Good blog posts should be a lot of things. They should be pithy and insightful, engaging and delightful, interesting and thought-provoking, whimsical, and spiteful. In all, though, they should be revealing.
I could read a thousand blogs before I came across one that did anything to tell me Why. Any blog can tell you What. Why is a much more elusive subject. I'm treating this post as an exercise in writing about Why and What. First, I'd like to write about Why.
Jen Rose is the best reason I have in this world for doing the best I can at everything. She inspires me to try just a little harder, because there is no greater reward to me than her smiling confidence that I am wonderful. Heaven forbid she finds out the truth. :) Still, as unfocused as I am with my life and what I'd like to do with it, she provides me with constant support and affection. These things might not steer the ship, but they sure as hell keep wind in the sails.
When I met her in college, I really didn't know what to make of her. She was tomboy-ish, but no less feminine for it. She was brilliant, but approachable. She cared. She graduated ahead of me, yet she didn't do what so many of us do when we change our titles from "Student" to "Alumnus" -- she stayed in touch. She would write in her journal, send emails, and visit often, despite living hundreds of miles away. I once considered her as a long shot to ever date me at all.
Especially after she dated my roommate, and especially after she moved away.
Ah, but time spins on, and I met her again for the first time last spring in Houghton, Michigan, of all places. She went up there to see me. She traveled all that way to take extremely cold showers, help with a Brothers Retreat, and spend time with me. That last part astounds me. She has no definition for "too far" when it comes to being with the people for whom she cares. She has worked so hard to keep our long-distance relationship running. Harder than me, that's for sure. I can't keep up with her. Despite getting no sleep, commuting in obscene traffic, dealing with four cats and two dogs, and working for the grand-daddy of all bureaucracies in the Federal Government, she still found the energy to date a lonely, self-pitying Roanoker afraid to leave home.
Why she is all these amazing things and Why she would choose me are both mysteries to me. Why a good-looking gal would get caught up in a relationship with me is beyond me.
But ultimately, that's Why I asked her to marry me.
And that's What I'm writing about.
You'll have to ask her Why she said yes.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Invasion
One of the aspects of my job about which I haven't written much is that I'm the volunteer coordinator, on top of everything else I do. When I was out of town a couple of weeks ago, the museum apparently entered into a contract with the Roanoke City Court-Community Corrections department. Resultantly, we've had a daily influx of people looking to fulfill community service requirements at the museum.
Initially, this doesn't sound so bad. We're guaranteed that these folks have not been convicted of violent crimes, or crimes of theft or vandalism. Mainly, this is the traffic violation crowd. Moreover, we're guaranteed that they'll show up for work. So, there are some benefits.
The biggest downside, however, is that I was caught totally off-guard. When three of them showed up my first day back to work after vacation, I had absolutely nothing for them to do. I actively pursue volunteers for the museum. I utilize volunteer websites, I call schools, church groups, and community clubs. I send out fliers to various public venues, and I arrange for small groups to do projects that I have pre-prepared. This system works great for me, and has yielded good results for the museum. The mother of all monkey wrenches got thrown into my system by this immigration of speeders and parking ticket collectors. Had I known they were coming, I could have had some things for them to do, but, we've had two per day on average, and right now I just don't have enough.
To ice this particular cake, the Executive Director has been out of town since I got back, so he's been zero help at trying to tell the court that we're swamped. I would do it, but I don't even know who the contact is, and my phone calls have all met voice mails that have obviously not been heard, or cared about. The ED is back tomorrow, and we're scheduled for a meeting on this, thankfully.
Meanwhile, with school out for the summer, the parents of some of our Junior Volunteers have assumed us to be a babysitting service. They drop their kids off when we open, and pick them up on their way home from work. Never mind if I don't have enough for five 13-year olds to do. There they are. I've got to make some phone calls on this. I never thought I'd say it, but we've got more hands than we know what to do with right now.
Objectively, there are worse problems to have.
Initially, this doesn't sound so bad. We're guaranteed that these folks have not been convicted of violent crimes, or crimes of theft or vandalism. Mainly, this is the traffic violation crowd. Moreover, we're guaranteed that they'll show up for work. So, there are some benefits.
The biggest downside, however, is that I was caught totally off-guard. When three of them showed up my first day back to work after vacation, I had absolutely nothing for them to do. I actively pursue volunteers for the museum. I utilize volunteer websites, I call schools, church groups, and community clubs. I send out fliers to various public venues, and I arrange for small groups to do projects that I have pre-prepared. This system works great for me, and has yielded good results for the museum. The mother of all monkey wrenches got thrown into my system by this immigration of speeders and parking ticket collectors. Had I known they were coming, I could have had some things for them to do, but, we've had two per day on average, and right now I just don't have enough.
To ice this particular cake, the Executive Director has been out of town since I got back, so he's been zero help at trying to tell the court that we're swamped. I would do it, but I don't even know who the contact is, and my phone calls have all met voice mails that have obviously not been heard, or cared about. The ED is back tomorrow, and we're scheduled for a meeting on this, thankfully.
Meanwhile, with school out for the summer, the parents of some of our Junior Volunteers have assumed us to be a babysitting service. They drop their kids off when we open, and pick them up on their way home from work. Never mind if I don't have enough for five 13-year olds to do. There they are. I've got to make some phone calls on this. I never thought I'd say it, but we've got more hands than we know what to do with right now.
Objectively, there are worse problems to have.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
What am I paying for?
I went to see a movie today, as I've done nearly every Independence Day as long as I can remember. Seeing it only reminded me of something I've meant to write about for quite some time.
I recall that, as a kid, I would see three, maybe four movie previews before the actual film started. I'm fine with that, and I kind of enjoy seeing what's coming. Moreover, I know that this helps keep ticket prices down as trailers are essentially paid advertisements by movie companies. Now, though, in addition to my three or four trailers, I've got ten minutes of advertisements. I ask why.
In the past few years, the prevalence of these ads has grown along with ticket prices. I can only assume the ads do the same thing as the trailers -- make money for the movie producers and distributors to keep prices down to me. So why do my ticket prices still go up as the number of ads goes up?
I suppose we can point to rising production costs. CGI, as widespread as it is, ain't cheap. Movies rather routinely post $100 million budgets and more. Once you factor in movies with things that fly or explode, you can just start multiplying those numbers. I get that movies are expensive to make.
But I'm growing very annoyed. Today I saw ads for Cadillac, Coca-Cola, and the ABC Family television network. This was before five movie previews followed by -- this still has me baffled -- a two-minute video extolling the virtues of the digital projection technology used in this particular theater. If that weren't enough, I get the obligatory theater ad, though "ad" is a generous term for what seems like little more than a video montage about how cool the cinema is.
Total running time for ads, trailers, digital projection thing, and cinema ad: 19 minutes. My movie was supposed to start at 4:00. At 4:19, it started rolling.
So, really, with my personal ticket payment, and with my concession donation ($10 for a drink and popcorn can only be considered a tax write-off, really), what exactly isn't being recouped by the movie producers and distributors? What aren't they getting from a national average of nearly $20 per person that they need twenty minutes of advertising to off-set?
What am I paying for?
I recall that, as a kid, I would see three, maybe four movie previews before the actual film started. I'm fine with that, and I kind of enjoy seeing what's coming. Moreover, I know that this helps keep ticket prices down as trailers are essentially paid advertisements by movie companies. Now, though, in addition to my three or four trailers, I've got ten minutes of advertisements. I ask why.
In the past few years, the prevalence of these ads has grown along with ticket prices. I can only assume the ads do the same thing as the trailers -- make money for the movie producers and distributors to keep prices down to me. So why do my ticket prices still go up as the number of ads goes up?
I suppose we can point to rising production costs. CGI, as widespread as it is, ain't cheap. Movies rather routinely post $100 million budgets and more. Once you factor in movies with things that fly or explode, you can just start multiplying those numbers. I get that movies are expensive to make.
But I'm growing very annoyed. Today I saw ads for Cadillac, Coca-Cola, and the ABC Family television network. This was before five movie previews followed by -- this still has me baffled -- a two-minute video extolling the virtues of the digital projection technology used in this particular theater. If that weren't enough, I get the obligatory theater ad, though "ad" is a generous term for what seems like little more than a video montage about how cool the cinema is.
Total running time for ads, trailers, digital projection thing, and cinema ad: 19 minutes. My movie was supposed to start at 4:00. At 4:19, it started rolling.
So, really, with my personal ticket payment, and with my concession donation ($10 for a drink and popcorn can only be considered a tax write-off, really), what exactly isn't being recouped by the movie producers and distributors? What aren't they getting from a national average of nearly $20 per person that they need twenty minutes of advertising to off-set?
What am I paying for?
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