And now for something on a much lighter note.... I wanted to say how much I'm digging the new Fox show "Happy Hour"
It is a 1/2 hour comedy show where this guy Henry starts off a really bad day of getting dumped by his girlfriend Heather, loses his job, and his apartment. By the end of the day, Henry's new roommate Larry tells him:
"This is going to be a great, great time in your life. Right here, right now. This is 'happy hour!' It's that time after something bad: work, Heather; before something good: dinner, a new life. Enjoy it!"
That's a great quote, huh? The show has cool jazzy music, and some very funny characters.
Here is a quick 4-1/2 minute recap of the pilot for those who want to check it out.
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
An Inspiring Story
Over the past couple of weeks, I have been totally captivated by the story of Jill Carroll, the freelance reporter who was kidnapped in Baghdad last January, and released at the end of March.
She recently published her story http://www.csmonitor.com/specials/carroll/index.html?s=u as a 10-part series, which began on Monday August 14, 2006 and ran through August 25, 2006 (10 business days). And an epilogue which was published yesterday.
I think part of what was so cool was that I happened to find a link to it from somewhere when I was web surfing on August 14th. So it was neat to actually get to see each part of the story as it was published every day. And each day left me not wanting to wait until the next day to hear more, like a good episode of "Lost" or "24." Except this was not fiction.
I cannot pinpoint exactly what about it was so consuming. It was all I could think about for days, although I didn't really mention that to anyone else. But I think it had something to do with the down-to-earth writing style of Jill Carroll, coupled with the US side of the story by Peter Grier (a staff writer where Jill worked) interspersed in the article for contextual purposes. Plus the streaming video of Jill and others involved in her eventual release. I guess it's just striking that she seems so down-to-earth. She's not that much younger than I. She seems like the kind of person who could be one of my friends. Or me. It was easy to put myself in her shoes and become completely engrossed in the story. I admire her courage. If I could have half that much courage and wisdom in everything I encounter in my life, I'd be well off.
Now, I don't want to raise expectations too high. I may be the only one to be quite so fascinated. But still, you should read her story when you get a chance. http://www.csmonitor.com/specials/carroll/index.html?s=u I enjoyed it very much, and learned a lot too.
She recently published her story http://www.csmonitor.com/specials/carroll/index.html?s=u as a 10-part series, which began on Monday August 14, 2006 and ran through August 25, 2006 (10 business days). And an epilogue which was published yesterday.
I think part of what was so cool was that I happened to find a link to it from somewhere when I was web surfing on August 14th. So it was neat to actually get to see each part of the story as it was published every day. And each day left me not wanting to wait until the next day to hear more, like a good episode of "Lost" or "24." Except this was not fiction.
I cannot pinpoint exactly what about it was so consuming. It was all I could think about for days, although I didn't really mention that to anyone else. But I think it had something to do with the down-to-earth writing style of Jill Carroll, coupled with the US side of the story by Peter Grier (a staff writer where Jill worked) interspersed in the article for contextual purposes. Plus the streaming video of Jill and others involved in her eventual release. I guess it's just striking that she seems so down-to-earth. She's not that much younger than I. She seems like the kind of person who could be one of my friends. Or me. It was easy to put myself in her shoes and become completely engrossed in the story. I admire her courage. If I could have half that much courage and wisdom in everything I encounter in my life, I'd be well off.
Now, I don't want to raise expectations too high. I may be the only one to be quite so fascinated. But still, you should read her story when you get a chance. http://www.csmonitor.com/specials/carroll/index.html?s=u I enjoyed it very much, and learned a lot too.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Ultimate Frisbee - I'm not quite dead yet!
For the last several years, I've been playing Ultimate Frisbee with friends at Antrim Park in Columbus once a week. It's just a pick-up game, not a league. It's great exercise, and I get to see people more often that I may not otherwise see.
This year, attendance has really taken a dive. And I'm not really sure why. For a few weeks in a row recently it was really hot out. I skipped at least once because of this. On a day like that, it's understandable why attendance would be low. However, last Tuesday was gorgeous. Low 80's and not much humidity for a change. Even so, we still had only 7 people show up. 3 on 4 isn't that much fun. IMO, you need at least 8 (4 on 4) to have a good game, and even that is pushing it. We used to get somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 on 7 or 8 on 8, and sometimes more!
It's disappointing.
I've been brainstorming a lot about this, and wondering if there are ways to boost attendance.
Of course, as with just about anything, things get old and sometimes an event has run it's course. Maybe that's the case for our Ultimate games at Antrim. But I personally don't want to see it end.
With a lot of things, I know that if my friends are talking about going, then I'm more likely to go. If my friends aren't as excited about something, I may not be as excited either. So we could send emails to people and try to rally interest. (like the "so-and-so is doing it, you should too" advertising technique.) But that could take a lot of effort every week, and who has time for that? And I'm not sure if we should *have* to go that far.
I wondered about posting on something like craigslist? I am not really sure how that works but might be worth looking into. Maybe get some new blood.
I also wondered if maybe going to an every-other-week thing would be better for attendance. Maybe some people just don't want to take the time to go every week. If it was less frequent, maybe we'd get more people per week. i.e. those who don't want to come every week, at least would be there the same week, not scattered across different weeks.
I dunno, I really don't want to see ultimate end. But I'm not sure what we can do. You can't make people do something they don't want to do. But I think there are at least a few of us who want to see it keep going, maybe it's not quite dead yet?
----------------------------
Update:
I almost didn't go to Ultimate Frisbee last night because it seemed like nobody else was going to go. But it was such a nice day that I went anyway. Including me, there were 6 of us. So we just made the playing field smaller and played anyway. And we still had fun. Although playing 3 on 3 is pretty tiring! But at least it forces me to get more exercise instead of slacking off.
This year, attendance has really taken a dive. And I'm not really sure why. For a few weeks in a row recently it was really hot out. I skipped at least once because of this. On a day like that, it's understandable why attendance would be low. However, last Tuesday was gorgeous. Low 80's and not much humidity for a change. Even so, we still had only 7 people show up. 3 on 4 isn't that much fun. IMO, you need at least 8 (4 on 4) to have a good game, and even that is pushing it. We used to get somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 on 7 or 8 on 8, and sometimes more!
It's disappointing.
I've been brainstorming a lot about this, and wondering if there are ways to boost attendance.
Of course, as with just about anything, things get old and sometimes an event has run it's course. Maybe that's the case for our Ultimate games at Antrim. But I personally don't want to see it end.
With a lot of things, I know that if my friends are talking about going, then I'm more likely to go. If my friends aren't as excited about something, I may not be as excited either. So we could send emails to people and try to rally interest. (like the "so-and-so is doing it, you should too" advertising technique.) But that could take a lot of effort every week, and who has time for that? And I'm not sure if we should *have* to go that far.
I wondered about posting on something like craigslist? I am not really sure how that works but might be worth looking into. Maybe get some new blood.
I also wondered if maybe going to an every-other-week thing would be better for attendance. Maybe some people just don't want to take the time to go every week. If it was less frequent, maybe we'd get more people per week. i.e. those who don't want to come every week, at least would be there the same week, not scattered across different weeks.
I dunno, I really don't want to see ultimate end. But I'm not sure what we can do. You can't make people do something they don't want to do. But I think there are at least a few of us who want to see it keep going, maybe it's not quite dead yet?
----------------------------
Update:
I almost didn't go to Ultimate Frisbee last night because it seemed like nobody else was going to go. But it was such a nice day that I went anyway. Including me, there were 6 of us. So we just made the playing field smaller and played anyway. And we still had fun. Although playing 3 on 3 is pretty tiring! But at least it forces me to get more exercise instead of slacking off.
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