Saturday, July 30, 2005

The World Stops at My Door on Saturday at Noon

So, right now I'm blogging despite the stream of people coming through my door. I get annoyed at the Parade of Procrastinators (as I call them) that wait until the last minute and then fill up the room so that we have to create a waiting list and everybody has to wait and I don't get to go home on time. GRRRR!!!

On another note, Welcome Home Lena! The Welcome Home Lena! party was fun, despite the not knowing of the rules for catchphrase and the shortly funny thumb movies. Greek chocolates were good as well as the chocolate pie. MMMMMMM!!!!!

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Merry Christmas!

It is currently Christmas today where I work. Yesterday it was Halloween and tomorrow it could be Thanksgiving...who knows. :)
Major props to Cory for the bunny laughter. Even though I could not hear it, it still made me chuckle. It's a good thing, laughter is. I am currently at work and would rather be at home sleeping. My new puppy has volunteered his bark to be my new alarm clock every morning before my actual alarm goes off. This morning he wouldn't stop at that. Once he woke me up, he crawled all over me and covered my face with puppy kisses. Gross, I know, but he's so cute! So, back to work. I need to vent the importance of communication amongst co-workers. I work as an aide to an autistic child at a child-care facility. He has to have a specific schedule and well, it hasn't been followed this summer. The people in charge of the summer program are wonderful at suprising me every day with things that they are doing that my person cannot do. It screws up his schedule and wastes his time. Grrr. Like right now the kids are lining up to go to a golf camp. Thankfully someone is staying behind so I don't have to take my person to a hot golf course to stand around for an hour. So, who's excited to go back to school? (those of us that didn't take summer classes) I have been dreading it all summer, but have recently decided that it's time to go back. My keyboard is shaking and it feels like an earthquake...but I'm sure it's just the building. Ok, if you haven't noticed by now, I'm bored and have nothing important to write about. So, until next time...Ciao!

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Marching Band 2005!!!!!!

Hey all!
It's been too long!!! But I have news about marching band 2005!!!!
We've ordered a ton of new music for the pep band folders including, but not limited to....
99 red balloons, Boogie Down, Back in Black, Wipeout, The Flintstones, Kung Fu Fighting,
Final Countdown, and Tear the Roof Off the Sucker!!!!!
Our show will not be finalized until band camp comes round. We will be mixing and matching music written by Daigo, and other pieces that have been ordered.
Olympic Spirit, America(from West Side Story), Somewhere(WST also, and more specifically for homecoming), Don't Rain on My Parade, Come Sail Away(Styx, the band, not the myth), and Jungle Boogie.
Band camp will begin on the 22nd, and we will be quite disrupted on Mon and Tu of that week due the Veterans of Foreign War Conference that members of last springs Wind Ensemble and the Ogden Concert Band will be performing at.
It is going to be an awesome season, and our first home game is Sept. 3rd,(two weeks after we start). No, we will not be performing at half-time, Roy HS marching band will be performing the first movement of their show, and playing with us in the stands.
More to come later.
Also, my wife and I have begun to breed again, and she is due in January. More, LATER!!!!
FAHRFIGNUGEN!!!!!!!

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Funnny funnnnnnnny

Check out Google's link of the day. Zoom in slowly, but be sure to zoom in all the way for a smile.

Then check out where you be at.

Hey Hey!

Hi all! A Word from your beloved Cupcake! I miss all of you something wicked! I hope that everthing is going awsome for all of you, and a big congrats to matt and tiff on their weddin! I wish i could have been to your open house but worked called and i had to answer! It sucks missing out on all of the things going on with you all but luckily i will be making up for it in aug when i move up to old ogden and live in the lap of luxury....not! Oh well, skooze and i plan on having a welcoming/beginning of school party sometime after we are all moved in...so yeah, please someone make some sort of contact with me becuase i miss all y'all! I would love to hear from ANYONE! I will be home this weekend if someone would like to hang out or something...

G'Night Girls
Sweet Dreams
You know Where to find me if you need me

Cupcake/Britty

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Not much

just this:

geek things of the day:

Check out Greasemonkey. And if that's not cool enough, add to it the wonder that is Platypus. I mean, Google.com is already vanilla. Imagine if it was shaved ice w/o syrup. Mmm. Deliciously plain.

By the way, Longhorn looks interesting. But Project Looking Glass is already released and I'm sooooo installing it when I finally get a laptop. You can check out the "demo" version on a windows platform and see the nice panaramic workspace (and you thought multiple desktops in KDE was nifty) and get all convinced that you need to run Linux for reals. At least seeing that convinced me.

WBHR episode 2 has been recorded and I'll probably start editing it together soon. Hopefully it should be up by the weekend.

'Kay, bye.

Monday, July 18, 2005

Creativity, motivation, and litarariness

Many thanks to the Jon for the list of information. I'll be using this at length and in depth at heighth and at times (using 4 demensions! way to go me!). This definitely sparks the creative juices that flow, flow, ever so slow, into greater speed and capability. Again, many thanks.

I pity all those that rushed out to buy up that book. I feel so horrible that so many gads of people so highly anticipated so many pages of such poorly written fantasy. My only suggestion is to follow it up with something that is well written, so that your journey into the literary world isn't stunted and your growth limited. Might I suggest:
Lord of the Rings (if you're reading Harry Potter and have never read this, FOR SHAME!)
Chronicles of Narnia (if you're reading Harry Potter, you obviously need a lower reading level)
Pridain Chronicles (Gurgy could beat up that weird dwarfy thing Harry has any day)
Anything by Orson Scott Card (he's even LDS)
The Shanara Series (some of the best fantasy out there)

Ok, that's my rant and rave for today, thanks and thanks again,

The Liege of Lighthearted Laughter,

King Ben

Saturday, July 16, 2005

Pour le Roi Ben

If you're not Ben, you don't have to bother reading this. But you might find it interesting. It's an analysis someone did of common mythic elements in legends (fx, Beowulf, Star Wars, Alice in Wonderland, etc.), specifically with examples from Star Wars. I also added a short list at the end. Enjoy. If you like this kind of thing.

call to adventure - Destiny's herald is usually something ordinary - R2
hand of fate - something that works to involve the hero in the adventure - jawa

traders
threshold guardians - block the way to adventure - Tusken Raiders
wise and helpful guide - provides advice, amulets to further the quest, - Ben
[wise and helpful guide might enter story at point of hero
encountering threshold

guardians]
the threshold - hero must leave familiarity and begin journey
(symbolic of journey

from childhood to adulthood - the hero here begins to acquire
knowledge/skills) -

leave Tatooine for Alderan
into the labyrinth - difficult journey into the unknown - death star
hero deeds - rescue princess, challenge to mortal combat, initial rite
of passage,

hero puts off old identity and accepts new role (succeeding in hero
deeds represent

the start of the next stage - further initiation nd trials) - joining the rebels
the dark road of trials - trials, tests, ordeals bring moments of
illumination and

understanding - includes monsters and barriers
into the belly of the beast - represents entrance into mystical world where

transformations occur, eventual escape representing spiritual rebirth (Vader is

revealed as a slave to the Emperor at the point where Han and Leia
open their hearts

to love - double rebirth/change)
the sacred grove - an enclosure where the hero is changed (infused w/ creative

energy) also symbolises the unconscious mind where secrets are discovered or

memories/emotions have to be faced- Dagobah
the path of atonement - hero may find a father figure and becomes "at
one" with him -

reconciles
the hero's return - hero must return with means to benefit his society/ solve a

problem at home, all characters undergo changes (possibly symbolic)
(atonement may

arise from the theme of betrayal)
the shadow rises - evil also undergoes change/rebirth, recoups power,
grows with new

strength (leads to new confrontation) - forces of good must regroup
the enchanted forest - inhabitants can be dangerous and/or helpful -
the hero must

know magic to evoke their protective powers
the final victory - not always accomplished by physical force or
cunning - hope that

those who have given themselves to the forces of darkness can be redeemed
journey's end -


Departure
---------
Call to adventure
refusal of the call
supernatural aide
crossing the first threshold
belly of the whale (or beast/giant animal)

Initiation
----------
road of trials
meeting with the goddess
temptation away from the true path
atonement with the father
apotheosis (becoming god-like)
the ultimate boon

Return
------
refusal of the return
magic flight
rescue from without
crossing the return threshold
master of the two worlds
freedom to live

common mythic elements
----------------------
two worlds (mundane/special)
mentor
oracle
prophecy
failed hero
wearing enemy's skin
shapeshifter
animal familiar
chasing a lone animal into the enchanted wood (animal gets away)

Okay, bye.

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Mood: docile

Yeah, being sick kinda takes the fire outta ya. So, no hike (tomorrow at least - I'll try to reschedule another day). Also, being a temperature of 101 tomorrow is maybe not the best for doing a long hike in. Perhaps a day when it's in the low 90's?

At any rate, if any of y'all want to still go see the Chocolate-y movie tomorrer, I'd be down for it. Corey has to work at 3pm, so a matinee around noonish would be probably what we're looking at. That is, if the tickets aren't all sold out. I'll find out and then call some peoples tomorrow in the morning-ish hours.

If any of you have material for WBHR, email me or the Ben. Jessica/Hava/Suzanne are slated for a morning show. Anyways, it's getting late and I've gotta be up early (yeah, I'll probably end up sleeping in - what is summer for?)

As a side note, one of the actors that played in the original Dukes of Hazard spoke to the press and was telling people not to go see the new movie, saying that it ruined what originally was a perfectly good family show and made it all trashy. Funny. That's what I thought from watching the trailer when I saw Star Wars.

Ok, so now I'm really leaving.

Really.

I am.

No kidding.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Updates to the band photo album

Hey, hey, hey!

Kristin and I recently got a really nice scanner for scanning photos and so I have been putting it to good use. I currently have a huge project of scanning a lot of pictures from our wedding and stuff for putting into a digital photo album, but I have been able to finish up with quite a bit of new band photo album content!

The new content that I have posted is: Jon's Birthday Party, Ben's Birthday Party, more Spokane pictures and Louisiana pictures from our NCAA trip, and more marching band pics from '03. I still have to scan and upload more pictures from our Days of '47 Parade appearance, but I need to find them first. I also have to scan still many pictures from Taiwan. (I think I have about a hundred of my own left to scan.) I also have a bunch of analog-turned-digital pictures of Tim and Amy's wedding reception that I can post, but I want to really get their permission first.

Anyhow, I just wanted to let you know about the updates. ;) Check the Band Photo Album link to the left (<--).

Also, I created a "Families" category on the photo album so if any of you have pictures of you and your family, submit them to me and I'll get them posted for all to see!

Ta Ta!

Monday, July 11, 2005

Right you are

Ricky, you guessed correctly on 3 out of 2. I should've specified about his first Academy Award. I was thinking just his first award in general, which is Fiddler, but I did say "his music" which would set Jaws as the correct answer.

I'll have your roll of duck tape (ha! you thought I said duct tape on the show, right?) soon enough.

By the by, for anyone looking for the iPodder link (I guess there are several versions out there) here it is. (for windows, that is)

Peace

Sunday, July 10, 2005

I really hope I have the answers.....

because I could really use the duck tape......not duct but duck.

Ok, so John Williams won his 1st Academy Award in 1972 for his adaptation of the music for Fiddler on the Roof but that was in the category of Best Original Song Score and/or Adaptation not Best Original Score..... and so, through my extensive research, the 1st Academy Award that he won for Best Original Score was for the movie Jaws in 1975. And the 1st Golden Globe he won was also for the movie Jaws in 1975.

So there you have it, nothing to do + the internet = the answers to Band Geeks Radio's "free stuff" segment

So Jon, like I said above, I could really use the duck tape. I need to fix the gas leak in my gas tank of my Ford Pinto.

later all ya'll's

P.S. hey, I just realized this is my 1st blog on here. cool

Saturday, July 09, 2005

Listen to this

Ok, so I had a cheap microphone and too much time.

So sue me.

But first, go download ipodder from sourceforge or the latest version of iTunes and add the XML/RSS feed in the upper right corner of the blog to whichever program you're using.

In other words, the first episode of Band Geek Radio has been published.

Enjoy.

P.S. Please do not sue me. If I misunderstood the copyright laws, let me know and I'll fix the pcast. Thanks. :)

Thursday, July 07, 2005

Happenin's

For anyone who was planning on swimming on saturday check the updated schedule. The event's been postponed.

In other news, I'm late for a class, but still blogging. And for a change I'm blogging from a station down in the lab rather than in my office.

Twice in two days? That's crazy talk. Such things oughtn't to happen.

Board game of the day: Acquire
2-for-1 of the day: dinners @ Javier's
productivity of the day (well, almost): installing Audacity and recording some material for the upcoming podcast

Incidentally venture capitalists are now poised to invest ca. $100,000,000 in podcasting. Geek News Central had a pretty good idea on a podcast-based custom news service that might net some of that dough. Fascinating. And podcasting's only been around for about a year now.

Well, look forward to the first pcast-only unofficial internet radio station coming straight outta Weber State. Ben, we'll have to get together sometime and record the material. I already did test pilot episode zero today. Oranges from TMBG's clock radio provided the music.

Ok, so now that I'm really late, I'm leaving this place.

"Leaving's not the only way to go."
-Roger Miller

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Saturday

I am now the married man Matthew of the mountain. I hope you all can come to our open house saturday July 9th at 6 at my parents house in North Ogden (that's north of Ogden for those who don't know). Jon, the schedule looks to be a fun time and hopefully Tiffanie and I will adventure with you on several of them.
By the way, it is warm ourside. I would not recommend wearing a black tuxedo in this heat.