The Shins playing in Seattle

The Shins are playing in Seattle on May 4th and 5th, and I graduate on the 3rd. Anyone want to go? Tickets are $35.

Nintendo news from GDC

Geektalk commence!

The president of Nintendo presented at a keynote and he gave everyone in the audience a free DS game called Rhythm Heaven. It's really good! It's kind of like Warioware, but with rhythm games. I can loan it to you guys when I'm done.

They announced a storage solution for the Wii. You'll be able to run games and channels directly from SD cards. They also showed the Warioware game for the new DSi. It uses the cameras for minigames, which is pretty fun. At the end, it shows the videos of you doing goofy things in the games for good laughs. There's also going to be a downloadable app that lets you make animations and record sounds for them. So good! I can't wait.

There's going to be a new Zelda on the DS in the style of Wind Waker, only instead of a boat he drives a train. I'm skeptical on the train, but at least the actually gameplay looked pretty good.

The new Punch-Out on the Wii is a ton of fun, I recommend getting it, especially if you like the old ones. It recaptures the puzzle-style fighting, only now it's active.

Lastly, they're releasing arcade games on the virtual console. Space Invaders is the flagship for this. They're also making a sequel to FF4 for Wiiware and then releasing all the Nintendo final fantasies on virtual console.

Not too shabby!

Demetri Martin

Demetri Martin - Large Pad - Watch more

Mykl and I love this guy. Completely random/hilarious. He has a newish show on Comedy Central that's pretty funny too. Enjoy!

Ricky gervais - humpty dumpty rant

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.

What do I want to do when I grow up?

So, I've decided to teach another year, but I don't think that I want to teach forever. Just until I find something else to do! The problem is, there are too many other careers that sound fun to me! And, if we do the Peace Corps, then I don't know when/if I should be thinking about a career change anyways! Here are my career interests - any thoughts?

• Eco consultant - You go into people's houses/businesses and suggest ways of making their home "greener" by suggesting ways to decrease water consumption, increase energy efficiency, and improve air quality. Plus you give all kinds of tips and tricks of the trade, and sell them products that can help them on their way. Would be really, really interesting for me, but I am thinking that "green" is a trend that could go away soon, and not sure I would have a market for it here? Would need some training, but websites like greenirene.com offer training and certification.
  
• Web designer - I started making websites for fun in middle school. I loved doing layout for my middle school and high school newspaper. I've been out of it for awhile, so I would need to take classes to get caught up again, but I found an online certificate degree that looks pretty cool. Something I could even do from home and not have to commute.
• Yoga/fitness instructor - Probably something I would want to do on the side. I love taking classes at the gym and think that I could be good at teaching them with some practice. I feel pretty comfortable in front of groups of people.
• Spanish professor - If we go to a Spanish-speaking country for the Peace Corps, then my Spanish skills would be very good! I could get my master's and doctorate in Spanish and teach college. I think I would enjoy teaching college a lot more - don't have to worry about discipline problems, and everyone is pretty motivated already. I would probably have to move to Columbia to get my master's and doctorate, and I'm not really into Spanish literature (which is what most Spanish degrees are in).

Off to GDC!

It's that time again! Since I have a camera, I'll see if I can't make a cool video of my adventures. KELLY OUT Y'ALL.

Dolphins, Lords of the Ring

Barack-etology

The President made a bracket to, I thought I was the only one who did that. If you where to copy I'd use his over mine. He knows a lot more about basketball then I do. I had CLemson going to the Elite Eight and Dumb old Michigan defeated them in the first round.

ErrAHGAbirthDAYbriLEY

Pew Pew Pew!

So anyone busy this weekend? I was thinking we could get together and celebrate St. Joseph's day. I think it's my birthday too, but I figured if I said that nobody would come (awww). I was thinking we could do some partying, play some Video James (???), and eat foodies. Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday are all good to me. I was secretly hoping to have some fun downtown Saturday night with friends and family if anyone is game. If you haven't got any presents yet, I could use some money to get a new sound card I've been saving up for. I need it to write my tinkle music. I could also use a usb cord and car adapter for my new phone (Lg Vu).

On another note, I've got a few cool things going on this month. First, if you haven't checked out Nixa's winter drumline show, we are playing at Kickapoo this Saturday at 12:30ish. If not, I have a video of the show I might post on here some time.

As of this week, I'm arranging Nixa's whole marching show again next year. We have an entertaining show lined up and I think you guys will like it. I'm finding the staff at Nixa is slowly giving me creative reigns over the program there, so I'm just hoping not to run us off a cliff. Unfortunately, I can't tell you much more about the show because you don't have a Level-4 Band Geek clearance code.

I also have the privilege of composing a Percussion Orchestra piece (that's right, orchestra, as in 16+ percussionists!) inspired by the "Kinetic Man" statue in Jordan Vally Park. They are premiering the piece on April 24th at MSU if you are interested. I'm hoping to do a concert of the piece at Jordan Valley Park, too. Anypoo, I hope to see most of you this week except for Joe and Kelly. Not because of distance...mostly cause you guys smell bad. Bye!

Video James

First of all, there was a leak recently about an upcoming Lego Harry Potter game. Will my talents ever stop emerging? I'm excited! I think it'll be the best one (I've never played the Batman or Indiana Jones ones).

In other news, something I would never predicted, there's going to be a Rock Band game dedicated to the most influential band in history, The Beatles. Rock Band is kind of like guitar hero, except you have a full band: a singer, a guitarist, a bass guitarist, and a drummer. It's kind of like multiplayer karaoke, so naturally it's a great source of fun. Combined with The Beatles, it could be a beautiful thing. George Harrison's son, Dhani, also mentioned that there will be some never-before-released material on it, so it's nice to know it's actually important to them, not just commercialization.

Yes, it will be on the Wii, but just know that those instrument controls are expensive. Getting the full set (all instruments and the game) will cost around $200 to $250.

How To

In an attempt to help the world which I live in, and to help ease over some tension which might have been created I have decided to show you this video which can solve all of the worlds problems. I have been hanging on to this video because the informatin in it can be used for evil as well as good. But now I feel the time has come to show you this so we can start to help people. So I pray that you use the information in this video for good and the advancment of all mankind rather then for your own personal gain.

Brackets

This maybe a huge waist of time but do any of you fill out a bracket? If you do maybe we can have a friendly wager with each other. I do it 5 points for first round, 10 for second round, 25 for sweet 16, 35 for elite 8, 50 for final four and 100 for the champion. If your interested, here is my bracket.

Something Silly

FLYING THOMPSON'S GAZELLE OF THE YARD

Here is something silly, I haven't done anything silly in awhile. Its a nice break from God and Environmentalism.

Did You Know?

Kelly's job site

Kelly Jacobs

If any of you are curious what I've been up to these past couple of years, the major stuff is there. Don't mind the broken sentences, that's how people know you're a programmer. Though, let me know if you see any typos.

Flexitarianism and me

As you know from my last grossly over-worded and long post, I am trying to take better care of the environment.  The last few months, I have been slowly changing my diet to eat less meat, as the meat industry is very bad for the environment.  From the grain and water to hormones, land, pesticides, CO2 given off by the animals, it seems to be a better choice to eat more vegetables rather than more meat.  Plus, the average American eats way more meat than they actually need.

I thought it would be hard, but it's actually really easy for me!  I have a few vegetarian recipes, but I have mostly been preparing normal recipes and subbing out the meat.  I still eat meat sometimes, which apparently means I am a "flexitarian" but I think I may eventually give it up and become a "lacto-ovo vegetarian" which means I would still eat dairy products and eggs.  It would probably be better to give those up too, but that would be much more difficult and I am lazy (and love cheese, milk, ice cream, butter, etc...).  I'm taking a vitamin to help out with some of the nutrients that only meat has (B12, etc...).  I used to not eat very many vegetables, but am starting to like them more and find more ways to prepare them.  So far I haven't eaten any fake meat.  Just a lot of beans and some peanut butter.  I am thinking about trying some vegetarian sausage to put in Spaghetti, lasagna, etc...- I tried some once and I couldn't tell the difference.

I still don't think I can ever give up barbecue or fried chicken.  I don't think it matters if I eat meat occasionally anyways - every little bit helps.  

I am disturbed at how far the food that I eat travels to get to my plate.  I just ate grapes from Chile and a can of pineapple from Italy (didn't think they had pineapple there? Maybe they ship it from elsewhere?). I've been trying to pay attention to where my food is coming from and may start trying to buy things from this continent only.  Also thinking about trying to only eat locally grown vegetables and fruit this summer.  Kind of like a lazy 100 mile diet (only eat things from 100 miles away).  Plus, I am growing lettuce and oregano on my balcony!  I might can some locally grown green beans and tomatoes too.   Plus, Mykl's parents said that if we help them build another raised bed (garden) that we could plant some food there.  I want to grow green beans, zucchini, tomatoes, and maybe some corn.   But I usually have a black hand of death when it comes to plants - maybe I can get over it!

What the Hell

This will probably cause some bad karma and make the Jackets miss out on the playoffs, but h0w often do you kick the S#%$ out of the defending Stanly Cup Champs then rub it in there nose.

Red Wings fans may not want to watch this.

Some More Stuff

Each is Not Enough

I'm going to reserve two rooms at the Colton Hotel for the 21, 22, and 23. I don't know if you guys are camping our not, but let me know if you want a room and I'll reserve one for you. The Colton is the cheepest, and is right in the center of town so you can walk to all the shops and resturants. I know that myself, Jeannine, Janice, Abbey, Dennis, Steven, are going, Mary said she is pretty sure she's comming to. Hope you all have a happy St. Patricks day, don't get to drunk.

Pale Blue Dot

Kitten Cannon

Kitten Cannon

I encourage anyone who is a world-class-cat-lover to follow this link and show your love for cats all over the world.

Come on everyone!  Give the cats a boost!