The Superficial - Rob Thomas is offended: "'If I were gay,' says Rob, 'Tom wouldn't be on the top of my list. It would be Brad Pitt. I'm more offended by the rumours saying I'm Scientologist.'"

I've only heard about 3-4 things Rob Thomas has ever said...but they've all been funny as hell.

Ok.

Please keep in mind, anonymous posters, that nothing makes me happier in life than the false sense of power I get when I delete comments from people who're being nasty or making racist comments.

Yes, Michelle called people losers...directed to the person (or persons) that has made multiple racist comments on my posts.

If anybody wants to slam on somebody, slam on me. I don't care, really. Particularly when it's either from somebody I don't know or somebody I do know that's not identifying himself (or herself...) for some reason or another.

Everybody is free to come here and comment. I try to make the posts interesting but mostly they're random thoughts I have and stuff I want to talk about.

Let's direct the comments to the posts (or at me, personally) and not to other posters.

Channel 2 sees future in expanding Web site: "*'This Old Cub,' the 2004 documentary about Cubs third-baseman and broadcaster Ron Santo, will air for the first time at 7 p.m. Saturday on WGN-Channel 9. The film, narrated by actor Joe Mantegna, was written, produced and directed by Santo's son, Jeff."

Give it a look if you have the time.

From Sunday night to Thursday night I get about 4-5 hours of sleep a night. Now, this is no one's fault but my own. Ever since I was in college (actually, before that) I just haven't been able to go to bed before 1am or so. Sometimes I start reading around 1am and stay that way for hours. Sometimes I eventually drift off in my chair with my glasses on and my book in my lap. I usually make up for the sleep-loss by sleeping in big time on the weekends, but sometimes I have to get up early for one reason or another.

On Sunday we got up around 9am for the Cubs/Marlins game...and I didn't exactly get to bed early the night before. During the weeks where I don't catch up on my sleep during the weekend there's usually one night a week where I have to go to bed early--like before 11pm--or I'll start hallucinating or something. As I fell asleep watching the beginning of the All-Star game, it seems tonight will be that night.

Press Briefing by Scott McClellan

Wow. Way to go press corps!

ESPN.com - ETICKET - Searching for Bartman

I'll let it speak for itself.

Needless to say we are back in FL. The drive home was abyssmal. Lots of traffic and two accident--one pretty serious--slowed us down two hours from our trip up. Keep in mind please, a drive from FL to IL (and back) gets old after about 45 minutes.

Court started driving in both cases and then got tired so I took over and drove most of the way on both trips. Hooper was tired as hell on the way back and slept on the passenger's lap the entire time. We probably should have done it that way on the drive up as well.

We got in at 3:30am Saturday morning and both slept until around noon. We saw 'Fantastic Four' that afternoon after unpacking. More on that later.

We went to the Cub game (more damn driving) on Saturday and saw the Cubs beat the Marlins 9-2. Why the Cubs couldn't have won the last damn game I saw them play before this in Florida I don't know.

I did get a mini-bat, putting my collection of mini-bats at 4. I've bought mini-bats at Pac-Bell (Giants), Bank One Ballpark (Diamondbacks), SkyDome (Blue Jays), and now Pro Player Stadium (Marlins). I'm going to make it a mini-goal to collect bats from different baseball stadiums I visit. On the horizon is a trip to Tropicana Field to see the Devil Rays...and possibly a day in/game/out flight to Atlanta in August or September.

Everybody's got to have a hobby.

I've just decided the next TV we get will be a DLP projector and screen.

There. I've said it.

I just gave Boots a pupperonni. Hopefully they're not made from ground up cats or anything.

Britain launches search for bombers.

Britain is our greatest ally, and an attack on them might as well be an attack on us.

In a way, yesterday and today have been what Warren Harding might call 'a return to normalcy' for me. I went into the office for work. I have to say, it's very nice to be back in the 'real world' career-wise. I have always missed my friends, but something about the simple task of driving into work, getting settled, and getting to work really made me feel 'normal' for the first time in a long time.

Though I've recently been assured to the contrary by the boss, I sometimes feel like less of a 'worker' when I work from home, or that I'm really just getting away with something, I guess. I don't know. I'm happy they're happy with my work, of course. Of course I'm happy that I wasn't told that I couldn't work from home under the last regime change as well. It has just always felt a little weird. I sometimes think that other people think I have a pretty easy job because I work at home...not that I particularly care what anybody thinks.

In any case, I am excited about what the future holds in terms of returning to IL. These last few days have been nice. We've had a good time visiting with everyone and seeing Tom off to start his journey towards serving our country overseas. Best of luck to him and God bless him for it.

In terms of things here--though I've seen that some things will not be exactly how they were before I left I am still excited. Maybe some things will go back to the way they were before. Maybe the things that don't aren't meant to anyway. Such is life. That's why they play the games, right? To see what happens.

CNN.com - Storm Cindy�tiring as Dennis rallies in Caribbean - Jul 6, 2005: "The models disagree, however on where it finally will make landfall -- anywhere from New Orleans to Tampa, Florida."

Ah, Florida. I can't leave you soon enough.

CNN.com - Bush tightlipped about high court candidates - Jul 5, 2005: "But he has said he won't have a 'litmus test' for judges on that or other issues."

Boy, I miss the days when the only time I saw 'litmus test' was when I had to find whether something was acid or base.

Visited with family today and had a very nice time.

In the 'I feel old now' department, I wore my 'Classicly Trained' shirt with the original Nintendo controller on it...only to have my second cousin's young son ask me..."Is that a radio?".

Oh course, he's got a PS2. But oh man.

With this I happened I noticed just how few of the Justices that were on the court when I originally learned the make-up (for school) are still there. Some have retired (Day O'connor, now) or died (William Brennan, Warren Burger, Thurgood Marshall) but some are still around, like William Rehnquist and Antonin Scalia (who replaced Burger).

Of course, this is a big political matter, as she will be replaced by President Bush. Also, I have to believe Rehnquist himself (80 years old) will be retiring soon. These are big political matters because the court can make pretty big decisions regarding our country. President Bush will have the opportunity to greatly effect the future of this naiton, for good or ill.

(of course, his pick will have to be confirmed in any case)

I have to laugh when people think not talking to you is some kind of punishment. :D

You've gotta give value to get value: "Bidder pill for Congress"

Shorter version of the below story...and no reg required.

Taking Aim At Soros Is Hardly Politic: "'They could use some friends on the Hill right now, and this is not the way to make them,' Davis said yesterday."

Long story short, a Republic Congressman from Virginia is against the Nationals being sold to somebody who's been critical of President Bush. Read the article to see the BS reasons why.

Hitting to all fields...

• We got a new car...

I think we got a good deal on it but who knows. We did pay what Edmunds says you should pay for what we got, so it's all good. Bargaining was kind fun, too. We got a good amount for the Cougar, which was nice.

• Boots went to the vet this past week. At first we thought there might be something seriously wrong with him. A second visit (and an EKG) later and it ended up he's fine.


• We load up the new car Thursday early morning to drive up to IL. (ugh to the drive)


• Cubs took two out of three from the White Sox at the Cell, thankfully

More later.

Thanks to some quick thinking, the Starburst situation has been remedied...for a time.



One box will of course be frozen in carbonite for posterity.

So far today I've had two calls from Omaha Steaks (a constant around here) and one from a car dealer we visited this week.

I really need callerID on the phone up here.

Warp Speed ahead...

Release the hounds!

For the last two days my Tivo'd PTI has been a half hour of the College World Series and then Sportscenter.

What the hell?

CNN.com - Police: Lions free kidnapped girl - Jun 21, 2005

At first glance I thought this would be the *Detroit* Lions.

Chicago Tribune news : Local news: "'But if we can save one person from going through the suffering that Michelle and Maddi had to endure, maybe we make an effort,' he said."

Are you KIDDING me? Hell, let's just ban open flames all together! Because if you can save one person from getting burned...

Disturbing news from Michelle yesterday. Seems that they've changed my favorite candy, California Starbursts. Now they're 'Baja California' with some junky kinds of different flavors. Now, I may like this new kind, maybe even better than the California kind, but I'll never know, because I'll NEVER try them because I'm protesting Starbursts.

Court even went to Sam's (at my request) today to pick up a few cartons of the California Starbursts. She reports that they only have the Baja kind.

This is not good.

Had a very nice Father's Day yesterday. Court made me a great breakfast of french toast, bacon, and toast, and I had some of the Canadian maple syrup that I brought back. It was all fantastic.

We then headed to the Hyundai dealer to test drive the Santa Fe. We were both very impressed--even more so with the salesman who was not pushy at all. (maybe he just thinks we're not buying...)

We then headed to Epcot for dinner at Le Cellier in Canada. To kill some time (and cool off and relax since it was hotter than hell) we went on Spaceship Earth and Journey into Imagination. Right outside Journey into Imagination (figment ride) there were a bunch of Disney characters out for photo ops and autographs. Now, don't get me wrong, it's nice that they do that, but somebody explain this to me? How in the world do these characters go together?

• The cat that wears rags from Pinocchio--I think he meets up with him on Pleasure Island


• Some creature that looked like the above but was a different color and shorter


• Pluto


• Robin Hood


• Timon

Timon was the kicker. How the hell do they pick out characters to appear together? Just pull them out of a hat or something? Why not 4 Aladdin characters? Make them all be from the same movie not just some mix that makes NO sense. Disney does this all the time.

Dinner was superb, as always. We had maple creme brule and rasberry sorbet for desert. woo hoo!

I'm just tired. There's no other way to say it.

Bleed Cubbie Blue :: A Chicago Cubs Blog: "Now, a show of hands, please. Before the season began, how many of you thought the Cubs would go into Yankee Stadium on Friday, June 17, with a better record than the Yankees?"


How cool is that???

• Republic Commando game review

What can I say about this game? It's one of the better shooters I've played in a long time. Some FPS games team with with a 'squad' that fights along with you. For some games these guys are pretty useless. They don't do much damage to enemies and frequently get in your way and then bitch and moan when you accidently blast them. For Republic Commando, your squad IS the game.

You play as Delta Squad, and you play the Squad leader. He's voiced by Temuera Morrison, the guy who played Jango Fett--and thus, the face and voice of every clone trooper and Boba Fett. Your squad consists of yourself and 3 other people. Each of the three have their own specialties but any trooper can perform any task. You can give standard orders during combat (form up, defend, etc...) but at certain locations (like a good covering spot, for example) you can order them to cover you, launch grenade attacks, launch sniping attacks, or heal themselves.

The orders are given by running your crosshairs over these 'hotspots' until you see a little holo-outline of the trooper performing the task. Clicking makes the trooper perform this action. It's a pretty innovative function, I thought. You can also make some small decisions like going through a door by slicing it (hacking into the controls silently) or performing a door breach, much like SWAT teams do now.

I really enjoyed this game. It didn't seem very long, mostly because it's pretty difficult to actually 'die'. If you go down in battle you can order one of your squad to bring a Star Warsian defibrilator to revive you. Same goes if one of them goes down. You only really die if the whole squad dies. I thought it was an interesting choice that you do not take command of another member of your squad if you die. It's a little more 'realistic' this way I guess.

Gameplay was fun. Another bit of 'realism' it had was the fact that you can only carry 2 weapons at once, along with your sidearm. Unlike some games where you can half about a half-dozen heavy weapons...you have to wonder how in the hell they can all be carried. At least the Star Trek Elite Force games can claim they use a mini-replicator or something.

This doesn't really touch on the prequel films at all...you do take on some of General Greivous's bodyguards at one point, and you do see the General himself from a distance. Also, you can fight alongside the Wookiee Tarful on Kashyyyk...so I guess it's kind of the start of the battle that they show in Episode III. A lot of the battling is against battledroids and trandoshan slavers. You do have a mission in a damaged Republic Star Destroyer that's pretty neat.

I would have preferred a level or two where you fight alongside a Jedi, but this game was mostly based on the importance of the squad itself, so I can see why that was not included.

All in all, a great game, and one I do not regret paying full price for. That's always nice.

• New computer possibilities (it's a new Cold War, baby!)

While I was in Canada last week my new computer parts arrived. I spent Friday night and Saturday building it. I had to go out and buy a new power supply because my mobo has a 24-pin (BTX or EATX I guess) connection and I only had a 20-pin (ATX) connection. I then pieced my system together. The heatsink (cooling system and fan on top of CPU) didn't really fit onto the CPU the first time and in putting it on I thought I might have damaged the stock thermal material that was on the bottom of the hetasink. This material has to be on there perfectly so it allows the heat to pass through from the CPU to the heatsink. A mistake here could lead to a destroyed CPU, and that's costly. I removed the stock material with a Q-ip and then put some arctic silver thermal conducting grease between the heatsink and the CPU.

I got to power it on...and it it looks like it powers up for a half-second and then does nothing. I then turn it off and on at that point and nothing happens. I disconnect power cables and turn off master switch on PSU, then reconnect everything and turn it back on and the loop repeats itself starting with the half-second of power.

I checked the power switch/mobo connections and it seems they were connected correctly. Also, there was no tell-tale (thankfully) smell of burnt electronics at any time.

I thought it might be an issue with the new power supply, that is, it not being powerful enough to power my system. There aren't many components to power, as I only have a gfx card as a slotted card. Also, two HDs and a CD drive along with 3 internal fans.

I tried removing my new (lighted) round IDE cables in hopes that they were drawing too much power, but that wasn't the case. Even with regular gray-ribbon IDE cables it did not power up. I posted to the Raven boards and usenet with my problem...the advice was to bare-bones the system and see if that helped. It did. Everything powered on fine. I was happy to see the CPU powered up normally and didn't smoke, whine, or explode. That's always nice. I added things back into the system one by one, until I came upon the blue lighted case fan that I have. No dice. Remove it, fine. Add it back in, no dice. It's possible the fan has a short of some sort, I don't know. I replaced it with a normal fan I had to spare and it worked fine.

System is up and running now. The new mobo has a bunch of USB ports and 5.1 outputs. Might be time for some new speakers in the future. System is performing very nicely. All data is migrated over from the old computer. My 250GB drive, which wasn't reporting it's full size because the Western Digital software utility I had to enable that wouldn't do it since the drive was the system drive (drive windows is installed on). That drive is now my 'storage' drive and a drive I got back from Western Digital to replace a failed drive is now my system drive. I had a problem with reboots yesterday (due to a drive conflict of some kind) but it seems that is cleared up now after installing what I assume was a malfunctioning software package.

I ran the 3D benchmarks to see what my score would be. While it's not as high as Arnold's it's still a great deal higher than my previous machine did. I had originally meant for this machine to have two video cards, but I had ordered the wrong cards from newegg and I'll have to return them. I went to CompUSA on Saturday to get the correct cards but only got one since it was $100 more than the ones I'd gotten from newegg. I'll buy a second in the coming months when we figure out what's going on with buying a new car and house.

• Arizonification

We went to Arizona for Beth and George's wedding. A good time was had by all, I think. The hotel and church were very nice. While we did not get to see Beth & George's new house or Uncle Bruce & Aunt Angie's new house, we will some time in the future. B&A left for Arizona the other day and arrived yesterday. They close on their new house tomorrow. While I know it was tough on the family for them to leave (and tough on them as well) I wish them the best in Arizona. I know it is hard to move cross-country away from your family and friends. They will have Beth and George (with a baby on the way!) there with them, so that's good. Their new house does look very nice. I just can't imagine their old house in IL (which I practically grew up in) empty of their things and them themselves. It's very strange and sad. Good luck to them.

007 373 5963

Word.

CNN.com - Researchers: Dolphins use sponges as�tools - Jun 6, 2005

Welcome to the beginning of the end for humanity, baby.

In Canada now. Very nice here, so far. The guys I'm working with will be here in 20 minutes or so. At the airport I had to go through the same stuff I did when I arrived in the Dominican Republic. On the airplane they pass out customs forms and you give them to the customs people when you get to the airport, along with your passport. They didn't stamp my passport which stunk because I thought it'd be cool to get another stamp. The girl who worked the customs desk (just like the ones they had in Miami) looked right out of Le Cellier in Canada.

On the way to the hotel I noticed a few things. There's a giant windmill on the coast...one of the white wind-farm looking things, not a Holland type. :) Also, while there are ads on the sides of the expressway, they're not crappy looking ones like we have in the US. These are actually 'sculpted' into the hillsides on either side of the expressway. It's a great way to get the ad across and make the sides of the expressway stay nicely cut and manicured. I thought it was pretty sharp looking.

Well, more later.

Well, it's about that time...

• Episode III (which was great)

Ok, Episode III. Well, having read the novel (parts that I just couldn't wait to see) and read the 'Making of Revenge of the Sith' book, as well as playing the Episode III game on my new xbox, there wasn't much to be surprised about with seeing the film. That's not to say I wasn't looking forward to seeing it...in fact, I really couldn't wait.We had tickets for two showings on that Thursday. 10:30am, which was a digital screening at the Disney West Side theaters, and 10:30pm at the Muvico 'Giant Screen' IMAX theater. We got there about an hour and a half early for the first showing and there was already a good-sized line.The first two guys in line had brought a laptop and were watching the Clone Wars - Season On DVD. That's dedication. They were even watching it in the theater before the movie started. For those of you playing along at home, I call that 'going too far'.

The movie itself...the opening sequence was absolutely amazing. It was a VERY large space battle, one that will help me better visualize the space battles that show up in Star Wars books (expanded universe) all the time. Lots of great lightsaber battles in this one. Anakin/Dooku, Obi-Wan/Grievous, Mace/Palpatine, Yoda/Palpatine, Anakin/Obi-Wan....absolutely amazing. The speed was fantastic. Nick Gillard did a hell of a job with the choreography of those battles. A friend was thinking they were computer-enhanced in terms of speed, but stuff in the 'Making of' book makes me think that the actors (or stunt people, in a few cases) were just that fast.

The story really doesn't have any slow points...maybe a bit of a slow-down when it comes to Padme and Anakin I should say. There really aren't any of the boring 'senate' scenes that show up in the other two prequels.

There's really only one senate scene and it covers the conversion of the
Republic into the Empire...it comes right along with the scene of the Jedi purge and it's very powerful. The senators clapping while the Emperor basically proclaims himself top banana for life while padme says "This is how liberty dies...with thunderous applause" was pretty telling--especially in terms of what's going on in our country these days. I have a few favorite scenes...Obi-Wan confronting Anakin on Mustafar while Anakin and Padme are talking...Yoda doing a few cool things like throw two Royal Guards against a wall with a flick of the wrist and throwing his saber into the chest of a clone trooper then leaping onto his chest and pulling it out. Awesome. At the end of the film everybody ends up where they belong until the beginning of Star Wars (A New Hope), basically.

The dialogue was a lot better than I'd thought it would be, it's the best of
the prequels. It seems a lot of the clunky lines that are present in the film in the 'Making of...' book got cut out. Some bad ideas were dropped (young Han Solo? No thanks) and some good ones were too (Darth Plagueis being responsible for Anakin's birth? How cool is that) but that's too be expected. Artoo has some GREAT moments and Threepio is the Threepio of the original trilogy rather than the prequels...he just seemed more like 'Threepio' in this film...and it can't just be the normal Threepio gold-coloring showing up for the first time. Even the voice seemed more Threepio-like even thought it's been Anthony Daniels throughout the whole saga.

I thought the film was great. It met expectation and probably surpassed them. It's hard to judge these things and I'm extremely biased. I've seen it three times and haven't been board at any point. There just isn't time to be bored during Episode III.

• Hooper and giving him a smidge more responsibility
  
  

Ok, so before we left for AZ last week Hooper had really been coming into his own and growing up in terms of being housebroken and not destroying anything in the house. He's well-behaved and I've wanted to give him some more trust around the house. Basically, penning him up in the kitchen rather than his cage when we leave, stuff like that. A lot of nights where I fall asleep in the chair he falls asleep on the couch and stays there for hours until I get up to go to bed and then I put him in his cage. I was afraid that being at the breeder's while we were gone would 'break' him, or get him to pick up bad habits at least. Though I'm not sure they followed all of our 'rules' for him while they had him, he didn't come back psycho or anything. He will need to be groomed since he was around other dogs and now he stinks like a dog.

I figure a few more weeks and we can stop keeping him in the cage at night. Also, I usually have him penned in the front bedroom here with me while I work. If he does his business while we're out getting the mail I just give him free roam of the house for the rest of the day. He's taken to eating Boots' food now so I'm not sure how fast we'll move with that. We'll see.

• Neighbors and their wrong-ness
  
  

The other day our left-side neighbor (looking at the house) came up to me and asked me to be sure to pick up after our dog. I said, "We always pick up after him" and she seemed to dismiss that saying she'd found dog mess over by the side of their house and stuff...pretty much insisting I was lying about picking up after him. Well, two things. First of all, I *ALWAYS* pick up after the dog, even though I really HATE doing it and it's pretty gross. EVERY TIME I take him out I take 2 of these brawny paper towels napkins out with me and I pick up whatever he does and cart it back to the house. This happens every time. Court does it too. So you can imagine how much fun it is to cart that crap (literally) back to the house and flush it down the toilet just to have somebody accuse you (even in a nice way) of not doing that.

Secondly, he doesn't even do his stuff over by their house. He does
that twice a day...usually by the FAR side of our pond walk (of course, so I have to carry it ALL THE WAY BACK) and the second time is during our night walk where he always goes within 3 feet of the same spot that's way on the other side of our complex. He doesn't crap anywhere near their house. She should try blaming the damn raccoons for her crap problems.

More on that other stuff later...

Hearing the footsteps...

He's just a boy. Obi-Wan can no longer help him.

More on the Cold War heat-up later.

Woo hoo! Cubs just won their fifth in a row!

I'm tired.

There are a few things I need to blog about, but haven't. In no particular order...

• Episode III (which was great)


• Hooper and giving him a smidge more responsibility


• Neighbors and their wrong-ness


• Republic Commando game review


• New computer possibilities (it's a new Cold War, baby!)


• Arizonification

Might have some time later. We'll see what I get to.

Have you ever...
( ) smoked a cigarette
( ) smoked a cigar
( ) made out with a member of the same sex
( ) crashed a friend's car
( ) stolen a car
(x) been in love
(x) been dumped
(x) shoplifted (but not since I was a little kid)
( ) been fired
( ) been in a fist fight
( ) snuck out of your parent's house
(x) had feelings for someone who didn't have them back
( ) been arrested
( ) made out with a stranger
(x) gone on a blind date
(x) lied to a friend
( ) had a crush on a teacher
(x) skipped school (if college counts as "school", then yes; otherwise, no)
( ) slept with a co-worker
( ) seen someone die
( ) had a crush on one of your internet friends
( ) been to Canada
( ) been to Mexico
(x) been on a plane
( ) thrown up in a bar
( ) purposely set a part of yourself on fire
( ) eaten Sushi
( ) been snowboarding
( ) met someone in person from the internet
( ) been moshing at a concert
( ) been in an abusive relationship
( ) taken painkillers
(x) laid on your back and watched cloud shapes go by
(x) made a snow angel
( ) had a tea party
(x) flown a kite
(x) built a sand castle
( ) gone puddle jumping
( ) played dress up
(x) jumped into a pile of leaves
(x) gone sledding
(x) cheated while playing a game
(x) been lonely
(x) fallen asleep at work/school (at least, I don't think I ever have)
( ) used a fake ID
(x) watched the sun set
( ) felt an earthquake
(x) touched a snake
(x) slept beneath the stars
(x) been tickled
(x) been robbed
(x) been misunderstood
(x) pet a reindeer/goat
(x) won a contest
(x) run a red light
( ) been suspended from school
(x) been in a car accident
( ) had braces
(x) felt like an outcast
( ) eaten a whole pint of ice cream in one night
(x) had déjà vu
( ) danced in the moonlight
(x) hated the way you look
( ) witnessed a crime
( ) pole-danced
(x) questioned your heart
( ) been obsessed with post-it notes
(x) squished barefoot through the mud
(x) been lost
(x) been to the opposite side of the country country
(x) swam in the ocean (stuck my foot in anyways)
(x) had déjà vu
(x) felt like dying
( ) cried yourself to sleep
(x) played cops and robbers (probably)
( ) recently colored with crayons/colored pencils/markers
( ) sung karaoke
(x) paid for a meal with only coins
(x) done something you told yourself you wouldn't
(x) made prank phone calls
( ) laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
(x) caught a snowflake on your tongue
( ) danced in the rain
(x) written a letter to Santa Claus
(x) been kissed under a mistletoe
(x) watched the sun set with someone you care about
(x) blown bubbles
( ) made a bonfire on the beach
( ) crashed a party
(x) gone rollerskating
(x) had a wish come true
( ) worn pearls
( ) jumped off a bridge
( ) screamed "penis" in class
( ) ate dog/cat food
( ) told a complete stranger you loved them
( ) kissed a mirror
(x) sung in the shower
( ) had a dream that you married someone
( ) glued your hand to something
( ) got your tongue stuck to a flag pole
( ) kissed a fish
( ) worn the opposite sex's clothes
( ) been a cheerleader
(x) screamed at the top of your lungs
( ) done a one-handed cartwheel
( ) talked on the phone for more than 6 hours (what a nightmare that would be)
(x) stayed up all night
( ) not taken a shower for a week
(x) picked and eaten an apple right off the tree
(x) climbed a tree
( ) had a tree house
( ) been scared to watch scary movies alone
( ) believed in ghosts
( ) had more then 30 pairs of shoes
( ) worn a really ugly outfit to school just to see what others would say
( ) gone streaking
(x) played ding-dong-ditch
(x) played chicken (or equivalent)
(x) been pushed into a pool with all your clothes on (been push-er and push-ee)
( ) been told you're hot by a complete stranger
(x) broken a bone
(x) been easily amused
( ) caught a fish then eaten it
( ) made porn
( ) caught a butterfly
(x) laughed so hard you cried
( ) cried so much you laughed
( ) mooned/flashed someone
( ) had someone moon/flash you
( ) cheated on a test
( ) had a Britney Spears CD (oh my goodness, no!)
(x) forgotten someone's name
( ) slept naked
( ) French-braided someone's hair
( ) gone skinny dipping in a pool
( ) been kicked out of your house
( ) run away from home

ABC News: 'The Riddler' Frank Gorshin Dies at 72

:(

His Riddler was classic. Always seemed like a nice man, too.

Peter Gammons was talking about Kerry Wood and his future yesterday. Knowing Kerry would is about my same age, I did some quick mental math on how long it would be until he was 32. I figure 2007. Oops.

Not only am I not worried about turning 30, I thought I already WAS 30.

If you haven't seen The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou you're really missing you. It's a great movie.

It's not slapstick comedy, or what I like to call 'stupid funny'. If you liked 'Rushmore' or 'The Royal Tenenbaums' then you'll probably like this movie. Even if you didn't like them, give it a chance.

CNN.com - Forecasters predict active hurricane season - May 16, 2005

oh happy day.

So many Season Passes getting deleted from the Tivo recently...

• JAG


• Amazing Race 7


• Star Trek: Enterprise(more on this later)


• Survivor: Palau


• Everybody Loves Raymond(finale tonight)

Of course, Amazing Race and Survivor will go back on their for their next iterations, but they'll have different titles in the Tivo so that'll be a new Season Pass. Strangely, The Apprentice doesn't change its title with each new season Tivo-wise, but whatever.

Quick Thoughts on Tom's Survivor win: Good. He deserved it.

Uh...has The SportsGuy fallen down a manhole or something? Yeah, I know he had a kid, but *still*.

I'm sure Shell is going ballistic...

And there was much rejoicing!

I like Thursdays because so many blogs are filled with bitzing and moaning about whoever was knocked from American Idol the previous night.

It's funny, because not only do I not know whoever it was, I don't care.

Horse Swimming?

Shell, you gots to get in on that!

As I've played 3 new games in the past few weeks, I thought I might post what I thought about them.

The first one is Lego Star Wars, for PC. This game is actually a lot of fun. Though it's aimed at kids (you can't die, etc...) it's actually very enjoyable. You play through Episodes I, II, and III with about 6 'missions' for each one of the films. You can play one or two player...if you're only playing one player the other character just kind of follows you around. They will battle a little but they never seem to really kill anything. The characters you're giving for the mission are appropriate to the portion of the film you're supposed to be experiencing. Episode I opens with Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon, for example.

At least one of the mission is a 'vehicle' type mission where you pilot a pod racer (for TPM), a Republic Gunship (for AotC), and Anakin's Jedi Starfighter (for Rots). The other missions are standard adventure/fighting missions. Your goal is to complete the stage while collecting little multi-colored LEGO studs. The more studs you get leads you to collect a certain piece of a LEGO vehicle, one per level.One neat thing about this game is that you can play each mission as either story mode (regular game) or 'freeplay' where you can choose to play as a bunch of different characters that you've unlocked throughout your playing.

There's a lot of replay value due to the secrets and mini-kits you can collect throughout each level. These will let you unlock secret characters and levels in the game.

It's a fun game. Great for kids I'd bet. Graphics are superb.

WGN-TV Chicago | WGN Sports Cubs Baseball Blog: "OK, we finally won a game - what do we do now? First, come back in off the ledge. "

Ah, the ledge. Every Cub fan's favorite destination.

Kudos to Big Z for giving the Cubs a great win yesterday!

ChicagoSports.com - Hairy situation keeps getting worse for Cubs: "Greg Maddux and Mark Prior refused to let Wood or anyone else cut their hair Saturday, so there isn't complete unity in the pitching ranks. And don't count on Baker getting his head shaved either.
"

That must be why they lost yesterday! :)

Uh...the shaved head thing didn't work for them.

Wow, looks like some of the Cubs shaved their heads before today's game. Probably trying to break their losing streak. Hopefully it works.

Anyway.

Got a nice surprise on Tuesday. Court said she'd stopped at Sam's after work and needed me to get some stuff out of the trunk for her. When I went out there, I saw a brand new Xbox. She'd bought it for me in anticipation of Thursday's release of the Episode III game, which for some reason wasn't put out for PC. It was a great surprise.

The next day, Court said she'd stopped by EB Games. She got me HALO and then showed me the receipt. She'd also pre-ordered the Episode III game for me! I wasn't planning on getting it right away (mostly due to time constraints and stuff) but it was so sweet of her to do that. I have a great wife.

CNN.com - The real Paris Hilton - May 5, 2005: "Q: What did you want to be when you were a little girl?

HILTON: A veterinarian, but then I realized I could just buy a bunch of animals."


I weep for the present.

I forgot to mention...last Saturday we went to the last night of 'Mardi Gras' at Universal Studios. They've had bands performing each Saturday night for the last month. Bands like 'KC and the Sunshine Band, Jason Mraz, Huey Lewis and the News' and all that. We actually went there a few weeks back for KC but the band's start time kept getting pushed back so we just left.

Anyway. Last Saturday the band was 'Hootie and the Blowfish'. Now, I'm no real fan of live music. I know some people are (like my sister) but I just can't get into it. The speakers and amps and whatever the bands usually have sound like crap to me with distortion and everything. I'm just not a big fan. I wasn't gonna miss a chance to see Hootie though, particularly for free when it's actually one of the four bands in history I'd pay to see.

They played about a dozen songs. 'Hold my hand', 'Let her cry', 'Only wanna be with you', all their good 'classics'. They played some new stuff too which I thought was good and they also mentioned they had an album out in August so I'll probably pick that up. I did get a shirt. I had to support Darius since he's a big TK fan. He was even on the show when Tony played his celebrity golf tournament a few weeks back.

All in all, it was a good show. They speakers and all that sounded like crap at times but the band was worth it.

(now if I could only find my old hootie CD)

WRATH
1. Whom did you last get angry with? probably Court
2. What is your weapon of choice? stunning wit
3. Would you hit a member of the opposite sex? psht, I don't ever hit anybody.
4. How about of the same sex? If I felt they deserved it.
5. Who was the last person who got really angry at you? probably Court
6. What is your pet peeve? People that just don't think.
7. Do you keep grudges, or can you let them go easily? I keep some.

SLOTH
1. What is one thing you're supposed to do daily that you haven't done in a while? floss
2. What is the latest you've ever woken up? 1pm probably.
3. Name a person you've been meaning to contact, but haven't? been meaning to write my Grandpa a letter and send him some pictures. He just called the other day.
4. What is the last lame excuse you made? "I forgot."
5. Have you ever watched an infomercial all the way through (one of the long ones...)? Hell yes. "Magic Bullet"..."Food Dehydrator"..."Dick Butkis grill"...
6. When was the last time you got a good workout in? Today. I even walked the dog when I got home even though I was tired as hell.
7. How many times did you hit the snooze button on your alarm clock today? Three

GLUTTONY
1. What is your overpriced yuppie beverage of choice? Starbucks carmel apple cider
2. Meat eaters: white meat or dark meat? White. Dark is gross.
3. What is the greatest amount of alcohol you've had in one sitting/outing/event? Probably three beers. I really don't drink.
4. Have you ever used a professional diet company? I do slimfast.
5. Do you have an issue with your weight? yeah, definitely
6. Do you prefer sweets, salty foods, or spicy foods? salty I'd say.
7. Have you ever looked at a small pet or child and thought, "LUNCH!"? hell no.

LUST
1. How many people have you seen naked (not counting movies/family)? not sure
2. How many people have seen YOU naked (not counting physicians/family)? wha?
3. Have you ever caught yourself staring at the chest/crotch of a member of your gender of choice during a normal conversation? Yes
4. Have you "done it"? Yes.
5. What is your favourite body part on a person of your gender of choice? chest I'd say. heh heh
6. Have you ever been propositioned by a prostitute? No
7. Have you ever had to get tested for an STD or pregnancy? No

GREED
1. How many credit cards do you own? 3
2. What's your guilty pleasure store? Circuit City (because Best Buy can stick it)
3. If you had $1 million, what would you do with it? Buy a house for half that price.
4. Would you rather be rich or famous? Rich. (already am)
5. Would you accept a boring job if it meant you would make megabucks? heck yeah
6. Have you ever stolen anything? long long time ago
7. How many MP3s are on your hard drive? At least 866.

PRIDE
1. What's one thing you have done that you're most proud of? Passing that damn CISSP test
2. What's one thing you have done that your parents are most proud of? I could tie my shoes and my Mom would be proud of me.
3. What's one thing would you like to accomplish in your life? There's a lot of things. Play piano, learn sign language...
4. Do you get annoyed by coming in second place? Yeah, I'd say so.
5. Have you ever entered a contest of skill, knowing you were of much higher skill than all the other competitors? Yes
6. Have you ever cheated on something to get a higher score? Yes.
7. What did you do today that you're proud of? Busted my ass working out and still walked the dog twice even though I was damn tired.

ENVY
1. What item (or person) of your friends would you most want to have for your own? I think I have the coolest stuff of anybody I know personally, sadly.
2. Who would you want to go on "Trading Spaces" with? Chris, so I could turn his house all roman bath house as a joke on him.
3. If you could be anyone else in the world, who would you be? Superman. I'd say Batman, but he had to see his parents killed.
4. Have you ever been cheated on? No.
5. Have you ever wished you had a physical feature different from your own? I wish my hair regular instead of a little wavy like it is.
6. What inborn trait do you see in others that you wish you had for yourself? ability to relax
7. Do you wish you'd come up with this survey? no

Toon Zone - Your Source for Toon News!: "Sci Fi Wire reports that Sam Raimi, who is currently in preproduction on Spider-Man 3, let slip that Sony is planning three more Spider-Man films and that he would consider directing all of them. "

That's good news.

I also noticed that the Smallville 90-minute finale (May 18th) will feature 10 minutes of 'Batman Begins'. That's one movie I can't wait to see.

from the 'no duh' file...

American Cities That Best Fit You:

75% Chicago

60% Philadelphia

60% Portland

55% Los Angeles

55% New York City

Which American Cities Best Fit You?

Ok, I just watched the season premiere of 'Family Guy'...in the middle of the episode, Flint from GI JOE pops of out a stall in a bathroom where some underaged kids are drinking and gives an anti-drinking spiel and they do the whole 'and now we know/knowing is half the battle/GI JOE!' thing. It was hilarious. They used the same guy as the voice of Flint too. heh heh heh

Toon Zone - Your Source for Toon News!: "He mentions that the script is not yet done and that filming commences in December. He also says that 'everyone will be satisfied' on the voice acting decisions for the beloved Autobots and Decepticons."

Boy, I hope he gets Frank Welker and Peter Cullen to reprise their CLASSIC roles...

CNN.com - Charges not ruled out for runaway bride - May 1, 2005

This woman should face charges. Her 'getaway' was totally pre-meditated considering she bought that bus ticket and all that.

Over the weekend I saw John Walsh being interviewed by Anderson Cooper. John Walsh was advocating how there are so many missing people (particularly women) lost/abducted/etc that you just don't hear about and how there are only some that actually get out into the press sphere and that maybe that will help finding this woman. John Walsh, whose own son was abducted and killed.

How do you think he feels today? This woman should be in the slammer.

Some dope parked their BMW at the end of our 'street' where you're not supposed to park. When I was taking Hooper for a walk around the pond I noticed the windows were opened.

GEE, I SURE HOPE IT DOES NOT RAIN.

(and it looks like it might, too. double drat.)

ESPN.com: Page 2 : More cowbell: Quick hits: "Second, have you noticed that Katie is the first contestant in the history of the show who has actually managed to gain weight as the season rolls along?"

Made me laugh out loud today.

Hitting to all fields...

• I've said before I have an issue with the Pringles situation here in Florida. First of all, no ranch Pringles. Instead, they have some weird flavors like jalapeno and that crap. Latest travesty: Pringles can with Survivor logo yet NO Survivor triva on each chip. WTF is up with that?


• I've got my Episode III tickets. Both Court and I are taking the day off.


• Cat and dog were actually laying near each other on the bed the other day. Here comes the apocalypse.


• Saw 'Fever Pitch' over the weekend. I agree with the Sports Guy's review. Too much of the parts with the fans in the stands at Fenway just wouldn't have happened at a real game.


• Chad Fox looked like his arm exploded during the end of last night's Cub game. Hopefully that wasn't a career-ender.

That is all.

First...I just saw John Mabry fly out to center with Rollen on first, thus ending a potential Cardinals comeback and giving the Cubs a 3-1 victory tonight--Which is good.

Anyway, great day today. Got a lot done at the customer site. Things went very well. We had a great customer contact onsite, and I'll say it every day of the week...having a great contact onsite is 95% of the job.

After work we headed out to pick up another Motorolan whom my two colleagues here also knew. Very nice guy who works in Mexico City. For dinner we went to a great place that was right across from Christopher's Columbus' house down here.

Absolutely amazing. It's in an area of the known as the 'spanish zone' (though I may be messing that up) and there's a lot of neat architecture around there. They really know how to make government buildings down here...almost every one looks like the Field Museum. There are a number of high-rise buildings which resemble a high-rise apartment that's just off of 83 back home...basically a rectangular shape rising up into the sky with a lot of symmetrical balconies jutting out...they kind of look like a game-in-progress Jenga stack, if you've ever played that. Very neat.

The people are VERY friendly. I think I've heard 'muchacho' and 'hermano' a million times today. Wherever there's parking there's usually a guy or two hanging around. If you give them a tip they'll watch your car and make sure nobody messes with it. I'm surprised they don't have this in Chicago. (though maybe they do)

There are far more beggars and such in Chicago. Here I've only seen one, really, and he was a little boy who we saw on our way from the airport yesterday. One of my colleagues said that it's hard to give because that just encourages it, but he felt bad and gave anyway. There are a lot of street vendors selling food and stuff. We also saw a dog at the Avis office which was just kind of hanging around outside. He made me think of Hooper though he looked nothing like him, besides being black. A cat running around outside the place we ate today made me think of Boots.

We passed a school letting out on the way to our late lunch. All the kids were in uniforms. I'm not sure if that is the norm down here but if it is, more power to them. I'm sure a ton of problems don't even come up at all with a system like that.

Someone who has been here before had mentioned there were a lot of armed people on the streets. The only people that are armed here (that I have seen) are in uniform, so that's cool. I have seen them with shotguns and M-16s (I think) but this was around the Presidential Palace (very nice, and amazing to see) so that's understandable I think.

On our way to and from dinner we drove on the coast, and along the coast is a HUGE wall...something like 40-50 feet tall I'd say. Very thick too. It was build to protect the city from pirates. I'm telling you, this whole area there looked like it was plucked from Tortuga and the 'Pirates of the Caribbean'. I've really never seen anything that was REAL like that in my life. I kinda wish I had taken my camera but I kind of got warned away from taking anything valueable and looking too much like a tourist. There are also a lot of beautiful statues and monuments here as well.

One thing I am noticing...my high school spanish is making *something* of a resurrgence. If my colleagues are speaking slowly enough (which they do, as they are both non-native spanish speakers) I can understand somewhat of what they are saying. Together with hand movements and stuff I probably understand about 30-40% of it which is not too bad. They don't speak Spanish to me, but they do to people here that don't speak English. (or prefer Spanish)

A long day today, but it was a productive one. Hopefully tomorrow will be just as productive.

Well, this is my first post from the Dominican Republic. AKA, the first real other country I've ever been too. I don't count Cozumel or Belize since I didn't need a passport...and I don't count Epcot either.

First impressions...the people seem to be nice. They speak Spanish at first go but if I respond in English that I don't understand (or if I talk to me colleagues from work down here in English around others) they just speak English. The Marriott here is very nice, the equal of any I've been in. Maybe even nicer since it's newer.

I was happy to see the American Embassy like one block away. Don't know why, it was just nice to see it. The Vatian Embassy is also close by. Big day for them today.

Meeting the other two guys downstairs at 8:15am tomorrow. They both speak spanish and are very familiar with the DR so they're real godsends. I don't know what I'd do without them.

After breakfast, it's off to the office. Hopefully everything works out nicely and we have a productive day.

I have something here for you. Your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough, but your uncle wouldn't allow it. He feared you might follow old Obi-Wan on some damn fool idealistic crusade like your father did. It's your father's lightsaber. This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or as random as a blaster, but an elegant weapon for a more civilized age. For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times, before the Empire.

It just arrived today. I'm still geeking out about it. Court ordered it for me some time ago. It was meant to be a surprise, but that was a secret she couldn't keep. It came this morning and I didn't want to opened it without her around so I asked her to stop by the house before she went on to her show this afternoon. It's amazing. It's a lot heavier than I'd thought. It doesn't work, obviously, but, let me tell you, it feels like it should. I've wanted one my whole life. Absolutely
incredible.


This one, in particular, is Anakin's lightsaber in Episode III. As such, it's the lightsaber Anakin has when he duels Obi-Wan...a fight Obi-Wan eventually wins. He takes Anakin's saber and gives it to Luke in the first Star Wars movie (production wise) "A New Hope". Luke later loses it when he loses his hand in "The Empire Strikes Back". Out of all the sabers Master Replicas has created, this is the one I've wanted the most. It's got the most history.  I also have the scaled (smaller) version of Luke's lightsaber from "The Return of the Jedi" that Court had given me as a gift last year.




Very cool.

My book arrived today! Mr. Tony even personalized it. I'm really geeking out about it.

Anyways, I did pass 2 yesterday. Some changes from my original plan.

Page 1: Dodgeball (as below)
Page 2: Jurassic Park III with Stan Winston and ILM effects team commentary
Page 3: Old School with Todd Phillips (director) Vince Vaughn, Luke Wilson, and Will Farrell commentary.

Page 4's pick (still up in the air) will have to wait until Wednesday night when Court leaves for Miami again for a few days.

Pass 1 done, pizza eaten.

Pass 2...

Page 1: "Dodgeball" with Rawson Thurbur (director), Ben Stiller, and Vince Vaughn commentary.

Page 2 possibilities: "Ghostbusters", "A Knight's Tale", "Lethal Weapon 2" with commentaries.

Page 3: "Old School" with commentary

Page 4: possibilities: "Swingers" or "Untouchables". (with commentaries, of course)

The user interface for the 300+ jukebox DVD player we have is kinda ugly to use. I'll explain why that's relevant for this weekend.

Because of the ugliness, I made a spread of the names and index numbers of all the DVDs currently in the player. Right now, there's 299 DVDs in there. It's not every DVD we own, but the ones we watch the most. Anyway.

This list is in alphabetical order. It's slightly over 4 pages long. Page one starts with "13 going on 30" and ends with "Down with Love". Page 2 starts with "Drive me Crazy" (not mine) and ends with "The Lost World". Page 3 starts with "Maid in Manhattan" (not mine) and ends with "Scream 3". Page 4 starts with "Scrooged" and ends with "X-Men 2". There's a fifth page with only "Young Frankenstein" and "You've Got Mail" on it.

With Court gone this weekend, I thought I'd watch some movies that I usually don't watch because she either doesn't like them or doesn't like commentary tracks. What I thought I would do was pick one DVD per page that I either hadn't seen with commentary (or a particular commentary track) or fav movies I hadn't seen in a while.

Page 1's choice: Dark City (with Roger Ebert commentary)
Page 2's choice: Jersey Girl (Kevin Smith, Scott Mosier, and Jason Mewes commentary)
Page 3's chioce: Ocean's Eleven (Brad Pitt, Andy Garcia, and Matt Damon commentary)
Page 4's choice: Terminator 3 (Jonathan Mostow, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes, and Kristanna Loken commentary)

That's the first pass anyway. I've already got some titles eyed for pass 2.

And the Papa John's has been ordered.

ChicagoSports.com - Caray: Cubs 'embarrassed themselves': "Caray set the tone by saying, 'Ultimately, I think the players embarrassed themselves and embarrassed the team and, fortunately for both Steve and me, we were able to land on our feet at other places where people appreciate our honesty.'
"

Chip Caray's a jerk. Big surprise.

Ok...how cool is this???

Long story short...I sent one of Mr. Tony's books to him so he could sign it for me, and I threw some Cadbury Cream Eggs in there because he'd mentioned he'd liked them.

CNN.com - Shuttle to head for launch pad - Apr 6, 2005

Nice to see. We're almost on our way.

Something neat happened this morning...details later.

Watched the Illini/UNC game from start--->finish last night. Long story short, Illinois lost.

What is a little longer story, though, is the reason WHY they lost. And it is me. Or, more importantly, something I did. The Illini battled back from 15 pts down to even up with around 2 minutes or so left to go. The Tivo only had about 10 more minutes recording time to go. At that point, I extended the Tivo's recording time by a half-hour to make sure the overtime I was anticipating would get reocorded.

The Illini never. scored. again.

And people say these ticky tack things don't affect the outcome of sporting events.

CNN.com - 'JAG' ending after 10-year run - Apr 5, 2005

I'm kinda glad. If that 'San Diego' episode they did was an example of how they were going to take the show next year I wouldn't have wanted to watch anyway.

Last night at midnight we headed to Target for the 'midnight madness' release of the Episode III action figures and other items.

The loot:




As a member of Starwars.com's hyperspace program I was able to download a pdf of the last sections of a book called 'The Making of Revenge of the Sith'. This was material from the book that chornicled the movie-making process from after the actual book went to press. The material got me so hooked that I purchased the book today. I've only thumbed through parts but it looks absolutely fascinating.

CNN.com - After 26-year reign, pontiff dies at 84 - Apr 2, 2005: "John Paul II"


RIP... :(

Just got back from Wal-mart and Episode III figure madness. I got a LOT more than I had thought I would.

Pics to follow tomorrow...

Been a busy week at work for me. Possibility of some travel in the next few weeks so we'll see what happens.

Episode III stuff gets released tomorrow so there's a possibility I may head to Wal-mart or Target at midnight tonight to pick up some stuff. What the hell.

Court got off work at noon today (must be nice) and has started 'spring cleaning' since she's off to Miami (I think) on Wednesday and will be gone about a week after which her folks come down. I'm hearing some sort of hammering downstairs and that can't be good.

With my one neighbor in a cast and crutches for some reason and the other neighbor retired I think all three of us are home during the day. I still think they think I'm a hobo or something. Oh well.

Might go to Sea World tomorrow. We'll see. If it's hot I'm staying home.

Hitting to all fields...

• My dog doesn't seem to understand that people rarely stop in the middle of walking down the stairs. Either that or he's trying to kill me.


• While showering at the gym yesterday I heard two guys having a VERY loud conversation in a language that could only be Sullustan.


• Was thinking of going to Shore Leave in July...of course all flights between FL and Baltimore have a stop in the middle. You'll never guess where. Chicago. Of course.


• At some point in Survivor they're just going to cut to the Ulong tribe and all you're going to see are the bodies of Ibrahim, Bobby-John, and Stephanie along with a note saying they just couldn't take the losing anymore.

Hooper was groomed today. After looking into dog grooming options (what fun) we found that it's a lot better to get a groomer that comes to your home rather than take him some place like Pet-Whatever to get groomed. I guess that at these retail stores where they do grooming it's pretty common for your dog to get sick somehow...and I don't really want to deal with that.

The woman showed up on time with a big van/bus type vehicle. She took Hooper and after like 45 mins they emerged. Hooper looks very nice all groomed. He was getting a little scraggly. She asked how we wanted him cut and stuff and I just told her I didn't want him shaved and everything and I wanted her to keep his eyebrows. He smells great, looks very nice, and he even has a bandana. Pretty funny. Cost was $58. I got the woman's card and asked her how often he should be groomed. She said 8 weeks because we like him scruffy, which doesn't seem too bad...especially since she could have said 4 weeks and I would have been like 'ok' because I have no clue.

Had a nice weekend this weekend. Watched some stuff on the Tivo and saw 'Hostage' and 'Robots', both of which were good. Saw 'Robots' on the giant screen at the Muvico at the Pointe and they had the new Episode III trailer in front of Robots so that was cool.

Went to the dentist on Friday. No cavities or anything, as always. Doc asked if I grew up in IL because they had good fluoride in the water there. My top two wisdom teeth have emerged (actually, they did a LONG time ago) and the right one is causing me daily pain in the form of constant headaches. So that's fun. I got a referral for the oral surgeon so I've got to make that appointment. I have a cleaning tomorrow. We'll see how that goes.

They did a new kind of X-ray at this dentist...I stood against this thing and the X-ray thing revolved around my head. I thought this would get me out of the X-ray film in my mouth deal, but it didn't. After that, the woman took digi-pics of each segment of my teeth, which I thought was cool.

So, eventually, I'll get these damn wisdom teeth out. We talked about braces (due to my 2 teeth that jut out a bit in the front) but the dentist said the way my mouth and teeth are they might have to remove one to make enough room for the others, and that ain't gonna happen.

Trekkie Nerd Congratulations! You scored 81%!

Congratulations - your designation as a Trekkie Nerd means that you are statistically more likely to be a virgin, socially inept, live at home in your mother's basement and have no chance of scoring a chick like Seven. Still, if knowledge of temporal paradoxes, the repercussions of the Janeway effect and an intimate knowledge of Klingon history made big bucks, you'd be a millionaire. Ah, tis the sweet irony of life.

My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 91% on Trekkies

Link: The Trekkie Test written by MadameBoffin on Ok Cupid

That's the completed Falcon. I finished it the night before Mom came in. She remembered it from back in the day and said I did a great job. Of course, she could have said that no matter what, but that's cool. Judge for yourself.

It's not perfect, not even really close to perfect, but I tried to do my best. I wish I knew of a better way to make scrapes in the colored sections, but everything I tried didn't turn out looking right. The holes in the hull and gashes were made with a soldering iron from my comp kit. The blackened areas are just black chalk dust sealed on to the model with layers of Future floor polish and Testor's dullcote. Although it can't be seen from this angle, I did include the 'famous' big dent in the port docking port that's right above the ramp. I did that with one of those 'click and light' red and black lighter wands with a little build up behind the hole using sprue that the parts were attached to.

GAH!

Batten down the hatches again this year?

Forecasters from the National Hurricane Center are predicting that this year will be another above-average season for Florida due to the continued presence of a strong high-pressure ridge. The “Bermuda High” keeps hurricanes from turning north into the Atlantic, instead keeping them on course for Florida. If there is no change between now and the beginning of hurricane season at the beginning of June, it could again be a rough season for the southeastern United States.

While it's highly improbable that Florida will again get hit with four strong hurricanes, it is not unlikely for two major strikes to slam the state. Of course, as with all weather predictions, this is all subject to change at a moment's notice. In the meantime, let's hope that the Bermuda High dissipates in the next couple of months.

Had a nice trip back to IL last week. Basically, it was training and orientation for our new group inside Moto corporate. For me, it's a small change, though I miss our old management chain and teams. It's still working with the same people...though some have moved on to different teams for one reason or another.

Throughout the visit I was able to watch the Super Bowl with my Dad, see my Grandma at my sister's (early) birthday dinner, have my Mom's sloppy joe's, a nice dinner with our new team and a great restaurant (Wildfire), and spend a nice day with my sister at the Museum of Science and Industry. Very nice.

It's always nice to be able to have a paid vacation back home due to the way my work situation turned out in the move to FL. I'm really lucky.

After sitting in an actual work facility for a week, I'm amazed how many people don't know how to flush a toilet.

Gross, I know. That is all.

CNN.com - Actor Ossie Davis dead at 87 - Feb 4, 2005

Sad. I loved him in 'Joe versus the Volcano'. :(

Getting to know me...

1)Name the Last Four Things You Have Bought:
Testors spray enamel in Light Aircraft Grey (2)
Small bottles of paint (4)
Puppy treats
Sour Rasberry Altoids


2)Name Four Drinks You Regularly Drink:
Milk
Orange Juice
Grape Juice
Water


3)Time you Cried:
Boy, I really don't remember. I think it was during an ESPN special on the Bulls Championships and they showed the Paxon and Kerr game-winning shots.

4)What's In Your CD Player?
mp3 CD in the car. Last CD I bought was the soundtrack to the Muppet Show.


5)What's Under Your Bed?
Two bins filled with various things. We don't have a lot of storage in the house.

6)What Time Did You Wake Up Today?
8am

7)Current Hair?
Got a haircut a few days ago in anticipation of going into the office next week.

8)Current Clothes?
PJs

9)Current Desktop Picture?
pic of an old old Motorola radio I took at Epcot.

10)Current Worry?
hmm...meeting my new boss next week, though he seems like a good guy.

11)Current Hate?
people who cancelled 'Enterprise'.

12)Favorite Place To Be?
San Francisco was nice.

13)Least Favorite Place?
Disney or any Disney shopping

14)If You Could Play An Instrument?
piano (hope to learn some day)

15)Favorite Colors?
blue

16)How Tall Are You?:
5'11 1/2"

17)Favorite expression?
come on now

18)One Person From Your Past You Wish You Could Go Back And Talk To?
probably myself and tell me not to stress and it'll all work out.

19)Favorite Day(s)?
Saturday probably

20)Where Would You Like To Go?
New England, New York, Washington DC, back to CA

21)Where Do you want to live when you get married?
already married

22)Favorite food?
probably Barnaby's

23)Color of most clothes you own?
navy blue

24)Number of pillows you sleep with?
2 under hear, holding one of old pillows we had on the futon

25)What do you wear when you go to sleep?
shorts and a t-shirt

26)what were you doing 12AM last night?
painting my model

27)How old will you be in 10 yrs?
37 (had to think about how old I am now)

28)What do you think you'll be doing in 10 years?
hopefully the same stuff and living back in IL with kids and hopefully making more money.

29)Do you have braces?
No, I wish I did though. I might still get them.

30)Are you paranoid?
well, sometimes. I really don't care what people think so that helps.

31)Do you burn or tan?
Burn. I didn't think I did until I went to damn Cozumel. NEVER AGAIN.

32)What is the brand of your wallet?:
Dockers I think

33)First piercing/tattoo?
ug

34)First enemy?
Guy at NIU who wore his Yankee hat like it just came out of the box or something. Absolutely flat brim and the brim and the front of the hat made a right angle. "Hat Boy"

35)Last person you yelled at?
Court for somehow breaking the flashlight while taking the dog out. Something I've done 500 times without breaking anything.

36)Last crush?
pisht...so long ago I can't remember.

37)Last thing you ate?
slim-fast. Almost lunch time now.

38)If you could be a pirate, would you?
Hell yeah. Sid Meyer's Pirates! is an awesome game.

39) Last time you had sex?
few days ago (?)

40) If you could be with anyone right now, who would it be?
Uncle Bruce, to say Happy BD in person.

A long time ago (easily 10+ years) my Mom had given me a Millennium Falcon model kit. I started it and stopped it in a matter of days. Whether I thought it was too difficult or something else came up, I don't know. Unfortunately I did glue some parts together but nothing too drastic. Anyway.

I've just spent the last 4+ hours detailing the top and bottom of the kit to match the real model of the Millennium Falcon. Thanks to some pics I'd taken when the model was on display at the Field Museum plus some different shots I found on a website of the same model on display at a different museum I think I've gotten pretty close. Tomorrow, I'll mask off those detailed panels and spray the body of the kit. After that it's some airbrushing with diluted black paint (to weather the model) and a coat of Testors Dulcote to dull it a little.

Hopefully I have that procedure right. I'm trying to pick up hints and stuff on the net and I'm still really new at trying to model the 'right way'. Wish me luck!

(I hope to complete this model before my Mom comes down so she can see it finished)

create your own visited states map

RIP the crew of STS-107 which was destroyed upon re-entry 2 years ago today.

Brown
Clark
Chawla
Anderson
Ramon
McCool
Husband

CNN.com - NASA remembers fallen astronauts - Jan 28, 2005

19 years ago today, the brave astronauts of the shuttle Challenger lost their lives.

I wish I could say I remember where I was when it happened. The truth is, while I *do* remember the day it happened, I don't really remember much about it besides where we lived (Rita Ct. in Bartlett) and the ugly leather couches we used to have. Isn't that odd. I have this vague recollection of somebody walking in and saying something and me seeing these couches when I think about Challenger for some odd reason. Very strange.

Obviously, the Columbia loss is much fresher in my mind--not only because of the closeness of the date, but because I was in Central Florida at the time and it was HUGE news down here because the shuttle had been heading to the Cape to land.

We've lost many brave astrnauts in the pursuit of the exploration of space. May God bless them all.

Tonight Show's Tribute to Johnny Carson...

Johnny Carson died the other day. When I was a kid, I'd watch the Tonight Show. I remember a time when I would only watch when Jay Leno would guest-host, but this was a time back when Leno was actually funny. Now he's just a cartoon basically.

To say Carson was a funny guy is not enough. The man was a legend, and I'm sad that he's gone.

One good thing came from all this...instead of their regular crap, the Tonight Show did this tribute last night. Bob Newhart and Don Rickles (always hilarious) were there, as well as Drew Carey. They told stories and played classic clips...it was great. I loved it.

The thing is...do you know who was originally scheduled to be on the show last night? Paris Hilton. Talk about a total turnaround. To go from someone who's basically a drain on society and humanity as a whole to featuring great comedians paying tribute to a great man. That's gotta be the most drastic turnaround in entertainment history.

In watching the 'Angel' episodes that are on the upstairs Tivo, I bypass a lot of old election commercials from the 2004 Election.

Boy, I'm glad that's all over.

Everything is going well on the Hooper front. "Training" a puppy is a lot of work--though most of the time it seems he's training me. After a few days of getting the leash wrapped around my legs and mostly using Boots'(too short) leash instead of Hooper's (because the clasp on Hooper's is a pain to work) I finally went to PetWhatever and got him a stake and line for the back. Now, after he eats I just put him out there and either I sit in the back with Boots or I take Boots outside too and we just wait around for Hooper to do his business. By the way, I'm proud to report that he's finally doing it outside...sometimes. He still goes on the puppy pads inside (and sometimes not, unfortunately) but he's gone outside a bunch too, which is cool. We give him a special kind of treat when he does that. Hopefully he's learning. We'll see.

On the work front, all of us at work got sucked into this new organization. Motorola Information Protection Service. Actually, it's somewhat of a good thing--as long as everyone is placed somewhere. There's still something I'm worried about. Hopefully it gets taken care of some time today. Personally, I've been promoted so I'm happy about that. It also looks like I will have to go too Alaska to do a delivery with a bunch of other guys. Some of the guys from our old team and some from the new. It's Government stuff. I'll also either have to go to San Diego or Virginia for a two-day training deal in early or mid February. We'll see how that goes.

We're just back from the vet. For some unknown reason, Court scheduled Hooper's vet appointment at 8:30am on a Saturday. The lesson, as always: Don't get married.

Anyway. He did fine. He's about 900x calmer than Boots is at the vet...though Court says that at this age Boots was fine at the vet too. The last time we went he screeched louder than I thought a cat could ever be and the vet said next time they'd have to sedate him.

Saw the papers with Hooper's Birthday on them: October 30, 2004. Also found out that puppies won't really start to be potty trainined until they're 4-5 months old and have gotten into the bathroom/outside repetition. We've still got a ways to go but we're happy with how things are going.

While we were back home for Christmas I played some Madden with Chris. He had just gotten 2005 for Christmas. He took 2 out of 3 games from me but I hadn't played in a while. It made me want to reinstall whatever Madden I had already, which turned out to be like 2001 or something. I figured I could go to Best Buy (normally against my better judgement since I hate them) but when the new Madden comes out they usually kick the last year's version to the curb and price them at $10.

So we went to Best Buy and I found 2004 for $10. I was all ready to buy it when Court comes up to me with 2005 and it's only $20. Now, why the PS2 version is $50 and the PC version is $20, I don't know. But better, I don't care.

I've been playing for about a week or so. I've already taken the Bears to the Super Bowl and won it. Half the season I played at rookie mode because I was just getting back into playing, but after throwing up 100 pts against the computer in one game I set the difficulty at 'pro' and went from there. I only had one loss all season, and it was one of those where the computer decides there's no way, no way, NO WAY you're winning that game and that was that.

This game has EVERYTHING. You control prices on everything including merchandise and concessions and all that. Plus, there's a 'training camp' mode with drills and all sorts of stuff. I'm sure somebody who really wanted to get into it all could spend hours doing all that crap. I tinker a bit but I don't go crazy.

It's really been fun to play. When we were in college we used to play NBA Live '96 on the PS1 and since it gave you four teams to customize we each took a team and had a draft and everything. It was great. I probably played NBA Live and NHL Live more than football because my friends could kick my tail at Madden any day.

I got a bunch of comp games for Christmas too. Pirates! and Evil Genius are two of the other ones I've played. Pirates! is just what it sounds like. So is Evil Genius pretty much. Thinking "Stepping into Dr. Evil's shoes" and you're good to go.

oh man, I just heard on Mike & Mike that after yesterday's game Favre was talking about retiring.

Could it be...has this day finally come? Oh man...oh...man...

It's official. I just considered calling my Mom to tell her that Hooper finally went potty on the puppy pads we laid down.

Yes, it's the beginning of the end for me.

Haven't blogged in a while. Time to step it up a little.

Hitting to all fields...

• A good time was had in IL for Christmas/New Years, as always.


• I told Pops that I predicted a blizzard while we were in. Only missed by one day. Good thing I only use my powers for good.


• We got my in-laws a surround sound DVD player for Christmas and installed it on New Year's Eve. With a basement and dropped ceiling speaker placement was a joy. You can barely see the cables and it sounds great.


• Mr. Tony is back on the radio, and they stream the show over the net. WOO HOO!


• Thanks again to the wonders of streaming internet radio, I can listen to my 'local' Chicago sports talk afternoon show as well!


• It seems that Jon Stewart may have single-handedly killed 'Crossfire'. Oh well. It was too much useless yelling anyways.


• Lastly, but CERTAINLY not leastly, Hooper is in the house! Actually, he's at my feet right now. He and Boots have gotten along 500x better than I'd thought. Not even any confrontations at all. They just leave each other alone. Big props to Boots for beating expectations. I'm proud of them both.

More to come...