Union Termite Invasion

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Here’s a little gem I just dug up that many of you have been requesting for years… drumroll please… I finally found a copy of my termite video from my Freshman year of college at Union University. Check out the embedded YouTube clip below. For those of you reading this post through facebook, here’s a direct link to the YouTube clip.

If you’ve never seen this and haven’t heard me talk about it, here’s the story. My roommate Seth was seeing tiny holes showing up in his wooden window frame for a few weeks. One day we returned from classes to find the note (seen at the beginning of the video) taped to the inside of our door. Apparently, the termites we’re looking for a place to swarm, and found a good spot in our dorm rooms.

Long story short, they eventually made their way into my room too. The facilities staff solution was to vacuum out the termites each time, but they eventually came back with a vengeance a few weeks after this video was shot, forcing me to move into another dorm room (in which Greg Talley joined me, because he’s an awesome friend).

I’m sure many of you, being fellow Unionites, have fond memories surrounding this story and this video, which made its rounds on the campus networks even after my class graduated. This video contains several of you, notably Seth Massa, Josh Hussung, Aldo (can’t remember his last name), David Clark and others. I post this in tribute to fond memories of Ellis 1 in the Watters Residence Complex, may it rest in peace.

(P.S. - I found a treasure trove of old college videos, so I’ll be posting those as the summer goes on. Check back often!)

8 comments

By Eric in Funny

One Year Young

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

We were able to have the privilege of being with our nephew for his 1st birthday over the weekend. It’s so incredible being able to follow someone’s life so closely - watching them open their eyes for the first time, taking their first steps…and we’ve got so many more years to go! Honestly, the most touching moment with my nephew is when I come home after being gone for a couple of months and he still recognizes my face and voice enough to smile really big and reach for me. He’s such a blessing to us - we love you Nathan!

Gift Boxes at Nathan\'s Birthday Party

Jenny made these adorable gift boxes filled
with chocolates for guests to take home.

Nathan\'s \

Nathan LOVES Boz the Bear…

Nathan loving some icing!

…and icing

We also were able to catch up with my Uncle Glen and Aunt Gayla. They’re full-time travelers and have a beautiful RV they let us tour! It was so good to get to visit with them and others we saw at church. Needless to say we had a wonderful weekend with family and friends :)

2 comments

By Lauren in Life

Mass Media Burnout

Monday, June 23, 2008

If you’re like me, you probably have quite a bit of exposure to the media throughout the day. I see live news on my phone shortly after waking up. I check all sorts of news sites and blogs throughout my work day. As I drive around, I’ve fallen in the habit of listening to talk radio over the last year or so. Even now, as I settle down for the night and reflect on my day, the evening news is just cranking up and I’m tempted to check another site or two before I hit the hay.

The truth is, I’m kind of sick of it.

I\'d probably leave the TV on if more stuff like this was on there.

Now, I know it’s an election year, and it’s pretty obvious that there’s a wide difference of opinion out there on just about every conceivable topic. Whether it’s just a sign of the times or not, I’m just sick of being told what I should feel and think about everything. It seems like the American media (although I’m sure it’s more widespread than just us) has quit reporting the facts, and has instead decided that there’s a certain way we all should feel and that’s how they’re going to manipulate us. I’m tired of putting my brain on coast when I watch and read all of this garbage.

Before I get too riled up, I need to clarify that it’s coming from more than just one political side of the fence. Although my politically conservative beliefs immediately single out the overwhelmingly leftist American mass media, the right-wing hold outs are also pulling some biased puppet strings.

I know, I know… I’m pretty much just stating the obvious. I’m just afraid our culture is losing the ability to think critically and develop our own opinions, all while trading our souls for some poorly executed celebrity endoresments. I’ve noticed lately that when I take the time to shut off the idiot box and drive around in silence for a change, the volume of the world (PANIC, DOOM, THE SKY IS FALLING!!!) has greatly dimenished and the Lord’s voice (Be still, and know that I AM GOD) has become much clearer.

I’ve recently rediscovered my love of reading. I’ve found it’s much more refreshing to read and hour before cutting the lights rather than wasting away in front of the tube. I just wrapped up a great read in Desire by John Eldridge (of Wild at Heart fame). In just over a few hundred pages, he tackles the various desires God has placed on our hearts and sets up camp on the fact that no Earthly thing can really ever fulfill those desires (nor was it ever meant to).

The thought that has stuck with me the most after leaving the last page is how much expectancy I’ve placed on this life to fulfill my desires and purpose; I’ve allowed myself to become so manipulated and shaped by the media and commercialism that I’ve bought into a whole host of lies, all while missing the true life that God has for me. Happiness isn’t safety and comfort. Happiness isn’t a well paying job, a house and a fully funded 401k. Happiness isn’t more stuff. Heck, happiness isn’t necessarily being “happy.”

Happiness is loving and relying on the God that made us all and finding opportunities to love each other. You know, the stuff I listed above isn’t bad at all; all of those things are tremendous blessings. It’s just so easy to get caught up in keeping our hearts on those things as the end goal, placing them on a pedestal as a poor substitute for eternity.

I need to spend more time soaking up some true wisdom rather than empty knowledge.

Leave a Comment

By Eric in Faith, Life

Office Warfare

Thursday, June 19, 2008

I don’t know if any of you have had the pleasure of living in a workspace where this is a common occurrence, but if you have, you’ll definitely appreciate this little gem I discovered on YouTube. I post this in tribute to my short days spent in “The Cave” at cabedge.

3 comments

By Eric in Funny, Geek Stuff

A Handful of Reviews

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

I’m going to have to start posting more often; whenever I get a chance to post, it seems that I always have too much on my mind to write about. I’ll start the first in a series of posts with some reviews for entertainment I’ve taken in recently.

Movie Review: The Happening - 37/100

M. Night Shayamalan… wow, what happened my friend? For those of you that are aware of my love for cinema are likely also aware of my fascination with Shayamalan’s films; I adore almost all of them and even like the ones that weren’t necessarily my cup of tea. [SPOILERS AHEAD - Don't read if you don't want much of the movie ruined for you.]

Therefore, it pains me to write my feelings about his latest original story “The Happening.” It’s a train-wreck of a film, which is made even more frustrating because you can see the possibilities for a really great disturbing movie lurking just below the poorly crafted surface. I’m going to try to avoid going into much detail here in case you still want to subject yourselves to a broken movie experience, but there are a few things that will clarify my feelings on this disaster.

I think he just couldn’t find his tone for the movie. It begins with a truly disturbing sequence in New York that’s pretty serious in tone and mystifying at the same time. Inexplicably, some truly bizarre storytelling decisions are introduced from this point onward. We move immediately from scenes depicting grizzly mass suicides to scenes with a poorly-acted goofy gardener and a young man in uniform that seems straight out of a B-movie from the 50s. Our main characters are pretty cheerful despite the fact that they may, at any moment, choose to light themselves on fire or bludgeon themselves unwittingly with a hammer.

It feels as thought Shyamalan got half-way through filming the movie, only to realize that he had some terrible actors in many of his scenes. With that in mind, it feels like he tried to take the concept (the cause of the suicides is already pretty goofy in and of itself) and edit everything together as more of a campy horror film at the last minute, instead of an intense suspense film like he originally intended. Sprinkle in a few other badly put together scenes (the man feeding himself to the lions at the zoo comes to mind… people laughed at this in our theater, not a good sign), and you have the recipe for the most disappointing movie of the year.

Album Review: Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends - 88/100

I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting much from Coldplay this time around. Apparently in contrast with the feelings of many around me, I thought X&Y was a pretty mediocre album that sounded like a band that was bored with itself.

A few months back, word began to circulate that their new album was a departure from their previous stuff, and would be quite a pleasant surprise; I couldn’t agree more. Launching alongside two killer singles, Viva la Vida is definitely my favorite Coldplay album to date, and probably one of the year’s best in general. It’s upbeat, unusual in parts and actually pretty mainstream… but don’t let your inner music snob write it off. I’d say it joins The White Stripes “Icky Thump“ and Radiohead’s “In Rainbows“ as a prime example of artists at the top of their game. Don’t miss it.

One final cool link to recommend… Check out this story about a family in New York and the Indiana Jones-type hidden mystery that an architect secretely built for them when remodeling their appartment - it’s fascinating.

1 comment 

By Eric in Interesting, Reviews

Post-WWDC Update

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

I just have to take a second here and brag at the overwhelming accuracy of my WWDC predictions. For the record, I hit the nail right on the head for everything except the front-facing camera on the iPhone and the tiered pricing on MobileMe (they’re offering a free 60-day trial, so it will be kind of free I guess).

I’ve already been asked several times if I’m going to pick up the new iPhone 3G. It’s a killer phone, especially for a ridiculous $199 (cheaper than an iPod Touch!), and I really would love to have the 3G and GPS. However, I think I’m just going to hold out another year in hopes that they’ll add a front mounted camera and video chat to the next revision. A small part of me also hopes that the end of Apple’s intense partnership with AT&T will result in a CDMA model of the phone that could work with Verizon; there’s no way I’d stay on AT&T if I didn’t have to for my phone.

The announcement yesterday that has been reaching for my wallet is MobileMe. Lauren and I own several Macs and work on several more at work. I like the idea of having full “PUSH” syncing of all of our calendars, address books and email, no matter which computer you’re on. We’re already doing this a little bit with iCal and Google Calendar through Spanning Sync, but it’s pretty buggy and only works about 70% of the time. Words cannot begin to express how nice it would be to also be able to send large files to family members without having to explain what an FTP is and how to access it.

On a completely unrelated note, last night our smoke detectors went off at 1:00 and scared the living daylights out of us. The weird thing is that it just did the “test” chirp pattern a few times, and then quit. I went downstairs to check to make sure that there wasn’t a fire, or someone that had broken into the house to mess with us or anything, and everything was pretty normal. Does anyone have any idea what could’ve caused that? I’m pretty sure the power didn’t go out or anything, and I’m not sure if it’s the wiring because it’s a brand new house. Craziness.

In closing, because a few folks keep asking, here’s a quick score for the new Indiana Jones - 61/100. The movie was fun, but pretty forgettable, especially with the story that seemed lifted out of the X-Files… I mean what on Earth? I think it jumped the shark whenever one of the main characters swung from vines with a bunch of monkeys in the jungle. ::Sigh::

The patio is finished and we get furniture for it delivered this week, so check back soon for photos of that.

1 comment 

By Eric in Geek Stuff, Life

« Previous Entries