Wow, long time since a blog entry.  Sorry all!  Let's see, I made sushi today.  Each time I make it, I'm getting better and better at perfecting my rice recipie.

I finally finished "The Eye of the World," which is book one of The Wheel of Time.  This is probably the fifth time I've tried to read it.  It was really good, I was just never able to get to the point that I was really sucked in before without being distracted and forgetting what had already happened.  The book really shows its age (it's been in the lake a few times too….).

I took a friend Geocaching, and she's really into it, so now I have a buddy to go with, which makes me very happy!  We've dubbed ourselves, Team Shadowpuppet:

Us at "It's almost like being there" which is in Boyce Park.  This cache was cool, I found my first geocoin in the wild, so we moved it on to "Alpine High" the next day.

Us lost in Alpine Park…really we just wanted to see the playground equipment…yeah, that's it!

After we found "Alpine High" we celebrated.

Work on the website goes very well.  I still need to upload a few more of my pieces to my portfolio and get some things worked out (like adding comments), but if you want to check it out: www.michaelcrane.net.

I'll be posting the blog entries here for a while too, since it's nice to get them all in the 'friends' feed.  I'll post some updates as things progress.

I went over to my brother's and he had saved all three episodes of Heroes, which I watched.  I really like the show, it has somewhat of a LOST feel to it, but stands on its own.  I do have to say, there are way too many commercial breaks.  Now, they are usually very short, but too many.

Ok, I'm off for now, talk with everyone soon!

Wow, so much is going on!  So once again, let's see if I can get it all down, probably not, but I'll give it a shot.

Last Sunday I went to see Spamalot.  It was great.  Different than the movie (more apparent in the second act), and I'm really hoping to get the soundtrack in the near future.  Also, the confetti cannons made me happy.

I went to SVC's first Homecoming this last weekend (actually got there Wednesday night and stayed through Saturday night), and actually had a really good time.  I knew I was going to enjoy seeing eveyone and hanging out, but other than that, I was afraid I'd be bored most of the time, but I wasn't.  I got a free t-shirt, oven mit, three dollars (from PNC Bank's Money Machine) and one of those crystal things with my picture in it!  I also went to Jioio's with Mary Beth and Maria (B.) and generally had a good time.  It was nice to see familiar faces, and at the same time, it was cool to be an alumnus.  I found out the new president of the college is a democrat (which I didn't realize, considering he was one of George W. Bush's senior cabinet members).  I wish more people I had gone to school with were there, but hopefully next year they'll be there.

They'll be putting the stadium right into the hillside for the football team, so that will be cool.  And, to top it all off, there were people tailgating in Lot A over Homecoming, even without a football game…I can't wait for next year!

Sadly though, I did not get the job at St. Vincent Seminary.  The manager called me earlier today to let me know.  The good news is though, that she has a lead I'm going to follow up with at the Latrobe Bulletin (I think I know the reporter leaving…I'm hoping to find out if I'm right or not).  The manager told me that I was her second choice (out of 31 people, and the only person ranked above me has eight years experience in higher education PR, so that's pretty awesome) and she's going to keep my stuff on file, just in case it doesn't work out with this person.

So, of course I'm really excited about the new Nintendo Wii, and there is an online Mii generator, and here's what I made for me:

I think that's it at the moment, we'll see.

Lots of things I guess.  Let's see…chances are I'll forget stuff, but I'll give it a shot.

So I've been reading a lot (big suprise), and typically I don't really like crime books.  However, when the crime in question is the death of Humpty Dumpty and the inspectors are Jack Spratt and Mary Mary (quite contrary), I enjoy it.  The book is by Jasper Fforde and I suggest it, he also wrote a book about Jan Eyre, Great Expectations and Hamlet (I kind of want to read the Hamlet one).

I went up to camp this weekend for Fall Ceremonial.  Suprise suprise, I was put on fire crew.  Which was a lot of fun, since we actually had enough people (7 people to build 3 very, very large fires…as in, we use down trees to create the teepee around it).  Sadly though, there was a bee hive in the ground near the third fire pit, so that created some issues, and the fires didn't burn quite as well as we hoped, and of course, people complained, but whatever, it's a new ceremonies chair, and he's doing a good job.  I may not be his official advisor (yay for politics), but he wants me to be.  And of course, now I'm going to be helping out with publications and the dance team (doing crafts for them, not dancing or drumming).

So anyway, I get over the summit and hit traffic…oh yeah…84 Lumber Classic, crap.  Traffic was horrible, but I evuentally got to camp.  Hung out for a while, got mistaken for a youth member (which makes the transition to being an adult even weirder), and met up with people I hadn't seen for a while.  Saturday night, a bunch of people go the Black Eyed Peas concert and more hanging out ensues (also the reservation director goes to The Clarks on Sunday, he contimplated taking a picnic dinner…hehehe).

Also on a side note, I met up with Bobbie, Fr. Fred and Fr. Boniface.  Ranger Will told me they were running a retreat, so I stayed around after I was all done and went to mass with them.  It was really cool seeing them, they were all really suprized to see me.  I felt a llittle out of place, only three arrowmen and a whole lot of Catholic families (read: lots and lots of small children), but it was nice.  I talked with all three of them for a while afterwards, it was a nice refreshing ending to an already really good weekend.

And may I just say, I met up with an old co-worker I haven't seen in a while.  And since I've seen him, he was in a horrific car accident.  Everyone says how much he's changed and how much  nicer he is…well, he hasn't changed at all.  He's still the horrible, useless, condesending person he always was.  He just tries to play up the car accident.  I refused to even mention it, and he was just itching to tell me about it, I knew it, but I wouldn't give him that pleasure.  Yes, I'm even more of a horrible person, I know, but really, nothing's changed, and it ticks me off that people see a change in him.

In other news, I'm running to become a DRC Liason in Until URU and URU Live, and we've been making campaign flyers and banners and such, which is a good time (all digital off course).  Basically, the post works as a Liason between the DRC and the explorers.  We set up town hall meetings, conduct interviews, "help" with unveiling new areas, etc.  It's improtant becasue with the transition to URU Live coming up, things are going to really hectic and crazy-go-nuts with news.  Anyway, it's kind of exciting for me, but then again I'm a big dork.  If you really want to know more about URU, check out the site I work at: URU Obsession

SVC Homecoming (without the football team, they don't start playing unti next year…yeah, go figure that one out) is next weekend.  It actually looks like I'll be going up Wednesday night to hang out, go to Passion (and then the bar) Thursday, and then actual homecoming festivities Friday and Saturday.

Ok, so this post really sucked, it was all over the place and confusing, I'm sorry, I'm listening to Distorted View in the background, and usually it doesn't affect me, but it's a good show, so I'm going to blame that.  Have a great one everyone, and I'll see you all back here again soon!

Sam and Max are finally returning.  And they're coming to GameTap later this month….I'm very excited, and now have another reason to get it besides URU

So I have a friend who has a metal detector.  Him and his girlfriend go out looking for stuff.  This story isn't about them, but a random old guy I saw using a metal detector the other day.  Usually you see them being used on a beach, and sometimes in a field, or even the forest.  But this guy was using it in a paved parking lot.  I was very confused…unless he had a jackhammer or something with him, I don't think he'll be getting anything when the metal detector starts to beep.

And now, some links for your viewing pleasure (and my archival):

40 Ideas for Lent (sounds fun and interesting)
Top 10 religious jokes (in regular and inappropriate varieites)
In praise of Organized Religion
Online Labyrinth

More to come, probably.

1. If you could pick your own theme song, what would it be?
At the moment, probably Goo Goo Doll's Stay With Me, but it could also be Marvelous 3's Radio Tokyo or Angels And Airwaves's Star the Machines.  Then again, the main theme from Myst III: Exile would also work well.

2. Now be honest…if others had to pick a song that described you, what would they choose?
Something eccentric or classical probably.  Maybe something with a harpsicord?

3. What song would be/was the first dance at your wedding?
Love is What You Need by the Clarks would be nice I think.

4. What song gets stuck in your head most often?
A song I played in 7th grade band: the theme from the Magnificent Seven (a western movie I think).  And a suite of music from the movie Gladiator get's stuck in there a lot.

5. What song would you want played at your funeral?
The funeral, I have a few hymns in mind, and currently, the song Cedric from the Goblet of Fire soundtrack has enthralled me.  As for the wake…that will be awesome, I'll have great music planned for that!

Listening to an online radio station with roatating DJs…at the moment they are playing Techno.  I turn the sound off to take a phone call, and I turn it back up, and it's like the music hadn't gone anywhere, it was exactly how I rememberd it….oh jeez…techno…hehehe.

A friend introduced me to a fun game, that only takes a little time (you're limited to how much you can do each day, which I think is good, it ensures I won't get too bored of it quickly), called kingdom of loathing. It'sbased on RPGs, but it's all comical and stick-figure-esque.

So I finally went caching again, it's been too long since I've gone.  I was planning on doing one that I just discovered is actually in my neighborhood (it's a puzzle cache, so it took me a bit to figure it out the coordinates), but when I drove up there, a guy was getting out of his car with his little daughter (like maybe 4 or 5).  I felt really self-conscious all of a sudden.  It is a weird hobby, but perfectly safe and legal, but still, it would seem a bit odd to this guy to see me (hippy hair and all) trekking into the woods with a backpack and GPSr, so I decided to go after another one across town (which is fairly new).  So I go to pull into the parking lot at that park, and lo and behold, the guy in front of me pulls in to.  I grit my teeth and park, he ends up just pulling over so he can make a phone call, so I trek in.  It was a nice park, I never knew it was there (a huge benefit to the sport), I found the cache, and had a really good time doing it.  I think I'm going to try to do the first cache tomorrow.

The title of this post is a quote from "Serenity."  Great movie, I suggest everyone see it.  If you haven't seen Firefly, don't worry, neither have I, and the movie still makes sense (speaking of, if anyone has Firefly and wouldn't mind me borrowing it, let me know…)

So, some decent things have been going on, and some observations.  I've really taken a liking to Samantha Brown's "Passport to Europe" series on the travel channel.  I know it's a little campy and dorky, but I really like it.

Also, I've known this for a while, I just always forget until I drive by Hooters.  Everyone always jokes about knowing the waitresses there, and it turns out I do.  One of my friends from my old church is now a waitress there.  Which is weird unto itself, but also in the fact that she was never the one I imagined working at Hooters (not that she wasn't pretty…and a gifted waitress, becasue that's really why they are hired…) she just always struck me as more of the sultry type, not a peppy, flashy, bimbo…but I guess that is equal opportunity at work (and granted, I haven't seen her in about 2 years, so things could have changed).

I do have to say though, I was really excited yesterday (and still am), I actually ran into my district comissioner (for the boy scouts) at the mall and we got to talking.  She's really upset with everything that happend with our troop (buried somewhere in the mega update below is the story, basically myself and a bunch of other very knowledgeable leaders were attacked and run out of the troop by a bunch of religious fanatics).  I knew that I still wanted to be involved, but I didn't know how, so I asked, and it looks like I'm going to take the plunge and become a comissioner!  I'll go to The school of commissioner science in the fall and then work from there.  I'm nervous, but still really excited!

1) This is the 1st of September, what do you want to accomplish by the 31st?
Have a job…yes please…something in my field…not selling copiers.

2) What does September make you think about or feel?
Going back to school (I miss you guys), camping and a book I've been waiting for is coming out this month (so as an edit to the above question, I also want to read the book and find one of the rings, hopefully the one worth over a million with the red diamond)

3) September is the ninth month; can you name nine memories so far from this year?
The first two seem so sad, my grandpa dying and getting run out of my scout troop.  But I also have Graduation, road trip from Arizona, an awesome card from my uncle, Who wants to be a Superhero?, seeing Beerfest with Evan, out to the bar with Tom and Steve and finding the amazing music I'm listening to right now (Cedric from the Goblet of Fire soundtrack).

They are memories to me, and are special in their own ways.

4) What does September have in common with three other months and can you name them?
So now this is a pop quiz….well, it is equally divisble by three (being the ninth month), as are March, June and December (odd question).

5) The first weekend in September signals the end of summer for many even though it doesn’t really end for weeks. When does summer end for you?
Summer always ended when camp staff ended, so the middle of August.

Things have been good I suppose, I finally got my banking all fixed.  (see two posts down for the story).  More reading, more resumes, more worrying about finding a job.  Some days are a lot tougher than others, I know I'll find one, it's just so frustrating in the meantime.

I'm going to start working on a new forum skin for URU Obsession, which is scary, I've never done one before, but we'll see.  I'm also starting to work on some more secrets for postsecret, as always, head over and check it out.  If any of mine ever show up, I'll let everyone know (but you'll have to guess which one(s) are mine).

I'm hoping to go up for SVC homecoming at the end of the month (also something I should have added above, oh well), but was hoping to go up Thursday night for Passion (and hopefully a trip to the Pond), anyone mind me crashing on their floor?

So I joined a whole bunch of groups on LJ, and this one seemed cool, and a good place for some inspiration on what to write, it's called theFriday5 (really, The Friday Five, but I like how I formatted the name…).

They send out five questions (in the form of a friend subscription) and I respond to them, and am supposed to comment with a link to my responses, although I'm not sure if I will or not…we'll see.  Anyways, on with my inaugural questions:

1. What book or books were special to you in your childhood?
Goblins in the Castle instantly came to mind.  I read that book constantly, I hope it's around somewhere.

2. What was particularly special or memorable about those books?
I loved the story, the idea of a forgotten past and secret passageways in a castle and befriending and ogre and discovering and escaping from a hidden and evil society.

3. Have you re-read any of them as an adult?
No, sadly I'm not sure if I have my copy any more.

4. If so, were the books as good as you remembered them?
N/A

5. What do you think about movies being made out of children's classics (like the Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of The Rings, etc.)?
I think the books are great, as are the movies, however they aren't a substitute.  The books contain so much more depth.  And besides, I hate questions like this, they are two different mediums and should be treated as such.  Yes, books make for great screenplays in many instances (and vice-versa), but the two are engaging becasue of different things and provide the user with vastly different experiences.