YAY!

The Shuttle is up again after 2+ years of a suspended space program! I have to admit that because I grew up in the shadow of NASA, I still get a nice warm feeling when I see a launch.

I saw on MSNBC that the external tank collided with a bird on the way out...You have to feel sorry for that. A bird getting hit at 2000 MPH and the last thought is "Hey what is that thing?"

...Say a hopeful wish for a safe landing...

Sunday, Sunday Sunday!...

Went and did the whole sing for Jesus thing this morning. It's still a bit on the tense side since they have started telling me what to wear, but we did get a new priest (an Irish fellow with a keen sense of humor) who hopefully will get the administration to freakin relax!

Also, went to the museums today to see the baseball exhibit from Cooperstown, and the Lord of the Rings exhibit, which were both pretty cool. I always find it neat to see movie props and in the case of LOTR, they really went all out to make them as realistic as possible. I also found it interesting that the characters were almost presented as real or historical. Things like "this is the armor of the eleven race" and stuff like that. They also had interactive exhibits where they showed examples of motion capture and camera tricks, and a wall that would tell you what race from middle earth you would be based on your height (I'm an elf).

There were a few visitors who came in costume, and I have to admit , I do find it a bit on the creepy side, but to each his own I guess.

...They probably think I look funny...

Scary Thought of the Day...

Sandra Day O'Connor is retiring from the Supreme Court...That means dubya gets to pick a new one.

...Nothing like good scary stories told around a campfire...

More Office Drama...

We had 2 people quit this week, and we have 2 new people starting on Tuesday...

One of the ex employees is moving to New York City, which he just decided after a recent vacation there. He only worked for us for 6 months, and was known as "that guy" in the office, you know the one who is, I dunno, a little Off? I liked him though, in terms of personal entertainment value, but I was under the impression he was not a "model employee" so to speak.

The other one was recruited by a former professor (sounds like a familiar story, eh?) and he had only worked for us a month. He was lured away by the promise of being transferred to Las Vegas, where his brother lives. It will be interesting to see if that happens. I think he was scared of us.

In between all this we had our yearly reviews, which went well for everyone, and my boss went on vacation, which was good for me, because I got to go out and actually see my project being built for a change, even though I am in charge of this project, I don't get to go to the site as much as I think I should, because I think you have to see how things are done to know how to tell other people how to do them. I have seen and done a few things before but that hasn't been enough to be able to confidently tell people how to do things when they do it for a living.

....Responsibility is HARD! 'doh!

Let the Summer Movie Season Begin...

Saw Batman Begins this last weekend. Saw it twice, once on the IMAX with my geek friends, and once in a regular movie theater with my autistic brother and a friend from church.

And lemmee tell you folks, It kicked @$$! I really enjoyed it, and it stood up to a second viewing which is rare for a change. To be fair though, I did see EP3 for a second time with my Russian friend, and it didn't seem as bad as it did the first time, perhaps I just wasn't in the right mood, but I gave it a C+ earlier, and it probably really is a high B-minus.

I hope the sequels to Batman are as good as this one, and I hope Fantastic Four doesn't suck, because I am obligated as a comic book fan to go see any movie that comes out that is based on a comic. While this is good and you occasionally see an X-Men or Batman Begins, or Spider-Man, you also have to see a Punisher, Swamp Thing, or god forbid a Catwoman.

Also, Cinderella Man was good (I haven't heard cheering at a movie in a long time), Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was good, but you have to be a fan of the books, Layer Cake was excellent, Kung-Fu Hustle is hilarious. Kingdom of Heaven was ok, but I am not a history buff, so inaccuracies do not make me so angry.

Thus concludes my movie review section of my blog...

You take the good and take the bad...The facts of life!

(interesting side note-"blog" is not in the spell checker that comes with this thing! Funny!)

God doesn't care what you look like, but your church sure does...

I go to the same Catholic church that I have been going to since I was about 3 years old, when we moved to Houston. I still go there even though I live 40 miles away from it, because I like the people and the music and the relaxed atmosphere. I also have been a participant in the mass for a number of years, starting out as an altar boy, and then joining the music ministry at 14 as a cantor for the teen group for the required confirmation project, stayed in until I was 18, went to college, sang as a cantor at the 7:00 p.m. Sunday mass (AKA the "hangover mass") for 4 years, then came back home and joined up with the group my older brother played guitar, which morphed into another group, which morphed into another group, which merged into another group, in these groups I was a cantor for all of these. In between all this we went through 4 priests, 3 choir directors, & 1 liturgical administrator.

Through all of this singing as an unpaid volunteer, I always wore my standard attire of jeans, a nice shirt, and tennis shoes, and nobody really cared, Until now. Now I am being told that what I wear to church is a problem, and I should be wearing slacks and a tie, and no tennis shoes. I don't really understand it, why a pair of tennis shoes would freak someone out, I mean they are not even white, they are black and pretty inoffensive. And the jeans are black as well, so from a distance you can't really tell they are jeans. I am constantly amazed about the closed mindedness of people, that care about these sort of things, didn't Jesus say to welcome all the people who are different?

Sometimes I wonder if God is trying to tell me something...

Episode III...

There may be a few spoilers here, I will try to be as spoiler free as possible.

The Good...

As usual the visual effects are amazing and mostly seamless. CGI is getting better and better.

The scenes between Anakin and Chancellor Palpatine where all is revealed. A nicely done dialogue scene, probably the only good one in the movie, where the camera rotates around the two characters as they are speaking...It is one of the few scenes with little or no CGI in the movie and it works.

Mace Windu's final scene in the movie...One of the better types of this scene in the prequel trilogy. I always thought most of these were done in a way which were very anticlimactic.

Chewbacca! A Star Wars movie without a major Wookie presence always seemed wrong to me. These sequences could have been longer.

"Luke"

"Leia"

No Jar Jar Speaking role!

The Cartoon Network Clone Wars Cartoon that falls in between EP2 and EP3...Jedi Knights portrayed the way they should be: Total Badasses!

The Bad...

The first half of the movie looks pretty, but completely filler. There is nothing here to advance the plot. It doesn't get any better until that Palpatine scene and that is over an hour into it.

Very wooden acting and dialogue...I've seen a lot of these actors in other movies and I know they can be better.

General Grievous...A coughing droid Jedi Killer...What does he have, a computer virus? Also In Clone Wars, he was a badass jedi killer and here he keeps running away like a coward.

The Ugly...

Obi-Wan riding that lizard thing...This is why I called the CGI "mostly" seamless earlier. This just was stupid and looked bad, like they did it just to sell a toy.

There were a few more things that bugged me, but overall, I would give it a C or C+. I was disappointed and I purposely tried not to have high expectations.

Perhaps this is not my Star Wars, but a Star Wars for another generation. My friends 5 year old seemed to like it.

New York, New York...

I just got back from a very cool trip to the Big Apple, and I had a lot of fun, Checked out a lot of Architecture and Museums, and Architecture of Museums.

I also had the wonderful opportunity to see two Broadway shows, Wicked and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and see an amazing Jazz concert put on by an 87 year old piano player (I hope I am that nimble-fingered when I get to that age).

I also saw the Yankees and the Mets play, walked through central park (the fact that it is entirely man-made blows my mind) and saw the offices of the big two comic book companies...Yes, it was much like a pilgrimage to my own personal Mecca, If only the Skywalker ranch was there, the circle would have been complete. Also saw the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and visited scenic Hoboken, NJ, which is actually a pretty nice place.

The best part of the trip though was getting to hang out with my cousin, who despite growing up thousands of miles away, and not seeing each other hardly ever, we have an incredible amount in common, as well as seeing an old coworker of mine who is doing very well for himself, and is still the same low-key nice guy he was when he was broke.

It's nice to see that money doesn't change everybody.

On Families...

I come from a large family, three older brothers, two parents, dogs, cats, mice, myself and once even a pet chicken. Because of growing up in a house full of people, I have come to value my personal space, and like to have time to myself a good majority of the time. I guess this makes me "a bit of a loner" as referred to by a former professor recently.

However, if I am a loner, the other strange side effect of this, is that one tends to surround yourself by groups of friends which can also be determined as "families" Because they all share a common bond. Such examples are:

1) The Office family...Co-workers who you actually give a damn what happens to. I work in a small office and so I like to make sure everyone is doing ok.

2) The Grad School family...This is the group of people I went to Architecture school with. We still keep in touch. I assume this is very similar to people who have gone through a traumatic experience together will bond.

3) The Church Family...This is the group of singers and musicians I sing with. This one seems to change a lot.

4) The Childhood friends...This is about 3 or 4 people that I grew up with. Still see them at least once a week.

Now, the interesting thing about this is that these groups are entirely separate from each other. I sort of drift in and out of these groups at will. They have never crossed over. One of these days I will have a party and see if they can mix.

...I guess this makes me a family man...

A diatribe about the Papacy...

Since Pope John Paul II has passed from this world into the next, and the difficult and arduous task of choosing a new Pope will begin soon, here are a few things I would like to see the new head of the catholic church address:

1. The role of women in the Catholic Church as keepers of the faith. Who made you go to church as a kid? Mom, of course. When young people leave the church and then later after getting married and having children, it is usually the wife who brings the family back into the church. Women are usually running the education programs and directing the liturgy. Nowadays, little girls aren't officially allowed to be altar servers, but there is a "don't ask, don't tell" policy in place which gives individual parishes a loophole to allow it. The original Diaconate was made of of women. The Pope should acknowledge this, and allow women to be altar servers, deacons, and priests.

2. The new Pope should attempt to open a dialogue with the leaders of the Islamic, Protestant, and Jewish communities in order to establish the proper reverence and tolerance for people of all faiths, and even people who have no faith. The first step towards understanding someone is to realize that they do not think the same way as yourself.

3. The acknowledgement from the church that 60-75% of all funding for the church comes from the United States.

4. The church should become less ritualistic and instead spend the money that would be used for elaborate ceremonies on helping the poor and destitute.

5. The acknowledgement that abortion should be kept legal for public health reasons in cases of rape, incest, and the safety of the mother. Either this or the acknowledgement that a church or government has no right to tell a woman what she can do with her body.

6. The new Pope should acknowledge the cases of Priests molesting young children, by having them forcibly removed and subjected to criminal charges in all cases.

more later possibly...I still have opinions on married priests, transubstantiation, and confessions.

Still among the living...

Damn, didn't realize it has been a month since the last posting...Things have been rather busy. I did have some time to go out for St. Paddy's day, which is a requirement for us Irish-type folks, or you risk losing your official Irishman license. A good time was had by all.

I also figured out that I have worked an extra month of overtime already this year. I think I am going to add months to the calendar to reflect this....January, February, Maruary (or Farch?) March, etc...Anyhow, I have figured you know you are busy when you eat both of your daily meals while eating in the car. I don't like to do this, but between work ( the new position has been an interesting and time consuming experience, but I am liking it) and practices for Easter Masses, I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off, so I had to do this for a couple of days last week. However, It does keep me from getting all angry with what's been happening in the world, because I don't know what's going on...

...So it is true...Ignorance IS Bliss. Or sleepiness, depending on how you come by your ignorance.

Ugliest...Sculpture...Ever!

A Good Evening...

After a long day at work, I went and saw Finding Neverland at the art house theater in Downtown Houston, then walked to Frank's Pizza and got some Pizza Rolls, then walked to the Chase bank plaza where I sat next to a mural, the ugliest Miro sculpture ever, Personage and Birds, Phillip Johnson's Penzoil Building is across the street along with the limestone clad Jones Hall, and in the background, one of the oldest buildings in Houston had its gothic top illuminated.

...Sometimes you gotta take the me time...

In Memoriam Part Three-Revenge of the Intern...

We had an office happy hour last night, where I learned yet another person at our firm is leaving...A young guy who is really skilled, talented and an all around nice guy, was offered a job by his Intern Development Program Mentor...

...I'm happy for my coworker, but I can't help wonder if he was "headhunted". Is it ethical for the mentor to offer him a job, when he was in the position to advise him on his career path? I don't know.

...Strangeness afoot at the Circle K, if you ask me.

In Memoriam Part Deux...

In those days where the only thing constant is change...Our receptionist at the office quit yesterday.

I kind of wonder about this, you see, she had taken a lot of sick leave (9 days in two months) due to a new baby who has some kind of respiratory ailment, and was offered a choice...Leave and be granted three weeks pay or try to stay, and don't miss another day at work for the rest of the year (we only get 10 sick days a year), and if she does, she risks being fired.

I can't decide if the company was being nice or being something else.

The deceased Mark Twain Outdoor Reading Classroom...

Before...Me and My Nephew, Sean at X-mas

After...My jaw is bigger than Jay Leno!

In Memoriam...

One of my projects was torn down recently in the name of progress...An outdoor reading classroom for a school in Bellaire was destroyed along with the old school in order to build a brand new school for the area. Personally, if I had gotten the chance, I would have left the outdoor classroom where it was and used it for the reading circle in the center of the library, but they never asked me. I think that's what bothers me about it is that I was never asked. My graduate school class put hundreds of hours and blood sweat and tears into building that thing, and it seemed so casually wiped out. Bummer. All I can hope is that is was such a S.O.B. to tear down, that by golly, those contractors will remember it.

In parallel weirdness, I also got most of my hair cut off yesterday...It is very, very strange to have short hair. I don't really recognize myself in the mirror yet, which by the way is a really, really odd feeling.

More life weirdness...

Well, the high school I have been working on is now been released to the general public, in order to find the best contractor for the job. This will last about six weeks and then each contractor will submit a bid and the one who has the best qualifications and the lowest price will get the job. I am just so relieved that we got the documents out that it feels like the stone has been pulled from my shoulders.

The Bad news... Somewhere along the line working on this school I have become the one in the office that has the most knowledge of the project...Therefore I have been promoted (I think?) to the position of Project Manager for the biggest job our company has had in a while if not ever...No pressure there guys.

Anyhow, what I find strange about the whole thing is this, combined with the fact that we have lost a lot of our older people with more experience and know how, and now I, along with my 28 year old pregnant coworker are now "the old guard" at the office. They have hired "young'uns" (25 and Under) to replace the older folk, and so me and my pregnant friend are now having to teach these guys, even though we are not too far from where they are. Scary!

...Having to learn to be one of the grownups can kinda suck sometimes...