40 mph, and left a little present in my engine block. I opened up the hood and looked around but didn't see any black and white carcasses. There's no poofy tails hanging underneath the vehicle.

Strange. Stinky.

Love . . . and Marriage?

2006-10-11T21:59:00.000-05:00

So much to say, so little time to say it before bed. Here goes:

Things with Glenda and me are still going along very well. I'm probably going to marry her. Go ahead and read that sentence again. In this case, "probably" means that we have gone to jewelry stores so that I can get an idea of what she likes in a ring. Yeah.

"So what is it about this gal?" you ask? She's amazing, yo. She's so incredibly kind, loving, considerate, gentle, FUNNY, and more that I don't have enough time to go into it now. What I will also say is that she's an amazing mother to her five-year-old son, Benjamin. He's such a great kid, too.

It's interesting, a few years ago I would have never even considered being with a single mother. It was just "baggage" that I didn't want to deal with. Since then my thoughts have obviously taken a 180. Now I see it as an opportunity to fill in a gap that has existed for too long in their lives -- especially so with Glenda and Benjamin. His father's never seen him. This guy is long gone. Glenda has had NO male parental unit to help raise Benjamin except for her father. He's done what he can but she really needs a companion to help raise her son. She needs a companion to offer her love and support.

I honestly can see myself being that person. The prospect of it is exciting! I would almost certainly adopt Benjamin from the get-go of our marriage. Assuming all the legalities of that can be worked out, it would help solidify our family for as long as we three shall live.

Glenda and I are really just so compatible. Where I am weak she is strong. Where she is weak, I can be her strength. We genuinely find comfort in being together and joy in sharing the positives of life together. When the sad times come, we cry together and it's okay.

I've never been in love before, and I know that now that I'm in love with her. She makes me want to be a better man. I've dated several other women since high school, and the only ones that made me think I could remotely see myself married to them were the ones that made me want to be a better Michael. The difference between them and Glenda, though, is that she and I are in tune with each other. We share the same goals for our lives. We want to minister together. We have a mutual bond that I never had with anyone else, and that bond is unconditional love.

It feels good. I'm really excited! I'll keep you posted. Shalom and Smiles.

Where You At?

2006-09-30T11:45:00.000-05:00

Once again I'll make a post promoting my Frappr! account. If you read this blog and wish to let me know from where you're reading, please let me know. Thanks!

http://www.frappr.com/michaelsterlingblogreaders

Suck It Up, Saddam.

2006-09-26T08:04:00.002-05:00

I'm a little concerned about all the news lately of Muslims getting offended by various sources that make any kind of comment that could be interpreted as derogatory. How long and how much have Christians, Jews, or other religious folk been persecuted, belittled, offended, or otherwise maligned in the history of civilization? I've been criticized as a Christian. Jews have been persecuted countless times, most notably during the holocaust. It sucks, but we go on.

That said, insulting Islam extremists is somehow more than we can bear being offended about -- and mainstream Muslims are the ones complaining! That's like me complaining if someone makes fun of the KKK.

Jihadists need to be made fun of. Ku Klux Klan members need to be made fun of, just as Dave Chappelle did in the very first episode of his show. What is wrong with that?

The Sum of All Fears!

2006-09-19T10:00:00.000-05:00

Just as I'm getting over allergy and sinus problems, I have another worry on the horizon: E coli from bad spinach! And we thought Avian Flu was going to kill us all...

Drain, Drain, Go Away...

2006-09-13T08:47:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year when the weather starts to change and my sinuses flip out. I've once again acquired a fun little case of sinus drainage (or "post-nasal drip" for you doctor folk). I'm taking Sudafed and generally feeling crummy. Give me a week and I'll get past it. Sigh.

9/11...

2006-09-11T00:30:00.000-05:00

This is the one day of the year that I intentionally try to make myself sad and uncomfortable about what happened that terrible day. The victims deserve that.

God bless America.

Lucy and Her Stalkers.

2006-09-02T15:04:00.000-05:00

Watch this YouTube video and then watch these two creepy guys' responses.

Run away, Lucy. Run far, far away.

Working for the weekend.

2006-09-01T17:12:00.000-05:00

This looks to be a fun and promising weekend.

Tonight Glenda, her son, and I are meeting up with my family to go up to Santa-Cali-Gon Days -- my town's Labor Day weekend street festival. I've already been up there once today: I ate a turkey leg and "Chuckwagon Cookie" at lunchtime.

Tonight I think I'm going to go for a "Super Dog," gator on a stick (which I've never had before), and share curly chips with everyone.

Tomorrow night is poker! Glenda may or may not come with me, but I always enjoy going and hanging out with "the guys."

Sunday, Glenda and her son are joining me at my sister's church. After that it's lunch with the family!

Fun stuff. Gotta go!

We Have the Technology

2006-08-23T11:35:00.000-05:00

I've grown quite fond of texting back and forth with my girlfriend during the day. It's a nice little way for us to keep in touch and know we're thinking of each other:

"Happy Wednesday, honey! Halfway to the weekend. Thinking of you. Love you. M"

Carnivals, Courtship, and Contract Disputes.

2006-08-22T07:32:00.000-05:00

The stress previously mentioned in my blog has died down quite a bit, but I've stayed pretty busy. Some of that busyness has been doing fun things. This weekend I played poker Friday evening and then on Saturday Glenda, her son, and I went to the Missouri State Fair. Cute story about that:

Benjamin, 5, had been asking throughout the day to go to the carnival. We consistently told him that we weren't going to go there because we didn't trust the safety of the rides. After he asked that one too many times, I told him that he really needed to stop asking. He replied, "Um...if I stop asking can we maybe go to the carnival then?" I couldn't help but chuckle, but the answer was still no.

Glenda and I have decided to get on the fast track to determine if we're compatible enough for marriage. Her number one interest is obviously her son, and if things aren't going to work out between her and me then, for his sake, she doesn't want things dragged out. I completely appreciate that. So what we've begun doing is tackling those hot topics that could be "deal breakers" down the line if we can't come to a consensus on them. After all, if a relationship between us isn't going to work out, it's better to find out sooner than later, right? So far, of the few big issues we've talked about, we've been pretty compatible. Still a bunch to go, though.

In other news we have another meeting with AVI today about our routing switcher. Fun stuff. Not. More details later.

Exhausted.

2006-08-17T11:33:00.000-05:00

I am so tired and so mentally strained that ...I'm beat. Work is stressful because of a foul-up the vendor made that we're trying to get resolved. Home life is stressful because of (very) strained relations between the parental units. Relationship life is stressful because Glenda and I are getting into some pretty deep stuff together (though things are still very good between us) and her life is stressful right now. Oh, and I've not been getting anywhere close to the sleep I need for the last few days.

I need a massage. And then a nap. And then a vacation. Rinse and repeat.

A Close One.

2006-08-09T07:59:00.000-05:00

My sister last night won her bid for the 1st District City Council seat...but not by much. Out of 2775 votes cast, she won by only 17 (1396 to 1379). I can name 17 people that I KNOW voted for her. Whew, that's close!

I'm so proud of my sister. She really does care about this city and she's going to do a great job. I look forward to seeing her each Monday evening as she sits on the dais helping make important decisions and I sit in the control room operating the TV broadcast.

The Lazy Days of Summer (Blogging)

2006-08-03T07:21:00.000-05:00

What is it about summer that tosses all normalcy up in the air and doesn't let it drop until after Labor Day? TV networks don't run any new shows, school's out, everybody goes on vacation, and the temps go up.

I haven't blogged nearly as much this summer as I would have liked. Of course, I'm still doing better than some of ya'll. You know who you are. ;-)

In the spirit of trying to keep you updated on stuff, I now submit my "quick hits" version of ASLT:R.....

I have a girlfriend. Her name is Glenda, we've known each other since elementary school, and reconnected back in June. It's been lots of fun ever since. I see lots of potential there.
Stuff with the router project at work has been a bit bumpy. The vendor under-engineered the system and we've been in discussions with them about how it's going to be remedied. There's a big meeting this afternoon about it.
My sister's campaign is going well. She actually found out that her opponent hasn't voted in 20 years. He's trying to play it off as no big deal, but she and thousands of veterans know better.
There is no 4.

Now, time to get ready for work.

Feeling The Heat at Camp.

2006-07-27T21:17:00.000-05:00

After much delay, I finally have a chance to tell you how camp went. I was staff at Junior High Camp for my church and was program staff in charge of all the audio-video stuff there. The term "program staff" means that I wasn't a counselor with a cabin.

So to elaborate on what I actually did: For each of the main activities that were in the Tabernacle, an open-sided sanctuary building, I ran the sound and displayed slides and videos. Outside of that, I went around camp videotaping activities for playback in little recap videos (called CD-TV) and taught a couple of classes. One was a CD-TV class where campers created a couple of fake news broadcasts. The other class was called "Christian Perspectives" and included discussion of real life stuff and how to apply our faith to it.

One of the things we watched in Christian Perspectives was Rob Bell's NOOMA videos. They're each about 12-14 minute mini sermons and do a really good job making God a little more real in our everyday lives.

When we ran out of things to talk about regarding the videos, I had to come up with something to fill the time. What came to mind? How about the Telephone Game. You've probably played this before. Someone starts a sentence on one end of a line of people and each person whispers that phrase to the next. The goal is to get the exact same sentence to the other end, but usually it gets messed up somewhere in the middle. While the first sentence was going down the line, I had a thought about gossip. Yes! What a great analogy! After we were done I told the kids how the Telephone Game is like how gossip spreads. We may pass along something that seems innocuous -- I didn't actually use the word innocuous -- but then gets messed up as it goes from person to person. After a while it just goes wrong and ends up being untrue. The reaction of "Ohhh, yeah, I never thought about it that way before," was priceless.

In my other class, CD-TV, we started off by brainstorming on what we could produce that week. One lovely youngster pointed out that she thinks I look like Jared, the Subway guy. Everyone else agreed. I have to say, that was a first! Never, um, EVER heard that I look like the Subway guy. :-\ Anyway, we ended up doing two news broadcasts during the week. Stories involved the "Snake Whisperer" being lost in the woods, a blind dodgeball player, and a synchronized swimmer who can't swim or tread water. In our fake weather report, the weather guy went outside, and between cutaway shots to the anchor desk, began sweating profusely. When the shot returned to him he was absolutely drenched in "sweat."

It WAS really hot that week. We discovered that above a certain temperature and humidity, our bodies begin perspiring from really...odd places. 'Nuff said.

It's noteworthy to tell you that Dutch chocolate is apparently so good that, at least one Dutch person, thinks Hershey's tastes like "vomit." One of our staff members, Annette, shared with us her distaste for the good ol' American milk chocolate. She said that Dutch chocolate is sweeter and has a much better flavor. While I didn't get to try any, I got the impression that it's more like our dark chocolates. Yeah, I'm not a fan of those.

To save the most newsworthy item from camp the last, my amazingly fast Power Mac G5 flipped out for some reason while I was there. It wouldn't mount external drives, recognize most USB devices, or regulate its fans correctly. I tried all the standard troubleshooting techniques to no avail, so I ended up having to use my Powerbook to do all my video editing from then on. It looked like the Power Mac might have a bad logic board. Long story shorter, I was relieved when it was simply a problem with the operating system. After an archive and re-install, it's back to normal. I'm using it to type this! I'm just disappointed that I wasn't able to use it for most of my editing at camp. It's a much more preferable editing machine since it's twice as fast as my Powerbook.

Overall I had a good time at camp. It WAS quite relaxing. The campground itself is inherently soothing. Being in such a positive environment was a big plus as well. Now back to the real world.

Stand By.

2006-07-27T06:53:00.000-05:00

I've been back from camp since the end of last week. Just been to busy to update with a recap. I'll try to do that this evening.

The Break Can't Come Fast Enough.

2006-07-14T07:27:00.000-05:00

After a few weeks of stress and non-stop action related to the equipment installation at work, I'm off to Junior High Camp to be staff. It will actually be quite relaxing and I need the break from "reality."

It's Nice to Have a Niece.

2006-07-03T08:20:00.000-05:00

My very first niece, Sadie Rose Stinson, was born Sunday at 1:24 a.m.! She, Mom, and Dad are doing great and will go home Tuesday morning. She joins my four nephews in the sphere of cute family kids.

27.

2006-07-01T08:49:00.000-05:00

I am now squarely in my "late 20s." So long, "middle 20s." Happy Birthday to me!

Router Project Update

2006-06-27T22:37:00.000-05:00

On and off here and there, I've talked about the new equipment we're getting at work. It includes a new routing switcher, console, cameras, etc. It will set us up for much more efficient operation and will allow us much easier expansion into the future. Well, work is moving along briskly now and equipment is being installed! Here's some of the more interesting stuff (click pictures for larger versions):

One thing that our vendor, AVI Systems, recommended that we do is repaint the new control room to bring down the brightness of the walls. In this picture, half of the room is painted in the more medium, neutral grey (left) while the old light blue (right) awaits painting. In the foreground our Avid editing system has been pulled away from the wall to allow the painters access to the walls while we remain operational -- but VERY high from paint fumes!

These are some of the spools of cable that AVI has pulled throughout the building. The white cable is for audio while the yellow is coaxial cable capable of high-definition digital video transfer (4.5Ghz bandwidth). While we currently don't produce in HD, his cabling basically future-proofs our operations and will allow for that in time. I crunched the numbers, and we're installing more than 7500 feet of cabling throughout City Hall -- not including what will be inside the racks themselves. That's almost a mile and a half! When everything is finished being installed, we'll immediately have the capability to route any number of signals to or from our old control room (which will remain in use for tape storage and program monitoring during meetings) and two of the building's conference rooms. We could never do that before.

This is the new console into which all of our new and existing equipment will be installed. Above the lower left four spaces will be a table top that will house our program switcher, camera controller, keyboard, mouse, etc. This console, at its tallest, is nine feet and misses the flourescent light by no more than four inches. Notice the rails on the floor. Because of the room's space limitations, the entire console is designed to slide in and out from the wall behind it. When we need access behind, we can pull it out. Otherwise, it'll sit about six inches from the wall.

These boxes house the actual routing switcher...for now. I included this picture for a very specific reason: The box on the left has a shipping weight of 99 pounds and houses the analog video portion of the router. AVI's staff estimates that the above console is currently about 500 pounds empty, and when fully populated with the router and everything else, the entire stack could weigh up to 2000 pounds! It's a good thing we're on the ground floor!

Finally, more spools, but these are really special. These are two of the three fiber optic cables that will connect our control room to the robotic cameras in the City Council Chamber. The fiber will carry a full digital video signal and all the control information necessary to operate the cameras. They are each 100 meters long (about 328 feet) and cost a bundle. You can imagine the heart attacks we almost had when we found out someone stepped on them! Fortunately they came away unscathed, but we don't want to relive that experience.

More pictures are on the way, including before and after shots of everything. I hope you enjoyed this little tour of our project. Smiles!

We Hardly Knew Ye, Headset.

2006-06-21T22:46:00.000-05:00

My Motorola bluetooth headset...is dead...thanks to a leaky Duracell battery (yellow arrow in picture; click for a larger version). Damned "Coppertop!" I first discovered a problem yesterday when I tried to talk to Seth and my brother while using it. They reported that they heard only static. Fine, I thought. It's probably dead or needs to be reset or something.

It was the first, though not of the headset's own doing.

I'd left the headset in the car and today, when I took it inside I noticed some residue around the indicator light (white arrow). I opened up the battery compartment and, after some work trying to get the battery unstuck, managed to free the culprit from his pit of destruction to see the damage. Battery juice has leaked all over the inside of the headset, and my little wireless accessory is no more.

I WILL be calling Duracell to see if any reparations can be obtained for my loss, and to assist in adopting a new bluetooth headset into my telephony family. Grr.

By the way, in case you don't know, bluetooth is a wireless protocol that allows devices to talk to each other or transfer data. Cell phones with bluetooth installed can connect with headsets wirelessly to allow for handsfree, WIRELESS conversations while driving, doing work around the house, or whatever tickles your fancy. They're especially good for making people give you funny looks at the mall because they think you're schizophrenic and are talking to your imaginary friend.

Ghetto Computin'

2006-06-20T08:25:00.000-05:00

You might have heard the rumor that Apple is working with rapper 50 Cent to develop a specially branded Mac for inner city kids. Here's some software that'd certainly be pre-loaded:

An Honest Motto.

2006-06-11T22:42:00.000-05:00

I took this picture outside of our police building one day.

I don't care what Merriam or Webster say...

2006-06-09T10:03:00.000-05:00

I don't like the word 'gotten.' It doesn't seem like it's a legitimate word. "He'd gotten the wrong size shirt." It just sounds wrong. The dictionary says it's a past participle of 'get,' however it doesn't make it sound any more right to me.

Family Matters.

2006-06-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

With all the talk in the news lately about a gay marriage ban, I thought I'd take a moment to share my thoughts on the whole issue. These are my opinions and thoughts on the matter. Feel free to agree or disagree, and your comments are welcome.

The progression of society is based on family. Family is made up of adults and their children who live together as a committed unit. At the end of the day, when you return from school or work, it is family to whom you return. Family can be made up of any mixture of parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, grandmas, grandpas, or more and still have love. Love can transcend gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and all the other factors that influence our lives. This talk isn't about love. This is about what kind of family I feel is best to raise children.

Ideally, I feel like a child should be raised with the experience of a mother and a father. As a person of belief, I believe God planned it that way. That's why only a man and a woman can come together to reproduce. A mother and a father each have something to bring to the table. Each has their own gender experiences that a daughter or son each need to know about. Does this mean that the worst set of a mom and dad will do better than any lesbian couple? No. But at the core, I feel like a family should be led by a man and woman who are married to each other. A gay marriage does not offer that.

But this has wider implications. It means that I don't think it's right for single mothers to go at it alone. I commend single mothers for their dedication to their children without any companion to fall back on. I'm not saying that a single mother cannot be an effective parent. I'm not saying that single mothers should be illegal. I'm saying that, ideally, it would be a man and woman in a married relationship both raising the children together. Hopefully that single mom will be able to get as much help as is needed from the children's father(s) or another dedicated man in her life.

Life often hands us lemons, so we must make lemonade. I'm not discounting that. Although I know that gay couples have adopted and raised children together, I'm a little squeamish about the idea of gay marriage being legal. I think it sets a bad precedent and sets askew what our society's priorities should be. I am also, however, squeamish about making a ban on gay marriage a constitutional amendment. I don't even have all the answers within myself on this issue, but these are my thoughts. I welcome your comments.

Food, Folks, and Fun

2006-05-30T07:48:00.000-05:00

I've had quite a busy week or so. I got to spend lots of time with friends and family and eat lots of good food! Here's a recap:

Thursday my uncle and his wife came through town on their way back to Montana from Florida. We all had a family get-together and good conversation. Good times.

Friday I left for Springfield, Missouri, to spend the weekend with Daniel and Noelle. They're a couple of friends from college. I actually played a big part in the two of them getting together, so that's fun.

Saturday, we three drove down to Branson, Missouri, for a good part of the day. We had Thai food, drove on a really cool go cart course (that looks like a wooden roller coaster, but it's a track!), played some mini golf, went to a winery, and did some shopping. When we got back from Branson we ate at a place called Crosstown Barbecue in Springfield. Pretty good stuff, but it's no Smokehouse.

On Sunday we went to church and then had lunch at Lambert's, the home of throwed rolls. Yes, they TOSS rolls at you if you want one. I had a big cheeseburger and stuffed myself. Oy. After visiting the mall and Bass Pro to do a bit of shopping, we then watched two movies for the remainder of the day: About a Boy with Hugh Grant and Over the Hedge. Both were pretty good! It's certainly the best movie in which I've seen Hugh Grant. He almost was a good actor.

Then on Memorial Day I said my goodbyes to Daniel and Noelle and drove back to Independence just in time to go to another family get-together. This time it was over at my sister's house. We had the regular burgers and hot dogs typical of a Memorial Day feast. We had some spumante that I'd bought at the aforementioned winery. It was good (and gave us a nice buzz)!

Now it's back to the daily grind. Fortunately it's a short week.

Die, Chuck E.

2006-05-22T07:37:00.000-05:00

My life lately is, generally, uninteresting. In the course of the last week I went to work, went to church, got a hair cut, bought a couple of CDs and an XBox game, and ate overly expensive pizza at Chuck E. Cheese's prior to my nephew's pre-school graduation. So let's talk about that last one:

I don't like Chuck E. Cheese's. I don't say that in the context of "their food is nasty" or "it's just too noisy." Something about that place disturbes my soul to the very core, though I'm not totally sure what it is. I DO remember that when I was a kid, we went there for some birthday party and I was deathly afraid of the mechanical robot band. They scared the hell out of me. Even today they're kind of creepy. That may be part of my animosity for the place. But Thursday there was something else.

Aside from the outrageous $20 charge for a large two-topping pizza and prize tickets that were hardly worth anything -- 30 for some stupid plastic ring? Come on! -- I noticed something about the employees there: None of them looked remotely interested in being there. None of them ever smiled or even came close to faking enthusiasm for working in such a "fun" place. They all looked depressed to the point of wanting to kill themselves and take every man, woman, and child customer with them. So here in this one restaurant was ridiculously overpriced pizza, cheapo prizes, and this dichotomy of children having the time of their lives climbing around like monkeys while the employees were teetering on the brink of murder-suicide. It made me uncomfortable. I don't like that place.

That said, my nephews subsequent graduation was adorable.

A Good Weekend.

2006-05-15T08:16:00.000-05:00

This was a simple, good weekend with good food, good mothers, and good times.

Friday evening was a relaxing time at home, eating Papa John's and catching up on some of my favorite shows that were previously recorded on my DVR.

Saturday, I went out and about for a while. I shopped for Mother's Day stuff for my mom, sister, and sister in-law. Along the way I bought myself a pair of brown Crocs. They're just so darned comfortable, I needed a pair that would match my...um...brownish clothing. After I returned home, I had another nice phone call with my good friend Erica. That's always a pleasure. To wrap up the day, I went and played poker with the guys for the first time in a month and a half. I lost $2, but it was still enjoyable. I'm not sure why I like playing poker there so much, but I just always look forward to doing it again.

Sunday was Mother's Day. After doing sound at my sister Marcie's church, we all went over to her house for a VERY tasty lunch and family time. When I say "tasty," I mean grilled chicken and pinapples, grilled salmon, asparagus, green beans, rice, and a strawberry cheesecake dessert.

So now it's back to the daily grind. Lots to do at work as we get closer to tearing our studio apart and putting it all back together with new equipment and a vision for the future. Exciting stuff.

The Uber-Rare Personality Quiz

2006-05-10T23:22:00.000-05:00

Normally I don't post these things to my blog, but I found this one to be especially interesting. I welcome you to, at least, read over the questions. If you'd like, copy and paste them into a comment with your answers.

DISCLAIMER: I did not author any of the questions and left them unedited. I know some of them are kind of redundant and/or confusing, but give it your best shot.

What would you do if:

[1] I committed suicide:
[2] I said I liked you:
[3] I kissed you:
[4] I lived next door to you:
[5] I started smoking:
[6] I stole something:
[7] I was hospitalized:
[8] I ran away from home:
[9] I got into a fight and you weren't there:

What do you think about my:

[1] Personality:
[2] Eyes:
[3] Face:
[4] Hair:
[5] Clothes:
[6] Mannerisms:

Other:

[1] Who are you?
[2] Are we friends?
[3] When and how did we meet?
[4] How have I affected you?
[5] What do you think of me?
[6] What's the fondest memory you have of me?
[7] How long do you think we will be friends or enemies?
[8] Do you love me?
[9] Have I ever hurt you?
[10] Would you hug me?
[11] Would you kiss me?
[12] Would you fuck me?
[13] Would you marry me?
[14] Emotionally, what stands out?
[15] Do you wish I was cooler?
[16] On a scale of 1-10, how nice am I?
[17] Give me a nickname and explain why you picked it.
[18] Am I loveable?
[19] How long have you known me?
[20] Describe me in one word.
[21] What was your first impression?
[22] Do you still think that way about me now?
[23] What do you think my weakness is?
[24] Do you think I'll get married?
[25] What about me makes you happy?
[26] What about me makes you sad?
[27] What reminds you of me?
[28] What's something you would change about me?
[29] How well do you know me?
[30] Ever wanted to tell me something but couldn't?
[31] Do you think I would kill someone?
[32] Are we close?
[33] Are you going to put this on your journal and see what I say about you?

Halo Huh?

2006-05-09T23:05:00.000-05:00

So...I guess I need to finish playing Campaign on Halo 2 so the new Halo 3 trailer makes sense.

Might be good to do.

Then again, I should also pay attention to the story line a little more, too. All this time, I was running around killing everything in sight and there was a story to it all!

It's Not Fair.

2006-05-06T11:00:00.000-05:00

On April 5th of this year, a friend of mine from college passed away due to a brain stem injury. Jayme Parks-Soulis was part of our Liahona Student Fellowship for the last couple of years that I was there. She was a vibrant spirit. She was always incredibly friendly and contributed much to the campus ministry.

Then, shortly before one of our school years ended, we found out that she had breast cancer. Over that summer, she had a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery to heal her and bring her life back to normal. She was very strong through the whole ordeal and I admired her very much for that. She went on to live her dreams -- of moving to France and teach there -- and for a long time I hadn't heard much about her.

Then, early this year I got news from her best friend Meghan that Jayme had suffered a terrible brain injury that put her in a life-supported coma from which she would never return. No car crash caused it. No previous injury caused it. It just attacked her out of the blue like her breast cancer had in college. Unfortunately she couldn't beat this.

It's not fair.

I don't use that sentence lightly. In fourth grade, my teacher Mrs. Lewis shared a very important thing with us: Don't keep saying that things aren't fair because they aren't going to be. I trained myself not to say, "It's not fair," because I knew better. I had learned that that three-word sentence is a cop out for not getting your way.

But what happened to Jayme: That's NOT fair. It wasn't fair that she got breast cancer in college, and it's certainly not fair that she died of a brain stem injury at 23 years old! It's not fair for a young woman, who's worked so hard and come so far, to be taken down in the prime of her life.

Life wasn't fair to Jayme. I can only pray that the Lord will comfort her in heaven and comfort his family and friends here.

Jayme's obituary in The Examiner

Yawn

2006-05-06T10:25:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted much here lately because frankly, there's not been much to post. Since I returned from Michigan, life's been pretty ho hum.

Things have continued to stay busy at work. Our router project continues to move along at a steady pace. This weekend I need to look over the design documents that our vendor supplied us on Friday. I need to make sure all the "i"s are dotted and "t"s crossed.

Home life has been fine. We heard some bad news this week that I won't get into yet. Needless to say, your prayers would be appreciated as this is a situation that we'll be dealing with for a while. More later.

On the upside, I have a three-day weekend, thanks to Harry S Truman being born on May 8. I'll probably take some of the day Monday to review the design documents and make any notes I need to get back with the vendor on Tuesday.

So that's it. Boring as all get out. Maybe I'll post an old "And Stuff Like That" from college sometime this weekend. That would be more interesting than this post has been.

Peace out. Happy birthday, Harry.

Where In The World Are You?

2006-05-01T07:40:00.000-05:00

If you're fairly new to reading my blog or didn't take an opportunity before, I welcome you to add yourself to my Frappr map. Just post some very basic information (name, zip code, short message, and optional picture) and have your virtual "pushpin" placed in your part of the world.

Seats 20-D and 67 Gates Difference

2006-04-26T08:22:00.000-05:00

I'm back home safe after my trip to Michigan. I had a wonderful time and thank everyone there for another relaxing vacation. Erica, you're the best.

On both flights back, I sat in seat 20-D: second from the last row, on the aisle, right between the jet engines. I recommend you NEVER sit there. The jet engines are F*ING LOUD! Thank goodness for my in-ear headphones. They're the kind that plug up your ears, so I was able to get the edge off of the sound. It also helped the first leg back when I was right in front of these two obnoxious kids and their parents. The little boy, who was no more than 18 months, took great pleasure in randomly screaming. With my headphones and the sultry sounds of Dave Matthews Band, I just about completely blocked him out. The second flight wasn't so bad, yet the jet engines were still F*ING LOUD!

For the layover in Detroit, I deplaned at gate 71 of the 78-gate terminal. My next flight was set to depart from -- get this -- gate 4. My gates were at almost the extreme ends of the long-ass terminal. All I have to say is: Thank God for the tram (pictured). A little walk to the station, a short wait, and I was on my way to the other end of the terminal in style and comfort. The walk would have been good exercise, but after Captain Screamer I was in no mood.

But overall the trip was GREAT and I had a blast! I've posted a few pictures to my Web site, so check them out there in the Photos section. Now...back to work.

FLASH: Michael Eats at Big Boy

2006-04-24T09:41:00.000-05:00

What a wonderful place, Bob's Big Boy. Only decent burgers and onion rings, but the atmosphere was nice. And you've got to love the statue...

The trip is going well. Half way done already! Argh!

Short story: On the flight from K.C. to Detroit, I was sitting next to this gal about my age. She and I both had iPods, but mine is a video version. I started watching an episode of Scrubs and then thought I'd ask if she wanted to watch, too. She said yes, and we ended up watching two episodes of Scrubs together on the flight! It was fun. A good way to kill time. Ah, technology.

How NOT to Mount a Program Switcher in a Control Room

2006-04-21T20:19:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the new control room consoles that we're getting at work, we no longer will have to have our program switcher propped up by a cardboard box. Real picture:

The vendor asked, "How did the City ever approve that?" Nobody knew any better and they ran out of money. :-\ Now we're fixing that and I couldn't be happier. :-) Today I helped design the console layout that will house this humble switcher panel. More progress updates coming soon...

A Lot To Look Forward To.

2006-04-17T22:02:00.000-05:00

Today was a good day. After more than a year of work and hope and stress, the City Council approved our purchase of a new routing switcher and related equipment for my job. We're talking almost $200,000 worth of equipment and related stuff. This will allow our video productions to go "to the next level," and basically set us up for proper expansion and upgrades in the future. It feels good to have had a hand in such a big project, especially knowing that the equipment is going to improve our jobs so much.

I also got in contact with an old friend again today. Glenda used to be a classmate and really good friend of mine in grade school and junior high. Unfortunately, our lives eventually took us in different directions and we fell out of touch. Well today at lunch I saw her parents again. After a nice chat I left my business card with them to give to her and she called me tonight while I was headed home from work. It was good to hear her voice again and it'll be nice to catch up with her as time goes on.

I'm headed to Michigan this weekend! Finally I'll be able to Erica and all my Journey House homeys again. It's been over a year since I went up there last. I always feel so loved and accepted when I head up there. It's like home a long way from home. I fly out at the butt crack of dawn Saturday and return Tuesday evening.

In other news, I got a new iPod this last weekend. Rach, it's EXACTLY like Paul: a 60GB black version with video capability. I'd been eyeing them for a while now. Since I do so much video work and my 40GB photo version consistently flakes out at random times, I figured this was a good time to pull the trigger and buy it. The 40 gig version will stay in the car most of the time as my commuter player while the 60 gigger will stay with me. It'll be especially nice around the airport and in flight this weekend. I can catch up on various TV shows, listen to music, and basically just relax in my geekdom.

I'm getting a little concerned that nobody reads my blog anymore since I moved. Maybe the folks who commented before just don't want to anymore, but it's feeling kind of like a ghost town around here. If you're here, please leave a comment...please.

EDIT: It was pointed out to me that comments HAVE been submitted, however they were waiting for my approval. Oops. I had a setting wrong here. Now anyone should be able to post comments without me having to approve them first. Sheesh.

Smiles.

Death is Far Less Complicated.

2006-04-16T23:36:00.000-05:00

I finally did my taxes this evening, using that TurboTax thing that's supposed to make doing taxes easy as pie! Why do I feel like I'm going to get audited then...

"Mister Sterling, you miscalculated form 1023-C Amendment 2 wrong by $13. We are now going to audit you."

NOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Death and Taxes.

What a Pain in the Neck!

2006-04-13T07:40:00.000-05:00

I am in pain. At some point overnight Tuesday into Wednesday, all of the muscles in my lower neck and upper back just tensed up and haven't let go since. It's painful to turn my head to the right, bend downward or upward, and moving just feels really sore.

I went to the chiropractor yesterday. He adjusted a bone in my neck and said that the muscles should start to loosen up throughout the day. They haven't. I'm just as tense this morning as I was yesterday morning. He wants me to come back Friday for another adjustment, which I'll probably do.

I've had pain like this twice before in my life. Both came after traumatic events: The first was when I slipped off a platform thing at my friend's house as a kid. I fell about six feet onto my back and had very similar pain, just a little lower on my back. The second came when I jumped off of another friend's swingset, lost my balance, and fell straight back onto my back. Same result. This time? I moved the wrong way while asleep. Oy.

If this doesn't start to improve soon, I may have to find some kind of massage therapist and/or muscle relaxants. Wow. It even hurts to yawn.

I May Just Blow You Away!

2006-04-07T11:51:00.000-05:00

According to the "Fact Box" on this article from CNN, Michael is one of the names on this year's hurricane list. I'll dispense with the thinly-veiled play-on-word jokes that would naturally follow.

From the "That's a Lot of Money" Department...

2006-04-06T23:36:00.000-05:00

I came to a startling realization tonight:

If Bill Gates were to liquidate his net worth (of about $50 BILLION) and spread it around equally to each and every one of the 7 billion or so people on earth, each and every person on the entire planet would get a little over $7. Yeah. Wow.

Skeered to Blow

2006-04-04T08:16:00.000-05:00

This might sound a little silly, but I'm scared to blow my nose. See, I usually am very susceptible to nosebleeds in my right nostril. Ever since having 4 nosebleeds in 5 days a little less than two weeks ago, I've been really hesitant to blow ever since. I know my honker *should* be healed by now, but I just keep thinking about the potential for another nosebleed and another week or two to let it heal. It's a vicious cycle. Fortunately I become much less susceptible as the humidity moves in. Not too long now...

Vote Tuesday, April 4.

2006-04-02T22:59:00.000-05:00

The election is nearly upon us, and I wanted to chime in on where I stand on the various issues. Obviously, those of you outside of the Kansas City area don't know the candidates or issues, so I'll try to fill you in as I go.

The hot-button item here in KC is the vote for or against the stadium improvements. One ballot item would provide a bunch of millions of dollars to make improvements to Arrowhead and Kauffman Stadiums, home of the Chiefs and Royals, respectively. The second issue would fund a rolling roof to go across one, the other, or neither stadiums. The idea is that Arrowhead could be covered for this event or the other, Kauffman could be covered for games where they know that bad weather is coming, or the roof could sit in between the stadiums, acting as a cover for a new pavilion of sorts going there. Reluctantly, I'm going to vote yes for both of these, even though I doubt they'll pass. My reasoning is two-fold: First, the stadiums DO need improvements, and I'm afraid that the teams really WILL leave KC if this issue doesn't pass. Second, the rolling roof was originally in the stadium complex plans. The picture I've included is an original rendition from when the stadiums were built. At the time, the project ran out of money and the roof was nixed. When all is said and done, I would most prefer that Arrowhead be rebuilt with a roof and money be spent to renovate Kauffman. That doesn't look like it's going to happen, though.

In Independence, voters will choose a new Mayor and two At-Large City Council members, I'm voting for Lois McDonald for mayor and Jason White and Jim Schultz for council. Both McDonald and her opponent, incumbant Mayor Pro Tem Don Reimal, would do a bang-up job as mayor, but I think McDonald has more energy and fresher ideas to bring to the Council. As for White and Schultz, the City has seen lots of progress in the last four years and I think they both do an excellent job to really decide what's best for all the citizens of Independence.

So there you have it: Yes, Yes, McDonald, White, Schultz. Now I just need to wait for Tuesday...

Rolling Out the Welcome Mat.

2006-04-02T17:59:00.000-05:00

Greetings, and welcome to the new home of my blog! The whole Blurty thing was getting long in the tooth, so I thought I'd move elsewhere. This site will give me more options and functionality in the long run.

Some other news: I've added a blog to go along with this one. It's called The Media Situation Report 360, and it's been set up as a place for me to share my thoughts and opinions about all things media and entertainment related. I've got a lot to say and I've needed a place to say it, so check it out.

I've also moved my Web site to accomodate more content and easier editing. It's now located at web.mac.com/michaelsterling. Keep checking regularly because I plan to update it much more often than the last. I'm already working on more content for it.