LEGOs on eBay

Years ago I bought a large Star Wars LEGO set on clearance - at half price, it was $45. I never even opened it, and I checked eBay to see what they were selling for. Lisa and her sister had been selling a bunch of stamping sets recently, so we added my set to their stuff. As of today (Wednesday around noon), the current bid is $177.50, and there's still more than 4 days to go! If you want, you can see the auction here. Too bad I didn't buy more of them. I wonder what I could get for some of my other stuff...

Music on the Desert Island

The other day I was looking through my ancient webpage and decided that my music page needed to be redone. I was also hungering for some new music. I satisfied the latter urge my checking out the nearby library and getting some CDs. For the former, I went ahead and redid my top ten albums list while watching the NFL playoff games after the kids were in bed. If you're interested, you can go check out my music page, but otherwise here's Mike's Desert Island Albums, in alphabetical order:

• The White Album - The Beatles
• Kerosene Hat - Cracker
• Welcome Interstate Managers - Fountains of Wayne
• Fumbling Toward Ecstasy - Sarah McLachlan
• Bang Masters - Van Morrison
• Monster - R.E.M.
• Illinoise - Sufjan Stevens
• Girlfriend - Matthew Sweet
• Rattle and Hum - U2
• The Blue Album - Weezer

I kind of like the fact that the list is bookended by albums that don't have a name and are simply known by their colors. Also, some of the albums on the list are high-quality musical masterpieces (especially Sufjan), while a few of them (like Cracker) are almost guilty pleasures, but simply full of rock 'n roll that I always enjoy. There were lots of honorable mentions, too, and they're all listed on the webpage.

Every Kiss Begins With [barrrffff]

Christmas brings out many types of commercials, but the jewelry commercials are by far the most nauseating to me. What bothers me the most is that they all feature some cutesy way for the man to present his woman with the gift:

• Immediately following the breaking of the wishbone, as he "grants her wish"
• Holding up the bag from the store to stop a snowball fight
• Hanging it on a tree at the tree-selling lot
  
• Putting it around her neck while she sleeps
• As part of a yucky version of "Twas the Night Before Christmas"

I'm sure I'm missing some...

Every commercial seems to indicate that he has fulfilled her ultimate wish, which makes her look shallow and superficial, like a raccoon that's in love with sparkly objects. I bet he's just trying to placate her with money instead of time or affection so he can go play golf each weekend. I mean, really, ladies, if your significant other spent $1000 on jewelry for Christmas, would you like it or think he's a doofus for spending that much money on a bunch of rocks?

...it can only be JAR-ed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's In The Game!

Annika occasionally asks me to play computer games with her, mostly because she wants to play things like Zoo Tycoon, or some of my EA Sports games. A few weeks ago we played some Madden '04 together. I have it set on "Rookie" level, so I usually win big, and I let her play defense most of the time. She's played enough now to actually run the offense, specifically seeking out the running plays, which are given a different color when selecting them. She hasn't quite put together an entire touchdown drive but she's moved the ball.

Another game we play is Tiger Woods '04. She enjoys playing, but I think the most fun part for her is customizing her player. The hair, clothing, shoe, accessory, and tattoo options are so extensive that number of possible outfits is basically unlimited. Usually she hits the links with a braided blonde ponytail and an array of pink clothing. Today she switched from short sleeves and a skirt to a jacket and pants, since it's winter. Then, while playing, she actually holed out a chip from the rough. I missed it at first but confirmed it on replay.

"Dad, it went in the hole!"

The Seymour Militia

I brought Abby to dance class armed with my camera the other day. I quietly entered unlocked rooms and saw many familiar places. My camera died before I could really capture everything I saw, but I still brought home some good old janitorial memories. This will only be meaningful to a handful of people, but here goes...

Miss Holkeboer's old classroom, decked out for dance. I hid a message in drop ceiling there once that commented on Chris Buchholz working while sucking on a lollipop. It might still be there.

Down the "first grade wing" - the old paint job, above the more recent drop ceiling, with appropriate peeling paint, water leakage, and damaged plaster.


The south building boiler room deep sink. I fumbled around in the dark for the light switch hiding under the shelf. I didn't find it until later, but I KNEW it was there. It's still absurdly warm in there too.


Geoff's south building "office," completely empty. This is where we used sledgehammers on the grinder in the dark. I wasn't brave enough to enter "the hole" through the wooden door at the back, as I was fearful of alerting the people working for the church in their office right near the main door to this building. I did see the lower level of the hole, but the pictures were crummy.


The boiler room control panel down the stairs. Loud, damp, and warm down there.


On the wall: the boiler room bunny, which I wouldn't have actively remembered. It felt familiar when I saw it, though.


Finally, the electrical chair storage room, with an expansive coat of white paint, hiding all the ancient messages left by former janitors and those that came long before we did. However...


Peeking out from beneath one of the shelves: STAN IS GOOD!

There are plenty more dance classes to come, so I'll try for more. Remember,

"If I'm Ann-Speyered, I'll work asbestos I can."

Bailando con las Estrellas

The past few years Lisa and I have only made a point of watching two shows - The Office and Scrubs. We've added another to the list now: Dancing with the Stars. We actually find it entertaining and interesting. I think adding celebrities to the mix makes it initially more interesting, but then the hosts and the judges make it way, way better than any other competition. The judges (two of whom have English accents, which always helps) are witty and intelligent, making the morons from American Idol look mean and stupid.

We first got into it a little bit during the last season, and we've been on it from day one for this season. In addition, the girls really like it too, and it starts at 8pm so they can watch a little bit of it some weeks. Each week the couple eliminated (a celebrity and a pro) is determined by the judges' scores and popular voting, so it's not just a popularity contest. That said, we were witness to injustice last night, when one of the better contestants (Sabrina, a Cheetah girl (?)) was eliminated, while the likes of Jane Seymour and Marie Osmond, who are clearly a step below everyone else, didn't even make the "bottom two." Unfortunately, this means that we'll have to endure at least two more weeks of one of 'em. I'm sure they have an army of fans keeping them afloat (well, they must, since they get the lowest scores). Oh, the drama!

College Allegiances

In response to the comments on my last post:

Notre Dame is my school. Even though this is going to be a pathetic year, I can't abandon them. From my perspective, there's no way they're going to beat Michigan State this weekend, but from the MSU point of view, I'd be worried that everything will fall apart this weekend, when they should win, but won't, simply because things are rarely this good for the Spartans (3-0 so far, while U of M is 1-2).

Even though I work at Ferris, I don't identify with their athletic teams or with their student experience enough to care much about their football team.

I have no experience with the University of Kentucky, although since Dan and Rebecca became Wildcats, I notice them now when looking through scores. It was cool for them to take down Louisville last weekend.

And then there's Ohio State - I've been to three OSU football games, courtesy of brother Nick (Ph.D., class of 2007) and two of them were the Michigan game. That means that I've also experienced this: "We don't give a **** about the whole state of Michigan, cuz we're from O-HI-O!" sung with such sincerity by many scarlet-and-gray clad people, where **** represents a variety of four-letter words. It's pure, vile hatred that many Buckeye fans have, not just for U of M, but for THE WHOLE STATE OF MICHIGAN, like the entire place is one big toilet (but not Nick, right? Stay strong, brother!). That means you, fellow Michigander - they think you're scum! I don't necessarily dislike Jim Tressel (the head coach) or the individual players for OSU, but I hope that Michigan obliterates OSU this November, just to ruin the senior year for a bunch of moronic, Bud Light-swilling 22-year-old Buckeye fans.

On the other hand, for every Sunday Night Football game, they always run through the starting lineups (recorded earlier), and each player says their name and their college. The former Buckeyes always say THE Ohio State University. Sheesh.

Finally - Pumpkin Ales can be very good, but I'm never as thrilled as I hope to be. Fall is great, and measuring time by when the Oktoberfests hit the store is fun, but I often prefer quality India pale ales and stouts over the fall seasonals. And Nick, you do tend to have a strong affinity for pumpkin anything. Am I right?

We buy a house tomorrow!