I used to be a doctor for pretend

Musings for July 2008

The month of July seems to really be flying by and I still haven’t seen “The Dark Knight.” For most of my co-workers, they would have thought I would be first in line for the flick, I have been talking about it for years now.

I just don’t have faith that I won’t end up in a theater with some jerk talking through the whole thing. It seems to happen to me every time. I will see it though. That and the X-Files movie.

Just watched “The Mist,” the latest Stephen King story to make it to the big screen. It’s been sitting on a long wait from Netflix for a while but it finally showed up in my mailbox earlier this week. I kinda saw the ending coming but it was still quiet shocking. Not really the movie I originally thought it would but, but well worth the rent. I have “21″ and “Awake” sitting on my coffee table now for my next viewing.

The Xbox 360 continues to get a work out. I’m starting to play Halo 3 with the difficulty level turned up a notch or two. I’m beginning to think this will end up being a mistake as it is taking me three times as long to progress through the first stage, but my gamer score/pride needs some achievements.

I’m looking at a week in August to take off from work. Things have been crazy at work, many of you probably know the editor for the Independent left recently. We’re still working hard but no announcement for his replacement has been made.

The majority of my vacation will be spent relaxing and letting nothing be my road trip. My Dad is trying to get me to come with him to a battlefield or some other excursion but we’ll have to see. I need some time to just stand still for a change.

I have a new gadget, a SlingBox A/V sitting atop my TiVo. It’s pretty sweet. It allows me to watch and control my TiVo on my MacBook from anywhere I have a broadband connection. I haven’t tested it out too much, but I’m planning on giving it a good work out this weekend.

Current music: Saves the Day “In Reverie”

Swinging away in Lynd and Benson

This morning I went out golfing with Alex, hitting 9 holes at Savannah Oaks in Lynd. It was my second round of golf this week, on Friday I hit the Benson course with my mom for 18. I’m slowly seeing improvements in my game, it’s just a shame some of the progress is really slow. I’ve been golfing for about 4 years now and I’m finally seeing the distance I’ve been looking for. I’m still not going to publish my scores though.

A few weeks ago Alex and I hit the Lynd course, it was my first time out there and I have to say it’s a beautiful place to play golf. Paved cart paths throughout, nice elevated greens and everything. Oh and a lot of water and beaches.

Alex and I grabbed a few photos during that round of golf. Check them out when you get a chance.

One Week ago, in a city a few hours away

Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination from Derek Jensen on Vimeo.

A few thoughts for July

I’m sitting on my sofa enjoying a little surround sound goodness from the new John Mayer DVD and I thought I would share a few quick thoughts before I head off to bed — getting rest before a 10 hour plus work day.

• My 10 year high school reunion is coming up in about a week. I’m still not sure if I’ll be making it out there for it, I have a lot going on right now and I’m not sure if travling to Benson for that weekend is in the cards. That could change though.

• My Xbox 360 has been working over time lately. From Need For Speed: Carbon, my latest acquisition for $10 new at GameStop to Tiger Woods 08 and Lego Star Wars II, the console has been a good little work horse.
• I don’t like to complain about the heat, knowing what Minnesota is like when the snow falls, but this heat has been a lot to take. My car’s AC isn’t working the greatest and rolling down the windows means a lot of allergy issues might pop up.
• I wrote a blog over at the Independent about troubles Apple and AT&T ran into with the release of iPhone 3G and Mobile Me. I really would like to pick up a iPod Touch, especially with some of the AT&T junk going on.
• I’m planning on seeing a few movies in theater this summer yet. The X-Files movie, Clone Wars and possibly HellBoy II. We’ll see what happens. If you go see those movies, please don’t talk through them.

This weekend will be filled with work hours until Sunday afternoon. I will be heading out to Slayton, Walnut Grove, Cottonwood and around Marshall. If you see me out and about, feel free to say hey. I’m always looking for a good victim volunteer for “Independent Views.”

Star Wars at MN Sci Museum

I went to the Star Wars exhibit at the Science Museum of Minnesota this past weekend. It was great to get up close to many of the iconic images, props and costums from my favorite film series. It was also interesting to look at some of the different ways the science of Star Wars was both prophetic and grounded in reality.

Derek had his camera with him and snapped many photos and was kind enough to grab some shots of me with some of my favorites from the exhibit. You can check out those photos here.

You can also peep some of his excellent shots of the exhibit on his flickr page.

This marked my second trip to the Science Museum, it’s one of my favorite places in Minnesota. From getting to see the dinosaurs to watching movies on the giant OmniTheater, if you’re from Minnesota and haven’t checked out this amazing place, you owe it to yourself, go before Star Wars exits in August.

What if Lost was made in the 70s?

via - Modsuperstar.

Happy Fourth of July

Just wanted to wish all my fellow Americans a Happy Fourth of July. Just finished watching some fireworks out of Boston, nothing like celebrating our country’s independence with big explosions.

Laufty goals

A few months ago I picked up some small pocket sized notebooks with the idea that I would keep them with me at all times. I would write down little ideas that strike me throughout the day, things that strike my fancy for a good blog post.

Cut to now and I’m still sloppy about sharing the details of the things going on in my life. I’d blame Twitter, the place where most of my fleeting thoughts end up, but that’s not really fair. Many of the topics that have popped into my head over the last few weeks would require more than 140 characters could provide.

Instead of going through the empty white pages of the notebook I stopped carrying with me three weeks ago, I figured I would list out a few of those topics here. Who knows, maybe I’ll actually get the motivation to do more with them soon if seeing them on the computer screen un-fleshed out doesn’t annoy me enough.

• Definitely, Maybe - the movie, not the fantastic debut by the best band ever. The flick is a love story told as a bedtime story, that spans 15 or so years. It’s a touching story about a father and his daughter, the loves he lived and the mistakes he has made. A must see.
• The golf swing - Alex and I finally got back out on the golf course, heading out to Savannah Oaks in Lynd. It was my first time on the course and Alex’s third. He was breaking in new clubs and mine were going for their second round. Terrible round for myself, but hitting the driving range later, I might have found my golf swing. Finally. Five years later.
  
• Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends - New Coldplay album is extraordinary.

At some point I hope to expand on those three subjects, but for the time being those will lay flat on the screen as they are. I’m horrible like that some times.

Earlier today I was having a discussion with one of my editors about the bad habits us writers suffer from. Wanting to improve as a writer, I asked if he would shed light on some of my bad habits. The thing that came time mind for him was my complete aversion to compound words.

Ironically I was writing two stories at the time that featuring “landowners” as “fireworks.” Of course reviewing, I realized on more than a couple occasions in each there was a space in the middle of the compounds that should have been there.

I’m sure this blog reveals a number of other bad habits I’ve picked up as I fly through the keyboard trying to get my point across. I’m working on it, I promise.