Cyber Commorancy has gone under the cyber knife and I've changed the look. The mantra I'm operating under is "Simpler is better" and since I don't post a ton of pics (leave that to Paula) the overall desire is to make the reading of the blog a bit easier. Hopefully this works. Additionally, on the right-hand column there are a couple new things:
I've gone through and labeled all my posts so that they are sorted by topic. Most are self explanitory, though some are random; I'll have to hone the process over time. I'm sure some are miscategorized and others could have different labels applied, but I have neither the time nor the inclination to go through almost 200 posts and get it right everytime. So if there are some posts with the wrong label, let me know.
I've added this feature that Blogger calls 'Followers'. I changed the heading to "Cyber Commorons", which is based on a comment by Zach and which I am referred to on Natalie's blog, because 'Followers' is lame. I don't think this is a tracking thing, like if you visit it automatically adds you. From what I can tell you have to add yourself. If you want to become a Cyber Commoron, just click on Follow this blog and that should do it. Due to my giant ego, if this ends up getting no love I will remove it. But if there's a lot of people who want to become Cyber Commorons then maybe I can make t-shirts and we can all ride around like a cyber gang! Woohoo!
I don't really follow a lot of blogs - rather, only the blogs of people I know. Paula has a list of like a million people she keeps tabs on, as do other people related to her, and probably countless others. I don't have a problem with that - when I find out people are reading my rants I think it's cool. Keep on lurkin'. Anyway, Paula's been trying to get me to read this blog by someone she and Nat knew from school and I was like 'yeah yeah yeah....' and didn't bother until Monday-ish. Now I find myself checking it out regularly. chalk one up for Paula.I enjoy the topics, the writing style and comments readers leave. To get to the point, the new link on the sidebar is Salt H2O. Check it out - don't forget to read the comments.
Well, summer is over and so should my lack of blogging come to an end. I just realized that from June to August I only posted three times. Dang. Ridiculous. What can I say - life got/is busy and the blog became last place on the priority list. And I work in front of a computer all day, so after work I have very little desire to get back in front of a computer monitor. How about the political landscape? Wild, wild stuff. I've thought many times about posting some talking points concerning who I will vote for and why...I mean, it's not a mystery since I'm morally, socially and economically conservative. But one of these days I'll tell you why I'm voting for Cynthia McKinney and why she is the person who should be leading our country in these trying times. I just haven't had the energy for that 2000 word rant. I'll leave that to this blog Paula directed me to. Why haven't I had the energy? Two things, really. One is college football. The season is young but it is here and I love it. My Cougars are 2-0 after a win over the Washington Huskies in Seattle; unfortunately, the fact that our QB had a 75% completion rate for almost 350 yards and our RB picked up over 130 yards on the ground or that our TE still leads the nation in receiving after 2 weeks or that our special teams blocked the game tying (not winning) PAT. The focus by the pundits is on the correct call of a crap rule. If you want to read an entertaining and totally bias blog, go to this blog by Adam. He's a Florida and SEC homer and rags on the non-BCS schools, but I like Adam so I'm directing traffic. The second reason I'm usually spent is because I arise every morning to teach a religion class. It's true. Let me give a little bit of a rundown about what's going on. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is run by a lay ministry - no one gets paid. Not the Bishop in charge of the congregation, not the Stake President who is in charge of 6-10 congregations, not the Sunday School teacher...no one. These people are called from the general membership of the Church to serve. I've been asked to serve in a number of callings through the years. Anyway, I'd been teaching the 14-15 year old Sunday School class for a few months when I was asked to teach Seminary. Seminary is a class for high school aged students to attend daily before school. Each year a different book of scripture is the topic - this year is the New Testament. So, every morning I get up around 5am, shower, throw on a shirt and tie and go teach Seminary from a little after 6 to just before 7. I get a lot of sympathetic looks and comments from people, but I really enjoy it. Why? Well, first of all you spend a lot of time studying which has been very beneficial; of the 14 potential students (I teach freshman and sophomores) on the roll, I have 12 out regularly and that's pretty impressive. Early morning seminary is not for the faint of heart and I give props to the kids for showing up every day and staying awake. There are my weak excuses for not blogging more. If anyone still reads this thing.
I appreciate the words of encouragement and advice from those who commented on my last post concerning the debate I was having in my mind as to whether or not purchase a television that was actually bigger than the clock hanging in our living room. There were several comments by Anonymous; the first one sounded like it could be my mother - making the crack about food storage. But then I figured she'd sign her name, so it was some other motherly figure looking out for my little family. Much appreciated...or in the tongue of my wife's ancestors - Muchos Gracias. (BTW, food storage - got it covered.) The wittiest of all comments was also my Anonymous #2 - buy a smaller clock. Very, very good. Don't be scared to ID yourself next time - this is a safe space for witty retorts.
Well, here's the result of my decision....
Who's your daddy, clock? 51" of unadulterated view pleasure - that's who! You mess with the bull, you get the horns.
Special thanks to Dennis and Nancy for purchasing a beautiful flat panel to hang on their wall, thus freeing up this just in time for college football season. (23 days until kick-off)
Apparently it’s time to post. I’ve been informed it’s coming up on two months since the last one and that it’s unacceptable. Is there an excuse for such length between posts? Yep. Probably more than one. Seriously, the reason there hasn’t been a post is because I don’t feel like it. The thought of posting has crossed my mind on occasion, but there’s always a reason not to.
Witty exchanges have been, well, I don’t know. It is definitely possible that all my wit has been used up. Gone. I’m not even 30 yet and the well is dry. A shame.
The plenty going on politically, but frankly I don’t have the energy right now to post about why voting for Barak is less appealing to me than the loss of an appendage (nothing big – a skin tag, pinky toe or both arms and legs), though not as unappealing as what the Reverend Jackson would remove from Barak.
I’m sports fan, but this is the worst time of the year for sports. June-Aug makes me feel like I’m in a proctologists waiting role and the only magazines available are AARP The Magazine and CosmoGIRL!: agonizing anticipation w/ nothing fill the gaps.
There you have it. I got nothing. Let’s be honest – this post is nothing but blog fodder – a stop gap until something better comes along, like our two presidential candidates.
Can anyone see the gross injustice being made manifest in this picture? Anyone?
I’ll tell you what it is, the travesty that is being plainly manifest in this shot, the obvious black hole of justice that screams at me like a banshee within the quiet walls of my living room: our clock is larger than the TV! This is not an illusion and has nothing to do with depth or distance or the UN. It's science.
O, Justice, where art thou? Thy blindfold doth cause deceit at mine expense!
An opportunity has been presented to right this wrong. I can acquire a large TV at an incredibly low price – seriously, 51 inches of HDTV for under $700 – and I’m 70-30, no, 87-13, that I’m going to pull the trigger on this. What do you say? Should I do it?
After such an intense couple weeks of posting, I had to take a break and gather myself. Apparently I’ve been gathered, because here’s another post. Hooray. And as is my M.O. after a some PTO, this is probably gonna end up long and random.
It’s summer in Georgia. Flamboyantly so. If the seasons were contestants from reality shows, this summer would be a like the gay little man who won Project Runway: fierce. On a straighter note, it’s hot as ding (ding is a fun little word that you can toss in anywhere: “Hot has ding”; “Smells like ding”; “Looks like ding”) here, with temps in the mid to upper 90’s the past several days and humid. My glasses fog up every time I leave the house/car/office. It’s the best. I can’t wait to head out west this July and spend 10 days in the mountains where humidity is as foreign as common sense in Congress. (Seriously, click on the 'Congress' link. And people expect these jokers to manage a health care system?!)
When I was but a youth, there was an ongoing struggle in my home between the forces of good and evil. Okay, not really, but there was a struggle over the television. My mother wasn’t a fan and my dad was (I take after dad here); during these years, sometimes the TV would end up on sabbatical in the attic for a few weeks. Anyhow, during one such break when I was 10 or so dad started reading these books to Nathan and I – the Shannara books by Terry Brooks. These aren’t little kid books either. But we loved them. We’d lay on the floor and listen as dad read for a couple hours at a time, until we fell asleep, and then we’d resume the next night. We ended going through the original trilogy in this manner – 1191 pages. So real were the characters and so attached I became to them that I remember actually crying twice: once in the first book when Hendel died after he and Menion Leah had thwarted a secret attack at Tyrsis; the other was Helt sacrificing himself in the gear house to keep the gate shut.
Two weeks ago I finished the trilogy again. Dad sent the 25th anniversary edition to us boys. Excellent, excellent, excellent books – the classic battle of good versus evil, right versus wrong. Some people would say those battles don’t exist anymore. I just think the darkness is better disguised. Regardless, I commend these to anyone who is looking for a good read. Though don't tell my wife you're reading them because you'll be labeled "nerd".
I went through and organized my CD’s recently. I seem to do this once a year because what happens is Paula and I get our music mixed up and pretty soon all I have in my case is Michael Buble (pronounced ‘Bubble”), some hip-hop junk and Jim Brickman. Anyway, while sorting I came across a bunch of compilations that took me back; I’ve grouped them by timeline – not so much when the CD was purchased or made, but rather the memories they create invoke. The titles are profound and deep with meaning - I'm not sure if I can decipher them, but here are some highlights (featured songs from actual CD): High School 1994-1998: (Volumes 1-3).Spacehog, Nirvana, Better than Ezra, Seven Mary Three, Third Eye Blind, Reel Big Fish, Dogs Eye View, and even one Backstreet boys song. All the good stuff (and stupid stuff) that was popular during those formidable years. I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about high school anymore, but these tracks bring it all back – the best 6 years of my life. Fall 2002: Ltrain’s PV 58 Mix. Lifehouse, Fuel, lots of 3 Doors Down and even some rap (shout out to T-boz w/ Welcome 2 ATL-Remix (edit)). This semester I bought a computer with a CD burner, so I did a lot of ripping and catching up on stuff I’d missed from 99-01. It was the Nerf and my first time together after 28 months of separation and meeting Zach. Good times. I’m Angry.Linkin Park, Disturbed, Papa Roach, Puddle of Mud and such. For those times when things weren’t panning out right – or when we were going snowboarding. Nerf, Cackifer, Slam and I each had a copy. I think the Nerf’s was titled “Girls are Gay”. But we weren’t bitter. TFTL. What is this acronym? In the interest of absolute candor, I abashedly admit “Tunes for the Ladies”. This was a little something called mood music, my friends. As you laugh, I remind you the Buck had a bench seat, which means no pesky center console, so…yeah. Memorial Day AZ Campout 2004. Somehow a CD that starts with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, ends with REM and has Saliva, Hoobastank, Lit, Travis, and Mest stands the test of time (all four years). I made this little mix while spending a summer making just enough money to pay for gas but having the most fun I’ve ever had in four months. Ironically, I chased a girl down there and spent exactly 0 seconds of face time w/her. Should have broke out TFTL, I guess. This little poem is to the rhythm of "Jack and Jill":
Lydia climbed up the stairs, Mom and Dad, they were so proud. When Lydia fell down the stairs, Mom, she screamed; Dad, he cursed; both felt awful for the rest of the day and Lydia never had to cry for anything the rest of the day because she was super-indulged the rest of the day to ease the parental guilt.
I guess that last line doesn't rhyme. 14 stairs. Apparently she can get her cute, chubby little fingers in the crack of a door, open it up and zip on through; I was working, Paula was getting a recipe off the net and there it was. But she's super tough (kids seem to be) and after a 4-oz bottle, she was smiling and crawling again. Gates have now been firmly established in the Roberts household.
