Nov 21
2005
Tony| Category: General, Music and Movies, Chomping on Books |
Well, that happened.
I saw the most recent installment of the Harry Potter movie series this weekend. Fun times abound as we got there an hour early, allowing we and the Zigzags to be 136th-139th in line. (We know this thanks to TLEMK’s genius detective work of counting all the people in front of us.)
Never fear, we got terrific seats. I love opening night at an over-hyped movie. People cheered at the WB logo. It was very Star Wars-esque
My review: Read everyone else’s review about it, and you’ll get the idea. They cut a lot out, and there wasn’t enough dialogue for me. I thought it captured the adolescence/coming-of-age/raging hormones part fairly well. I thought the end was probably the best part of the movie.
(Stream-of-conciousness time-out– Target is doing their celebrity wakeup call thing again this year to get a start onthe shopping. Kermit can call you. Did you hear me people? KERMIT THE FROG CAN WAKE YOU UP!)
I could rant and rave about the inconsistencies between the book and movie, but those are naturally going to happen. So much happens inside the head of Harry in the book that one pan and scan shot of Harry looking at Cho (who is adorable in this movie) is not nearly enough to convey all the emotions that any of the characters are going through in the story. I went back reread book V and VI after I finished IV, and now I just want the next book and movie to come out.
You may not be suprised to learn that I stick by my description of myself as a very fat Hermione, and here’s the proof:
Which HP Kid Are You?
Well, who are you?
Nov 17
2005
Tony| Category: General, Site-Based Management |
Somebody’s stuck on reload… the same person reloaded my site 40 times in about a minute.
Last night’s presentation was way too long, but I *think* people are now more interested in blogging, both for personal use and in an educational setting. At the very least, they saw why I’m a little nutty about it. Thanks to all who gave me pointers. (Sidenote: I have way too many inside jokes here. People kept asking me about the T is for Knowledge, and what’s ebjournalling)
If you’re out there reading, Magnificent 7, thanks for taking the time, and try not to judge. I know I’m a tool. This tech class got me geeked up. I promise I’ll keep my mouth shut (as much as I can) for the next class. 
Nov 16
2005
Tony| Category: General, School Daze, Techie, not Geekie, Site-Based Management |
Morning/Afternoon/Evening folks,
In my grad class tonight, I have to give a quick presentation on new technology that’s being used. It doesn’t necessarily even have to be school-based, so guess what? I’m going to give a short diatribe on the wonders of blogs/blogging. Things I’ll mention include:
1) How Easy Blogging (Ebjournalling) Is…
2) Designing your own vs. using someone else’s stuff vs. hosting your own and using someone else’s stuff.
3) Types of Blogs (Forum/Politics/Photo/Web Clippings) –I thought I would point out a few sites that I visit, depending on time.
4) Why Blogs are Important ( or are they?!)
What I need from you, loyal 12.4 readers, is suggestions. Anything you think I should use to introduce to the class. They (Hello, ladies!) know what blogs are, but haven’t had the opportunity to see what/why it’s out there, and why they’re such a big deal. (or over-hyped, as the case may be on this site 
) In other words, what’s important to know about blogs/blogging?
Suggest away… and thanks!
Nov 11
2005
Tony| Category: General, Random |
1. Saw a man about a horse.
2. Typed 13 narratives for my progress reports (that’s more than half, kids)
2(a) Drank so much water, my back teeth done was floating.
3. Did eight loads of laundry. I make a good house-husband.
4. Got my oil changed. No, really, it’s not a euphemism. Then I got my radiator flushed. Also, not a euphemism. I went to Jiffy Lube and used their wireless connect to talk to Marc and Zigzag.
5. Bought Mega Millions tickets. (Are YOU in the 100K club?)
6. Got the car washed (clap, clap, clap, cla clapclapclap.)
7. Caught up on TiVo. (Colbert Report=Less funny as the show goes on.)
8. Waited for Stuck to get here… tuh tucka so long.
9. Chili’s… I bought into the advertising… garlic lover’s steak, tasty.
10. Drank the rest of the Crown. Insta-party, while watching Anchorman .
10(a) Bought MegaMillions tickets for Zigzag. Though, if he were to win, it would be really hard for me to give him the ticket to him. Cuz, technically, I bought it.
Nov 11
2005
Tony| Category: General, Music and Movies, Entertainment Tonight |
I REALLY need to catch up on these posts… now I’m two weeks behind.
One song encore.
Am I hating on them? No, but I feel like they played me.
Guster, Saturday, October 29th. It feels like it took longer to type that than it took for the show…
Maybe I’m being harsh… let’s rewind
(Wayne and Garth doddodo, doo doododoo)
We roll into the North Side to The Riv, pay $20 for parking (worth every mother truckin’ cent, tell you whut.), and head for the line. Except, I detour for some greasy spoon while V gets our spot in line. Two hot dogs, a 1/2 lb. cheeseburger later, and two pipin’ hot orders of french fries later, we were sated, and ready for the show.
Lucky us, we were within the first 100 people in line, with about 90 of the people in front of us definitely gunning for the stage. Being general admission show with no seats, and being old (me, not TLEMK) we decided to aim for the balconey. When they started to let people in, they split the lines for boys and girls. Owing to the fact that Guster is enjoyed MUCH MUCH more by the ladies (and me), I was in the Riv in about 2 minutes flat.
I dashed up the stairs, and exulted as I reached the front row of the balconey, in the middle. V came in a little later, and we did a happy little Guster dance, because we had front row balconey seats. Then we looked around.
Obviously, we landed in the Chaperone section, for we were the youngest people in our row, unless of course you count the ten-year-old, who was with her parents. Below us, the teenager/college kids crammed up to the stage, and the Old Man in me whispered, “Thank God you’re not down there. Now sit down before your knees give out.”
We happened to run into the parents of one of the opening band’s players. We got the inside scoop on Matt Pond, PA, which apparently has had songs included on The OC soundtrack. We chatted with the family for awhile, and then felt obligated to clap during their son’s mediocre set. Just like The Fringe (The Fray…) at the Ben Folds concert, they didn’t do much for me. They also had an uncessary awkward cello player. It would have been much better if the cello player contributed to the songs, and didn’t have such a bright sound to clash with the
depressing songs of Matt Pond.
Once they were done, and talked again with the parents of the Pond guitar player (”Wow, they rock! Stick around for Guster!”) we got ready for a rocking good time with Guster.
They rock. They have a new album coming out early next spring, and they played 3 or 4 songs from the album. I was expecting high energy, and for the most part, they delivered. It was their first sold-out show, so I was really expecting A LOT MORE energy.
I got to hear my fave songs, including Aiport Song, and Careful.
And then they were done.
Then they came out and did ONE song for their encore. It was cool because they unplugged everything and came and sang four-part harmony on the front of the stage. And then they left. And didn’t come back.
To sum up: Good band, good seats, but short set. I want to see them again, and then I want them to play for two hours, not an hour and change. (Secretly, the Old Man was happy, because it wasn’t too late, and I could drive home early.)
Love you Guster. Hate your short set, Guster.
Nov 11
2005
Tony| Category: General, Chomping on Books |
Calvin and Hobbes- The last great newspaper comic strip. By Chris Suellentrop
DUH.
Keep up, people, would you?
Watch the slide show, it’s good stuff.
Nov 08
2005
Tony| Category: General |
Amazon.com: The Complete Calvin and Hobbes: Books: Bill Watterson
This is on my holiday/birthday/any list until I get it. I know it sounds silly, but I read Calvin and Hobbes from junior high through high school, and nearly lost it when I found out that was it on 12/31/95.
Now I know how the Far Side people felt when that collection came out a year or two ago.
(Santa, are you listening?)
Nov 08
2005
Tony| Category: General, Music and Movies, Entertainment Tonight |
“Okay, where are you now?”
“I’m on the corner of Monroe and Clark, but I don’t see the Bank One Tower, or anything that looks like Nick’s.”
“Walk around a little and see if you can find it.”
“Okay, I call you back.”
(I continue to crawl along the Kennedy, trying to get downtown for my rendevous with TLEMK)
“Hello?”
“Okay, I found it. But it’s way too corporate for me. There are lots of people with $1000 suits in there… I think I’m gonna go hang out at the McDonald’s until you get here.”
“Is it crowded? Did you see the banners?”
“Oh, they’re there… but I don’t think you we could squeeze in to get a drink…”
“Alright, I’m about ten minutes out… I’ll call you when I’m ready to pick you up…”
And thus began our night of Ben F to the Olds. Originally, in my perfect world, I was going to pick TLEMK up at the train station, and we were going to go to an Ambassador party for a certain beverage I enjoy that’s made in a certain county of Kentucky. We would grab some grub, and head on over to the Chicago Theatre, conveniently located less than a half a mile away.
It wasn’t to be. V’s train got in early/late (she caught a train that was running late, but before her original train was supposed to leave blah blah blah blah…)
Where was I? Oh yeah. Driving to the city stinks. It took well over an hour to get there, hence me being late and unable to pick TLEMK.
Eventually, we “hooked up” and we ate at some Italian place off of Wabash. I had some sausage pasta thing. It was very tasty…on to the concert!
The Chicago Theatre is very cool. Like the Fabulous Fox in St. Louis, it’s an olde-tyme, well-decorated palace that has delicious acoustics.
I couldn’t tell you the name of the first opening act, unless it was Mopey Folk Keyboard Singer with Forgettable Backup Band.
The next opening band was called The Fringe, and supposedly, they have a hit song. I got nothing, not for being old or anything; I just had never heard of them. And I’m old.
Then Mr. Folds came on. He has a new band. I don’t know their names, except they’re Australian.
The good news: Ben having a band back gives him a LOT more energy. For those of you that went to Ravinia, not only did we actually hear more energy, we even got to SEE more energy. The last few times, we saw him on his own, and while it was good, it was REALLY good to see some of the older songs played. His band took a break in the middle of the set, and he played on his own, including “The Last Polka,” my personal favorite on the first Five album. He also played “Summer, Where Ya Been?”, which I hadn’t heard yet live, so that was terrfic. He played for about an hour and 45 minutes, and suprisingly, our setlist did not include “Not the Same.” It’s probably because our crowd was unable to sing two parts during “Army.”
All in all, a terrific concert in a splendid venue.
Nov 07
2005
Tony| Category: School Daze |
MSN Tech & Gadgets
When am I going to find time to get this running?
When am I going to find time to convince the district this is a GOOD thing?
*sigh*
This is something I KNOW I can do… so what’s keeping me back?
…
Nov 05
2005
Tony| Category: General |
After getting in at 4:30 (a.m., folks, a.m.) we are now ready (9:30) to go tailgating. Go Illini, beat the 35 point spread!
Stupid Illini. Stupid Columbus. MMMmmm, tequila.
Zigzag says hi, TLEMK says hi, and everyone else says, SHUT THE F*** UP! (That’s FANG, in case any of you were wondering.)
Adios from the road!
Nov 03
2005
Tony| Category: General, School Daze, Unfortunately Serious, Music and Movies, Random |
People, people, people. I hear your clamouring. (Insert cricket sounds here.) I know that you’ve missed me, and my wonderful rantings. I would like to make it official:
I’m back.
Not in a Michael-Jordan-post-baseball-now-back-to-winning-championships-back, but back in the sense that ebjournalling may finally resume maintenance status, instead of dormancy. The last few weeks, while not completely hellacious, have been extremely busy.
To date (and eventually to be expounded upon):
I’ve been to two concerts, one Halloween party, and one memorial service, and this in the last 7 days. Did I mention I wrote my mock proposal for my thesis? Though only 9 pages, it was a different style of writing. I’m not pleased at all with how it sounds, so it will take a lot of work. If you’re really interested, you can read about it on the faux-portfolio page. Thankfully, I have a few weeks off from literacy/theory classes— the next class is technology. And then it’s Happy Harry Potter Thanksgiving! My favorite Eating Holiday (EH) However, now I have progress reports (AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!) and p-t conferences coming. Conferences are very challenging in the elementary setting because, I’M RESPONSIBLE FOR ALMOST EVERY SINGLE THING THEY LEARN ABOUT. We call that pressure, people. The kids may be seven, but they’re parents aren’t. So, that’s coming.
So, a lot is going on. Some tidbits until I can write coherently, and remember to use less formal speech:
Ben Folds is back. You may remember that he disappeared for a little while, but with his new band, he can play a wider variety of his repetoire. TLEMK and I enjoyed it a lot, and I would even consider staying out again ’til 1:00 a.m. on a mother-truckin'’ school night.
Guster: Short, but oh so good.
Picture me in curlers, Spongebob slippers, and TLEMK’s robe, carrying a teddy bear and a blanket. Oh yes, I wore that. And yes, there are pictures.
I went to a beautiful memorial service on Tuesday. It reaffirmed my faith in the human spirit.
So much to write about, but so tired. Going to OSU this weekend to watch the Illini get pounded, but then on to Uncle Len and Aunt Julie’s for some needed R & R.
More to come. I miss you, Internet. Until we meet again!
