And It Goes On!

Sometimes (I think you’ll find) that things in your life seem to be balancing. They aren’t really great, but they aren’t really bad either. I am really starting to get that feeling right now. There are some good things, some not so good things. Right now things are starting to feel better.

One interesting thing that happened was my Dad getting into the Bay City Times AND The Saginaw News.

What he nor I were expecting is that it would be front page news. He had been unemployed for well over a year, and sent out well over 400 applications and never received so much as a call back let alone an interview. He’s actually going back to school to learn a new craft (which I commend him for, but it makes me sad that he should even have to). Everyone (including the writer and the photographer of the story) was hoping that this would result in work for him. Fortunately he found a part time time job at MBS Airport. He can still collect unemployment and go back to school, and knowing the hard worker my Dad is he will be back on his feet in no time and kiss that unemployment goodbye!

In other good news, Spring Training has begun in Florida and Arizona! Of course this means I get to watch my beloved Tigers take the field again, it also means Opening Day isn’t far away!

Seeing Johnny Damon in an Old English D is going to take some getting use to, but I think I’ll make it. I watched their first televised game on the MLB Network. It was a 9-5 win for the D and it was very cool to see Maggs ripping the ball again. I was also really impressed by the youngster Austin Jackson. It should be a really interesting year!

That being said, I am also eagerly awaiting the arrival of MLB 10: The Show. I didn’t think they could improve upon what was already the best baseball game I’ve ever played but it looks like they’ve done it! Hell they even have Verlander’s proper wind-up this year~!

I also recently watch Up in the Air with George Clooney. I learned something from this movie. I need to stop judging a book by its cover.

Upon seeing trailers for this movie I was totally uninterested at first. I read a lot of great reviews, saw that Clooney was up for an Oscar, but still it didn’t make much difference to me weather I saw it or not. Out of sheer boredom I decided to give it a watch, and boy was I surprised. This movie deserves any and all hype it got and Clooney deserved the acting nod that he was given. Go out and see it! It’s rare to see such a great dramatic film that manages to mix in comedy but keep it serious.

And September Smiles On Me

Things are looking up….kinda…sorta… We still aren’t doing the best financially but that is not to say the situation isn’t improving at all. We’ve started saving for Christmas, which we at first thought might end up being a sparse one but I think we are gonna be okay in that department.

I spent the majority of last weekend working on my Early American History and Economic Theory finals. Needless to say I passed both finals and I passed both classes and I am now moving on to International Business and Religions of the World. Two electives in a row is mighty nice I have to say…..anything to distract me from my core classes 🙂

The Tigers continue to hold on to the first place spot they’ve held since May! Being that it is now September the race for the AL Central is officially on! And it is nice to once again the Tigers contending for a playoff spot following the debacle from last year.

I recently saw Inglorious Basterds and while I enjoyed it I just wasn’t all that blown away by it. LOTS of dialogue heavy scenes that dragged on for what seems like ever and most of it is in French, or German.  The most interesting characters had the least amount of screen time. The fellow playing Landa should receive an Oscar nod however.

I also saw District 9, a movie that I was blown away by. It is  featuring a talent pool from South America and a strange documentary/actual film kind of style that really sucked me in.

WETA and Peter Jackson once again delivered stunning and subtle special effects. They blend in so well that you just buy it. The story isn’t all that uncommon but it is told from a different perspective and it was just done so good. For me it does what a good movie should and that is that it should suck you into the narritive to the point where you are almost living in the story for a while. Great movie!

It’s About Time

Well enough time has passed and I think that there might very well be enough of information compiled to make another meaningful blog post. Well….you know what I mean.

For the second time in a nearly two year span I am out of my walking boot and back into my own two shoes. The good news is that my foot is feeling a lot better compared to a year ago in the same situation. The bad news is that I am now tasked with losing all of the weight that I have gained during this process.

Granted I had become overweight since the foot pain started and gradually got worse and I became less active, this is true. But the last few years before the surgery I was REALLY inactive and REALLY out-of-shape. Post surgery number one I had actually lost quite a bit of weight (maybe 6-9lbs) due to not being all that hungry and due to the fact that I had to do everything using my arms and one leg. But after the I got back into my shoes I started having the problems that led me to the second surgery. Well needless to say the weight came back on and then some. Now that things are looking up again I can try to lose this burden that has been imposed on me, partly by fate and partly of my own doing.

I had also stopped my pursuit of my college degree(s) for some time. I am happy to say that I have since started back and I am coming close to earning my first degree in Business!

In the world of Baseball the Tigers are still in 1st place! They have been there since May and they have a 3 1/2 game lead over the White Sox. Curtis Granderson (my personal favorite), Justin Verlander, Edwin Jackson, and Brandon Inge all made the All-Star team. Inge went 0-10 in the Homerun Derby which really wasn’t all that big of a surprise. Yeah he has 21 Homers going in to the break but I imagine he has an easier time launching a fastball out of the park then a batting practice pitch, Inge doesn’t have THAT kind of power, his comes from the speed of the ball as well. Well Granderson was clutch in the the AL’s 13th straight win as he got a triple and ended up scoring the winning run!

The Tigers start the second half of the season tonight in the Bronx as they take of the Yankees. My eyes will be glued to the TV~!

The Blog Debate

So I log in here and I realize I haven’t had anything decent to say since before the Stanley Cup. Well that didn’t go so well. The Red Wings lost in seven games.

Fathers Days is tomorrow and I got some pretty cool things. My Mom and Dad scored me the Star Trek collectors cups from BK, very cool! Jenny got me a really sweet Tigers shirt, and new pair of jeans, and a pretty swanky watch. You know I like because I would normally never a word like “swanky”.

Anyway things have been slow, and boring, I found Twitter a more useful tool for my day by day ramblings. I have been debating about shutting down updates here all together in favor of Tweets. That would see this blog go the way of my old Live Journal. I remain undecided, perhaps things will clear up sooner than later in the “nothing going on” department. We shall see.

Walking The Walk

Well I got the nod from my Doctor to start walking with the walker once again. This is taking place earlier then it did last time and I am hoping that is a good sign. So far everything is feeling okay and I will endeavor to keep my head up.

Other wise there is not a lot of noteworthy events taking place. Lately I’ve been playing a lot of video games, watching movies and so on….. There hasn’t been much to do other than that I’m sorry to say. I managed to watch the entire Star Trek library. It took several months but I have watched everything in chronological order.  So that is from the Enterprise pilot “Broken Bow” to the last Next Generation “Nemesis”.

Now I am going through all nine season of Seinfeld. I am currently on Season 5.

Sports wise the Tigers are doing okay. They are still holding on to 1st place. Barring some craziness later in the season it appears that they are in a good position to make the playoffs this year! Speaking of the playoffs, the Red Wings have been incredible once again this year. The Stanley Cup Finals start tonight and just like last year it’s the Wing and the Pens!

Where No Blog Has Blogged Before

Yes I have realized that it has been nearly a month since my last post. I guess there has really been that little going on in my life. Still recovering from foot surgery number two. I head back for another check up on the 26th.

I did have the great pleasure of seeing the new Star Trek movie and that has really been a highlight for me.

In a word the movie was “awesome”! I grew up with my parents who told me stories about how they watched TOS everyday when they came home from school. So I very much grew up on Trek. The first Trek I ever saw was The Search For Spock and The Voyage Home. Of course I grew up on The Next Generation and I was a bit of a closet Trek junkie. Since those years I have come out of the closet. Matter of fact I am nearning the completion of a Star Trek odyssey that began late last year. I have watched every single episode of every series and movie in chronological order! I just have Season 7 of Voyager and the Nemesis movie left to go. So it is a safe bet to say that I am a die hard Trek fan.

I was excited to hear that a new movie was being made I was less excited to hear it was going to be Kirk and Spock in college. But I gave it shot albeit a small one. That’s how it started. I was trepidacious at first but I grew more and more excited the more I read, heard, and saw from the movie. By the time 2009 rolled around I was really looking forward to it.

It is obvious the new creative team wanted to appeal to their inner nerd but also wanted to reach out to the mainstream audience. The last 40 years of Star Trek have been incredible for me but that formula is dead, and it has been proven in the box office and in the TV ratings. New things HAD to be done in order to bring Trek back. Yes, there will be people who think they should have left Trek where it was even if it meant no more new content.

I found it hard to believe that the reports I heard were true. This new Trek was different but REALLY familiar. After watching it I found out what that meant. This is most definitely Star Trek but it’s also been done in a whole new way that DOES NOT destroy what came before it. I will touch on that in a second. I certainly think the new cast really pulled it off. Perfectly cast, and everyone did a great job of walking in the foot prints of those who came before them. Nobody can ever replace Shatner, Nimoy, and DeForest but Pine, Quinto, and Urban did a great job of honoring them without imitating them. Urban literally channeled DK at times and sans the accent he was a perfect choice.

As far as following cannon….. It most certainly does. Also it doesn’t which is the beauty of this reboot. The villain and original Spock come from the future 8 years following the events of the last TNG movie, they go back in time and the past is altered. After that the writers are free to change what they want.

Let me just say that the original time line of Star Trek IS NOT ERASED! Think Back to the Future.

Marty and Doc Brown existed in their time line much like Nero and Spock (Prime). When Doc and Marty went back in time Marty did something that changed the future. It created an alternate time line. Essentially life is full of choices and one theory states that for every possible choice there is an alternate reality where that choice is made instead of the one you chose. If you’ll notice on the chalk board the original time line doesn’t vanish Marty and Doc simply are no longer in it, they are trapped in the alternate time line created by Marty’s actions. Luckily they had a time machine. They went back in time before the mistake was made, they fixed it and Marty and Doc were restored to their normal time line as a result (having never altered the past).

The same has happened here. Nero and Spock (Prime) have changed the past and created an alternate time line. The original remains intact, except nobody goes back in time to stop the original incursion and therefore we stay in the new time line. Much like how Marty and Doc were the only ones to notice the difference so are Nero and Spock (Prime).

Yes there are a few things to nitpick over but most of it can be brushed aside with some logical fannon (aka filling in the blanks yourself). At the end of the day Trek has been reborn, and it is back and it could be better than ever. This new movie is an origin story and it has the pitfalls of one. You have to spend the whole movie telling the stories of the characters, but it sets up some good story telling for the sequels.

In other news I am burned out on Epic and wrestling in general these days. It might just be that I am in a crummy mood in general as a result of the surgery and being forced to esstianlly live in my living room for the last year and a half. The Tigers are in first place and kicking some ass this year. Rookie pitcher Rick Porcello, Justin Verlander, and Edwin Jackson are really throwing the ball well. Brandon Inge is having an incredible season thus far. Plus the Red Wings are heading towards the Western Conference Finals tonight vs. The Blackhawks! A good time for Michigan sports so long as you ignore the Lions and Pistons.