My talk in church on Sunday got some surprising attention afterwards. As I waited for Priesthood opening exercises to begin, a brother I had never met before sat down next to me and introduced himself. He said that he had enjoyed my talk earlier, for which I thanked him. Then he told me about his son who is attending the University of Maryland and studying engineering. Unfortunately, he didn't graduate recently because he failed his technical writing class. This brother asked if I would be interested in being paid to tutor his son.
When I was preparing my talk, I had decided to include the fact that I'm technical writer to simply be part of my introduction, but now I'm thinking that I was inspired to bring it up so that I could be of assistance to this brother's son. If he had simply asked if I could help out, I would have done what I could to be of service, but I'm also not going to turn down his offer to be paid to do it.
Nothing final has been worked out at this point, but we have exchanged a couple of emails to get the ball rolling. It's amazing what kinds of connections we make simply by attending church and fulfilling our assignments.
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Tuesdays with Media: The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
On Friday, Ian and I went to see the latest offering from writer/director Guy Ritchie, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Here's the trailer:
The trailer is a bit misleading when it comes to the actual tone of the movie. Based on the trailer, Ian thought it was going to be a lot funnier than it was and I thought it would have had more action. I point this out because I want you to watch this movie with the right expectations.
That's right: I want you to watch this movie.
As a period piece, it's nearly perfect. The music, the sets, the dialog, and the costumes are all spot-on (I don't know where I picked up the skill, but I can identify when a movie is set based on the cut of suits the men are wearing, and this movie is firmly in the sixties). There's a scene (seen briefly in the trailer) where one character dances in her pajamas: not only are her pajamas period-appropriate, her dancing was, in Ian's words, "ridiculously sixties." There are a couple of things that took me out of the time period for just a moment, but other than those exceptions, you'd be forgiven for thinking this was actually filmed in the sixties.
Particularly impressive is Henry Cavill's performance. He must have practiced his voice for this role because it's flawless. His rhythm and cadence are pure sixties charm that would have been perfect coming from the mouth of any dashing man in Hollywood of the day. And to make things even more impressive, Cavill is British.
The movie is rated PG-13, which is a rating it barely earns. I don't mean to say that it was pushing the limit and was close to an R, I mean that if some of the action was toned down and a single shot of a scantily-clad woman was removed (which was seen in the trailer -- yes, that's as gratuitous as it gets), it could have easily been PG. I don't fault Mr. Ritchie for including what he did, it's just a shame that it's so close to being completely family-friendly.
Speaking of Mr. Ritchie, this film is gorgeous. The shots that he captures, his use of lighting, the way the camera focuses on something mundane in the foreground while the interesting stuff is seen slightly out-of-focus in the background, the clever editing, and the judicious use of flashbacks are all brilliant.
The movie is lighthearted, though I only laughed once (and it was at something that wasn't meant to be funny); there is some action, though, again, based on the trailer, I expected more. Despite these points where it didn't live up to my expectations, it was thoroughly entertaining and a lot of fun. I should point out, however, that both Ian and I are film-buffs, and what we enjoyed was mostly the style of the picture. The story is fun, but not nearly as fun as how the story's told. It worked well for us, but it might not work as well for you. Even so, I strongly recommend this film for anyone that wants to be visually amazed and relive the glamour of sixties.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.
Monday, September 28, 2015
Metaphorical Relationship
I spoke in Sacrament Meeting yesterday. The topic was "staying in the church," which is something with which I have some experience.
I opened by introducing myself and talking about what I do for a living. After a brief explanation about what a technical writer does, I mentioned that when I was in college, I studied a lot of literature, which included the basic three-act story structure. To give a better example of a three-act story, I told the congregation to think about any Romantic Comedy that they had seen, as it would follow that format. The problem with Rom-Coms, I said, is that they end with the two people deciding to be a couple or get married, with the implication that "they lived happily ever after."
With the introduction complete, I said that our membership in the Church is like a relationship with the Savior -- He's even called "the bridegroom" in more than one parable. When we're first investigating the Church, that's the Rom-Com part of our relationship with Him. As time goes on, however, it's easy to become complacent in our relationship. Just as with real relationships, we need to work hard to keep things going. The excitement that we felt at the beginning is replaced with dependency; that's not a bad thing and our long-lasting relationships can be very rewarding -- as we help our partner achieve their goals, work to make them happy, and they support us during trials and sorrow, we bless and strengthen each other -- but it's not as easy as when we first fall in love.
Then I shared that I'm in the process of getting divorced. I said that despite several years together, the divorce was for the best, because for the last three years, I've been the only one working on our marriage and a marriage cannot work if only one person is giving it their all. Such is the case with our membership in the Church, but difference is that the Lord will always be there for us: the only point of failure in our relationship with Him is us.
I then rhetorically asked what do we do to make our relationship with the Savior last? The common answers we always use work, though they aren't exciting: read our scriptures, pray, attend our church meetings, etc. Our membership won't be as exciting as at the beginning, but it will be more rewarding. I then bore my testimony and sat down.
After the meeting, I had several people come and thank me for my talk, including one visiting sister who came to me with tears in her eyes and told me that I had said exactly what she had needed to hear. I had worked on my talk, making notes and writing down scripture references, but it only came together right when I stood up to speak. I know that the words that were given to me to speak were inspired by the Spirit and I'm grateful that I was prepared to receive them.
I opened by introducing myself and talking about what I do for a living. After a brief explanation about what a technical writer does, I mentioned that when I was in college, I studied a lot of literature, which included the basic three-act story structure. To give a better example of a three-act story, I told the congregation to think about any Romantic Comedy that they had seen, as it would follow that format. The problem with Rom-Coms, I said, is that they end with the two people deciding to be a couple or get married, with the implication that "they lived happily ever after."
With the introduction complete, I said that our membership in the Church is like a relationship with the Savior -- He's even called "the bridegroom" in more than one parable. When we're first investigating the Church, that's the Rom-Com part of our relationship with Him. As time goes on, however, it's easy to become complacent in our relationship. Just as with real relationships, we need to work hard to keep things going. The excitement that we felt at the beginning is replaced with dependency; that's not a bad thing and our long-lasting relationships can be very rewarding -- as we help our partner achieve their goals, work to make them happy, and they support us during trials and sorrow, we bless and strengthen each other -- but it's not as easy as when we first fall in love.
Then I shared that I'm in the process of getting divorced. I said that despite several years together, the divorce was for the best, because for the last three years, I've been the only one working on our marriage and a marriage cannot work if only one person is giving it their all. Such is the case with our membership in the Church, but difference is that the Lord will always be there for us: the only point of failure in our relationship with Him is us.
I then rhetorically asked what do we do to make our relationship with the Savior last? The common answers we always use work, though they aren't exciting: read our scriptures, pray, attend our church meetings, etc. Our membership won't be as exciting as at the beginning, but it will be more rewarding. I then bore my testimony and sat down.
After the meeting, I had several people come and thank me for my talk, including one visiting sister who came to me with tears in her eyes and told me that I had said exactly what she had needed to hear. I had worked on my talk, making notes and writing down scripture references, but it only came together right when I stood up to speak. I know that the words that were given to me to speak were inspired by the Spirit and I'm grateful that I was prepared to receive them.
Friday, September 25, 2015
Following Directions
Yesterday at work, I needed to shoot some video of a compressor for an upcoming video. According to the company guide to product photography, products should be cleaned and any bung plugs, if present, should be removed. Following these guidelines, I removed a couple of bung plugs, polished the copper piping with steel wool, and whipped the whole compressor down with basic surface cleaner. With it all clean, I decided to move it away from a bunch of creates to eliminate background distractions. It's a heavy compressor, so I grabbed a dolly to help move it.
For those that aren't aware, compressors have internal moving parts. When machine parts move, friction is produced, which breaks down the machine. To prevent this, machines are lubricated. Do you see where things are going?
I tipped back the compressor and spilled about a quart of oil out of the unplugged bunghole and onto the floor, getting quite a bit on my right shoe and pant leg. I then spent the next forty minutes cleaning up the mess before I shot maybe ten minutes of video, of which we'll probably use less than a minute.
It was a frustrating experience, but at least one of my shoes is really shiny now.
For those that aren't aware, compressors have internal moving parts. When machine parts move, friction is produced, which breaks down the machine. To prevent this, machines are lubricated. Do you see where things are going?
I tipped back the compressor and spilled about a quart of oil out of the unplugged bunghole and onto the floor, getting quite a bit on my right shoe and pant leg. I then spent the next forty minutes cleaning up the mess before I shot maybe ten minutes of video, of which we'll probably use less than a minute.
It was a frustrating experience, but at least one of my shoes is really shiny now.
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Meet the New Boss
I found out yesterday who my new boss will be. She's already a manager within the company, though not one that I've met. Michael, the other person at my level in the department, has worked with her on a previous assignment and simply said that she's nice. I'll meet her tomorrow, so I'll be able to determine the accuracy of his assessment then.
One odd thing? She's moving from Turin, Italy (both Michael and I agreed that she'll definitely be downgrading by moving to Baltimore). Due to such a major move, she won't actually be officially starting to work regularly from our office until the beginning of December. So we know who our new boss will be, but we've still got a couple of months of being in limbo. Still, it's nice to know who I'll be reporting to in case of an emergency, like another seizure.
(By the way, with Magdalena as my next boss, that means that all of the bosses I've had as a technical writer have been women. I don't know if that means anything, it's just a pattern I've noticed.)
One odd thing? She's moving from Turin, Italy (both Michael and I agreed that she'll definitely be downgrading by moving to Baltimore). Due to such a major move, she won't actually be officially starting to work regularly from our office until the beginning of December. So we know who our new boss will be, but we've still got a couple of months of being in limbo. Still, it's nice to know who I'll be reporting to in case of an emergency, like another seizure.
(By the way, with Magdalena as my next boss, that means that all of the bosses I've had as a technical writer have been women. I don't know if that means anything, it's just a pattern I've noticed.)
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Tuesdays with Media: Why are Comic Books Addictive?
For roughly six years, from 2000 to 2006, I collected comic books, which even included the two years I was serving my mission. I enjoyed the characters, the settings, the interconnectivity between titles, all of it. Even when I wasn't reading comic books, I was thinking about the stories and characters. When I graduated from high school, my goal was to become a screenwriter as a way to break into writing comics, though the reverse is more common.
What I didn't know, however, was that I was addicted to comic books. With the popularity of superhero films in the past few years, comic books are more prominent than ever before, which has led me to think back to the time that I spent as a collector. I've decided to take some time to discuss why comics are addictive and why I had to drop them cold turkey.
Addictions can arise with any repetitive activity. The brain registers a particular activity as pleasurable, so we seek to repeat the activity to receive the same reward. As time goes on, the pleasure we experience with the activity diminishes, so we have to spend more time doing that activity to achieve the same high as before. That's why compulsive gamblers can spend entire days in casinos: they've become so numb to the activity, but they still try to achieve the rush that came so easily early on.
Comic books are usually published monthly and are collectable. That means that not only can I get a high from reading a comic book for that month, I can also go out and seek older comics to fill in the gaps in my collection. Depending on what publisher you follow (the big ones are DC, Marvel, Image, and Dark Horse), there could be decades worth of comics to collect. The first superhero comic (the most popular genre in comics, though there are others) was Action Comics #1, published in 1938. That means that a hardcore collector of Superman comics has to go back more than 75 years to have a complete collection. Even a relative newcomer like Wolverine first showed up 40 years ago in 1974. And the hunt for missing comics is as much fun as collecting the new stories.
The stories themselves, at least when I was reading, pushed the reader to read multiple titles. At one point, Superman had four monthly titles that you had to read if you wanted to know what was going on. Then there were crossovers where, for example, the Flash might show up and help Superman with a mission in the pages of Superman, giving the reader incentive to also pick up The Flash. On top of that, DC would put out a huge crossover mini-series once a quarter that involved multiple heroes' books.
All of that would be enough to make comic books addictive, but there is one other component also at play: self-insertion fantasy. Comic books are heavily marketed to teenage boys, and generally had PG-13 level of violence and sex -- there was never any graphic nudity in the books I read, but there was plenty of implied nudity, which is when a character is naked, but the "naughty bits" are obscured. And while the depiction of women in comics can definitely be classified as sexist, the real fantasy lies with the men. Where women are depicted as "ideal" specimens for the opposite sex, the men too are depicted as "ideal" presumably so the male reader can insert himself into the story through that character. Think about it: Superman's costume is so form-fitting that he resembles an ancient Greek sculpture. He's perfect for a young boy to fantasize himself looking like.
Once I learned all of this, I gave up comics, though it was still hard. During the first few months after I stopped collecting, I would go back through and reread a lot of old stories. Allison's support really made a positive difference in my recovery.
Now, you may be wondering why I still watch superhero movies if comics are so addictive. The reason is that most of the problems with comics are with the fact that they keep coming month after month. The movies are a one-off experience. You can by the DVD or Blu-ray, but that still only happens one time. Even the fantastical nature of the heroes is toned down since actual human bodies and fabrics behave differently in the real world.
However, that doesn't mean that all comics are evil and have to be avoided, at least by other people. There were some really good stories I read that were created by very talented writers and artists. If you have a child that shows interest in comics, my warning is to be careful. Check out what they're reading and don't let them read too many titles at a time. Also, reprinted collections (called trade paperbacks or TPBs) can be a way to eliminate the collecting aspect of comics, which is the most addictive part.
While I still have a fondness for superheroes, especially Superman, I know better than to dabble in comic books again.
What I didn't know, however, was that I was addicted to comic books. With the popularity of superhero films in the past few years, comic books are more prominent than ever before, which has led me to think back to the time that I spent as a collector. I've decided to take some time to discuss why comics are addictive and why I had to drop them cold turkey.
Addictions can arise with any repetitive activity. The brain registers a particular activity as pleasurable, so we seek to repeat the activity to receive the same reward. As time goes on, the pleasure we experience with the activity diminishes, so we have to spend more time doing that activity to achieve the same high as before. That's why compulsive gamblers can spend entire days in casinos: they've become so numb to the activity, but they still try to achieve the rush that came so easily early on.
Comic books are usually published monthly and are collectable. That means that not only can I get a high from reading a comic book for that month, I can also go out and seek older comics to fill in the gaps in my collection. Depending on what publisher you follow (the big ones are DC, Marvel, Image, and Dark Horse), there could be decades worth of comics to collect. The first superhero comic (the most popular genre in comics, though there are others) was Action Comics #1, published in 1938. That means that a hardcore collector of Superman comics has to go back more than 75 years to have a complete collection. Even a relative newcomer like Wolverine first showed up 40 years ago in 1974. And the hunt for missing comics is as much fun as collecting the new stories.
The stories themselves, at least when I was reading, pushed the reader to read multiple titles. At one point, Superman had four monthly titles that you had to read if you wanted to know what was going on. Then there were crossovers where, for example, the Flash might show up and help Superman with a mission in the pages of Superman, giving the reader incentive to also pick up The Flash. On top of that, DC would put out a huge crossover mini-series once a quarter that involved multiple heroes' books.
All of that would be enough to make comic books addictive, but there is one other component also at play: self-insertion fantasy. Comic books are heavily marketed to teenage boys, and generally had PG-13 level of violence and sex -- there was never any graphic nudity in the books I read, but there was plenty of implied nudity, which is when a character is naked, but the "naughty bits" are obscured. And while the depiction of women in comics can definitely be classified as sexist, the real fantasy lies with the men. Where women are depicted as "ideal" specimens for the opposite sex, the men too are depicted as "ideal" presumably so the male reader can insert himself into the story through that character. Think about it: Superman's costume is so form-fitting that he resembles an ancient Greek sculpture. He's perfect for a young boy to fantasize himself looking like.
Once I learned all of this, I gave up comics, though it was still hard. During the first few months after I stopped collecting, I would go back through and reread a lot of old stories. Allison's support really made a positive difference in my recovery.
Now, you may be wondering why I still watch superhero movies if comics are so addictive. The reason is that most of the problems with comics are with the fact that they keep coming month after month. The movies are a one-off experience. You can by the DVD or Blu-ray, but that still only happens one time. Even the fantastical nature of the heroes is toned down since actual human bodies and fabrics behave differently in the real world.
However, that doesn't mean that all comics are evil and have to be avoided, at least by other people. There were some really good stories I read that were created by very talented writers and artists. If you have a child that shows interest in comics, my warning is to be careful. Check out what they're reading and don't let them read too many titles at a time. Also, reprinted collections (called trade paperbacks or TPBs) can be a way to eliminate the collecting aspect of comics, which is the most addictive part.
While I still have a fondness for superheroes, especially Superman, I know better than to dabble in comic books again.
Monday, September 21, 2015
Almost Recovered
After going home early on Thursday and staying home Friday, along with taking it easy on Saturday and Sunday, I've done a lot of recuperating this weekend.
The worst part of any seizure is usually the torn muscle fibers afterwards. While I still experienced some of that this time, it didn't seem as bad as the times before. I think it helped that I've been taking creatine on a daily basis for the past month and continued to take it after the seizure. For those that don't know, creatine is a naturally occurring chemical in the body that aids in muscle recovery and I've been taking it to help me with my weight-training. By having an increased amount of creatine in my system ahead of time put me in better shape to deal with the aftermath of the seizure.
The other things I've been dealing with are the sore in my lip and the one on the side of my mouth where I bit myself. There's nothing I can do about the predominate bruise on my lower lip, but I've been using the canker sore mouth wash I discovered a few months ago to help with the bite marks. It's not a perfect solution, but it does seem to be helping at least a bit.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so I'll have to make sure that I keep a better eye on when my preventative medication quantities are getting low so that I can maintain my seizure total at an already-too-high three.
The worst part of any seizure is usually the torn muscle fibers afterwards. While I still experienced some of that this time, it didn't seem as bad as the times before. I think it helped that I've been taking creatine on a daily basis for the past month and continued to take it after the seizure. For those that don't know, creatine is a naturally occurring chemical in the body that aids in muscle recovery and I've been taking it to help me with my weight-training. By having an increased amount of creatine in my system ahead of time put me in better shape to deal with the aftermath of the seizure.
The other things I've been dealing with are the sore in my lip and the one on the side of my mouth where I bit myself. There's nothing I can do about the predominate bruise on my lower lip, but I've been using the canker sore mouth wash I discovered a few months ago to help with the bite marks. It's not a perfect solution, but it does seem to be helping at least a bit.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so I'll have to make sure that I keep a better eye on when my preventative medication quantities are getting low so that I can maintain my seizure total at an already-too-high three.
Friday, September 18, 2015
Listen to Your Mother
Wednesday night, I had another seizure. I ran out of my anti-epilepsy medication the day before and there was a delay in getting the script refilled.
This particular seizure seems to have been pretty bad: I bit down on my lower lip, which is now badly bruised, and I popped enough blood vessels near the surface the skin on my neck and shoulder that that area is covered in red marks. That said, my mobility doesn't appear to be as affected as the two previous seizures.
I went to bed a little after ten on Wednesday. At around twelve-thirty, I woke up in a stupor. It took me several minutes to figure out what had happened, but once I did, I set to work to raise my bloodsugar. After I'd eaten, I spent the next hour trying to fall back to sleep, without success. I gave up and tried to read a book, but it was hard to stay focused: my body was awake, but my mind was very tired. I ended up watching some TV until around seven, when I had to get ready for work. I should mention that I tried to go to sleep two more times during this period, but each time I was too wired to go off to dreamland.
I went into the office, but only because I had an important meeting first thing. With the meeting taken care of, I called the pharmacy to see if my meds were ready. They were and had been since Tuesday. Tuesday! A lack of communication on their part caused me to have a seizure! Anyway, I had already talked to my temporary manager who was very understanding and told me to take it easy. Having met my obligation for the day and still being in danger of seizing, I went and picked up my medication and then went home to sleep.
In an attempt to avoid this sort of thing again, I have an appointment scheduled with a new doctor in a couple of weeks. My mom had previously urged me to see a new doctor and I agreed, but I thought I'd be okay since I had the one more refill.
The moral of this story? Listen to your mother.
This particular seizure seems to have been pretty bad: I bit down on my lower lip, which is now badly bruised, and I popped enough blood vessels near the surface the skin on my neck and shoulder that that area is covered in red marks. That said, my mobility doesn't appear to be as affected as the two previous seizures.
I went to bed a little after ten on Wednesday. At around twelve-thirty, I woke up in a stupor. It took me several minutes to figure out what had happened, but once I did, I set to work to raise my bloodsugar. After I'd eaten, I spent the next hour trying to fall back to sleep, without success. I gave up and tried to read a book, but it was hard to stay focused: my body was awake, but my mind was very tired. I ended up watching some TV until around seven, when I had to get ready for work. I should mention that I tried to go to sleep two more times during this period, but each time I was too wired to go off to dreamland.
I went into the office, but only because I had an important meeting first thing. With the meeting taken care of, I called the pharmacy to see if my meds were ready. They were and had been since Tuesday. Tuesday! A lack of communication on their part caused me to have a seizure! Anyway, I had already talked to my temporary manager who was very understanding and told me to take it easy. Having met my obligation for the day and still being in danger of seizing, I went and picked up my medication and then went home to sleep.
In an attempt to avoid this sort of thing again, I have an appointment scheduled with a new doctor in a couple of weeks. My mom had previously urged me to see a new doctor and I agreed, but I thought I'd be okay since I had the one more refill.
The moral of this story? Listen to your mother.
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
What's Important
At work on Monday, I had a disagreement with a coworker that really bothered me. The disagreement happened over email and multiple managers were involved, which made the whole thing even more difficult.
The disagreement centered on a video: I'm the major creative force, with this particular coworker acting as the subject matter expert (SME). I'm not trying to boast about my involvement, it's just that if a shot is needed, I run the camera; if we want to use a drawing, I have to find it and edit it; plus, I'm the main person to communicate with our editor, Ian, so I also have write detailed instructions. The project manager and I were content with the video by the fourth edit, so we kicked it up the chain for approval. The particular middle manager who needed to sign off on it was happy with our results, but he asked that we get the SME's approval. The SME had pages of notes for us. We agreed to make some changes, but explained other changes wouldn't be possible. The fifth edit came in and the SME gave us even more notes than before and a lot of it was asking us to change stuff that he asked for during the last round of edits. With the sixth version finished, we submitted it for approval, though only to the middle manager. He approved it and told us to post it to YouTube, which we did this past Friday.
On Monday, I sent an email with a link to the video to congratulate the team for finally finishing the video. The SME wrote back an angry email stating that he never got a chance to chime in on this video and how that was a slap in the face to him. He also said that the video included some wrong information, so it needed to be pulled, though he left out what exactly was wrong. The SME's boss wrote back and confirmed that there was incorrect information, but he was also nice enough to tell us were the error occurred. I went back through my notes and discovered that the wrong info had been provided by the SME. I replied to everyone and explained where the error had originated -- and even offered a bit of an explanation for how the error may have been missed by the SME -- and said that it would be fixed as soon as possible. However, the middle manager who had given us approval, told us to keep the video pulled for the time being and he scheduled a meeting for him to meet with the rest of us (the project manager, the SME, and me).
This whole back-and-forth took up most of my morning and it really made me mad -- plus, not only was I right, I had the documents to prove it. I had cooled off a bit by the time I took my lunch break, but I was still pretty upset. I went to the post office to mail a bill and by the time I came back, I had about twenty-five minutes left. I usually read my scriptures on my break, but I decided to prepare for my first Priesthood lesson in a couple of weeks by reading the Teachings for Our Time talk I was assigned, "The Gift of Grace," by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf. Reading this talk was exactly what I needed. I had been dealing with a petty squabble, but none of that seemed to matter when I was reminded of the great love that our Father in Heaven and our Savior showed us by designing and executing the Plan of Salvation. When I returned to my desk, I was much more focused and productive than before.
While dealing with uncooperative coworkers is frustrating, I'm very grateful that I was able to read about what really matters when I needed to be reminded of it.
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Tuesdays with Media: Not in My House
Another new story on my other blog. I know that clicking a link sometimes is too much, so it can also be viewed below.
Not in My House
Scene 1
INT. Kitchen
A husband and wife are finishing up their dinner preparations. What they are making is unimportant. The wife (MOM) places something on the table (like a bowl of salad or a roast).
MOM: You should tell Michael that dinner’s ready.
The husband (DAD) nods and walks out of the kitchen.
INT. Hallway, viewed from inside a bedroom, the door not quite closed
DAD is about to knock on the door, but pauses and looks in. Without saying a word, DAD’s eyes go big and he backs away with a look of horror on his face, bumping softly into the bathroom door behind him, pushing it open. DAD walks back to the kitchen.
INT. Kitchen
MOM: What’s going on? Where’s Michael?
DAD: [to himself] I just can’t believe it. You try to raise your kids right, but it all just falls apart on you.
MOM: What are you talking about?
DAD: [to MOM] I caught Michael using Coke.
MOM: [loud, but not quite a shout] Are you serious?! [quickly looks back towards the bedroom and changes to speaking in a loud whisper] Did you take it away?!
DAD: Why bother? I’m sure he’ll just get more.
MOM: Do you know where he got it?
DAD: No, but I’d guess that friend of his, Johnny, is involved. I never liked that kid.
MOM: Is that what Michael said?
DAD: No, once I saw what he was doing, I left. [ashamed] I just can’t look at him right now.
MOM: Hang on. Let’s find out what’s going on. I just can’t believe he’s using coke! [walks out of kitchen]
INT. Hallway.
We see MOM walking down the hall. This time, MIKE’s bedroom door is completely open, but the bathroom door across the hall is closed. The sound of a toilet flushing is heard. The door opens and MIKE, a teenager, comes out, a strong look of worry and fear is on his face.
MOM: Michael! What is this I hear about you using coke!?
MIKE: I just wanted to try it, that’s all!
MOM: Just TRY it?! You don’t just try something like that.
MIKE: Mom, it’s really not that big a deal. Most of my friends have it all the time.
MOM: And that makes it okay? Your friends don’t know what’s best for you, your father and I do.
MIKE: Okay, I’m sorry.
MOM: Sorry doesn’t cut it. Where’s the rest of it.
MIKE: I got scared, so I flushed it down the toilet. It’s gone.
MOM: [sighs] Where did you even get it?
MIKE: On the way home from school, there’s a corner store.
MOM: And they sell drugs there?!
MIKE: What?! No, I bought a Coke!
MOM: You don’t think that counts as drugs?
[DAD walks into the hall.]
DAD: You should know better, son. In this house, we drink Pepsi! [very dramatically, he opens a can of Pepsi and takes a sip] Ahh!
MOM: [not believing the ridiculousness of the situation] You caught him with Coca-cola?
DAD: Yeah, I did. You know that ever since I took the Pepsi Challenge all those years ago that this has been a Pepsi house.
MOM: [rolls eyes] I can’t believe this [throws hands in the air and walks away].
MIKE: Dad, there are other colas out there.
DAD: Not as far as I’m concerned!
MIKE: Stop telling me how to live my life! [walks into bedroom and slams door behind him]
A black screen appears with white letters:
Everyone has the right to choose for themselves. Talk to your kids about which cola is right for them.
END
Monday, September 14, 2015
Seeing the Real Message
Yesterday at church, we had a combined third hour focusing on emergency preparedness. This subject seems to be getting a bit of a push from the leaders of my new Stake as we had a linger longer with a similar focus. As I live much closer to the coast now, I'm guessing that the leaders want us to be prepared for storms and other disasters.
The meeting began with the Emergency Preparedness Specialist (or whatever his title is) standing before us and telling us that if we don't have food storage in place, we're committing a sin. First of all, while we have been commanded to have food storage, not doing so would not be a sin but a transgression, as failing to have proper supplies is not a moral failing. Secondly, I don't react well to being told to change my ways because I'm being bad -- I generally stop listening to the speaker, regardless of how worthwhile their message may be. In my experience, you get better results if you tell people to improve while focusing on the benefits of changing, not on the negative aspects of maintaining the status quo. To put it in gospel terms, you tell people about how great righteous living is, not how bad Hell will be.
The speaker continued to talk about all of the disasters he's seen averted by people being properly prepared, but I just sat there, stewing in my annoyance. He compared the ill-prepared to the Donner Party, which I just find insulting. He made assumptions about people not taking home informational pamphlets because we don't trust the government, which I find baffling. I was so insulted that I nearly walked out after ten minutes.
I stayed, but only barely. Eventually I figured out that while his presentation style is all wrong, his message is still a good one: be prepared. I have several working flashlights and I try to keep myself well-supplied with nonperishable food, so I'm mostly prepared. One area in which I'm not properly prepared is water, so I decided to pick up several gallons of water on my way home from work today.
It's frustrating when a good message is hidden within a bad presentation, but I'm grateful I was able to see through to the truth.
The meeting began with the Emergency Preparedness Specialist (or whatever his title is) standing before us and telling us that if we don't have food storage in place, we're committing a sin. First of all, while we have been commanded to have food storage, not doing so would not be a sin but a transgression, as failing to have proper supplies is not a moral failing. Secondly, I don't react well to being told to change my ways because I'm being bad -- I generally stop listening to the speaker, regardless of how worthwhile their message may be. In my experience, you get better results if you tell people to improve while focusing on the benefits of changing, not on the negative aspects of maintaining the status quo. To put it in gospel terms, you tell people about how great righteous living is, not how bad Hell will be.
The speaker continued to talk about all of the disasters he's seen averted by people being properly prepared, but I just sat there, stewing in my annoyance. He compared the ill-prepared to the Donner Party, which I just find insulting. He made assumptions about people not taking home informational pamphlets because we don't trust the government, which I find baffling. I was so insulted that I nearly walked out after ten minutes.
I stayed, but only barely. Eventually I figured out that while his presentation style is all wrong, his message is still a good one: be prepared. I have several working flashlights and I try to keep myself well-supplied with nonperishable food, so I'm mostly prepared. One area in which I'm not properly prepared is water, so I decided to pick up several gallons of water on my way home from work today.
It's frustrating when a good message is hidden within a bad presentation, but I'm grateful I was able to see through to the truth.
Friday, September 11, 2015
The Itch Returns
My apartment looks like I recently went a coke bender and, no, I'm not referring to the cola. There are piles of while powder all over the place: in the bathroom, in front of the couch, in front of the desk, down the hall, and plenty in the kitchen.
The substance is sodium bicarbonate or baking soda.
You see, on Monday, I was in the Larsen's backyard for less than thirty minutes, but that was all it took for the she-mosquitoes to feast on my delicious blood. I knew I had been bit at least a few times, but by the time I got home, I counted twenty bug bites on my legs.
I took as much Benadryl as was safe, but it made little difference. I woke up Tuesday night with my legs involuntarily twitching from the intense itching. I looked up different remedies and decided to go with applying a baking soda paste. Thankfully, the paste took the edge off enough that I wasn't fighting the urge to rip my own skin off. But due to the way that the paste would dry and flake off, it meant that I needed to work from home on Wednesday. Thankfully, my temporary manager was fine with that solution and I was able to regularly treat my bites throughout the day. Enough of the irritant had passed through my system that I was able to return to the office the next day.
Since I'm still applying the paste when I'm home, it doesn't make sense to clean up yet. I'm hoping to be through the worst of it by this weekend.
The substance is sodium bicarbonate or baking soda.
You see, on Monday, I was in the Larsen's backyard for less than thirty minutes, but that was all it took for the she-mosquitoes to feast on my delicious blood. I knew I had been bit at least a few times, but by the time I got home, I counted twenty bug bites on my legs.
I took as much Benadryl as was safe, but it made little difference. I woke up Tuesday night with my legs involuntarily twitching from the intense itching. I looked up different remedies and decided to go with applying a baking soda paste. Thankfully, the paste took the edge off enough that I wasn't fighting the urge to rip my own skin off. But due to the way that the paste would dry and flake off, it meant that I needed to work from home on Wednesday. Thankfully, my temporary manager was fine with that solution and I was able to regularly treat my bites throughout the day. Enough of the irritant had passed through my system that I was able to return to the office the next day.
Since I'm still applying the paste when I'm home, it doesn't make sense to clean up yet. I'm hoping to be through the worst of it by this weekend.
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Licensed to Travel
A couple of months ago, I was in a meeting with the head technical writer at Danfoss (she's located at company headquarters in Denmark and we were teleconferencing). She made multiple references to the fact that I was an important asset for the company and that she wanted to have visit the main office and meet the rest of her team. Nothing was planned, but I decided that it was probably a good idea to apply for a passport so I wouldn't be in a rush later if an actual meeting was scheduled.
Last week, an actual meeting was scheduled. I was asked to visit the land of my forefathers and present a couple of projects I've been working on since I joined the company in December. I'm feeling a mixture of emotions (excitement, anxiety, pride, nervousness, happiness) about being important enough for my company to fly me over four thousand miles away, but I was also worried that even though I had submitted my application and my check to the State Department had cleared, my passport wouldn't be approved in time. Yesterday, I came home to find my brand new passport in my mailbox.
This whole experience, from applying when I did to the recent praise I've been receiving, is another confirmation to me that this is the job that I moved Maryland for. This has been an amazing experience so far and it just keeps getting better.
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Tuesdays with Media: Inside Out
Inside Out is the latest offering from Pixar Animation Studios, originally known for their fun, inventive movies that were engaging for family members of all ages, but have more recently been known for being in a sequel-based slump. So, which category does Inside Out fall into?
The film follows the different personified emotions of an eleven-year-old girl named Riley as they operate the controls inside her head. The emotion that's in charge most of the time is Joy (voiced by Amy Poehler), but she also has Anger (voiced by Louis Black), Fear (voiced by Bill Hader), and Disgust (voiced by Mindy Kaling) help to, in Joy's words, "keep Riley safe." Sadness (voiced by Phyllis Smith), is also there, but Joy can't figure out how to use her and mostly tries to keep Sadness from messing things up. On the outside, Riley and her parents are moving from Minnesota to San Francisco, which causes some internal problems for her emotions to deal with.
The internal world within Riley's head is very creative. Memories are represented as orbs, each one color-coded to match up with the emotion that was in charge at the time the memory was formed: yellow for joy, blue for sadness, red for anger, purple for fear, and green for disgust. While Riley sleeps, the memories from that day are transferred to long term storage. Additionally, "core memories" are the basis for Riley's personality, with traits including hockey, honesty, and family.
The character designs are very imaginative. Not only does each emotion have an appropriate personality to match their name (Anger is a hothead, Disgust is hyper-judgmental, etc.), but they also look like their not quite solid. Each emotion is made up of a collection of dots that are pressed together into a humanoid shape. This design scheme reminded me of light particles or neural impulses, so good job design team.
And good job to the research team. As we learn more and more about the world of Riley's brain, there are lots of references to different aspects of psychology and how humans process thoughts and emotions: the subconscious, lost memories, REM sleep, abstract thinking, etc. None of it feels forced and everything comes across very creatively in a completely natural way. One aspect of that is the five emotions that operate Riley's brain. Something that my dad pointed out to me is that there are only five facial expressions that are recognized by all humans regardless of culture and they're the five emotions represented in the film
The story's theme of all emotions being important and having their place was pretty obvious from the get-go, but despite seeing where the movie would be going the whole time, the filmmakers still got to me: at the film's climax, I cried. I'm not one to cry in movies -- I often laugh at the parts that are supposed to make me cry because I think it's funny that the film crew is trying to so obviously manipulate me. And yet, everything in this movie was done so well that I teared up at exactly the place I was supposed to. Congratulations, (director) Pete Doctor, you have done what few others have.
My only complaint about the film is that Joy, who is yellow, has blue hair. All of the other characters have hair the same color as the rest of them (except Anger, who's bald), so why not Joy? This is literally my only negative thing to say about the movie.
To answer the question I asked at the beginning, if Inside Out is the new status quo, than old form Pixar is back. If you haven't seen this movie, I cannot recommend it enough. It's great for kids, but even better for grown-ups.
Inside Out is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
The film follows the different personified emotions of an eleven-year-old girl named Riley as they operate the controls inside her head. The emotion that's in charge most of the time is Joy (voiced by Amy Poehler), but she also has Anger (voiced by Louis Black), Fear (voiced by Bill Hader), and Disgust (voiced by Mindy Kaling) help to, in Joy's words, "keep Riley safe." Sadness (voiced by Phyllis Smith), is also there, but Joy can't figure out how to use her and mostly tries to keep Sadness from messing things up. On the outside, Riley and her parents are moving from Minnesota to San Francisco, which causes some internal problems for her emotions to deal with.
The internal world within Riley's head is very creative. Memories are represented as orbs, each one color-coded to match up with the emotion that was in charge at the time the memory was formed: yellow for joy, blue for sadness, red for anger, purple for fear, and green for disgust. While Riley sleeps, the memories from that day are transferred to long term storage. Additionally, "core memories" are the basis for Riley's personality, with traits including hockey, honesty, and family.
The character designs are very imaginative. Not only does each emotion have an appropriate personality to match their name (Anger is a hothead, Disgust is hyper-judgmental, etc.), but they also look like their not quite solid. Each emotion is made up of a collection of dots that are pressed together into a humanoid shape. This design scheme reminded me of light particles or neural impulses, so good job design team.
And good job to the research team. As we learn more and more about the world of Riley's brain, there are lots of references to different aspects of psychology and how humans process thoughts and emotions: the subconscious, lost memories, REM sleep, abstract thinking, etc. None of it feels forced and everything comes across very creatively in a completely natural way. One aspect of that is the five emotions that operate Riley's brain. Something that my dad pointed out to me is that there are only five facial expressions that are recognized by all humans regardless of culture and they're the five emotions represented in the film
The story's theme of all emotions being important and having their place was pretty obvious from the get-go, but despite seeing where the movie would be going the whole time, the filmmakers still got to me: at the film's climax, I cried. I'm not one to cry in movies -- I often laugh at the parts that are supposed to make me cry because I think it's funny that the film crew is trying to so obviously manipulate me. And yet, everything in this movie was done so well that I teared up at exactly the place I was supposed to. Congratulations, (director) Pete Doctor, you have done what few others have.
My only complaint about the film is that Joy, who is yellow, has blue hair. All of the other characters have hair the same color as the rest of them (except Anger, who's bald), so why not Joy? This is literally my only negative thing to say about the movie.
To answer the question I asked at the beginning, if Inside Out is the new status quo, than old form Pixar is back. If you haven't seen this movie, I cannot recommend it enough. It's great for kids, but even better for grown-ups.
Inside Out is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
Monday, September 7, 2015
Laborious Weekend
I hope all of my readers have had an enjoyable Labor Day Weekend. Mine was pretty much packed to the brim with activities.
Saturday
Ian and the kids came up to visit and we all went swimming at my apartment complex's pool. Clara was happy to jump right in, but Henry took some time to warm up to the idea of getting in the water. I've gone swimming with Ian and the kids before (Ian likes to have a 1:1 ratio of kids to adults when swimming) and Henry has a strong fear of water. I'm not sure what caused it, but the last time we went to a pool, Henry was freaking out the whole time, even while wearing a life vest. One big difference between the last time and this time was that this pool's shallow end was three feet deep rather than four. That meant that once Henry worked up the nerve to get in the water, he could stand up with his feet flat on the floor and keep his head above water. Simply doing that was a big improvement for him. So while Clara started practicing basic swimming components like kicking and floating on her back, Henry being able to walk from one side of the shallow end of the pool to the other was still a big victory for him.
After the pool, we went to one of the dozens of Italian restaurants in my area and had pizza, which was really good. The kids were a bit impatient while we waited for food to arrive, but I have yet to meet a kid that pizza won't improve their mood significantly.
After swimming and pizza, we went back to my apartment to relax a bit. I got some pillows for the kids to lay on and Ian set up Up to play on his iPad. As the kids watched the movie in the living room, Ian and I hung out in the dining room, about a dozen feet away. Once the movie finished, I served some birthday cake that I had made (chocolate fudge cake with candied strawberries and whipped cream), in celebration of Ian's birthday -- which was the day before, but with a Saturday literally the next day, it made sense to wait to celebrate.
With all of the fun activities finished, Ian and the kids piled into their car went back home.
Sunday
After Church, I came home and did some laundry before packing an overnight bag (and the leftover cake) and driving down to the Larsen's. Ian had had some trouble with a cat marking her territory in the living room, so he needed to replace the carpet. I came to handle the kids the next day while he was busing with the installation crew.
When I got there, it was scripture-reading time. It was great to see how excited Clara got for her time to read. Henry's reading skills aren't to the same level as Clara's, but he still was happy to get to a chance to stumble through a few verses.
Monday
After a quick breakfast of eggs and frozen waffles (fun fact: I eat three raw eggs every morning and, yes, it grosses out everyone who hears about it), I took the kids in my car to a local shopping center. I had a plan and a schedule to follow, but I had decided to keep the big activity a surprise, in case the installers finished early and we needed to go home sooner than expected.
Our first stop was at the local pet store to look at the animals on sale. I wasn't sure about this as an activity, but Ian was the one that suggested it, so I decided just roll with it. After the kids got bored with the animals, we walked down to a dollar store (really a five dollar store, so, you know, a fancy dollar store) because I knew the kids like temporary tattoos and figured that would be an easy win. The girl running the register sent me to the opposite side of the store when I asked where I could find them, but based on her age I'm pretty sure this is her first job, so I probably shouldn't have expected much. With the temporary tats in hand (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for Henry and Disney Princesses and their pets for Clara), we walked to the first big activity, frozen yogurt, only to find that the place still hadn't opened for the day. We were due for a bathroom break, so we walked down to the Target. After everyone had gone, we walked over to the in-store cafe to see if an ice cream-like treat could be obtained. While no ice cream was to be had, I did get each kid a slushy. They were both excited because this was an even rarer treat than frozen yogurt. With the frozen treats consumed, we walked down to the main event: watching a movie in the theater.
Ian had looked up the theater's showtimes the night before and found that there were only two PG-rated movies playing and only one that the kids hadn't seen. We decided that I should take the kids to see Inside Out, the latest offering from Pixar. With a large popcorn and custom drink (half-fruit punch, half-Sprite) for the kids to share, we all enjoyed the movie. About an hour into the movie, I got a text that later turned out to be Ian telling us that the carpet installation was complete. After the movie finished, we went home.
And while that could have been it, the kids asked that I stay a little longer. Ian said that they needed to go grocery shopping, but Clara asked that I stay and play with her and Henry while their dad when to the store by himself. We both thought that was fine, so Clara, Henry, and I headed outside to play Hide-and-Seek. After a few rounds, it was decided it was a bit too hot and the kids asked if we could play a board game instead. Since I was getting attacked by mosquitoes again, I was happy to change activities. The kids chose Monopoly Junior, which Clara won.
Once the game was put away, Clara and Henry were sent off for some quiet time while Ian and I talked about some detail regarding a video for Danfoss. With that completed, I said my goodbyes and came home.
It was nice to not only get to celebrate Ian's birthday with him and his kids but to also help him out and spend some time with just my niece and nephew -- and it was great to hear that they enjoyed it just as much.
Saturday
Ian and the kids came up to visit and we all went swimming at my apartment complex's pool. Clara was happy to jump right in, but Henry took some time to warm up to the idea of getting in the water. I've gone swimming with Ian and the kids before (Ian likes to have a 1:1 ratio of kids to adults when swimming) and Henry has a strong fear of water. I'm not sure what caused it, but the last time we went to a pool, Henry was freaking out the whole time, even while wearing a life vest. One big difference between the last time and this time was that this pool's shallow end was three feet deep rather than four. That meant that once Henry worked up the nerve to get in the water, he could stand up with his feet flat on the floor and keep his head above water. Simply doing that was a big improvement for him. So while Clara started practicing basic swimming components like kicking and floating on her back, Henry being able to walk from one side of the shallow end of the pool to the other was still a big victory for him.
After the pool, we went to one of the dozens of Italian restaurants in my area and had pizza, which was really good. The kids were a bit impatient while we waited for food to arrive, but I have yet to meet a kid that pizza won't improve their mood significantly.
After swimming and pizza, we went back to my apartment to relax a bit. I got some pillows for the kids to lay on and Ian set up Up to play on his iPad. As the kids watched the movie in the living room, Ian and I hung out in the dining room, about a dozen feet away. Once the movie finished, I served some birthday cake that I had made (chocolate fudge cake with candied strawberries and whipped cream), in celebration of Ian's birthday -- which was the day before, but with a Saturday literally the next day, it made sense to wait to celebrate.
With all of the fun activities finished, Ian and the kids piled into their car went back home.
Sunday
After Church, I came home and did some laundry before packing an overnight bag (and the leftover cake) and driving down to the Larsen's. Ian had had some trouble with a cat marking her territory in the living room, so he needed to replace the carpet. I came to handle the kids the next day while he was busing with the installation crew.
When I got there, it was scripture-reading time. It was great to see how excited Clara got for her time to read. Henry's reading skills aren't to the same level as Clara's, but he still was happy to get to a chance to stumble through a few verses.
Monday
After a quick breakfast of eggs and frozen waffles (fun fact: I eat three raw eggs every morning and, yes, it grosses out everyone who hears about it), I took the kids in my car to a local shopping center. I had a plan and a schedule to follow, but I had decided to keep the big activity a surprise, in case the installers finished early and we needed to go home sooner than expected.
Our first stop was at the local pet store to look at the animals on sale. I wasn't sure about this as an activity, but Ian was the one that suggested it, so I decided just roll with it. After the kids got bored with the animals, we walked down to a dollar store (really a five dollar store, so, you know, a fancy dollar store) because I knew the kids like temporary tattoos and figured that would be an easy win. The girl running the register sent me to the opposite side of the store when I asked where I could find them, but based on her age I'm pretty sure this is her first job, so I probably shouldn't have expected much. With the temporary tats in hand (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for Henry and Disney Princesses and their pets for Clara), we walked to the first big activity, frozen yogurt, only to find that the place still hadn't opened for the day. We were due for a bathroom break, so we walked down to the Target. After everyone had gone, we walked over to the in-store cafe to see if an ice cream-like treat could be obtained. While no ice cream was to be had, I did get each kid a slushy. They were both excited because this was an even rarer treat than frozen yogurt. With the frozen treats consumed, we walked down to the main event: watching a movie in the theater.
Ian had looked up the theater's showtimes the night before and found that there were only two PG-rated movies playing and only one that the kids hadn't seen. We decided that I should take the kids to see Inside Out, the latest offering from Pixar. With a large popcorn and custom drink (half-fruit punch, half-Sprite) for the kids to share, we all enjoyed the movie. About an hour into the movie, I got a text that later turned out to be Ian telling us that the carpet installation was complete. After the movie finished, we went home.
And while that could have been it, the kids asked that I stay a little longer. Ian said that they needed to go grocery shopping, but Clara asked that I stay and play with her and Henry while their dad when to the store by himself. We both thought that was fine, so Clara, Henry, and I headed outside to play Hide-and-Seek. After a few rounds, it was decided it was a bit too hot and the kids asked if we could play a board game instead. Since I was getting attacked by mosquitoes again, I was happy to change activities. The kids chose Monopoly Junior, which Clara won.
Once the game was put away, Clara and Henry were sent off for some quiet time while Ian and I talked about some detail regarding a video for Danfoss. With that completed, I said my goodbyes and came home.
It was nice to not only get to celebrate Ian's birthday with him and his kids but to also help him out and spend some time with just my niece and nephew -- and it was great to hear that they enjoyed it just as much.
Friday, September 4, 2015
Winning the War
Soon after I moved into my current apartment, I discovered that my kitchen had become a breeding ground for fruit flies. While I certainly prefer to deal with an infestation of fruit flies than houseflies, my ultimate goal is to not deal with any arthropodic invaders at all. I keep my kitchen very clean and any fruit I have is either stored in the fridge or in a closed bag, so I was quite surprised to be dealing with any flies let alone so many.
I talked to my sister, Margot, about my frustrations with having to hang fly ribbons and she suggested putting out an open jar of apple cider vinegar as a trap. The vinegar attracts the flies and, thanks to a drop of dish soap, the surface tension is broken so that when the flies try to feed, they fall in and drown. I put out a trap the next day, but only a few flies took the bait. I was still catching plenty of flies on the ribbons, but there were still even more inside my kitchen trash can.
I did some research online and decided that the vinegar trap was only half of a solution: I needed to take away their other food source. I emptied the trash and replaced the liner so I could start with a blank slate and I reset the vinegar trap. Additionally, anytime I threw away any fruit or vegetable matter, I wrapped it in a grocery bag to add a layer between the garbage and the flies.
The next day, the vinegar trap was a very popular place. It had captured a few dozen flies, but there were several dozen more hanging out nearby (maybe waiting for the line shorten). There were no flies in the trash can and the fly ribbons were disgustingly crowded. Within a week, the trap had captured about fifty flies and there were only one or two flies buzzing around.
We're now about a month removed from when I first put my plan into action and there's still about one or two fruit flies hanging around. I don't know if I can completely get rid of them, but with my current plan in place, they will at least be very well controlled.
I talked to my sister, Margot, about my frustrations with having to hang fly ribbons and she suggested putting out an open jar of apple cider vinegar as a trap. The vinegar attracts the flies and, thanks to a drop of dish soap, the surface tension is broken so that when the flies try to feed, they fall in and drown. I put out a trap the next day, but only a few flies took the bait. I was still catching plenty of flies on the ribbons, but there were still even more inside my kitchen trash can.
I did some research online and decided that the vinegar trap was only half of a solution: I needed to take away their other food source. I emptied the trash and replaced the liner so I could start with a blank slate and I reset the vinegar trap. Additionally, anytime I threw away any fruit or vegetable matter, I wrapped it in a grocery bag to add a layer between the garbage and the flies.
The next day, the vinegar trap was a very popular place. It had captured a few dozen flies, but there were several dozen more hanging out nearby (maybe waiting for the line shorten). There were no flies in the trash can and the fly ribbons were disgustingly crowded. Within a week, the trap had captured about fifty flies and there were only one or two flies buzzing around.
We're now about a month removed from when I first put my plan into action and there's still about one or two fruit flies hanging around. I don't know if I can completely get rid of them, but with my current plan in place, they will at least be very well controlled.
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Siding with the Opposition
We live in a world with shifting views, especially with regards to faith and religion. I recently heard about a survey that found that people of my generation are the least religious of any previous generation, to the surprise of no one. With so many people firm in their stance against what I believe, I've mostly gotten used to being in the minority where religious devotion is concerned. Perhaps that's why I get so annoyed when I have to agree with the opposing side.
As you're probably already aware, Kim Davis, the Rowan, Kentucky County Clerk is refusing to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples. She cites her religious beliefs as the reason for the refusal, despite being ordered to issue the licences by the Supreme Court. She says she is more concerned about God's judgement than the opinions of opponents and doesn't want her name and signature on the marriage licences of same-sex couples. All of that makes sense to me; the part where she loses me is that she refuses to resign.
She is an elected official, put in office by the people of Rowan County, Kentucky to serve them in a specific capacity. One of her responsibilities is to issue marriage licences, including to same-sex couples. I find it unfortunate that the Supreme Court is requiring all states to recognize same-sex marriage, but that is the law. If Ms. Davis doesn't want to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples, then she should quit.
It seems these days that more and more people are confusing what religious freedom and freedom of speech means. For example, when I worked at IHOP during college, that particular location required all employees to work both Saturday and Sunday. I asked that I not have to work Sundays due to my religious beliefs and they acquiesced. If they hadn't, I wouldn't have worked for them. The first amendment protects our rights from being infringed by the government, not by other parties. With the case of Ms. Davis, while she does work for the government, she also agreed to perform the duties of her office when she signed up to be a county clerk. If she doesn't agree with what those duties are, she certainly has a right to protest, but once the judgement is declared, she needs to either grit her teeth and issue marriage licences to the qualifying people within her county or she needs to resign.
One of the reasons this particular case is so frustrating is because so many people who are not religious will see this woman's behavior and label everyone who is religious as "crazy." We as human beings tend to categorize things, even people, so for the many people out there that don't have any religious friends to serve as a counter-example, Ms. Davis is serving as a symbol of all Christians, making us all look like zealots who are standing in the way of "progress."
Again, I agree with Ms. Davis' beliefs and I understand her dilemma, but if she doesn't like the job for which she signed up, she needs step down.
As you're probably already aware, Kim Davis, the Rowan, Kentucky County Clerk is refusing to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples. She cites her religious beliefs as the reason for the refusal, despite being ordered to issue the licences by the Supreme Court. She says she is more concerned about God's judgement than the opinions of opponents and doesn't want her name and signature on the marriage licences of same-sex couples. All of that makes sense to me; the part where she loses me is that she refuses to resign.
She is an elected official, put in office by the people of Rowan County, Kentucky to serve them in a specific capacity. One of her responsibilities is to issue marriage licences, including to same-sex couples. I find it unfortunate that the Supreme Court is requiring all states to recognize same-sex marriage, but that is the law. If Ms. Davis doesn't want to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples, then she should quit.
It seems these days that more and more people are confusing what religious freedom and freedom of speech means. For example, when I worked at IHOP during college, that particular location required all employees to work both Saturday and Sunday. I asked that I not have to work Sundays due to my religious beliefs and they acquiesced. If they hadn't, I wouldn't have worked for them. The first amendment protects our rights from being infringed by the government, not by other parties. With the case of Ms. Davis, while she does work for the government, she also agreed to perform the duties of her office when she signed up to be a county clerk. If she doesn't agree with what those duties are, she certainly has a right to protest, but once the judgement is declared, she needs to either grit her teeth and issue marriage licences to the qualifying people within her county or she needs to resign.
One of the reasons this particular case is so frustrating is because so many people who are not religious will see this woman's behavior and label everyone who is religious as "crazy." We as human beings tend to categorize things, even people, so for the many people out there that don't have any religious friends to serve as a counter-example, Ms. Davis is serving as a symbol of all Christians, making us all look like zealots who are standing in the way of "progress."
Again, I agree with Ms. Davis' beliefs and I understand her dilemma, but if she doesn't like the job for which she signed up, she needs step down.
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Tuesdays with Media: Paperman
Wreck-it Ralph was a fun animated film released by the Walt Disney company in 2012. Attached to the feature was an animated short called Paperman, which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film the year it was released.
I don't care for it. (Spoilers below.)
The style of the animation is quite clever: a three-dimensional environment that's rendered in a way so that it looks hand-drawn. Plus, it's black-and-white (except for one character's lipstick), which helps it stand out from the crowd. And the story is told without any dialog, making the short film a completely visual experience.
So why does this award-winning short get no love from me? Two reasons: story and figure design.
The story is simple enough: a young man meets a young woman at a train station on his way to work, they have a "meet cute," and go their separate ways. In his office job, he sees the girl from the train station across the street at the neighboring building. He ignores his duties and tries to get her attention by throwing paper airplanes her way. They all fail to get her attention, but they end up meeting up at the end anyway. The credits roll beside still shots of them talking in a coffee shop.
The basic message is that when you meet the "one," nothing else will matter. Love is your destiny and anything that gets in the way is bad and wrong and out to destroy your happiness. I hate these kinds of stories. Relationships take work; I don't care if two people are "meant" to be together or not, because if they don't work on their relationship, they'll be "destined" to break up.
Also, is this random girl that our protagonist met once going to want to support him when he gets fired from his job? While we don't see the unnamed character actually get fired, we do see him run out of the office despite his angry boss silently reminding him to get back to work. Too many movies and TV shows teach that you need to "follow your heart" to be happy, but these stories ignore that doing so will still have boring parts. I sought out my current job and I've never been happier with a place of employment, but there are still plenty of assignments (or parts of assignments) that I don't really like. Would the story have been that different if he had rushed out to try and find her on his lunch break, only to run out of time and have to head back in once he finds her? He'd give her his number and they'd still be able to meet at the coffee shop, just without risking his job.
And then there were the character designs, or design (singular) in this case. Look, I get that many people equate "thin" with "attractive," but the female character just looks unhealthy. When we first see her at around the 20 second mark, the first thing I thought of was how ridiculously skinny she looked. Not only does she look like a light breeze will knock her over, but they made her waist even smaller. Her waist is so small that her head is actually wider. That's insane! Plus, they've made her eyes so big that they're bigger than her hands (which also look undersized).
Look, I get that animation allows creators to design characters with unnatural or unrealistic proportions, but if they're pushing the limits of femininity, why not make the protagonist look like a Greek statue? Instead, he's also thin, but looks much more natural: his eyes are more proportional, his waist is wider than his head, and he even gets a large nose to give his design personality. The woman's face is pretty but boring. With so many girls developing body-image issues, I disagree with the filmmakers' decision to present such an unrealistic vision of feminine beauty.
While I commend the creative team for mixing old and new styles and limiting themselves to a story told without words, I'm disappointed that they chose such a tired, cliché of a story to tell with characters that are in dire need of a cheeseburger.
Paperman is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
I don't care for it. (Spoilers below.)
Sorry for all the ads.
The style of the animation is quite clever: a three-dimensional environment that's rendered in a way so that it looks hand-drawn. Plus, it's black-and-white (except for one character's lipstick), which helps it stand out from the crowd. And the story is told without any dialog, making the short film a completely visual experience.
So why does this award-winning short get no love from me? Two reasons: story and figure design.
The story is simple enough: a young man meets a young woman at a train station on his way to work, they have a "meet cute," and go their separate ways. In his office job, he sees the girl from the train station across the street at the neighboring building. He ignores his duties and tries to get her attention by throwing paper airplanes her way. They all fail to get her attention, but they end up meeting up at the end anyway. The credits roll beside still shots of them talking in a coffee shop.
The basic message is that when you meet the "one," nothing else will matter. Love is your destiny and anything that gets in the way is bad and wrong and out to destroy your happiness. I hate these kinds of stories. Relationships take work; I don't care if two people are "meant" to be together or not, because if they don't work on their relationship, they'll be "destined" to break up.
Also, is this random girl that our protagonist met once going to want to support him when he gets fired from his job? While we don't see the unnamed character actually get fired, we do see him run out of the office despite his angry boss silently reminding him to get back to work. Too many movies and TV shows teach that you need to "follow your heart" to be happy, but these stories ignore that doing so will still have boring parts. I sought out my current job and I've never been happier with a place of employment, but there are still plenty of assignments (or parts of assignments) that I don't really like. Would the story have been that different if he had rushed out to try and find her on his lunch break, only to run out of time and have to head back in once he finds her? He'd give her his number and they'd still be able to meet at the coffee shop, just without risking his job.
And then there were the character designs, or design (singular) in this case. Look, I get that many people equate "thin" with "attractive," but the female character just looks unhealthy. When we first see her at around the 20 second mark, the first thing I thought of was how ridiculously skinny she looked. Not only does she look like a light breeze will knock her over, but they made her waist even smaller. Her waist is so small that her head is actually wider. That's insane! Plus, they've made her eyes so big that they're bigger than her hands (which also look undersized).
Look, I get that animation allows creators to design characters with unnatural or unrealistic proportions, but if they're pushing the limits of femininity, why not make the protagonist look like a Greek statue? Instead, he's also thin, but looks much more natural: his eyes are more proportional, his waist is wider than his head, and he even gets a large nose to give his design personality. The woman's face is pretty but boring. With so many girls developing body-image issues, I disagree with the filmmakers' decision to present such an unrealistic vision of feminine beauty.
While I commend the creative team for mixing old and new styles and limiting themselves to a story told without words, I'm disappointed that they chose such a tired, cliché of a story to tell with characters that are in dire need of a cheeseburger.
Paperman is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
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