March 2007 Archives

Temperatures dropping abruptly with a chance of precipitation.

Kansas City - At approximately 5:45 p.m. CDT, Andy Lee ended years of protest and "making a statement" by activating a new cell phone. Those familiar with the situtation were stunned by the development.

A witness to the event said, "Frankly I couldn't believe what I was seeing. If I hadn't taken a picture with my cell phone, I doubt I'd believe it right now."

Another added, "Yeah, I mean, that dude has been living like it was 1996 for quite a while now. I thought for sure he'd be able to hold out until cell phones became obsolete."

Andy Lee has long held out against getting a cell phone for a variety of reasons. For years it seemed as though his unwillingness to get a mobile was directly proportional to the societal pressure that continued to build. He honestly believed that he was setting an example for others to follow. Hence the shock from the T-Mobile saleman, Mark.

"I saw him coming to the booth and figured that his wife was having some trouble with her phone (she's had one for a long time now). When he said that he wanted to add a new line, I almost fainted right there. He had to repeat himself two times before I could even respond. That sale was easily the proudest moment I've had so far in my 3 and a half month career."

In related news, Hell has been experiencing unseasonably cold weather. Snow has been reported, and the lakes of fire are beginning to freeze over. At first Satan wondered if the Cubs had won the series, but was later told by Ghasvzti, his chief of information, of the events that had transpired.

"I'll be damned," was his only reply.

VCU upsets Duke!

That was one of the first round upsets that I really thought might happen, and I did happen to catch the first half of the first half and figured that Duke was pulling it together. I was very pleasantly surprised to read about how they pulled it out.

Sorry Duke.

Wow, I haven't stopped in a long time... here's what's been going on.

First, I'm applying for a few different piano faculty positions a bit outside of the Kansas City area. Trick was that I had to compile a DVD of myself teaching for one of those jobs. I've talked with different people and everyone agrees that this is odd and that they've never seen it before. Regardless, I'll be calling them soon to see that they got my application material and we'll take it from there. I know that Carrie is anxious for me to get a more full-time gig so that we could settle down a bit. Oh, and I would be continuing my DMA work at UMKC, it'd just be a bit of a commute.

Second, school is kicking my butt. I don't want to complain about that (as everyone loves to engage in the "I'm busier than you" debate) too much, but suffice it to say Carrie is none to pleased with my amount of free time this semester. I have spring break coming up the last week in March (you read that correctly, it's really late), and that'll be a nice time for me to... work really hard to get stuff done. :(

Third, it's March Maddness. If you're curious, you can look at my bracket picks on this pdf. I went with some picks that are a bit less common (Maryland is going far and Kansas and Florida won't surive to the final four), so I'm either going to look like a genius or a moron in a few days.

Fourth, I actually have been practicing so much that my ankle hurts. You might have to think about that for a while, cause it's not entirely intuitive.

Fifth, I've been reading quite a bit lately. As I am terribly busy, this wouldn't make a lot of sense, but since I've been working mostly straight until bedtime, I find that reading for half an hour (or considerably more) is both very relaxing and enjoyable. I finished re-reading The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and now have returned to a book I never finished a long time ago, Noble House. Oh, and when I'm not reading I'm probably playing Kingdom of Loathing, a delightfully free online game. I'd say more now, but that's a whole other post...

So that's me. I'll keep you posted as things move along, but mostly I won't be posting regularly until after May 5th.

To continue with the Will Ferrell theme a bit. My wife and I just watched Stranger Than Fiction, and I have to say that it was one of the most refreshing movies I've seen in quite a while. It was very well written, and I was drawn into the characters immediately. I thought the acting all around was done quite well, with perhaps the exception of Queen Latifah, who is a pretty decent actress in her own right, but wasn't given much of a role. Will Ferrell was highly effective, and I have to say that much as I thought he was a genius for Anchorman, he fit into the tone of this film.

On a somewhat related note, this movie definitely makes me wish I were an author. I've always wanted to write a novel (along with a piano concerto and an opera, but that's neither here nor there), and the imagination of this film kinda itched that bug a bit. Some day, right?

The other good new thing is a little game called Wario Ware: Smooth Moves for the Wii. Carrie and I have been having great fun playing, and can't wait until we can have some friends over to play.

I'll try to make sure that I don't wait a week until my next post. :)