I went to Gen Con this weekend; much geekery and new purchases. JC was a way fun traveling companion, and kind enough to let me drive her car back home once her BF joined her in Indy. (originally she'd be riding down with me, but, well...yeah). Highlights: qualifying for the finals of a Diplomacy tournament, which was an 8.5-hour butt-&-brainburner; and competing in the Nordic Dice Toss, in which you chuck a 2 cubic foot 6-sider down a 10-foot wide strip, hope it stays inbounds, and score distance x dieroll. I'm not into writing a travelogue right now and doubt I will be, but you can go by here and catch her itinerary, now with added TMI. Yay!
I'm not much of a celebrity hound, but this was the second recent weekend where I'd wished I'd have brought my Dawn of the Dead game to get signed. George Romero was at Flashback Weekend, and Ken Foree was at Gen Con. Gonna have to start toting the thing wherever I go.
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
I bought a lava lamp this week. I've always had a low-level yen for one but for some reason never picked one up. Odd, considering the things I'll snap up without hesitation. So a woman at work was moving, selling her son's lamp for a sawbuck, and I took it off her hands. I plugged it in at my desk--¡el mistako gigante! The next 20 minutes were a big starefest. So into the bag it went until I got home last night.
My favorite lava lamp moment is when it's been on for 5-10 minutes from a cold start. A plume of hot wax from the bottom finds its way through the cooler stuff and shoots to the top, making a weird stringy mess that hangs there for a few minutes before breaking off, falling back down, melting, and then forming the round blobs one would expect to see. It's just a nifty, fleeting thing.
No, I am not high. Shut up. Jeez.
My favorite lava lamp moment is when it's been on for 5-10 minutes from a cold start. A plume of hot wax from the bottom finds its way through the cooler stuff and shoots to the top, making a weird stringy mess that hangs there for a few minutes before breaking off, falling back down, melting, and then forming the round blobs one would expect to see. It's just a nifty, fleeting thing.
No, I am not high. Shut up. Jeez.
Sunday, August 15, 2004
Well, you'd think my keyboard was purloined along with the car. That drama is almost over. I'm signing the title over to the insurance and contesting a parking ticket written during the 36 hours between theft and recovery. I'm getting just over two grand, which is way over the trade-in value. A CPD detective left me a message to contact him to close out my file, but A) he apparently has no record of our previous conversation which should have closed everything out, and B) No one answers the number he gave me.
So this weekend we got through some Netflix movies and got out to see Zatoichi, which was excellent. At home we saw The Trouble With Harry - Hitchcock's only attempt at a straight comedy, and considering his other movies are full of humor, I was expecting this to be darker than it was. Shirley MacLaine sure was cute back then, as evidenced by this and The Apartment. We also watched The Stranger -- not Camus, and thankfully not Billy Joel, but Orson Welles's only commmercial success as a director. Quite good despite a draggy second act and a drip of a heroine in Loretta Young.
I'm watching bits of the Olympics when I can. Not having cable, my viewing is limited to NBC and Telemundo. The flagship network coverage is of course a crapfest, full of personal struggles over adversity and the same non-quirky sports we see all the time. And I'm especially pissed that Costas & Couric couldn't be troubled to shut their goddamn yaps for three minutes while Björk was performing in the opening ceremonies. So I flip over to Andres Cantor & company a lot, and now find myself fully on the Iraqi soccer bandwagon. Seem to me that Americans of most political stripes can find something to rally behind in their success.
So this weekend we got through some Netflix movies and got out to see Zatoichi, which was excellent. At home we saw The Trouble With Harry - Hitchcock's only attempt at a straight comedy, and considering his other movies are full of humor, I was expecting this to be darker than it was. Shirley MacLaine sure was cute back then, as evidenced by this and The Apartment. We also watched The Stranger -- not Camus, and thankfully not Billy Joel, but Orson Welles's only commmercial success as a director. Quite good despite a draggy second act and a drip of a heroine in Loretta Young.
I'm watching bits of the Olympics when I can. Not having cable, my viewing is limited to NBC and Telemundo. The flagship network coverage is of course a crapfest, full of personal struggles over adversity and the same non-quirky sports we see all the time. And I'm especially pissed that Costas & Couric couldn't be troubled to shut their goddamn yaps for three minutes while Björk was performing in the opening ceremonies. So I flip over to Andres Cantor & company a lot, and now find myself fully on the Iraqi soccer bandwagon. Seem to me that Americans of most political stripes can find something to rally behind in their success.
Monday, August 9, 2004
Here's my car's epic journey from parked to "recovered." Here's what it looks like now.
I spent a romantic Friday evening with Kirsti at the pound checking it out, getting my crap out of it and releasing it to the insurers. All of my personal effects were intact...tapes, loose change, everything. I'm 90% convinced that the "thieves" were either city or freelance towers. But the insurance company can investigate that all they want.
I spent a romantic Friday evening with Kirsti at the pound checking it out, getting my crap out of it and releasing it to the insurers. All of my personal effects were intact...tapes, loose change, everything. I'm 90% convinced that the "thieves" were either city or freelance towers. But the insurance company can investigate that all they want.
Friday, August 6, 2004
Thursday, August 5, 2004
okay...
You speak eloquently and have seemingly read every
book ever published. You are a fountain of
endless (sometimes useless) knowledge, and
never fail to impress at a party.
What people love: You can answer almost any
question people ask, and have thus been
nicknamed Jeeves.
What people hate: You constantly correct their
grammar and insult their paperbacks.
What Kind of Elitist Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
I'm obviously first and foremost a movie snob, but that wasn't an option. I also think I'm more of a music snob than a book snob, but the questions leaned toward actually being able to play an instrument, and...I can't. And while I said I'd rather meet Poe than Beethoven, that was only because of the language barrier. (also, because Dee wouldn't be there. Kidding!)
You speak eloquently and have seemingly read every
book ever published. You are a fountain of
endless (sometimes useless) knowledge, and
never fail to impress at a party.
What people love: You can answer almost any
question people ask, and have thus been
nicknamed Jeeves.
What people hate: You constantly correct their
grammar and insult their paperbacks.
What Kind of Elitist Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
I'm obviously first and foremost a movie snob, but that wasn't an option. I also think I'm more of a music snob than a book snob, but the questions leaned toward actually being able to play an instrument, and...I can't. And while I said I'd rather meet Poe than Beethoven, that was only because of the language barrier. (also, because Dee wouldn't be there. Kidding!)
new beverages
Forgot to mention these, all tried recently...
C2: Mix a coke and a diet coke and the total is much less than the sum of its parts. I'm not sure why anyone would bother. I hope this takes after New Coke and dies a quick death.
that Krispy Kreme Original Glazed drink: This was neither the vile concoction I feared, nor the party in my mouth that I hoped for. Maybe because I had it with coffee in it, dunno if that sullied the experience or what. But it just tasted like a coolatta or whatever with some extra sweetness to it.
Mountain Dew Baja Blast: When I don't bring a lunch and my usual lunching partners have plans, I sneak off to my guilty-pleasure-that-ain't-White-Castle: Taco Bell. They're hawking this exclusive MD spinoff. Now, I really dislike Mountain Dew. Seriously. Haven't had it willingly in like 20 years. But I like lime things, so I rolled the dice. Really Frickin' Good, I thought. The lime's got a nice crispness to it, even though the color (a frightening swimming-pool blue, not unlike the water found in this venerable State Fair ride) takes a while to get around.
Forgot to mention these, all tried recently...
C2: Mix a coke and a diet coke and the total is much less than the sum of its parts. I'm not sure why anyone would bother. I hope this takes after New Coke and dies a quick death.
that Krispy Kreme Original Glazed drink: This was neither the vile concoction I feared, nor the party in my mouth that I hoped for. Maybe because I had it with coffee in it, dunno if that sullied the experience or what. But it just tasted like a coolatta or whatever with some extra sweetness to it.
Mountain Dew Baja Blast: When I don't bring a lunch and my usual lunching partners have plans, I sneak off to my guilty-pleasure-that-ain't-White-Castle: Taco Bell. They're hawking this exclusive MD spinoff. Now, I really dislike Mountain Dew. Seriously. Haven't had it willingly in like 20 years. But I like lime things, so I rolled the dice. Really Frickin' Good, I thought. The lime's got a nice crispness to it, even though the color (a frightening swimming-pool blue, not unlike the water found in this venerable State Fair ride) takes a while to get around.
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