Introducing Dexter.

Meet the latest member of the Kreeger family: Dexter, a maltese/poodle mix. He’s 2 months old, 3 pounds, and full of puppy energy.

Laura and I weren’t totally certain we were going to get a puppy today. We did plan to get one in the next month, around the time she graduates college (which is next Friday, by the way), but we looked online this morning and didn’t find anything we liked. After a drive around Liberty (to look at our new house), we were driving to Petsmart to look at the puppies there when we came across a man from Mason, MO selling these Maltese/poodle mixes, and Laura just fell in love with the first one she picked up.

We took him to the vet to check him out (and he’s got a clean bill of health), picked him out a handful of dog goodies (including a crate, some toys, a bed, a leash, etc.), and brought him back to Laura’s folks house, where we’re staying this weekend. He’ll be going back to Springfield with Laura for the next week, and then he’ll be coming back with her after graduation to live in our new house. More on that house thing in another post.

It’s a departure

After 5 long years, I’m leaving Springfield, MO for greener pastures. Namely, those in the greater Kansas City area. Today is my last day with the Educational Technology Center at Missouri State University, a stellar bunch of people who I’ve been absolutely lucky to work with. Monday, I start my new position as a software architect at National Marketing Resources in Kearney, MO. It’s the start of something not too familiar, but it definitely marks an exciting new chapter in both Laura’s and my life.

I met a lot of cool people during my time in Springfield, and I’ll keep in touch with many of you across the Internet. I’m sure I’ll drop by to visit again soon, but until then, thanks for the memories, everybody!

3-D movies: don’t compromise the 2-D, please

I just sat through Clash of the Titans. The movie was meh, but it’s not the content of the movie that’s got me buggin’ right now. It’s the size of the screen I saw it on: it was tiny. The movie has only been out for a week, for crying out loud, and we saw it on a screen that barely rivals the largest big-screen television in modern U. S. homes. What in the hell is up with that?

Oh, I bet I know. It’s because of all these damn 3-D movies coming out now. Don’t get me wrong. 3-D is cool when used appropriately. It’s a topic of heated discussion, I know, but I liked Avatar in 3-D so much I saw it 3 times. But when studios are shitting out these movies in 3-D all the time, they really start to diminish in quality. And movie studios are making fantastic money doing it. 3-D ticket prices are typically $3-5 above regular price. So it should come as no surprise that at just about any given time, half of the movies showing in a movie theater are 3-D.

But where does that leave 2-D movies? On the cheap, smaller screens in the tiniest rooms in the theater. The films are often times better, or may even (somehow) manage to rake in more money than 3-D films, but they’re playing on dinky little toy screens. Laura and I saw Clash of the Titans on one of these itty-bitty screens, and it was like we were being punished because we didn’t want to see the 3-D version (of which numerous times we were told wasn’t worth the extra cost).

Seriously. That sucks for movie-goers… especially ones that don’t buy into the gimmicky 3-D stuff that’s being thrown around American multiplexes.