Daina Burke Technology Immersion Scale (DBTImS)

So, if you can't already tell by the sudden increase in Facebook postings at all hours, I'm finally into my summer vacation. This means until next week, we are officially on the Daina Burke Technology Immersion Scale (DBTImS). Please familiarize yourself with the color coding system, as your very souls may depend on understanding the depths to which I'll go:

CODE GREEN: At Code Green, most of you can expect my usual snarky commentary, a sprinkling of Upworthy posts and the occasional article from The Root or Huffington Post, usually around 10 or 11 PM. Text messages from me will start off short, but quickly become more deep and introspective, while the games I have through Facebook will be played more often, usually on the laptop as I watch Netflix tv. I will make a list of about 3-5 things to accomplish before class starts next week.

CODE BLUE: At this level, you'll see a steady stream of links found while LOOKING at The Root or Huff Post, usually BuzzFeed or anything else that has a random number from 10-20 and the words "Things You Didn't Know About/Should Never/Always/Might/etc..." in the title. My game play will turn to the iPad, usually around 2 am, because I'm trying to get SOME sleep, but unsuccessfully. If I'm not still watching Netflix shows, I'm catching up on podcasts from Snap Judgment and reminding myself to record that Karbi story for them (which is on that list of about 6-8 things I need to accomplish before class starts next week). My text messages and FB statuses will turn into blog posts that I'll place on Ramblings From the Big Comfy Couch or Blinded By the Sprite.

CODE MAUVE: Do not let the color fool you, as this is one of the most deceptively easy levels to slip into, but hardest to escape (also, I don't really like mauve). The blog posts will now lead to a torrential hail of Bitstrips or homemade memes most of you left behind months ago. The Facebook posts will be mostly cartoons from the 80's, music from the 70's, and random stuff from Funny Or Die or College Humor. If I see your text, I won't remember to answer it until a day later, and you may not get the cohesive answers you're looking for. Game play is either Skylanders or The Sims on the laptop while playing iPad games, which will stop me from pretending I'm going to get any sleep. The podcast of choice will be Ask A Ninja (number 15 on my list of 9-12 things I need to accomplish before next week)

CODE PINK & PURPLE KRUSH VELVET, KRUSH GROOVE, ORANGE CRUSH, ORANGE SLICE, GOLFING SLICE, SLICE ON THE GREEN, GREEN CLOVERS, BLUE DIAMONDS, DIAMOND GIRL, LOVER GIRL, MEAT LOVERS, MEETUPS, UPCHUCKS, CHUCK TAYLORS, TAYLOR DAYNES, DANE COOKS, COOKING CAJUN, FORTUNE COOKIES, CHINESE FOOD, CATS IN THE CRADLE, & CATASTROPHIC EVENTS (sorry, no corresponding color follows this level of crazy). This is the highest rating on the color scale and indicates dangerous levels of tech immersion. At any given moment, I will be watching YouTube videos using Twonky on my Roku, slapping imps on Dungeon Keeper on my iPad, downloading music from videos to mp3s while uploading my old mixed music tapes digitally, adding more things to my iPhone's reminder list of 20-36 things to do before class starts next week...all while wikihopping from Krush Groove to List of Accidents and Disasters by Death Toll. There is NO blogging at this level, as I will have saturated myself with so much depressing, bizzarre, and random infomation that any attempt to repost on my part will tarnish silver and explode baby animals. It would also throw off the entire balance of good will in the world as more and more people I'm connected to return over and over to relink and share my downward spiral, (after all, who really knows how to look away from a train wreck once you know it's gonna happen)? There are only two warning signs for this level; 1) status posts/links from me have stopped entirely (because there is no reason to share a link to Wikipedia's List of Accidents and Disasters by Death Toll), or 2) (and most horrifying) all status posts have become links to videos that have any combination of the words "cat", "funny". "talking" or "crazy" OR have some sort of disaster set to the Benny Hill music.

At this point, both I and Kevin Burke will require your help to escape the house. Do NOT attempt to rescue us on your own, because as mild as the situation looks from the outside, if you engage me in conversation or even LOOK at the screen, you'll be trapped watching a My Little Ponies video overdubbed with Reggie Watts' "F**k S**t Stack", because, like everything else I've gotten into at this level, it's an addictive train wreck of cusswords, electronic beats, furlike body hair, and intelligent, yet random thoughts that you CANNOT LOOK AWAY FROM. Instead, follow these instructions to the LETTER:

1.Make a direct call to Niagara Mohawk and have them shut down the power grid for ALL of Western New York and the Finger Lakes.

2. Wait outside of my house with any entree from Avantis Grill. This will bring Kevin out. He'll be fine as long as you let him HAVE the food and get him to sleep with his CPAP on.

3. Allow at least another 8-10 hours for all batteries to die on all my electronic devices. At that point, place all your personal electronic devices out of reach, then wait outside for me to come out looking for lights on in the neighborhood to plug into.

4. Once I've stepped over the threshold of my front door, use a taser to take me down. I will be prepared for this, so DO NOT ALLOW ME to put any devices in between the taser tips and my body. This could possibly recharge whatever devices I may have come out with, and then you'll be trapped.

5. Once I'm immobilized, gently pry all devices from my person and speak in low, steady tones about paperback novels, spiral notebooks, and D & D (paper and pencil gaming). Once the tears of remembrance start, the healing can begin.

Current status: BLUE, with a hint of MAUVE (after all, this blog posts STARTED as a Facebook status!) Take precautionary measures, such as blocking me on Facebook or coming over and making me "do stuff". If you make me leave the phone behind, a simple trip to Double Dips for ice cream is enough to break the cycle of continual internet access. Save the Meme Maker (from herself), save the WORLD!

You have been warned!

P.S.--Okay, I'm posting the link to the Reggie Watts/My Little Pony video, but it's got a TON of cusswords and super inappropriate stuff....again, fair warning!

Finally making a stand!

So I finally posted this video today of New York State Senator Diane Savino making the argument for gay marriage. After I responded to a friend's comment on the video, I realized I'd really been avoiding sharing my views on this subject, the same way I've done with just about every controversial issue the US ever faces (usually political or religious). As a teacher, I've been wary of offending with my views or somehow dictating policy. I don't like changing my picture or reposting someone else's thoughts for an hour on a whim. But still, I'm a human being with feelings and a sense of justice that I really can't ignore, not once I've decided something is right or wrong. I take a long time to get there and I waver back and forth when I hear the impassioned arguments from both sides, but when I've decided, it's a commitment to myself that I can't pretend about. I want, no NEED to be able to look at myself in the mirror each day and be proud knowing I've done what's right.

So, I copied my reply (which had turned into a full length note, anyway!) and pasted it below. I made a few grammatical changes to help in make sense out of context, and also added more thoughts to it (since my mind was whirring with all the connections this made for me). Read it and think about it, but remember...you and I don't have to agree on ANYTHING but our friendship to be REAL friends. I'm not insulting anyone in this piece, or taking away anyone's right to civil disagreement and intellectual discourse. I'm simply stating where I am and how I feel.

First of all, it was an amazing speech, even though I had to agree with my friend Brad Newton that she makes some broad generalizations about the quality of opposite and same sex marriages to make her point. In a way, saying how great the relationships of same sex couples she knows is a little like the "some of my best friends are black" defense! :-) It's a little embarrassing to hear, but in the grand scheme of changing hearts and minds, you overlook such awkward words because the heart is in the right place.
But despite the overall tone, the one part that I really felt made the grade was her story about the guy that stuck his head in her window. That's when she came up with the most legitimate and unbiased argument she could make: religious groups define marriage and the quality of relationships, and they can certainly continue to do so. Governments, however, are legally only allowed to hand the license to whatever two human beings show up at the courthouse with the right amount of cash.

Additionally (and this is just my thoughts, not part of her speech), I know many people feel that a law being in place or strong public opinion should make things have real legal standing and precedence. I've got two reasons that can't always be the case:

1. Church and state are separate by DESIGN in the Constitution, so making a law based on a religious standard really should never HAVE to come up (like, no one's ever tried to have the law define baptism or the eucharist). I know most cornerstones of law originate from religious teachings (generally because they DO foster brotherhood and a strong moral code), but the way we interpret things for our society is what tends to turn tolerance to prejudice and good to evil. On that note...

2. Some laws are passed that are just morally WRONG, even when they're fully supported by the people (which is something the Constitution also provides for). Remember, there was a time in which it was illegal for Kevin and I to marry, too, and LOTS of people agreed with that. Heck, even those who supported the freedom of African Americans frequently stopped short of wanting them in their families! It was the courts who originally condoned this country's "right" to discriminate in that way, but also the courts who ultimately put us back on the right path.

People of any color, religious creed, racial makeup, mental state, and even personal bias can marry whomever they want without question. Only one group is left to make America live up to to being the "land of the free", but it means being the "home of the brave", too.

I guess that's why I finally posted this. It's not enough to believe that people should all be treated fairly...you have the social responsibility to SPEAK UP when they aren't so that things change, even when you might face public outcry. For example, I do understand the frustration when people say to me "Well, I've never said anything bad about black people!", but I also have to counter with "Well, have you said anything at ALL?" After all, if some idiot was teasing a guy in a wheelchair or mugging someone in the parking lot, EVERYONE I know would offer some sort of admonishment or aid. Do we all do the same when someone makes ANY racist comment about ANY group, or do we just try to ignore the guy, thinking we'll never change him?

Well, today, it's the LGBT community getting talked about like dogs or getting mugged in the street by laws that keep them from doing the same things we all do. No matter which side you may be on, your VOICE and your REASON is what's important now. No intelligent discourse happens when reasonable, moderate people stay...well, reasonable and moderate! Tell the world WHY you are for or against and explain yourself in a rational, clear-minded way so that we can all think about what we've heard, then make a REAL judgment for ourselves. Otherwise, it's just high school all over again, where we are swept up in letting someone be treated badly because we're too afraid of joining them in that uncomfortable situation of being frowned upon for who we are and what we believe. After years of being grownups, are the bullies STILL going to win the war against our personal self worth and conviction because they think "louder is righter" (and that "righter" is a real word)?

Again, I have to LIKE the person I see in the mirror, and not just on the surface. How about you?

Story Snippets

Back in 2005, I was digging through my stuff and finding snippets of stories that I wrote alone or collaborated with someone on and posting the favorite bits of those. I believe my exact words back then were "Sometimes I read stuff I wrote and it fits far more smoothly than I had hoped, making it like brand new material to me...then again, that might just be AGE making me forget what I said." Anyway, I've decided to do that again, 'cause I like reeling in the years. Should anyone be interested, I usually have the whole story on file and can send it. Other times, you're ALREADY reading the whole story 'cause I'm great at getting stuff done without getting sidetra....hey, a rerun of Scrubs!

Okay, a Daina & (Big) Josh story snippet (the middle is actually written by him, but I liked the whole section, so I kept it all):


"On a good day, you can see through the space-time continuum...on a bad day, you tear right through the sum'bitch." D. Burke

Teen angst on a string is something that one doesn't ever really think they'll have to deal with again until it rears its Tommy Hilfigered, baggy jeaned, "in" crowded, head-up-its-own-assed head in the middle of a group of normal high schoolers, causing them to erupt into screaming fits, storming-out fits, general hysterics and haughtily whispered snatches of conversation that usually include phrases like, "that BITCH", "if she thinks", "well, I heard from so-and-so that", "we better go talk to her in the bathroom" and my all time favorite, "she bet'not put her hand in MY face, 'cause I WILL beat her ass down!"
All this comes to a heightened point of necessary catharsis, the nexus for all emotional distress and teenage torment, a sort of end all, be all of emotional disturbance and mind boggling acts of insanity...
...the high school drama director.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE TRYING TO DO TO MEEEEEEEE! HAVE YOU NO IDEA WHATSOEVER OF HOW MUCH TIME IS LEFT BEFORE THIS FRICKIN' PLAY GOES UP? WHAT THE FLIP IS THAT???"
All action stopped onstage as every middle and high school head turned to the back row of the auditorium to peer blankly past the spotlights to the empty back row, where I lay on the floor writhing in complete agony.
"But Mrs. Burke..." came the plaintive cry.
"SHUT IT!!!" I screeched to the ceiling. "I...DON'T...WANNA...HEAR IT!!! IF I'VE SAID IT ONCE, I’VE SAID IT A THOUSAND AND ONE TIMES...NO BUTTS TO THE AUDIENCE!!! How'm I doing?" The last part was directed to my assistant director and better half, Nancy, who sat a row ahead of me. As the school librarian and the official adult onsite, she took it upon herself to be the good cop to my bad cop during rehearsal, which just made me out to be even more the sweetheart when I was in a good mood. She was, effectively, the neutral zone to my cosmic chaos.
Presently, she looked back at the cast with a time honored look of withering adult blandness. "I hope you're happy, people," she said in her classic monotone. "She's dead now. You killed her."
"Oh, you're in a fury tonight, Nance," I said, rising up on an elbow sarcastically.
"I save the melodramatics for you, Daina," she replied, a hint of a smirk on her face. "They are, by the way, wetting their pants thinking you're about to rerun Act One from the top again."
"Being an adult rules!" I grinned, giving her the thumbs up from the floor. "Watch this." I raised my voice again so the kids on stage could hear. "Give me ONE GOOD REASON why I shouldn't make us stay until 9 tonight."
The multitude of pleading voices as I pretended to wearily drag myself back into my seat was better than applause.
An hour later, it was NOT enough to make me anymore than tired to the bone when I dragged into the house. Kevin gave me a kiss and a hug when I came in, then babied the heck out of me all the way to the sofa.
"How did it go tonight?" he asked.
"I was evil," I smiled.
"That good, huh?" he grinned back.
"Yeah...I threatened to make them rehearse until midnight, then I...urg." I could see the question on Kevin's face, but the pain just behind my left eye made it impossible to answer him and, after a moment, impossible to see him. It occurred to me briefly that God was probably punishing me for torturing innocent students, so I was probably better off not complaining. I closed my eyes for a second to rub them, then opened them again and was only slightly surprised to find myself in my subconscious bedroom.
I was slightly more surprised to find a large gaping hole in the wall that opened up to a foreboding, swirling darkness that looked remarkably like the tornado scene in "The Wizard of Oz".
The rest of my horror actually came from finding myself lying on the bed next to the one known affectionately as "the boy", but more commonly known as Josh.
In an amazingly synchronized display, we both screamed bloody murder, leapt away from each other to opposite walls, pointed at one another and with all the creative thought we could muster shouted, "What the HELL are YOU doing here?!?!"


Josh's part:

The scene looked like something out of a detective movie. Josephine paced back and forth with the stern look of incredibly deep thought on her face. Hsoj sat steepling his fingers wearing his best poker face. Joe seemed to be moving 90 miles an hour in his seat, the frantic look that ever wrong-doing-child gets on their face.
"Okay, tell me one more time what happened. Tell me everything from the top and don't leave out a single detail. I have to know exactly what happened."
"Well…" Hsoj began.
"And this time I want to hear it from Joe. I have the feeling you aren't being completely honest, even though you know that if we don't find Josh his body will eventually die in the real world."
Joe apparently lost in his own self made world of shear terror, screamed when Hsoj nudged him and told him to tell Josephine everything. Meanwhile...

IRVING, TEXAS: JOSH'S LOCATION

Every one basically ignored the guy asleep in class. Until, of course, class was over. The students filed out, in that hurried manner you find in any institute of learning. Five minutes after the bell rang the teacher noticed the sleeping student was still there. Perturbed that he had the audacity to sleep through the lecture and now wouldn't get up so that he himself could leave, the professor stormed over to the unconscious student's desk. First there was the simple nudge and, "get up!" Then, when the student simply fell limp and lifeless to the floor, the panic set in.
The professor knew that Geology wasn't all that exciting. He knew that he himself hated it, and that his lectures were boring and drawn out, but he never imagined in a million years that he would ACTUALLY bore someone to death!
Panicked, he checked for a pulse. It was faint, but still there. He grabbed his cell phone and began to dial 911, then stopped. If this got out, that with the most boring lecture in the world he had actually killed a student, he would never work in education again. The last thing he wanted was to actually become a geologist, so he pulled the car to the door nearest the class room and loaded up the body. As he pulled out of the parking lot, he began to think of where the largest natural deposit of lime was.
Finally, geology had a real world application...!


MEANWHILE BACK IN THE HEAD:

"Alright, after hearing everything, I can now categorically say...I have no idea what to do." Josephine flopped in a chair exhausted.
"I have an idea," Hsoj said smoothly, "Why don't I take temporary control of the body. And you and the boy can search the link systematically. I'll tell you the safes..." He was cut short by the sudden death grip on his best friend, Mr. Happy. The tears in his eyes let Josephine know she was using just the right amount of pressure.
"Finish that sentence, and plan on peeing sitting down for awhile. Why don't you go hunting, seeing how all of this is your fault. Everyone else around here might think you're a big man and dangerous to boot. But I'll kill you if I have to, understand? You might be the most powerful Dark Elv to ever have existed, and you might have made kings fall to there knees before you, but I'm a woman on the edge with your balls in my hand and my period started yesterday...so, in short, do not fuck with me right now, OK!!!"
"Well, if I leave, who's going to control the body? You need a man so that people won't be suspicious of you and try and lock you away for being a freak," Hsoj squeaked.
"Hsoj, if you aren't off looking for Josh in ten seconds I'm going to rip them off wrap 'em up and give them to you for Christmas." Hsoj cringed and headed for the door, looked in to the swirling darkness the could kill you if not used properly and suddenly had the answer, he turned to tell Josephine but she just looked at him sternly and said," And don't forget to take the boy with you."

My part (again):

"Jinx, you owe me a Coke!" Josh grinned.
I grinned back, pretending momentarily to be with him in this little 4th grade bit of humor. "Yeah, yeah, a Coke, 'cause...SHUT UP!" He looked at me, a bit put out by the sudden change in my attitude, then looked back at the hole in the wall.
"Right...the wall," he nodded. "You're probably wondering about that."
"Ever so slightly," I muttered.
"Well, funny you should ask, 'cause I'm not exactly sure either. I'd LIKE to say it's the link, but then I'd also like to say I enjoy geology class," he said, looking askance as the hole again. "I kinda fell through it."
"Kinda?" I looked back at the size of the hole again, questioning his judgement a bit.
"I got pushed," he added helpfully.
"Ye-esss."
"It, uh...wasn't fun."
I rubbed my eyes...this was frequently how conversations with the boy tended to go...nowhere. "So I'm told. You realize, now, that two REAL humans are now occupying the same body. If I wake up, we have MAJOR problems." I blinked, remembering the head pain that had knocked me out. "Assuming I can ever wake up again. K, you have to go now." I began shoving him toward the hole as he dug his heels in.
"Hey, wait a minute, that's a large gaping hole to nowhere right now...pushing me in is NOT gonna help matters!" he spluttered.
I thought about this a moment. If he disappeared into the nothingness I was looking at, we'd both have a major problem. He'd cease to exist properly and I have this thing with guilt eating at me when I cause the death of others.
I sighed. "Alright, I'll take you home...you just can't stay here."
"What, you don't have TIME for a visit?" Josh joked.
"Not the deadly kind!" I grinned back. "C'mon, let's go."
Ah, yes, famous last words.
"Let's go".
It implies leaving, a sense of travel that really has no definite direction, something that I REALLY needed to remember the next time I stepped into nothingness, with or without a friend in tow...

…fwhooff…

It's the noise you always hear in the movies when an atom bomb hits, that dull air-rushed thud that's even more baffling because the word "bomb" is attached to it. It's almost as if the very fact that it's the most deadly thing you can imagine makes it unnecessary to have all the noise you normally associate with other deadly stuff like dynamite, shotgun blasts, and cannon fire. After all, you're LOOKING at a mushroom cloud by that point, which is the visual symbol of total annihilation, so the "death wrapped in a Kleenex" kind of noise is meant to underscore that, I suppose. The bigger the cloud of death, the more likely you are to get that softer, quieter sound.
Which probably explains why that was the sound I "heard" upon entering the void. In retrospect, I probably heard NOTHING, just like I couldn't actually feel Josh grab my wrist at the last moment and cling to it to make sure he didn't lose me before the point became moot. I didn't "see" darkness, although I recall straining my eyes to the point of actual insanity, desperate to see even a shadow. I didn't "hear" my scream disappear into this blanket of death; I just knew I tried to scream out with all I could. And I sure couldn't have sensed the suffocating darkness pouring into my open mouth and all throughout my body before I felt the Kleenex of death wrap my brain into that softness that I didn't have the presence of mind to be afraid of for more than a second on some universal watch…

Help! Go to wgrz.com and click on Andy's Weather Machine under "weather". Enter my school (Niagara County, Washington Hunt) as many times as you can tonight!

It All Started With Fame...

...and went downhill from there.

Wanna feel old? Picture your favorite actor/actress from when you were 10 or so. Now, if your fave has gone from gracing the cover of Tiger Beat, to People, to Lifetime, to do commercials for vitamins, pain relievers or life insurance, congrats...you're over 40!

This all started because I saw this trailer at the drive in the other night before Harry Potter. There was some dancer and the words "It all starts with a dream..." This song was playing at the beginning and I knew the words and started singing along, but couldn't place WHY I knew the words:

Sometimes I wonder,
where I've been.
Who I am,
do I fit in.

I may not win,
but I can be strong
Out here
On my own

Then suddenly, before I can say "Oh, that's On My Own" and be mad that they cut a part from the lyrics, that haunting refrain from another WAY more popular song came in:

"Remember, remember, remember..."

And I DID.

"HOLY !@#, they're redoing FAME!" I screamed to Kevin. Man, I just about SOILED myself. Suddenly, I was mentally trasported back in time to middle school. My middle school was an independant private school called Crossroads in downtown St. Louis that was run almost mom and pop style by an amazing collection of hippies, professors, educators, outdoorsman, businessmen and EVERYONE'S parents. It's the only school where I had Sledding for gym, a field trip to watch the Cardinals World Series parade, had an econ class through school store and a host of other really cool experiences, most of which were just phenomenal in terms of real world learning. My dad even came in and did a ton of awesome computer programming stuff back when it was still something you wrote lines of text for.

Anyway, the creativity aspect is what made it a prime jumping off place for VAP, St. Louis's Visual and Performing Arts magnet school. Kids in my school were always hanging around writing their own plays and music and all this other neat artistic stuff...and then FAME came out and EVERYONE was a dancer or a singer. Heck, even I wanted to be Irene Cara and I wasn't allowed to see the MOVIE back then (rated R, so I just heard about it and watched the subsequent tv show). 4 different chicks did "On My Own" for the talent show!

So, after seeing that and singing the song for karaoke at tournament this year (which, if you've never seen improv comedians doing karaoke, I HIGHLY recommend...we had the ENTIRE dancing in the street scene going on the dance floor in front of me!), I came home and looked up the movie, only to find out that it came out in 1980.

1980, people!

Seriously, Fame is coming up on its THIRTIETH anniversary! I'll be 40 two days after the remake comes out and the movie will be 30 a few months later!

That's when I started looking at where they are now and what folks are doing and got that bolt of reality. Gene Anthony Ray (Leroy) is dead, as is Mr. Shorofsky (who was already older, but MAN!). That kinda stuff makes you look at all the other famous folks of the time, like Farrah & Michael and Lindsay Wagner...the Bionic Woman is doing SLEEP NUMBER beds! Robin Williams was on Letterman doing an entire monologue on HEART SURGERY.

And meanwhile, the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus still live...

Where is the JUSTICE, people? Are these children DRAINING the lives from our faves and using it for media sustenance? Who among us is NEXT???

At any rate, now that the rose colored glasses are off, the movie itself looks...okay? I mean, I'm only going from the way the dancers are dancing and the remake of the theme song, but it seems kinda...slutty?

Again, I'm probably just getting old, 'cause when I go back and look at the tv show, whenever they break into spontaneous dancing (which is ALWAYS), there's a ton of pelvic thrusting and whatnot that I now see as a bit suggestive (watch about 2 minutes into this and see if you think Debbie Allen woulda kept her teaching license TODAY!). But the music seemed to be more heart pounding and exciting.

The new version...there's a lot of girls SLIDING into splits and arching bodies (wow, I sound like some old censor lady or something!). And the new beat doesn't make me want to jump up and spontaneously dance, unless there's a pole involved. Plus, look at this poster! Are we selling sex and Pepsi or something???

Age. I'm not scared of getting old, but I can remember when all music was fun and I couldn't imagine sleeping through Saturday morning cartoons. Suddenly, I'm not even TOUCHING the TV on Saturdays because of all this computer animated and video game crap (says the woman who actually watched THIS power hour on Saturdays) and listening to more and more JACK FM.

D.

Back from Canada & on to Wisconsin!

Well, we've just returned from our trip with the Quinns to Canada, where we boxed Parry Sound. This was a really nice little area that I'd never gotten to see much of. The Highlander's grandpa ran a campsite up in Pointe au Baril and before he passed, he sold most of it (which became Sturgeon Bay Provincial Park) but kept one cottage for the family. We had a good time, but didn't get to spend much of it together. So, Kevin and I will be heading back to spend our 10th wedding anniversary back up at Pointe au Baril. Apparently, there's a lobster dinner and dance going on at the community center up there AND Harry Potter is coming out, so dinner and a movie!

But, for now, I'm back on the road again in less than 48 hours. I'm gonna be playing for Buffalo in the ComedySportz World Championship games this Friday (wheee!). We play against Portland on Friday, and with any luck, we'll make it to the finals on Saturday. Can't wait to see how we do!

Anyway, I'm not sure if my computer will withstand the pressure of life in Milwaukee for a week, but if anyone reading this wants to see how ComedySportz Buffalo and I are doing, just follow CSzBuffalo on Twitter. I'm kinda the voice of CSz Buffalo for Twitter, but I only speak for the team, not myself. I'm also going to try and post on Facebook and Blogger from my phone...we'll see how well that goes!

If you're in Milwaukee, though, I'd LOVE to have you come to the games! The more bias in my favor, the better!

D.

Improvathon 2009 May 30-31

Just a reminder that the Improvathon starts today at the Riviera Theater in North Tonawanda! I'm playing 4-6pm and 10-midnight, then 2-4pm tomorrow and maybe the All Star show at 8pm. If you're reading this and you don't come...you better live in another state!!!