Goodnight

Yeah, I was back for a couple of posts, then I neglected this again.  I need to get back in the habit.  Hey, wasn't that the tag-line for Sister Act II?  Well I'm definitely not going to be a nun (or pretend to be one), but I like the habit of blogging.  I certainly read enough other blogs.  In my downtime at work I'm really enjoying pulling out my PDA.  I'll log onto the free wireless network and read political blogs.  For a while I couldn't keep up with posts--now I'm running out of them.

Work is going well--amazing actually.  Our numbers have dropped off come the week after Thanksgiving, but I'm optimistic that the doldrums won't remain forever.  Tomorrow should be our last big Saturday for a while.  For some reason people don't want to schedule many groups in the dead of winter or this close to Christmas.  Go figure...  Tomorrow I am in the Planetarium, which is always cause for celebration.  The Planetarium really is my home--I feel quite possessive about it at times.  I am in there every Saturday (except next Saturday when I'll be in Chicago, :(--well yeah for Chicago, and I plan to see the Adler Planetarium, but I'll miss ours) and so I have my routine down.  Then during our upcoming Christmas Celebration events (occurring after hours at the Creation Museum) I'm working long shifts--in the Planetarium all day!!  There are times that I absolutely love the schedule.  Dave (our manager) is great about putting me in the Planetarium on busy or important days!  :-)

This week I was schedule in a new place.  Not everyone wants to be there--but I've been asking for a while.  I was in Admissions selling tickets!  I wish that there had been more tickets to sell that day, but I still feel that I'm learning the ropes.  Thankfully Dave told me that he'd try to stick me out in the ticket booth at least once a week.   The novelty might wear off eventually, but I think I'll continue to enjoy it--partially since I'll never be out there every day in a week (I'm always back in the theaters eventually).  Right now it is new, but there will always be something new and challenging.

Well I have to be at work by 08:30 in the morning, so I'm going to sign off for now.  I always like to be early on Saturdays, and especially this day because a group is scheduled to arrive at 8:00.  They don't have a Planetarium show on their schedule, but our Admissions agents will do their best to sell them one.  I want to be ready for them instead of coming in to find that somebody else loaded my theater with a show, ;-).

~Matt

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

Casino Royale

I just finished watching the latest Bond movie.  I honestly have only seen perhaps one (Dr. No) or two (perhaps one of the later Pierce Brosnan films) James Bond movies.  However, since this one was a reboot of the series with a new actor that didn't really matter.  I enjoyed the film, though some of the plot twists were a bit predictable.  When Bond says he is going to quit and run off with the female lead I knew she would either break his heart and/or die, because it isn't a series about a married agent.  I know at least that Bond didn't settle down.  Anyway, it was a fun movie.

~Matt

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

What is that?

Yeah, I have a day off tomorrow, so I'm wondering exactly what that is.  I haven't had a day off except for Sunday in quite a while (not counting the weekend I visited Tennessee).  Of course despite the fact that I say I "don't have a life" I've managed to keep it busy.  I'm heading into the Creation Museum with some clocks (I had an idea to keep the Planetarium running on time).  [As an aside sadly nobody who regularly reads this has visited the museum so they don't get the joke--but that is partly my fault since I've avoided writing here for so long.]  Then I need to work on some video editing and prep for Thanksgiving dinner.  I'm going over to the house of some friends and will be bringing food, so I need to get started on the preparations and ingredients gathering.  Then I need to get ready for Bible Study.  It is Mexican Food night and instead of ordering pizza or eating out we'll be bringing together the food.  It sounds like fun, and I offered to fry the taco shells.  I always love fried corn tortillas better than the hard taco shells that you can buy.

Tonight I rented Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer from the $1 a night machine at Kroger.  It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great either.  It was a fun way to waste some time--but not anything really worth watching again.  I did recognize Stan Lee in his cameo, and not just because he used his real name.  I also rented Casino Royale and plan to watch that tomorrow morning.  I'm actually thinking of heading to bed somewhat soon.  It won't really be that early, but somewhat early and might make it easier to get up earlier when I don't have to go to work.

~Matt

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

Pirates at the Museum

Today was another awesome day with friends. It was the perfect day to explore the Museum Center with friends from the Creation Museum. We explored not only the Latin American Culture Fest (which gave the others their free ticket) but also the History Museum. And we kept running into pirates! Two of my coworkers (Jen and Rachel) insisted on pictures with all the pirates that they ran into. It was great fun, and I got to take many pictures.

At the end of the evening we came back to Hebron, Kentucky where we'd started out (near the Creation Museum) and ate at Mr. Herb's , which is a great little local restaurant. I would type more, but I spent all of my creative juices typing captions for the pictures that I put up on Facebook. If you have an account then check out the photos. If you don't have an account yet then you should create one and add me as a friend!

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

Tired, but thankful

I just got back from a few great hours with friends.  Several of us from the Creation Museum (and one not working there, but known through one who does) headed up to a "Thanksgiving Concert" being held in Cincinnati.  It was quite interesting with groups ranging from a gospel quartet to Indo-Pakistani to African to Korean to Hispanic Salsa, and more types of music.  It was definitely eclectic--but quite interesting nonetheless, and a good time with friends.  I was the driver tonight.

We didn't have time to eat before we arrived, so on the way home I exited the freeway right by the Museum Center (my "other" museum) and we went to Frish's Big Boy.  I've never actually been inside one before--just the drive through.  I wasn't too impressed with the drive through--but the service inside was much better.  It was a cross between fast food and full service sit-down dining.

I really would type more, but I'm tired and I need to sleep.  I have to be up in less than seven hours--actually about six so that I can get ready and be into work on time.  Night all!

~Matt

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

Deer in the Headlights

I really know what this expression means now.  It was dark by the time I got off work tonight.  The freeway is only two lanes out by the museum, so I was driving along in the right hand lane, safely with my lights on.  All of a sudden I saw a deer in my headlights!  True to form it didn't move or even seem to react to my headlights or oncoming car.  I'm so thankful that the lane to my left was empty.  I hit the brakes and swerved into that lane to pull around the dumb animal.  I looked in my rearview mirror and didn't see anyone come to a screeching stop, so I assume that the deer survived and wasn't hit by another automobile.  I was a bit shaken for a few moments, but nothing too bad.  I really can understand the expression now.  I know it was only a few seconds, but it seemed as if the deer was frozen forever.

~Matt

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

Now that's old

A month or two ago (was it all the way back in July?) I went to theaters and watched Die Hard or Live Free (the fourth movie in the Die Hard franchise) despite the fact that I'd not seen any of the previous films.  I enjoyed the movie.  I recently procured the earlier movies and right now I'm watching the first.  I think it was made in the late eighties--obvious from the clothes, music, etc...  But here is the best indicator.  The movie is set in Southern California, never a region of low prices.  I was just watching a scene when I realized that there was a gas station sign in focus.  Here is what it said:
Regular .74 9/10

Yeah, not 3.74, or even 1.74, but 74 cents per gallon!  Now that's old!!

~Matt

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

Stardust

Well I went to watch Stardust this evening (Monday night).  It was very enjoyable, for a movie.  I'm sorry, I'm too much of a reader.  The movie was great, I'll freely admit that.  Some of the changes made for a great movie.  But I'm too much of a book person not to be disappointed at how the scriptwriters thought they had to spell things out so plainly (when they were simply implied in the book) and create dramatic tension not present in the book.  *shrugs*  I'm not at all objective, so I might be overlooking how these changes made it a better movie, but I can't help but compare it to the book.  Again, great movie, but as always (though I'm still looking), better book.  ;-)

~Matt

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

Touring the Creation Museum

I keep forgetting that different sites are separate. I have posted quite a few pictures of the Creation Museum on my Facebook account, but of course those are not accessible here. Therefore I'll provide y'all with the links to the albums below. Enjoy!

Creation Museum grounds
Creation Museum interior (i.e. limited walk-through--I want to bring out some big things as well as some that are overlooked, without spoiling the entire experience)

~Matt

PS If you want really good pictures check out the ones that my nephew Chris took on his walk-through (though he didn't get to see everything).

Bourne

Tonight I went to see The Bourne Ultimatum with a friend from work (Adam).  It was an interesting movie.  The shaky camera was back, but for some reason it didn't bother me as much as it did in Supremacy.

Yes, Tish was right, the fight scene was awesome.  I did wonder something though, would she have loved the movie as much if Bourne had been driving (and then wrecked) a Ford pick-up instead of a police cruiser.  Hmmm...;-)

This is a movie trilogy that I have enjoyed, and I'll put it on my shelf next to Jurassic Park.  It was something else where the books and movies were both good, but completely different.  Not only did the movies ignore the central premise of the books, but really these three movies (named for the three books) take place over the course of time covered in the first book.

~Matt

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

More picture options

Okay, this shot might look a bit distorted because I had to stretch it for some reason. Blogger didn't like the size. This is a panorama shot that I took with my camera. It isn't brand new any more, but I'm still playing around with some of the features. I think I'm going to try to head into work early tomorrow morning with a tripod and capture some panoramic shots of the grounds. Hopefully I can beat the early guests--it is only a Monday after all.

This is my nephew Ryan, and I think he is playing a game on his Wii, though he might just be watching television, I don't remember positively.

~Matt

One Week Late

Yes, I have just finished re-reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.  It is the only one of the books that I've only read once, and it again was a thrilling experience.  Now without further ado I am off to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows while burning plenty of midnight oil!!

~Matt

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

Ireland Queries

Yeah, I'm just home from the bar.  I think it was the first time I'd actually stepped foot in a bar.  But let me explain first.

Several of my co-workers from the Cincinnati Museum Center get together each Tuesday at a Cincinnati bar called Molly Malone's.  This is Trivia Night.  I couldn't participate for the longest time because I worked evenings and on the very rare instance I had Tuesday off I was either busy or didn't really want to go anywhere.  Now I just have Bible Study every other Tuesday, so I decided that I would finally attend when I can.  It was great fun, and I think that our team tied for fourth place.

Do you know the only winner of the Triple Crown with the name of a US city in its name?  I did.  This horse was the last living Triple Crown winner until it died a couple of years ago.  Seattle Slew.

~Matt

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

Outage

If you read this blog and also post at the Section 77 Annex then please know that your browser isn't malfunctioning.  Dusty, who graciously hosts the Annex is having some difficulties with his hosting company and as a result things are down right now.  I'll mention something here when I know that things are back up an running--either that or you can keep checking the URL to see if the site is operational.

~Matt

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