Remission (2014) Review by Mark Krawczyk

And so it goes...

Sooo the Packers lost in the post season in fine fashion. Defeating themselves more than the other team beating the. The Giants wanted it more, plain and simple. I think our team does better as the underdogs then as the top dog. Many teams do. It makes them more hungry. Plus Packers didn't bring their A-game to be sure , but still the season was a lot of fun.
Now though is the time that test true fans versus the bandwagon fans. I loved my Packers when they went 6-10 and love them now.  Many won't
OTHERS will say "Well Brett got them to 2 super Bowls back to back." Sure he did but then he lost horribly to Denver. Then how many post season games did we lost because Brett made a Bone headed play. DID people really forget about those last min interceptions on throws that never had to be made.
Its human nature for seeing the top dog fail. From the financially successfull to the celebrity that is successful, to the sports team that is successful. There is so much fascination for humans to watch more successful humans fail its no wonder we don't have more people striving to be better. If you are you will get hated and shunned and insulted. In this world it seems better to be mediocre than to be great.
Its really no wonder we are where we are as a species but back to football.
I am very happy with the Packers they way they performed 90% of the season. I have respect for the teams that play against the Packers. I wish the Giants well.
As for the Packers. They can make another run. In this Day and age the NFL and their free agency system makes it a miracle any teams can be successful for more than a couple years, Packers have had a very good run this decade and I hope for many more.   Meanwhile we have to just put up with the name calling and the Haters because they were happy to see a top dog fail. Yet when their team becomes top dog will we do the same insulting and nasty name calling.  I won't, unfortunately I cannot speak for my other Packer Fan friends.
People seem to foget that when all is said and done, its just a game. There will be others.

Hi 2012

And so begins another year. This time every year we make resolutions that 90% of the time are broke by March. Its just human nature.  This year though I really want to try and hold to my resolutions. I am going to make this the year of creativity. Write more, work on more videos and hell even shoot a short movie. Work on making my work room more studio-ish and try some new ideas that have been collecting dust Big goals? Well outside of the short movie, no.
On the personal front there are goals of play with the kids more, be a better husband and the traditional lose some extra poundage. Again definitely do-able.
With this being a year of Elections I plan to be a more informed voter and I also plan not to get into heated political discussions.  These might be a bit tougher to hold to as I do tend to get passionate about things I believe in but its definitely something I can do.
Course there might be people out there who throw everything out the window figuring this is the last year of the human race. I hope most people that read this do not believe that. Its just not true.
New Years is a time of reflection and renewal. Now of course you can try and change things during the year, you don't have to wait until Jan 1st but it is nice to have a hard set reset day. One you can really mentally prepare yourself on the coming year and remember the things you have done right and wrong prior. Hopefully we can learn from these experiences to make sure they either do not happen again or build on the positive.
This past year had its ups and downs but I made some new friends, went on a number of family trips (probably more than we had before) that I think help bond our family a little closer together, and had more more ideas for projects. Good things to build on.
Things to learn from are still my ever present problem of being my own worst critic and stopping myself from doing something for fear of failure.
2012. The reset button has been pressed and who know what events the New Year holds for me and my family but whatever it brings, I feel I am ready for it. Never to late to change.

Heroscape Battle Me vs Honorable Son #2 aka How I spent my afternoon

Team Me:

• Syvarris
• Major Q10
• Raelin the Kyrie Warrior
• Marro Stingers
• Sonlen
• Nikita Agents
• Zettian Guards

Team Son#2:

• Marro Warriors
• Airborne Elite
• Krav Maga Agents
• Agent Carr
• Venom
• Iron Man

The Battlefield (designed by Son #2)

    After our warriors took the field Son # 2 Got to move first. His Agents moved out first along with his Marror warriors and Agent Carr.  On our side,Syvarris lead the Marro Stingers out with the Major Q10 bringing up the rear.

     The bridge was insight and with the group we had we were sure to reach the High Bridge first but luck was not on our side for in the next round Son #2 gained the advantage and managed to deploy his Airborne. There was no mistake where the Airborne were to land. All four landed on the High Bridge and now Son # 2 was in control of it. The airborne moved swiftly and it was not long before they managed to take out the Major and severly wound Syvarris. Meanwhile Son #2 agents took up positions on either flank as his Agent Carr made his way to the High Bridge.

    Sonlen and Raelin joined in the fight but for the Major it was too late. The Airborne were able to strike first and took him out. Raelin no sooner got to the Marro warriors and Syvarris to help with their defense before she was too was gun down by the airborne.  Syvarris and Sonlen did their best to draw the fire of the Airborne who continued to hold the bridge with their advantage in height as the Stingers moved up behind a nearby wall.
    Syvarris managed to pick Airborne off but not before taking another hit. One of the Marror Stingers fell to the Airborne rifles. At this time the Zettain guards had moved up and managed to strafe the bridge, dropping another Airborne. One of the agents in a flanking position on one of the connected islands took out a Stinger.

     When it looked as if the ranks of the Airborne were thinning and we could possibly take the bridge. The enemies Marror warriors had managed their way to the bridge and reinforced the one lone airborne unit left. Syvarris continued his double attack from the ground trying to pick off the newly arrived enemy units as the last two Stingers went for the agents. The Zettian Guards provided cover but their attack is weak and they had little affect. Sonlen managed to kill a wounded Agent Carr with his baby dragon. One of the Stingers managed to kill another agent while the other tried to shoot from afar at Venom, who was about to climb the ladder to the top bridge. Venom swung out of the way before taking damage. 

    The battle continued to rage. 

    Syvarris held tight to a pillar and managed to take out the last enemy agent as the Zettian guards and a very wounded Sonlen took out Venom but not before the last of the Stingers were dropped and one of the Nikitas fell.  

    The enemy was able to occasionally reinforce their Marro ranks with their dang water cloning ability and Son #2s excellent dice rolling skills.  One of the respawned Marrors dealt the killing shot to Syvarris. After a long hard battle we finally got up that damn ladder. With only 2 Zettian guards, 2 Nikitas, and Sonlen with his baby Dragon we took that bridge.  It looked as if the battle was nearly won, that was until Son #2 pulled out his final unit, Iron Man. Our guards heavy armor made it easy to hold the ladder on to the bridge but their attacks had little affect. Sonlen managed to get Iron Man on the ropes and down to a sliver of health but the Superhero fought back, he took out a Zettian Gaurd and then flew up next to Sonlen. 

   At this range the Smoke screen of the Nikitas could do nothing to protect Sonlen and he fell to the hand of Iron Man, as did the last Nikita.  Luck was fortunate enough on our side that the Marros had stopped spawning. Which left Iron Man, one Marro Warrior and our Zettian Guard.

   In a last desperate effort the Zettian Guard with his weak attack managed to some how hit a weakness in the armor of Iron Man.   The superhero fell into the water below the bridge. The Guard slowly made his way to the last Marro Warrior, the one who had stayed back to spawn reinforcements. He managed one more clone but it fell to the Guard. 

  Finally after 2 and a half hours of heated battle, the Zettian guard managed to take high ground and with his long range made the final shot and stood alone on the bloody battlefield. Team Me was victorious.

Damn kids are really getting good at these games.   

We made our own political bed.

Sorry to say it but the reason washington is the way it is and the reason the country is the way it is, is because we made it that way. Some may say "Well I didn't!"  but you did. The government is designed to serve the people and the country but it no longer does.  Our elected officials stopped serving the country many decades ago. They serve thier party. They work for the benefit of appeasing their party. Not the people. But it makes sense as party is where the money is at.
Regardless of which side of the aisle they sit, it boils down to money.
Why? Because we the people allowed it.
How? By staying a divided people.  By staying uninformed. By being sheep.
Again you may say, I am not a sheep. I look at both sides of the argument to make a decision and thats you. congratulations. Unfortunately you are not the majority.

The world has grown up but we have not as a country. If anything we have returned back to our infancy. Where we take the childish stance that if someone belongs to a different party than you do that you completely refuse anything that person says to you. Even if that person is right. That's the current state of congress. You have both sides posturing. Both thinking not of their constituants but how they will look to their party and the people that hold their money. If our elected officials actually made decisions and had civil discussions about what is wrong with our country and work together to fix it. This country would be the top leader and a model for other countries to follow.

We use to be that. Not any more.   To the world our government looks more like abunch of school kids where the bullies reign and the other just follow behind.   I have read where people are saying the president is taking our money or squeezing us or whatever.  REALLY?   Now I am not saying he is not innocent to the whole thing but to put the blame solely on him is well where we are getting it wrong.  Its our whole political body that is to blame. A system where money guides the politicians, not the will of the people.  So don't just blame the President, its too easy.

Harder part is to blame our elected officials. Why? BECAUSE THE MAJORITY VOTED FOR THEM. Hell no one likes being wrong and if we blame our elected officials, well then we have to blame ourselves as a country.  President tried to get things done but the right voted party line on anything that had his name on it. Nearly everything. Just because he was a democrat. The Right won the last election because "the Left just didn't get done what needed to be done" , at least in some peoples eyes.  But what did the Right do?  Shove every policy on thier wish list through. To hell with the people. "We reign and the money men want this so I will give it to them so I have funding for my next election."  Wisconsin is a prime example of that.
What funny is if the Left did the same thing then the Right would have complained about their actions, though as we see its something the republicans themselves would do.

Even now we have posturing.  "well he likes it so I will dislike it.  I don't care if it will help the people and keep the country from defaulting. He likes it so I hate it. He won't agree to ALL of our terms so I won't agree to any of his terms. Cause if I do someone may think I agree with him and if they do that I won't get my money for re election." This goes for both sides.

Again though this is just a reflection of the people. The world has changed alot quicker than our country has. We have people who will vote republican/democrat solely on the fact that they were republican/democrat and their were republican/democrat. Nevermind where those candidates stood on issues. Nevermind that they voted for because some special interest group who believes it in helped fund their last campaign.

It would be amazing what we would accomplish if we could think for ourselves as a nation but we have grown this environment where he who has the most money controls our elected officials.  We did this by believeing the mud slinging and  rehetoric of those who paid for the most advertising. Now when I say we I mean we as a country, I know of many individuals who do not beleive in such things but it is a minority in comparison to the country as a whole.

Look everyone we only have ourselves to blame for the state of being. So before we decided to blame washington for our woes, we first have to take a hard look at ourselves and realize we as a country are too blame. After all we put them there.

Things I learned while on a School Field Trip to Mt Olympus.

- I no longer Tan. I burn. I use to tan when I was younger. I mean hardly ever burned. Now I burn. We has spray on sunblock and I used it all on Son#1 through out the day.  Better he not burn than me.

- All new pop rock songs for some reason have a repeating phrase such as "Just come on and come on " or "na na na " whatever. I mean every single song is like the artist has a stutter. I also could tell which were the popular songs as all the 5th graders new the words course fifth grade girls singing Rihanas S&M radio edit is a bit disturbing.

- It is legal to sell a single bottle of beer for 7 dollars in Wisconsin WTF

- Did I mention I sunburn now.

- That Mt Olympus truly does mean No Carry Ins. They searched every kids bag and pulled any food or beverage items from their bags. I mean they pulled it all. Full lunches to sodas to juice boxes.  We did have a lunch ticket as part of the field trip that entitled us to a hot dog and bun with a small cup of soda and some potato chips. Heat Index of a hundred and they were pulling kid's beverages.

- Apparently Lazy river means run with the tube through the Lazy river over and over again as fast as you can. Or form a Lazy river blockade with two tubes so no one can pass. LAZY RIVER means to just float and possibly fall as sleep.

- Green screen Photos as well as videos are the norm now in every place in The Dells.

- Did I mention I sun burn now instead of tan.

Only 1 Week until TRIVIA!!

Yep its only week until the most exceiting weekend in central wisconsin. TRIVIA 42: I LOVE TRIVIA. Has to be one of my most favorite times of the year , if not the most.

For the few who may not have heard of it allow me to expand your knowledge.
TRIVIA is a contest that is held here in little old Stevens Point. It is a fundraiser for the totally student run Radio Station here on campus.  Teams pay a registration fee to get a team number so they can play the contest. There is also mechandise a plenty to buy.
Basically from 6pm on a Friday to Midnight that Sunday, yes 54 hours straight, trivia questions are read on air. Then teams have usually the length of two songs (sometimes one or three depending on the types of questions that hour) to call in give their number and the answer.  The songs are usually older songs due to their shorter length. You don't get any Meatloaf songs during Trivia :) Now these questions can be on ANYTHING. From  What is Harry Calahan's Badge number?   to who won the long distance jump in the 1954 olympic games, etc. 
Anyway points for the questions are then determined by how many teams call in correctly. There is a formula but it escapes me at the moment.

Along with the hourly questions , there are Music questions in which snippits of 8 songs are spliced together and a team has to decide what songs are in with in the music track. Now when I say Snippits I do mean snippits, we are talking anywhere from a short group of notes to a single drum beat that has just enough there to distinguish it from other drum beats from other songs.
 
There are also the running questions , one on Saturday and one on Sunday, which are basically scavanger hunts of sorts.  Teams gather in a location in town , i believe its downtown on Saturday  morning and then a different location on Sunday morning. They are then given a list with certain things to find, such as "What poster is displayed on the door of  the Tech Cafe?" . You Get points for how many you get right. Again it is based off of how many people answer correctly. You get the idea. But wait that's not all.

There are also the Trivia Stones.  This is where teams are given directions on how to get to a certain location. There are groups of directions that are read on the radio. These directions eventually guide you to a number of locations where you can get your book stamped. Again you get points for the stamp. Now when I say directions I am not talking about "Go three blocks to Division street and turn left." no we are talking about directions like "From where you are now, turn left, go past the big fish, the bike and the waffle house, now turn right."  You get the idea.

Some of the questions involve pictures that are featured in the New Trivia Times, a booklet you get at the time you register your team. These pictures can be of ANYTHING and ANYONE. alot of times they are just a logo or a head shot/ glamour shot of an actor or actress. That's all your given until the time of the contest when the question is asked about it. You are given the week to try to find out as much as possible about those pictures, which trust me aint easy.

Trivia is 54 hour of sleep deprived organize chaos and what are you playing for? Mostly a big trophy and bragging rights. The Point (pardon the pun) of the contest is to have fun. Speaking of fun there is also a Trivia Parade On the Friday starting at 4 oclock. Its meant to be a warm up for the contest and also a chance for teams to show themselves to the rest of the world. Teams build floats for the parade that are as simple as a car displaying their team name to a viking boat to a Pirate Ship (that one was ours one year, I loved that ship, it was Macy's worthy) The floats are judged and the top three get a gift of pizzas or some other such item. Not points involved, just shear fun.

There is one more even I almost forgot about and its happening this weekend.  The weekend before trivia there is the trivia movie. It is meant to be a kick off for the week leading up to the contest and the movie could be anything. As you may have guessed questions based off of  movie are asked during the contest so its a good reason to go to it.

So if you are not doing anything the weekend of the 8th, 9th and 10th drift on through point, head to the bottom of the radio dial 89.9 and listen to what is one of the best times of  the year. Trivia Time.

Politics, Politics and well damn I did it again.

You know when I vote for a politician to get into office I vote because I believe they may make a difference and Believe that they will do what is best for the people. How Naive I am.

Most politicians nowadays don't serve the people, they serve the Party they belong too which isn't the same thing. If it were I think there would be alot more cross aisle cooperation. I maybe Naive here but its what I believe. Also it is not exclusive to one party or the other, both are guilty though the Republicans do have alot more examples of it.

Party Line Voting does not serve the people! To vote on a matter the same as the rest of your group without consulting the people is well irresponsible of our elected officials. When I say people I do mean people and not companies or lobbyists.

Party Line voting may show unity of a party but again its showboating alot of times and it provides an opportunity for a politician to avoid taking a hard look at the issue to see if how they vote will truely serve the people in the long run, not the short run. A very good example is the current political environment in Wisconsin. The Republican reps there are going to vote for the bill regardless of whats in it because our Republican Govenor put the bill together and heaven forbid they go against him. Should they do that their GOP backers may pull out or worse Walker will target them for some form of Backlash. He would do it too.

People pick on the Wisconsin 14 saying they aren't doing their job and are avoiding the situation. Thats quite the opposite. These 14 by far are showing more backbone than most of the Democrats in office have shown in ages. They are facing potential political ruin when all is said and done. They are doing this because they are serving the people. They are slowing down the process so there can be discussion, so the things hidden in the Bill can be negotiated or removed entirely. They are doing it so democracy can actually be practiced.

There is supposed to be debate, there are supposed to be questions, there is supposed to be a dialog between two sides that can come to an agreement that will best serve all the people.
The stance that Govenor Walker has taken is "Well as long as you agree with me, then I am open to discussion." That is not democracy.

Yes they have the majority because more people voted for them. There is also the fact that special interest groups were able to stuff buckets full of cash in their pockets to basically buy an election and hence buy the politician and his vote. Should he actually stray from the path they want him on they will not support him in the next election.

Some would say, the groups didn't pay people to vote for the republicans, the people chose it themselves. I would have to disagree with that. I will use Star Trek as an example. Before you laugh stay with me a moment.

In one episode Picard was captured and held hostage. During his ordeal he had four lights in front of him yet his captor told him there were five. This involved alot of yelling and yes some torture. This continues for days and days before Picard was rescued but at the end of the episode he admits he saw five lights.

Now while the Republicans did not torture the people. They did yell, and yell and yell and saturated every possible media with their "vote for me, I am for you" message and the like. They were able to Yell a lot louder and a Lot more often than the democrats because the Republicans had a hell of a lot more money to saturate all forms of media with their message. Repition was the key. Since they were able to put their message everywhere and often it soon got people to believe what they were saying was true, whether it really was or not. They continued to bombard us with their message and they were able to convince many people there were 5 lights, in other words, that they were for us. Thats how they gained the majority.

Does this mean we agree with everything their party represents, no not at all because people weren't voting for the party , well I hope they weren't again I am probably being Naive, they were voting for the person who they thought was for the people. Unfortunately the person being voted into office took it as "Hey the people are voting for our party we can do whatever our party wants us to do without question." That's not democracy.

These are just my thoughts.
You know again here I am trying to talk politics. Sorry. I did that at work today and I did not present my case the best. Slap my hand Jim and Jill.

The State of Things

SO after 2 hours of thinking of something to say about politics and the current powder Kegger party known as Wisconsins Budget Fix bill I have decided not to write anything.

I mean I had many paragraphs and descriptions of my opinions on each section of the Bill which I actually read. Pretty extreme stuff in there. Alot of it going against the very foundation that much of the labor force of the state was built on. There had to be a better way to go about it then what our governor did but what do I know I am just a common man.

Politics is such an explosive subject nowadays I try to avoid it all together. EVERYONE has an opinion and are more than willing to give it to you. Tonight has been exhausting trying to come up with what I want to say without stoking fires that are out there. So I stay quiet and will let my vote speak for me come election time.

But thats the State of Things right now, exhausted. I can tell you I am exhausted of our politicians from any aisle not getting their heads out of their political party asses and start asking the people who put them there what they should focus on next. Some Politicians have it go in one ear and out the other, some promise to act but when the time comes never actually do because it could possibly go against their Party, and then there are the Politicians who tell you what is best for you and don't give a damn what you think is best for you.

So I will just say this. If the politicians from any side of the aisle don't start looking past their party line or even more past their own pocket book and begin to actually focus on the extreme issues at hand we are headed for a sad state of affairs.
Before someone tells me "But we are trying" I would argue no our politicians are not. If the Politicians were actually thinking of the people and looking beyond their party to what the people truely wanted, instead of an exhausted nation we would be a well rested one.
But what the hell do I know I am just a common man.

1 year later and Saturday Mornings

So it has been over a year since I posted on this thing called a blog. Didn't realize it was that long. Anyway I decided why not knock the dust off of it and post something. So here it is.

Yep....still got nothing. But then it could be because my children decided that it was a good idea to get up at the ass crack of dawn this morning. Bright eyed and bushy tailed they sit quietly on the couch watching cartoons...on Netflix instant view...from the internet.

Saturday mornings are not what they use to be. In the 80's Saturday morning was a big deal for cartoon watching. It was something you looked forward too all week because there were certain cartoons that only played that morning and at no other time during the week. It was a must attend event. Hell in the 80's they would have a prime time show in early fall specifically promoting the upcoming Saturday morning cartoons that would be playing for that season. I never missed one of those. It was a show specifically for me. My how times have changed.

Nowadays those cartoons that play on Saturday morning network TV can be accessed at anytime during the week via the intarwebs. The cartoon viewing time has also seemed to shorten on MOST channels. More important though is that the Saturday morning cartoon block of shows are not so important.

Saturday morning cartoons now are just there. They have lost their luster I think. At least from what I have observed from my children. Perhaps they are the exception but I don't think so. We now live in a culture where entertainment is at your finger tips 24/7. I can at least enjoy the fact that my kids use Netflix to watch the cartoons I grew up with rather than the latest version of Yu Gi Oh or some variation.

I am not saying this is a bad thing at all. Its the old cliche "Times have Changed" and I accept that. I just miss the magic that was Saturday Morning Cartoons.