I still remember reading the announcement of the Rails/Merb merging over Christmas in 2008. So awesome to see the partnership come to fruition!

That almost rhymes!

Today was Day Three of our official arrival in Milwaukee and things are still going well. Laura, Jamis, Molly and I are still getting settled in with Laura’s parents but we are getting more and more used to things as they will be for the next little while. I’ve started work and Laura has continued hers.

One thing I’ve found rather interesting so far is working from a kitchen table when I need to back up my laptop or access my music collection. I have been spoiled by having a separate office in our last three places that not having one can be a little jarring. Luckily, I haven’t had much time to actually sit down and work, so it hasn’t been much of an issue so far (and I say this as I have running Carbon Copy Cloner to get a fresh backup done).

My iPhone has become even more valuable to me in Milwaukee than it was in New Ulm. Part of that is having 3G wireless here from AT&T which makes data that much speedier than I was used to in New Ulm over EDGE. It also allows me to keep track of my shifts and what is happening both here in Milwaukee with ours and Laura’s family and back in Minnesota with my family. I have a feeling it will become even more important as time goes by. That iPhone 4 is looking really tempting, by the way.

So, just another short update from here. Pretty soon we will start looking at places more seriously, so if you have any advice for choosing a place in Milwaukee, please let me know.

Alright, so I have a couple of seconds here as Jamis takes a nap and I sit in a chair in my in-laws’ TV room to thank everyone to helped us move everything to Milwaukee in some way. It was a crazy past two-plus weeks, but we made it through and tomorrow I get to start up at the new job.

Thank you to everyone, and God’s blessings!

Not to be confused with “a moving company,” I am wondering if it is worth it to move Replosion to Wisconsin with us, or better to just scrap it in Minnesota and build it anew in Wisconsin when the time comes.

Thoughts?

The word review is in parentheses for a reason because this isn’t so much a review as a look back on the movie after a week of letting it sit in my head and fester. I’ll start by stating that Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is tied with Inception as my favorite movie of the year. Those two are interchangeable, but they are so different that I don’t feel bad liking both of them.

I’ll get a short review out of the way first, and it won’t be much because I’m not very good at writing reviews. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is a movie adaptation of the Scott Pilgrim comics by Bryan Lee O’Malley. The sixth volume of the comics was released in July 2010, and you can pick up the whole set on Amazon or on your iPhone or iPad. The movie stars Michael Cera as Scott Pilgrim with a wonderful ensemble cast, including Mary Elizabeth Winstead as the mysterious Ramona Flowers. For what it is worth, those two were cast exceptionally well for their respective roles. Whatever you’ve read about Cera not being fit for the part of Scott Pilgrim from some reviewers, ignore it. Cera is probably the perfect Scott Pilgrim and all you need to do is actually read the comics to find out why.

The movie is stylistic and a heavy combination of realistic sets mixed with unrealistic things happening. From this point forward, I’m not going to be held responsible for any spoilers. Go out, read the comics and see the movie before reading further.

What is it about this series?

The movie and comics have resonated with me for a number of reasons and none of them are simple. First, they are just entertaining. The movie is fun, the comics are easy to follow and funny, and both really hold together quite well on their own merits. I’m planning on purchasing the music as well pretty soon and might give it all a listen come our trip to Wisconsin as we move next week because it will be our dog Molly and myself for probably 7+ hours in a 1996 Toyota Corolla. Hopefully we can make it.

Besides the entertainment value, I think that Scott Pilgrim’s story very much reminds me of my mindset I had before my “Ramona” moment of dating my future wife back when I was in high school. Granted, I didn’t play the bass in a band at the time and was a little younger.

That recognition made it very easy to relate to Scott and how he viewed things. It is kind of hard to recognize that about yourself in a fictional character you really do not like all that much, or you at least feel like you shouldn’t like that character as much as you do.

Realizing that both of these characters (Scott and Ramona) are severely flawed grounds this fanciful story more in real life than any number of chick flicks or romantic comedies or any other movies in recent memory. The movie never takes itself seriously, but it is able to portray two seriously flawed people having a flawed relationship … granted, with the inclusion of fight scenes and plenty of laughs.

It’s hard for me to really write much about the story as it flows better out of my mouth than out of my fingers. Perhaps I’ll try and write down some more in the future.

If I have a complaint about the movie, it has to do with how closely it follows a certain part of the source material. This is nothing more than my own personal opinion, but I feel as though the final comic was far more nuanced and satisfying than the ending the movie provides. I could have gone for a good combination of both the self confidence of Scott in the movie’s ending with the teamwork and revelations of the comic. Scott and Ramona working together to defeat Gideon would have been my preference, but I understand the difficulties because the movie was filmed before the final comic was released.

So I’ll close with a recommendation: go and watch the movie now. Even though it is not doing well i the theaters at the moment, I just have the feeling that this is going to explode on DVD. Go watch it now, then get ahold of the comics and read them to get a full look into the world and to understand even more. Usually I would recommend the books/comics first, but I think in this instance the movie is maybe the better way to go for your first taste.

Laura decided to give blogging a try in relation to our pending move this coming week. Go ahead and see what she has to say about the changes that are coming. I really hope she keeps up with it after we move as well.

Don’t forget that today is Whyday! Spend some time hacking in Ruby and creating something new!

Last night I had the opportunity to watch the Twins beat the White Sox 7-6 at Target Field and also (maybe more importantly) watch Joe Mauer just get one over the left field fence for his first home run at Target Field. If you want a reason for his power numbers being down, I think you just found it. I’m hoping with the monkey off of his back we will see a few more before they hoist the World Series trophy this year.

However, let me dwell on Target Field for a moment. The place really is a shrine to baseball in Minnesota and the Twins as a franchise. That’s what sets it apart from the Metrodome already, with with no championships being won there.

Target Field is the Twins’ ballpark first and foremost, and because of that you enjoy going there so much more than the Dome. You go for the game and you stay for the game and you don’t want to leave because the place is just fun to visit. Granted, it is new, but I hope that they work to keep it as clean as it currently is and keep the place looking good.

We sat in the upper deck this time, right behind home plate, and I think they might be the most underrated seats in the house. You can see the whole field, and the concourse up there is not nearly as busy as the lower-levels but with all of the same amenities. The seats are comfortable and you can see the excellent scoreboard and Minne and Paul when a Twin hits a home run. If you can get seats up there, give it a shot.

All in all, the Twins are now 5 games up in the AL Central and hopefully Baker can start putting things together again. Pavano goes tonight against the Sox with a chance to take a 6 game lead with three left against the Pale ‘Hose in September. Bring Morneau back and I think we are prepping for a great end to the season.

There are many times when I try to do or use something just for the sake of using it. There’s not real benefit gained, but I feel like I should use a tool or do something a certain way to fulfill some innate desire.

This happens to be one of those times.

When you don’t need a CMS for something, then don’t use one. I don’t know why I try to fit some of my projects into one.

So our family currently owns two vehicles (alright, we own one and the bank currently lets us use the other): a 2005 Ford Freestar and a 1996 Toyota Corolla. You can guess which vehicle is mine, it won’t take you long.

With the move coming up I’ve been debating whether keeping two vehicles is both needed and/or beneficial. Milwaukee has a bus system which can pretty much get you anywhere, but I have no experience actually riding it to and from work. Couple that with the fact that we are not going to know where we are going to be living for the mid-term and I really can’t make a decision as to what to do at this moment.

Part of me would really like to ditch the second vehicle (the Corolla which is very dear to me) and just swing it with one vehicle and riding the bus. Only having to pay for maintenance, insurance, gas, etc. on one automobile sounds like sweet music to my ears. It is a minimalistic approach to living that is appealing to me at the moment.

However, losing the second vehicle also limits us in many ways. If the van needs work, we will not have a second vehicle around to use. If I work late, I’ll still have to take the bus, I’ll be limited by the schedule the bus has (which can lengthen the commute considerably) and we also lose an asset we actually own.

So it becomes a conflict for me. Right now no decision will be made. I am driving the Corolla (complete with two cans of freon added as of tonight) to Milwaukee where I will use it to get around for the short term. I will be taking stock of the amount of money we are going to be sinking into it over the next month or so and then compare that to a month-long bus pass along with time constraints of the ride to see if it might be a better fit for us to just go with one automobile.

This could also be remedied by having teleportation devices.