Fest Weekend

Saturday I spent the afternoon at the Stars and Stripes Festival in Mount Clemens. The city is much nicer than I had imagined (being next to the Gibraltar Trade Center and all.) There were several more tattoos than I normally see, wearing shorts I fit right in. There were several streets with goods to buy and mid-way deep fried food and sugary drinks.











Sunday afternoon I drove to Howell where the Michigan Challenge Balloonfest was being held. It was way too windy for the sky divers or the hot air balloons. However there were several showings of dogs catching disks, mid-evil arts crafts and fighting. Tents were blowing away in the arts area. Only eight classic cars remained in the car show area. The mid-way was full of kids on kid rides.

Over all Saturday was better than Sunday... but I think that it was because of the wind.

Best of the last two weeks

Up North with Birmingham Crew from psquared on Vimeo.

Owl Club Trip 2009 from psquared on Vimeo.

JACK PINE LUMBERJACK SHOWS 30 SEC SPOT from psquared on Vimeo.

Owl Club Run

Movie Day

Image by Stewf via Flickr

Today was movie day. It was a cool and rainy day. There were no new postings for positions on the interweb. So I decided to take in a movie.

I drove a few minutes out of my way to a new movie theater that has clean screens and the latest in projector technology. This place is awesome for only five dollars.

First I went to see “Land of the Lost.” Very funny movie with lots of Will Ferrell and Danny McBride moments, plus the very sexy and talented Anna Friel from the over looked “Pushing Daisies.” They stay loyal to the morning Sid and Marty Croft Saturday morning show plus stands on it’s own as a movie. Stay until the very end of the credits.

Across the hall I snuck into “Terminator Salvation” and enjoyed it. I enjoyed the first three movies - yes, even the third. This incarnation stays true to the others and is full of action and good effects. Unlike the first three, which are basically a series of long and explosive chase sequences, I thought that this one spent more time on story development. Not much mind you, but more than the others. Christian Bale can do no wrong for me so I may be a bit biased.

For my next movie I went down the hall and watched Star Trek again. Why? Well, I am a big fan of “Star Trek” and this version really is worth seeing a few times.

When I got home there was an email from The Green Hornet that he wanted to see “The Hangover” after work. So after he got home and had dinner, we went to see my fourth movie of the day. “The Hangover” is an adult comedy. Let me reiterate this point. This movie is over 18. But if you are over 35, there might be some points lost on you. I am not a fan of rap and missed some of the things the packed house on a Thursday night laughed at. Stay for the slide show at the end - best part of the movie. Once the slides are done, you can go home. The Green Hornet found one of the scenes to be way to hard to suspend his disbelief… which makes me wonder how much of the rest of the movie he thought was possible. My biggest problem with the movie in that respect was that there was no way they could get a room that nice at the front desk with out reservations, and I don’t recall the villa’s looking like that at all. Perhaps it was part of the renovation in 2002.

For my last movie of the day TMC is playing “Seven Samurai” which was remade in the US as “The Magnificent Seven” and then made into a comedy which we all love called “The Three Amigos.”

Green Lake

On Saturday night I joined Ben and Kyle after they completed the hike for a night of camping on Green Lake.

Failure

I have failed once again. I have made an attempt, strived to do something outside of my safety zone, and pushed myself in a new a different direction. The goals were not accomplished. There is no other way to put it than having failed.

While I don’t consider myself, my life, to be a complete failure there was a lot of time in the shade of a large tree in a dirt parking lot on the edge of nowhere to consider it. There was the attempt at being funny for a living in Chicago, failed. A long series of relationships that ended poorly, failed, failed, failed, failed... You get the idea. The ability to get and hold a job, failed. Looking back at my last few jobs, virtual conference (canceled/failed), annual users conference (canceled/failed), or the time I got the new boss fired (I was not a better person for it - fail.)

I could go on about the four manuscripts and seven screenplays I have written but were never published or produced or classes I should have attended and participated in but I won’t bore you.

"Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm."
~ Sir Winston Churchill

This weekend was the big hiking trip. As you can tell by this blog so far something changed. After about six miles I gave up. Keep in mind the first five were nearly vertical and covered in bugs and brush. These are just an excuse. While I did hiking to prepare for this weekend and my gear was all in place, my frame of mind was not. I am not sure that I ever believed that I could hike the 40 miles. Being sore, tired, covered in Deet, scraped by wild thorns, and walking up and down over hill and dale is what I had signed up for. It should not be the excuse of why I quite.

"There is no failure except in no longer trying. "
~ Elbert Hubbard

So according to Churchill, as long as I keep the right frame of mind I have not really failed. Hubbard will tell you that I have now failed at successfully being a failure. This is what I think - I have failed more times than I have succeeded in life, but have learned more from my failures than any of my successes. I now know that hiking in temperatures higher than 50 degrees or inclines steeper than a 10% grade is not for me.

Photos and Video

4 Miles 5 Seconds