Definitional Issues

At what point does a cupcake cease being a cupcake and become simply a cake? Apparently it's a higher line than I would have drawn.

I say, "Baby, scoot over please."
And then she's right there next to me

Camping

Every year my dad's side of the family does a massive weekend camping trip. They've been doing it now for something like 300 years. It's quite the gathering. Just to give you some sense of the size: my dad is one of 9 children. All of his siblings are married and none of them have fewer than 4 children. And those children are at this point procreating too; we're at the point where not too far down the road the great grandchildren will catch and pass the number of grandchildren. Throw in some other assorted first and second generation relatives, and you've usually got a group of more than 100 people camping together. It's a blast.

There's always a ton of stuff to do, and it's so much fun. It's a great opportunity to see family, share stories, meet the new additions to the family, hang out with uncles and aunts and cousins, get in some fishing or water skiing or just sitting around the campfire with a s'more.

All of which makes me so sad that I'll be missing it. Again. This is, I think, the sixth year in a row that I won't be there (maybe even the seventh). Living so far away from family has been really tough because I miss out on stuff like this. There have been too many other major events that I've had to devote my vacation time towards, and flying back just for a weekend is often prohibitively expensive, so it's been a long time.

My hope is that next year I'll finally be able to make it back. I'd love to have my kid grow up experiencing the same wonderful times that I had at the Novak Family Camping Trip.

Oh, and if you're interested, we made the news for this even a few years back. Kind of one of those nice fluff pieces. You can see the video here.

Spent a week in a dusty library
Waiting for some words to jump at me

I'm Back

I'm ready to start posting again! Yay!
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I know I was on the fence about Obama in the lead-up to the election. I think the phrase I used was "cautiously optimistic." I had a lot of skepticism. But I'll tell you what: he's won me over.

I can't point to any specific policy or political move that he's made as the cause. It's actually that I love having a populist President. He's a celebrity, and I really like that quality. I wish he were a bit more of a thinker; despite his intellectual credentials I still get the impression he doesn't actually do most of his own thinking, and that the great ideas have always come from other sources. Maybe that's not fair. I don't know. It's really just an impression.

Regardless, I love his celebrity status. I like watching him on Leno. I like that the restaurants he goes to get more business. I loved watching him throw out the first pitch at the All Star Game, and listening to him chat with the guys in the booth. Of course Bush did a better job with both last year in the Nationals' first home game. He even spent some time calling that game from the booth, and handled it well. I don't think Obama could pull that off.

But that's ok, Bush is more of a baseball man than Obama. This is, of course, clearly demonstrated in Obama's choice of favorite team. Seriously, what kind of man picks a team of pure evil to root for? On second thought, I might have to reconsider my praise for Obama...

May you stay forever young

Podcast

This isn't quite a content post, but it is directing you towards new Matt Novak-content.

As some of you may know, I am a fan of the web comic Freaks and Squeeks. I'm related to the writer, but that doesn't mean it's any less quality (seriously, go read his latest storyline, starting Wednesday June 3rd. Fun stuff.)(I'll ignore the panel on the 24th... unless he's going somewhere with that.)

Anyway, once a week Patric draws the strip live on-line, and while it is being drawn I co-host with him a podcast called simply, "Patric Draws". We've discussed a bunch of fun stuff in the past, including the big 90's music topic that was featured here a month ago. We have a couple frequently recurring features (and we're working on adding more, to provide better structure to the show), including a weekly top 5 that has proved somewhat popular.

Anyway, it's a fun little podcast, and you should feel free to check it out. You can also find it on iTunes if you're so inclined. This past week we discussed the RIAA and functional vs. dysfunctional copyright, Transformers, and a list of the Top 5 Robots of all time. Now if that doesn't at least interest you a little, well, I think you need to get some help. (If the robots is the only part you're interested in, I'll cop to the fact that it's at the end of the podcast.)

Go check it out!

Despite of my rage
I am still just a rat in a cage

A Pause

I think I'm going to be taking a little pause from blogging here for another week or so. Maybe a little longer (though probably not more than 2 weeks). I'm working on the next section of my novel, which is proving awfully tough. I'm also trying to devote a little more time to my physical fitness. And work is busy, as always.

I'm still going to be posting nearly daily at www.dctwinsfan.com, and I'm actually going to be trying to step that up a little more, with extra posts, beyond the Hero Of the Win entries.

So worry not; I'll be back before too long. And who knows, maybe I'll have something I want to post tomorrow. But tonight I feel like I want to give myself a little break, and that's what the plan is for now. See you soon!

You may be King
You may possess the world and it's gold

Stand Up

So it's been a while since I've posted, and it's going to be a while again, since I'm heading to Minnesota for a quick little vacation. I'm sure there will be stories when I come back. But to tide you over, I'm going to go ahead and put up the video of my stand-up comedy act that I performed about a month ago.

Mind you, it clearly won't be as funny over the internet as it was in person. And if you want to go ahead and have a couple drinks before watching it, that would probably help too. But it was a good time, and there's been enough requests, so I'll put it up.

Enjoy!



You walked into the party
Like you were walking onto a yacht

Question: Music Of The 90's

I'm working on putting together a compilation of songs from the '90's for one of my younger sisters who pretty much missed that decade musically, because of her age. Now I confess, I only really caught the second half of the decade myself, however, it seems to me that the mid-to-late-'90's were a high point in music. Maybe everyone feels that way about the music of their high school years, but I stand by it.

The problem is narrowing down the list of songs. I'm only making one CD, which means roughly 20 songs, probably a few less. Right now I've got quite a sizable list of songs to pick from. I'm gonna throw it out here, and I'd like people recommendations. Folks like Ben and Jeff and Mike, I'm expecting you to come through for me here. Other regular readers who have any insight into music from the '90's, your insight is also much appreciated.

Pick as many as 20 songs that you would include on a '90's album. They don't have to be ones on my list, as I'm sure I've overlooked some good ones. And I'm not going for just representative stuff (you'll notice there are no boy band songs), I'm going for the songs I think people who missed '90's music should make sure they hear. I won't do more than 1 by any single artist though, so keep that in mind. Some artists have multiple nominations, so pick between them.

Now, without further ado, the list of potential songs:

Alanis Morissette - Hand in My Pocket
Barenaked Ladies - If I Had $1,000,000/One Week
Beck - Loser
Billy Joel - River of Dreams
Cake - Sheep Go to Heaven/Stickshifts & Safetybelts
Chumbawumba - Thubthumping
Collective Soul - The World I Know

Corky & The Juice Pigs - The Only Gay Eskimo

Counting Crows - Mr. Jones/Round Here
The Cranberries - Zombie
Crash Test Dummies - Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm
Dave Matthews Band - Crash
Deana Carter - Strawberry Wine
Everclear - Wonderful
Fastball - The Way
Garbage - Special
Gin Blossoms - Follow You Down
Goo Goo Dolls - Iris/Name
Green Day - Basket Case/When I Come Around
Harvey Danger - Flagpole Sitta
Joan Osborne - What If God Was One Of Us
Lit - My Own Worst Enemy
Local H - Bound For The Floor
Macy Gray - I Try
Matchbox Twenty - Real World
Marilyn Manson - The Beautiful People
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - The Impression That I Get
Moby - Run On/Porcelain
Natalie Merchant - Kind & Generous
New Radicals - You Get What You Give
No Doubt - Spiderwebs
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Oasis - Wonderwall
The Offspring - Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)
Pearl Jam - Better Man
Prince - Pussy Control
Radiohead - Creep
R.E.M. - Losing My Religion/Night Swimming
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
Reel Big Fish - She's Got A Girlfriend Now
Santana - Smooth
Shawn Mullins - Lullaby
Sheryl Crow - If It Makes You Happy/Strong Enough To Be My Man
Simpsons Cast/Michael Jackson - Happy Birthday, Lisa
Sixpence None The Richer - Kiss Me
Smash Mouth - Walkin' On The Sun
Soul Asylum - Runaway Train
Spin Doctors - Jimmy Olsen's Blues
Third Eye Blind - Semi-Charmed Life
Tori Amos - Cornflake Girl
Train - Meet Virginia
Tracy Chapman - Give Me One Reason
Verve Pipe - The Freshmen
The Wallflowers - One Headlight
Weezer - The Sweater Song

Ok, there you have it. Advise away!

Tonight I'm gonna party like it's 1999