tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-203859202024-09-21T04:33:47.443-07:00Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472145997312024582noreply@blogger.comBlogger186125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20385920.post-91569420798492089922006-12-19T08:04:00.000-07:002006-12-19T08:11:31.089-07:00

W00H0000000!Finished, for the first time in forever, with one peg left! (Just picked up the game again after a few years.)Well, this can be one more thing added to my modest list of accomplishments this year...

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472145997312024582noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20385920.post-13599933237778889262006-12-14T06:50:00.000-07:002006-12-14T06:57:19.763-07:00

So che per niente ho stato stupido stupido stupido, e forse distrugguto la nostra amicizia, ma ti vorrei chiedere un perdon e se puoi trovare nel tuo cuore a perdonarmi...(Not So) Brainy

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472145997312024582noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20385920.post-6413943149870773422006-12-13T12:18:00.000-07:002006-12-14T08:04:39.995-07:00

When Wheel of Fortune goes to the bonus round, they automatically give the contestant the letters R, S, T, L, N, and E as a "gimme", and then ask the contestant for three more consonants and a vowel.So it got me thinking, are they really the most frequent letters? I remember, when I was growing up, that almost all contestants guessed RSTLNE for their letters. I also remember an episode of The

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472145997312024582noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20385920.post-4478294209719291722006-12-13T07:04:00.000-07:002006-12-13T07:20:20.714-07:00

Yesterday I somewhat randomly popped over to the FARMS (Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies) website at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute to see what they had. I wasn't really sure what I would find there, but I knew I needed some reading material to keep me occupied while I was scanning a whole bunch of documents at work.What I found completely fascinated me. I printed out two

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472145997312024582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20385920.post-68281110223374528382006-12-12T09:24:00.000-07:002006-12-12T09:26:32.190-07:00

Adding new words to the Calabresi-coined lexicon today:"AIMspeak": the multitude of abbreviations and shortenings that take place within instant message windows, text message conversations, MySpace, etc."Intellectual Ice Age": what is going to result from the continual dumbing-down of our society.

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472145997312024582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20385920.post-84299113670650969872006-12-11T11:25:00.000-07:002006-12-11T11:27:46.400-07:00

On a completely unrelated note to anything, I just wanted to say that Pantera's album Vulgar Display of Power is awesome to listen to when I want to:get something donedrown out co-workersdo both at the same timeIn fact, the only thing it's probably not good for is driving late at night while tired (I missed my exit way back in 1999), and cooking... I can't imagine working in the kitchen to this

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472145997312024582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20385920.post-1338215547641031112006-12-06T06:08:00.000-07:002006-12-06T06:14:11.086-07:00

Dennis Miller once said something to the effect of: "You know you're never more indignant in life than when you are shopping in a store you feel to be beneath you and someone mistakes you for an employee."Well, I've never had that happen to me, but I have had an "almost"... I've decided to start dressing better, and not short-changing my reputation or first impressions on the basis of a t-shirt

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472145997312024582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20385920.post-34304726905266833312006-12-05T09:58:00.000-07:002006-12-05T10:06:38.586-07:00

It's time for Animaniacs / And we're zany to the max / So just sit back and relax / You'll laugh till you collapse / We're Animaniacs!I downloaded got the first few episodes of Animaniacs on DVD yesterday, and spent this morning reliving some of my better TV-watching moments from my younger days. It's pretty cool to watch all of this stuff; in fact, it's the hardest I've laughed at something on

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472145997312024582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20385920.post-43027902249889052372006-12-01T10:32:00.000-07:002006-12-14T08:03:48.225-07:00

Two albums really stand out for me this year -- I know technically the Imogen Heap album was released in late 2005, but I didn't get my hands on it until this year.By "Albums of the Year", I mean albums that were released relatively recently that spent the most time in my car or CD player, or in my playlist at the office.

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472145997312024582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20385920.post-91236833151437351312006-11-23T21:10:00.000-07:002006-11-23T21:20:58.879-07:00

But, after getting thrown up on tonight and with both kids asleep and everyone else perched in front of the television, I have really nothing else to do. I've read up enough on Jericho, and the constant buzz of background noise, coupled with my fatigue, is enough to really block any sort of creative juices from flowing right now. While STephen is recovering very nicely from his bronchitis, I

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472145997312024582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20385920.post-54807098803854395352006-11-21T06:27:00.000-07:002006-11-21T06:29:40.916-07:00

Cripes, I hate it. I just realized that the work our team is currently doing is known as "non-value-add"... in other words, even though I am sitting here working my butt off, I'm not really contributing anything. I want out.

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472145997312024582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20385920.post-48228287221367492592006-11-20T08:05:00.000-07:002006-11-20T08:16:41.899-07:00

I am slowly but surely learning how to repair an automobile. It's out of necessity, really, as I've never really considered myself the type of person to be a mechanic. Strange, because I do consider myself somewhat mechanically-inclined. But that's another story.We have one car whose trunk doesn't shut. It's been held shut by clothesline and a bungee cord for a few months now, because we

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472145997312024582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20385920.post-74525592376875987482006-11-20T07:47:00.000-07:002006-11-20T08:05:05.040-07:00

One of the blogs I frequent, I Will Teach You to be Rich, had an article this morning about MLM and similar schemes. While the author, Ramit, was vilifying MLM schemes, he mentioned that he would never destroy a friendship by introducing a sales element into it. I thought of some people that I met through a friend of mine, and later re-met through church. We got along pretty well and stuff,

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472145997312024582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20385920.post-70834633309622817492006-11-16T12:18:00.000-07:002006-11-16T12:22:17.885-07:00

The sun was shining in my office this morning... directly in my face, as a matter of fact. So, to add to the complete ghetto-ness of my office decor, I have been forced to hang the matching fitted sheet to the bedsheet I have hanging in here already. It's a nice beige color, and now, later in the day (around 12:15), it is dim enough in here that I am finding it almost like autumn in New York

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472145997312024582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20385920.post-37703324393512739622006-11-13T06:17:00.000-07:002006-11-13T06:23:19.638-07:00

Oh man... so after I get home from the Scouting trip, I turned on my computer to install XP Pro (I previously had Home). After going through the motions of installing (read: sit and wait), I finally got to the point of Setup where it says "37 minutes remaining". I got up, did something, and came back, and my computer was rebooting. Strange, I never remembered a reboot at this stage of the

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472145997312024582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20385920.post-49388275935856758482006-11-13T06:06:00.000-07:002006-11-13T06:17:38.904-07:00

On Friday we left for a 5.9-mile backpacking excursion starting at Douglas Springs Trailhead, with our destination being the campsites at Douglas Springs. The Scoutmaster, three Scouts, and myself (playing the role of the Assistant Scoutmaster / Token Second Adult Acting as Supervisor) left the meeting point at 2 PM sharp. It was a relatively uneventful hike, with the Scoutmaster being the

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472145997312024582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20385920.post-42887989368364533312006-11-06T13:51:00.000-07:002006-11-06T13:57:50.881-07:00

Hooray for BBC News... Plans for human-cow embryosWow... OK, first off, this is for stem cell research. The scientists will take cow eggs, strip the genetic information, then add human DNA to get a quasi-human embryo, from which they will harvest stem cells, then destroy the embryo. All of this would take about six days' time.My grandfather died of Parkinson's, my grandmother of Alzheimer's,

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472145997312024582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20385920.post-48405399750933521382006-11-04T21:36:00.000-07:002006-11-04T21:41:57.048-07:00

Yesterday I went up to Scottsdale to audition for season 3 of the FOX reality show "Hell's Kitchen." It was a very interesting experience. Of course, it's a game, and the game started right when I walked into the hotel. I chose to play the role of the "quiet, unassuming person who will get underestimated", and hopefully they're going to cast someone in that role this year. If they don't, then

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472145997312024582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20385920.post-64623335167218041942006-10-26T10:15:00.000-07:002006-10-26T10:17:40.059-07:00

Went to the dentist on Tuesday to get some cleaning, a filling (first ever!), and one of my wisdom teeth pulled. All I have to say is, kids, BRUSH AND FLOSS. Wow. Getting a tooth pulled -- even an "auxiliary" one -- is no fun whatsoever. And I have to get two more taken care of soon.Yeah, I'm looking forward to that one. :-(At least the anaesthesia was fun. My nose and my ear was pretty numb.

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472145997312024582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20385920.post-6588478137251190252006-10-23T09:36:00.000-07:002006-10-23T09:39:21.439-07:00

NaNoWriMo.orgIt's almost November, and it's National Novel Writing Month! 50,000+ words, a finished novel by midnight local time on November 30. I'm getting set up and gearing up for this; with a huge deadline and the motivation to get it done, I have no doubt that I can succeed.One of the main themes in my life is "apply myself", and I'm working on actually "applying myself" so I can continue

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472145997312024582noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20385920.post-53385750178831405952006-10-22T18:41:00.000-07:002006-10-23T09:35:48.844-07:00

I am inching closer to completion of the Boggle program. It still has some behaviors that I'm unable to pin down, but I've been able to spend the past few days squashing bugs rather than just chasing them and scratching my head. I've already got a list of things to take care of, in true Getting Things Done fashion, thus keeping myself focused on a bunch of "next steps" rather than just sitting

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472145997312024582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20385920.post-5625834782999584252006-10-22T18:32:00.000-07:002006-10-22T18:41:14.838-07:00

I didn't think "me vs. the scriptures" was an appropriate title. :-)So, I figured out my scripture-reading goals for the rest of the year, and I don't really see how there can be a way that I come up short... well, unless I fail completely to apply myself. Don't really see how that could happen.Anyway, since a goal isn't a goal until it's written down, I have to read at least one page in the

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472145997312024582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20385920.post-71566383305431733412006-10-22T09:14:00.000-07:002006-10-22T09:24:26.693-07:00

It has not all been not reaching goals, however. I have made some progress on Clean Sweep, and although the progress bars aren't updated yet, I have made a good deal of progress. So, without further ado:Physical Environment2. My home is clean and tidy. (Vacuumed, wardrobes and drawers organized, desks and tables clear, furniture in good repair; windows clean). (Well, it was before my daughter

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472145997312024582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20385920.post-70900336935735587232006-10-22T09:00:00.000-07:002006-10-22T09:14:38.576-07:00

Three weeks... ah... well, figured I'd start with the shortest post, so I can get myself back in the swing of things. Life is catching up with me as I struggle to catch up with life.Book-reading? I've spent the last... six? weeks trying to get through Lord of the Rings -- just the first book, mind you -- and I just can't do it. Granted, for the past three weeks I've been driving to work

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472145997312024582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20385920.post-12166229716419236162006-10-01T06:36:00.000-07:002006-10-01T06:50:24.564-07:00

I admit that before I actually read J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, I knew nothing about it, except that the book had something to do with the death of John Lennon*. Oh, and that it had been banned for a while, as well. But that's pretty much it; it was one of those rare pleasures for me: going into a book with a completely clean slate, not having any opinion of it, nor knowing in advance

Matthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08472145997312024582noreply@blogger.com0