Alright. So I need some accountability. I picked up Guitar Hero last week. My two cousins have it and I made the mistake of playing it when I was home from Christmas their place. It's an addicting game. I just want to make sure that I don’t turn into this kid.

Now there’s the whole debate over spending time learning Guitar Hero vs learning to play an actual guitar. The way I see it, it’s no different than any other game. If it’s ok to stay inside and play Madden on your Xbox, why aren’t people up in arms claiming that those gamers should be outside actually playing football? Why are these people staying inside playing Halo when they could be running around shooting people in the face? My point? Just like everything else – it’s just a game people. Although I do totally agree to the fact that we spend too much time inside. But just like everything else, moderation is key. What’s interesting though is that after playing Guitar Hero for a week, I went to rehearsal for our Brass Ensemble at church and I saw a surprising improvement in how much easier it was to handle more complicated/faster runs on the trumpet. I think I have an idea!


Upon hearing that I got Guitar Hero, a friend at work ran across this picture. Maybe this is some kind of long-lost Heavy Metal twin.

Rock on twin Jonathan. Rock on.

The Message & a massage

So why is it that at church the one couple who give each other mini back massages during the entire service insist on sitting in one of the first 3 three pews for everyone to see? Just wondering. I mean, don't get me wrong - it's awesome that they're there for worship. I just had an inclination this morning to get some hot stones and setup a masseuse table by the alter rail, maybe have the praise band play a little Yanni or Enya (their pick). And how stressed is this couple that they need to rub each other's back for an hour and a half? I'm all for relaxation, especially when it might include a massage, it's just a little distracting during the *entire* worship, that's all I'm saying. Maybe this little pet peeve is just the singleness in me coming out :)

I was starting to get a little worried that there weren't any comments (not that I'm egotistical or anything). But then I notice that I turned on comment moderation. Oops.

Hope you had a great weekend!

My Weekend

It’s weird. There are some weekends when I seem to really get nothing accomplished after all is said and done. These are the weekends where I wake up on Saturday and attempt to find something that needs fixed, cleaned, scrubbed, washed .. something. Just so I don’t go to bed, lie there and think to myself that nothing was accomplished. On the other hand, there are weekends like this past one where the day flies by and I lie in bed at night and wonder if I even ate lunch.

Mom and Dad came up, which is always nice. I get along with all of my family, so I never think of it as a hassle or burden or anything. Dish Network came out and hooked up an HD DVR which rules the world with truth and grace...oh wait. No, that’s God. But it still rules regardless. So now I can finally watch 17 straight hours of Law & Order in HD if I so choose – but I’d rather not. I think after the 4th straight hour I’d get sick of that "blunk blunk" sound when they transition between scenes. I seriously think that I need that sound though in real life:

I go out to my car after work, sit down and hear "blunk blunk". Then somewhere a black title card with white letters appears:


         Jonathan’s Car
Monday, January 21, 2008


But wow...I digress. Saturday night the company I work for had their annual party. Or as they called it the "Holiday Celebration Dinner". As to exactly which holiday we were celebrating on January 19, I'm not sure. I guess they were trying to give more respect to MLK Day than in previous years. It couldn’t have been Christmas – that was a month ago. For the past 3 years I’ve played in the company band which is always fun. Hopefully I can post some pics. There’s usually a youtube video that surfaces too. Nothing like rockin the trumpet with a little guitar behind you.

I have some other stuff, but I’ll save it for a later post. Hope you weekend went well.

My Hobby

Sometimes when you do ice breakers, the question comes up "If you didn't have to work, what would you do with your time?" For me I really love to do video editing. As geeky as it sounds, I've enjoyed getting out some old Botkin family VHS tapes and putting them on DVD for family members to enjoy. I really think it helps to rediscover events from the past that might have been forgotten. Since many of us don't have that flashing 12:00 VCR player hooked up any more (I made sure ours never flashed 12:00 - it drove me nuts) it really helps to rediscover these old tapes in a new way on DVD.

Until recently, I've simply just converted VHS to DVD. But about a year or so ago, I put together a video for our annual vacation that celebrated our family's 50th year on vacation to Ocean City, New Jersey (as kids my dad and my aunt would go there to visit their aunt & uncle on the East coast shore). Dad and I dug into the old photo albums and I got together over 150 pictures for the video.

Well, since I got a new camera for Christmas, I thought I'd take the next step and use some new equipment and software. I was inspired this past week and as a result I've put a new (albeit short) video together. Sorry about the quality. I'm still trying to figure out some good settings for this. Anyway, check it out and let me know what you think. Comments are always welcome.

I hope your family had a Merry Christmas. Enjoy!

"Go Go Involuntary Reaction"

So I've found out that I have a Pavlovian response to Fire Engine sirens. Whenever I hear one, I get the sudden urge to sing the Inspector Gadget theme song.

Just thought you should know.

Well. Here we go...

After being home Ohio for Christmas, I’ve come to the realization that my personal connections are becoming more wide-spread. I have family members who I’ve known for 27 years, friends who I’ve known literally since birth (a debate on “knowing” someone since birth could follow). Then in addition to that I have new connections that I’ve made up here in Michigan over the past 5 years – and many of them are now spread out over the state. I say all of this to give some justification on starting a blog. Welcome to my head. Call it trendy, call it entertainment, call it a necessity, call it whatever ya want. In many ways I’m just curious to see what comes out as I’m hoping many of you do too. A “Digital Epiphany” if you will.

A lot of times I feel like I never know what to say on a serious side (which is why I’m more prone to camp in a social corner and snipe quick remarks) So maybe this blog will give me a platform to be serious – although I highly doubt I’ll keep up with an “all serious” blog with a name like “Unnecessary Buffness”. And in all honestly, I hope that future posts have a less serious tone to them. But with this being my first entry, I fell like a serious tenor is justified.

Now for the disclaimer, printed in regular-sized, normal font, not found on the back of the box or quickly said after the “Common Symptoms” part of a commercial (seriously, who talks that fast…again, maybe more on that in the future). Oh yeah – disclaimer…I am not an English major. The End. No, really. I’d like to think of myself as having a technical mind and therefore composing my thoughts in any other way is kinda difficult. So I apologize in advance for the most comenest mispelings and grammar usages.

So there ya have it. My first blog entry. Write it down. Link to it – enjoy! Hope to have a real entry soon. I'm thinking tomorrow - depending on how "serious" I feel.