Matt's Weblog

Thank You Petty Officer Monsoor

msievert@gmail.com — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 01:54:42 -0000

This link is from CNN.com about the posthumous presentation of the medal of honor to Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Monsoor, a Navy SEAL serving in Iraq.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/08/seal.medal/index.html

Good People Day - April 3rd, 2008

msievert@gmail.com — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 04:22:10 -0000

According to Gary Vaynerchuk Tomorrow, April 3rd is Good People Day.

I want to take a moment and recognize some of the people who I consider "Good People".

My mother and father for adopting me.
My brothers, Aaron and Jeff
My grand parents, the Mahar's and Sievert's
My close friends, all of them.
Paula Charnesky - for pushing me to extend my abilities
Mrs. Murphy - 3rd grade teacher who tried hardest.
Virginia (Ginnie) Nelson - My spin class instructor for continuing to push me past what I consider my limits
Joyce Gumm - for having a heart of gold.

These are just a few of the people who I want to mention of "Good People Day 2008"

GPD08

You are a food nerd when...

msievert@gmail.com — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 17:13:18 -0000

You are food nerd when walking to the breakfast counter downtown and discover you picked up "Bon Appetit" rather than "Food Arts", and are very dissatisfied with the situation.Oh yeah, you are also a complete food nerd when you use a blackberry to expound about this "issue" on your blog. Huh, huh, huh

Small victories

msievert@gmail.com — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 03:20:27 -0000

I have been attending spin class at the YMCA for about seven months now. I go on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Wednesdays tend to be more physical than the other classes throughout the week. On Wedensdays besides doing drills on the stationary death machines, they jump rope, do push-ups, run stairs, lunges, and oh yeah run around the city block that the YMCA shares with the rest of downtown Springfield. Not once, but twice during the hour long class. I have always opted out of running down the three flights of stairs then out onto the sidewalk for a nice jog around downtown Springfield. I would sit up on the bike and spin away at around 65% and wait for the people to return. Tonight Ginnie told me to run around the downstairs gym once while they ran outside. I think that was sort of a dare.

Tonight, on their second trip around the block, I ran with them. Well, I ran most of the way with them. I stopped a couple of times, but quickly decided that waddling around the block was worthless, so I might as well run.

I ran out the front door and around the building onto Pershing street and was feeling pretty good about the whole idea, at frist. By the time I got in front of Springfield Blueprint I was breathing a bit harder and having second thoughts, maybe I could just turn around here and go back. Instead I turned the corner onto South Street. Passing by Bruno's, the little bookstore, florist, High Strung, Maria's, and the little pizza place on the corner of Walnut and South. I turned onto Walnut and made my way past the new Hyde Gallery, Emack and Bolio's, and Gailey's. By this time I was tired and was walking, and partly doing a "slow jog". I started actually running again in front of Stick it in your ear. I passed by the parking lot guy who I usually wave at while walking to the Mudhouse after my YMCA experience. Tonight he looked a little concerned as I lumbered my sweaty body past his little booth. I continued past Jimmy John's and the high priced modern furnishings store. I rounded the corner onto Jefferson. With the YMCA in sight and knowing that I was way behind everyone else. I was looking forward to a leisure walk up the three flights of stairs back to the comfort of my yellow stationary bike, its made by "Lemond", so of course it is painted yellow.

As I got closer I heard a familiar voice. Ginnie, our instructor, had some how found out I was actually running outside with them. Not sure how, since she had ran down way before me. She was waiting for me outside the front door of the Y, and gave me words of encouragement as I made my way up the front stairs of the building. Once in the lobby I stopped and leaned against a wall. Ginnie reassured me that, "You can rest after you walk up the stairs, around the track once and get back on the bike."

After climbing the three flights of stairs back to the workout area I took my lap and came to the conclusion that I wanted all the breatheable air in the universe. I got back on my bike and felt completley exhausted, but very fullfilled.

Seven months ago I thought spin class was for bored housewives and young college girls who liked music with a good beat, and didn't wanna sweat as much as everyone else. Well, it took only one class to discover, I was completely wrong. Spin class can kick your butt.

Go attend a local class, but don't try to keep up in your first try. Just watch and pedal along.

Thanks Andy!

msievert@gmail.com — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 07:04:38 -0000

Wow, what a spiffin new web blog I have. I almost feel like a real computer geek, or something like that.

Anyways, Andy Waschick of Gestalt Inc, has provided a stunning interface for me to type stuff into and then show the world.

A touch of Irony. The lovely picture in the top right corner of thehome page was undecided when I provided Andy with this new layoutfor the blog. So I figured I would upload a picture whenever I foundone that wasn't copyrighted and looked like it represented me in somemanner (no, I still don't have a digital camera.)

Anyways my frist visit to my new blog, and up pops a lovely picture ofmy vast "estate" like cubicle I had at St. John's. Which I really missall that lovely desk and shelf space.

The true irony which I won't beat to death is, it is has now been ayear and two days since St, John's let us go. Am I better off? I'm notsure.

The Divine Picnic.

msievert@gmail.com — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 06:39:55 -0000

I was downstairs at the Bass Pro corporate cafeteria last Thursdaygetting some lunch and was conversing with Aaron, who is the dude incharge of the cafe.

Aaron wanted to know if I was going to the company picnic this weekend. I told him, "no".My obvious reasons were that I didn't really know many people socially who worked at Bass Pro,I didn't have kids, and I hadn't even thought about a way to get out tothe picnic. Which like in years past has been held out East of townnear Strafford, Mo.

Having done a few picnics for Clary's I half-jokingly ask if theyneeded any help with the picnic. Aaron said yes he did and Ivolunteered my skills. From there things went weird. First there wasthe barrage of phone calls/e-mails from Bass Pro HR to Tracker HR about who was going to payfor my time out there. I am salaried, so to me it really didn't matter.My main concern in that area is who would be responsible if I fell facefirst into a hot grill due to heat stroke, Bass Pro, or Tracker? Once the job stuff was taken care of, then came the fun stuff.

People started asking from both ends how I would be getting out to thepicnic. At Clary's and other places, I would meet at a central location and rideout to the event usually with the food. I guess it worked differently at BassPro. They all wanted to know if I had a ride out to Strafford. I ofcourse did not, and seeing how I wasn't going to be making a whole lotof money. I wasn't going to pay a cab to drive me all the way outthere.

In the end we all decided that me working the Bass Pro picnic wasn'tgoing to happen since I didn't have reliable transportation. Oh well, Ithought it might of been fun to once again work in the food serviceindustry. Even if it was a picnic out in the middle of a field. Whichfrom past experience is not the optimum "gig", but hey, it's thechallenges that make it fun.

So anyways, I spent Sunday in my cozy apartment watching T.V. and wentout long enough to do my laundry. Meanwhile it rained all day in theOzarks. In fact it rained 2.13 inches in Springfield. So it will beinteresting to see how things went at the picnic.

I guess God didn't want me to carry hotel pans of picnic food in the rain on a Sunday.

Another Movie at the Moxie!

msievert@gmail.com — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 05:18:48 -0000

Went to the Moxie tonight. Since I had such a great time last week when I saw "WordPlay".

Tonight I watched "The War Tapes." Please go see this film. It is about a year spent in Iraq by three national gaurdsmen, who were given video cameras. The film follows the servicemen from deployment, to their return home.

A very intense, touching, and human tale of how some men who serve in our military experience and interpret our countries mission in Iraq.

Word Play

msievert@gmail.com — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 21:50:22 -0000

Went to The MOXIE last night, which is the independent movie theatre in Springfield.

I saw the movie "Wordplay". Which is about crossword puzzles and the wide variety of people who like to sovle them.

It is a very interesting movie, and well worth your time.

If you are in the Springfield, Missouri area The Moxie on WalnutStreet is a very nice independent movie house. The people who own andoperate the facility are very nice, they have seperate receptacles forrecycling, and they even sell beer. Overall a very comfortableatmosphere to watch movies that you would have to either rent, or catchin a larger city.

Social Stores

msievert@gmail.com — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 02:08:40 -0000

I have found that when I really want a book I will order it off the Internet, specifically Amazon.com.

I have found going to the Barnes and Noble and trying to find the object harder and harder to swallow.

1. You have to physically go to the store.
2. Once there you have to FIND the item you want
3. If you don't find it. You have to go ask a not always well-infomedworker. Who might not give a crap what your looking for as long as theyget to go home soon.
4. If they don't find it, or it is misplaced you don't get the opportunity to purchase the item, and your trip is wasted.
5. They of course can order it, but you have to then come back to pick it up.

Of course

You can call ahead and see if they have it. If they don't have it then screw it. I am ordering off the internet anyways.

In fact when I do call Barnes and Noble I have already gone online toget the ISBN of book I want. So I don't have to have the people at thestore go through the trouble of searching for the book.

I give them the ISBN number and they tell me if they have it or not.The price you pay by actually going to the store is convenience andgetting the item right away. Sometimes convenience is worth 30% andfour days.

Amazon.com is always 30-40% less than Barnes and Noble. Even on the bigbooks. Plus they ship directly to where I might be located. In my casethey ship directly to where I work. Or if it is a gift they can shipthe heavy object anywhere in the country, so you don't have to resendit.

The prime reason I go to the Barnes and Noble is to leisurely see whatthey have new which I have not yet discovered on my own, which may leadto a sale.

Eight times out of ten when I go to Amazon.com I am buyingsomething. That is an astounding completion rate, bordering on thecompletion rate of driving up to the drive-thru window of a fast foodrestaurant.

Plus it is easier to search Amazon.com then asking the sometimes rudeand always busy lady at the info desk for that one book writtenby that one guy.

Worth an hour of your time.

msievert@gmail.com — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 04:04:32 -0000

If you have the Travel Channel. I can highly recommend trying to catch the program "Bourdain in Beirut".

This is an excellent episode produced by Anothony Bourdain who isused to sitting at restaurant tables telling crude jokes abouttourists, and telling stories about the people who are REALLY cookingyour $50.00 steak.