I have a love/hate relationship with electronic technology.  I love and appreciate the advances that have been made in the world, and I use lots of technologically savvy stuff every day.  But I hate learning the new stuff, and if I procrastinate, it seems that when I finally break down and learn it, something new immediately comes along to replace what I have just learned.  And I am married to a technology addict.  I know it’s a common thing for men to be into electronics and the latest gadgets and all of that, but I think our house is exceptionally up-to-date on the electronic gadgetry, especially when it comes to computers.  My problem with it lies where the technology becomes more of an inconvenience than it is a convenience.  I have a few examples I will share:

1.  Hi-Def Tv – My husband will sit and flip channels in the middle of a show just to try to find the hi-def version of the show.  Of course he doesn’t choose to do this during a Chicago Bears game or something he is inclined to watch.  For those shows, he will actually think about it ahead of the show’s start time.  He’ll sit and flip looking for high-def while I’m watching something, during shows like Dr. Phil or pointless reality shows.  I know, these are dumb shows, so I shouldn’t care about missing them.  But if I’m going to sit and watch something, then I want to watch it, I don’t want to miss any of it, otherwise I’m wasting my time.  So, if I’m watching Dr. Phil, and hubby comes over and tries to find Dr. Phil in hi-def, I might just miss the backround of a guest’s story and not know what is going on for the rest of the show.  Like I said, it’s not like we’re talking about high quality tv here, but who needs Dr. Phil in hi-def anyway?!?

2.  GPS –  I cannot tell you how many times our GPS guy has gotten us lost.  Yes, we have a GPS system in our car with a male voice – he was on sale.  I’ve always thought I was pretty good at navigating; pretty good at being a human compass and learning the layouts of strange cities and towns pretty quickly.  In the years before we had GPS (and kids!) we used to travel by car A LOT, and I was always our navigator.  I’d like to think I got us out of more than a few scrapes with just my sense of direction and an atlas…  But my past experience gets me no where compared to the GPS guy.  He has taken over.  My husband will insist that we follow Mr. GPS’ directions, even while I’m saying they don’t make sense.  For one thing, he’s led us into a lake before, literally.  Well, luckily common sense did prevail there at the last minute…  my husband stopped the car before he drove into the lake, but he was tempted to trust Mr. GPS, and drive into the lake, I know it.  Maybe it sounds like I’m jealous of Mr. GPS, but I’m not, really I’m not.  I just suspect that he might have it out for us, or that he is a practical jokester who gleefully directs us into predictaments just to see how we get out of them…  Kinda sounds like a dumb sitcom – tune in each week to see how we maneuver our way out of whatever mess Mr. GPS has finagled us into this time…

Don’t get me wrong – I do appreciate all the technology most of the time, in a way.  If my husband weren’t so into all these things, I wouldn’t have all the cool gadgets that I have, and I would not know how to use anything, including my computer probably!  But how ironic is it that this post has been sitting in my drafts for weeks now, not getting finished, just because other things kept coming up that I wanted to write about, so I wasn’t getting a chance to finish it.  But how ironic, that today when I went to tangents.org, I got the following message about learning new technology?!?  If you don’t hear from me for awhile, I’m just procrastinating learning the new “back end” of tangents!

Well my friendly bloggers…  I have some great news that is going to make you all very mad!  Yes, you read that right.  Tangents will be updated with the latest versions of the blog software by next Friday and as soon as today (whenever it is released).  Why will this make you mad?  Because the backend you have worked to learn is going to look significantly different.  But don’t worry!  You have the basics down.  Once you take a few minutes to get used to the new layout you will be comfortable again and blogging on Tangents.Org will be better than ever!

Yesterday when browsing my kind-of-local WalMart store in Defiance, OH I noticed something…  They didn’t have the DVD player I wanted.  But what they did have was far more magical, far more elusive, far more expensive…

The Nintendo Wii

Was I dreaming?  Was I hallucinating?  Or was I in reality about to make a big mistake?…  Yep, the third option.

You see, although I was an early critic of the Nintendo Wii (even having never played it — I thought it seemed like Nintendo built a system around what could have been simply an add-on accessory to any system), I have recently been longing for a fun way to get exercise.  I work on the computer all day long and love to eat — and it shows!

I have been able to cut back on my bad eating habits; limiting my pizza intake, eliminating late-night snacking, and reducing my portions greatly.  However, on the exercise front I have done almost nothing.

Sure, my family does go for walks on most days, but not the kind that get the heart pumping.  The kind where you wait for the kids to catch-up and move at the pace of a pregnant woman…  That kind.

I suppose I could just do some standard exercise but I have very little “me” time so when I do have some, I really want to enjoy it and not run on a treadmill, do situps, or go for a jog.  That would just make me crazy.  I like to keep my mind active too!

So, the Wii seemed like the perfect solution.  Not only could I enjoy exercise — I mean REALLY enjoy exercise — but I could play with my wife and kids!  That would just be awesome…  Or so I thought.

So, I took the Wii home with me and and extra set of controllers.  And Mario Kart — my wife and I LOVE all the Kart games and still play them on my Xbox with a N64 Emulator.  Anyway, back to the Nintendo Wii.

We got home and after some time with the kids I excitedly hooked it up to our tv.  I put the batteries into the Wii remotes and fired the little guy up.

SETUP SCREEN >>

Ok, this was expected.  So, I breezed through the setup screen which was simple enough and was ready for some action!

My first game — Wii Sports of course!  This was included with the Wii so it was the obvious choice.

WII SPORTS

The first game we tried was baseball and well, as I already knew, the Wii graphically looked like a last-generation gaming system.  On par with the PS2 or Xbox, although not even that good.  Of course, this was the included game so the graphics on the Wii were probably not being utilized too well.  Back to Baseball.

I was batting first and my wife was pitching.  She made a simple throwing motion and the ball was on its way.  I swung the Wii remote and saw my litte “Mii” swing his virtual bat…  STTTTRRRIIIKE!  It was going to take a little bit to get used to the controls and timing.

After an inning we both had them down pitch…. HIT!  Although this game was very basic, it had some fun to it.  The novelty of the Wii was “hitting” home (sorry for the bad pun).

Next we tried Tennis.  Same thing, different graphics.  Swing the remote, wait, swing the remote.  This is when I began to notice that the Wii remote was more of a gimick than a serious VR interactive device.  I could basically swing the thing any way I wanted and get the same effect — tennis ball hit or missed based mainly on my timing.  Nothing else really.

On to Wii bowling.  Here, the Wii showed me that it was doing more than just sensing if the remote was moving.  The Wii wanted me to make a particular motion and when I did not, it corrected me.  That being said, the bowling was left with a simple make a “bowling like movement” and watch the Wii do the rest.

Boxing however was probably the biggest disappointment.  Why?  Because I had read raves about what a good workout it provides and how fun it is.  To me, neither was true.  I don’t know about anyone else but I could jab and hook my arms forever and they were not getting tired.  Even adding the ducks and weaves were not really a great cardio fix.  But the worst part was the fun factor, or lack of one.  The game only seemed to respond to particular jabbing movements and not to different punches and moves.  If you got really into it, the nunchuck cord would get in the way.  It was very annyong and simply no fun at all for me.  Plus…  I didn’t come close to breaking a sweat.  I guess I might have after playing for 3 hours straight but who has that kind of time.

Wii Fit is due out in a couple of weeks and that is supposed to be all about the fitness; hence the name.  However, at this point I will probably not own a Wii by the time it comes out.  Considering I can score a Xavix system on eBay for under $100 which includes the major workout titles of Jackie Chan J-Map Fitness Studio and Jackie Chan Boxing I don’t see the Wii as being the answer for me.

In the end, the Wii has potential as both a fun gaming system and a entertainment-fitness machine.  However, I am back to my original opinion — if this was a controller for the Xbox 360 I would probably buy one.  The best of both worlds; good graphics and motion-sensing controllers for new interactive gaming.  But for now, the Wii seems to be to be…  Well, old.  Last generation’s graphics and motion sensing technology that was probably already surpassed by the EyeToy.  Yes, I know it is not the same.  But the new 3D ZCam, which will be under $100 and work with real next gen systems will make the Wii look like it already plays — weak.  Take a look at the ZCam…

The Wii uses REALLY OLD technology to track movement.  It really seems like it was a system from 5 – 6 years ago.  I will give it a couple of more days but if something doesn’t change and make me suddenly a “Wii Addict” I am bringing this back to the store for a Wiifund!

Sometimes it is very difficult to find the moment when you know that a show is going to be great (at times, it may seem that the moment never comes). For two shows I was very proud to be a part of the moment arrived quickly. The first time I held up four fingers and cackled for my audition for The Clinic, I knew that Donnie would be a great part (whoever got it 🙂 ). For Idol Night it came when I read aloud the first line spoken by Morat (“HELLO EVERY PEOPLE!!!!”). Tonight, sitting at the theatre reading through lines for Little Women, I thought this is going to be good. We not only read through the first act, but the director kept going back and asking the cast questions to make them analyze the character and scene they were reading. Who is your character? What is he/she trying to say and do? How is he/she saying it… is he confident or shy? Much more fun and productive to analyze as a group instead of alone.

Before we got into all of that, we had an ice breaker of introducing ourselves. Name, part, past experience, and favorite restroom. OK….. so it was not favorite restroom but the director changed it to such after someone misheard him. Guess who?!

My name is….. I will be playing Braxton Prendergast, the evil aristocratic stock villain in Jo’s stories. My favorite experience on stage was portraying Morat Notboratnichkov in Idol Night at the Karaoke Place. My favorite restroom is the ladies room at Ohio Stadium (long story).

The director made it a point to comment that the video is still on youtube…. (I still have yet to learn how to embed videos on my posts as well as other things). So….You a know Morat. It will be a year on Sunday May 11, which ironically enough, I just learned is Morat’s birthday.

Later, we were asked what our own personal goal for the show is. I said to wear either a hoop skirt as some of the cast do or pumpkin pants which I was told I would be doing.

So, it should be another enjoyable month and few days. Aren’t they all though?

Yes, this is my 42nd blog post.  And a great lead into another thing to write about.  Another of my favorite things to do is read.  I am a big time reader.  Most of the time I tend to read fiction.  Science fiction and Fantasy are my favorites, with mysteries coming in a close third.  Believe it or not, I’ve never read the “Hitchhikers Guide”  I did catch some of the BBC radio series, but never got through the whole story.  I can’t remember why it was taken off local radio, but I don’t think they ever finished it.   Someday, I’ll have to check and see if they have it on tape or DVD.   I may have to see the movie and read the books too, but I want to experience the radio show first.

I’ve been hitting the Superhero movies hard for the past few weeks, so I thought I would let some of my other side show. So I thought I would write about Mel Brooks Comedies.

My absolute favorite is Blazing Saddles. A wonderful spoof on almost every western made. I’ve been thinking that this movie could not be made and release today. There were way too many politically incorrect comedy bits in that show. The best part of the show in my opinion had to have been Alex Karras. The part of Mongo and his hitting the horse and of course the Candy Gram. These little things made the movie fun for me. Of course all the puns and movie bits that make most of the Brooks’ comedies fun to watch over and over again. There are seems to be movies I haven’t seen that have been used in satire in these movies.

On to a quick list of favorite in order

1) Blazing Saddles

2) Young Frankenstein

3) Space Balls

4) The 12 Chairs

5) High Anxiety

6) History of the World

7) Silent Movie

8) Robin Hood Men in Tights

9) Dracula Dead and Loving It.

10) To be or not to be

11) Life Stinks

12) The Producers

–Not a movie but it should be in here The 2000 Year Old Man.

— I’m fairly certain I will like Get Smart this summer too. He is a writer for that, and was a writer for the original series.

In days of banning tag from the playground because some kids “get too rough” it seems only natural that dodge-ball is so far banned, it is even anathema to mention it. Perhaps that is really only valid in the elementary school though. Or maybe the ones making the rules don’t like the attitude of middle schoolers so they say to go ahead and bash each others’ brains out with round throwable objects. In any event dodge ball is definitely allowed in middle school, or at least some middle schools. It was probably banned a while ago before the advent of soft foam balls more commonly known as gatorskin, or rhinoskin balls, though something tells me no alligators or rhinoceroses were hurt in the making of these balls. Softer even than Nerf™ balls ever were, it would take a pretty thin head to actually get hurt by one of these balls, but yet they can still be thrown across the room or even used in a pinch for kickball.

If you haven’t figured it out by now I subbed for a PE teacher today. I actually wanted to get up a 6AM to see what was available, but I woke up at 5:30 instead, and this was the only job on the systems so it’s the one I took. Of course I didn’t mind at all since it was only a mile away too. 🙂 I probably mentioned earlier that middle school PE is one of the easier positions to sub for as the other teachers usually run the show with me helping out. Not always, but most of the time. Because there was another teacher out as well, and the field was still wet from yesterday’s two downpours, they mixed up thing a little and instead of doing softball and whatever one of the other teachers was supposed to do (health?) we all played dodge-ball instead. We divided them up into six teams and they played three-minute games, rotating between games to keep things fresh. Three grades, six PE periods, all dodge-ball. There was one period where a girl came up to me and asked if she could take attendance. I had to do a double-take as she clearly had some hormonal problem. There were patches of hair on her face. Growth that would take a guy weeks to grow, so it wasn’t just peach fuzz like on many eighth-grade boys. I just took a look at Wikipedia and it looks like it could be either androgen excess or a rare disorder called hypertrichosis (werewolf syndrome). I tried very hard not to stare at her, and felt guilty every time I so much as glanced in her direction. Of course I let her take attendance even though I was really just playing at it since I was told I didn’t need to take attendance and didn’t have a record book to take it in in any event. I just didn’t want the kids to feel they could blow off gym sometime and not be missed.

The end of the day was kind of interesting. This school schedules homeroom at the end of the day, so I was on my way up to the 8th grade classroom I was supposed to be in when I found out all the eighth-graders were on their way to the multipurpose room for an assembly. Okay then, I went there instead. They had a presentation from some Japanese-American people about World War II. I’m guessing it was put together by a teacher from one of the middle schools as she was there and she teaches world history. And she is Japanese-American. They had a video of shots taken in the WWII internment camps and then two elderly people who lived through it talked to them. It was interesting, especially as one of them after going through this decided to join a special Japanese-American infantry that was formed some time after Pearl Harbor. He did this even though he like the rest of the Japanese-Americans were treated so shabbily. He had a few reasons for doing this though other Japanese-Americans understandably refused to have any part of the not-so-good ‘ol US of A at this point in history. One reason was he had very good childhood growing up under the tutelage of several teachers who left good impressions on him. Alo he wanted to prove that not all Japanese-Americans were on the side of Japan. In reality, I think very few were on Japan’s side in this war making this whole internment camp thing a ridiculous waste of time in addition to being reprehensible. This man became a teacher himself, apparently well-regarded in the circle of Chicago’s school system. It would be eye-opening for me if I didn’t already think the whole thing was wrong. In fact, when 9/11 happened we didn’t do anything even close to this to Middle-Easterners in this country and it looks like we’re still here. I still don’t trust Islam, and many others don’t either, but there have been no more terrorist bombings in this country since so it was clearly the right choice to leave them be.

In case you’ve missed my previous posts about animals and Jack Hanna, let me explain that Jack Hanna is my favorite celebrity and how much I really enjoy following his adventures through zoo life.  In case you don’t know who Jack is, he is the man who gave Columbus, Ohio a zoo.  They did have one before, even though many residents weren’t even aware of it, but with Jack’s brilliance in zoo management and marketing, the Columbus Zoo has become one of the most reknowned zoos in the world today.  These days, Jack spends his time filming tv shows of his own, and also bringing animals around the country for appearances in theaters and on other tv shows, such as David Letterman, Maury Povich, and Good Morning America in order to educate people about respecting animals.  Whenever animals are involved, situations can easily become unpredictable.  Throw Jack into the mix, and these situations now become hilariously entertaining and unpredictable. Things seem to happen to Jack, and if you’d like an example of what I mean, check out the following article detailing an animal mishap Jack encountered at the airport last September:

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Animal expert Jack Hanna and an 11-month-old flamingo became trapped while trying to squeeze through an airport security turnstile. It took firefighters to finally get the flamingo out.  Animal expert Jack Hanna had a close encounter with a flamingo Sunday.  Hanna, the director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo and a frequent guest on nationally televised talk shows, was returning from a zoo fundraiser with a mongoose, a small leopard and the flamingo. Three other people were with them.  The entourage arrived at the Ohio State University Airport just after midnight Sunday to find the terminal closed. The only way to leave the tarmac was through a 10-foot-tall metal turnstile with several horizontal bars — not the easiest exit to squeeze through when you’re traveling with boxed-up animals, Hanna said.  “I never thought about the crate being square and the turnstile being round,” he said.  Hanna, 60, pushed the flamingo’s 2-foot-by-3-foot compartment into the turnstile, then continued pushing while straddling the crate.  “I was stuck like a worm. My eyes were as big as grapefruits,” he said. “I can’t describe the feeling in my stomach. I can’t move up or down. The bars are on your face.”  Hanna said he eventually squirmed free, leaving the flamingo still wedged inside and everyone else trapped on the tarmac. He then walked to a nearby fire station for help. It took three firefighters to hoist the flamingo’s crate up and out of the turnstile, he said.  Columbus fire department logs show the firefighters arrived at the airport at 12:30 a.m. for a “flamingo rescue,” spokeswoman Kelly McGuire said.  Hanna joked that the next time he flies through the airport, the biggest animal he’ll bring is a gerbil.

If you were entertained by the preceding article, I highly recommend Jack’s book Monkeys on the Interstate which details his life before and during his days at the Columbus Zoo – it’s a VERY entertaining and funny read, especially for animal lovers and zoo enthusiasts.  I really hope I can schedule some time to catch Jack at one of his appearances soon, but until then, I will keep checking for him on Letterman and will probably check out the book for a fourth time!

I was in my favorite computer store today and had a weird thing happen.  I’m a very good customer at this place, and I’ve been going to it since it opened.  I tend to buy most of my computer stuff from that store.  They treat me very well and have always given me a good deal.  I went in today to turn in a video card that I borrowed to check out a system problem I was having.  I walked in on a complaint session.  It seems that a person did not get their computer in time.  Now this is a small shop that does not keep a large inventory in stock.  They order all the parts and custom build each machine.  All this and a good price too.  A problem they do have is being help up by delivery back orders.  For a custom built machine, this could set the time you get the machine back a few days. Apparently that is exactly what happened.

I’ve had that happen once or twice myself. I never gave it another thought.  If I had needed the computer or part by a specific day, I would have been able have the shop overnight the parts.  I never thought it necessary.  I never complained about the time of delivery.  It is part of doing business in a small town locally owned shop.

Now back to our complainer. I needed to talk to the owner of the shop to check on an order I wanted to make.  I stopped in during the time my daughter had voice lessons.  Apparently the complaint session had been going on for a while.  After 20 minutes, I had to leave and pick up my daughter.  I planned on stopping back after that.  5 minutes later they were still there.  I did some other shopping, 30 minutes later they were still there.  I stopped for dinner.  45 minutes later, the shop was now empty of customers.  I went in and carried out my business.   The owner thanked me for being such a good customer.  Normally he charges 1/2 down on orders.  Today I didn’t have to put anything down.  It was his way of thanking me for being the person I normally am.   Strange that common courtesy is so uncommon these days.  We deal with people that have to have it their way, and no other way will do.  The “I want it now” mentality is everywhere.   Too bad.

If C ever wants to sub, he’d better not do it in Florida…  This sub was unceremoniously let go after doing a magic trick for the students.  His sub supervisor (I guess they do thing differently over there- no sub supervisor here) called him in and accused him, of all things, wizardry.  Seriously. Read the story at the link below:

Teacher Fired for Magic Trick, County Calls It “Wizardry”

Okay, I really want to know who someone is. Really. When I work in one of the two middle schools in this one school district, I am constantly mistakenly called Mr. Foote. It’s usually the students, but about a month ago a teacher called me by that name too. Yes, today I was mistaken for him again. No, that isn’t my name even if I do supposedly look like him, or he like me, or- oh, you know what I mean. 🙂 Will it really be like looking in a mirror when I finally corner him? You know, I will really be depressed if this guy turns out to be a retired, elderly gentleman as many of the guy subs are. Well, women too, but obviously the “gentleman” part doesn’t apply to them. 😀

Today I re-subbed for a class. That is, I had subbed for this teacher before (apparently our mystery sub did as well, sometime since my last time). It was just simple 7th grade science with a literacy class thrown in. Oh, a tutorial class with seven students. I hope this means most students are in academic courses since tutorial is more of a study hall- no learning there. For literacy they just worked on a book (S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders) and group packet, while in science- drum roll please- a video. And a comic strip project where they are making a comic strip about the states of matter. The video was about just that, the four states- solid, liquid, gas, plasma.  There was a video quiz at the end that for some reason the kids thought was hilarious because it was fill-in-the-blank, but instead of saying “blank” when they read the question (“The blank state has both definite shape and definite volume”) it played a long tone (“The bee-e-e-e-e-e-ep state has both definite shape and definite volume”).  I gather they were imagining foul language being bleeped out.

By the way, they may say “there ain’t no free lunch” but there was for me today.  The PTO supplied sandwiches and sandwich sides for us because of teacher appreciation week.  On Friday they will have a baked potato bar.  Yum.  I will be there for 6th grade.  Now I just have to worry about tomorrow.