Thursday, June 29, 2006

My daughter is a singer

Big Sis learned a special song to sing for Daddy on Father's Day. This is her rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame".

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Company Picnic

Oh, by the way...
My company had their summer picnic recently and they decided to limit us to just one glass of beer per person. None of us are discouraged by this since we are an industrious, creative and free-thinking bunch of people.



Just kidding.

I am so freaked out

(continued from the previous article where I talked about my latest horror flick)
I'll just call this my "therapy entry", because after watching that freakshow of a movie I will need some serious cooldown time.
Not so much scary as shocking and gory. Actually, it was a lot less scary than I anticipated. Instead it was just wierd. I did expect the people affected by years of toxic radiation to look deformed and mutilated but I didn't expect them to be so dang violent.
Let's just say that this movie overused the pickaxe.

My WW wouldn't consider watching this movie, naturally. She was scared by the movie poster. We have discussed it and we decided that movies that fall under the "thriller" genre will be acceptable for the two of us to watch together. The Skeleton Key is one that she has in mind; sounds good to me.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

The Hills Have Eyes

I'm doing it again.
Horror movies late at night.
Actually, this was completely by accident. I had originally wanted to reorder my queue so that I had some other new release in my queue. Instead, I didn't get around to it and I left this one as the next movie to be sent.
The Hills Have Eyes. A 2006 remake of a 1977 Wes Craven classic horror flick. I never saw the original. The tag-line for this movie is "The lucky ones died first..."
Oh yes.
There will be no sleep tonight.
Actually, I know better. This movie is already not going to be as scary as the last one for one simple reason. I recognize almost all the actors. The father of the vacationers is Monk's boss, the mother is Kathleen Quindlan, who has been in movies and television since before the original was even made, and one of the daughters is playing the pregnant girl on "Lost". There are others who look familiar.
If I can recognize these people from other movies, I can suspend my disbelief a little better than when I don't recognize anyone.
Small consolation there. I have heard that this movie is tense, graphic and very scary.
More to come...

Saturday, June 03, 2006

More mediocre poetry

I found another poem from a slow work day. I don't remember the exact context, but it probably has something to do with a "know-it-all" that I was tired of dealing with at work. We all have them, don't we? Someone who we try to avoid because if we actually said outloud what we were thinking about them, even accidentally, it would turn into a huge problem. No? Just me? Oh well then...
Here is the poem:
You don’t understand
You don’t understand because you don’t listen.
You talk a lot
You have little to say.
Think before you speak.
Speak softly and carry a big staple gun.
Use the gun to put the Christmas lights up on the walls.
Forget what I said.
You weren’t listening anyway.
Do you understand?

-- Matt, February 2002

Friday, June 02, 2006

Digital Cable

A few years ago, during my apartment living daze in the Deep South, my roommates convinced me that getting the "digital cable upgrade" from our basiv cable would be a good idea. It would offer us many more options including a whole host of movie channels. Sounded good to me. Plus, it wouldn't be a huge increase in cost since we had our internet bundled in with that service. Even better.
Not long after that, I found myself at work, day-dreaming while on the phone with a customer. Day dreaming enough that I was typing up a stream-of-consiousness poem that I kept to this day. What's remarkable isn't that I actually wrote a poem, something that I loathed throughout my college career as an English Major. What's interesting is the actual content of the poem itself -- a timely explanation of why I was zoning out at work. Here is the poem:
Fast connection.
Super speed is my internet.
Watch the frames
Speed by in Digital.
Digital mind.
Digital Computers.
Digital watch.
Digital world.
Digital cable.
Lots of additional movie channels.
Always something on.
Get less sleep.

-- Matt, January 2002

Thursday, June 01, 2006

I'm on the Board

I have been asked to participate on the Board of the Cobb County Summer Singers, a community choir in it's freshman year. I am flattered by the invitation, and I am excited about the possibilities.
Frankly, when it comes down to it, I am overjoyed with the opportunity to participate in a project like this. It is putting everything I learned putting the Gasball Music Festival on to good use. I don't know if I get an actual title other than Board Member, but there are only five of us so far and the responsibilities are huge. It is up to us to successfully launch, promote and produce a successful singing group performing a concert at the end of the summer.
At our first board meeting the other day, at the local Rib Ranch (yep, we are in the Deep South), we came up with out Mission Statement:
"To offer a Joyful opportunity for singers from our diverse Community
to perform together in annual summer concerts,
providing excellent programs featuring sacred and secular choral music, and
contributing to a deeper appreciation for the Arts while strengthening the bonds of our community Spirit."

I like it. This is gonna be a blast.

There is now a piano in the house!

My wonderful wife was able to find an incredible deal on a used Sterling upright piano. It is 28 years old and sounds great. For a mere $100.00 and about $70 in moving costs we were able to bring this musical instrument into our house.
The previous owner owned it all his life. His mom bought it for him when he was five and he has played it ever since. He recently bought himself a Yamaha grand piano to replace it. Quite a replacement.
The piano is still in tune and the tone is still very nice. I will have to start practicing again so that I can be sure to get Big Sis interested in taking lessons herself one day.

I am writing a blog for my sister-in-law, Adair

My sister-in-law, Adair, is currently on a school trip travelling around Europe. She sends regular emails back to us about the things she is doing. I am posting them all on a blog so that the rest of the family can see them easily. Check it out if you get the chance.
http://adairgoestoeurope.blogspot.com/