MadMup.com

I'm sure most of you have seen this:

While I was looking for that one, I found this one, the sequel:

I enjoy these for a couple of reasons, but the biggest one being the texting shorthand, this all-encompassing form of communication that all teenagers use all the time. The "big" news networks frequently trot out a list of abbreviations that "all the kids are using," and I know I'm not the only one that looks at the lists and says, "Nobody in the history of texting and IM has ever used that one!" It's like the kid they got to give them the inside scoop was playing games on them and just making stuff up.

In 40 years I'll be like the grandma in that second clip, texting my buddies down the hall at the nursing home instead of taking the trouble to get my walker and risk breaking my hip by going down the hall to actually see them. I text enough that I recently had to up my data plan for my phone, as I was going to go over the 1500 I was allotted monthly. Somewhat tellingly, at the same I was doing that, I also lowered my voice plan, as I wasn't getting anywhere near the limit on that one. I did, in fact, halve my voice plan, and it's still more minutes than I've been using on average.

It should be noted that I don't just use texting to avoid talking to people - it's also a useful tool for scheduling and reminding, and its big brother, multimedia messaging, is a handy way to document events as they happen by letting me send pictures to Flickr, other people, or my email account.

There's a few reasons I like sending and receiving texts on my cell phone. First, it's convenient. I pretty much always have my cell phone nearby, whereas I don't necessarily have a computer or a pen and paper handy. When the thought crosses my mind that I need to do something when I get home, I know from historical events that I will most likely forget it by the time I get home. If I text a reminder from my phone to my email, I'll remember to do it. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten home from being out, saw that I had an email waiting, and said to myself, "I wonder who it's from?" before opening it to find that I had, indeed, forgotten what it was I needed to do.

Second, it's unobtrusive. You've been in a store, a library, a theater, or maybe even church when someone's on their cell phone yapping away - we've all been there, and most of us have even been the person in question. It happens. Someone conversing via text isn't forcing you to be a part of their conversations about grocery lists, kids sports schedules, or, worse, medical conditions. Assuming the person has their phone set to silent or vibrate (as opposed to, say, a Murloc), they're not making any noise at all. And to the receiver, it's like getting a voicemail without the hassle of having to dial in to hear the message - "Oh, Mark's going to be late because his cat killed the UPS guy. He says we should start without him."

Third - and this is what I like most about texting - is that it makes you consider what you're saying carefully, at least it should. A well-crafted text message needs to consider there's no room for non-verbals, so it needs to say what it means to say. I actually consider this a plus, by the way, as I think non-verbals sometimes get in the way of what I'm trying to say or understand. Further, text messages are limited. If I go over 160 characters, the message gets split into two messages. I have to choose my words carefully, and there have been many times I've edited a message to get it in under 160, turning my Dickensian tomes into Hemingway blurbs. It helps me consider more specific words that do in one what I had done in three or five, and I'm sure there are some of you that wish I'd learn that lesson for blogging, too.

The side effect to all that is that I am thinking about what I'm saying. There's no "off the cuff" texting: you type what you mean to type (unless you're using predictive texting and aren't paying attention to the screen, that is!). For me, that means I'm considering what I'm texting before I text it, something I'm not as good at when I'm talking. I can't count how many times I've typed something out only to erase and edit it before I send it.

Furthermore, texts you get from me are 99% readable English. I don't use "u" for "you," "l8r" for "later," or "(=o=)" for "TIE Fighter." I capitalize and use punctuation. I may occasionally use a "btw" or an "lol," but those have almost passed into the vernacular at this point. I'm not the fastest texter, but I hope to be an accurate one. Getting a cell phone with a full QWERTY keypad has helped me a lot in that regard, and in a lot of ways I'm a better text-typer than an actual typer.

I know that texting cannot be a replacement for talking to someone, but it can be a good supplement to the relationship. I receive status updates on my phone throughout the day from Twitter and Facebook, and knowing what my friends are thinking throughout the day when I can't be with them all the time helps me feel more connected to them.

So please know that if I'm texting you, it's not me blowing you off, it's me communicating, just like you might pick up the phone to ask someone how many bags of chips to bring to the party. I'll still talk to you, and I'll even meet you for lunch or Starbucks. Just don't be surprised if I get a few texts while we're there.

Labels: friends, technology, texting

10 comments

A friend of mine and his wife visited a couple of weeks ago and we planned to meet up for breakfast on Saturday. While they'd been in town before, they'd never been to my current apartment. We started talking on Friday night about directions, when he mentioned that he had his GPS with him.

"Neither Google Maps nor Microsoft Streets & Trips has my whole street, I'm afraid," I told him.

"Hey... why don't you give me your longitude and latitude and I'll find it that way," he came up with.

The prospect amused both of us so much that it quickly became the only option we would consider. I went outside and fired up my laptop in my car (my USB GPS won't work without a clear shot at the satellite), found my coordinates, and gave them to him.

The next morning, right on time, they showed up on my doorstep. Another victory for technology!


Now if I only I could find a Segway somewhere to try out...

Labels: friends, technology

8 comments

I took a trip this past weekend to visit my 20-year friends Josh and Dave (previous meeting chronicled here). Josh is moving to Colorado in a couple of weeks, so this was the last time we'll easily be able to get together for a while. We met at Dave's in Ohio and then I went to the Detroit area, spent the night at Josh's, and came home Sunday afternoon.

There's nothing quite like having friends you've had for twenty years or more - half our time was spent reminiscing about "that time we..." The three of us have been friends through some of our darkest days, and if ever we don't communicate for a while, we're able to pick back up like no time has passed. I love these guys and I'm better for knowing them.

Here are a few picture highlights from the weekend:

Sure, I went out there to meet my friends, but when a kitten's this adorable, pictures must be taken!

Dave normally has a bunch of snakes in his basement, but for now he's just got the one slightly-chewed salamander. Clarification: the salamander was chewed by Murphy, the older family cat, not by Dave or any of his kids.

I don't remember what sort of knowledge Ella was trying to impart to Josh, but it looks like it was very important.

Seriously, how could dudes that look this young have been friends for more than twenty years?


Josh and Aundrea share a spare moment of relaxation after having gotten their five kids off to bed. It should be noted that this moment of relaxation didn't happen until northwards of 11:00 p.m. Apparently, managing five kids is a lot of work. Who knew?


This has nothing to do with Josh and Dave, but this has amused me for years. I used to pass this sign occasionally for work, but hadn't seen it in a couple of years. This weekend on my way home, I had to stop and take a picture. It's one building, half of it is a furniture store and the other half is a funeral chapel. I'm guessing they had to put the sign up because one too many people looked at a coffin and said, "This'd look nice in the front room, wouldn't it, honey?"

I also have three very short videos from the weekend up over at YouTube:

• Reliving the glory days - Post Pattern
• Not so much with the glory - The Running Back
• The camera was set to "video" instead of "picture." Oops. That's Dave's wife Angela that you'll hear in the background, and that laughing you see us doing is pretty much what we do the whole time we're together - 20-Year Friends

I still hate driving, but I'm glad I went.

Labels: friends, video

6 comments

On Tuesday I went down to Indy to meet my brother (and Dr. S.) for dinner. They were in town for a two-day training seminar and Tuesday night was the best night for us to get together. Michael (mi hermano) emailed me where they were staying, so I Googlemapped it and printed out the step-by-step instructions. I studied the route a few times and obsessively looked at it every few seconds once I got to Indy, on the off-chance that I had missed a turn. I arrived at their hotel without incident, and Dr. S. knew the area well enough that we found the mall and places to eat without too much trouble. After dinner and walking around the mall a bit, I dropped them back off at their hotel and Dr. S. gave me directions back to the interstate.

In, out, no problem. Home by 11:30.

Now rewind to last week...

A friend of mine (who shall remain nameless) put up a "Hey, I'm going to Indy to get some camping gear, anyone want to go along?" post on his blog. "Sure, sounds fun," I said. "Hey, while we're there, can we stop by this one other store?" Sure.

So on Thursday I find the address to my store and print out the directions, making sure to get the phone number, just in case. He (let's call him "L") and another fellow ("B") picked me up around 7 and we headed out.

About ten minutes into the trip, I ask L, "So, what's this store we're going to?"

L: "Oh, I'm not really sure."

Me: "I'm sorry, what?"

L: "Well, I know it's on 86th Street near the mall."

(It should be noted at this point that there are about a grillion stores on 86th Street.)

Me: "Um, so you don't know the name of the store?"

L: "It'll be fine. We'll find it."

Me: ". . ."

L: "And if we don't, it'll be fine. We'll be fine."

Me: [strangled noise emanates from throat]

L: "If you're so worried about it, call W. and have her look it up."

Me: [dialing W. before he'd finished the sentence] "Okay."

At this point, the conversation becomes downright surreal.

L: "Have her search for xyz."

W: "Nothing. Oh, wait - is this it?"

L: "No... that doesn't sound right. Wait, have her search for abc."

W: "Is this it?"

L: "No... I don't think so. Here, let me talk to her."

Me: "You keep driving!" (We were, as they say, making good time. I didn't want L. to be distracted.)

L: "Oh, wait, I remember. I went to the site and used their Site Locator!"

Me: "This information could have been handier twenty minutes ago."

W: "Here is the address and the phone number."

Me: "Bless you. You may have saved L.'s life and me from a lifetime in the joint for murder."

Whew. That was a relief. Now to call the store to confirm their hours and where they are.

Disconnected. No alternate number given.

At this point, I am, of course, envisioning that we will be lost forever and I'm wondering how long it took the Donner Party to take extreme measures and I am kind of hungry already...

L: "Hey, we'll just go to this other store. It'll be fine."

So we ended up going to the other store. And they didn't have the stuff he was looking for. But then we went for Italian food and came back home and everything was fine. And we had a great time, to boot.

I'm not sure when I turned into this guy, but the idea of driving without a specific destination in mind just about killed me. I don't do so well with the "no plans" parts of life, but not in every "no plans" part. That's the part I really don't get - why am I so OCD about some stuff, but not all stuff?

Labels: driving, friends, OCD

6 comments

This past Sunday night my church had "Ministry Options Night," which is a fancy way of saying "no church." It's specifically meant to be a time when you can get together with family or friends and "fellowship," which is church-speak for "hang out."

The Career Class opted to have a get-together, hosted by Abby W. I took my new digital camera (a Canon PowerShot SD600, which I am loving) and told people to just go ahead and take random pictures throughout the evening. At the end of the night, there were a few more than 100 pictures taken.

Sure, it might be easier for you if I'd set up a gallery so you could see just the pictures you wanted to, but it was more fun for me to set it up as a video with music. Since this is my blog, I won out. Sorry. Maybe you'll have better luck next time (but I doubt it).

The video comes in at a sorta-lengthy 7 minutes and 26 seconds, but it includes music from The White Stripes, Brian Wilson & Paul McCartney, and Randy Newman. So even if you don't care to see the pictures, you could put it on in the background and listen to some nice music for a few minutes.

Labels: career class, friends, video

21 comments

Last night was a big night: I watched my first movie of the year.

Sure, that might not seem like a big deal to you, but last year I watched 371 movies, an average of 31 a month. I decided to try going a month without watching any movies, you know, just to see. It went fine. I watched a bit more TV and read a bit more and.. other stuff, I guess.

But yesterday was a new month, so I thought I'd watch a movie. Since it was so momentous, it couldn't be just any movie, it had to be an awesome movie.

It had to be Batman.

It also kind of felt like this was the sort of event that needed to be shared with people. I put forth the idea of having some people over and was encouraged to do so. An announcement was made, plans were put in motion, snacks were purchased, the whole deal. And, wonder of wonders, seven people from the Career Class at church showed up.

I like to think that many of you who read the site here like to do so because my foibles and quirks make you feel better about your own, either by making yours feel less severe in comparison or make you feel less alone in your similar ones. To that end, I feel I should confess the following:

I talk during movies.

Constantly. Non-stop. And the thing is, I hate that I do it! It's always the stupidest stuff! Here are the gems I subjected them to last night:

• The guy playing Gordon and the guy playing Alfred are the only two actors in all four of the Batman movies.
• She was married to Mick Jagger.
• Hey, Wendy, does his tie go with that shirt?
• How old were you all in 1989? (The most surprising answer: "Five." Seriously!)
• Best. Batmobile. Ever.
• That right there is when a million boys fell in love with Vicki Vale. (When she showed up onscreen.)
• Here's what was wrong with the sequel, Batman Returns: 1) Batman TWO should have been about Two-Face! Hello! 2) Too many villians, too much going on. 3) More origins were messed with.
• He had that light installed in the Batmobile just in case someone was going to be sitting in the passenger's seat and he needed to blind them.
• Watch his utility belt when he looks up at the helicopter - see it move? Why didn't they reshoot that?
• I hate this part because it messes up the whole origin of Batman! The Joker DID NOT kill Bruce Wayne's parents!!!
• This movie is just to get you in the mood for Prince in the Super Bowl halftime show.
• Batman wouldn't have killed The Joker - it's what he does! He spares villians! He makes it a point not to kill villians!
• Iconic hero shot coming right up! Wait for it... there!

See? See what I mean about it being inane? And this is just a small sampling.

I need some sort of help.

A big thanks to Matt, Marshall, Wendy, Melissa, Lee, Jeannie, and Eric for coming to my inaugural movie night and for not killing me.

Labels: friends, movies, quirks

19 comments

Okay, this might sound weird, but bear with me.

I don't tend to get many comments on my posts these days. It's a combination of writing entries that people don't feel they can respond to and writing entries that don't call for responses, I think. Because I've not been getting many comments, I don't really know who visits any more.

So I thought I'd ask this: if you read this, would you leave a comment? The comments are set up so you don't need to have a Blogger account to leave one. And if you don't want to comment in such a way as to leave a link to your blog, you don't have to. In fact, if you'd rather not admit to other people that you read, just leave a comment that will somehow let me know who you are but doesn't necessarily let other people know (except for you, Dave - none of this "Al J. Schmickfoonsie" business).

This experiment could go totally awry when nobody leaves a comment, but it might also lead me to blogs I'd like to be reading but don't even know about. I've done a risk/reward assessment and decided to take the chance.

When you've left a comment, put something like this up on your blog so I can come by and tell you I've been reading, too.

Thanks for stopping by!

Labels: friends

36 comments

My videogame boss (the guy who runs the site, not, you know, Bowser) said once that he doesn't make New Year's resolutions - if he decides to make a change he does it no matter what time of year it is. That's a good philosophy. Trouble is, I get stuck in this mindset that beginnings must coincide. Going to start brushing my teeth with my left hand instead of my right one? Can't do it until February. (I did this a little over a year ago, by the way. Now I can't brush my teeth with my right hand because it feels weird. Might be time to switch back.) Trying a new route to work? Can't do that on a Thursday. Beginnings of weeks, months, or years: these are the appropriate times for behavior changes. For me it's because it's easier to keep track of progress. If I started something at the beginning of the year, I can easily tell how long it took me to fail at it. "Let's see, it's January 7, so... one week!"

Labels: friends, life, new things

8 comments

Do not watch the following clip if you don't want to see me rocking out.

I have two things to say in my defense:

1. I did not know we were being taped.
2. It is difficult to sing and play at the same time.

Thank you.

Labels: friends, music, video

6 comments

If you’ve been reading my blog for any amount of time at all you’ve probably noticed I don’t get very personal very often. I’ve taken an “editorial” approach here, using observances to make a point or to make a joke – what I like to call the “Dave Barry Approach.” While I think you can piece together an accurate picture of me from what I post, it is by no means a complete one. If you were to meet me, I don’t think you’d be surprised. I pretty much am in real life what I am here, all quirks and smart aleck comments.

But there’s plenty you don’t know about me, plenty I keep to myself.

That’s a function of two different forces, I think. First, I grew up in Wisconsin. There’s something about Wisconsin – and, really, the whole Midwest – that doesn’t encourage sharing. If you’ve ever heard Garrison Keillor talk about his fictional town of Lake Wobegon you know what I mean. There’s an encouragement to “soldier on” and be nice to each other without letting on about whatever turmoil rages beneath the surface. It’s fine to have strong feelings, just keep them to yourself.

The second force is good old-fashioned fear. I am all about honesty, but honesty is a double-edged sword. In the one direction, it cuts through all the nonsense and gives a solid base for any relationship. In the other direction, though, it lays a person bare, open to ridicule, attack, and disgust.

I want people to like me, as a general rule – even people I’ll never see again, like waiters or people at the register. I want them to look at me, assess me as nice, and continue thinking that after I’ve said something.

But as much as I want people to like me, I also want to be safe. Safety, in fact, can outweigh a hundred other things. While I might not worry that someone else is going to stab me (though I sometimes actually do worry this), I certainly worry that they won’t accept me for who I am. Think back to high school and that crush you had. Why didn’t you tell them? You were afraid they wouldn’t feel the same way about you and when they didn’t, it was going to hurt. Carry that to its logical conclusion, though: the only way to really feel safe is to not reach out at all. If you never reach out, you’ll never get hurt. I think the editorial voice I’ve adopted here is a safety zone of sorts. You might not like my cats, you might not like trips I take, you might not like a bunch of things, but if I haven’t revealed my inner self completely, there’s still a chance you could like me.

See, what I want is for you to think I’m worth the effort, worth getting past all the quirks and the failures. I want you to think I’m worthwhile, but I have no way to prove I am. (And, in fact, I have a whole pile of evidence that I’m not. I feel like anyone I think is really great and I’m interested in being friends with deserves to have better friends than me.) I think there should be some sort of “Friend Résumé” we could hand out: “Excuse me, hi. I think you’re really neat and I want to be friends with you. Here’s a list of my faults and failures, but this other list is of friends I’ve had who found the experience to be worth the effort. You’ll see I’ve included a few phone numbers – those are people who are willing to be references, so feel free to call them. Thank you for your time and I hope to hear back from you soon.”

Nobody wants to invest time in a bad friendship. How frustrating to keep working and working at something that ultimately comes to nothing. So often, though, it’s our faults that make the relationship stronger. What’s the best way to show love, by liking someone’s qualities that are likable? Nope, it’s by liking them in spite of their failings. 1 Corinthians 13:5 says love “does not seek its own.” 1 Peter 4:8 says “love covers a multitude of sins.” Think about the best friend you’ve ever had. Were things always perfect? Of course not. How’d you get past those times and remain friends? “Love covers a multitude of sins,” is how. One of the best friends I have right now I’ve known for over twenty years. Our Junior year in high school we were sitting at a lunch table and he was making fun of me for something and I threw an orange at him, hit him right below the eye. We got past that and a hundred other rough patches and here we are, still friends – in fact, I’d say we were better friends for it.

In the beginning stages of friendship, though, it’s difficult to know what to do. A series of faults right at the outset can strangle off what might have been a fantastic friendship given time, but isn’t it important to be honest from the get-go? How honest is too honest?

I think that as I get older, I’m coming to the conclusion that I want people to like me for who I am, not who I can present myself as. I still feel the same way I did in high school, not wanting to be hurt, but I think it’s more important that the other person not be hurt. “I think you’re really great and I want to be friends with you, but I want to let you know up front what you’re dealing with so you have the chance to back out now before you get stuck with it all down the road.”

I want to be worthwhile, but I guess that’s really up to you. All I can do is be who I am. And, just like Dave Barry’s writing, you’ll either like that or you won’t.

Labels: friends, life

8 comments

Josh, Dave, and I have been talking about getting together for some time now. We haven't seen each other in a long time and life keeps going, so you've got to make things happen. I'd seen Dave at Christmas, but I hadn't seen Josh in probably four years. Josh lives in Michigan, Dave lives in Ohio, and I live in Indiana, so we looked for a place that was "somewhere in the middle" that we could maybe meet up for lunch some Saturday. The talking never gets past "Yeah, we should do that," but it gets brought up every other month or so. Dave even went so far as to find a place that was "sorta" in the middle. When specific Saturdays were mentioned, though, it was always "I'm on a trip" or "I'm re-roofing the house" or some such nonsense. Josh has five kids, Dave has three, so that made some sort of difference, too, I guess.

This past Thursday, though, Dave said, "I'm free tomorrow night." So was I. And, after a while, so was Josh. So the plan was made: meet at Welch's Ribs in Sturgis, MI, at 7:00 p.m. Friday.

Remember when Dave said it was "sorta" in the middle? That apparently meant "mile-wise." Time-wise their trips were a smidgen over two hours. Mine was three hours. Meh. No big deal, I guess. Dave got there first, I got there a little afterwards, and Josh was late. Slacker.

This is us:

They say that friends are people who know all about you but love you anyway. These are those friends for me. I've been friends with them for 20 years and known them even longer. They've been around me during all of my biggest mistakes and still love me. They've laughed with me, cried with me, preached at me, persuaded me, corrected me, and accepted me. If I haven't talked to one of them in months, I can pick up the phone and we can pick up right where we left off. If I were to start listing memories I have about these two, we'd be here forever and you'd get bored - we'd be in stitches, but you'd be bored.

Everybody should have friends like Josh and Dave. I hope you do. I hope I've been 1/10th the friend to them that they've been to me. Thank you, Aundrea (Mrs. Josh) and Angela (Mrs. Dave), for not only letting them come but actually encouraging them to do so.

We left Welch's a little after 11:00 on Friday after having talked about family, former friends, theology, surgery, movies, and all manner of other things. It was raining and hard to see on my way home, and I didn't get back until 3:00 Saturday morning, dog-tired and feeling physically awful.

But you know what? I'd do it again. I hope we get the chance.

Labels: friends

14 comments