A couple things to talk about, and as always, I know I have other things to talk about and have a list somewhere around here, but I can’t find that list and forget what I wanted to mention it because I didn’t write it down…so that will be content for next time!

Anyway, I keep forgetting to mention, when I came back from camp (when I went to West Penn and Millvale), there was a big accident on the Parkway right under the Garden City Bridge.  Luckily (almost) we got there and it was moving.  We got up to the accident and then were stopped for about 15 minutes.  And as much as it sucked to be stopped, we at least had front row seats.  A piece of construction equipment had fallen off of a trailer and caused the accident, back-up and gouges in the road.  One of the cool things though was the neighborhood kids (and adults) gathered on the bridge to watch what was going on.

A friend (thanks Steve!) sent me "From Myst to Riven."  It’s a book about the development of Riven, the process and a lot of artwork.  The book itself it huge, I always thought it was physically a lot smaller!  I’m really enjoying it, I’ll be putting up a review when I finish up.

Alberto Gonzales is resigning!  To quote John Stewart, I really do hope that this helps to clear up the "memory herpes" that seems to be plaguing the administration.  It is nice though to see both parties (minus the executive branch) agree on something and work together.

My birthday was nice, thank you to everyone for the cards and well-wishes!  We had a nice dinner with family and ended up playing games of Munchkin and Fluxx while watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  And as always, the quest for a cool pillow continues (I’m trying to find a pillow that stays cool, even as you have your head on it).  I got one, and it’s cooler than other pillows, but still warms up, but it’s very comfortable and I like it!

I think that’s it for now (barring what I’ve forgotten), so I will catch everyone later!
 

Hi everyone, quick update for you:

Back in June (but I’m just heard the news) one of the major movie houses secured the rights to make a movie based off of "The Sims."  Yes, that’s right, the open ended game where you as the player baby-sit grown adults (and their children) and live their lives.  No real plot, just open-ended goodness from Maxis (the first, and I think only game to outsell Myst)…train wreck in the making!

I saw Transformers for a second time the other day with my brother, and the strange thing was that there was only one preview before it.  Granted, it was for the new J. J. Abrams movie coming out in January, but it was strange that there was only one (but a nice reprise either way).  And of course, the movie was excellent as well, even the second time!

A team of researchers recently used World of Warcraft to study the outbreak of diseases and potential global pandemics.  By utilizing the world’s 6.5 million (yeah, that’s a lot of players) participants, researchers and the folks at Blizzard inserted a virus that spread through players (some with immunity to it, acting as carriers) and even the familiars/pets used in the game (I’ve never played WoW so I’m a bit unfamiliar with the exact specifics of it).  The details will be published in next month’s Lancet Infectious Diseases Journal, I’m really interested to see what comes of this and how the research turns out.

Coming up on September 10 is Free Hug Day!  If you need a hug, that would be the day to get one, or feel free to give out free hugs as requested!  The first free hugs day was in London, and actually ended up being banned by the police by the end of the day (yes, it became wrong to hug in public), but has spread, so check it out, and see the video promo for it

Blog Action day is coming up on October 15 (51 days away), this year’s theme is the environment.  I’ll be doing a special post, so check it out, I’ll keep you updates as we get closer.  It kind of reminds me of the "Bum Rush the Charts" movement in the spring, with the power of Web 2.0 and bloggers and podcasters, etc etc.  Throw in a little bit of "The Machine" (which I was just talking about with Tim today) and it all comes together.

That’s it for now, more book reviews are coming soon, as well as some picture updates.  It doesn’t look like Joomla 1.5 will be out until October, so for now, the big website update is at a halt.  As always, more information as it becomes available.  Have a great one!

I’d like to put down some thoughts from the summer, a lot of things are up there in my head, so chances are I’ll forget a lot, but hopefully I’ll get most of them.

The job was a lot different than what I was used to, but I really did enjoy the work that I was doing. There were lots of times that I felt like I was easily replaceable by an answering machine (Night Service) and a copier (Konnie), but oftentimes many people didn’t realize what all I did, which was annoying and a bit degrading (especially when people kept insisting that I had an easy job), but I suppose it comes with the territory.

One of the things that worried me the most going into the summer was dealing with emergencies. I had dealt with many at Camp Freedom, but was nervous about coordinating things on the other end. But I think I did a good job with the situations that came up. One of the hardest things to do was actually carrying a Scout out on a backboard. In the moment, I was just doing what was needed, but afterwards, trying to decompress from the situation, was emotionally trying, more than I thought it would be. The Scout was fine by the way, so not to worry.

I did however, have a good book to curl up with and relax after work: Harry Potter. However, I never read on the job, as that wouldn’t have been good. I also read a bunch of other books, and I’ll be posting reviews soon, so look forward to those.

I usually would either read in my room, or would put a blanket on the hill outside my house and read. Although to make sure I wasn’t spoiled, when I was reading Harry Potter I found a nice big rock on the shore of the lake. I ended up going back there, it was very nice, it jutted out into the lake and gave me a great view of the sunset while I was reading.

The special events that I planned went well, although I wish I had had more time to work on the 100th anniversary of World Scouting, but some things are beyond my control I suppose. The block party was a big hit, and we all had a blast, hopefully it can be something that becomes an annual event.

And as much as I loved my job, there were some bad parts, mostly working with certain people. Some of my co-workers weren’t the easiest to deal with, and of course the "professional" Scouters that never showed up (or showed up once and insulted me). But that being said, it was my job to be courteous and helpful on the phone, no matter what was going on or how I was feeling, which is one of the reasons I think that I was a good office manager.

And I guess I did do a good job, the Central staff floored me by awarding me the "Most Valuable Staffer" award, and I even got an offer to be an administrative assistant to the finance department downtown, even though I only met the lady once, but I guess my reputation precedes me (Alf was also very impressed by me, he said I was "very efficient.")

Keeping quiet about everything that was going on on the reservation was sometimes tough, but I just played dumb, because I had to, and most people respected that, and I was grateful.

I do have to say though, I did find a love for oatmeal this summer, and I have lost a book somewhere between Monroeville and Farmington: it may still be packed away somewhere, but I’m not sure.

Pictures will be posted soon, I’d like to revamp the gallery software, so this would be a good time to do it, and in the meantime, we can watch the pictures on my Wii’s photo channel.

The next step now is working with the staff association. I’ll be getting together with Kevin at some point to talk about the direction we want to go with the organization.

I’m thinking about making a slight change to the format of the blog, a new way to streamline, organize and index the content. I haven’t decided if I’ll keep it yet, but I’ll be trying it out in the future. I’ll be looking for feedback, so please let me know. And in other site news, the new version of Joomla should be coming out very soon (it’s a bit behind where I thought it would be), so in the somewhat near future I’ll be upgrading the site, but I’ll be sure to let everyone know what’s going on as it happens.

Look for more regular updates soon, as well as my ‘normal’ posts, I have a lot of links from the summer to go through and a list (packed away somewhere) of items to talk about. Have a great one everyone!

Edit: I found my book!
 

I’m finally home, the summer has ended.  Regular post coming soon, I promise.  Until then, check out the  new PostSecret video:

I’m  actually writing this post inside the Panera Bread in Uniontown.  I’ve been here for about two hours so far working on the slide show for the closing banquet.  I would post this from Panera as well, but I don’t have a wireless card for my computer, so it will be posted later, probably tomorrow after brunch.

It’s been a lot of fun here, we’ve been rocking out to oldies, and I feel all connected and 2st1 century (even though I’m not connected to the interwebs), it’s been fun, and the people watching has been enjoyable as well.

I have Liberty’s part of the first song done, I’m staring Freedom and then I’ll move to Indepenendce.  I think that I’ll use the second song for Central pictures, but I’m not sure what I want to do for the last song, I’m think I’ll do a combination of all the camps, along with some statistics about the summer, I think it would be nice to show some unity as a Reservation, but chances are, when I show that idea to people, they won’t like it, so I’m really not sure if I should do it or not.  This slide show has been such a production in and of itself.  Getting the pictures I wanted was like pulling teeth, and it seems like I’m hitting resistance with most things I try, mostly from the software I’m using.  Who knows, maybe I’m just worn out from the summer and fed up, although I have a feeling it’s somewhere between the two options.

Anyway, onto the normal post subjects:

I ate a frog leg the last time I went to the Chinese Buffet (last weekend).  As cliché as it sounds, it really did taste like chicken; just with less meat and a waxy white color.  It wasn’t bad, I’m really glad I tried it, but it wouldn’t be something I would specifically order, I’d rather have chicken wings.

Coming out of the Chinese Buffet, I happened to be passing a young girl (maybe 8 years old) as she was talking to someone in a car driving by.  Out of nowhere, the conversation became heated, with the little girl yelling a string of obscenities that probably would have made a sailor blush.  Maybe I’m getting to the point where I can shake my head in disgust at the younger generation, and maybe part of it was (to be stereotypically for a moment) the fact that I was outside the WalMart in Uniontown, but I was taken aback.

Wikia, the company that brought us Wikipedia and wiki software announced that they will be creating a search engine, allowing human editors to filter and edit, just like at wikipedia.  It was announced almost as a direct challenge to Google, and it will be interesting to see how it progresses.

We had a block party outside of the Potomac Homes on Tuesday night, which was a lot of fun.  We grilled corn, steaks, chicken and hot sausage, and all sat around chatting for hours on end.  We turned the music on and ended up having sack races, three legged races as well as games of bocce and horseshoes.  The evening ended with a projected game of hockey on the back of Andy’s house.  All in all, it was a great time, and I’m glad I planned it, although it did seem a bit odd to hear my boss “strongly recommend” to the people living in the houses (and Central Staff) to attend; I think they would have anyway, but I hope they didn’t just because they were told to.

The next day, Wednesday, was the 100th anniversary of World Scouting.  I was in charge of planning that with a former camp director.  The morning started off with a “sunrise” ceremony (flag raising, scout oath, rededication, but sadly no kudu horn) and at the end of program for an hour, the patrols could go around and do games and activities from Brownsea island and check out a mock encampment that was set up in the parade field.  That night, there was a slideshow of Baden-Powell’s life, as well as videos from around the world showing the world jamboree and how other countries were celebrating the day.  I think it was a very successful day, we tried to make it as useful and engaging as possible without disrupting program too much.

There were a few visitors of note in the past few days, the first of which is Alexander Barton Smith.  I worked with Alex in 2001, and didn’t really enjoy it.  He caused all kinds of unnecessary trouble just for the sake of causing grief, which annoyed me to no end.  He was very good at program (he was the Scoutcraft Director), but I do have to say that I never expected to see him again on property.  He seems to have calmed down a bit, but still out there and a bit crazy, I still didn’t feel like I could trust him to be telling me the truth all the time.

And then Tom and his new girlfriend Jess came up.  They got lost on the way (that’s what happens when you trust MapQuest and not your gut…and type in an address that doesn’t work with any mapping program…), but finally made it up.  We walked around Central for a bit, and then headed to Freedom to go to the bridge.  It wasn’t a clear night, which was a bit disappointing, but we still had a good time.  Afterwards we went to Lonestar for food and pie, which was nice.  I had a great time, and it was wonderful to see Tom and to meet Jess, I’m hoping we can hang out more when I get back from camp.

A researcher announced that he has come up with a solar power paint that he thinks will replace solar cells, and provide cheap solar power for anyone who wants it.  I hope he’s right, but I think it is still a ways off from commercial production.

I think that’s it for now, I’m going to work some more on the slideshow, hopefully get Freedom done and then get some dinner and put together Indy and Central, and then figure out what to do for the last one.

Catch everyone later, have a great one!

Back with another regular update, hope you enjoy!

GearLive had two stories last week based on USB technology, both of which were really interesting I thought.  The first was a USB wall socket.  Essentially you could run USB wire through your house, providing an outlet for a printer, a camera, a hub, or any other of the crazy amount of USB gadgets that are out there.  The second was the announcement that an upcoming music album will be released in only two formats: digital download and USB flashdrive.  While I don’t think it will do very well (I don’t think there is quite the market penetration for such a release to be a big hit), I do think we will see more of the like in the future, maybe even an iPod that can take direct downloads (through synchronization) from stores or USB devices.

A group of us took a Central RT and saw Order of the Phoenix in U-Town, and it was good, but I had a few gripes, the first of which has to do with a commercial that ran before the movie, actually.  It was a commercial for the National Guard.  And in the course of it, there was some B-roll footage of an American flag waving.  However, it was not the current flag which we have today, it was a 48 star flag.  A bit unnerving to say the least.

Like I said, I enjoyed the movie, it moved fast, there was a montage-like period (without an 80’s song however), and overall it was dark and very engaging, but again, a few things stuck out in my mind that I didn’t really like: the second half of the school year seemed to not exist, magically (excuse the pun), they all appeared at the end of the semester.  I was also a bit disappointed with the Veil scene, it wasn’t at all how I imagined it, which is fine, but it didn’t even look like Sirius went through it, and it felt off.  The arch was a lot bigger than I imagined, but I think that helped.  The ending was horrible I thought though, because there really wasn’t one.  Harry had an awful cliché of a line, and then that was it, the camera panned to a scenery shot and the screen faded to the credits.

There was a preview for a new Disney movie that looks really funny though.  A bunch of cartoon characters are cursed to NYC and they have to survive and get back before being trapped forever in Manhattan.  It looks campy, but funny, I hope I get to go see it.

Yoshi was officially announced as a character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which is good news for me.  I’m glad he’ll be back for sure, I can’t wait!

I haven’t read the news article yet, but I heard that Drew Carey will be taking Bob Barker’s place on The Price is Right.  It will be very strange to not have Barker there anymore, but I hope Carey does a good job, I always found in very funny, so I’ll be sure to tune in when I can.

Westinghouse announced they won a contract to build four AP1000 reactors, which is wonderful news.  I actually got into an argument the other night at the bar about the power industry.  Which was aggravating on multiple levels: mostly because the other party refused to accept the fact that nuclear power is safe and effective, and continued to try to convince me that we needed to rely solely on the green power productions.  While I think they (solar, wind and the up and coming, and very exciting, tidal and geothermal) need to be included and have their place, I don’t think we should be relying on just one type of power, and we especially can’t do it with the above mentioned forms, seeing as they are not efficient enough to fulfill our power needs.  So that was difficult, and annoying.

Then, we tried to come back to camp from the bar.  But that didn’t work: there was a fire on Dinner Bell Road, blocking our access to camp.  We ended up going back to The Pike for another round and then headed back.  No one was hurt, and the fire was contained to just one room, but there were still about eight trucks at the house, which was amazing.

We celebrated Christmas (holiday, Chriswanzaka or Chrismahanaquanzawanaka, depending on which you prefer) in July last week, which was fun.  We had pierogies, two types of wings and lasagna.  Not your normal holiday food, but good nonetheless, and a nice change.  This Tuesday is our block party, we’ll be grilling and playing bocce near the Potomac Homes, along with music, Frisbee and sack races!  Also last week was the Camp Liberty Mexico in July celebration.  I joined in (even though I was CQ) by eating a quesadilla (it was delivered after we finished our game of bocce).

We had two visitors this week, which were great to see: Denny Clemens and Jim McMichaels.  Clemens used to be the foodservice director up here and McMichaels is on the board, was very involved in EVAC and was my vigil class honoree as well as my sponsor that night.  We chatted for a while, and it was wonderful to catch up with both of them.

We also took our staff photo, which I thought was in a boring spot (the same one they use most years, the statue of the Lone Scout), but still nice.  Hopefully it turned out well, I guess I’ll find out soon enough, although I am a bit concerned about my transition lenses, although they hadn’t darkened a lot when we took it.  The photographer was actually the same guy that did the pictures at my parent’s wedding, and I used to work with him when we did the troop photos at Freedom in 2003.  He’s always a lot of fun and makes us laugh a lot, so it was enjoyable.

I think that’s it for now, catch everyone later!

First “real” blog post in a while, sorry about that.  I have a bunch of notes (and a second card filled), so another post should be following this one soon, assuming I can get some free time to write it out (and remember what all my notes meant).

I saw Transformers (which I might have mentioned here before), and it was amazing in every sense a movie could be!  The only downside was it was long enough that I was uncomfortable by the end of the movie (Uniontown movie theater seats are not comfortable).

However, on the way back, driving down 119, I did hit a possum, which was very sad.  It’s actually the first bit of roadkill that I’ve produced.  But it was either that or go careening over the hillside, so I figured it was better for everyone involved (except the possum).

Also speaking of animals, there was a hummingbird in Keystone today.  Tim caught him and we let him free, naming him Petie (in honor of the bird from freshmen year).  There was also a hummingbird in the Stockade today, I like to think it was the same one.  I went for a hike around the lake (and took a ton of pictures) and saw 2 squirrels, bringing my reservation total to 3 in all the years I’ve been here, a ton of deer and two black snakes.

I saw a bunch of leaders at the end of week four when I went to visit at Freedom’s blue card party.  I saw Vern, Karen Liebman, Mary Hines (the scouter, not the ARHD, congratulations Mary!) and Jeff Jones.  I ended up sitting in my old chair, and Jeff sat down in his, it was wonderful!

I learned how to play Texas Hold ‘em one night while I was CQ, which was very exciting, and I came in second place (we didn’t play for money, as it was a spur of the moment thing and none of us had money with us).  My last CQ is tonight, which is exciting, I’m going to do some work here in the office, organizing and such to save myself some time in the future, then I’m heading to bed after reading a bit.

A week or two ago, a bunch of us went out to the Pike and one of the local houses had fireworks!  It was a lot of fun to watch them go off as we listened to the (decent) band, Impaqt.

On a sad note, Victor’s kitten, who he named after me, died on the fourth of July.  Very sad news indeed, Victor called me from Alaska to let me know.

Oh well, that’s it for now, catch everyone later!

Below are some of my initial reactions to finishing Dealthy Hallows, read with caution and enjoy!  I will be back with regular content and updates soon (hopefully tonight), I have two lists allready filled, and I’m working on a third, so expect more blog posts soon!

I just came up from finishing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by the edge of Lake Courage and I wanted to get down some thoughts. The book was dark, there is no doubt about that. And I like that fact. The first death in the book came as a shock, but it served its purpose: just as Whedon had to kill Wash in “Serenity” for it to really take hold and make it more meaningful, so too did Rowling have to do what she did: and from that point I think we all knew the gloves were off and that this was it.

I’ll probably have to jump into some spoiler’s below, so read with caution after the break (click “Read More…” to continue the article).

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Following are some observations and predictions about the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Chances are, all of my predictions will be wrong, but I figured, what they hey, I might as well post some thoughts on the subjects, throwing my hat into the ring if you will. There are spoilers of the first six books (mostly Half Blood Prince) so read with caution if you are waiting to read them or for the movies. More after the break (click "Read More…" to continue reading). (more…)