House?

by Matt | Dec 18, 2007 | Personal

A very complicated situation started brewing this weekend. It involves people moving to a retirement village and a house being vacant. There was talk about Lauren and I potentially moving into said vacant house. This would be awkward and I’m not sure how much detail I should go into. To simplify things, lets just say that we’ve potentially just bought a house. Now, this is a nice house. Good solid construction, very livable. Not to mention free. There are numerous downsides however, all of which need to be weighed against the major upside of having a large rent free living space.

First, our commutes to work would double or potentially triple. In my case it would go from 20 minutes up a rarely used highway to an hour and a half up the most major freeway in the state. Second would be the surrounding area. It’s really far away from everything we like/enjoy about where we’re living now. No restaurants, no stores, no friends, no church, no convenience. Third, it’s really too close to things I don’t enjoy. The dirt mall, bad movie theaters, lots of congestion, lots of traffic. It’s also really, really close to my in-laws. Almost too close. I love my in-laws (that’s actually not a lie), they’re very nice people. But it would be like Everybody Loves Raymond, they’d be right down the street. For those who would understand the analogy, it would be like moving from Amherst NH, to the old stinky part of Nashua NH. Fourth, the house needs a lot of work. A lot. New everything would be required before moving in. Nothing major or really time consuming, but everything “little” thing. For example, it would need new carpet in every single room, new sheet rock in some places, a new paint job, stuff like that. It wouldn’t need new plumbing or new windows or a new roof, nothing crazy. There’s a bunch of little stuff, but those are most of my major concerns.

So, I’m between a very interesting rock and a very sharp hard place. On one hand, it would make life affordable. We wouldn’t be paying rent anymore. Lauren could get a new car. I could pay off school loans and we could save for a real house of our own. On the other hand, there is a lot of work to be done, a lot of downsides and life would be hard for at least a couple years.

This is definitely something that’s going to need to be discussed at length before I decide on anything.

Morning Coffee

by Matt | Dec 14, 2007 | Personal

As I sit here with my warm cup of morning goodness, checking my various daily websites for fresh content nuggets, I’m relieved that my week alone in the office is coming to an end. My boss(es) have been out of town on business and I was left to manage the office in their stead. I’ve done my best and have kept the work moving across my desk at a steady pace. I think I’ve actually gotten more done this week than I have in the past month or two. I am, however, ready to stop being the secretary / manager / accountant / mailing dept / art dept / photographer. I don’t mind the last two, but the rest really aren’t in my skill set. Don’t get me wrong, a monkey can label and ship out a package or print off an invoice, but I really don’t enjoy taking orders from point A to Z. I’m not sure anyone does or would.

On top of that I had to photograph a Christmas party on my own last night and another one tonight. Luckily the boss, though jet lagged and possibly cranky, will be with me, at least for moral support.

Completely changing gears, I was curious as to what everyone else was wishing for for Christmas? Just out of complete and blantent curiosity. It’s not like I have the money to get anyone the present of their dreams. Sorry guys. I’m just curious what games, gadgets and gizmos you have on your list this year. If you don’t have a list, or aren’t really sure, then what are you looking forward to in the coming months?

Personally, there’s a game or two in Jan/Feb that looks interesting. Frontlines (demo now available on XBLM) looks kinda cool. Army of Two, the new Brothers in Arms, Burnout Paradise, and Kingdome Under Fire: COD all look kinda strong.

Anyway, I should get back to work. Still a lot to do to get ready for the shoot tonight, then it’s a non-stop rollercoaster of crazy this weekend as we have 3 Christmas parties in a row, followed by helping someone move to a new apartment on Monday. Ah, the fun never stops.

Matt out.

Bringin’ the pixels

by Matt | Dec 7, 2007 | Personal

This is really sad, but I apparently have come down with a huge case of “artists block”. I can’t find any inspiration for the two ideas I have in my head. Maybe if I talk them out (and get some feedback), it’ll cure my blockage of artistic brain matter. So, here goes.

1. Generic category icons
What I really need, for both here (on this site) and at SavvyNation.com, are some generic category icons for posts. Take a look at SN and you can see where the new design there is headed and you’ll get a better idea for what I’m talking about. Basically I need 256×256 pixel, PNGs, that graphically represent things like “movies, games, music”. I’ve dug through tons of examples of generic icons and I’ve yet to find anything to inspire me. It’s really such a simple prospect that it’s driving me batshit to not come up with anything.

2. Fruit Bowling League and Team logos.
Yeah, you read that correctly. I might have mentioned in the past that I’ve helped create a new sport. No, I’m not kidding. Really. A small group of guys, including myself, were quite bored at a church Thanksgiving party last year. The owner of the house we were having the party at was trying to think of the best way to dispose of an extra pumpkin. Someone suggested why not roll it down the street. That concept seemed to funny not to try, and thus Fruit Bowling was born. I’ll post a seperate article detailing the rules of the sport, but for the moment let’s just say that it’s caught on. We have teams, we’ve established rules and requirements, we’ve tested which produce rolls the furthest and fastest. We’re actually quite good at it. Needless to say, the PFBL (Professional Fruit Bowlers League) needs a logo. I had thought something like a giant melon or gourd flanked by goal posts/orange street cones, but I can’t quite get that to gel in Photoshop. We haven’t picked team names yet, but presumably we’d need logos for those as well. Something like “Produce Chuckers” or “Fruit Tossers” or “Melon Lobbers”, I dunno. How do you make a mean looking cantaloupe?

There you have it. Any suggestions guys?

Extra Gravy

by Matt | Nov 24, 2007 | Personal

I hope everyone out here had a great Turkey Day, or at the very least, an early festivus. I had a great time with Lauren’s family this year. We had a great dinner, watched a few movies on her parents flat panel and HD-DVD player. Chris and I even snuck away for a little bit to have a nice Grand Habano and some 12 year old Scotch. It was a nice, relaxing Turkey Day.

Yesterday I had to work but from the other people I’ve talked to it seems like everyone had a good Black Friday as well. My brother is actually quite the BF aficionado. He goes every year and gets all of his Christmas shopping done.

I’m also really excited that quite a few people have gotten 360’s this year, just in time for the holidays. Nagle just got one, as did my brother. I also have it on good authority that one of Lauren’s friends just got one. Her brother has one now as well. My pool of potential XBL playmates just tripled. I had quite a few guys from the TCC on my friends list, but none of them are on very often. Now, with Nagle rockin the 360, my brother getting back on his campus network and our friend across town getting online, this should make for quite the gaming season. Now we just have to find a good game we all would enjoy playing. Halo would probably be a safe bet, most people will get that eventually. Call of Duty is quite good, but that’s more up my alley than anything else. What does everyone else like to play? I’m more than willing to pick up a used copy of Madden or something if that’s where people are leaning. Any suggestions?

Besides Xbox, I’m being taunted around here by what people have gotten me for Christmas. It seems every year everyone knows exactly what to get me and has their shopping done on or before Thanksgiving. Lauren’s mom apparently bought my present months ago. I have no idea what it could be, and, like a 12 year old, that bugs the hell out of me. I hate surprises. What if I go out and buy what someone has already gotten me? I can’t stand holiday gift giving because inevitably it’s the one time a year I have a few extra bucks to buy something for myself, but I can’t, because someone might have already. Of course they didn’t, but the threat of duplicate gifting is almost as staggering as finding the “perfect gift” in the first place.

I don’t want to make it sound like I’m all about the presents. Actually, quite the opposite. I’ve never really received a great deal of presents, so my expectations are really quite low.  It’s the entire process that frustrates me.

You see, my birthday is 4 days before Christmas. As a kid growing up, that meant that every friend/relative/girlfriend/etc gave me a “combo gift” for both occasions. Even my parents often lumped gifts together. Birthday’s were NEVER a big deal in my family and were rarely celebrated. I’m sure Chris and Chip can tell you all about the rather pathetic “let’s get a pizza” birthday parties I had over the years. What was it, 5-6 years in a row where I celebrated my birthday by doing hardly anything? There was a movie or two, a trip to Denny’s that I can remember with Chip, but hell, I don’t think I’ve had a birthday cake since I was 10. So, having rather lack luster birthdays AND lumping those lack luster birthdays together with Christmas made for some rather forgettable holidays.

So, my expectations were always low, and in turn I didn’t see what all the fuss was about when it came to giving and receiving presents. I always thought that the holidays were more about spending TIME with people. That was always the best part to me. Driving down to Boston and having dinner with my grandparents and the entire family. Pie, turkey, bad jokes, stupid cousins, the cooler full of soda on the back porch in the snow bank to keep it cold, football games in the middle of the street, sledding, hot chocolate, bad holiday movies, falling asleep on the couch after eating too much. That’s the holidays to me. The giving and receiving of presents was just something that happened. I would much rather have someone tell me they bought me something cool, hand me a toy and say Merry Christmas than to go through all the trouble of wrapping it, putting it under the tree, waiting weeks to opening it, only to find out that it is indeed yet another shaving kit. I guess I’m just not much of a surprise kind of person.

Does that make me a scrooge? I hope not. I enjoy the season as much as everyone else. I love the weather, the tree, the baked goods, the whole thing.

I think I’ll just leave the shopping up to Lauren. She’s much better at it than I am. I think that goes without saying.

Matt out.