This comes via email from Sharon, who doesn't blog:
A) Four jobs I have had in my life (as a guy who has had a lot, and I mean a lot of jobs, trying to pull out some of the more obscure...):
1. Security at a retirement home
2. Reading computer texts to a blind guy
3. Teaching rowing and canoeing merit badges at a scout camp
4. Dining Room Captain
B) Four movies I would watch over and over (as has been well documented, I'm not a big "watch movies over & over type of guy, but the below have certainly fallen into this cateogry thus far in my life):
1. Blazing Saddles
2. Lord of the Rings trilogy
3. Star Wars original trilogy
4. the well is dry...
C) Four places I've lived (no real surprises here...)
1. Minneapolis, MN
2. Waterloo, IA
3. Ames, IA
4. Waverly, IA
D) Four TV shows I love to watch: (question seems to suggest current shows, for which there are none. I choose to delve into a few syndicated, rented, or otherwise pre-recorded joys)
1. Star Trek
2. Simpsons
3. King of the Hill
4. Blackadder
E ) Four places I have been on vacation:
1. Foz de Igazu, Brazil/Argentina/Paraguay
2. Los Cabos, Mexico
3. Coyote Gulch (Glen Canyon National Recreation Area), Utah
4. Cutler Coast Public Reserved Land, Maine
4 Websites visited daily: (not counting little circle of friends' blogs, here)
1. www.startribune.com
2. www.damninteresting.com
3. www.espn.com (in spite of myself)
4. www.my.yahoo.com
G) 4 favorite foods:
1. pizza
2. tie-many things Mexican
3. tie-many things South Indian
4. donuts, cake or otherwise-I care not
H) Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Hanging out with various friends
2. On tour
3. England, where my heart lies
4. Rix
I) Four passions (love, truth, goodness, & fun come to mind, but trying to offer something a little more concrete...
1. those I love & consider friend
2. creative arts (encompassing music, visual arts, literature)
3. social/environmental justice
4. "getting down"
Oh, and "tag."
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17 comments:
You and Paul Simon.
No real surprises there, as I've been on this journey with you for a while now....
But of course. I should post Sharon's responses. There's definitely some overlap. My past jobs are more interesting, but her places she's lived (Costa Rica, Paraguay) and visited (Machu Picchu) are better.
No Blackadder in her list of favorite TV shows, which includes all of one.
So, what's your take on ESPN?
The website? It kind of sucks! They seem to want you to upgrade to a premium service to get any of the articles. I'm usually bopping in (& into blogs & other news & such) here and there throughout the day, as various RAM-consuming processes tie up my work-related software and I need something to keep me from staring, bleary-eyed, as a slowly advancing progress bar makes its progress from left to right.
I end up being on ESPN.com pretty much just for box scores & standings, which is kind of ridiculous, since my general interest in sports has declined to the point where I find it hard to watch an entire game of, like, anything. But I still rabidly consume the box scores.
To what end?
Well, I never go to the ESPN site, so I wasn't aware of just how bad it was. Well, I do go to the site when college football is underway. I believe it's ESPN.com where you can get play-by-play updates on some odd football-field pop-up screen, without seeing any live action. When I'm sitting at work on Saturday, pulling an on-call shift, and the Iowa Hawkeyes are playing one block away (literally -- I can see the Jumbotron from my office but not the field), I can follow along in my own pathetic way.
Most of the sports sites I've been to - ESPN, CBSSportsline etc are badly organized. I'm not sure if it's because sports people were involved or what, but they often seem to be wildly behind the times in terms of design, and ultimately quality.
They do have some cool play by play stuff, such as our Hawkeye fan uses, and I've used those same tools for college bball at tournament time, and the occasional baseball game at playoff time.
But WHY does Dan follow box scores so assiduously?
Hmmm
as far as the Lord of the Rings...
though it puts me to sleep, a deep, comforting sleep, I can watch FOTR over and over again, but I am quite down, these days on ROTK...so much as to suggest that what has happened between FOTR and ROTK may be one of the greatest tragedies in the history of the cinema.
A couple of thoughts:
1) Obsessive compulsive disorder.
2) Heritage. Because of my lineage, partly, and the household I was brought up in, I was into sports, and sports statistics at a very young age. I can remember rolling dice versus player batting averages on baseball cards and literally playing entire baseball games just using the cards as players. I know an awful lot about sports-though increasingly less about current players & so on, year by year, but understand what I am reading intimately.
3) Through all the years of being a fairly big sports fan (particularly of the Timberwolves) and not having cable-my primary method of following the team(s) were through the internet. I'm used to it, and to some extent, there is a comfort level there. Like returning to an old friend in the midst of all the bruhaha of a workday.
4) Similarly, the thing I mentioned earlier. There are only so many times you can read about the same news stories written in different ways; only so many times you can check the same blogs to see no updates, before you go back to an old friend. Pennant races, batting averages, etc. change day by day, and are a neverending story that just keeps writing itself. More real life than a soap opera, less depressing than any other kind of news.
I hope this isn't giving you the impression that all I do all day is surf the internet. As with most desk jockeys, my internet is fast & available to me all day. As I mentioned already, other processes at which I'm working are often tied up momentarilly. Either that, or my concentration is maxed out so fully on a particular project that I need a few minutes every hour or every couple of hours to relax. Some days I have no such chance, but most days I can make the time.
I understand your frustration with ROtK. I had a very grumbly feeling coming out of the theater after it.
You may find if you start paying attention to details in that movie (sets, costumes, etc.), you are once again heartened. There were an awful lot of people working on that production that seemed to have more of a spirit of the heart and soul of tale, sadly, than did Mr. P.J.
I.... have never seen any of the LOTR Trilogy. I own the non-massive-box-tricked-out-part-with-your-life-savings edition, just the standard disks. I really made a go at the first one and failed. No, I did not see them up on the big screen. I realize now I chose to miss a major cinematic event.
Stephen. My god. Hello, old soul.
I've seen your name and I have hesitated. Fear? Excitement? I have been waiting for the right time to come out and say hello.
This, is that time.
Speaking on behalf of Pat x 2 in addition to myself, I think I would say that we are fans beyond fans of the LOR literature. Owning the movies was somewhat in our destiny.
Also, to a man-we thought the quality of the book to movie conversion declined precipitously after the first installment.
Dan: It's interesting to hear about the drop in quality of the LoTR movies. I recall that this was not supposed to be an issue, since all the movies were made at the same time. Perhaps I should attempt to watch them this fall. Or read first? Yes, read first. Okay, you've posted twice since this. I'll move on...
MT: Yep, it's me. And now I know you are officially you out there. I sought you all out and now the search is--- well, we've been blogging. That counts, right?
Yes - I would echo the read first. I have had a couple of interesting conversations with people who have watched the movies BEFORE reading the books. Not a pretty sight.
I have clear memories of speaking to you at West High School. We must have been locker mates.
MT: While not locker mates, I became semi-incorporated into the Dan/Pat/Pat group back in the high school days. Or, as I've described it to my wife, "Dan and the two Pats." Among your abilities, I recall, was your skill in physics. I think there was an attempt to align personailites with the characters in "Revenge of the Nerds", and I was matched with Booger.
Stephen: I think MT was pulling your lariat. He remembers you well. However, you remember his abilities at physics (or any other discipline requiring calculus) poorly. In that respect, at least, he was distinctly un-nerd like.
I think I was Lewis. Mixdorf (the best fit) was Gilbert. Gibbs was the guy that played the electric violin.
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