When you buy new ink from HP, they let you recycle your old ink. That’s pretty neat.
Also, I bought Newsbleep.com. Read about it in the latest post.
My aunt Sue sent this to me for my birthday.
A crazy clock at the Denver airport
One Year Ago Yesterday
I was driving around Sioux Falls. And I had this really pretty, funny, talented girl along with me. And I was nervous. I was going to ask her to be my girlfriend.
In Walmart we were shopping around, and I called Holly Smith, my accomplice. I wanted to do it there. I had a fair idea that the girl would say “Yes”, but I wasn’t sure. Holly said under no circumstances could I do it in Walmart. So, I made the decision to go to Falls Park. Holli asked who I was talking to, and I said it was Bryce.
Lie #1.
At Falls Park, we sat for a while on a bench and talked. I carefully and quietly worked up the nerve to ask my question. And then I asked it. And waited. And waited. And after a considerable pause, she answered and said “Yes”. I told her that I would really like her to meet my grandparents. In truth, I was trying to score points by bringing my new girlfriend to see the family first.
Lie #2.
We got to Karin’s and no one was there. We call and wait, and talk to Grandma and Grandpa for a very long time. Share stories, connect on a deeper level than anyone could ever imagine. And then the day ended, and we went back to whence we came. It was a good day.
A year later we had plans to enjoy food at Jonny Carino’s, revisit Falls Park (for the first time since), and take in a movie. Well, weather was no permitting. Instead we went to Skipper’s in town (which is a pretty good Italian restaurant a couple blocks from my apartment), we exchanged gifts, and we watched A Prairie Home Companion. Skippers was good, the presents were sweet (I gave her an album of music that I’ve written since first learning the guitar and recorded this past week or so, complete with album art, and she gave me a scrapbook with pictures from our first year together), but the movie was disappointing and a little boring.
All in all, I think it was a good Anniversary, and I’m very happy to have Holli in my life. :)
Best Eight Albums of 2006
I missed this last year, so this year I’m putting in my picks for Best Eight Albums of 2006. I’m doing eight, because I really couldn’t come up with ten. I think I just found a love for older music this year. I considered doing a Best Of 2005 list, but you guys are smarter than that.
- In Ink Please – Formica Table for Two (50)
- The Streets – The Hardest Way to Make An Easy Living (27)
- The Decemberists – The Crane Wife (23)
- Thom Yorke – The Eraser (18)
- Guster – Ganging Up on the Sun (15)
- Cursive – Happy Hollow (15)
- Sunset Rubdown – Shut Up I Am Dreaming (12)
- Snow Patrol – Eyes Open (11)
The numbers represent total play counts for the entire album (totaling play count per song). It’s not extremely accurate (especially since my library has seen a lot of modification this past year), but I agree with it. Guster beat out Cursive because I put two of their songs on a CD for Holli from that album, which I thought should count for something.
What is your list of top 2006 music albums?
Newsfire
This is just a quick post for all you Mac OS X users out there.
This weekend only, if you buy NewsFire, the most beautiful RSS newsreader on the Mac, you will get a free license for Inquisitor, the instant search extension for Safari that makes searching the web just like using Spotlight.
Also, my friend Bob Davidson has left the blogosphere. His former blog, the software for which I believe he wrote himself, is now dead, and has just that sort of deadness as it’s splash page. Bam. Dead.
Makes you think.
Testing Qumana
Note: My mother has a blog! I was going to wait until she posted something. And then she did, and then I forgot to mention it. Anyway, go and comment on milesrausch.com/paula.
Hello, people.
There is a program available for Windows and Mac OSX that is called “Qumana”. It probably means “Harmonic blog writer” in Swahili, or something, and it purports to be a desktop blogging tool.
I’ve tried some of these before. The Firefox-based Flock browser makes the same claim, but as it’s still a beta piece of software (and was alpha when I used it) I’m hesitant to use it.
That haven’t been said, I have no idea if this is beta or alpha or gamma or Xena: Princess Warrior, for that matter.
And he hits “Publish Post”. And he waits.
Powered by Qumana
Nice Guy Post
Bryce, Happy, originally uploaded by m!les.
You may have noticed that my little bro posted a sentimental, sappy sort of sayÅnara post on his website today. He said some awfully nice things about me (and a lot of other people), and I didn’t even pay him off (or anything-else-him-off, either). So I decided to post back. But, I’m not going down the list of commenters or close friends and naming you and dedicating things to you. This is just a response. You guys all mean a lot to me, too, so I don’t want any pissy comments. I friggin’ mean it.
What can I say about the guy who was my first and closest friend. We’ve had good times. From inventing (with the help of cousins) our own Super Hero series (which I still would like to make a literary reality), to driving all of our babysitters nuts (including our Aunt Sue), to developing a successful TV series, group short story (with Dan), and countless impromptu indie films (actually, I think it’s like 3). We’ve had bad times, too. Nasty fights over chores, honest wishes that the other person would reside in Hell, throwing tile at each other for an audience (which Pete still brings up), and even a stabbing or two.
I can honestly say that I wouldn’t be the person I am today if not for you. You made me simultaneously more responsible and more deviant, as I usually had to clean your messes but you inspired make messes, too. You had the balls to try out horribly profane and disgusting jokes on others, and I learned from those mistakes and consciously tried to create a “classier” brand of humour for myself. But you also were my first audience. And we subconsciously developed the joint motto of “anything for a joke”, when usually the joke was for our enjoyment only.
I look back on our past, and I think that a little thing like you moving away isn’t going to change anything. There’s internet and phone calls and plane rides. No, no. This is just a beginning. This gives a whole new state to take over. And over there they might think your abortion jokes are tame.
You may be the stupid one who loves cheese and lighthouses, but I guess what I’m trying to say is that I love you, bro. And I mean that in a gay way.
Annual "Put Your Crap on Your Lawn" Week
Progeny Crap, originally uploaded by m!les.
I don’t know what is up with these people, but suddenly everyone, as if with one mind, starting putting their crap on their lawns. I don’t get it. So, I convinced Holli to drive me around while I took pictures of it. Some of it is fairly nice-looking stuff (see piano).
Then, today, I parked in front of some Crap on a Lawn, but I wasn’t sure if I could (I don’t want my car getting carted away as mistaken Crap Almost on Someone’s Lawn), so I looked down the block and located several other cars in front of crap. As I neared one, I discovered a sheet of paper stuck under the windshield wipers. Fearing it was a ticket, I looked at it. It read, in a clear, feminine script:
Next time you park behind someone, give them some f***ing room between their car and your f***ing piece of s***. Next time I’m going to just back right into your f***ing bumper and drive off, a**hole.
Happy “Put Your Crap on Your Lawn” Week! Pictures are here.
The United States Postal Service Makes Me Cry
Keeping You Posted, originally uploaded by m!les.
See Identity Crisis + Comedy Bytes! April 7, 8, 10, 11 in the Dakota Prairie Playhouse. Times to follow.
Look carefully at this comic. Maybe even read it. When the US Postal Service stoops to using Kathy comics to get peole interested, then things have really sunk to a new low.
In other news, my life (creatively) is extremely hectic. There is, of course, the play. That is going well, but we’ve decided to add Comedy Bytes to the same night, which means double rehearsals until we’re done. It’s nice, I guess, to do it all at once, but I’m feeling all at once like I don’t have any time.
Filmed part of a music video this past weekend, but due to time contraints and missing actors I couldn’t finish it. I did, however, purchase a firewire card so I can, in time, capture the video I’ve taken.
There have also been some interesting / exciting / frightening developments in my personal life, but I don’t feel ready to talk about them. Alright, I’m gay, no I’m not, but seriously, I can’t talk about it yet, but I will sometime, hopefully.
The second part of our lines are due for The Actor’s Nightmare, so we have that, plus Comedy Bytes practice tonight (for which I should try to get the latest draft of Happy 125 Years, DSU finished), and I’m feeling quite a bit pulled apart by horses.
Oh, David
So, I’m sitting in the TC, and David is talking to this kid with a broncos hat. They discuss their plans for the weekend. This kid is talking about how he has to get really drunk tonight because he’s travelling with his parents, and he doesn’t want to miss the greatest drinking weekend of the year (St. Patrick’s Day).
Then he goes into this detailed explanation of how they play a drinking game of Madden. You drink if:
- There are two first downs
- There is a touch down
- Something else happens
Whenever that happens, they take a shot of vodka. And he had to eventually take 10 shots of vodka, so he was pretty drunk. David, not really having anything to add, just keeps saying “Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah.”
Then the kids says, “Yeah, then I took about seven more shots in ten minutes.”
And David, true to form and in a quiet kind of voice, says, “Yeah. That’s rough.”
I cracked up.
The only thing that topped that was when David, always the scientist, asked, “Have you ever mixed alcohol with milk?” The answer, long and boring, was not quite what he wanted. Then we listened to Wolf Parade – Grounds for Divorce.
Who Am I This Time?
Sorry, I haven’t written in a while. There hasn’t been much to say. Holli and I celebrated 2 months on Tuesday, but she had to work, so we didn’t really do anything special. We didn’t even have supper together.
Wednesday we had auditions. DSU’s spring production is going to be a couple smaller-casted plays. One I know is called “The Actor’s Nightmare” where a man suddenly finds himself in a play. He doesn’t know the lines or the characters or even what play it is, yet the show must go on. It’s a comedy, and it pokes some fun at theatre. Then there was another piece that Sue was adapting for stage. I don’t remember what it was called, but I read the part of Harry, a shy man who becomes each character he is cast with every fibre of his being. One of this lines, after being asked to audition for a new production, was “Who am I this time?”
The auditions went well, I think. Holli had to leave a little early for Senate, but there were only four of us there, total. This meant that we read the entirety of “The Actor’s Nightmare”, and we read the other one twice through. I haven’t decided if I’m attending tonight’s rehearsal.
Uhh… what else, what else. I don’t know. I got a lot of books on tape. I figure, Dad does it, Holli’s doing it, and I don’t have much time to read anymore. When I do, reading seems to make me really tired. My first book will be The Horse and His Boy, by CS Lewis. I started reading this one, so I want to continue it. And finish it. And suchforth.
I don’t know. I’m rambling again. Still ill, but a couple steps closer to actually seeing a “D”-word about it. Not many, mind you. Additions to the website coming soon.
Cheers.
Guess Who Lost
Now look at that. I could never be a sports writer. I just ruined the result of the game in the title. Imagine if you wanted some buildup, some sort of dramatic crescendo to the results of the game this Saturday. I just ruined it. Sure, you can get stats on ESPN, but you wanted a flair, a creative, artistic writeup of the event, something to captivate and entrance as well as entertain and inform.
Well, I’m really freakin’ sorry, but titles aren’t very easy to come up with.
So, Saturday. It seems a long time ago. Still fighting my illness, I purchased some new medicine stuff, hoping that it would help out. What I got was Benedryl. As it turns out, the best thing Benedryl did for me was turn me into a zombie (and not the cool kind, either). Our plan was to meet people at 5:30pm. Holli wanted to go to Wal-mart first, so we left at around 4:00 or so.
I fell asleep on the way up. Wal-mart was what is expected of Wal-mart. I don’t even remember what she got. I do remember that we walked around and ended up at the DVD arena. And I remember being angry at some DVD or something. I don’t know. Holli was disappointed that Wal-mart only had certain seasons of shows. If you’re going to have Season 4 and Season 5, why not carry Seasons 1, 2, and 3? Stupid Wal-mart.
Then we met the Circus at Z’kota. There was an enormously large number of people there. There was me, Holli, mom, dad, Molly, Laura (Molly’s friend), Brenna, Sue, Bryce, Lindsey, Chris, Kelsey, Tony, Tyler, David, and Chris Fellows. That was a mouth full. Anyway, I was pretty out of it, so I mostly just sat there and ate my gigantic burger. From there we headed to Frost Arena. Of course, we had to follow Bryce, and (of course) he was ten miles away before we pulled out of the parking lot. Never let Bryce lead the way.
Frost Arena is peppered with Daktronics Sports Marketing stuff, which Holli interns for. So, we got a picture. The scoreboard was pretty impressive, and massive, and bright. We took our seats and enjoyed the game, which was close. In the end NDSU lost by only 2 points (and it was a pretty close 2 points). It was a good game.
Afterwards, we waited to talk to Tim. He gave a press conference, then he talked to people. Then Tony stole a cowbell (those SDSUers love their cowbells). Then we drove back home.
Lazy sunday. Holli went to Mass with me. We watched the rest of Arrested Development Season 3. I gave up on medication and have taken up medical marijuana. Monday Holli worked all day, so I lounged around here and tried to get some writing done. I did get a really bad skit hacked up, and I felt very ashamed to have to Bytes perform it. Met with Megan. She took Haji for the weekend, got her wisdom teeth out, and got Haji back after Bytes rehearsal. Then Holli and I rented a movie (The Corpse Bride) which I found disappointing, and then I came back here and went to bed.
Well, that’s not exactly true. I checked my email quick, and I rediscovered some folders on my desktop that were related to web design. So, I checked them out. I decided that one of the them (BubbleTooltips) would be easy enough to integrate onto the website, so I did it. I started to integrate another one, but it proved more tricky, so I didn’t do it. Then I realized that I was hungry, so I grabbed what was left of my chinese food from lunch and my mountain dew from evening and I consumed both. Then I got to thinking about all the vast number of plugins for WordPress, and I went a-searching and I installed about a dozen of them, activated them, tested them, and then either integrated them or deleted them. I did stick with the Last.fm plugin for sure, but many of the others weren’t game for 2.0, so I didn’t try to make them work.
Man, that was a rambling post.
House Keeping
Matt, Carrie, originally uploaded by m!les.
Well, I’ll try to keep this short as I have a basketball game to write about tomorrow or Monday.
First off (and I already posted this, but) Holly Smith and Bob Davidson are engaged to be married!
How did the rest of my week go? It went well. I forgot to mention that The DSU Drama Club put on an event at the Beverly retirement home in Madison. An impressive number of members showcased all kinda of artistic talents that they had. Of course, I took pictures for everyone.
Another big thing was that I was asked to give a talk on Hyperion, a new product that we’re hosting at CRESH. I was very nervous about the talk, because I really don’t know that much about Hyperion beyond what I’ve figured out with messing with it on my own. The talks seemed to go well. They were for Professor Josh Pauli‘s classes which met conveniently enough to allow me to rearrange my schedule and not have to miss class or work for it.
Holli and I are now done with Season Two of Arrested Development. I wager that by tomorrow, even, we’ll be done with Season Three, and then we’ll have nothing to do when we’re together. Leave suggestions for how we can fill our time together in the comments.
In somewhat disappointing news, a skit I had written called Happy 125 DSU was going to be performed at the Spring Convocation. However, due to timing issues, the only way the Student Senate could fit it in is if I could chop down the 12 minute skit to a 7 minute skit. I decided that to maintain the “artistic integrity” (read: all the funnyness) of the piece, such a cut wouldn’t be possible, and I opted instead to not perform it. Hopefully we’ll get our chance to do it later on this year.
In somewhat depressing news, I’m still sick and not getting much better. It’s taken a lot of pills to make very little improvement upon my situation. I’m trying new medication, but Holli keeps dropping the “d” word. She even threatened to “stop feeling sorry” for me until I went and saw a “d”, but I’m so terribly pathetic that she hasn’t been able to keep that up.
On the other hand, I’ve been learning a little Ruby on Rails. Who knows what killer internet app I can write with it. I may even take over the world, one object at a time.
Ok, now I’m going to bed. I should have been asleep an hour ago, but I didn’t want to leave you guys hanging. You… you complete me.
Tippin’ and TAPpin’
Front Door Photo Collage, originally uploaded by m!les.
What’s the picture about, Miles? Well, that’s my new photo project. I wanted to cover the glass in my doors, and what better way than with pictures of friends, family, and inaminate objects? My front door is not done, but nearly so, and then I start on the bathroom window. After that, I’m going to reorganize all my “flesh photos” (not digital) and try to keep track of the ones I like the best.
I’m sitting in my Technology Assessment and Planning class right now. We’re discussing web presence, and how important it is that you have a good web presence. Tell your employer “google me“. Get a web page. Register a domain name. And all that jazz.
I think, if you want to get into the web, be prepared to be constantly learning things. The internet is an always changing, dynamic medium. If the internet is an ocean, then it is an ocean of waterfalls. Or something. Anyway, don’t bother me right now.
First half-week of classes! It’s been a crazy week so far. On Saturday Holli and I had our one month. We hit up Sioux Falls and ate at Culver’s (and I saw a Senate Intern there!) which was weird because neither of us really eat at Culver’s much, nor was it a food place that we particularly love, but it was good food. After the food, we went to The Chronicles of Narnia. This is a movie I’ve been waiting for ages to see, but I’ve just never found the proper time to go until now. We bought our tickets and the lady announced that “The theatre is half full.” We didn’t know how to feel about this. Was it “It’s half full, so hurry up.” or “It’s half full, so you’ll have a relaxing movie experience.” It really didn’t matter because the theatre was 90% full, and we had to sit kinda close up.
The movie was good. It didn’t blow me away, but I was in awe of the job they did on Aslan. I wasn’t, however, very awed about some of the other CGI creatures. I particularly didn’t like the hooved animals pullling sleighs. They were kinda fakey. I can only imagine what the movie would have been if Peter Jackson had taken it over. I know that WETA was involved, but I’m not sure in what capacity. It was nice to see on the big screen with Holli. That girl is really something else, and she’s always doing sweet things for me and surprising me with how thoughtful she is. She’s just great.
Then Monday was my first day of classes. Actually, it was my first class: Advanced Discrete. Thanks to a book that Jeff gave me, I was all set to learn about graphs. Berman gave me a weird look. Apparently, he thought I graduated, but I assured him that I had not and dearly wished to learn from him. And so I did.
Then it was work work work. We had our yearly awards banquet at work, and I wrote all about it. Ok. Nothing happened.
That night was the first Drama Club meeting. Our big item of discussion was the election of a new secretary, to be filled by Sara Harp, as Megan Flynn moves on to greener pastures. She was here, then she left, then she realized how friggin’ kick-ass awesome we are, and now she’s back. Never to leave again. Ever. In the world…
Monday night Holli Gregg and I tried watching Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark but she fell asleep a couple times, and I’m pretty sure I did once, too. We called it quits, having no idea what was going on in the movie. I think right before we turned it off, Holli said, “There’s Nazi’s in this?” Time for bed.
Tuesday was classtime crazy. AJAX in the morning. This class will (hopefully) be neat. I think it will be. It’s a Tom class, but it’s a Tom class about stuff I understand, for once. I already know what book I want. It’s called Pragmatic AJAX, and it’s not even out yet. I’m THAT ahead of the game.
Then was my TAPpin’ class, which I started this post in. We talked about websites a lot, and so this post was live for a very short period of time, during which Bryce managed to post a comment.
Then I almost went to Choir, but I lost my confidence, panicked, and spent the time doing other errands instead. Got my check from the Man. Headed to WAPII, which should be far less frustratingly easy thatn WAPI. We’re learning ASP.Net, which is okay (at least it’s something I don’t know) and Shan is teaching it, and I like him.
Then I did tutoring with Tom Bouwman, my dream man, and Holli came by to visit. It was awkward, because Tom and I usually spend most of our tutoring time making out, and we had to cool it in front of the lady. Then CRESH, then Band, then food, then this.
And all the while, a tippin’.
Fondue is Fun, Dude
Okay. A little recap is in order.
New Year’s Eve
The first part of the night was spent with the parents, Brenna and Sue. I begged Sue to come over and to bring Star Wars IV: A New Hope. This movie is trey old, and I found some of the effects / props laughable, but I didn’t laugh out of endearment for the original Star Wars and the generation they spawned. With the movie over, Sue and I jetted to David’s house where he was having a party. He put us on the cool list. We played Beyond Balderdash, which no one has been spelling correctly online, and that was fun. I talked to Holli at midnight, and she I, but midnight never feels very spectacular. Maybe it’s the knowledge of the relativity of time that does it.
Back Home
I’m back in Madison. The drive was terrible, but I made it. It took a while to get things unpacked and put away. Then I started on the editing. A couple years ago, Bob wrote a movie called “El Camino Del Librarian” and asked me to act in it. I did. It was a fun time, and I learned a lot about amateur film making from Bob. He’s been doing this stuff for years. Well, recently, we finally got around to recording commentary for it, but the movie still hasn’t been released, because I wanted to try my hand at amateur film making. I figure that, rather than trying to make a movie and learn editing that way, why not try something easy, like an interview. So, this summer Bob and I sat down and interviewed each other about El Camino. That’s what I’ve been editing since I got home. I called the show CANNED, and I describe it as “The show that interviews cast and crew of recently finished films in Madison, South Dakota.” And I’m freakin’ lovin’ it. Bob and Holly released a DVD before Christmas called “The Works”, but CANNED will be on the El Camino DVD. That’s also why I haven’t been posting. I spend all my time editing. Just ask Holli, Bob, and Holly.
Work
I’m working mucho this week because I needs to get paid, and I’ll be gone for two weeks hanging out in Pierre. Today Morgan, the accounting person, really begins working for CRESH. She has an office (how did she get an office??) in the same part of the building that John and I work in. She’s from Kentucky, and has the accent to prove it, and I think she’ll be handling the finances for CRESH. I don’t know what those business types do. I do know that it’s kinda exciting to see CRESH slowly starting to grow from four main guys and Webster. Of course, now it’s four main guys, Morgan, and Webster, but it’s a start.
Fondue
The other night, Holly and Bob invited me over for fondue and for me to get my own copy of Comedy Bytes: Improvised Comedy Gold and The Works by Bob + Holly. We had fondue, which accidentally burned, but was good, and we watched The Incredibles and some Bobshows. We’re all set to do it again, but with carmel, when Holli visits tomorrow. It should be fun.
Is That It?
It must be. I gots supper to make and more editing to do. Plus, I want to clean the apartment before tomorrow before Holli gets here: vacuuming, laundry, dishes, supper, editing, Scrubs downloading, picture uploading, and there’s even been an update to Awayken.com.
I didn’t mention this before, but I gave my sister, Molly Rausch, a blog. Check it out. She sucks at Roman Numerals!