Misc.Asst.

January 30, 2006

My friends and loyal readers, welcome to my side project: Misc.Asst.

So far, including myself, I’ve got five contributors to the site. Go ahead and pop over there and let me know if you would like to add anything. I’m looking for anything, from a weekly music review to a once every three months rant on whatever, though I’d rather have a weekly column of some sort — subject is irrelevant, but consistent content is important.

Hopefully you’ll find something to like at Misc.Asst., or maybe you’ll just pop over every once in a while to see how things are shaping up. Regardless, it should be a cool way to open up the blogging world to a handful of my talented friends and colleagues who might otherwise have shunned the work involved in keeping a blog filled with relevant information.

Not that that’s stopped me, of course.

If you’re interested in writing for Misc.Asst., e-mail me at mrvilhauer@driscocity.com with your ideas. Who knows, maybe you can be part of the miscellaneous assortment of contributors to the site.

Tags: Misc.Asst. |

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The Big Read

January 30, 2006

I did something I never do this past Saturday: I attended a workshop. For myself.

I received a flyer in the mail while we were in Idaho about The Big Read, a program that has been set up by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to help promote reading. They were searching for people who were willing to become Book Ambassadors for their upcoming event.

In a rare spark of self-betterment, I decided to go. I don’t normally do things like this, so this was a huge step in becoming what some might call “a better person.” Really, considering the subject matter and the fact that I had the day off, what else was I supposed to do?

The Big Read Sioux Falls involves a effort to get as many people as possible to read the same book at the same time, hopefully spurring conversation, creating a buzz about reading and literature, and fostering a community that will eventually continue reading on their own. Something similar has been done in the past with the One Book South Dakota program (last year the group promoted The Work of Wolves by Kent Myers; this year it’s Gilead by Marilynne Robinson,) so there’s a precedent for the concept to get some attention.

On a broader level, The Big Read is being brought to ten areas, Sioux Falls being one of them, with the purpose of choosing one of four books to study, celebrate, and embrace: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury; The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald; Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston; or To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. South Dakota picked To Kill a Mockingbird, and considering the friendship between Harper Lee and Truman Capote – a friendship close enough that Lee modeled Mockingbird’s Dill off of Capote – and the sudden popularity of both Capote’s and Lee’s work since the release of Capote to theatres, the selection seems more timely than ever.

I won’t go into the actual workshop – it was by no means boring, but it’s not exactly the best subject matter to keep someone awake with. There are a few comments, however, on the subject of reading that I picked up during the workshop.

– Less than ½ of the adult American population reads literature, and only slightly more than 1/3 of males.
– The percentage of the U.S. adult population reading any books has declined by 7% over the past decade.
– Reading has declined in nearly every demographic group: young adults, whites, African Americans, Hispanics, etc.
– I was the only male out of the forty-plus that attended either one of the meetings.

That last one wasn’t about reading, but it’s pretty sad that no guys are interested in supporting literature in this city. Maybe they didn’t know. Unfortunately, I suspect that they didn’t care.

Needless to say, the act of reading is being threatened, and I, for one, am glad to see programs like The Big Read and One Book South Dakota being promoted. Books have become almost taboo; they’re becoming more and more shaming, as if reading a smart book makes you too intelligent, too out of touch with what’s on cable television and in the tabloids. Too liberal, too soft, too big for your britches. Of course, this is what’s bringing the intelligence level of our nation down. This is what’s going to ruin a great democracy and slowly force us to rethink all of our values as we become more and more numb to what’s happening outside our living rooms.

But I digress.

The purpose behind the workshop was to encourage each of us to start book groups. Here’s the funny thing – I don’t care much for book groups. Actually, more specifically, I’ve never been in a book group and I know that I’m not the type of person who should be leading a book group. My schedule is pretty random, and my interest in forcing constructive comments out of a group of adults that may or may not have read the book in question is quite small.

However, I do appreciate this idea and I would like to help support it. I will be reading To Kill a Mockingbird this February for a March review in Prime, and I will be willing to join a book group if the situation is right and presents itself. They’ve been talking about starting a Books N’ Bars book club, and I guess I’d be pretty stupid not to join that one.

So, with all of that, I say this: March is the time for The Big Read. South Dakota has 400 new copies of TKAM circulating through its libraries, so go read the damned book. Forget everything you remember from your sophomore high school lit class. It’s a good book, and you’d be doing yourself a favor by re-reading it without the constraints of organized book reports weighing you down.

Tags: Books, Literature |

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Interactivity, my friends

January 29, 2006

It’s not much, but you should check out this website — a fully-interactive Mercedes site that guides the viewer through the alphabet — from A-Class to S-Class.

The sound is great, but the wide array of interactive selections is even greater. Some of the letters aren’t working yet, but you can sign up and have an e-mail reminder when it is.

Thanks to Fresh Glue, a South Dakota based marketing site that’s actually enjoyable to read, for showing this to the rest of us non-marketing people who might never have found it. They bring us another site, for Leo Burnett Canada, that is just as cool.

Tags: Random Links, Advertising/Marketing |

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Goodbye to an anti-legend

January 26, 2006

Here’s my train of thought over the last couple days regarding this new Ron Artest trade:

“Oh man, Artest is finally gone? Awesome… wait… for PEJA Stojakovic? Are you kidding? SUPER Awesome!”

Then, minutes later…

“You’ve got to be kidding me! Artest doesn’t want to go to Sacto, so he’s nixed the trade? Where does he get the power to do something like that! Artest, I HATE YOU!!” (beginning to resign self to the idea of an Olowokandi trade)

Later that night…

“The trade is on again? I’m not holding my breath, I’ll tell you that for sure. I’ve been burned on this before. I guess it would be nice… wait… if this trade were for real, then what’s wrong with Peja? Hmm, now I’m scared.”

And finally, this morning…

(hums to self) “Peja Stojakovic: Indiana Pacer. I like the sound of that.”

Yes, the trade went through. Seriously, this time. After a day and a half of “on again off again” trade talks, a closed door meeting between Pacers owner Donnie Walsh and Ron Artest was issued from management (which I suspect went something like this):

RA: I don’t want to go to Sacramento.

DW: Um, you do realize that by refusing to go to the Kings, you’ve just made yourself look like a primadonna, created an even bigger stigma (if that’s even possible) around your personality, and forced every other team that was at one point considering a trade with us to rethink their strategy and ask for more in return. Thanks, Ron. Now, you’re going to go to Sacramento, and you’re going to have a change of heart and enjoy yourself, or I’m going to turn this trade around and send you to the Rockford Lightning in return for Roger Powell.

RA: Oh. I love Sacramento

Damn right you do, Ron. And we love Peja.

Now, I know there are some pros and cons to this deal. Indiana is getting an older player, a player that’s been injured off and on for the past few seasons, is shooting worse than he ever has in his career, and is a unrestricted free agent that will ask for the highest possible amount at the end of this year. Additionally, Indiana loses one of, if not the, best defensive player in the game, a shooter that is able to create for himself and score from wherever (as opposed to the Reggie Miller-esque outside-only threat that Peja brings) and a man that was the emotional leader for a team that feeds off of a passion for the game.

Still, it wasn’t that long ago that Peja was considered an MVP candidate. It wasn’t that long ago that the Pacers won a lot of games by having a great inside forward/center and a great outside threat. It wasn’t that long ago that everyone was talking about O’Neal for Peja, or a combo of Artest and filler for Peja, and people agreed that the Pacers would have been getting the best of the deal.

Of course, it also wasn’t that long ago that Artest jumped into the stands and sparked The Malice at the Palace. It wasn’t that long ago that he wanted time off to promote an album – in the middle of a season. It wasn’t that long ago that he decided, inexplicably, that he wanted to be the top option on his team and decided he wanted out of Indiana, a team with championship hopes.

Sure, Stojakovic is not the player he was a few years ago. But this is a perfect chance for the Pacers to see what they’re getting: they’ve got the rest of the year to fit Peja into the system, and then they’ve got the option to sign and trade (because a lot of teams will want him for his shooting touch alone) or, if he lives up to his former self, they can re-sign him now that they have the rights to offer him the biggest contract regardless of cap room.

It’s win-win. The Pacers get rid of a problem, and they get a much-needed shooter. The Kings get the problem, but they’ve had problems in the past and they do a good job in breaking them. This current Sacramento Kings team is a far cry from the team that was one quarter from the NBA Finals a few years ago – this team is now hard-nosed and defensive instead of run-and-gun. Both teams got pieces that they need, and the Pacers are rid of the man that cost Reggie Miller one final chance at the NBA Finals, a deed that I’ve never forgiven Artest for.

If only this trade would have happened before our trip to Minneapolis to see the Pacers at the Target Center. They might have actually pulled off a win.

Good luck to the Kings. They’ll need it.

Tags: Sports, Basketball, Indiana Pacers |

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What my grandfather taught me

January 25, 2006

This Monday was my grandfather’s memorial service, a full military service complete with 21-gun salute and American Legion lunch. I had thought I was prepared for it, but I found that no one can truly be prepared to say goodbye until they finally have.

My grandmother asked me to write something that I could read at the service, a eulogy of sorts. I did, but I found I could hardly bring myself to read it. I was a wreck coming into the service. As much as I prepared myself, and as much as I knew I could do it, it was the hardest thing I ever did.

I felt immensely better after I had read it though. I gained strength as I read, and though I choked up a few times I made it through with my head held up, feeling every word, trying to make my grandfather as proud of me as possible. I got a good response; I was told that my grandfather would have been very proud of me, and that it was very beautiful. Kerrie paid me an enormous compliment in saying that I reminded her of when Paul Wellstone’s son, David, read a remembrance at the Wellstone memorial. That made me feel pretty damn good.

Most importantly, however, I felt good with myself.

I needed the closure for myself, and by pouring out my feelings on my grandfather, I was able to close the book on his terrestrial life and prepare to have him live in my heart for the rest of mine.

My grandfather’s life may be behind us now, but his memory never will be.

Donald Wayne Boyer
Memorial 01.23.06
By Corey Wayne Vilhauer

My grandfather, Donald Boyer, was more than just a military man, a businessman, a father, a brother, a grandfather, a friend, a husband, and a confidant. He was more than the man that built his own house at the age of 65, or the man that was a master at shooting, or an avid fisherman, hunter, and wildlife buff. No, aside from all of this, my grandfather was a teacher. A teacher in the most basic sense of the word. He had no lesson plans, and he didn’t watch us all at recess and monitor us while eating lunch, but a teacher none the less.

Above everything, my grandfather appreciated and respected education. He knew that we all had things to learn in life, regardless of how old we were, regardless of where or how well we had been educated. He was a man full of life experiences, and his goal was to pass them along, one by one, like a schoolmaster assigning homework to a fifth grade class. We all learned something when we talked to Donald Boyer. He taught us everything he knew, on purpose or unintentionally, because he was a man that valued the idea of bettering ourselves every day.

My grandfather taught me that there’s nothing more sacred than Mother Nature, that there’s nothing that can’t be solved by taking advantage of the outdoors. He taught me that the wilderness was something to be respected. He taught me that everything we do has consequences, and that because of this we’re better off doing things right the first time, every time.

He taught me that respect is earned. He taught me that laughter is healthy. He taught me the spirit of sportsmanship. He taught me that you shouldn’t hold your aces if someone’s going to go out on you during a card game, and he taught me that years of inactivity do nothing to wane a cribbage shark’s ability to beat his grandson.

My grandfather taught me that there’s nothing that can’t be fixed. He taught me that history is a thing to be revered, to be studied and understood so that we wouldn’t repeat the same mistakes. He taught me that a person’s heritage is something to embrace, to be proud of. He taught me that owning a business can actually seem like a hobby instead of a career.

He taught me how to cut wood, though I never warmed up to actually using the chainsaw, and how to split, load, and stack wood. He taught me the labor I did up at the woodpile was going to build a necessary supply of character. I thought I had built enough of it to last a lifetime, but he later taught me that there’s no such thing as too much character.

My grandfather taught me that if a movie doesn’t have Charles Bronson, John Wayne, or Clint Eastwood, it’s probably not worth watching. He taught me that baseball was a real sport, and that the crap I listened to on MTV wasn’t real music. He taught me to appreciate everything I experienced, because you never know when the opportunity might come up again. He taught me that even a gruff and burly military vet can cry, and that it’s okay to do so.

My grandfather taught me to appreciate hard work. He taught me to keep the desire to learn, and to believe in myself regardless of what I do. He taught me to be happy first, and to worry about personal status last. He taught me to have dreams, to do what it takes to make them come true, and to never take for granted what we have achieved. He taught me that there’s no point in others being proud for you if you aren’t proud for yourself.

He taught me that my heroes shouldn’t be in the movies, or sports stars, but real life people who have made an impact in my life. He taught me that regardless of how old I get I’ll always be in a position to take something on, to push my boundaries a little each day and have the confidence to stand up to any barriers I face.

My grandfather taught me that, regardless of what my assumptions were when I was six years old, no one lives forever. He taught me that there’s nothing that isn’t worth fighting for because you’ll never succeed if you don’t try. He taught me that there can be peace in dying, though he also taught me that even peace doesn’t make it any easier to deal with.

Of all the things that he taught me, though, the one that sticks out the most is that there is nothing more valuable than family. He taught me that the most important thing a person can do in their life is be a devoted husband, a caring father, a proud grandfather, a loving brother, and a trusting friend. He taught this to all of us, actually, and this might have been the most subtle lesson yet. Still, it’s probably the most important one. We all have a lot to learn from my grandfather. We all have the ability to be as sensitive, yet still be as confident; to take life and live it, yet still make time for those closest to us.

It’s this lesson that makes me the most proud of my grandfather. It’s this lesson that, for all of us, ensures that my grandfather will always be around in everything we do, for as long as we live.