Month: August 2004

Hey there,

Just thought I would post my .02 cents worth. I am still out there, just taking care of my baby and slaving away in school.

Not much new really going on, perhaps Angelina well have a tooth soon. Other then that just life in the slow lane.

Just wanted to let y’all know I started the new job, and time is short at the moment. Looks like it’s going to be a fun challenge! Maybe after this week I’ll be less of a blogslacker…

Its been a bit since I did an old Matt story, so here it is, one of my fave old Matt stories.

1991, My freshman year of High School, Matt’s Senior year. After a fine middle school acting career, but an unauspicious beginning of High school nabbing an understudy role, I finally found myself back on the stage in a larger capacity. I was cast to play Elisha J. Whitney in Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes”.

Now, my current reputation for over the top theatre comedy was not present nor deserved at that time, as I was afraid to do much more than yell onstage. There was someone in the cast who I found to be further along in the talent game than I was. Mr. barnson.

Playing the irrepressible Evelyn Oakley, Matt brought a gusto and bizarre energy to the role that Porter himself probably never envisioned (or probably wanted). Playing right to the crowd, Matt was able to take an energy i had yet to find as an actor, and blast it out with flailing arms and legs, a bizarre accent, like Sam Kinison mixed with Eddie Izzard, with just a touch of Jim Carrey.

As I was struggling to play drunk, Matt pulled me aside and said.. “Dude, look.. just stop being afraid to look dumb and just explode.. WOO!!”.

I told myself I would do it, and I was sure I had.. but the video of that old Play doesn’t lie. I never did quite get it right.

As my acting years went on, I held on to that advice, though. The next year, as I began an almost “Single White Female” imitation of Matt (never was good at forming my own identity), I used some of this approach in “Into The Woods”, and finally mastered it in “Hello Dolly”.. and to this day, I find myself utilising these over the top skills that I was lucky enough to be taught.

As a side note.. the above is not one of my fave stories.. this one is.. Matt would get really wrapped up in his over the top Bristish role. He would be known to hold the accent offstage for a while.. which could be funny.

It is important to note that we had body mics on for the musicals.

On one particular night.. after aparticularly good scene with a pair of glow in the dark boxers shining in the blackened theatre.. Matt began trotting offstage in character as he would often do. As the steps began to swivel around, one could hear an audible thud.. the dull banging of the stairs right into Matt’s flailing limbs.

On this particular night, the sound tech just happened to have not turned off that particular microphone..; and like the stars alligning, these particulars allowed the audience to hear their favorite bombastic purehearted, well behaved Mormon boy.. scream out..

“OH F**K!” in a loud british accent, ringing over the loudspeakers.

Now, matt was not a curser.. (nor was he british).. but that day, to hundreds of shocked Cougar parents, he was both.

John Ashcroft called P2P file-sharing “stealing”, and then he went out and got himself a federal posse that kicked the doors down of some unsuspecting “stealers”. It looks like Ashcroft also had the press standing by. I guess all this “stealing” is going to land some of us in jail?

I’ll wait for comments before I add my opinion.

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Attorney General John Ashcroft, Assistant Attorney General Christopher A. Wray, and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Kenneth L. Wainstein today announced the first federal enforcement action taken against criminal copyright piracy on peer-to-peer networks. Early this morning, federal agents executed six search warrants at five residences and one Internet service provider in Texas, New York, and Wisconsin, as part of an investigation into the illegal distribution of copyrighted movies, software, games, and music over peer-to-peer networks. Agents seized computers, software, and computer-related equipment in the searches.

“Today’s actions send an important message to those who steal over the Internet. When online thieves illegally distribute copyrighted programs and products, they put the livelihoods of millions of hard-working Americans at risk and damage our economy,” said Attorney General John Ashcroft. “The execution of today’s warrants disrupted an extensive peer-to-peer network suspected of enabling users to traffic illegally in music, films, software and published works. The Department of Justice is committed to enforcing intellectual property laws, and we will pursue those who steal copyrighted materials even when they try to hide behind the false anonymity of peer-to-peer networks.”

“Today’s enforcement action is the latest step in our ongoing effort to combat piracy occurring on the Internet,” said Christopher A. Wray, Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division. “This is the first federal law enforcement action against criminal copyright infringement using peer-to-peer networks and shows that we are committed to combating piracy, regardless of the medium used to commit these illegal acts.”

“Today we are sending a clear message that federal law enforcement takes piracy seriously,” said U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Wainstein. “It is illegal to trade in copyright-protected materials on the Internet. This is theft, plain and simple. If you are engaged in this behavior, you are on notice that you are not as anonymous as you may think.”

The search warrants executed today are the result of Operation Digital Gridlock, a joint investigation conducted by the FBI, the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, and the Justice Department’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section. This operation targeted illegal file sharing of copyrighted materials over five Direct Connect peer-to-peer networks that belonged to a group known as The Underground Network. According to search warrant affidavits unsealed today, these networks required users to share a minimum of one to 100 gigabytes of computer files with other users on the network. Upon becoming a member of one of these peer-to-peer networks, each user could then download shared files from the hard drives of all other members on the network. Theft through the illegal reproduction and distribution of movies, software, games, and music is estimated to cost U.S. industries $19 billion worldwide each year.

All,

Last week, my wife, my son, & I went to the Outer Banks of N.C. for vacation. 6 hours from home, so the ride sucks, but the area is awesome!

Got there on Saturday, driving through the tail end of Charlie. Charlie was the hurricane, which is nothing but a deep low pressure system. Low pressure is important to this story.

So Sunday night/Monday morn at 2:00 AM, my wife tells me, “Go get your sister, my water just broke.” A few notes about this statement:

1) My sister is an OB/GYN nurse practitioner, that’s why we were getting here 2) My wife was only 33 1/2 weeks along, which is a tad bit early 3) We were 6 hours away from home, which is a LONG way once the membranes have ruptured

So we saddle up and head to the hospital at the Outer Banks. We get in there only to find our they don’t have the facilities to handle preemies, so they’re shipping us to Norfolk.

And hour and a half later, via Ambulance, we’re in Norfolk General Hospital. And then, at 10:12 AM on 8/16, little Gabriel Michael was born.

When your baby is full term, it’s still a long, long wait from when he’s born until you hear that first cry. When your baby’s early, which means his lungs are probably still immature, and it takes 30 seconds before you hear that cry, it a freakin lifetime.

But he did fine, he weighed 5lbs 7 oz and was 17 3/4 inches long. He’s due to be discharged on Wednesday, so the wonderful Norfolk stay will FINALLY be over and he’ll be home.

I am so curious to see how the 2-year-old handles him.

But that’s the story of the bestest sea-shell you could bring home from the beach!!!

My $.02 (1 cent per kid now) Weed

P.S. Justin, Alien Resurrection was HORRIBLE. Winona Ryder in that film is like putting Keanu Reeves in Tim Robbins’ role in Shawshank. A fish out of water. She needs to be in deep, philosophical chick flicks.

EDIT by matthew: fixed formatting.

When was the most important moment of your life?

It coule be a day, a week, a decision.. but we all have these moments that if they had gone a different way, our lives would be irrevocably changed.

For instance, I almost didn’t go to Young Life camp in 1991 up at lake Saranac, but I did. While there, I met my future wife, became a Christian, and the day I came back I stayed at Sam’s house and he introduced me to why Star Trek The Next generation was so good (he had taped the one where Yar’s daughter comes back and showed me).

had I not gone to camp, I probably would not be here talking about religion, my wife, or Star Trek.

I might have been able to predict the Christian thing, I was going to a Young Life camp. But how could I have known I’d meet my wife there? Yet, I almost didn’t go because I didn’t want to apologize to my mom during an argument.

There are 3 or 4 other 1 minute to 48 hour timeframes in my life that drastically changed the final results of my life that I know about. What about you?

News of the weird:

Bear guzzles 36 beers, passes out at campground.

The funniest part of it to me was this:

It turns out the bear was a bit of a beer sophisticate. He tried a mass-market Busch beer, but switched to Rainier Beer, a local ale, and stuck with it for his drinking binge.
Wildlife agents chased the bear away, but it returned the next day, said Broxson.
They set a trap using as bait some doughnuts, honey and two cans of Rainier Beer. It worked, and the bear was captured for relocation.

So what’s weirder than a beer-swilling bear with a taste for the local specialty in a can?

(Yes, I know I dangled a participle.)

Hey all I just got my grade from my last class. I aced the class…4.0 on a 4.0 scale, perfect even :):):):):) The class was interviewing and investigation techniques

End excitement curt

IMPORTANT NOTE:Apparently, nobody here knows how to get into “baby modeling”, and despite our Google first-page ranking on the subject, we still don’t. If one of us becomes an expert on the topic, we’ll update this page. In the meantime, I’ve disabled the ability to leave new comments due to the sheer volume of questions I’m deleting daily. –webmaster

Hi kids, its me again. Angelina’s mom said the strangest thing to me the other day, she said what do you think about having our baby be a model?

I was like uh…so I have done some research and am still not sure. Any advice from all you parents out there would be appreciated.

One week ago yesterday, Matt and I were discussing the delay of starting his new job. With possibly two weeks of no work, we decided it was high time to get the yard work done. While money and time never meet we decided not to worry about the money aspect of it and use our time wisely and just get it done.

Initially I just wanted to get the front yard done this past week and worry about the back another time. In the middle of the week Matt decided we might as well do the whole thing since we’re putting forth so much effort. Holy Cow, he pulled it off.

My focus was on a couple garden beds and a flag stone path. I also picked out a large rock to put at the base of the driveway for the kids to climb on. Matt finished the sprinkler system, including many repairs and connecting it to the main water line. He also had to till the whole lot and level it in a hurry since sod was on it’s way.

Besides all that Matt recovered the front yard from the mess of mud and stuff before our big ice cream social yesterday. Truly amazing. I wasn’t so sure we could pull it off. It’s amazing what a man will do for the woman he loves!!!!

The exciting thing is our house doesn’t look like white trash anymore, and our yard even stands out from our many neighbors. I still have one more garden bed to finish, but wow, what a difference.

Thank you Matt! I love you.