New Years Eve!

Woot! I love New Years. It's such a great time to celebrate... the new year! The thing I love most about this year is the fact I get to spend it with my wife and child. Definitely didn't think that was going to happen this time last year. But what great surprises life has for you!

Here's a little treat from thinkgeek.com, it's a shirt with a built in speaker so you can have a soundtrack to your monotonous everyday life.

Christmas Day

We had a wonderful day today! We opened presents, then pretty much just watched movies all day. I was able to watch some of District 9s special features. I wrote more concerning it on my now 'techy' blog.

Today was the practi-caly perfect Christmas. The only thing missing? Proper food to fit the day, as well as hordes more candy. I guess we need to invent some new Christmas Day traditions, that way we wont be so... couchy next year.

Yes, I just invented the word couchy. It does not mean being simply lazy, or couch potatoes, but more of an attitude of DOING things on your couch. To me a couch potatoes mindlessly zones out and you can't be called lazy just for staying inside on Chirstmas Day. So we were couchy.

Ileyana is sleeping uberly cute like... wait, not any more, I hear the precursors to the 'pay attention to me' cry. Emily is... indisposed. I, of course, am blogging.

A Family Fun Filled Christmas Festival of Fantastic Flagrance

This Christmas will probably be one of my favorites. We're driving back from Emmy's familys up here in Manen, Idaho on the 24th so that we can spend Christmas and its Eve together as a family. It's kind of a big deal to me, since I honestly haven't felt like I've been able to have the Christmas I really, really want until I had a family of my own. So here I am, with my own little family!

Don't get me wrong, last Christmas was phenomenal! I spent the entire break in my apartment watching movies and playing video games. I sort of figured I needed a Christmas like that since I wouldn't have that sort of opportunity again, a last hoorah if you will. But I suspect this year will be a billion times better. We're going to start our family traditions, which are:

• Christmas Eve stocking opening, with plenty of Egg Nog of course.
• Christmas Eve massage for Emily (this was part of the already famous leaving-earlier-on-Christmas-Eve-Day negotiation).
• Wake up at 6AM Christmas day to open presents and begin festivities.
• Candy Poker (a favorite from my childhood).
• More Egg Nog

Yeah, we have a short list thus far, but I'm sure we'll think of others we want to do. Of course I will have my father/husband traditions that Emily will be kept in the dark about, but that's just so the surprises will be that much better.

I hope everyone's having a good holiday season and enjoying their break! What are YOUR Christmas traditions?

Ranting Regarding the R Rating

I originally wrote this as an after thought to my review of Moon. Which carried the rating for language reasons. After sleeping on it, I still believe what I said.

"If you’re bothered by the ‘R’ rating, then please try to avoid living outside of Utah, cause you’ll summarily be exposed to worse language than was in this movie, which gave it it’s ‘R’ rating. And face it, the only reason you avoid ‘R’ rated movies is because you can choose not to subject yourself to such things right? Well, you can choose to not be subjected to real live people who have ‘R’ rated language and lifestyles by surrounding yourself by non-’R’ rated people for your entire life, right?

Don’t get me wrong, I understand not wanting to see ‘R’ rated movies. But a blindness and otherwise “evil” disposition to anything carrying that rating will keep you from seeing some of the most amazing expressions of humanity through film. I can think of movies such as The Fall, Slumdog Millionaire, Braveheart or Gladiator right off the bat. All movies that are more pieces of art than entertainment. Whatever your personal choice might be, if you can’t conceive a such rated film has merit, than you might as well call Michelangelo’s David or Bottecilli’s Birth of Venus pornography (or countless other works of art)."

BOLLYWOOD!

It seems every Christmas I get in a Bollywood mood. And by "every" Christmas I mean last year and this year. Especially now that I discovered that Netflix streaming offers a decently large variety of Hindi movies.

We just watched 'Wake Up Sid' staring Ranbir Kapoor of 'Saawariya' fame. The thing I love about pretty much every movie to come out of Hollywoods distant cousin? NO KISSING! I'm not sure this is an official rule or what, but at the end of this movie, if it was made in the States, would have had a killer, absolutely phenomenal kissing scene in the rain next to the Mumbai sea. I mean, after 2 hours of musical montages (which somehow Indians do better than Americans at) where these people should be falling in love, but don't, the buildup for them to kiss is so huge. But alas, tis not the way of our Hindu friends and I think it is incredible!

I may not have seen that many Bollywood movies, but I enjoy the distance they place between themselves and sexuality. I also think this is because most of the heroines they put up on screen, seem to exude seduction with a simple glance. Don't get me started on watching these women dance during their larger than life routines, I have yet to see any white girl move like those Indian women.

Well, we're driving to Idaho tomorrow and even though I want to watch another, I need to sleep so I can drive. Merry Christmas! Woops, I mean, happy holidays! Crap, wait, what is it now, have a nice winter?

Actually Writing for Somebody

Ok, so I write for Rhombus Online Magazines Tech page, as well as in the Opinions section of the UVU Review. What I've found is that writing even on a weekly basis can be quite difficult. Especially when given practically free reign in each category. What makes it worse is trying to think of something that other people at my school and those that follow Rhombus will care about. I always thought it was an easy task, but as I now rack my brains for my next Rhombus article, I can't really think of anything.

What technologically captivates my peers? What will motivate both of us? It's a vicious decision making process full of trolling the internet for anything that might dazzle as well as be important to your lives. I feel as though I am fairly adept and knowledgable when it comes to all things tech oriented. I've been reading PopSci since I was a kid and whenever a new technology comes out, I jump on the bandwagon (YAY BLU-RAY!). It's also impossible for anyone on earth to convince me that technological advancements in any form are anything but good.

The application on the other hand can definitely lead to other things though, but what has ever been invented that has not been taken for granted. I digress.

I love writing, I love writing things people might read, I love writing and KNOWING people read what I write. It makes me feel important, that my opinions matter and let's face it, when I win a Nobel Prize in physics, you'll be glad you were one of the few that followed me in my younger days. HAR HAR.

All kidding aside, I'm pretty sure that's one of my main motivations whenever I write. Putting out your opinion or reporting on something that you find interesting is, well, fun! What better way is their to share your experiences and such with those that have no hope of feeling the same thing you do?

That's all for now.

FINE! I'll use Blogspot!

Ok, for a while I had a blog over at Wordpress. And I will leave it there, because I'm sentimental, but it seems EVERYONE is on Blogspot, and people on Blogspot can't 'follow' my Wordpress blog, which sucks. And face it, the reason I blog and I'm guessing you blog, is cause we want people to read what we have to say. We get some sort of validation out of others' care for our thoughts. It's basically a passive way to feel loved and appreciated, as long as people read and comment on our blogs. If they don't, it's just another way to feel rejected. Whatever though.

So here I am on Blogspot now, with a personal blog. I have a 'politcal' blog, but I hardly ever post on it. I love the set up of my Wordpress blog, it's so sleek, and cool. It also keeps real good track of visitors, which Blogspot probably does, I just don't know how. Well, look for some of me here.