Fantasy Band Meme

Via the estimable proprietor of Dustbury.com comes this meme of wondrous frivolity: Build your own band, album, and album cover, using the vast resources of the interweb...chosen at random, that is.

Here are the steps:

• Visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
  The first article title on the page is the name of your band.


• Visit http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
  The last four words of the last quote on the page is the title of your album.


• Visit http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
  The third picture on the page is your album cover.

I rigorously followed these steps (ignoring Charles's wimpy ethical concerns about minor details such as copyright), and proudly present the Gazette's latest contribution to the wonderful world of DRM-free music (rather loosely defined, I'm sure):

For the record (ha!), my random Wikipedia article was about Dana Hanna, a software developer in Maryland (what are the odds that my fictitious artist would be a real person?); my album title – which I've managed to make almost entirely illegible – comes from Evan Esar: Hope is tomorrow's veneer over today's disappointment.; and the cover art comes from a photo entitled "Laughter from the Sidelines."

This is actually a lot of fun, with the added benefit of providing a creative challenge in coming up with a halfway decent album cover.

However, never being content to leave well enough alone, I propose to expand this meme by one step: the selection of your fake album's debut position on Billboard's Top 100 list. You may accomplish this by visiting http://www.random.org/integers/ and generating a random number between 1 and 100 (inclusive). Veneer Over Today's Disappointment debuted at a respectable-but-not-flashy number 65. Whether it has a bullet or not remains unknown.

I actually twisted off for a time and worked out a scheme for generating a genre for the made-up band. (Yes, I apparently have too much time on my hands.) This involved visiting the afore-linked random number generator and applying the results to http://www.wfmu.org/genrefinder.php in order to select a genre. That proved to be overly unwieldy, although the results for my band – Power Violence ("Order and disorder in a freeform haze of terribly played guitars, shorted-out electronics, found audio detritus, strange sounds from strange lands all around.") were amusing.

36 Reasons to Regret Visiting this Blog

Jeff over at ArchaeoTexture has tagged me for a meme, which is a relatively harmless (to me, anyway) excuse to ease back into blogging after yet another prolonged absence:

• Four Jobs I've Held - Disk jockey, gas plant roustabout, multilith operator, accounting systems analyst


• Four Films I Could Watch Over and Over - Serenity; Galaxy Quest; Deep Rising; Tremors


• Four TV Shows I Watch - Numbers, Dancing With the Stars, the 6:00 a.m local news program (CBS), The Office


• Four Places I've Lived - Wheeler, Richardson, Garland, Bryan (all in Texas, and not in that order)


• Four Favorite Foods - Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Dessert (not in that order)


• Four Websites I Visit Daily - Whatever client sites I'm working on; I no longer have time to regularly surf the web


• Four Favorite Colors - Light black, medium black, dark black, and brilliantly muddy black


• Four Places I Would Love to be Right Now - Standing in line to cash this month's million dollar check from my MegaGigantoHuge Lottery winnings. The three other places would just naturally fall into place at that point.


• Four Names I Love, But Could/Would Not Use for My Children - Sylvestre (like the cat, only classier), Banner (once had a boss named that), Mephibosheth, Jesus

I'd find my Content Free Celebrity Head™ and put it with this post but I'm too lazy. Try to imagine Sean Penn's head right here.

Oh, and consider yourself tagged. Unless, of course, you don't want to be.

A Dozen Texas Places

I guess a meme is as good a way as any to return to the 'sphere after a brief layoff (layout? layover? lay down?). Jimmy's originated one that's got a good Texas theme: ...find out from as many bloggers as possible just where they'd like to be in the state of Texas if they could choose A Dozen Places. Six of those would be places they've been before; six would be places they've never been.

He's got some good ones in his lists. I've actually been to a couple of his "never been" locations (top of Enchanted Rock; White Rock Lake).

I'm going to accede to his pleading request to participate, in spite of one highly offensive entry on his list, as I recognize that he's still recovering from Blogathon and is thus insane. But I'm also adding another dimension to my "would like to be there again" selections – time. Some locations are no longer what they once were (same goes for people, but that's another meme for another time). Anyway, here are my lists:

6 places I've been in Texas (where I wish I could be again right now)

• Tubing the Frio River just outside of Leakey, upstream from Garner State Park, in 1971. Back then, you could actually climb onto the bank of the river, or dive off the cliffs, without someone calling the sheriff or drawing a bead on you with a 12 gauge.


• Bicycling the 75-mile Fort Davis loop with "Chet" and "Natalie," 1984. This selection proves that time heals all wounds, even if it might leave you with a commemorative limp.


• Listening to dixieland jazz at The Landing on the River Walk in San Antonio on a cool October evening, following a meal at The Little Rhein Steakhouse.


• Scuba diving in the natural-bottomed swimming hole at Balmorhea State Park, chasing catfish and turtles and watching the sand boil where the springs feed the pool.


• Riding my 70cc Honda dirt bike through the pasture west of Fort Stockton, ca. 1966, following a summer shower with the fragrance of the flowering greasewood infusing the air, and the jackrabbits scattering before the tinny onslaught. That pasture is now mostly homes and other development, with fences that strangle the aspirations of young wannabe Wild Ones.


• Eating dinner at The Herb Farm in Fredericksburg during peach season, in order to enjoy their peach vinaigrette salad dressing and the cobbler for dessert

6 places I've never been in Texas (where I wish I could be right now)

• Bicycling the Houston MS 150 with Bret and family, or doing a fast training ride anywhere in north Texas with Foo.


• The Apple Store in Plano. Or, really, any Apple Store in Texas.


• NASA Headquarters, Houston


• The Ballpark, Arlington (World Series or not)


• Running to the top of Guadalupe Peak and back (this is semi-cheating, as I've been to the Peak a couple of times, but I've seen guys running the trail and it would be "fun" to try it someday)


• That bookstore in Archer City that Jim keeps trying to put in West Texas.

OK, I think that about covers it. I'd tag someone else for this, but it's too much trouble so you have to tag yourself. Still, it's a good meme, and I congratulate the Jimster on coming up with it. Perhaps he needs to get less sleep more often.

Tagged!

Soccer Dad has tagged the Gazette to participate in the craze that's sweeping the nation. It's similar to the "7 Things About Me" meme, only with a diabolical twist: you have to list eight things. Whew. Well, here goes:

1. I've been to Kralendijk, Bonaire; Windwardside, Saba; and Tegucigalpa, Honduras...
2. ...but I've never visited San Francisco, Chicago, or New York City.
3. I've never seen an episode of The Sopranos.
4. I may be one of the few web designers in the world who knows the difference* between sideoats grama and tobosa, by virtue of having competed on a grass judging team as a mere youth while in 4-H.
5. I once rode 105 miles in one day on a bicycle. Through the Texas Hill Country. On purpose.
6. I refused to eat bananas until I was past the age of 30, at which time I realized that was dumb, and made myself learn to like them.
7. For that same period of time I ate zucchini even though I didn't like it, until I realized that was dumb, and stopped.
8. I like hot tea but not iced tea; cantaloupe but not watermelon; dark chocolate but not white; Diet Coke but not regular Coke; mayonnaise but not Miracle Whip.

Now, I'm supposed to tag eight other bloggers to do this, but everyone I know seems to have already done it, or a variation thereof. So, go tag yourself, and think of me while you're doing it.

*OK, honestly – I no longer know the difference. But, I used to.

Scattershooting while wondering what ever happened to content

It's Friday and I got nothing, making it pretty much like any other day, but, still. Anyways, it seems like a good time to reinforce the nothingness of what I got by copying the meme sensation that's sweeping the nation (or at least the blogs of Bret and Gwynne).

SCATTERGORIES meme

Guidelines:

Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following categories. They should be real places, names, things...nothing made up! If you can't think of anything, skip it (but be prepared to explain why you don't know Google's URL).

Copy and Paste to answer in your blog.

Your Name: Eric

Famous singer: Eric Carmen

4 letter word: Ecru

Street name: E

Color: Oops. Used it above. Dang. Talk about a lack of planning.

Gifts/presents: Eau de cologne

Vehicle: Enzo (by Ferrari)

Things in a Souvenir Shop: Edible undies (no, wait; I'm thinking of something else...)

Boy Name: Ed

Girl Name: Elwyn

Movie Title: Eight Legged Freaks

Drink: Eau de cologne; hmm...that sounds familiar *hic*

Occupation: Easter Bunny

Flower: Eggplant (hey, it could happen!)

Celebrity: Earis Eilton

Magazine: E (that was easy)

U.S. City: Estelline

Pro Sports Teams: Eagles (or, as we like to call them, the *^&#*& Eagles)

Something found in a Kitchen: Emmental de Savoie (I was hoping to list something from the Periodic Table of Condiments, but, alas, nothing commenced with an E.)

Reason for being late for work: Ennui

Something you throw away: Everything written by Helen Thomas

Things you shout: Eek!

Cartoon Character: eParis Hilton

That was fun! You should try it!! Add your own Exclamation Marks!!!

Desert Island Meme, Part 2: TV

Our recent "Desert Island DVDs by Genre" list seemed to elicit fewer yawns than usual, which has emboldened me to put forth a memequel. This one's similar to the first, except instead of movies, you get to pick boxed sets of television programs to accompany you on your island getaway. However, you still have to stick with the genres. (Don't gripe at me; I don't make the rules. OK, I do make the rules, but I don't know what I'm doing.)

Here's my list (and I've tried to stick with broadcast shows; no offense to you premium cable subscribers):

• Western - Rawhide (I toyed with Gunsmoke for a moment, but just couldn't take the thought of being alone with Chester for all that time. At the same time, Maverick was a strong contender.)


• Horror - Twilight Zone (The horror genre is underserved on broadcast TV, but as a mere youth, some of the TZ eps gave me nightmares, so it qualifies.)


• Sci-Fi - X-Files (I never enjoyed the government conspiracy episodes, but there were enough creature features to more than make it worthwhile.)


• Musical - American Bandstand (I still remember being inspired by Blue Cheer and their wall of amps.)


• Comedy - The Dick Van Dyke Show (Not only funny, but a great series of snapshots from a culture that changed America in many ways.)


• Police/Crime/Courtroom Drama - Boomtown (Smart and edgy, this could have been the best police series in history, if NBC hadn't given up so quickly.)


• Medical Drama - M.A.S.H. (It's my list, and I don't have to choose E.R. if I don't want to. And I've never watched House.)


• Foreign - Fawlty Towers (Consistently hysterical, especially the occasional attempts at American accents.)


• Variety - The Ed Sullivan Show (Two words: Topo Gigio!)


• Mini-Series - Shogun (How can you not pick the show that made konichiwa and domo arigato a part of mainstream American vocabulary?)


• Bonus Pick (any genre) - Seinfeld (The Dick Van Dyke Show for the 90s.)

Ambi.Me

I went for a bike ride this morning -- an amazing thing in itself, considering it's the end of November and the temperature was in the upper 50s (our high tomorrow will be 20 degrees lower than that) -- and I got in the usual stream-of-consciousness zone that makes cycling the same route over and over again not only bearable but pleasurable.

One of the zoned-out thoughts that occurred to me is that the art of operating a 10-key "adding machine" by touch is probably a dying one. I can do it; I'll bet Gwynne can, as well. But I'm not sure that the presence of the numeric pad on most computer keyboards is sufficient to ensure that skill gets passed along to the next generation.

I then started considering how I used an adding machine; one thing led to another, and you're stuck with the following, which may be used by some to argue against Intelligent Design and by others as proof that God has a sense of humor:

• I tally the checkbook with the adding machine using my right hand...
• ...but I pencil the total into the check register using my left hand.



• I throw a baseball left-handed...
• ...but I bat right-handed.



• I hold and shoot a pistol with my left hand...
• ...but I sight through my right eye (another way of saying that that's my dominant eye).



• I use a mouse with my left hand (OK, I'm actually ambidextrous, mousily-speaking, but prefer the left side)...
• ...but I use the touchpad on my laptop with my right hand*.



• And for a seasonal flourish, when I wrap a gift, I use left-handed scissors......
• ...but I pull tape from the dispenser and apply it with my right hand.

I think this gets us back on track with our minimum daily requirement of Content Free® posts. I've also put this in the category of Memes, so feel free to regale us with your own limbic proclivities.

*My theory is that it has something to do with the electrical current generated by my body. The cursor skips crazily when I use my left hand, but it's much better behaved when controlled by the right. I've posted about this before. You do remember, don't you?

Desert Island Movie Meme

I know, I know -- the "if you were stranded on a desert island, which movies/ books/ music/ beverages/ non-venomous reptiles/ television evangelist/ Hooter's girl/ Pro Bowling Tour player would you want to have with you" memes have been done to death, but here's a slightly different twist. It still deals with movies, but you get to pick one title for each of the following ten genres.

Here's my list (genres shown in bold) of the movies I'd choose for my desert island stranding:

• Western - Silverado


• Horror - Shaun of the Dead


• Sci-Fi - Serenity


• Musical - Fiddler on the Roof


• Comedy - The Princess Bride


• War - Saving Private Ryan


• Action - Pirates of the Caribbean


• Foreign - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon


• Classic (before 1960) - The Quiet Man


• Documentary - Mad Hot Ballroom


• Bonus Pick (any genre) - My Cousin Vinny

These are all pretty safe picks (choosing Shaun of the Dead in the horror category is probably cheating a bit, but I can't think of a "traditional" horror movie that I'd want to see more than once). Perhaps yours are a bit edgier...?

Labor Day Weekend Meme: At This Very Moment

Two memes within one week should not be considered a trend, but my other Kiwi blogger pal, Catez over at Allthings2all, tagged me for this one and since there's still a few hours left in the Labor Day weekend I figured, why not?

At this very moment...

1. Are you craving anything and if so, what?

Having just finished a dinner consisting of pot stickers (pork), crunchy rolls (with plenty of wasabi) and spring rolls, followed by a big ol' piece of turtle cake topped with Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla, I'd have to say that all I'm craving is an easy chair and some elastic-waisted sweat pants.

2. What is the weather outside, and do you wish it would change?

It's been raining steadily for at least 18 hours and I wouldn't change a thing. (You just have to live in the desert to understand.) Man, but it's sweet, even if you have to deal with a dog who equates falling rain with 50-cal. tracers aimed at a target attached to her rearend.

3. What two websites do you think you will go to next after you are finished here?

Both of them are client sites, because I've been putting off the updates they emailed me earlier in the weekend. I'm running out of excuses.

4. Do you wish you were somewhere else and if so, where?

I'd like to be biking the trail that runs from Frisco, Colorado, to Vail, on our recumbent tandem with my wife in the back. And as long as I'm wishing, I'd then wish for someone to come to Vail and ferry us back to Frisco, because I'm not sure I could survive pedaling the return trip.

5. Do you wish you were someone else, and if so, who?

Well, this is an interesting question, and I'm not sure many people really think through the implications of their answers. And I'd really need some better groundrules before committing to anything. For example, if I became someone else, would I still be me? I mean, what's the point of becoming, say, Hillary Clinton, if you had to actually become Hillary Clinton, you know? It would be much more fun if you could become Hillary Clinton, but still be yourself -- you know, a sane person with reasonable ideas, for example -- and in the position of being able to wreak some serious havoc on an entire political party. Now that would be cool.

Otherwise, I guess I'd like to be the AFLAC duck.

I think I'm supposed to tag a few folks for this, but since we're just about out of Labor Day, I'll take the weasly way out and just say that if you want to carry it on, feel free to do so.

AFLAC.

Les Triplettes du Mêmê

Tagged by Bret in a scarily naive fashion (he's obviously never heard me "play" the guitar):

1. Three things that scare me:

• Small spiders
• Large spiders
• Medium spiders

2. Three people who make me laugh:

• The president of Iran, Rajamaneedeenidef, although not in a good way
• My brother, when he's talking about his cowboyin' days
• The guy who plays Dwight on The Office

3. Three things I hate the most:

• Mean people
• The way a little blob of yogurt poots out when you first peel off the foil top, no matter how careful you are
• Internet Explorer

4. Three things I don't understand:

• Why it is that the more rain we get, the worse my lawn looks.
• Programming arrays in PHP
• How Song of Solomon ended up in the Bible

5. Three things I'm doing right now:

• Well, duh...this
• Staring out the back door at my degenerating lawn
• Tapping my left foot really, really fast

6. Three things I want to do before I die:

• Snowboard
• Complete a cross-country bike trip
• Learn to program an array in PHP

7. Three things I can do:

• Code a website from scratch without using a page layout program. Not that I would ever do such a thing, but I could.
• Completely fake my way through the folding of a fitted sheet
• Run four miles in 32 minutes, but only on a treadmill

8. Three ways to describe my personality:

• Goofy
• Quirky
• Odd

9. Three things I can't do:

• Samba
• Sing in a manner pleasing to those around me
• Remember names until after the third or fourth reminder

10. Three things I think you should listen to:

• Cindy Morgan's Listen (the whole album, not just the single)
• Everything by Delbert McClinton
• That odd scraping sound coming from the left rear wheelwell

11. Three things you should never listen to:

• The silence of the lambs
• Any music from 1997
• The idiot in your head that tells you to ignore your wife's instructions for the best way to do...anything

12. Three things I'd like to learn:

• Play chords on my guitar
• When to use "lay" instead of "lie"
• How to build a time travel machine

13. Three favourite foods:

• Breakfast foods
• Lunch foods
• Dinner foods

14. Three beverages I drink regularly:

• Water
• Diet Berries & Cream Dr. Pepper
• Coffee

15. Three shows I watched as a kid:

• The Twilight Zone (scared the c**p out of me)
• Those black and white WWII movies that came on Sunday afternoons after church; I never knew if they were documentaries or made-up movies, but they were spell-binding.
• Admiral Foghorn

16. Three people I'm tagging (to do this):

• Kyle, because he's too cool to meme*
• Denise, because you need to know her better
• Beth, because I'm hoping she'll send me chocolate, and despite the fact that I'm sure she's already done this one before

*By the way, I'm too cool to meme, too. Just so you know.

Countdown Meme

It's harder than it looks.

+++

I have...

10 sport jackets.

9 DVD players.

8 pairs of shoes.

7 cogs on our tandem's freewheel.

6 movies starring Keanu Reeves.

5 uncles on my dad's side of the family.

4 books about programming with PHP.

3 digital cameras.

2 revolvers.

1 10' braided leather Mexican bullwhip with a steel swivel handle.

0 albums by The Rolling Stones.

+++

OK, the rules are simple. First, be honest. We might not know otherwise, but the God of Methuselah, Moses, and Memes will. Second, despite Rule #1, you get one wildcard if you need it; feel free to make up one of the items. And, in support of the proposition that there should remain some mystery about a blogger, don't identify the wild card.

Have fun!

The "It's All About Me" Meme

The vivacious Rachel tagged me for this meme and I figured it was easier than anything I could do on my own, so here goes:

• I AM left-handed, but I play golf right-handed. If I played golf, that is.
• I WANT a cinnamon roll.
• I WISH I could fly.
• I HATE knowing that it's Thursday and my Tuesday tasks are still unfinished.
• I MISS scuba diving.
• I HEAR that Rome is beautiful this time of year.
• I WONDER how I'll die?
• I REGRET not learning to play the piano.
• I AM NOT who you think I am.
• I DANCE like everyone is watching.
• I CRY more easily than I once did.
• I AM NOT ALWAYS a hipster doofus.
• I MAKE WITH MY HANDS annoying drumming noises when I'm nervous.
• I WRITE because I can't sing.
• I CONFUSE "pan left" with "pan right."
• I NEED two cups of coffee every morning. At least.
• I SHOULD get a clue.
• I START posts while riding my bike.
• I FINISH eating everything on my plate. It's the polite thing to do.
• I TAG Glenn Reynolds, Michelle Malkin, James Lileks, and LaShawn Barber. C'mon, guys....don't break this chain, or your cousin's grocer will develop a disconcerting facial tic.

Friday Meme of the Moment

This is the inaugural post for an ongoing series which, now that I've established it and in keeping with my newly-cultivated anarchist/slacker/retro-chic persona, will never again be updated unless I feel like it.

The questions are simple and few:

1. Pick one of your favorite blogs (not including your own; we'll get to that), and suggest a theme song for it. Explain.


2. If your blog (see, I told you) had a theme song, what would it be? Explain.


3. If your blogging career suddenly collapsed into a steaming mass of putrid refuse because of your inability to cope with its worldwide popularity, and your friends decided to try to revive your spirits by putting on a benefit concert*, which musical artist(s) would you hope that they would invite? Explain.

Note that if you don't have a blog, you can still participate. Just substitute "job" for "blog" in question 2 and leave out "blogging" in question 3.

OK, here are my answers (even though, technically, I'm exempt from this ridiculous exercise, being the perpetr originator):

1. For this question, I choose...Julie's Lone Prairie Blog, for which the ideal theme song would be Leslie Gore's classic, "You Don't Own Me," because of Julie's consistently articulated defiance in sticking it to The Man. Plus, it's a cool song, and she's a cool blogger.


2. If the Gazette had a theme song (and really, that's a silly proposition...no music is big enough to hold..well, you know), it would have to be "Dance of the Cucumber," by Larry the Cucumber and his reluctant interpreter, Bob the Tomato. The fiery Latin defiance of this rousing number perfectly captures the Gazette's unflagging dedication to sticking it to The Man.


3. Not that a collapse of my blogging career is possible to envision, for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that it's never taken off to begin with, my benefit concert would ideally feature a reunion of Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker (you tell me) as well as an appearance by The Talking Heads (are they still around?). Their fiery British defiance, blah, blah, blah...

*This question -- which, now that I think about it, is likely to someday be voted as the Most Interesting Question Ever Posed in the History of the Internet -- was inspired by a comment left by "David" (if, indeed, that is his real name) on a prior Gazette post. David is the eloquent and urbane proprietor of North Sea Diaries, which is a must read for anyone interested in the soap opera posing as western European politics. Dave's observations are routinely witty and insightful, two qualities I absolutely loathe in another blogger. But that's not the point, really.

Bookmark Meme - Round 2

I originated this about six months ago and received a fair amount of positive feedback about it, so I thought I'd run it back up the flagpole and see who salutes. It's simply a list of sites you've got bookmarked (or included in your del.icio.us posts, if that's how you keep track of other sites). The rules (guidelines, really) are simple: list the last bookmark in your collection, move up the list ten places and list the next one, move up another ten, and so on. If you keep all of your bookmarks in folders, (1) just go to the next folder, if you need to, as you move up the list, and (2) get a life. Do you really need to be that organized?

Here's what I've got nowadays:

1. Cheat Sheets from ILoveJackDaniels.com (courtesy of the scintillating Patti at White Pebble)


2. Restoration Village - A Christian ministry in Sri Lanka working to build new homes for the victims of the tsunami


3. Milonic - provider of canned DHTML menus and related goodies


4. Findory - a meta-news site, or something (frankly, I'm not sure how to describe it)


5. WebCalendar from K5N - a PHP-based turnkey online calendar (which I've never used)

I've just listed five sites due to time constraints, but ten is really a more helpful number. You might be surprised to learn what other folks considered important enough to bookmark.

Tagged for a book meme

Well, like Cowtown Pattie says, turn about is fair play, so she's thrown a meme back at me. But, this one's pretty interesting, because it deals with books. So, what the hey...here's my stuff (but we're even now, sugar):

1. You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451. Which book do you want to be? The phone book. I'd be a human PDA!


2. Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character? Miz Hepzibah in Pogo. That was before I knew that we weren't supposed to consort with the French.


3. The last book you bought was...? Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith, by Anne Lamott. Watch for a review in these here pages.


4. The last book you read was...? Kings of Infinite Space, by James Hynes. Yep...there'll be a post on that one, too.


5. What are you currently reading? The Zen of CSS Design, by Dave Shea and Molly Holzschlag, although you don't actually read it as much as you thumb back and forth, back and forth, wondering "how did they do that?" And, "Would any of my clients ever pay me to try it?" (I'm pretty sure the answer will always be "no.")


6. Five books you would take to a desert island...


1. The Bible (Ryrie Study Bible, NAS version) -- for the survival of my spirit;
2. How Things Work, by Louis Bloomfield -- for the survival of my body;
3. The Complete Calvin and Hobbes, by Bill Watterson -- for the survival of my humor;
4. Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, by Douglas Hofstadter -- for the survival of my mind; and
5. Masterpieces: The Best Science Fiction of the Century, edited by Orson Scott Card -- for the survival of my imagination.


7. Who are you passing this stick on to and why? I'm gonna tap the shoulder of a local guy whom I'm sure will amaze and delight us with his selections, and that is Jeff over at ArchaeoTexture. Then I'm going way out on a limb and sending this to a new blogger I just met up in Pennsylvania, Jim at the intriguingly named serotoninrain. This might be a good way for you guys to get to know him, if he's game for the chance.

Update: Jim's offering is up over at serotoninrain.

Blog Interview Meme Strikes Gazette!

The ever-lovely Rachel of Life Being Beautiful somehow talked me into participating in her blogger interview meme (I think it was her New Zealand accent, which I can't resist. OK, I've never actually heard her speak, but I'm sure it's there...and it's irresistible!). If you're not familiar with this meme, it's pretty simple. She poses five questions and I answer them. Here are the questions; my answers follow.

Question one - You are married. How did you meet your wife and what was it that made you know that she was the one?

Question 2 - As you know, One day I am hoping to get to Texas. If you were in charge of my itinerary - what would be on it?

Question 3 - What is your most poignant childhood moment? What sights/smells (etc) invoke this memory?

Question 4 - If Peter Jackson had offered you a role in Lord of the Rings, what part would it have been and why? Which part would you ideally like?

Question 5 - When all the remodelling is completed in your house…What will be your favourite feature?

Bonus (because I can and thought of another question): Apple computers are your preferred computer. What started you on this path and what is one reason that you stick with them?

Question 1 - Wait; I'm married?! Oh, yeah...now I remember. I thought I had just died and gone to heaven where I was in the continual presence of my own beautiful angel! Actually, I met MLB in high school. My first recollection was seeing this dark-haired, dark-eyed vision of beauty enter the bandhall. She and her family had just transferred from another city. As it turned out, we both played the clarinet, and the buses on long band trips can get quite cozy and, well, the rest is history. (Seriously, though, it turned out that we had a lot in common, the most important thing being our Christian faith.)

Question 2 - You know, Rachel, a famous American general once said "if I owned Texas and Hell, I've live in Hell and rent out Texas!" But he was probably a yankee and therefore his motives were suspect. Anyway, if you were to be fortunate enough to come to Texas the main sights I'd want you to see would be in the southwestern part of the state where I live. Being from New Zealand, I don't think you'd be overly impressed with the beaches on the Gulf Coast, attractive as they are, or the sprawling metropolitan areas like Houston and Dallas, sprawling as they are. But I think you'd appreciate the desolate beauty of the Big Bend National Park, the Davis Mountains and the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. The vast display of God's handiwork makes it difficult for me to understand how anyone can be an atheist.

Then, of course, we'd have to see the giant Road Runner in Fort Stockton and stuff ourselves with Tex-Mex!

[You must realize that Texas is almost three times as big as New Zealand, so it's really difficult to answer your question in just one paragraph. The state has at least five different regions, each of which has its own cultural and geographical attractions.]

Question 3 - Poignant childhood moment? Hmmm. You mean, other than my wedding? ;-) Well, it's hard to pick just one, but I'd have to say that the best memories of childhood are those of just being outside and playing in the west Texas summer. Maybe my hometown was small (it was) or maybe it was just a simpler time (it was), but our lives as children were much less structured and scheduled than those of today's kids. I can remember the amazing find of a discarded cardboard refrigerator box, which immediately was transformed into an army tank (use your imagination) that allowed me to roll through weeds and over bumps and sticker bushes with complete impunity. Those memories can still be triggered just by stepping outside on a hot summer day.

Question 4 - That's easy: Gandalf. He's really the only one with a clue, you know. Although I never figured out how he rode a horse while wearing that robe. I'd definitely need some pointers with that.

Question 5 - Remodeling? Complete? Ha! One day, you'll own a home and you'll realize just how oxymoronic those two terms are. But, just for argument's sake, let's assume that we really do someday "complete the remodeling." My favorite part will be the fact that during the process, we discovered that my office works better out in the game room, instead of our bedroom, and made that change permanent. Sometimes you have to completely upheave your life to see the value in some drastic changes.

Bonus Question (I wouldn't answer SIX questions for just anybody, you know) - My coming to the Mac is a long and boring story, but suffice it to say that at one time, corporations were actually enlightened enough to realize that the platform was superior to DOS and its successors. The day I first sat down in front of that little Mac SE and used a mouse instead of cryptic line commands, I was hooked and never looked back. I stick with 'em because they're simply the best tool for my work. Then there's this: since 1990, I've owned only four computers, all of them Macs, and I've never had a catastrophic failure in any of them...never had a virus...never had spyware...and I've never been unable to do the job at-hand due to lack of software or because of incapable hardware.

OK, Rach...hope that satisfies your curiosity. I still think you could have found someone more interesting to interview, but thanks for "listening"!

Bookmark Meme

[I've bumped this post back to the top of the page because I suspect it slipped by a few people due to its original Sunday afternoon slot. It's not that I think it's the most wonderful thing since sliced bread, but those who have participated in it have come up with some quite interesting links...stuff that we'd never know about just by perusing blogrolls.]

[Originally posted 14:39 on 2/13/05]

It's said that the best way to find out what's important to someone is to look in his or her checkbook register (although an updated variation would refer to credit card receipts).

While I'm not nosy enough to ask about your check register (well, I am that nosy, but I also know that you wouldn't tell me), I would propose that another way to learn about someone else is by a review of his or her browser bookmarks. And in pursuit of such knowledge I hereby propose this simple meme:

1. Open the bookmarks list in your favorite web browser and note the bottommost entry (which may or may not be the last one you added), even if it's inside a folder. Copy the bookmark title, along with the URL, into a post or comment.


2. Count up your list from there, and select every fourth bookmark, until you've picked another four. Add them to your post or comment.


3. Publish the list of five bookmarks and wait for the world to marvel at your eclectic and sophisticated interests!

Here's my list:

1. Scot's Newsletter | The Best Of | Customizing Firefox


2. Simon Wilison: Some notes on Wikipedia


3. BYODKM.net - A Mac Mini Enthusiast Network


4. Mandarin Design. Web and Blog Design and Development


5. SYMBOLS.com -- encyclopedia of Western signs and ideograms

The only thing all the preceding bookmarks have in common is that I found them through other blogs. The impact of blogging is perhaps deeper than we may realize.

Technorati tag: memes

Bible Haiku: Psalms

OK, so we had a bit of a sabbatical from our Bible haiku meme, but it's time to get back on it, because we've got a long way to go.

To refresh your memory, we kicked this off last April, and in just a few weeks had haikus summarizing each book of the Bible through Job. The complete list to-date is found here.

I'm not particularly obsessed about adhering to the original rules of the meme. If you want to submit a haiku for inclusion on our list, either email it to me, put it in the comment section here, or post it to your blog and ping any of the Gazette's posts -- I'll find it. Keep in mind that you can submit a poem for a book that's already been done, if you feel so led.

I'm currently in the book of Psalms in my RTBTIAY regimen, so it's easy to focus on these praise and worship songs. What's less easy is distilling the longest book of the Bible into a handful of words, but here's my offering:

Proverbs, anyone?

Book Meme ("Meme Too!")

Multiply the meme:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.

Courtesy of Mysterium Tremendum.