Taking Your Kids to Work Day

So, I work at home 80% of the time. This is useful because it allows me to work for six or so different places, which would be logistically impossible in any other format. That and I sometimes don’t have to shave until 3pm. And when I get fed up, I get to go to the garage to lift wieghts and not worry about being stinky when I return to my desk/cubicle/conference room. So, I like the fringe benefits.

I do worry about how the arrangement affects what my kids see. I’m a bit of a night owl, so sometimes I put in a ton of hours after they’re in bed. That can send mixed signals on how much Dad actually works. Given that I’m a strong lead by example of practice type, this does bother me now and then. 

It also makes for some interesting conversations about, “So what does your dad do?”

“Um, he spends lots of time on the computer and complains about driving 2 hours to San Marcos once or twice a week.”

So yesterday Texas State’s English Department had their annual award ceremony. This happened to overlap with Take Your Child to Work Day. Since Texas State is the only employeer I currently work for within the same state as our home (at leats until I also start working for the University of Texas in August), it was a nice opportunity to show the kids that I actually do a little bit more than “play” on the computer.

To fully embrace the opportunity, my wife and I took all three kids down to the English Dept awards, where I was receiving the 2008-09 Outstanding Grad Student award for the English Dept. Not really related to my job at all, but it was happening at the place where the kids associate with my working. On a personal level, it was also something I wanted the family to experience because it represented a big moment for the MA in Technical Communication program at Texas State. Not only was it our programs ten-year anniversary, but we swept the Department’s graduate student awards, and it was our program’s first time to receive the Outstanding Graduate Student award.

Anyway, the most rewarding aspect was that when I went up to accept the award my son started gravitating toward me from the assembled audience. I finally waved him on over to the podium and his younger sister immeditaely joined him at my signal. My wife and our near-teen daughter joined at the urging of the crowd, and everyone received a healthy round of applause.

All in all, it was a good day “at the office.”

Don’t fsck with geeks

Sadly, the person posting this is not me.  This is a quote from one of the guys I play TF2 with.  Also someone who is a fsckin’ awesome geek.

“I once knew a family who were abusive to their kids. Calls to the department of social services did nothing. They also ran a bulletin board system that provided pirated software.

Imagine his surprise when somehow someone got access to his board, created an administration account, and provided that account to the FBI and the SPA.

You can’t raise your kids from prison.”

HELL yeah.

Science vs. Religion: The Moon

I live in Texas, I know these people are out there, surrounding me, just waiting for the chance to bash my atheistic brains in… But come on!

The Waco Tribune covered a guest lecture gig that Bill Nye the Science Guy did in Waco in 2006. He talked about life on Mars, Global Climate Change (Global Warming is an inaccurate term and gives fodder to idiots complaining of snow in Spring) and Energy Consumption.

But when he referenced a Bible verse and explained how the Moon reflects light and isn’t a source of light to listeners (mostly children) at McLennan Community College, they booed him. What the hell? Who knew there was a group of Flat Earthers living in Waco? Why haven’t they been stamped out like the stupidity-pestilence they are? The Tribune recently reposted the article on their site, so it’s starting to make the internet rounds. Check out this choice bit:

The Emmy-winning scientist angered a few audience members when he criticized literal interpretation of the biblical verse Genesis 1:16, which reads: “God made two great lights – the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.”

He pointed out that the sun, the “greater light,” is but one of countless stars and that the “lesser light” is the moon, which really is not a light at all, rather a reflector of light.

A number of audience members left the room at that point, visibly angered by what some perceived as irreverence.

“We believe in a God!” exclaimed one woman as she left the room with three young children.

Nye is a geek’s geek. He made science fun for kids for years and let’s face it – he’s cooler than Mr. Wizard ever was.

I secretly enjoy Pride & Prejudice.

There. I’ve been outed.

I was never exposed to Austen as a child. My first real introduction to Pride & Prejudice was through a girl I had something of a crush on; her sister informed me it was her favorite movie, and I purchased the BBC mini-series DVD set for her as a present. This act is probably directly related to our now being married, so I suppose I owe something akin to gratitude to the work. My wife, like countless others I’ve since met, loves Colin Firth’s Mr. Darcy. Bridget Jones’s Diary would not have made sense at all had I not known about this particular fascination that many people seem to have.

I suppose she enjoys Jennifer Ehle’s Elizabeth Bennett as well, but I must say that I’ve heard about her less. ^_-

At any rate, the work has grown on me. I’ve seen the BBC version many times (albeit never at my own behest), as well as the newer movie and the original 1940 version, which has its own charms. I even went so far as to read the book. ^_^ Recently, though, the magic of the public domain has caused another book to be written. Credited to Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith, it proclaims itself: The Classic Regency Romance – Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem! Pride and Prejudice and Zombies arrived at my door yesterday, so I’ll let everyone know how it holds up soon.

‘Ware the anger of video game widows

Dee made a post about a woman named Jillian R, a “Phoenix Early Childhood Parenting Examiner” (citizen reporter, in other words) who posted what amounted to a rant on video game players and how they ignore families.  My first impression was this is a woman who has dealt with being a “video game widow” in the past, and she has a very large axe to grind because of it.  A video game widow, as the name suggests, is someone who has become ignored by their Significant Other due to the latter always playing video games.  Internet widows are a related flavor.  While Jillian R tries to lend some legitimacy to her post by mentioning “research” that will appear in forthcoming articles, this first post is really nothing but an internet rant.

Her basic argument – that video games take away from family time – has been applied to practically every hobby of the past 50 years.  Golf, cars, crafts – you name it, someone has been a hobby widow of it at some point.  The argument is not without merit, as there are some people who do completely ignore other responsibilities in pursuit of their interests, but it’s not isolated to video games nor is it the inevitable outcome as she tries to argue.  Case in point: I know several families who make playing video games a part of their family life.  They all play together, have fun, and strengthen family bonds.  I also know several people who may not play with their families but are nonetheless in healthy, happy, long-term relationships.  I’m just one person; multiply that by the number of gamers out there, and you can’t claim that video games destroy families.

The rest of her arguments are just plain juvenile.  The money thing?  How much does a family outing to the movies cost these days for a family of four?  Let’s see… assume $9 tix for the parents and $6 for the kids, plus candy and sodas for everyone, you’re looking at $50-$60 for two hours of entertainment, about the price of the average new release video game.  The difference is the game will last you ten hours minimum, and likely more.  Plus, if it’s a game for the family, you can all talk while playing.

How about the “sex appeal” of male gamers?  I don’t know about her, but most people I know don’t pass judgment on the worthiness of a mate based on a single attribute.   The gamers I know run the whole spectrum of individuals – male and female, husky and thin, short and tall, passive and aggressive, liberal and conservative, pale and tanned.  They play sports, shop, pet their cats, feed their kids, and weed their gardens.   Does having a green thumb make you “unsexy”?  To put a personal note on it, my girlfriend does not like video games in general, but that has not impacted our 3.5 year relationship.  She also recognizes it for what it is – a hobby, and something that her own daughters enjoy.  It’s something we even do – gasp! – together, and she and I both enjoy watching her 10 and 7 year old play Guitar Hero; laughing, smiling, and having a good time.

The short of it is that people like Jillian R are the reason this blog exists.  Too many of them have some bizarre, biased view of geeks as pale, fat, mouthbreathing, socially inept soda suckers who spend all their time in their mom’s basement.  While I’m sure there are some who fit this stereotype, the great majority do not.  By painting video gamers with the broad brush of family haters, she does nothing but show the world her own insecurities and past pain with someone who did ignore her.

Crazy Texas Laws

Because I’m a politics geek, and because I live in Texas, and because Texas has some weird-ass laws, here’s a list of some of the crazier ones. There are many many more out there.

Now, you need to remember that these aren’t enforced for the most part… BUT THEY CAN BE.

  • In Austin, it’s illegal to carry wire cutters.
  • In Dallas, it’s illegal to possess realistic dildos.
  • The Encyclopedia Britannica is banned in Texas because it contains a formula for making beer at home.
  • It is illegal to take more than three sips of beer at a time while standing in public.
  • In Galveston, it’s illegal to drive a car down Broadway before noon on Sundays.
  • Also in Galveston, any person who sits on a sidewalk may be fined up to $500.
  • In Mesquite, it’s illegal for children to have unusual haircuts.
  • In Temple, cattle thieves may be hanged on the spot.
  • You must acknowledge a supreme being before being able to hold public office.
  • In Kingsville, there is a law against two pigs having sex on the city’s airport property.
  • It’s illegal to curse in front of, or indecently expose oneself to, a corpse.
  • To have a valid ceremonial marriage, all you need is reasonable authority and at least one person acting in good faith.

It’s nice to see political mockery is alive and well in Texas.

It’s no secret that I dislike my governor. Rick Perry has been a horrible governor for Texas and just keeps getting worse. There were a couple of corruption stories about him, but they have faded into obscurity.

Anyway, I’m sure you’ve all seen him recently. He’s the douche bag who stood up at a San Antonio rally of proud Tea-Baggers and said Texas can and should secede from the Union. That asshat. Despite Texas Mythology converning our weird state laws and what our constitution does or doesn’t allow, the reality is that there is no provision allowing Texas to secede. The closest provision we’ve got is that Texas has the option of dividing into 5 seperate states. Which is an amusing thought, but will never happen.

Why is he doing this? Because he faces an impossible primary against U.S. Senator Hutchison, a moderate – for Texas – Republican who’s respected by the majority of the state. So Gov. Goodhair is running to the right. The FAAAAAR right. Into the waiting arms of the Republic of Texas crazies. Because in the Republican Primary, it’s usally the far right that participates – they aren’t crazy about Hutchison.

The image at the top of this post is a t-shirt that the Texas House Democratic Campaign Committee has created to mock our endangered governor. Good job guys. Remind me to donate some cash.

1UP already stole my headline

Rock out with your block out was pretty obvious, to be fair.  I can’t make up my mind how I feel about this.  On the one hand, the concept I find to be pretty stupid, but then I don’t have kids.  But I’d kill to have two or three of the songs on that brief preview list available in the full game (Kung Fu Fighting and Song 2 if you’re wondering).

Canon fodder

“Memory can change the shape of a room; it can change the color of a car. And memories can be distorted. They’re just an interpretation, they’re not a record…”

–       Leonard Shelby, Memento

Given Hollywood’s propensity for mining old ideas for new revenue streams, we’ve all heard these complaints at one time or another:

They’ve ruined my favorite childhood memories.

What right do they have to change that?  It was fine in the original!

They raped my childhood.

The last one in particular jumped out most recently in a discussion reproduced here in The Basement, spurred by the issue of a new toy from the G.I. Joe movie being released this summer.  That would ostensibly be the same G.I. Joe that was a cartoon series from the mid-1980s.  Which was itself little more than episode length commercials for the G.I. Joe toy line being issued by Hasbro in 1985.  Said toy line being itself a retooling of its own toy line from the late 1960s that was eventually renamed Adventure Team when Hasbro opted to downplay the war theme of the toy in the wake of the Vietnam War (this according to Wikipedia, so take with a grain of salt).

As you can see from the long history of the franchise, a creation can sometimes undergo multiple revolutions over time, if the core idea is marketable but the current approach doesn’t appeal to the present audience/market.  And this is just from a franchise that was commercially successful.  One that didn’t have marketability may wind up being reborn as something completely different, bearing only the same name from one conception to another.

The question criticism such as Sam’s raises is at what point is the fan’s personal investment great enough that fan service can or should potentially trump creative license with an established character or franchise? Continue reading →