Canopyflyer

House on the Rock

When I moved to Wisconsin back in 2006, House on the Rock was one of the first things I heard about from my neighbors to go see. My wife and I looked at the website and said "we'll go see it someday." Well, that day was about a month ago as back then we started having kids and getting used to living in a new place. However, over the past 19 years I've had people tell me that "you've got to go see it."

Now.... I understand.

Is that place a monument to a man's ascent to brilliance?

Or his decent into madness.

There was stuff in that museum that I took DAYS to process and I still really am unable to understand what it was I was looking at. It took my family and I FOUR hours to walk through it. It could have been a LOT longer if we actually stopped to study more than what we did.

I'm 55 years old and I've seen and done a lot things in my life... None of it prepared me for the sheer onslaught that is House on the Rock. Walking out of it I told my wife that I rather chaffed at the entrance fee when I paid it... Now, I'm not sure if they charged enough.

If you're ever anywhere close to South Central Wisconsin... Take a day and go see it.

It doesn't just live up to the hype... It so far exceeds it that trying to explain the place will never do it justice.

Manfred Mann's cover of Blinded by the Light has entered the chat. Probably the most misheard lyrics in the entire history of modern music.

It's "Revved up like a deuce."

Wait... Manfred Mann's version is a cover? Yep, Blinded by the Light was originally performed Bruce Springsteen.

Yes and I will stand by that statement.

Yes, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz are also brilliant movies. Both movies are also in Frost and Pegg's exact wheelhouse, Britain.

Paul is another step above, because they so perfectly encapsulated the stupidity of a completely different country and culture. That's why I like it a bit better. Name US writers/ actors that could do the same thing for Britain? I certainly cannot.

Paul (2011) IMHO Frost and Pegg's best movie. Not sure why it's not rated higher, it is simply brilliant.

The Last Starfighter (1984) Epic sci fi flick that was the first to use 3D rendered computer animation. The effects do NOT hold up, but the story sure does.

Chronicles of Riddick (2004) Sequel to Pitch Black and I personally like it much better. Admittedly, that's due to I like that Riddick aims more to sci fi and Pitch Black toward horror. If you like horror more, then you'd probably like Pitch Black better.

That photo is from when the gas main blew up right?

I was working at AmFam at the time.

Skydiving

Skydivers are not adrenaline (epinephrine) junkies. Adrenaline actually makes you feel terrible. You know that rush and shakes you get when you get hungry? Yeah, THAT'S an adrenaline rush.

No, we go for the same thing runners do. Endorphins. Nature's own anti-depressant.

Donate money to your local food banks, homeless shelters, or any other non-profit that has a good reputation for assisting those in need.

If someone approaches you asking for money, absolutely under no circumstances should you give it to them. Be sure to say that you do not carry cash to give them. Then if you are feeling that you need to give to them, then offer a meal or buy groceries using a credit card. You'll find that most of them will decline.

They are using YOUR GUILT to get their next drug fix most of the time. That guilt is artificial and the result of manipulation techniques they are employing against you. It is rather contemptible to be perfectly frank.

If I'm just casually thinking about something. In other words, it is a subject that does not require too much to come to a conclusion, then I actually think in words. That process can provide a solution almost immediately, to taking several minutes.

If I'm thinking about something that requires a lot of cognitive function, then my mind essentially goes blank. Either I no longer think in words, or the memory of what I was thinking about is not laid down in long term memory until I come to a conclusion. Or if my "sub-consciousness" took over the heavy lifting and my cognitive functions were left out of the loop. I honestly have no idea, but if it is something I am truly concentrating on, I will have no actual memory of the thought process that brought me to a conclusion.

Some of the most confounding things that I have had to think on, I literally slept on it and had a finished thought when I woke up. I have done that several times in my life. Again, not sure if it was just that I needed rest, or if my brain actually worked the problem while asleep and delivered it when I awoke.

Cheese Curds

Yeah, I live in Wisconsin, who'd guess.

I wanted to be a pilot.

By age 16 I had several hours towards my private license.

My junior year in High School I started looking universities with aviation degrees, or engineering. I had settled on Rose Hulman and one other (been 40 years so don't remember the place, but it was one of the top aviation colleges in the US at the time.) I actually was accepted at "the other place".

It all came crashing down in the last conversation I had with my enrollment counselor and he asked a question that hadn't been asked of me in the prior many conversations I had with him.

"How is your eyesight?"

You see, I'm legally blind in my right eye and in the US, pilots are required to have 20/20 corrected eyesight. In order for my right eye to be 20/20 I would basically have to have a telescope hanging off my face.

I never did get my private pilots license, which I can get even with my eyesight, but I would never pass medical for a commercial ticket.

Yes, I did look at training in other countries and yes there are a few that only require perfect color vision, which I do have. The problem was my parents absolutely forbade me to travel to another country.

So that was that.