Shiver me timbers

And where did we get that goofy expression?  Was it Robert Louis Stevenson?  I know he was responsible for quite a bit of what we think as traditional piracy in Treasure Island.  Anyway, I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End with my nephew Chase last night.  I quite enjoyed it.  I will strenuously avoid any spoilers here as there are those who may not have seen it.

I will simply state that if you enjoyed the first two you should see this one.  It reminded me a bit of the Matrix trilogy conclusion (due to the complexity of its plot and the many characters), but it was quite fun.  It wasn't a comedy, but it had many moments where I was laughing.  All the characters you liked in the first two movies are back in good form.

~Matt

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"A room without books is as a body without a soul." -Cicero

Noodle exercise

I was out running around with my nephew Chase tonight when we stopped by Wal-Mart for a couple things.  I'm always looking for good games.  After I called Chris to confirm that he would play a game tonight I purchased Cranium.  We managed to get in two games before midnight, with the teams tied.  Hopefully we'll play a tie-breaker tomorrow or the night after.  I've played the game before, but it has been a few years.  I think the last time I played might have been at a history major get together at Dr. Frazer's house.  That was a fun evening as I remember Dr. Stead playing.  He had to act like some famous woman and we were all cracking up watching him.

On the job front things are going very well.  Yesterday the Creation Museum opened with much fanfare.  We had over 4,000 guests (with many long lines) and a paltry 30-50 protesters across the road.  Yeah, they didn't really manage to do anything.  To be fair I don't think they even tried to disrupt anything inside the building, just waved their signs across the road.  It is a free country, they have their right to free speech and I do not begrudge them that.

I am a show host, which means that I am responsible for introducing shows in our theaters and getting the programs started.  I have become somewhat of the staff expert on the Planetarium (#7 when you click the link) as I was in there the first day when Dr. Lisle explained its workings.  Today I was stationed in the Last Adam (about Christ) Theater at the end of the museum tour, but before I headed down there I helped to train the Planetarium staff, only one of which had worked there previously.

If you do go through the walk through, please keep in mind that it was apparently completed sometime before the Museum was, as several concepts have changed.  Numbers 32 and 33 are now combined as a theater presentation in the Last Adam theater.  Starting today the Special Effects Theater has been renamed the Men in White theater after the show that it houses.  I'm sure that may change eventually (it certainly isn't tied to the exact current show), but that would be quite a while down the road.  I have heard that there are two completed Planetarium shows, but currently we only show one.  I don't have any inside information on when we might switch or start offering both.

Well I should get to bed now.  I went to bed early (by 23:00) last night, and yet I woke up early and had to toss and turn and doze fore more than an hour until it was actually time to get up.

~Matt


--
"A room without books is as a body without a soul." -Cicero

Yes I promised an update

This is almost it.  I've been coming home from work, checking critical e-mails and then heading straight to bed.  I have worked ten to eleven hour days all day this week (13.5 yesterday!).  But I'm loving it!  I've never liked a job this much.

Good night.

~Matt

PS Next week might be crazy, but not quite this bad.  Bug me then for more information.

--
"A room without books is as a body without a soul." -Cicero

I am alive

No really, this is me.  I am off to bed, so this will be short.

I LOVE MY JOB!!!  I told myself this several times today.  It was a long day (11 hours) but great!!!  I'm even going in for an extra day tomorrow because we're stretched so thin this week what with it being preview week for members (our dress-rehearsal week) and us being open three hours later than normal.

I should have more later.  But I will be working until nearly nine each night this week.

~Matt

--
"A room without books is as a body without a soul." -Cicero

Good news (no question mark)

I talked to my current employers and they said they "don't want to hold me back" so they're fine with today being my last day.  This sounds great as I know that AIG can get me started training tomorrow if I'm free.  I'll probably even leave a bit early today just so I can tie up those ends a bit easier.

~Matt

--
"A room without books is as a body without a soul." -Cicero

Gainful employment?

I got a call back from Answers in Genesis--their background check is still ongoing, but because it is taking so long and they're opening so soon (May 28) they want to hire me on a contingency basis (i.e. if the background check process turns up something really bad they'll let me go).  I accepted and will be figuring out how much notice I need to give my day job tomorrow.  I turned in notice at bigg's tonight that I would be quitting after my last scheduled day next week (whenever that is, I don't have that schedule yet).  That was exciting.

I'm hoping my current day job doesn't ask for two weeks tomorrow morning--if they insist I will give it to them (though I don't have to) because I feel that I owe them that much for the time (6-7 months) that I've been working there--but I just hope that they'd be happy with less.  I figure that they haven't offered me a real job in all this time, so they shouldn't really expect me to stick around forever.  I would be there still if the AIG thing hadn't landed in my lap after a search of their website.  I wasn't searching actively for work because I didn't have time--just on the lookout for really good opportunities.  What was the point of trying to squeeze in interviews for a job only marginally better than what I already had.  *shrugs*  Hopefully I'll have a good update tomorrow.  I know AIG wants me to start training ASAP, so I'll let you know when that actually happens.

~Matt

--
"A room without books is as a body without a soul." -Cicero

Busy, Busy, Busy

First of all I should have mentioned it earlier, but today is Free Comic Book Day! If it isn't already too late in the day click the link above, enter your zip code, and find a participating store near you! You may not go to all the activities you'll find, but at least you can go and get free stuff. It is great fun!

Of course that isn't all I'm doing today. I've switched days at the Museum this weekend (I go in tomorrow after church to work instead of today). Today I am going up there to see Titanic with my sister, brother-in-law, Chris, and his girlfriend. Hopefully we can get up there in the first batch of people so we can avoid most of the crowds that may come later in the day. Many people still think this is the last weekend even though the exhibit has been extended for another week.

After we get through the exhibit I'll come home for my main reason for taking the day off (I planned to go through the exhibit with family earlier, but my brother-in-law flew an extra flight that interfered with those plans). I'm going to take three of my nerfs (the youngest boys) and head out to local comic book shops. Last year we just hit three. We'll be starting a bit later, but I plan to hit the two in Kentucky and at least a couple in Cincinnati. I figure the fun will be worth the extra gas--even if it is above $3.00 a gallon at every station I see!

Well now I need to head off to take a shower and get ready for the day. I just need to remember that I'm going to have fun today. That should be my primary concern as I'll try not to get annoyed by jerks on the road or other potential distractions. :-)

~Matt

1000 Days Before the Mast

Here is a recent entry in a blog that I've started reading. The two bloggers (Reid and Soanya) are aboard a sailboat in the Atlantic. They recently left New York (I think) and are planning to stay at sea for the next 1,000 (well a few less than that by now) days, circumnavigating the globe at least three times. It is a fascinating story, and there is usually at least one new post a day, sometimes more (with pictures). Check it out!

~Matt

PS If you do read several blogs or other sites with RSS feeds Google Reader is a great way to keep track of them, especially if you use more than one computer during the day. I keep track of all my blogs, news sites, and podcasts this way.

After the Storm

via 1000 Days Non-stop at Sea by Reid Stowe on Apr 30, 2007

April 30, 2007
Day 8,9

Stormy Weather
As most people have heard, photos of waves don't really show how large, steep, or fast they are moving or what happens when they crash on the boat, toss her about, find their way through new places, and keep coming for days on end. In this photo, they do look beautiful, but when viewed from the boat at sea they're awesome. To survive all of this is the story of man on the sea and these days it is the story of women too. We try to let nature take her course rather than wish for something else, especially since we did choose to cross the North Atlantic in the spring. When our friends on shore don't receive a communication from us it's because it's too rough, wet, and humid to take our electronic equipment out. We are a little worried about our technical equipment surviving these conditions and we've only just begun.
We have already weathered three separate storms where we had to take down most of our sail, and two nights and a day of constant lightening and thunder. In the midst of all this, we keep ourselves busy tending to all levels of surviving the high seas and appreciate all of our friends and sponsors who have made this opportunity possible.

Soanya's View:
Wow! I saw 20ft waves surround the boat. Reid says the wind builds up the waves and that it has to be windy for several days in a row to make big waves. I guess the conditions were right. They came in mountainous sets and made the boat really roll. Sometimes one would come so close to the rail that I would wonder if it would break over the boat or whether it would pass under. If it breaks, it's far better to be inside a closed hatch. Imagine liquid blue mountains rising and falling all around you, dancing to their own deep strong music and rolling off into the distance.




Reid Stowe and Soanya Ahmad
1000 Days Non-stop at Sea

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They should know better

The next time Tim Minear has a great idea for a TV show I dearly hope he goes to somebody other than FOX!!!  There have now been two shows produced by Tim and starring Nathan Fillian that FOX has canceled, Firefly and Drive.  I don't think that I have any respect left for the network.  they certainly don't have any other shows that I watch.

At least Firefly got a few more episodes.  I thought that Drive was fascinating and it had hooked me in from the very start.  Then it is canceled after four episodes with the news that the last two episodes may air during the summer.  Please, someone just keep the idiotic Fox executives away from any good show concepts.  They're sure to make hash of them and/or murder them prematurely.  *sigh*

I didn't realize it had been canceled until I finally realized this evening that I couldn't find a place on the official site to play the episode that I thought aired last night.  Instead I watched the episode of Heroes, and was really looking forward to relaxing in front of an hour of Drive only to have that hope cruelly snatched away.  Darn you Fox!!

~Matt

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"A room without books is as a body without a soul." -Cicero

Independently mobile again

No this isn't my car, but practically identical. This image came from Wikipedia and is labeled as a 1995 year vehicle--mine is 1994, but the same colour. Unfortunately mine doesn't look so nice. It is once again drivable however!

I just received a call from my brother-in-law to say that the vehicle has been fixed. :-) It cost less than half of what it might have as the mechanic was able to salvage the wheel hub when repairing the brakes (I think that was what the problem was). I consider it quite a bargain when I realize what I might have had to pay.

Now I can stop borrowing family vehicles! I didn't ever get around to learning to drive stick though--I really need to do that so I can just borrow the truck if something goes wrong in the future. Now I just need to find the time. I hope to call AIG today and see what is going on. I really hope they still want to hire me, I'm just concerned that it has been so long with no communication. I want to make sure that no signals were crossed or misinformation communicated. If I can start working there I'll get my evenings free and have a life where I could learn to drive stick again without having to plan it a month in advance just to find the free time. ;-)

~Matt