My Name Is Michael...

Inspirational Quotes

2008-11-11T13:48:45-05:00

I've always held a quote from Anne Frank very close to my heart. "In spite of everything, I still believe people are good at heart." This came from a girl who hid for years from the Nazi's only to end up dying in a Concentration Camp. I read something else today from a person in a similar situation.

You only live once. Let's keep trucking. If we don't do that, who's going to do it for us? We have to be happy. Why hate? The world is full of hate, and yet they don't know what they want.

The man who said this was a Prisoner of War in a Nazi slave camp, who saw hundreds of his comrades die and who was told by his own government that he was not allowed to talk about his experiences when he came home. You can read the full story here.

People like them give me hope for the world. If they can hold on to goodness and hope when they've been through atrocities that I'll never come close to experiencing I certainly can.

Scary things I've read today

2008-11-05T14:05:00-05:00

This morning I asked those who follow me on Facebook and Twitter not to be dicks when it came to the election results from last night. I feel that, in some ways, I am violating that request by making this post. I honestly can't help myself, though. Reading some of this I can't tell if I should laugh or cry.

Continue reading Scary things I've read today ...

An open letter to President-Elect Barack Obama

2008-11-05T13:49:37-05:00

President-Elect Obama,

I am writing this post with a full awareness that you will likely never read it. I am not writing it for you per se, but I am directing the message at you and anyone who feels that you were elected out of some kind of blind hope or reckless idealism. I am writing this to explain, and in some ways I am writing this as a warning.

Mr. Obama, we will be watching you.

Continue reading An open letter to President-Elect Barack Obama ...

Things that are Not Awesome

2008-10-29T11:52:00-05:00

In no particular order, and because I really don't feel like spamming Twitter with all of this today.

Continue reading Things that are Not Awesome ...

I want some peanuts....

2008-10-13T23:53:45-05:00

So....the Tampa Bay Devil (fuck all that dropping the Devil business...they only did that to try and get the religious freaks into the stands) Rays beat the Boston Red Sox tonight 9-1 in a playoff game. Let me state right here and now that I do not give a damn about baseball. At all. I think it's a mind-numbingly boring game, and the only time I willingly go to a baseball game is when my son is in it (and even then I get bitchy about it). If it weren't for the fact that Tampa Bay was in the playoffs I wouldn't even be aware that the playoffs were going on.

I just don't care. Really.

But...

Continue reading I want some peanuts.... ...

Something I Don't Understand

2008-10-09T15:22:31-05:00

I'm gonna wax poetic for a bit about the economy, so if you're sick to death of hearing about it please feel free to move along. I've just had some thoughts stuck in my head in the last few days and I wanted to get them out.

Continue reading Something I Don't Understand ...

[Politics] - Amendment 2

2008-10-05T12:02:00-05:00

The following is the text of an email I just sent out to my local Family members. Figured I'd cross post it here to broaden the audience (although the personal appeal at the end will have less of an impact).

Continue reading [Politics] - Amendment 2 ...

Ennui of the Shaman Healer

2008-09-26T10:32:23-05:00

If you play video games at all and don't live under a rock you're probably aware that Blizzard is releasing Wrath of the Lich King (the next expansion for World of Warcraft) on November 13th. On the day this happens millions of happy little geeks will stay up until Midnight, plop down $50 to purchase the pre-order they made at their local video game shop, and proceed to ooh and ahh over all the shiny new content that Blizzard is offering to them.

Continue reading Ennui of the Shaman Healer ...

Loss

2008-09-26T07:44:12-05:00

So I have this very unusual sense of loss this morning that is related to the dream I had last night. In this dream I had a daughter (the odd thing is that I don't know if I ever remember her having a name in the dream). While this is not odd in and of itself, what made this dream somewhat different was that about 3/4 of the way through it she realized she wasn't real. She and I both knew she was a dream, and that our time together was only going to last until I woke up.

The last thing I remember of the dream is holding her while she cried and said "Please, daddy. Don't wake up. Not yet."

Another interesting thing about this is that I was woken up not by my alarm clock, but by my son's. Not only was I profoundly sad when I woke up I was also slightly angry with him for cutting my time short with her.

Clearly I'm fully awake now and the dream is slipping away, but I still have this feeling like I lost something wonderful this morning....but it's something I never really had in the first place.

How odd is that?

What's even odder is the fact that I was going to just write about this on my Twitter, but something inside me said that she deserved more than a 140 word recollection. That her online eulogy not be condensed for quick reading.

So...yeah. I've sat here and tried to think of some poignant way to wrap this up and it isn't happening.

The Economy, it is the stupid.

2008-09-23T10:06:19-05:00

I fully intended to start this post off by talking about how I usually don't talk about politics, but then I realized I'd sound like everyone else in the blogosphere recently who has posted about how they usually don't talk about politics and proceeded to do so. We're less than two months away from a Presidential election. Like it or not, we all talk about politics at one point or another. The question becomes whether or not we wish to actually have an open and honest debate on the subject or if we're so mired in our own beliefs that we cannot even hear an opposing view without feeling threatened our taking it personally.

Continue reading The Economy, it is the stupid. ...

Five Annoyed People

2008-09-19T09:28:04-05:00

Up until Wednesday, I had never served on a jury before. I've been called once, shortly before Alex was born, but at the time I was working in a strip club and I'm pretty sure I did not match the criteria of "upright citizen" that they seem to go for in these things. Twelve years and a fairly major shift in pay grade seems to have changed that, though.

Continue reading Five Annoyed People ...

Stick a fork in my ass

2008-09-06T19:48:53-05:00

So now that the month of vacations is over and I'm re-establishing a somewhat normal pattern around the house I decided to be Mr. Productive today and get some stuff done around the house. Well, that was my intention at the beginning of the day. I ended up being delayed in the morning by several hours due to the fact that there was yet another scammer trying to get our Member account information this morning. It's the second one in a week! Last week it was a pretty elaborate phishing scam, but this week it was automated calls that were asking folks to call another number and enter their credit card information! I had originally intended to hit Home Depot early this morning, but I didn't get out of the house until around 12:30 becuase I was was waiting for official word on what we should post on the web site.

Continue reading Stick a fork in my ass ...

Vacations are over

2008-09-05T16:35:12-05:00

Well, the month of August has finally come and gone. Convergence 14 is done. Gen Con is done. Dragon*Con is done. I've blown through the large majority of my vacation hours and maxed out several credit cards.

Was it worth it?

Continue reading Vacations are over ...

Gen Con Day So Far

2008-08-16T09:30:00-05:00

So the first two days of Gen Con are under our belts.

Continue reading Gen Con Day So Far ...

Insert Meaningful Title Here

2008-08-14T07:09:11-05:00

I'm having a "fat" morning. You know the type, right? Where you realize you've eaten a bunch of crap in the last few days and you know for a fact that you've put on some weight? Yeah, one of those mornings. I haven't worked out in about a week and I've been (and will be for the next three days) eating lots of restaurant food. Coupled with the lower back numbness and stiffness I've been dealing with, and I really don't feel like someone who regularly works out for 30 to 60 minutes a day.

Which is kind of a pisser, yo. You'd think that after nearly two years of pretty consistent exercise I could maybe wake up in the morning without being stiff.

Continue reading Insert Meaningful Title Here ...

Dead Service

2008-08-11T10:28:00-05:00

When we last left our hero he was heading off to Tampa with his lovely other half to attend the Wake (a lunch at the Tampa Bay Brewing Company that was part of the events surrounding Convergence 14 here in Tampa).

Caught up with me? Good.

Continue reading Dead Service ...

Random Sunday Morning Blather

2008-08-10T11:16:55-05:00

So I haven't made a post of any kind in weeks. Funny, that. This was going to be my new, deep blog off of Live Journal where I posted more regularly and made an effort to put out meaningful content. Instead I let it go silent for weeks on end.

I suppose I just don't feel as though I've had anything really interesting to say. As of this writing it is 6:20 AM on Sunday morning, and the house is relatively quiet. I figure I'll just start writing stuff down as it occurs to me and when I've decided that there is enough I'll hit the post button. Fair enough?

Continue reading Random Sunday Morning Blather ...

Rampant Speculation

2008-07-28T11:01:25-05:00

At midnight this morning, Cryptic Studios finally unveiled that their next project was going to be the resurrected Star Trek Online MMORPG. If you've been paying attention at all to the buzz in the last few months this news really did not come as much of a shock, but it was really nice to see it finally made official and see some actual renderings from the game. The forums there are already buzzing with activity, and despite the fact that the game is not even in Alpha yet there are already folks on their forums recruiting for alliances.

Continue reading Rampant Speculation ...

Bragging Rights

2008-07-24T10:22:00-05:00

I really try not to make too much of a habit of talking about where I work here in the old blog. As a general rule it's really not a good idea, because once you've associated your job with your online presence you kind of run the risk of getting in trouble at said job if something about your online presence irks a fellow employee or customer.

Of course, the easy solution to that is never doing anything online that would get you in trouble with your job. With as connected as things are getting these days it's a really good habit to get in to anyway. More and more companies are looking at places like MySpace to see if you have any half-naked pictures of yourself doing questionable things with farm animals before they hire you, so it's really not a good idea to have that stuff out there to begin with.

And really, what did that chicken ever do to you anyway?

Continue reading Bragging Rights ...

Return On Assets And You

2008-07-22T16:38:00-05:00

Finally! You've waited! You've anticipated! You've dreamed! Now you can see the stunning epic...RETURN ON ASSETS AND YOU!

Continue reading Return On Assets And You ...

A False Sense of Accomplisment

2008-07-18T14:54:26-05:00

One of the things that struck me was interesting when I first started playing City of Heroes shortly after it launched was the badge system. I'd been playing Everquest for several years, and Badges were an interesting twist on the standard "kill monsters, get experience and loot" reward system. Essentially a Badge was something you could earn by exploring a certain area, defeating a set number of foes, completing a mission, or other similar in game accomplishments. You didn't get any real benefit from having a badge in the way of character advancement or game play (although I believe that a few of them may have unlocked different costume options), and there wasn't any real "point" to them other than to say "I've earned this badge."

Continue reading A False Sense of Accomplisment ...

"My Biggest Regret"

2008-07-14T16:46:00-05:00

The following video just came across my Boing Boing feed. I think it's achingly beautiful, in the same way that Post Secret is.

Continue reading "My Biggest Regret" ...

Adventures in Console Fitness

2008-07-12T09:35:00-05:00

I've been on my latest physical activity stint since just after Christmas in 2006. I exercised during my first big weight loss push (when I went from 419.2 pounds down to 232), but all I did during that period was walk 2 miles every day.

Continue reading Adventures in Console Fitness ...

Feed Update

2008-07-10T19:45:00-05:00

I have updated the Live Journal feed so that it will recognize excerpts when I use them and link the articles accordingly. There is no need to update the current feed or for you to add another one.

What have I gotten myself in to?

2008-07-10T09:02:30-05:00

Yesterday morning I spent several hours being filmed for an in-house training movie. I have two roles in this short film. The first is "Mr. TME," who is the "hero" of the movie. TME stands for Total Member Experience, which is our company philosophy on how we treat our members. The other role I'm playing is "Mr. TNT," the bad example of customer service. Mr. TNT has a handlebar mustache. This is why I had to shave my beard and goatee.

The movie is being done in the style of a 1950's educational film, and what I've seen so far is pretty cool. I'm really hoping to get permission to post it here when it's complete.

I just got an email from someone over in Marketing, though, that made me wonder if my humiliation was going to extend far beyond this little film.

"I just saw the Mr. TME poster down in the print shop."

Er...ummm....

What?

I think Herman Melville was a little bit gay.

2008-07-08T13:52:45-05:00

I just stumbled upon the following while reading Moby Dick on my Kindle.

Squeeze! squeeze! squeeze! all the morning long; I squeezed that sperm until I myself almost melted into it; I squeezed that sperm until a strange sort of insanity came over me; and I found myself unwittingly squeezing my co-laborers' hands into it, mistaking their hands for the gentle globules. Such an abounding, affectionate, friendly loving feeling did this avocation beget; that at last I was continually squeezing their hands, and looking up into their eyes sentimentally; as much as to say, --Oh! my dear fellow beings, why should we longer cherish any social acerbities, or know the slightest ill-humor or envy! Come; let us squeeze hands all round; nay, let us squeeze ourselves into each other; let us squeeze ourselves universally into the very milk and sperm of kindness.

Would that I could keep squeezing that sperm forever!

At this point the fact that my Uncle claims this to be his favorite book bothers me greatly.

Michael's Totally Awesome Campaign of Awesomeness

2008-07-08T11:59:00-05:00

On his way back from a wild and crazy weekend in...er...Ohio...our old friend Ross asked the following question on his twitter feed -

If you were starting a new RPG campaign, where would you start?

I asked him what system he was referring to and his response was "I don't believe the system should matter." I've decided to rise to the challenge of that question, and thus I present to you Michael's Totally Awesome Campaign of Awesomeness.^*

Continue reading Michael's Totally Awesome Campaign of Awesomeness ...

What's it all about?

2008-07-07T11:59:00-05:00

Is it just me, or do my subtitles seem to be developing a personality of their own? It's like I have this acerbic little side commentator who gleefully deflates anything I'm about to write before it's even written.

Wonderful. I'm developing a split personality in my old age.

If the next bit of code works the way I think it will I've already contradicted what I said in my "last" Live Journal post and used the equivalent of a cut-tag. Hooray flip-flopping!

Continue reading What's it all about? ...

Restless

2008-07-06T00:47:00-05:00

I feeling kind of restless. Antsy. Don't want to go to bed. Don't want to play World of Warcraft. Don't have any money to go anywhere.

If it was 20 years ago it's the kind of night where I'd go pick up Beau and take him out to the beach to sit for a few hours smoking. It's not, though, and while I could go do so by myself (Krys is in bed already) I have to take into account that I am dead broke until Friday and gas is now four bucks a gallon.

So instead I think I'll transfer Picasso at the Lapin Agile to my Kindle and go read for a bit.

Welcome

2008-07-05T14:49:46-05:00

Thank you for visiting my new domain and blog. I hope you enjoy what you find here. There's a whole slew of neat features that this new setup has enabled me to integrate and I think you may enjoy some of them as well. If you're REALLY interested in my writing you can register on the site and get email alerts whenever I make a new post. How cool is that?

Not that I really expect many of you to DO it, but the option is there.

Anonymous commenting is enabled on the site, so you don't have to register if you want to leave a comment. If you like what you see, please let me know! There's going to be some additional changes in the format over the coming weeks, but I went ahead and went live because I wanted to shift to writing her full time and stop using Live Journal.

Thank you again! I hope you stick around.