Facebook me!

The Facebook. A Facebook? I'm not quite sure what all the hubbub is over this site. It's seems like a nice, polite Myspace.com. It connects people. Well, the group I am in already socially connects many different people all the time. In person! Just what I need. Another site to waste time on. I already waste enough time as it is with Flickr. If there was a button that added all the friends of my friends, the machine would overload. Not because I have a lot of friends but because my friends do! And what if you add some people but not others? Do they feel slighted because they are not a facebook friend? Does Facebook have a blog so I can just blog there from now on? And a Flickr site? What I want is a Flick-Blog-Book that does it all. So I don't have to keep goofing around on all these different sites.

Here's the Whoops of the year award: at one point, some major company [whom I have forgotten] was in the market to buy facebook but balked. Now it's probably worth up to 2 billion. Supposedly, now Google is in the market to buy Facebook. Hmmm, getting juicier. All this to compete with Myspace. Egads, what a horrible site THAT is.

I just can't wait until Eric R. joins up! Once he starts networking, it'll connect me to like 4500 other people. And that's a conservative, 6-degrees of Kevin Bacon estimate.

Oh well.... Facebook me!

Snakes on a Plane

Without a doubt, this has to be the best movie title I have heard in a long time. I do not fear snakes nor planes. But combining the two, I think I could be frightened. Of laughing to death, that is.

http://www.movie-list.com/trailers.php?id=snakesonaplane

When I was growing up, I had to encounters with the reptiles. My first snakey time which I remember involved some old dude who must have lived/worked nearby our house. I think he worked for the local cement factory which ground up rocks excavated from a nearby mountaintop. He had caught some rattlesnakes and put them in a 55 gallon drum. My Dad and he did a little show and tell. That was about all my 5 year old brain needed.

My second snakey situation involved the TV. I think I was sick with the flu or something I remember watching some movie on TV. I think it involved a Charles Bronson prsion break or the EMT show Emergency. Anyhoo, this helicopter pilot was flying around and this giant snake was onboard and got him. I don't remember if Sir Hiss crashed or flew the helicopter after that. Maybe it was just a delirious dream. I do remember being scared though and I think the chopper pilot was sweating up a storm.

Just to make fun of it all, the 21st century welcomes our new blog buddy:

http://www.snakesonablog.com/

I hope you waste as much time as I did enjoying the trailers and collection of celluloid, reptilian drivel that I do.

Funny international food story

Yesterday I ate my friend's house. Keith and Lori are very hospitable and are always serving up something fun. Well, a buddy of ours from Scotland had made them some haggis. They heated it up and served it on crackers last night. (It was OK.) There were some unwitting victims at the dinner table who did not know what it was. So I thought I would send an SMS to my Scottish friend, Elaine about what was being served. When I typed in the SMS, here is exactly what came through on the T9 (the SMS typing software on my cell phone):

Just had gaggis tonight. Thought you would like to know.

That about sums it up.

Fortunately it was not served in the "bladder" or "stomach" and looked like a rather nice holiday cheese ball.

Visit to Ekaterinburg, Russia

Last week I visited Ekaterinburg, Russia. It is in the heart of the Urals area of Russia. It is quite a fun city. I saw some friends there and also made some new friends. One of my highlights was to go to the Russian circus, always a moment for the child in me. Another was to see a ballet. Well, that wasn't really a highlight but it became one after the fact. It was Romeo and Juliet with music by Prokofiev. Good times! I especially liked the sharks with laser helmets near the end. Oh wait, that must have been the part where I started to nap...

I took lots of photos which you can see here: my visit to Ekat

I am also in the process of uploading some short movie clips to Google Video. You can see the first one here: mclipsco's Google Videos

Finally, here are some fun facts from Wikipedia about Ekaterinburg.

More Flickr photos

hey Everyone - I got back a few days ago from my back to back retreats outside of Moscow. They were fun and full of good weather! I just posted a bunch of new photos to my Flickr sites. They are in different "sets" which you can view:

• Friends - baby Emma's day at the office
• Nature - a very cool eclipse photo
• Victory Day May 9 2006 - holiday celebration in Moscow
• Russia Interns 2005-6 - all the folks who served in Russia this year
• Olympics in May - Russia Intern games

check 'em out!

-Mike-

Emma's day at the office

Everyone's friend, Anya, came to visit the office on Wednesday. She must have thought it was "take your daughter to work day" and so she brought Emma.

Back in town

I just got back in town from 10 days outside of Moscow. I was at two back to back conferences--busy times but fun. I can't write much now but here is some of what May 9 looked like in Moscow (clicky on linky to Wikipedia article):

Victory Day in Europe

Happy reading!