Jim the Sausage Man

A couple of months ago, me an my aunt went to a routine eye exam, and were chilling in the waiting room for a bit. For some reason, we got on the subject of our favorite meat dishes, so naturally sausage arose eventually. My aunt asked me if I like sausage and I said no. I asked her the same question, and she also said no.

"Well why not?" said Jim

We were surprised by this interruption, but decided to let him continue. Turns out Jim was one of the heads of a local fresh market that dealt with a lot of meat, including sausage. Jim described why sausage was something that shouldn't be missed and that there is a lot more to know about sausage then one would realize. Eventually, we had our appointment and thanked Jim for a good conversation.

You might be wondering why I mention this conversation now. Well, Jim recently passed away.

Until then, I had completely forgotten about my conversation with this man and never got around to ordering sausage. Now, anytime I think about anything relating to meat, I think of Jim.

It's just interesting to know that the people you meet in passing can change your life just as much as people you see everyday.

RIP Jim

Reviews

So, i'm pretty sure i'm gonna make revives of stuff a fairly regular thing. If anybody wants to recommend anything (books, movies, games, music) for me to give my thoughts on, I would love too. I'll also probably do that for random subjects if someone presents some really interesting ideas!!

My first day on the job is tomorrow!!! It's just training, and for some reason i'm worried i'll suck at a tour of the store (I could find a way, trust me). For things like this, I always get mega worried. Most things don't get me too worried, but some really dumb things just get to me. Not sure why, it just happens. Nothing some liquid courage can't fix (which would be bad on the other extreme). It's too late and I don't know why i'm still writing...

night ya'll

Red Dead Review

For those interested, this is my review of Red Dead Redemption from Rockstar:

Historically, games set in the "wild west" have been mediocre at best. I'm not sure why this is true, but game makers just haven't had luck making a hit based on the wild west.

Rockstar changes this strange truth with one the finest games I have played. A simple way to describe this game is "GTA IV set in the wild west," and this is true: same mission structure, same engine, and very similar combat. Not that this a bad label, as all of the elements lifted from GTA IV are rock solid and make the game a ton of fun. But Red Dead goes beyond this label by creating a western landscape that is gorgeous, with environments that go far beyond the concrete jungle.

Story wise, the game has a slow start and the protagonist's intentions could be made clearer, but this only a minor flaw in a story that is gripping in action and presents some very interesting themes regarding human nature and change under the umbrella of the end of the wild west. The story only gets better because of memorable cast of characters backed with top notch voice acting and a haunting soundtrack.

On the multiplayer side of things, Free Roam opens up the entire game world to you and bunch of your friends. There are so many challenges to pursue within Free Roam, an experience that is only enhanced when riding with a bunch of your other friends. In the actual modes, Red Dead puts the western twist on your familiar game types. While this isn't bad, I feel as if there was potential for some really unique game types.

Overall, it is understandable that someone who played a crapton of GTA would feel underwhelmed by this game, but a lot of that feeling could be a result just of preference with a certain setting. I highly recommend everyone play Red Dead simply because it is such a great game in all aspects and is guaranteed to keep you busy for a loooooong time.

Not the best review, but it's my first ever

Woah

If the finale of Lost taught me anything, it's that a tv show can be so much more than a couple of cool scenes strung together. Lost was a culture for me; it had its own language, traditions, religious practices (obsessing over facts and scouring Lost based blogs), and clothing (jumpsuit). Lost gave me new friendships that will last a lifetime. Lost has taught me some of the most powerful lessons that can be taught; that we can't let others tell us what we can't do and that if we don't live together, we will die alone. I bid farewell to something that really changed the way I look at the world around me.

or maybe i'm overacting

discuss!

The End of Lost

I just hit me today. There are only two and a half hours of new lost left in my life. I know most people don't think it's a big deal and say I'm overacting (which I probably am), but it's a pretty significant landmark personally because it's one of my favorite things ever.

Hopefully, the finale and the light it sheds on the series as a whole will keep me talking for months, or maybe i'll have to find a new show...sigh

Enjoying the blog ok?

Being the Good Guy

I acquired this new game yesterday titled Red Dead Redemption, which is basically Grand Theft Auto in the Wild West. This game, like many others nowadays, leave morality of the character up to the player. And for some reason, I always take the moral high road in games (maybe because it counts as being nice to other people in the eyes of God???). So, I start up the game and begin my quest to be the hero of the west.

But it's not that easy

One of the very first tasks I did involved me and the local Marshal taking down a gang that had taken hostages in a farm. So, we bust open the barn door, and the sight is awful. I won't describe it, but it was bad. A woman come out of the corner and says that the rest of the men are in the main house. We cleared out the house quickly and rescued all the hostages. I was expecting to hear a lot of "God bless you!" and "Thank you so much," but all I got was the women accusing me, saying it was my fault for letting this happen and that I was just as bad them. The look of anger on that woman's face struck me in a way no other game has before.

Guess being the good guy is a little harder than I thought

Drug Tests and LOST

Review of the Day: DRUGS

Today was the first time I had ever been drug tested (for a job interview that went very well by the way). The interviewer was asking very typical questions about job history and all that business, when she was all of the sudden, she said "DRUG TEST TIME." Almost immediately, I got very paranoid about the fact I used mouthwash approximately half an hour, but soon realized that was dumb. But I continued my paranoia, pondering if someone sprinkled planted opium on my cereal this morning. I get bothered by the strangest things...

LOST Rant:

The more I think about Across the Sea, the more that episode intrigues me. I went from enjoyment, to great disappointment, to enjoyment of a completely different kind. Just take a few seconds to think about what main character Jacob is similar to, and you'll realize that there is much more to this episode than meets the eye (Lost=Transformers?!?). While this certainly wasn't the best episode of Lost, it is certainly one the strangest and most intriguing episodes in the series.

Question of the Day: What is your favorite useless super power?

Mine is definitely the ability to loosen people's shoes to the point that they debate taking the time to retie them. Internal strife is really funny when A. It's over pointless things and B. Not happening to you.

yours?

Meditation

So, I would say that I meditate on a fairly regular basis. After seeing "Men Who Stare at Goats," I just felt like it would be a neat thing to try. I wasn't sure about what I wanted to accomplish, but again, just wanted to see where it goes.

It started off rather unsuccessfully, or in more accurate terms, hardcore failed. Thinking about nothing is a lot harder to do when actually trying to think about nothing. But I kept at it.

Leading me to yesterday, when it finally clicked. Meditation is now more than me sitting with my eyes closed. I felt re-energized and calm at the same time. While I am certainly no master, i'm starting to get the hang of it and recommend it to everybody else!

For anyone who cares, the Reach Beta kicks major booty

Quest for Jorbz: Part 3

So; things are actually happening in my quest for jobs! After having no success with any of the stores I applied at, mom figuratively beat me over the head with this posting for a market research job. Basically, the job entails someone calling people and asking questions to see if they are fit for a certain type of market research. Not my number one choice, but hell, I'll take it. Get Money; Get Paid.

(People who don't watch LOST just skip this paragraph)

I don't know about the rest of you, but "Across the Sea" was one of the most disappointing episodes of the season for me. There have been worse episodes of LOST (Jack and his tatoos?) and this episode wasn't bad by any means, it was just an unnecessary episode that dealt with facts that weren't really a big deal. While it is interesting to see the explanation for The Wheel and the creation of the smoke monster, most of these felt very forced. It almost feels like the sole purpose of this episode was to tie up loose ends of things that didn't matter to satisfy the fact-obsessed. This episode also gave a back to story to MIB and Jacob that was unnecessary because of Ab Aeterno and our ability to draw conclusions from their interactions within that episode. I think the main reason that this episode really disappointed me was because it had SO much potential to be a huge game changer, which sadly, it was not.

Today was rainy day, and I really love rainy days. You can go outside and play in the rain (musical number included because Gene Kelly is the best) and stay inside and not feel guilty about it all. Lazy, but good day :)

I'm excited people kinda read this. A friend of mine gave it a glowing review, saying

"your blog is much more interesting than termite guts"

Not a bad start I say

Bicicleta Revisited

So, I've been riding my bike fairly consistently for several days now, and I like to think I do some thinking about stuff while riding along. This varies from "what is the meaning of life" to "OH MY GOSH THAT IS A CUTE BABY." I would just like to share one though I had while riding.

It was a particularly nice day here in Worthington: not a cloud in the sky and the grass was as green as it could be. As I was enjoying this scene, I began to think about how different the park must have looked a couple thousand years ago; before the very path I was on existed. It made me realize how big of an impact we can have on our environment in a short amount of time. But then I pondered what this place would look like billions of years into the future. It made me realize that as big as we think we are, we are pretty much insignificant in the grand scheme of The Universe.

Makes a college kid feel pretty small, but I continued down the path regardless.

Sunday

Nothing really exciting happening now, but i did find this neato quote:

"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth"

Oscar Wilde says some really fascinating stuff, check him out.

Be super nice to your mom!!!

Would you like a side of Time Travel with your Iron Man?

Well, yesterday I got to see Iron Man 2!!! Here are my thoughts about the movie:

There are two ways to look at this movie: you can see it is as a bloated, overly complex film that is another victim of the sequal curse. Or, you can see it the way I do, and believe that is a great follow up to the first film that also does an excellent job of setting up key elements for films in the not so distant future. While there are some parts of the movie that tended to drag on a bit, it did not detract from the excellent performances by the cast.

This movie gets a Full Price in my book. It's a pretty sweet movie to kick off the season.

In other news, I had a dream in which I traveled back in time to the beginning of the universe. In case you don't know, or couldn't tell, I have very strange dreams occasionally. Anyway, when i got to the beginning of the universe, everything was blue and oozy.

yeah, I have no idea what it means either.

In classic Ohio fashion, the weather has been bat shit crazy, going from mid 80s to lows 50s with high winds in less than day. At least it makes things interesting!

For anyone who watches FlashForward, Olivia annoys me a lot.

Peace!

The Quest for the Jorbz: Part 2 and another story...

Hunting for jobs can be a frustrating, unrewarding process sometimes.

End of Part 2

In much more interesting news, I present my fascinating expose of The Great Toy Story Cocktease

Now that I have your attention (and that of some lawyers, but nobody hates me that much right?) i'll spin my yarns. So, I was reading the paper this morning, and came across an article about free screenings of Toy Story 3, hoping to generate buzz on The Facebooks and The Twitters. However, there was a dastardly catch: the screening only went 65 minutes in and ended with a cliff hanger.

http://www.dramabutton.com/

(Following the link makes this post a lot funnier, I promise)

While most people wouldn't be too bothered by this, I became very peeved with Disney because I usually get bothered by dumb things no one else cares about (LOST re-runs). The only thing that came to my mind was this: So, you're at you Victorian era Ball and there are many kind women to waltz with, but there is that one with that frickin' fan. Being all coy and what not? Like this:

(Thanks for the photo Jackie Forman!!!!)

They make all those crazy fan signals, pretending to send messages, but mostly just messing with the minds of fine Vicotrian gentleman. Disney is that girl at the dance. Not sure why, but they're sneaky plot to generate buzz just grinds my gears.

I also have this unshakeable image of a mustache twirling villian at Disney, planning to conquer the internet by being a jerk to everybody.



http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2228494276

In his defense, having an evil mustache would be pretty sweet and make a damn good excuse for being evil. I should get to work on that...

Moral of this way too long story: Bizzare anecdotes are great ways to make a post without having anything really important happen.

Business

Random things I forgot to include earlier:

LOST, as predicted, was CRAAAAAAZY.

I might be playing with settings in the next few days, so don't freak if everything is different.

and I'm really excited people actually read this :D

Bicicleta

Several Word Review of the Day: Lazy as Shit

You know those days when you do nothing, but don't really enjoy it like you would after a long day. Well, today was definitely one of those. Played video games, watched a crap ton of South Park and felt guilty about not going outside. So guilty in fact, I motivated myself around 6:00 PM to ride my bike(something I have not done in quite awhile)!!!!

In true Mike Jones fashion, I ALMOST failed at mounting my two wheeled steed, but thwarted the bike's attempt to make me look stupid. So, I left my house and took a nice little putz through the park that turned into a grand tour of the neighborhood. Basically, going on that bike ride made me realize that riding a bike is awesome, and is an awesome way to forget some things that may be bugging you. Personally, it's good way to get me to actually do something. Moral of the story: ride your bike.

Seriously, stop reading this and go ride a bike. You might thank me for it.

Ciao

Warm n' Fuzzy Quote of The Day:

"Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you." ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Quest for the Jorbz: Part 1

Fake One Word Review of the Day: BOOSH

As a college student home for the summer, I knew it would only be so long (about 30 minutes before I got home, in my case) before mom would pester about jobs. Basically, all of yesterday was spent scouring Snag a Job and telling my computer for the 50th time that I "excited to work in fast paced and rewarding environments"

So after I finished applying everywhere, I relaxed and said "Ahh, my summer can begin". However, mom pulled the ole' "LOL JK. YOU CAN'T HAVE SUMMER YET! Go and follow up with these places Muahahaha". After this major plot twist, I drove around Columbus all day, and came home with two strike outs and two "we'll call you back"

Sigh

On a happier note, LOST is on tonight, Iron Man 2 comes out Friday, and I ironically have free time because i don't have a job.

Peace

PS: Pretty sure we can add "Companies who post jobs online, but tell you they don't have any in person" to list of People, Countries, and Mobs that Hate Mike Jones.

LOL

yeah...about how I said I would post a lot...in December. oops


Anyway, i'm actually starting this blog and will ACTUALLY try my best to make it suck less than other things you read!

Some updates since my last post:

1. Flyers win NIT!!!!!!!!!!

2. LOST Final Season!!!!!!

3. End of School Year!!!!!


yeah, a lot of potential for cool posts!...but I suck at blogging. Guess the 5 people who read this (excluding mom) will get to hear about my "awesome" quest for jobs, which will hopefully lead to entertaining stuff.

Let's hope this round goes a little better!

peace