Raiders of the Back Yard

Indy pays a visit to my back yard

On Saturday night we fired up the Epson Moviemate and showed a DVD-quality projection of Raiders of the Lost Ark in our back yard. Before everyone arrived I strung up two Queen-size sheets to the back of the garage, and at sundown everyone piled onto blankets and we watched Indy beat the Nazis (spoiler!) on a giant 12-foot screen. Awesome, right? Thanks to Sarah, Kate, Parves, Cara, and Zak for helping Penny and I test out our new toy. Hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did!

Tag, I’m it

I’ve been tagged by Eric, which means I’m supposed to link to his blog (done!), leave a comment there so his readers can visit mine (done!), post the rules on my blog (done!), and share seven weird facts about myself. I’ll just go with seven random facts you may not have known. Here goes.

1. In 2nd grade, my friend Shawn Gurczak nicknamed me Indiana Josh. I was so obsessed with Indy that I even had the fedora, the leather jacket, and an actual bullwhip, which I used to practice using in my driveway. It was later confiscated after I used it on a girl named Jill Barney during recess. Five years later, Jill Barney became my first girlfriend.

2. I’m pretty sure I was the first person in Rowley, Massachusetts, to complete Super Mario Brothers on the Nintendo.

3. I entered college as a Computer Science major. I graduated with degrees in English Lit and Imperial Russian History. Miraculously, I still found a job.

4. I was once mistaken for Chris Claremont, father of the massively successful X-Men comic book franchise. This is actually a really funny story, but you’ll have to wait for my upcoming exposé, “Confessions of a former Marvel Comics intern,” for the details.

5. My five favorite movies of the 1980s, in order, are: Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Empire Strikes Back, The Princess Bride, Ghostbusters, and Highlander. Those five films probably did more to shape who I am today, for better or worse, than everything else I’ve experienced combined.

6. I think I’m the only person in my entire family who’s ever voted for a democrat.

7. I was scared to death of becoming a dad. Now I can’t imagine anything better. And I say this even after Ethan woke us up every two hours last night!