Monday, July 30, 2007
The most perfect gift ever???
Another sister-in-law is getting married this summer (the last one. Yay!). The couple is of a certain mindset (basically eco-hippies in Portland, Oregon), so they will appreciate a less-than-traditional gift. Laura and I will give them something "weddingy" as well, but I alone got them this:
[Girl]: And if Sue can forgive Reed for turning them into freaks, I suppose you emptying the bank account because of your gambling addition isn't the end of the world either.
[Together]: Honey, I love you!!!
Behold the power of love!
Reed and Sue, heart and soul of Marvel's First Family of Super-Heroes. Peter and Mary Jane, the spider and the supermodel. Scott and Jean, childhood sweethearts sworn to protect a world that hates and fears them. Break out the tissue, True Believer: The House of Ideas cordially invites you to celebrate the history-making nuptials of its greatest couples in this keepsake edition! From the Fantastic Four to Spider-Man to the X-Men, with a few surprises in between, this commemorative volume proves that the power of love can overcome all obstacles!
Is that not awesome? If every couple that got married was given this as a gift and forced to read it, the divorce rate would drop dramatically:
[Guy]: Geez, if the Hulk and Betty Ross can make it work, maybe we can give it abother try.[Girl]: And if Sue can forgive Reed for turning them into freaks, I suppose you emptying the bank account because of your gambling addition isn't the end of the world either.
[Together]: Honey, I love you!!!
Behold the power of love!
Friday, July 27, 2007
Ten hours to go...
Thursday, July 26, 2007
SMILE
Yesterday evening was not the greatest. Something happened at work yesterday, something not my fault, but it happened in such a way that it could be perceived as my fault. No point in going into the details here, but I had sick-to-my-stomach worry all night, and no one to hug me and tell me everything was going to be okay.
I spent the evening trying not to think about things, and reading this:
Machine Man: Created, drawn, and written by the amazing Jack "King" Kirby. Kirby co-created the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Hulk, Captain America, and a gazillion others. The man is a legend.
The Machine Man series only lasted 19 issues, from the late 1970s to early 1980, but man, what a bunch worked on it: The first nine issues were written and drawn by Kirby himself. Starting with issue #10, Marv Wolfman wrote for it and Steve Ditko did the art. Marv Wolfman did the classic run of Teen Titans in the 1980s, co-creating Black Cat for Marvel, and wrote a little thing called Crisis on Infinite Earths, which basically repaired 50 years of DC comics continuity problems. Doesn't seem like such a big deal now, with huge "internet cracking" events happening every week, but when this came out, it was a huge deal. And Steve Ditko? He co-created Spider-Man! And depending on who tells the story, created the costume's look and came up with Spidey's ability to shoot webs from his wrist (which was from web-shooters, okay? Director Sam Raimi decided to make that an organic side-effect of being bitten by the radioactive spider in the first Spider-Man movie. I don't have a problem with that, by the way. Spidey running out of web fluid during a fight was a tired plot point by the time I was ten.)
I spent the evening trying not to think about things, and reading this:
Machine Man: Created, drawn, and written by the amazing Jack "King" Kirby. Kirby co-created the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Hulk, Captain America, and a gazillion others. The man is a legend.The Machine Man series only lasted 19 issues, from the late 1970s to early 1980, but man, what a bunch worked on it: The first nine issues were written and drawn by Kirby himself. Starting with issue #10, Marv Wolfman wrote for it and Steve Ditko did the art. Marv Wolfman did the classic run of Teen Titans in the 1980s, co-creating Black Cat for Marvel, and wrote a little thing called Crisis on Infinite Earths, which basically repaired 50 years of DC comics continuity problems. Doesn't seem like such a big deal now, with huge "internet cracking" events happening every week, but when this came out, it was a huge deal. And Steve Ditko? He co-created Spider-Man! And depending on who tells the story, created the costume's look and came up with Spidey's ability to shoot webs from his wrist (which was from web-shooters, okay? Director Sam Raimi decided to make that an organic side-effect of being bitten by the radioactive spider in the first Spider-Man movie. I don't have a problem with that, by the way. Spidey running out of web fluid during a fight was a tired plot point by the time I was ten.)
Hoo. Didn't mean to comic-geek out like that.
Oh, and I went to see my boss's boss's boss this morning and clarified my side of the story, and everything is cool. I didn't do anything wrong, and everyone knows and agrees. So yay!
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Taking the Potter Plunge
I promise the title of today's entry isn't anything filthy! For years (a decade?) I've avoided the Harry Potter books. Yes, I was too cool for them. I lumped them in with The Bridges of Madison County, The Da Vinci Code, and the movies Forest Gump, Pretty Woman, and Jerry Maguire: Super popular crap that the public embraced in an overwhelming way that put me off of it without knowing much about it.
(I eventually saw Forest Gump a few years ago and thought it was "super retarded," to use the technical term. "Oh! Tom Hanks talks funny! He meets celebrities!" Boring. Plus his "Jenny" dies of what is most likely AIDS, but neither Forest nor her son get it. Okay, sure. Only bad people like drug addicts get that disease. Whatever.)
So the Forest Gump Experience (good indie band name, if you need one!) just reinforced my wish to have nothing to do with Pottermania. C'mon. Adults reading a kids book? Grow up.
That was, until last night. I finished a book and was looking around the house for something else to read. (Hey, I'm bachelor man during the week, there are only so many summer reruns to watch, and I avoid "reality" television, so what can I do?) I saw the first four books of the Harry Potter series sitting on the shelf. They belong to my wife. I took down the first one and read the back cover. I turned to the copyright page and noticed that this was the 31st printing of the book (It's probably up over 50 printings of the first book by now).
Alone in the house, and feeling like I was doing something vaguely shameful, I began reading. I got to page 100 before I went to sleep.
Now, I'm not proclaiming my love for the book yet, so don't overreact. I've seen the movies, but can't remember much of anything about them except what the actors playing the characters look like, so for better or worse, I saw the movie characters as I was reading.
The writing doesn't suck. The author has a good ear for dialog, and there a little bits of humor in it. There, that's all I'll admit for now.
(I eventually saw Forest Gump a few years ago and thought it was "super retarded," to use the technical term. "Oh! Tom Hanks talks funny! He meets celebrities!" Boring. Plus his "Jenny" dies of what is most likely AIDS, but neither Forest nor her son get it. Okay, sure. Only bad people like drug addicts get that disease. Whatever.)
So the Forest Gump Experience (good indie band name, if you need one!) just reinforced my wish to have nothing to do with Pottermania. C'mon. Adults reading a kids book? Grow up.
That was, until last night. I finished a book and was looking around the house for something else to read. (Hey, I'm bachelor man during the week, there are only so many summer reruns to watch, and I avoid "reality" television, so what can I do?) I saw the first four books of the Harry Potter series sitting on the shelf. They belong to my wife. I took down the first one and read the back cover. I turned to the copyright page and noticed that this was the 31st printing of the book (It's probably up over 50 printings of the first book by now).
Alone in the house, and feeling like I was doing something vaguely shameful, I began reading. I got to page 100 before I went to sleep.
Now, I'm not proclaiming my love for the book yet, so don't overreact. I've seen the movies, but can't remember much of anything about them except what the actors playing the characters look like, so for better or worse, I saw the movie characters as I was reading.
The writing doesn't suck. The author has a good ear for dialog, and there a little bits of humor in it. There, that's all I'll admit for now.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Solitude diverted
Or perhaps the title could be "Boy, intercepted." Whatever. The wife decided to leave her mom in the somewhat capable hands of her father and came to Arlington Friday afternoon with our dog. So was all got to spend a nice weekend together. We went out to dinner, saw the latest Harry Potter flick (haven't read the books, but I let myself get dragged to the films), ran a few errands, and relaxed at home.
De, I'm Capt. Solo bachelor again for the rest of the week (wife returned to her mom with the dog after work today), so we can meet up somewhere sometime soon!
L (or Gabe or whoever else you choose to comment as ;-)) Yeah, still writing that email!
De, I'm Capt. Solo bachelor again for the rest of the week (wife returned to her mom with the dog after work today), so we can meet up somewhere sometime soon!
L (or Gabe or whoever else you choose to comment as ;-)) Yeah, still writing that email!
Friday, July 20, 2007
Inertia
The wife probably isn't overjoyed with me, because I told her last night I didn't feel like driving three hours each way this weekend and wanted to stay in Arlington and just relax. I just got my car back last weekend and I don't want to drive it long distances too often yet, if I can help it. Also, it's inertia. I've had a really busy week at work, and the idea of a weekend doing nothing--not leaving the house once--appeals to me. There's a new Doctor Who on tonight, and I'm thinking some Lebanese food and some sci-fi is a pretty good night.L, I owe you an e-mail. It's coming.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Internet and Real World Collide!
Driving home from the grocery store with tuna salad and pita bread yesterday afternoon, I received a phone call. Who could be calling me? It was De (AKA "Scourge of Tourists")! He identified himself as Aldo Kelrast (whose entire AMAZING story can be read HERE!) He asked me what my plans were for dinner, and I glanced over at the tuna salad, immediately accepting his offer to meet up and have something not tuna salad.I had a 1950's businessman's lunch for dinner: steak, asparagus, mashed potatoes, two beers, 
pie, and three cups of coffee. I woke up with a food hangover! (Plus, what the hell was I thinking with THREE cups of coffee? It was 1am before I could get to sleep!)
pie, and three cups of coffee. I woke up with a food hangover! (Plus, what the hell was I thinking with THREE cups of coffee? It was 1am before I could get to sleep!)But you're not interested in the meal, are you? No, you want all the gossipy details: what did he 
wear, what did you talk about, will you see each other again? Okay, vultures, here it is: He was dressed like a casual meteorologist (khakis and oxford shirt; Sorry ladies, no bow tie!), we discussed a bunch of geeky things (like our blogs, but in podcast format, and no, we didn't record it. Maybe next time), and yes, we will do it again sometime, but I think I'll pass on dessert and coffee next time. My body was in shock last night!
wear, what did you talk about, will you see each other again? Okay, vultures, here it is: He was dressed like a casual meteorologist (khakis and oxford shirt; Sorry ladies, no bow tie!), we discussed a bunch of geeky things (like our blogs, but in podcast format, and no, we didn't record it. Maybe next time), and yes, we will do it again sometime, but I think I'll pass on dessert and coffee next time. My body was in shock last night! Yep, it was a hoot seeing an Internet pal, and I'm thankful he saved me from eating tuna salad alone while my cats watched longingly. 
"And a good time was had by all"*
*Actual events may differ from those depicted in pictures above.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
I drove home from work yesterday, pondering where to go for dinner, whether to go to the grocery store, or just pray there was something in the freeezer, when I was struck by the sight of my wife's car in the driveway. Turns out she has a meeting tomorrow that was originally going to be a phone conference she could do from the river, then turned into a big face-to-face meeting she had to come up here to attend. Yes, annoying for her, but yay for me! We went out to dinner and spent a great evening together.
She's returning to the river after her meeting this afternoon to take care of her mom, so I'm still a bachelor this week, but that was such an awesome surprise! I missed her soooo much. An unexpected hug from someone you love is the absolute best.
She's returning to the river after her meeting this afternoon to take care of her mom, so I'm still a bachelor this week, but that was such an awesome surprise! I missed her soooo much. An unexpected hug from someone you love is the absolute best.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Got my car back!
Yeah, I'm back in the Beetle, so things are looking up. But the wife is spending another week taking care of her mom, so it's another bachelor week for me. Seeing each other just on weekends sucks.
I am slightly soothed by this, however:
Röyksopp's Night Out. Very chill stuff, but with a beat. I was led to the band by pondering, "I wonder what that song is in that commercial?" Well, thanks to Mr. Internet, the answer takes about five seconds to track down:
Currently "Remind Me", one of the two Röyksopp and Erlend Øye collaborations found on Melody A.M., can be heard in a Geico car insurance commercial in the U.S. The commercial is the fourth of the "It's so easy a caveman could do it" ads, and features said caveman in an airport terminal when he comes across the inflammatory ad campaign.
Then I stumbled on the live CD, and the rest is grooving on the iPod.
Oh, and I know no one ever bothers watching these, but check out their video of "Remind Me." It's freaking genius!
I am slightly soothed by this, however:
Röyksopp's Night Out. Very chill stuff, but with a beat. I was led to the band by pondering, "I wonder what that song is in that commercial?" Well, thanks to Mr. Internet, the answer takes about five seconds to track down:Currently "Remind Me", one of the two Röyksopp and Erlend Øye collaborations found on Melody A.M., can be heard in a Geico car insurance commercial in the U.S. The commercial is the fourth of the "It's so easy a caveman could do it" ads, and features said caveman in an airport terminal when he comes across the inflammatory ad campaign.
Then I stumbled on the live CD, and the rest is grooving on the iPod.
Oh, and I know no one ever bothers watching these, but check out their video of "Remind Me." It's freaking genius!
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Gonna get better
I'm going to be optimistic. Things are going to get better. Not that things are bad, per se, but sheesh, sick relatives, broken car, wife gone all week... hell, even our DOG has been gone all week, staying at the river.
I've been reading The Bourne Identity. Haven't seen any of the movies, so it seemed a good time to begin.
Wow, I can't even pull up a complete thought tonight. So, here are a couple of random pictures from my computer:
The Hulk and Iron Man about to rumble.
...and my dog.
I've been reading The Bourne Identity. Haven't seen any of the movies, so it seemed a good time to begin.
Wow, I can't even pull up a complete thought tonight. So, here are a couple of random pictures from my computer:
The Hulk and Iron Man about to rumble....and my dog.
Monday, July 09, 2007
Not so fast, sport.
Sunday afternoon: I got on the road about 1pm, and at 2:30, the warning light on my car went off saying my car was overheating. It was 100 degrees outside. I pulled into a parking lot and lifted the hood. The overflow reservoir on the radiator was full of boiling liquid. I stood therefor a few minutes when a guy in a pick-up asked if I needed help. The manual mentioned checking the fuse to the radiator fan, but it looked fine. The fan only came on when the AC was on though, but it did work. The guy knew a mechanic about a mile down the road, in the closest little town, and he drove down to see him and came back and said he'd stop in.
The mechanic came and asked me to follow him to the garage. About 500 feet down the road, the warning came on again, and when I pulled into the garage,
I could hear the water boiling in the radiator. We added water to it, and let it cool for an hour, but after starting it, it started boiling almost immediately. He said he thought the thermostat was bad. I called back down to the river where I'd come from (now three hours since I left), and my father-in-law had the idea of loaning me his wife's car for the week (she is not going to be using it, as she just got out of the hospital and is bedridden for the next few weeks). He and my wife (who was staying an extra day) drove two cars up (about an hour north of the river), and they arrived around 5:30. I gave the mechanic the key, transferred all my stuff to my loaner car, and continued to Arlington. I got home about 7:30, so the trip took six hours and two cars!
The cats were thrilled to see me. We had someone come by every other day, but they still missed us. I called the office and explained what had happened and said I'd be in on Tuesday (since I was beat by this time). The mechanic has a week to fix it, which is good since I'm sure he'll have to order parts to his little town.This thrilling 100 degree adventure was the climax to a week off that frankly was not much of a vacation. I did get a lot of time to read while sitting around, so I got to read Zombie Planet, the end of David Wellington's zombie trilogy, so that's something.
Friday, July 06, 2007
Not too much fun
This week has been crazy. I've spent much of the "vacation" sitting in the hospital, running errands, and not much time doing vacationy things. Returning to work will likely result in less stressful days.
