Complete Randomness

Ok, so today I'm reading a magazine, and I come across an article that says Matthew Mcconaughey's nephew is named 'Miller Lyte'. Oh for God's sake. Apparently his brother drinks a lot of the stuff, so he thought it would be cute to name his offspring after a crappy, watered down beer. Ok. This is neither cute, nor funny, nor acceptable. Now, granted I always joke with Lori about naming our child something weird, but that's all it is: a joke. For example, I want to name our first son Worthington, just because I think it would be funny to say, "Worthington, be a dear and bring daddy another Martini, would you?" in a snobby British accent. But I would never really do it. Some things are much better off left as jokes. But back to Mcconaughey's toolbox of a brother. Some people just shouldn't be allowed to procreate. Seriously. My new rule is, if you name your child something stupid, you get kicked in the jewels once every day until: 1. You agree to change the name, or 2. You can no longer reproduce. Sounds fair, right? Also, this guy is getting his own show on Discovery Channel. Really? Something about oil rigs or some crap. All I'm saying is people like this should not be rewarded with celebrity. This guy went on to say that he wanted to name his daughter Genny Draft. Really? As in Miller Genuine Draft?!? Erg!! At least he doesn't drink Hoegaarden. Thank God for small miracles. **



On a lighter note, as you know, Friday was my last day at work. And as is customary at the job, early in the day, everybody passes around a card that they sign for the person leaving, retiring, etc. Well, at lunch, after everyone signed it, it was given to me. I didn't want to open it in front of everyone. (I really didn't want everyone to see how dissapointed I was when I was shaking it upside down and no money fell out.) Just kidding. Anyway, I was sitting at a traffic light and decided to read some of the comments. All was going well as I was reading all the "We're going to miss you's" and "Good luck in your futures", until I came to a comment that said: "Happy Birthday!" Holy crap I about lost it. I was laughing so hard I almost wrecked my car. Now, I couldn't make out the signature, so I'm not sure if the person was kidding, or just not paying attention to what kind of card it was (we pass a lot of cards around), but it was damn funny. Kudos to whoever you are. You made my day.


I'll just leave you with one last thought to ponder:

Surveys say that 8 out of 10 dentists prefer not to participate in surveys.



Yeah, I know I'm warped. Bye.

** This is a pic of Matthew Mcconaughey in Dazed and Confused, not his brother. (Purely coincidentally, I just looked at Lori's new post today titled, "Dazed and Confused" after I had already posted this picture. Weird!!)

5 Things I'd Rather Be Doing This Summer, But Can't Afford

There are several things I'd rather be doing this summer, actually more than several, but I've picked five that are on the top of my list. Unfortunately for many reasons, including lack of funds, I will not be able to (yet). But I can still dream, so here they are:

1. Fly a fighter jet in combat.

How cool would that be!! They say that one hour of flight training is equal to eight hours of physical labor, so I'd have to probably get in shape before trying this one.

Pros: Extreme adreneline rush, cool uniform, flying a friggin jet plane!

Cons: Possiblility of passing out and landing in a ball of flames.

Cost: $730 - 3700.

2. Drive an open-wheeled Baja truck on the Baja 500 track.

Flying across the desert, jumping over hills and rocks, rushing through rivers all at a top speed of 135 mph? Count me in. This is defininatly something I would love to try once.

Pros: Adreneline rush, beautiful landscapes.

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Cons: Breaking down in the middle of Mexico with nothing around except circling vultures.

Cost: $3000 - 5000

3. Learn Covert Operations.

There's no way in hell that I'd want to experience this in actual combat, but it would be completely awesome to take this adventure in Covert Ops training!

Pros: Learn to be like a real life James Bond, cool toys, adreneline rush.

Cons: The CIA might actually try to sign you up afterwards.

Cost: $3800

4. Travel to the International Space Station

Yeah, I like to dream big. But who hasn't wanted to go to outer space. I would just like to look down at the earth one time before I die. You can go on a mission for $25,000,000, but luckily for me, they also have one for only $15,000,000... Oh wait, that's not going to work for me either. Oh well, maybe next summer.

Pros: Going to space, bragging rights.

Cons: Cost, the most intense medical examination of your life, you might run into Lance Bass.

Cost: $15 - 25 million

5. Rent a Castle in England

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Well, I've never been to England and I've never rented a castle. So I'm just trying to kill two birds with one stone. And I say if you're going to go to England, might as well go in style.

Pros: Live like a king for 4 days.

Cons: You've spent so much on the castle, you can't afford the servants.

Cost: Four nights @ 2,269 Euros ($3,600)

So there's my list of things I'd rather be doing this summer. What's on your List?

Last Day on the Job

As I sit here packing up my stuff in my office, I am unexpectedly kind of sad. Although I'm looking forward to moving to Virginia and finding a new job, and new experiences, I realized that I really like my job, and the people I work with. This has been a great learning experience and growing experience for me that I couldn't have gotten anywhere else.

Geez, these two years went by really quick! Here's what I'll miss. I'll miss the rest of my video crew that I worked with very closely every day. Doug B., Patrick, Jeremy and James. We've became pretty close over the years traveling all over the country. They were a lot of fun to hang around. I'll miss traveling with them and joking around all the time.

I'll miss my boss, Charlie. I can say with all honesty that he is the best boss I've ever had. There is no question that he was always pulling for me and would always go out of his way for whatever I needed. He was so laid back and caring. He was kinda like a grandfather figure to me, just a great all around guy.

And I can't leave out Doug L. He's a producer that I've worked with on many projects since I've been here. In fact, we both got hired the same week, and we were both at the final interview together with the college president. I'll never forget the moment just before I was heading into the interview and Doug was coming out. Our future supervisor says to him, "Well, it's been nice knowing you." Doug turns and looks at me with stressed eyes, breathes heavily, and sighs, "Well, good luck." That was not what I wanted to hear right before going in. We both thought there was no way we were going to be hired after that interview. We both thought, 'well that's the last time I'll ever see that guy', but somehow we were both hired. We've become really good friends. I always tell Lori that he's my #1 fan. By that, I mean he always seems amazed when I come up with a new graphic or new editing technique, and tells me how cool it is. He really encourages me to keep going and coming up with better stuff and growing as an editor, and I really owe a lot to him for how much I've accomplished the last two years.

Now this may sound superficial to say, but what I think I'll miss most of all is my MacBook Pro laptop. I fell in love with this thing. I'm typing on it for the last time right now and it's kinda depressing. It's the property of the college, but it's been in my possession for so long, it really feels like it's mine. I've taken it home almost every night, on business trips, on vacations. You name it, it's been with me. I know I'll get another one someday, but they are really expensive and we probably won't be able to afford one anytime soon. Sigh.

So that's kinda how my day is. Kinda sad and kinda exciting at the same time. Two tough emotions to mix and work through. Talk more tomorrow, when hopefully I'm in a better mood.

Take care.

My First Post

Well, this is my first post. Now, what to write about. I'd love to say something really profound and enlightening to open my blog, but if you're reading this, chances are you know me and know that the chance of me saying something that profound and enlightening that will change your life forever are slim. Anyways, onto the point. I'll just tell you how my life is lately.

Lori and I have been married for over two months now and have been living in two different states for a longer amount of time. To say this is difficult is a severe understatement. Being apart, although a necessary evil at this point, has been tough. Although it has made me realize several things:

1. That I can make it on my own if I really had to. I know this may sound silly to some of you, but looking back on my life, there hasn't really been a time that I've lived all by myself. At every stage, I've either lived with my parents or had a roommate. I've learned that it's tough living on your own, but I'm surviving. I think living on my own has been a great life lesson for me.

2. That taking care of 4 cats by yourself is a pain in the ass. They all want attention at different times of the day, but it's always when you're right in the middle of something, e.g. right now. Iddle and Mouse, Lori's cats that she's had since before we met, have always had the attitude: He's that guy that mom likes, and he's alright, but we really just want attention from mom. Since she left, they have been all over me like crazy. Not that it's all bad, they are cute little buggers, but sometimes, I don't want a new suit made of cat hair, especially at lunch time.

3. How much Lori truly means to me and how lucky I am that she's a part of my life. I cherish every day that I get to talk with her and laugh with her and grow with her. She is the greatest thing that's ever happened to me and I am sincerely grateful to her and for her. It's made me realize that I married the right woman. I miss her like mad. I miss her more and more each day. Luckily it's only three more weeks till we'll be together again. And yes dear, I'm trying to hurry. I love you.

I guess that's about enough for my first post. Let's make a pact. I'll promise to update it as much as I can, if you promise to keep reading it. Till next time.

- Matt