MadMup.com

I’ve come to realize another proof that blogging is social for me – I blog more when I have less contact with people. The more time I spend with people, the less I blog. You can go two ways with this: if you want me to blog more, ignore me. If you want me to blog less, hang out with me.

This summer is a big one for movies – Iron Man, Prince Caspian, and Indy IV already, with The Dark Knight and X-Files 2 coming up still. A dude could just geek right out if he was inclined to. And I am.

Speaking of Indy IV… I’m putting my thoughts behind a spoiler tag here so I don’t ruin it for anyone who hasn’t seen it. If you’re curious as to what my thoughts on it were, click and drag over the darkened area:First off, it was great to see Indy back in action. The age thing wasn’t even off-putting a little, and wouldn’t even have been noticeable if they hadn’t kept talking about it. Reuniting Indy with Marion was great, too, though it would have been nice for her to have more to do than just show up. I didn’t even mind Shia LaBeouf as much as I normally do. So what went wrong? Pretty much everything else. Indy didn’t really figure anything out on his own, aside from readin a language or two. He barely used his whip! The storyline… UGH. Aliens? Dumb. There were some great action sequences, but there was also a scene of Shia swinging through the jungle on vines. I give this movie 2.75 out of 5 stars, and that’s mostly just because Indy himself is awesome.

I’m headed to Wisconsin this weekend for my parents’ 40th anniversary. Forty years is a long time. Congrats, Mom and Dad!

Next weekend I’m headed to our nation’s capital to hang out with a friend and see the sites. That’s a lot of traveling in a short time for a guy who doesn’t like to travel much, but I’m really looking forward to it.

Some of you might remember my experiences with Maya. She was very helpful, but I didn’t stick with it for whatever reason, and now there’s no room on the entertainment center for the old Xbox. Last week WiiFit was released and I got it, thinking it might be a different angle on the same issue. It, too, has a person being led in exercise by on-screen avatars, but this one has a method of feedback in the form of a balance board. It’s slightly larger than a scale, and when a person stands on it, the program can sense the person’s balance and weight. There are several games in four categories (Aerobics, Balance, Strength, Yoga) that use the sensing to see how a person is doing. So far my favorite activities are Advanced Step and Jogging, the latter mostly because it’s fun to see the other Miis in my collection run past me and sometimes trip. I can’t get the hang of Boxing, and Hula Hoop makes me feel like a durn fool. We’ll see if WiiFit fares any better than Maya, who has shown great restraint in not writing me sad letters.

Most of you know I’ve been tired of apartment living for a while now. At the same time, the prospect of going through the process of buying a house is more than daunting to me. However, last week I talked to a lender which led to me talking to a realtor – mostly because there was a house I really wanted to buy. This led to me putting in an offer on said house this week. Things went a little quicker than I imagined they would because someone else put an offer on the house, too. Sadly, they accepted the counteroffer, which meant my offer didn’t even get a chance to be considered. I know most people play pretty close to the vest when going through the whole house-buying thing, but I don’t really know why. They talk of it in hushed tones and start with “Now, don’t tell anyone, but we’re looking to buy a house…” Meh. I don’t get it, so I probably won’t be like that. We’ll see what happens from here. My realtor has already assured me that he has plenty of other properties in mind like the one I didn’t get. I am not the least bit surprised.

The cats are doing well, thanks for asking.

Today’s my last day in my office for a month or two. We’re working in teams of techs this summer, so I will go help upgrade and replace computers in other schools, and then they will come to my school to help me. It’s a tiny bit nervewracking, but it will probably be fine.

Those following my Twitter feed know that I’ve been eating chicken soup for breakfast a lot lately. Let me tell you, it’s a great way to start your day. If we can eat pancakes for dinner (and we can), I say there’s nothing wrong with eating chicken soup for breakfast.

Be well, netizens.