Writing Sample

As part of an application to an MFA program I must submit a writing sample. This writing sample, as you might guess, is the most important piece of the application. It needs to be 25-30 pages long. And it needs to be my best writing.

I have folder upon folder of writing on my hard drive, but nothing I would feel comfortable submitting as my writing sample. It is necessary that I start from scratch. So, on Friday, I started in earnest. That was a big step for me. I had procrastinated long enough.

Please tell me to stop if I start blogging a lot this summer. It will take me all summer to do this and although I wish I could use my blog as my writing sample, I don’t think that would help my chances of being accepted into a program. After all, I’ve been first-drafting everything on this website since I started blogging in 2005. Any successful writer will tell you that first drafts are shit. I don’t plan on submitting shit. 

Lakers Roll

Go to ESPN.com and take their sportsnation poll. It is at the center of the page about halfway down. The question, Who will win the NBA Finals? 

Take a look at the results after you vote. Even in Florida, 54% of those polled are picking the Lakers. 

The entire country is blue, representing a pick for the Lakers. That's beautiful, and last night's basketball was beautiful. Those are the Lakers that have the potential to sweep every team in these playoffs. Those are the Lakers that show up to win. And those are the Lakers that I am rooting for despite their destruction of the Nuggets in game 6 in Denver. 

Lingering Maxima Memories

Another post about my first car, why not?

The first drive to Laramie. Guy was in the passenger seat. U2’s greatest hits coming out of the speakers. Guy praises the music in between praising the car. “Oh, this song, this song is so good. You know this car is nice out here, man, but this car is very nice in Israel.”

The post-Thanksgiving snowstorm Guy and I drove in on our way back to Laramie. Guy pushing the car through the snow after we stopped at a Wendy’s near Cheyenne. Going 20 mph down I-80 into Laramie. Pulling the e-brake when we were going a little fast. It was supposed to be for fun, but it scared us both and Maxima hit the curb a little too hard. 

All the drives to Dining Out in Denver traffic. I listened to at least ten books on CD during that internship. Dodging potholes on a crappy side of Denver.

Showing off the Maxima to Kate. I remember her thinking it was a sweet car right away. That feeling never left her. Even up to the day the car was lost, she would get excited to drive it.

It’s 5:40 am. I am sitting in the Maxima in the apartment parking lot on Palmer Drive. I am waiting for it to warm up a bit before I drive it to weights or swimming. I do this four days a week. I wait until 5:45 am until I drive her. The temperature needle is just off of the ‘C’ mark. She sounds like a lawnmower driving in sub-zero temperatures. 

Driving the Maxima into the Snowies with Kate for picnics and just for the sheer beauty of Wyoming.

When the Maxima was clean, she looked stunning. The 17-inch, chrome rims made the car standout, even among far pricier vehicles. The shiny metal door handles and trim accented the rims wonderfully. When it was clean it looked brand new and it looked a lot nicer than one would suspect a Nissan Maxima to look like. After giving it a thorough shine, I would always step away and be astonished by its beauty. Extraordinary, the difference was, from before the cleaning to finished product. Mom always commented on how great the car looked.

Mom was right. 

Miller Lites, $7.50

I went to a Brewers game last week. It was my second in as many years. Before getting to the stadium I wolfed down a sandwich from Jimmie Johns, determined that it would tide me over until I got out of Miller Park. It did.

With the help of a lot of sunflower seeds passed among friends, I got out of that park without spending an additional penny on anything from a hot dog to a beer. Prices for these items are bad enough at movie theaters, but at the park the prices are so astronomically high that some nights (one out of two so far), I refuse to give them any of my money.

A Miller Lite for $7.50!?!?! Are you kidding me? That is insulting, maybe not to those that have grown up drinking that piss water, but to those that have gravitated toward beer with a good taste and not necessarily a low calorie count, a Miller Lite for $7.50 is a joke. The high-class beer at Miller Park is just as insulting. Red Stripe and Corona bottles for $9.50?

$#!*!

Red Stripe and Corona are both more respectable beers; solely based on their superior advertisements, but also on taste. However, they’re not worth $9.50 and it disgusts me to think of the people profiting from such outlandish sales.

I can sit through an MLB game without succumbing to the pressure. I wish more people could. That’s the only way prices will come down. 

Bella's Fat Cat

I wrote a little bit about a recent trip to Bella's Fat Cat for their famed burgers. Well, the flavor was a bit of a letdown and I think Five Guys still has the best cheeseburger in Milwaukee. Read on here.

Hanks, the Dolphin?

The following paragraphs are from the first few pages of Angels and Demons. After reading nothing but classic works of literature for five months, I am reading Dan Brown’s thriller. I was in the mood for some simplistic writing. I wanted a simple book. What a difference there is between Brown’s style and the pedantic writing of some classic books.

I share these paragraphs because they are hilarious, at least to me.  This is Brown’s description of Robert Langdon (the character played by Tom Hanks):

Although not overly handsome in a classical sense, the forty-five-year-old Langdon had what his female colleagues referred to as an “erudite” appeal—wisps of gray in his thick brown hair, probing blue eyes, an arrestingly deep voice, and the strong, carefree smile of a collegiate athlete. A varsity diver in prep school and college, Langdon still had the body of a swimmer, a toned, six-foot physique that he vigilantly maintained with fifty laps a day in the university pool.

            …

Although a tough teacher and strict disciplinarian, Langdon was the first to embrace what he hailed as the “lost art of good clean fun.” He relished recreation with an infectious fanaticism that had earned him a fraternal acceptance among his students. His campus nickname—“The Dolphin”—was a reference both to his affable nature and his legendary ability to dive into a pool and outmaneuver the entire opposing squad in a water polo match.

My first question: Who thought Tom Hanks fit this description? Hanks is aging, portly at some angles, and at no angle does he have a triangular upper body, the hallmark of an avid swimmer.

I don’t know if Dan Brown has any swimming or diving experience, but the two do not go hand in hand. The belief that they do, is often expounded by people who do not have experience with either activity. Divers will tell you that just because their entrances into the water are graceful and smooth, their movements once they are in the water aren’t nearly as efficient. Some collegiate divers can’t swim that much better than any random person you might find walking down your street.

Likewise, swimmers aren’t usually great divers. Although our dives off the starting blocks are finely-tuned, split-second reactions honed by years of practice, that doesn’t mean you can set us up on a 3m board and expect us to dive off, do two flips, a 180-degree twist, and enter the water with not much more than a light disturbance at the surface.

Knowing that, this sentence couldn’t be funnier. “His campus nickname—“The Dolphin”—was a reference both to his affable nature and his legendary ability to dive into a pool and outmaneuver the entire opposing squad in a water polo match.”

That is Hanks for sure.

Hey Nuggets

Way to stick it to the Lakers.

Politics again...

The same person that got me to write about Sotomayor is responsible for getting me to write about the California Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Proposition 8.

I think it was right to uphold Proposition 8. As unpopular as Prop 8 is with the people that didn’t want it to pass, it still legally passed. The voice of the people (in this case, the majority) should not be overturned. If Proposition 8 was overturned, the consequences would have been huge. To not uphold the proposition would be to nullify 7,001,084 votes. California would have over half the voting bloc ready to take to the streets and cause riots and whatnot. This would not be good.

I am happy that the 18,000 gay marriages that happened before Prop 8 passed will still be recognized by California. This is absolutely the right and fair thing to do. Now those opposed to gay marriage will just have to hope and pray that the 18,000 legally married gay couples in California won’t be enough to banish the state to break from the mainland and float out to see to be sucked down to hell.

My hope is that this will be the last time I blog about gay marriage.  It is a topic I (up until now) never touched on here. 

Sotomayor is, in fact, not a racist

The conversation:

Friend: What are you doing right now?

Me: Writing. Looking for work.

Friend: What are you writing about?

Me: I’m writing about why Midwesterners are so fat.

Friend: [Pauses here, doesn’t sound interested in delving into the mysteries of obesity.] Why don’t you blog about Sotomayor’s comment about a Latina woman showing better judgment than a white male. Ponder that one for a bit.

Me: Look, there are going to be controversies like that for every nominee to the Supreme Court.

Friend: Yes, there will be, but look at her statement. Examine the reverse of that, what if a white man—

Me: [Interrupting] I know. I’ve heard that by now.

Friend: Well, think about it. Maybe write about it. She’s getting a free pass by the media.

Me: She may be, but she isn’t going to be getting a free pass at her confirmation hearing. Plus, I’ve enjoyed not writing about politics lately.

After that conversation, I was adamant that I wouldn’t write about these issues. But the more I thought about the Sotomayor quote, which is now the cornerstone of the Right’s attack on her, I felt some further examination was necessary because, to tell you the truth, I didn’t like the sound of it at all. Not surprisingly, of the snippets from the media that I have seen, read, or heard, the actual quote is often given to you with some key words missing.

The Evidence:

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion [as a judge] than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.” – Sonia Sotomayor in a 2001 speech.

The full text of the speech can be found here, but I will reproduce important passages later on.

The Conclusion:

Finally, after reading her exact words for the first time, I can see nothing worrisome about them.  She seems to be saying that a white man wouldn’t know the first thing about living a life as a Latina woman and, when it comes to making decisions regarding minorities, the “wise” Latina woman will exhibit better judgment than her white male counterpart.

Rod Dreher of Crunchy Con points out that, in the same speech, Sotomayor says that she recognizes:

 …The potential effect of individual experiences on perception, Judge Cedarbaum nevertheless believes that judges must transcend their personal sympathies and prejudices and aspire to achieve a greater degree of fairness and integrity based on the reason of law. Although I agree with and attempt to work toward Judge Cedarbaum’s aspiration, I wonder whether achieving that goal is possible in all or even in most cases.

Dreher adds:

Taken in context, the speech was about how the context in which we were raised affects how judges see the world, and that it’s unrealistic to pretend otherwise. Yet—and this is a key point—she admits that as a jurist, one is obligated to strive for neutrality.

I am very comforted by a judge who speaks candidly about the difficulty of having a truly objective stance. I believe humans are too emotional to have a completely neutral stance. Heck, even in the new Star Trek movie Spock craters to emotion.

Many conservatives don’t seem so comforted. Greg Sargent reports on his blog that Rush Limbaugh called Sotomayor a “reverse racist” who “has put down white men in favor of Latina women.” He also quotes Fox News’ Megyn Kelly as saying that it shows that Sotomayor thinks “that Latina judges are obviously better than white male judges.”

Sargent then goes on to show that these conclusions are much more ridiculous than Sotomayor’s statement is accused of being:

Read in context, it’s clear that Sotomayor was merely saying that it’s inevitable that a judge’s personal race-based and gender-based experiences will impact judging, particularly in race and sex discrimination cases. As a result, she said, while such formative experiences can be enriching and contribute to wise decisions, a judge should also be aware of them in order to avoid being wholly dominated by them. She vowed “complete vigilance in checking my assumptions, presumptions and perspectives.”

Sotomayor also says, “I can and do aspire to be greater than the sum total of my experiences, but I accept my limitations.”

I concede, Sotomayor’s choice of wording isn’t superb, but I think it is pretty clear from passages from the same speech, that she was merely alluding to the disparity between the female Latina experience and the white male experience, and how that disparity can affect a judge’s decision. Unfortunately, we live in a world in which a few people do the thinking for the masses. Limbaugh and friends grab a hold of a sentence taken out of context and use it as the capstone of their argument that Sotomayor is a liberal, racist, completely unqualified and biased judge who should not be allowed on the Supreme Court of the United States of America.

Thank God I rely on the magic of reading and the powers of Google to give me a more complete understanding of a current issue than Limbaugh can.

*For clarification purposes, I do not believe that Sotomayor is getting a free pass by the media on this one. It may have taken a while for everybody to catch on, but this issue is being discussed at great and often annoying lengths on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and all the blogs. 

Playing Dirty

"Just unacceptable defense, tripping guys and playing unsportsmanlike basketball."

I have to agree with Phil Jackson on this one. Check out the video. Jones clearly trips Kobe Bryant. There’s no doubt about it. In game three, Kobe scorched Jones on another play and Jones ended up shoving Kobe from the back with both hands.

I am happy the Nuggets won, but don’t make it hard for me to like you, Denver. Keep it cleaner than the Bad Boys. You don’t want to associate yourself with Bill Laimbeer.

After a beating like last night, I wouldn’t be surprised if even the finicky Lakers route the Nuggets in L.A. I feel a beat down just around the corner, but we’ll see which Lakers team shows up. I don’t see Kobe alone carrying the Lakers on his back through this series. 

NBA Playoffs 2: Magic and Nuggets

First of all, is it me, or is the Orlando Magic the most boring playoff team to watch? I’ve never been impressed by their basketball, but somehow they continue to get the job done. They are sort of like a virus that is hanging around a lot longer than expected. No matter the medication (the experience of the Celtics or Lebron James), they just aren’t going away. I hope the cure is found very quickly. The game tonight is quite painful to watch.

Second, no matter how painful tonight’s game is, it couldn’t match the awfulness of the Denver Nuggets’ performance last night against the Lakers. Possession after possession, the Nuggets thought their 3-pt shot percentage was magically ten times higher than it really was, and they would throw up another shot beyond the arc without passing the ball more than once. What is the good of hitting a three at the buzzer and then getting a technical for taunting a Laker. Play after play, nothing but stupidity, especially throughout the fourth quarter.

Third, learn a damn inbounds play you freaking retards.

Fourth, I like the Lakers. Always have. But I have to root for the Nuggets out of principle. However, the Nuggets need to kick it up a notch. At no point did they deserve to win last night. I can’t feel bad for them if nothing changes.

NBA Playoffs

The matchup of all matchups would be a Cavaliers vs. Lakers NBA Finals. Nike, a sponsor of both athletes, is marketing the Lebron/Kobe showdown as an inevitable event. They just sponsored a documentary on ESPN called Dream Season: 23 & 24. While a showdown between the two greatest players in the NBA is intriguing, I find it a bit insulting that Nike is giving everyone the impression that this is the unavoidable. 

A Laker victory in the Western Conference Finals does seem imminent (after winning game one, they've won the last 15 7-game series), but Tuesday's victory was hardly a blowout. You wipe away a couple careless mistakes by the Nuggets and Denver is up 1-0. Phil Jackson is 42-0 in playoff series when his team has won game one. That statistic is much more astounding than the Lakers' recent streak of series victories, but the two combined sure put the odds in the Lakers' favor. However, the Nuggets continue to surprise both their fans and critics. They appear much more disciplined and unflappable than The Denver Post gives them credit for. Yes, Woody Paige is already calling the series for the Lakers. But I don't think the Post really thought it was possible for the Nuggets to put away the first two teams 4-1. So, what do they know? The only commentator out there that recognizes Denver's talent is, oddly enough, Charles Barkley, who continually praises the Nuggets on TNT and makes bold predictions, like saying the Nuggets would roll over the Mavericks. 

Fast forward to 1:30 in this video:

What am I saying? I am saying that the Lakers may very well be on their way to a series victory, but I don't think the Nuggets are going to flop over and play dead just because they lost game one.

It is no easy path to the NBA Finals for the Lakers and it is a heck of a lot harder for the Cavaliers to make it there too. All you need to do is watch the Magic's comeback victory and dominance in the fourth quarter to realize that. Lebron is the worthy MVP, but his exhaustion in carrying his team showed even in the third quarter. I suspect that after eight days off, all of the Cavs were a bit rusty, but they face a Herculean-foe (albeit one that whines a lot) in Dwight Howard. They didn't have an answer for him last night, and neither did the shot clock. However, I still think Cleveland takes the Eastern Conference Finals in no more than six games. They aren't in the hole like Denver is and although people remain critical of Cleveland's bench, Lebron can elevate players like no one I've ever seen on the court. (A huge reason I want him to go all the way.) I expect Lebron to elevate the team's strategy for guarding Howard, or just simply elevate his game and trust that others will follow. The latter strategy is the most common and entertaining. 

But a big question remains. If the NBA Finals feature the Orlando Magic and the Denver Nuggets, who will be watching? Will it be televised? What will Nike do?

I apologize for the weird formatting issues in this post. Stupid embed code screws things up sometimes.

Easy Blogging - Fountainhead Passages

I don't know what to blog about. Actually, I have a huge writing/blogging block right now, but I promised some passages from The Fountainhead last month and so I thought I would put some up. Here they are. 

"If I find no joy in it, then I’m only condemning myself to sixty years of torture. And I can find the joy only if I do my work in the best way possible to me." – Roark

“May I name another vicious bromide you’ve never felt?”

“Which one?”

“You’ve never felt how small you were when looking at the ocean.”

He laughed. “Never. Nor looking at the planets. Nor at mountain peaks. Nor at the Grand Canyon. Why should I? When I look at the ocean, I feel the greatness of man. I think of man’s magnificent capacity that created this ship to conquer all that senseless space. When I look at mountain peaks, I think of tunnels of dynamite. When I look at the planets, I think of airplanes.”

“Yes. And that particular sense of sacred rapture men say they experience in contemplating nature—I’ve never received it from nature, only from…” She stopped.

“From what?”

“Buildings,” she whispered. “Skyscrapers.”

“Why didn’t you want to say that?”

“I…don’t know.”

“I would give the greatest sunset in the world for one sight of New York’s skyline. Particularly when one can’t see the details. Just the shapes. The shapes and the thought that made them. The sky over New York and the will of man made visible. What other religion do we need? And then people tell me about pilgrimages to some dank pesthole in a jungle where they go to do homage to a crumbling temple, to a leering stone monster with a pot belly, created by some leprous savage. Is it beauty and genius they want to see? Do they seek a sense of the sublime? Let them come to New York, stand on the shore of the Hudson, look and kneel. When I see the city from my window—no, I don’t feel how small I am—but I feel that if a war came to threaten this, I would like to throw myself into space, over the city, and protect these buildings with my body.” – Gail and Dominique, talking on Gail's boat.

“Make man feel small. Make him feel guilty. Kill his aspiration and his integrity. That’s difficult. The worst among you gropes for an ideal in his own twisted way. Kill integrity by internal corruption. Use it against itself. Direct it toward a goal destructive of all integrity. Preach selflessness. Tell man that he must live for others. Tell men that altruism is the ideal. Not a single one of them has ever achieved it and not a single one ever will. His every living instinct screams against it. But don’t you see what you accomplish? Man realizes that he’s incapable of what he’s accepted as the noblest virtue—and it gives him a sense of guilt, of sin, of his own basic unworthiness. Since the supreme ideal is beyond his grasp, he gives up eventually all ideals, all aspiration, all sense of his personal value. He feels obliged to preach what he can’t practice. But one can’t be good halfway or honest approximately. To preserve one’s integrity is a hard battle. Why preserve that which one knows to be corrupt already? His soul gives up its self-respect. You’ve got him. He’ll obey. He’ll be glad to obey—because he can’t trust himself, he feels uncertain, he feels unclean.” – Ellsworth Toohey in a tirade aimed at humanity and society, as spoken to Peter Keating. 

"The fear of which they thought was not the normal kind, not a response to a tangible danger, but the chronic, unconfessed fear in which they all lived. They remembered the misery of the moments when, in loneliness, a man thinks of the bright words he could have said, but had not found, and hates those who robbed him of his courage. The misery of knowing how strong and able one is in one’s own mind, the radiant picture never to be made real. Dreams? Self-delusion? Or a murdered reality, unborn, killed by that corroding emotion without name—fear—need—dependence—hatred?" – From Roark's trial. 

Wyoming Shots

Buffalo on the drive from Salt Lake City to Green River. By this time we were in Wyoming.

It's calving season.

Baby Buff.

The high desert in Wyoming.

Another calf and its momma.

That tiny car down there is the Honda Ridgeline we drove into the mountains.

The Green River.

The newest edition to the Bradley's stable, Daisy. I'm not much of a fan (I much prefer their two Scotties), but this picture was Kate's doing and I think it turned out great.

Off to Wyoming for the week

Wisconsin Made Better

To retire or not to retire

It is easy to see why Wisconsinites fell in love with Brett Favre. He is a great football player. One of only two football players to be awarded MVP three consecutive years. He led the Green Bay Packers to two Super Bowls, winning one of them. He started for the Packers for 16 seasons. He has the record for most passing TDs. He became known around the world for his iconic play, putting a small city, tucked away in northeast Wisconsin, on the map. He bolstered every Wisconsinites pride for the state in which they live. The Packers, as they are known today, would not be the same franchise had they never acquired Brett Favre.

He seems likeable, like a guy you could sit down and have a beer with too. But we’ve heard that one before. Patience with Brett Favre’s actions has to be running thin around this state. I moved to Wisconsin in 2007 and followed Brett Favre through one of the most historic seasons ever. I don’t have a history of being a Brett Favre fan, but I’m saying if I did, I would be very frustrated with him at this point. Regardless, I am still frustrated with professionals that don’t know when to retire.

Brett Favre has officially retired twice, but he has put legions of fans through the ringer more than twice, by just deciding at the last minute that he will come back and play another season for the Packers. When he officially came out of retirement for the first time, he requested to be released from the Packers in order to shop himself around a little bit. He landed with the New York Jets and accused the Packers of not being straightforward with him. As I understand, the Packers were fairly straightforward, saying that the franchise was ready to move on with Aaron Rodgers at QB. Although that decision doesn’t make sense when a hall of famer wants to come back and play, that’s the decision they made and apparently told Brett Favre. That seems pretty straightforward to me.

After a season with the Jets, Favre retired for the second time in February of 2009.  Yet again, Favre doesn’t appear to be ready for retirement. Although some rumors have been dismissed, it is being reported that Favre sent x-rays to the Vikings for them to access whether or not Favre would need surgery on his throwing arm. The Vikings aren’t just another team, they are one of the Packers’ biggest rivals, a hated neighbor, and now, there are rumors of Favre being open to playing in Minnesota if the health of his throwing arm is good.

There is some truth to the platitude that it is hard for people to know when to quit, especially professional athletes. However, in the case of Brett Favre, I feel the sympathy wearing thin. The Milwaukee paper even photo-shopped a picture of Favre appearing in a Vikings jersey and donning a Vikings helmet, comparing him to Judas.

After contemplating retirement or going through with it for the last five years, Brett Favre is quickly becoming a nuisance. It makes me question his motives. It can’t possibly be that hard to know when to retire. It makes me think he just likes to get his name out there and stir up the same drama every off-season. It is confirming a premonition I’ve had that Brett Favre is more of a drama queen than a guy I’d like to have a beer with.

From Maxima to Maxima

We found this on Wednesday. We looked at a couple other sedans and quite a few SUVs, but decided an SUV is just a bit too much car for us. So, we bought this 2006 Maxima yesterday. 

Pretty big deal, buying a car for the first time. We were both quite nervous, but really excited to get the keys and drive this home. I just drove it to the supermarket this morning to buy some Fat Tire and 1554 (more on this later) and even that was thrilling. It made me want to go on a road trip. 

My old Maxima had 190 horsepower. I didn't think it was a slow car by any means. Actually, up till the last day I drove it I felt like it could take on most other cars on the road. It probably could. Lord knows I tried a few times. Take the 1996 Maxima's engine and throw in another 75 horsepower and you get our new Maxima. With 265 hp under the hood it is going to take a little time to get used to the jumpiness of the car because the lightest tap might send the car surging forward. When you feel that surge it is hard to take your foot off the pedal. You want more. You don't want to ease off.

Maximas make you want to do a lot of silly things. One reason we got another.

We took her out for a photo shoot last night even though the light wasn't great. 

They aren't chrome, but they'll do.

One of the very happy owners.

In Memoriam

Funny thing about the GRE. I took it less than an hour after I was in a 4-car accident on the interstate on the way to the testing center. Literally, my first thought after the accident was there is no effing way I am missing the GRE today. 

I was okay and so were the others involved in the accident. It wasn't my fault either. I was in the middle car of three stopped cars in stop-n-go traffic on the freeway when an unlucky girl didn't notice the cars were stopped in front of her and she slammed right into the first car. Unlucky for her because this was all her fault. Unlucky for her that the first car she slammed into, the one behind me, was a fairly new Saab that the owner had just bought a week ago. The impact of her car slammed the Saab into my Maxima and my Maxima went into the back of a pickup truck. We waited one minute for the sheriff and he took our information and I drove on to the test center in a car that didn't exactly look drivable, but it had one more place to take me and I was not going to let it die before we arrived at the final destination.

I suppose a lot of people feel the truth in this cliche before they are 26, but I feel old now that I realize there isn't anything like your first car. The Maxima was a total loss, with damages in excess of $5,000. I cleaned it out a couple days ago. No more 17-inch, chrome rims. No more black on black. 

Kate and I are buying our first car together tonight. I'll post about that later, but for now it is time to get sentimental and remember the Maxima and where she took me and many of you. She was a beautiful car.

While I was home for Easter in 2003, my parents surprised me with the Maxima. It all started with my Dad silently dangling a car key in front of me. I knew, but could not believe, what that meant. I took the key and rushed outside to the driveway and this is what I found.

Guy was with me and it was one of the most memorable experiences that I had with him. He was there for a big moment in my life. Yeah, I had the freedom to drive places before I had a car, but not the freedom that truly having your own car brings you. This was the first time I sat in the Maxima.

The Maxima, Me, and the proud parents gather together for a picture before I roll up to Laramie for the first time in my own car.

Travis, I believe, behind the wheel of the Maxima as we head out on the first leg of our move from Colorado to Milwaukee. 

The Maxima was a road trip pro. No breakdowns. No issues. This picture was taken near the end of the Maxima's last, big road trip this summer. We were almost back to Milwaukee after taking it out to Colorado and Wyoming.

Maxima covered in snow. She turned dirty when you had to drive her in snow but after a while I could even coax her through the snowbound streets of Longmont during the Christmas 2006 blizzard. 

R.I.P. Precision Driving with Erik

R.I.P. 1996 Nissan Maxima

The GRE

I took the GRE. I didn't get a perfect score. I wasn't expecting a perfect score. I wanted a score that would leave me happy. I wanted a score that would leave me feeling like it wasn't necessary to take the GRE again. I wanted to be over and done with the GRE last Thursday. 

That's exactly what happened. 

New Belgium + Milwaukee = About Freaking TIme

I saw an ad in a local paper just yesterday that I couldn't believe at first. New Belgium? Fat Tire? "Now legally cruising into America's Dairyland." ?!?

Starting tomorrow, New Belgium will be sold in Wisconsin. By mid-summer other brews (besides Fat Tire and 1554) will be available in the area.

Now we just need a Rio. 

King of Kong

I recently ran across this post at the Burnside Writer's Blog about the documentary The King of Kong. The post reminded me that I finally needed to set aside some time to watch this wildly popular film about the trials and tribulations of a man called Steve Wiebe and his arch-nemesis, Billy Mitchell, as they duke it out for the world record in the arcade version of Donkey Kong. 

Tonight, I finally watched the doc and was introduced to Billy Mitchell, or at least the objective look at Billy Mitchell through the eyes of the director of the film. Thusly, I was introduced to the most bombastic ass I have ever seen in film. The directors swear to the honest representation of Billy Mitchell in the movie. However, Mitchell disagrees and says one scene, in which Mitchell appears to snub Wiebe, has been edited in a way that paints Mitchell in a negative light. You can read about the disputed scene in the AV Club's interview with him that I linked to in the first sentence of this paragraph. 

Billy Mitchell aside, The King of Kong is a highly entertaining documentary that is as much about a man finally achieving a goal as it is about a classic arcade game. Wiebe is the guy who has always been good at a lot of different things, but being the best in the world at any one of those things has always evaded him. Wiebe looks to be on the rise in the film and over the 80 minutes of Kong, the director Seth Gordon, intricately weaves a story of the fiercely competitive classic arcade gaming world with dozens of interviews, drama, and history. 

Take any skill, no matter how extraneous it might seem, and there will be a group of people that have become so good at that one skill (in the case of this film, playing Donkey Kong), that their story will cross boundaries. Their story will encompass so much of the human struggle to overcome anything and anyone in their path that it will speak to those who aren't obsessed with the same skill. Great documentaries usually achieve this effect. King of Kong does.

Time Out

I think it is clear that I haven't had much time to devote to blogging or writing lately. That's sad, but some time away from both will be healthy. 

Don't expect anything until after this Thursday. 

That's Hott

81 in Milwaukee today. Weird.

7 Days

Next Thursday at 1pm is my date with the GRE. I find out my scores right after I finish the test. Thusly, I’ll be in one of two moods on Thursday night. Slightly buzzed to drunk with an ebullient disposition or slightly buzzed to drunk with a don’t-talk-to-me-because-I’ll-kick-your-ass disposition.

Pray that it’s the former.

Cheney Schmeney

Why should we care what Cheney thinks about the way the president is running the country? The media are sort of drooling over this guy right now like he was some sort of success over the last eight years. Correct me if I am wrong, honestly, but I’m pretty sure most everything about the United States has gone to hell in the last eight years. Cheney manipulated Bush like a puppet and, in turn, the American people.

I’m pretty sure a majority of Americans feel the same way. Oh wait, yep. I am sure about that one. See November 4^th.  Enough with Cheney. How can anyone determine the efficacy of an administration’s policies in roughly 100 days? And if one were so bold, what honorable decision by the previous administration qualifies them for a commentary at this point?

And Sullivan always has the coolest videos. This one of some bike stunts around Edinburgh. Amazing!

Free XBOX 360...seriously

Remember this? You know, the raffle you may or may not have entered to win an XBOX 360. Congratulations to you if you didn’t enter the raffle. You didn’t waste your time.

My condolences to everyone that did enter this little raffle. I was trying to tell everyone I would win, but still, people signed up like they had a chance. Let’s face it, you never did.

My new, used XBOX 360 arrived in the mail today. Thanks, Jarrod.

Pusillanimity

Maybe you don’t know this about me, but I’m not a big fan of guns. Actually, I see no use for them in our society. I wasn’t under any illusion when I voted for Obama. I couldn’t possibly have hoped that he would get rid of guns, but I had hoped that the Senate, under Obama’s guidance, would reinstate the assault-weapons ban that expired in September 2004.

I feel there are more pressing issues for Obama than getting right to the assault-weapons ban or at least to stricter laws making it harder for a man like Richard Poplawski to get an AK-47. However, I do expect Obama to move on these issues sometime soon and by the looks of this article in last week’s Newsweek, that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.

I thought this reader comment left at the bottom of the Newsweek article summed it up best:

"Damn, you Americans sure are difficult to understand. How can you love a tool for killing?"

YouTube + Ayn Rand

Found on YouTube, Mike Wallace interviews Ayn Rand in 1959. Very interesting. Wallace even lights up a cigarette in part II. Parts II and III.

The Fountainhead

For the third classic book of 2009, I went with The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. This book is a new favorite of mine. I didn’t expect it to become one. Actually, I didn’t know what to expect from this book and I didn’t know that much about Ayn Rand other than that her philosophy doesn’t quite match up with mine.

A lot of the books I love, I love because they reaffirm my values and way of life. But The Fountainhead undermines it and at times it is the antithesis of my beliefs, but that’s why I loved it. I found myself disagreeing and agreeing with bits of Rand’s philosophy. The Fountainhead challenged me and made me contemplate the impossible complexity of the human existence more than any other book recently has.

I’ll probably write more about it later, but I just had to say, Ayn Rand believes differently than I do, but damn, she could write a book.

Go West, Young Man

What I wrote last summer as we drove back to the Midwest through Wyoming:

The West is great. There is nothing like it. It’s been one year. That’s not long, but it remains home. This land is blessed and I am blessed by its unpredictability, staggering beauty, and its ability to effect my decisions even after I leave. Seeing the West again has been like pulling an old childhood book off of the shelf. When I see the book on a shelf I recognize it as one of my favorites, but it isn’t until I open it up and look inside that I realize this is the book that shaped my life. This is where I have been built…in these pages or, in this case, on this land. The book represents the purest form of life I know and even though I may not be around it right now or return to it very soon, it is something that needs to be opened, read, looked at, felt, and smelled on a consistent basis or else a huge part of me is going to die.  

Tea Parties

Exactly what I was thinking…

Does the lack of any actual tax increases undercut this anti-tax rebellion?

- Josh Marshall

Five Guys

A Five Guys Burgers and Fries recently opened up in Milwaukee. We went. I reviewed. I posted it here. Check it out.

To the Dells

I am going to Wisconsin Dells this weekend, a town of 2,500 people (2000 census data as reported by Wikipedia) with 18 indoor waterparks. I am sure they call themselves the waterpark capital of the world. I am always skeptical of statements like that. I don't know if it is true or if it is hyperbole. We will be coming back to the city for church, but we'll be spending most of our Easter weekend at the waterparks.

Happy Easter to you.

And happy birthday to this blog. Six Hours on Sunday will be four years old on Sunday. It's my little baby.

Best commercial on TV

There are so many beer ads these days that it is hard for one to stand out from the pack, but each time I have seen this Heineken commercial I've gotten this irrepressible laughter. Maybe it's just a stupid ad, but it strikes me as a creative, hilarious juxtaposition.

Potato Day...Really?

Watch Baracknophopbia - Obey. So on.

Their Failing Memory

I haven’t linked to a political blog in a very long time, but I read something at Sullivan’s blog today that accurately describes my angst and anger about the Republican response to President Obama.

Money Quote:

The remarkable thing about today's partisan Republicans is their capacity to forget instantly and entirely anything that went on for the past eight years. And so suddenly we are rushing toward socialism, even though by far the biggest jumps in state power and debt occurred under a president they worshiped and worked hard to re-elect. There were no tea-parties to protest the $32 trillion Medicare prescription drug benefit. There was no Randian rumbling as Bush took over local schools. There was no defense of the Constitution as Bush and Cheney secretly suspended the fourth and first amendments. But put a moderate Democrat in office tackling a historic collapse in demand - and spending must be frozen! Reading the partisan right blogs, this ability to disappear the past is striking, and it helps explain base GOP loathing of Obama (even if the base is much smaller than it was).

Thank you.

This is a competition, right?

How can a championship game be so lopsided? I'm watching the basketball game right now and there is still 7 minutes left in the first half and UNC has a 20-point lead. 

I'm glad I picked UNC to win the championship, but I think a million others made the same pick on ESPN, where my bracket currently ranks 1,248,671. Not so good, but it's doing better than Obama's bracket. 

Can I see Dr. Benton punch the air one last time?

Besides The Daily Show, there are three shows I watch on a regular basis, all because I am married to Kate. The shows are House, Grey’s Anatomy and ER. When I started dating Kate she was already an ER devotee. She’s been watching House from the beginning and was slowest to warm to Grey’s Anatomy. There are brilliant aspects of each one of these dramas. The characters and ongoing plot twists can make for an addicting show. However, I could stop watching altogether tomorrow and be okay with that. I don’t think Kate could.

Kate is a professional in the field of medicine. The interest she takes in these shows is not comparable to mine. I watch them more for Kate than for any other reason. Stories told in the shows and the hours spent watching them constitute a fairly large gap of time every week. I might be doing something different with that time if I was single, not necessarily because I am married to Kate, but because I love her. And, in a way, (this may sound weird) when I married Kate, I married her favorite TV shows. I married her interests. No matter how inconsequential a TV show may be, it is valuable to me because it is time I can spend with Kate.

After all that time watching TV shows, because someone else is invested in them, one becomes hooked as well on all the peculiarities of character and intricacies of plot. So, it was a little bittersweet last night when ER signed off for the last time. Kate and I have been watching this show for as long as we have been together (the last six seasons) and before that, ER was the preferred television show of Thursday nights at my childhood home, going back to when I was 11 years old. That’s a long, damn time. I’m not trying to gauge what kind of role a TV series has played in my life. The answer would probably be vague and the task a bit shallow, but I know it has played some role and because of that it was a little sad to hear the ER theme music one last time last night. 

the WAR of ART

On a friend’s recommendation, I read a book over the weekend. The book is called the WAR of ART and it is by Steven Pressfield, author of The Legend of Bagger Vance and other prominent works of fiction. The subtitle of the book reads, “Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles.”

Pressfield offers copious amounts of wisdom for aspiring artists of all kinds in this short work of nonfiction. He spends most of the 163 pages of this book writing about Resistance. Resistance is anything that “prevents us from achieving the life God intended when He endowed each of us with our own unique genius.” Quite convincingly, he proves the existence of Resistance and he reminds us that Resistance is a formidable opponent. Resistance is “harder to kick than crack cocaine.” “You think Resistance isn’t real? Resistance will bury you.”

If you have strived to create anything, to stay in a relationship or marriage that is falling apart, to achieve a lofty goal, you know what Resistance is. And those in the business of creating things know most intimately the disgusting shades Resistance can wear.

“Resistance will bury you.” Reading this was like a stake through the heart. It is so damn painful, yet wise. I lament for the times in my life that were buried by Resistance. This sentence, and this whole book, worked as a motivator for me because I don’t want my life to be won by Resistance. There is no life if Resistance wins. The flame is snuffed out and all one will ever know is commonality, a truly boring existence.

Pressfield writes, “The more important a call or action is to our soul’s evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.” We all have to face important calls and actions, and this book made me ponder all types of Resistance in my life. I am going to sit down and make a list. I hope to share some of it on here, but I encourage you to do the same. Make a list of things that are keeping you from your dreams. Get them down on paper. Strike a line through them. Strike them from your life.

After writing all that, I thought of another quote, but not from the book. There are plenty of good quotes in the book. I recommend you read it, but this quote is from a movie, from The Shawshank Redemption, from Red (played by Morgan Freeman):

Get busy living or get busy dying. That's goddamn right. For the second time in my life, I'm guilty of committing a crime. Parole violation. Course, I doubt they're going to throw up any road blocks for that. Not for an old crook like me. I find I'm so excited I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel. A free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope...