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I’ve been needing to go the grocery store for a long time. I was amused to note the status of my two refrigerators tonight, as I came home and loaded my leftover beer into the beer fridge.

Food Refrigerator
-Grated Cheddar Cheese: 1 package
-Salsa: Half bottle
-Cream Cheese: full container
-Sour Cream: 1/3 container
-Half-eaten container of yogurt
-Refried Beans: full tupperware container
-Full container Kefir Probiotic Yogurt Smoothie
-Half-eaten can of canned peaches
-Orange Juice: half carton
-Silk Soymilk: three-quarter carton
-Some rotten vegetables

Beer Mini-Fridge
-Keystone Light: 2 cans
-Old Milwaukee Light: 21 cans
-Schlitz: 1 pounder
-Redhook ESB: 5 bottles
-New Belgium Springboard: 1 bottle
-Sierra Nevada Summer Ale: 3 bottles
-Full Sail Amber Ale: 1 bottle
-New Belguim Mothership Wit: 1 bottle
-Deschutes Black Butte Porter: 3 bottles
-Full Sail LTD: 3 bottles
-Pyramid Snowcap: 4 bottles
-Deschutes Cinder Cone Red Ale: 1 bottle
-Pyramid Apricot Weitzen: 1 bottle

So. It appears that I have more types of beer than types of food. But no worries… it’s like Jesus said: “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” I think Benjamin Franklin would imply that this so-called word is probably “beer,” concluding that “beer is proof that there is a God, he loves us, and he wants us to be happy.”

Of course, according to The Straight Dope, Man actually can live on bread alone … for at least two years (providing that the bread is very very low in sodium).

And, also, with “Man can not live by bread alone”, one can also spell “My blot – I need banana, veal, corn.” and, revealingly, “Not yond’ beaver meal, cannibal?”

…

Yeah. If anyone wants to go to the grocery store, just let me know. Give me a call.

I’ll pay you with beer.

In 2004, Ben Folds, Ben Lee and Ben Kweller toured together in Australia. After the tour, they went into the studio and recorded a four-song EP, called “The Bens”. The album includes the single “Bruised”, included on Ben Folds’ 2006 supersunnyspeedgraphic EP–which is a fantastic song.

So, discovering that there was an EP recorded by three of my favorite Bens, called “The Bens”, I tried to download it. My first recourse was–for better or for worse–Mininova.org. Not surprisingly, Mininova came up empty-handed, so I turned to the iTunes store.

I found the album on iTunes with a little effort. Unfortunately, the album is not an “iTunes Plus” (DRM-free and high quality) offering. Rather unwilling to buy music that is > 192kbps and DRM protected, I turned to Amazon.com’s MP3 Store. Amazon.com has a similarly huge selection of music, all in high-quality (240kbps VBR) DRM-free MP3 format. I found “The Bens” and tried to download it–but, like last time I tried to buy something from Amazon, I ran into an error:

We are sorry…

We could not process your order. The sale of MP3 Downloads is currently available only to US customers located in the 48 contiguous states, Alaska, Hawaii, and the District of Columbia.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

Well, fantastic. Great job, Amazon.

When I visit thepiratebay.org, IT KNOWS where I’m located (via IP address lookup…). The sides of my search results are always strewn with advertisements: scantily-clad girls, fake names and ages, and a banner that says “FIND HOT GIRLS IN BOZEMAN, MT TONIGHT!

Maybe Amazon just isn’t aware that Montana is in the 48 contiguous states. That could be it. Actually, a quick call to Amazon customer support would tend to support that suspicion:

Him: Thank you for calling Amazon MP3 Store Customer Support. My name is Vijay. How can I help you?

Me: Yeah. I’m trying to buy an album, and having some trouble. When I click “Buy Album With 1-Click”, I get this error that tells me that my order can’t be processed because I’m not located in the 48 contiguous states.

Him: Sir, where are you located?

Me: Bozeman, MT.

Him: I’m sorry to inform you that the sale of MP3 downloads is currently available only to US customers located in the 48 contiguous states, Alaska…

Me: Yeah. I know.

Him: Sir, the sale of MP3s is not available in your area.

…

Me: I’m IN the 48 contiguous states! I’m in MONTANA! You know, north of WYOMING, east of NORTH DAKOTA…

Him: Oh. I’m sorry, sir. I was not aware that Montana was in the United States.

…

Needless to say, he wasn’t able to help.

I don’t blame him for not knowing where Montana is–it’s not like I could name more than five of India’s 20+ states–but I DO blame Amazon.com for doing a pretty pathetic job of training their outsourced customer support. I mean, give them a map or something. Putting a *check if location is in United States* instruction between Ask location. and Inform customer that sale of MP3s is not available in his/her area.

Sheesh.

So much for trying to buy my music. I guess I’ll just wait. Maybe someday Oink.cd will come back, and all of my prayers will be answered.

At long last … I’m starting to burn out on the Procrastinator.

Though tonight was a tremendous success–a free pre-screening of “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”–it was also thoroughly tiring. Some 403 students attending tonight’s screening and, despite slashing prices, the concessions stand made over $200. At the same time, I started working around 4:00 pm, and left the theater just after 3:00 am, feeling the first suggestion of what I hope doesn’t turn in to a cold. By the end of the week, I’ll have put in 25 hours at the theater alone–in addition to office hours, correspondence, website updates, etc.

It’s not that I’m tired of the job … it’s just volunteer burn out. By the end of last semester, I’d put in some 460 hours. Given my annual stipend of $2,500, my hourly wage would have been just under $5.50/hr–if I had stopped working last December. Since then, I’ve put in hundreds of additional hours. Despite putting in substantially less time, all but one of my employees will make more money than me this year. So at this point, for all intents and purposes, all of my time is volunteer labor.

As economists are wont to chide … incentives matter. And, at this point, there really aren’t any incentives left. No monetary incentives, and even the feel-good incentive is nearly non-existent at this point: I’ve already (in all humility) done a damn good job. And, no matter how much time I put in between now and the end of my term, I’ll still have done (and only done) a damn good job. There’s no chance of promotion. No additional human capital to create. No pay raise. No additional bullets to add to my resume, or things to brag about during an interview. No additional pats on the back…

There are still things that need doing–finalizing the myriad details of the new theater transition, drafting a year-end report, getting t-shirts printed, finding a buyer for our popcorn popper, selling the hundreds and hundreds of movie posters accumulated in the office… But I just don’t have the fresh determination to tackle those tasks. I have plenty of other things in my life that need my attention…

Fortunately, the end is in sight. Three more shows, and then it’s done. A few more shows, and I can start handing off tasks and projects to the new committee head. And … as long as that new committee head is competent and dedicated, I’m now fully ready to pass the baton.

Ug. It’s late. I’m going to bed.

Hello, World.

My apologies to those of you who have tried to reach this site over the past two weeks. My website has been down, while getting things worked out with my host. The goods news is that we’re up and running now. Good riddance.

Election Results
Dave and I lost the election for ASMSU President & Vice-President. It was a close race–Shane Colvin and Michael Pasque won by a margin of about 40 votes, out of some 1,600.

Dave and I are disappointed, of course, but I’m excited about the other options available to me this fall, instead.

—

The semester is beginning to wind down. I have a few projects to complete, a little writing, but should finish without too much stress.

My plans for next semester are in flux, at the moment, but I’ll post here as soon as I know what next semester has in store.

The ASMSU Presidential Debate took place Monday from 12:00 to 1:00 pm in the SUB. The debate was video-recorded, and has been posted online. Find a synopsis on ketoegge.org
or directly on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/ASMSUdebate

I thought that the debate went well–especially to the extent that it clarified the differences between Dave and me and Shane and Mike.

It’s funny, sometimes, how small the world is.

Last October, I posted about the free dishwasher that I found in someone’s yard that we took home and installed in our rental house. (Below)

I was chatting a while ago with Lori Lawson, the professor in charge of the Texts & Critics class I fellowed for. I mentioned how great it had been to randomly find a dishwasher with a “free” sign in someone’s yard. She laughed, recalling having seen the same dishwasher and wondering, “who in the world would take a free dishwasher from someone’s yard?” Turns out–that was me!

The other day, I was reading on BozemanHouse.com about the efforts of someone in Bozeman to restore an aging house, using sustainable materials.

I realized quickly that the house being described was the same house we had snagged our dishwasher from. To make things even better, I put two-and-two together and realized that I’ve actually met Ron (in relation to Bozeman’s recycling program)–the owner of that house, and former owner of our God-send dishwasher!

So: Thanks, Ron. Thanks for the dishwasher. It really has been a God-send. Not only has it done a fantastic job of washing our dishes, it effectively warded off the dish-washing crisis that threatened to tear our testosterone-filled house to pieces (imagine: four messy guys in a house without a dishwasher. In fact, it very nearly came to blows, once…). As a direct result, Bovard, Andrew, Ben and I are still friends–enjoying our humble home.

At 7:23 am this morning, my sister became a mother and I became an uncle.

Uncle Mark. That’s me!

At 7 pounds 7 ounces and a full 20 inches, Josiah McJunkin is as a beautiful, healthy young boy:

Congratulations, Jenny and Tory!

2007 was a good year for movies.

The year started out a little slowly, but the last six months have been peppered by more good movies than I’ve had time to see. Next on the list to see: Persepolis (playing in Bozeman!).

Here’s my selection of picks for tonight’s Academy Awards:

• Actor in a leading role: Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood)
• Actor in a supporting role: Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton)
• Animated Feature: Persepolis
• Cinematography: No Country for Old Men
• Costume Design: Across the Universe (?)
• Directing: It’s a toss up between There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson) and No Country for Old Men (The Coen Brothers). Anderson is probably slightly more deserving of the award, simply based on “Blood” vs “No Country,” but the Academy owes the Coen Brothers an Oscar for Best Directing–for Fargo, specifically, and also just with respect to their body of work.

  Film Editing: ???

• Original Score: 3:10 to Yuma (?)
• Best Picture: No Country for Old Men
• Sound Mixing: No Country for Old Men
• Visual Effects: Transformers
• Adapted Screenplay: There Will Be Blood (or No Country)
• Original Screenplay: Juno (or Michael Clayton)

I’m disappointed that Across the Universe didn’t get nominated for Best Picture–it certainly deserved it. It’s a pity that the Score category is best “original” score–which disqualifies the amazing Across the Universe soundtrack from winning.

I’m immensely pleased to announce that David Keto and I are running for President and Vice-President, respectively, of the Associated Students of Montana State University (ASMSU).

Our campaign website —
http://ketoegge.org — is an integral part of our campaign material and is now officially live and on-line.

We’re running because we both possess an adamant desire to see ASMSU become a better and stronger organization. We both firmly believe in the importance of an effective student government–and have both identified ways in which ASMSU is ripe for growth and improvement.

Elections are on March 5th & 6th. If we run a successful campaign, Dave and I will both be in Bozeman this summer, working to lay the groundwork for changes that will make ASMSU a more potent and efficient organization next fall and for the years to come.

Last weekend (President’s Day weekend), I went with Christina, William and Zach up to the lookout cabin on top of Garnet Peak.

Being a fire lookout cabin in the Gallatins, the views were breathtaking.

We hiked in on Saturday, played in the snow on Sunday, and hiked out on Monday.

We couldn’t have asked for better weather. We had blue-bird skies all three days, and six inches of fresh powder on Saturday night to play in on Sunday!

We didn’t bring a sled with us, but there was a snow-shovel at the cabin. Being the resourceful type, we built a bobsled-like course in the three-foot-deep snow, and spent much of Sunday perfecting the art of sledding on a snow-shovel.

To improve our run-times, we even waxed the shovel using a candle we found in the cabin.

Here’s a clip of William rocking out on the snowshovel:

I’ve posted more picture from the trip online at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/markegge/20080219GarnetLookoutCabin

—

Also: Ben Folds plays in Bozeman, April 22. Get Tickets. I’m doing backflips. I’m more excited than I can even say. … Yeah. I’m not even going to try to say how excited I am to say that I’m going to be seeing Ben in Bozeman on the 22nd. Of April. … Is it April yet? Is it? Is it April yet?!!

—

Also: the lunar eclipse tonight was bomber. Perfectly clear night. Full moon. A little freezing cold in the still of night, way up Bridger canyon. A little wine and Pink Floyd. A little watching the moon disappear and, gradually, grow brighter and reappear. Absolutely bomber. Next full lunar eclipse: 2010. I’ll be there.

Word.