Final Four

So last year Pastor Bill invited me to join the 'Ganza NCAA Tourney pick 'em. Out of about 400 entrants I finished pretty much dead middle.... and ahead of Pastor Bill. Which of course means this year I was feeling a little cocky. So when Bill offered up that he had all 4 number 1 seeds heading to the Final Four, I felt smugly justified in criticizing the picks. After all, no tourney has had all 4 number 1 seeds reach the Final Four. None. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Zero.   

Which means, of course, that this year is the first time ever the 4 No. 1 seeds have made the finals. Which means, of course, that Pastor Bill was... right and I was... wrong. Plus he now has bragging rights for a whole freaking year...... I really need to learn not to smack talk about sports. 

Trailer Review

A critic, Christopher Orr, at The New Republic felt like the trailer to the new film 21 gave away everything about the movie. So he reviewed the movie after watching just the trailer. Then, he updated the review after seeing the film.

Interesting as an exercise and as fodder to those of us who feel trailers give away waaaayyyyyy too much of the movies they promote. I wonder though, if you critiqued trailers and movies like this on a regular basis how often would you find the trailer gave too much away and how often the trailer misrepresented the movie entirely.

Deathtrap and The Boss

Friday night Trish's new play opened up - (Well, ok, it is a 30 year old play and Trish has a part, but really, it is Trish's new play.) - Deathtrap, directed by our good friend Todd Downing. A little murder, a little mayhem, a little comedy. It is a fun play. And it is just so much fun to watch Trish on stage. Those in the Seattle area this weekend, check it out (limited run, so this weekend is that last weekend).

Saturday night was my Christmas present. Trish gave me tickets to see Bruce Springsteen in concert. (Sadly, she got cast in Deathtrap and could not join me. Stupid play. Stupid Todd Downing.) Only one thing to say about the concert:

THAT WAS TOTALLY WICKED!!

Happy Birthday, Gary!

Gary Pope's birthday is today. For those who do not know Gary, I met him the summer of 1991 when he and Chris Wrenn worked together. Soon Gary and I were working together and since then there have been many many many many nights drinking beer, playing video games, pool, darts and watching all sorts of bad movies (for whatever reason whenever he, Chris and I would go see a movie at least two of us would hate it passionately).

More importantly, Gary is the kind of friend who will cheerfully come and pick you up across town at 2:30 in the morning because you are too drunk to drive home. The kind of friend who will encourage you when you take risks and give you whatever support he can. He is the kind of friend who understands that his friends screw up from time to time and doesn't hold it against them, just asks they return the favor.

Now that you know what a great guy he is, go check out his band's my space page and groove to their sounds.

Happy birthday, man.

Wrist Switch

Had to switch the ole' rubber band last night.

Trish and I were talking about her geek tendencies and how I bring them out. She mentioned an old boyfriend who would have mocked her for it (the geek tendencies) and I gave my standard response whenever his name is mentioned -- "That's because he's an idiot."

An insult is not necessarily a complaint, but for my purposes it counts the same. Really no reason for that, especially since this boyfriend is far in the past. Time to let it go.

So that's 2 days the first time out..... 2 days..... Out of 21..... Oh crap.

No Complaints

How long can you go without making a complaint?

One of the things I love about my church is its emphasis on creating a strong community. One example is life groups, essentially small groups that help each other with the struggle of what it means to be a Christ follower. I am currently part of a group that is studying the book of James. Last night we were working through Chapter 3 which, among other things, is about how easy and dangerous it is to let your mouth run off. So in our group last night we started talking about all the times we end up griping instead of taking any kind of positive action.

It reminded me of this article that I stumbled upon last fall. An attempt to live 21 days complaint free; use a rubberband on your wrist as a reminder and when you stumble, switch wrists and restart the clock. I gave it a whirl. Could not make it past 7 days (and there were probably a couple of times I let one slide) over a two month period. It was an eye opening experience, especially when I realized how often I complain about myself (to myself, of course).

Last night's conversation made me think that I gave up too easily. So I pulled out a new rubberband today and am starting the clock all over again. I will post updates when I have to switch wrists and when I make 21 days. Wish me luck!

Geek!

I am way too much of a geek if I am really as excited as I think I am about this. Sigh. I really am that excited.