J23 Drama Emails, Move Rappers & Cameras

Jeromey Balderrama

So a few more days have passed and with it not much time to post, but I’ll try to see what I can do to get caught up on where things are at:

So an update on a few lingering things…  I finally wrapped up the whole situation with the web page, ending with me identifying another contact for the web site.  It was a bit of a painful process, I spent quit a bit of time composing the emails that I sent to them, and I got some pretty interesting responses.  For those who are interested, I have posted the emails, and you can read them.  I have taken the liberty and removed any specific names (remember break down situations, not people).  If you really want to know who I was exchanging emails with you can go their staff page and figure it out, but it’s not really worth it.

  • Email #1 – Me to J23 Staff, Monday 8/8
  • Email #2 – J23 Staff member’s response to my message, sent about 4 hours after I sent my original message
  • Email #3 – My 2nd email to the staff, sent about 4 hours later, early Tuesday morning (8/9)
  • Email #4 – J23 Staff Response to my email, sent late Thursday 8/11
  • Email #5 – My resignation announcement sent to J23 Leadership community, Fri 8/12

So that’s finally done with.  The leadership email went to roughly 85-100 people, as of right now the response has been pretty minimal.  I got one or two nice notes from people, but it’s been quiet – almost too quiet.  Which then gets me back to wondering: all the people that would have cared about this – are they all gone now?  Have things changed that much in our faith community that virtually all of the institutional memory has been wiped?  It might sound harsh, but that’s been something that I’ve really been thinking about and praying about when asking the question, "Where is my place in this community?".  It still looks like I have a lot of questions that still need answering.

I’ve gotten over the bitter, anger, and grieving stages, and have really come to peace to where I’m at with this situation, however there is a part of me that’s still a bit upset that I haven’t heard anything from any other staff members, namely the pastor.  I’ve put 5 years of my life, and countless hours of work into designing, re-designing, developing and maintaining the web site, and you would think I would be acknowledged for my efforts or thanked – I guess not…  Maybe that’s just the way things are at the new J23…

So shifting gears to a few other things.  I ended up seeing Four Brothers with my mom and sister last weekend.  It turned out to be an ok movie. It wasn’t great or spectacular, but it was entertaining enough so that I didn’t regret going.  The biggest highlight of the film for me was the fact that Andre Benjamin (or better known as Andre 3000 from Outkast) had a major role.  I love Outkast and 70% of my love for them is because of Andre 3000.  He did a really nice job in the movie.  Nothing academy-award winning, but pretty good nonetheless.

Speaking of rap-stars-turned-movie-stars, I saw the latest "thug" to add his name to a cast list – 50 Cent.  Who is going to be starting in an essentially auto-biographical movie about his rise to stardom…  Now I don’t mean to pile on the movie before it comes out – but when did it become a requirement that in order to make it big into the rap world you need to star in a movie…  Some recent flicks that come to mind:

  • 50 Cent in Get Rich or Die Tryin’
  • Eminem in 8 Mile
  • Nelly in the Longest Yard
  • Ludacris in Crash and Hustle & Flow
  • Snoop Dogg in Starsky & Hutch

That’s just off the top of my head.  I bet if I did some extensive searching through the IMDB I could find a ton of other rappers that have starred in movies.  I’m not saying that these people aren’t talented (I actually thought Ludacris did a good job in Crash), but is there any specific reason why there is such a correlation between Hollywood & the rap industry.  I guess in order to have "Street Cred" you not only need to have a wrap sheet, but also a silver screen credit as well.   It gives you the impression that the media is just in one big bed of cross-promotion with each other.  You give us 50 Cent in a movie, we’ll make sure that Lindsey Lohan and Hillary Duff cut an album.

I’m not against artists branching out into different forms of medium.  But do it the right way and let your talent speak for itself.  I admire Andre 3000 in his acting endeavors, mainly because he’s suspended his career in doing acting (their last CD came out over 18 months ago and Outkast hasn’t toured since, no news about a new album).  Or when actors/actresses branch out (Russelle Crowe has a band that plays in clubs, Forrest Gump‘s Gary Sinise has a cover band called the "Lt. Dan Band" – that plays at military support foundation’s fund-raisers.  I just get frustrated when there’s some media fat cat playing Gepetto, pulling the puppet strings while a certain star all of the sudden has a media blitz (new movie, new album, new line of clothes)… 

Then they wonder why the music industry is losing so much money…

One last thing…  I once again spent money that I didn’t have this weekend, this time upgrading my HP Photosmart 935 Digital Camera and buying a brand new Canon Powershot S70.  7.1 Megapixels, and probably a bit overkilling (being that there really wasn’t anything wrong with my 5.3 Megapixel HP), but with my sister going to Boston for school, we decided that I’d sell my HP to my family for way below cost (and I’m throwing in a 512mb SD card in there as well), so that my sister could take that digital to school with her.  Part of the other reason I did it is that I knew I was about 6 months to 1 year away from upgrading my HP, and I’ve been pretty frustrated with the direction they’ve been taking.  When I bought the 935 I bought it with the intention of possibly upgrading that to a more enthusiast model – with a stronger optical zoom, better resolution and better features.  But it seems that since HP discontinued their 945 (pretty much the most advanced model they have), they’ve relegated themselves to producing this mid-range, beginner-class cameras that appeal more to pop culture than the tech enthusiast.  While I was researching the Powershot, I made one last stop over to the HP pages, to look at their most advanced camera, and right next to the image of the camera, here is what I saw:

Hmmmmm…  Now please take it out of the homosexual context, because I’m not considering that – but think about the audience that Queer Eye appeals to: typically a younger demographic, that likes to stay pretty trendy, and is tied to this "flavor of the month" mindset.  Maybe I’m stereotyping here, but I don’t think that the Queer Eye audience cares much about the line resolution in pictures, the boot-up time, time between photos, or the lighting modes that are available – but rather whether or not the camera looks "hip & stylish".  I can understand their targeting of this "flavor" demographic, but at the same time, they’ve really turned their backs on the tech enthusiast – who may some day wish to "grow out" of their camera and graduate to the next level…  For whatever reason, HP’s camera line isn’t doing that.  Which is why I switched to Canon’s.  If I someday outgrow my S70, I can upgrade up to the powerful G6, or (if I find a pile of money) the Digital Rebel XT.

So maybe a bit of a gripe on techno-babble, but these are a sample of the random thoughts floating in my head this week…

<

p align=”left”>…trying to not think about school starting next Monday ….

August Update

Jeromey Balderrama

It’s been a few days since I’ve been able to post, but I wanted to give you an update on some things going on…

Throughout these last few days I’ve been all over the place, trying to balance out a hectic week at work, spending time with Bethany and my other friends, my sister coming home from spending all summer in Boston (although she leaves again in 2 weeks), volunteer work, and all the other fun stuff going on in my life.

But of course, in the juggling my time, I’ve spent some quality time feeding my Madden 2006 addiction…  Ugh… 

MADDEN 2006 is basically "video game crack".  It feeds on my enthusiasm and excitement for football and results in the elimination of basically any and all of my free time.  It’s been pretty bad, but so far I’m still getting the hang of this game.  Now many of you may be asking "Wait…  Don’t you already have Madden 2005 (and 2004, 2003, 2002, etc.)?  Is this year’s game really all that different to justify spending $50 for?".  Well…. Yes!  Not only do you get all of the updated rosters (and with all of the free agency and player movement in the NFL, they’ve also introduced a ton of new features).  Supposedly last year was their "Year of the Defense" and this year they’ve made just as many offensive additions to the new version – the most noticeable being the "Quarterback Vision" .  It’s actually a really cool concept.  The game basically replicates your QB’s field of vision, illustrating it with a cone-shaped lighting while you throw.  If you throw within the lighting, then your passes will be pretty accurate.  If you throw outside of the cone you’ll either throw a pick or just a pretty stupid pass.  For each Quarterback their skill and awareness dictates the size of their cone.  What’s really funny is how highly (or lowly in many cases) EA Sports considers each Quarterback.  Payton Manning’s "Vision" is basically a 90 degree angle..  Jake Plummer…. well…    I would say that it’s probably fair and reflective of his skill, but it’s disappointing when your favorite team has a crappy quarterback (and you’re reminded of that).

They have a cool tutorial about the vision and how it works, and I went through all those motions, but no help – basically for the first 5 games I played I just got my ass kicked all over again.  Sack.. Sack..  Sack!  Ugh…  I think I ended up with something like 2 for 10 for my first game or something, it was really pathetic.  I got the hang of it after a while though (with the Eagles beating the Ravens 30-2  – not too bad!)  It’s definitely an equalizer when it comes to defense though.  I really like the QB vision because then you get a sense to where the QB is looking, and it’s easier to defend. What’s really funny is that the biggest change for the way I play has nothing to do with offense, but that they switched the "speed" and "switch player" buttons on defense.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve screwed up my pass-rushes… Ugh…  So I’m excited to see how other people will fare with the new Madden.  I’ve been playing the computer a lot these last few days, ready to play a real person… 

Oh and the PC version comes out on Tuesday…  You bet I’m going to be in line to get that one as well, and pray that it’ll install on my laptop (makes flights A LOT SHORTER!).

 

On Thursday night Bethany and I went to go see Charlie and the Chocoloate Factory.  I’ve heard a lot of good things about this movie from my family and friends, but after sitting through the movie, I can’t really say that I agree with them.  While I can see how people enjoyed the movie, both Bethany and I couldn’t stand it!  Maybe I was trying too hard to compare it with the 1971 version with Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka, but when you think about Wonka and Johnny Depp, I didn’t think that Depp was going for the Willy Wonka role at all.  Depp wasn’t Willy Wonka, he was Michael Jackson!  The appearance, mannerisms and even down to Depp talking about "P..P…Parents".  Ugh!  That really did it for me!  The other qualm I had about the characterization of Wonka in this movie was the fact that it had this "Dr. Phil’s analysis" part of it.  We already knew that Wonka was crazy and a little loopy, but I didn’t need to know that it’s caused my a "repressed anger and disappointment at your parents" thing.  Can’t anyone just be NUTS?!?  I didn’t appreciate that part of the back story.

Now with the rest of the casting, I liked the kids they got to play Veruca Salt, Violet  Beauregarde and Augustus Gloop.  I wasn’t a big fan of Charlie, but I really couldn’t stand Grandpa Joe…  It’s almost as if they went out of their way to make Grandpa really weird-looking.  I really couldn’t stand the scene where he got out of bed.  In both the book and the original movie Gramps got out of bed because Charlie really wanted him to go, but in this movie Granda seemed pretty eager to re-live his past and when he hopped out of bed it looked like he was holding out on the rest of the family.  At that point I thought "Wait a minute, so you were too sick to go out and get a job, but when it comes time to gravy-train off the kid’s trip to the factory you’re perfectly healthy?!?   Thanks for nothin’ gramps!

Oh, and the Oompa Loompa’s were horrible!  I guess they ran out of money and needed to re-cast the same person over and over again, but they were just creepy!  And I didn’t appreciate the dance troupe thing they had going on, it was just lame…  And the songs – totally sucked!  Maybe I’m just a bit nostalgic for "Ooompa Loompa do-pa-di-do… "

Like I said before, I can understand why other people liked the movie, but I personally couldn’t stand it!

I also went to go see Four Brothers today… I’ll write more about it in a bit..  Oh, and I have an update on the web site saga.  More to come…

The Porch Light Fight

Jeromey Balderrama

Quick note before I head to bed…

So for the last month or so, our apartment complex has been in the process of this re-siding project, where they’d like to take our retro-70’s buildings and make them look pretty modern.  They’ve been working on the building adjacent to us for the last few weeks now and on the days I work from home it’s been pretty neat to watch the building being transformed right before my eyes…

Well the "coolness" of that ended today…

I was woken up this morning at 8am with the sound of thunderous pounding on the outside walls.  Today they started on our building.  I was beginning to wonder when they’d get to it, since I guess they’re supposed to be done at the end of August and it took almost 5 weeks to do the building across from us.  I think they’re running behind.  On Tuesdays I typically work from home (since I have meetings all day), but I could only take about 2 hours of the pounding before I ducked out of one of my meetings and made the commute into the office.

While I was walking out the door, I noticed that I had left my porch-light on all night again (which I accidentally do all the time).  It was to my surprise when I found that the little globe from the light was removed and placed on the floor.  The light was actually off and in between the bulb and socket was a little white adapter that converts the socket back into an electrical outlet.  And a LOOOOOOOOOOONG cord was being run around the apartment complex…. 

At first I was a bit miffed that they were stealing my power, probably to run the radio (which was blaring).  I was tempted to go back inside and turn the light switch off, but I figured "You know, it’s a bit warm out here today.  These guys work hard all day long, and if the few cents it costs me to keep that light socket running all day will help make today go faster for them, it’s no big deal."

So I end my day at work and head on home…  I get in around 5:45ish, only to find that they’re STILL WORKING!  "Okay" I figure, "They’re working a bit late, but people are now starting to come home so they’ll probably wrap it up at 6pm.  It’s no big deal, I can wait."  So I wait… I wait, and I wait…  Next thing I know it’s freaking 7:25pm and they’re still pounding! What the heck?!?  This was really getting to me, so I was relieved when Bethany called and was ready to grab some dinner.

As I’m leaving my apartment I see that they’re finally cleaning up (it’s about time), and I get in my car and begin to pull out.  As I pull out I see a guy coming to my porch-light, he pulls out the cord and starts wrapping it up, then walks away.  AND HE LEAVES THE FREAKIN’ GLOBE ON THE GROUND!  I was about go get out and say something, but I figured "they’re cleaning up, they’ll be back to put it up.  I’m running late and want to see Bethany, we’ll see if they leave it out"

So I go out and have a great time with Bethany and Shannon, come home around 11pm only to find that NOT ONLY HAS THE GLOBE NOT BEEN PUT BACK ON, BUT IT’S NOW MISSING!!!  WHAT THE HECK?!?

I don’t want to be too judgemental of these guys.  Manual labor is a hard gig, and it’s easy for me to criticize sitting in my air-conditioned office having access to the Internet all day long – but enough is enough.  Just because you have a hard job doesn’t give you the right to be an ignorant jerk.  It’s bad enough that they hijack my energy without asking me about it (and I wonder how that thought process went on in the morning – Woah look, some sucker left his porch light on.  Looks like we’re jamming out to some tunes.) But if you’re going to steal my power, the least you can do is leave it the same way you found it.

To be fair, all of the back porch-lights are gone (as well as their globes) due to the siding project.  My globe is probably with the all of the back-porch globes in the storage shed in the parking lot – but at least leave me a note or something.  I can’t tell you how tacky my front porch looks with a light-bulb sticking out of it (and everyone else in the front has their globes), so I took out the bulb, and along with it, the nice little power converter they still had hooked up to it.

I’m seriously tempted to write them a note and stick it on the missing socket. I don’t mind if you use my power without asking me, but the least you could do is leave my porch light the same way you found it!  I want the light globe on the porch light by the end of the day or I’m calling your boss.  When I get my globe, you’ll get your socket converter back.

Argggh..  Maybe I’m being a bit harsh, but I’m frustrated when I overlook some rude behavior then get taken advantage of.

Update on "Porch Light" situation:  When I left for work this morning I saw that they did not have anything conected up to my light socket (I intentionally left the light on all night).  Part of that may be that I now have their converter.

At the same time I found the note on the ground.  Originally I thought that the tape didn’t hold and the note fell down sometime in the night, but the note was ripped in half.  So my guess is they’ve seen it.

Bottom line though – no globe yet…  We’ll see at the end of the day…

Oh, and they started at 7:30 today…  Now I probably should be up getting ready for work anyway, but it’s the principle of the matter.  It’s going to be a loooooong week.

 

New Madden!

Jeromey Balderrama

Whooooooaaaahooohooo…   (or however that sounds…)

Today is the day!  For the last few weeks I’ve talked about how excited I am that football is started.  Well one of those football milestones is here.  Today is the day…

Of course I’m talking about the release of Madden NFL 2006!  My life isn’t going to be the same (at least not for the next week or so).. lol…  The game was released this morning and while I wasn’t there when Best Buy opened, I did manage to make it there during my lunch break and get my copy!

It’s been a tradition since 2001 that I get it on the release day, and I’ve pretty much been banking up my PS2 time – not really touching my console for the last few months (outside of taking some time to beam Matt in the head with baseballs).

So now it’s time to cash in on the PS2 time…  You wonder why I’ve been tying up all these loose ends for the last week – this is the reason why (well maybe not the reason, but subconsiously I was probably doing it).

And of course, it has my favorite QB right on the cover – Donovan McNabb!

Must not give in to the temptation….  Must not leave work… to go play…. Madden….

I’m hopeless…  But actually I’m really excited to see Bethany today.  She’s coming home after being gone for the last 6 days, and I’m anxious to hear about her adventure in DC.  So I’m sure Madden will wait another day   But the point is that I still bought it on the first day it came out

Goodbye Peter Jennings

Jeromey Balderrama

Another Monday work day draws to close, and with it a bit of random thought:

As you likely know by now, Peter Jennings has passed away at 67, losing his battle with lung cancer.  It’s really sad to lose someone, especially someone who has served as a major media figure throughout the last quarter of the 20th century.  With Jenning’s death, there are many significant notes.

Jenning’s death has essentially marked the end of the "Network TV News Era".  Being the last of the "Big 3" (with Rather and Brokaw) to leave the nightly news spot, the broadcast networks have relinquished their iconish figures of big media.  When the Big 3 ascended to their network thrones in the early 80’s, the world they brought news to was vastly different than the world we have today.  25 years ago there was no cable news conglomerates like CNN, CNBC/MSNBC, Fox News.  25 years ago there was essentially no talk radio (at least not to the level we are today with Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham, and Bill O’Reilly).  25 years ago there was no Internet (at least in the form that we know of it today).  25 years ago we didn’t have all of the media outlets dispensing information that we have today. Back in the early 80’s Jennings, Brokaw, Rather were it when it came to getting your TV News.  Sure people read the newspapers, but when it came down to Breaking News and the nightly 30-minute recaps we relied on the Big 3 Anchors to tell us what we needed to know.  These three wielded more power than I think we’ll ever realize – becoming the face of these networks.  Whenever a big story broke, or a large event was taking place – chances are that these three guys were there telling you about it.  It’s funny when you look at it today, but where do you get your news from?  Can you name the three people that are currently anchoring the nightly news on those networks?   Many of you already know Brian Williams, but it was mainly because the guy was groomed into the position over a carefully-planned period of four years.  And even with that Williams doesn’t have nearly the clout that Brokaw had.

My guess is that Dianne Sawyer will be sitting in the anchor seat for ABC Nightly News, but I don’t think there is any way she – or anyone for that matter – will replace the role the "Big 3" had in our society.

 

In happier news…  Fantasy Football is underway!   As I mentioned in a previous post, we were "gettin’ the league back together" for another year of Fantasy.  With all 12 roster spots filled, I went out and set up the league, and sent out the invitations for people to join!  Let the fun begin!

Now if you’re not into sports or have never played in any "fantasy" leagues then you may struggle in seeing the value of what we’re doing, as well as my excitement!  But there is so much to get excited about:

  • So much of it is based on healthy competition.  When I set up my team, I got to choose the team name.  I picked "Dhani’s Bow Tie"* and am now issuing a challenge to the rest of the league to come up with a name that’s more creative than mine.  My friend Matt may have me beat with "CUT THAT MEAT!"**.  But I love that you can find healthy rivalry in virtually any facet of the game
  • It promotes unity and camaraderie between a group of people who may otherwise have no reason to interact or even know each other.  While it’s always good to call your buddy up to see how they’re doing – now you have something to rustle them up about
  • It’s such a great way to get into the game.  The team closest to my heart are the Denver Broncos, but now my excitement can extend to the other 13-15 games during that weekend.  All of the sudden I’m rooting for a team to do well (or rooting against them), and I’m interested in the random games that are on.

Only 29 days 2 hours, 57 minutes and 5 seconds until our draft kicks off!  You bet I’m excited!

*"Dhani’s Bow Tie" is an obscure reference to one of my favorite players in the NFL – Philadelphia Eagles’ Linebacker Dhani Jones.  Dhani also has a company called "5 Star Bow ties", where we sells Bow Ties.  Whenever he does an interview or an appearance he is always very well dressed, complete with a 5 Star Bow tie  

** "CUT THAT MEAT!" refers to the MasterCard commercial where Payton Manning (Quarterback for the Indy Colts) is a fan of "typical" people.  In the commercial he’s in front of a deli counter chanting "CUT THAT MEAT!  CUT THAT MEAT!" to the worker.  Another awesome part in the commercial is when he’s hounding these accountants going to work "I can’t believe it, you’re on my Fantasy Accounting Team!", then a guy high-5’s him, and he just stands there shocked.  Hilarious commercial!