Which is it?

Friday!

Payday!

Allergies!

One of these three things does not belong.

Un-undead

Eleven hours of sleep has done wonders to drive off the bug that was... um... bugging me.

Watched my recording of the premiere of "Happy Town". It wasn't as good as I remember from WonderCon.

Now what will I do with the rest of my day?

ugh

It's a full moon. Showers are expected later today.

I think I'm fighting a bug.

It's only Wednesday.

Bwah...

Kinda Quirky

Yeah, this is cool.

About time someone put something like this out on the market.

Random Day Off

Took today off to burn PTO.

Slept in. Lounged around. Watched "Doctor Who and the Seeds of Doom" as well as some of The Fellowship of the Ring as the rain poured outside.

I love days like this.

What Problem?

Friday night: drinks. A moderate number of beers at three different bars. I was past tipsy and well into drunk by 10:30. An hour later, I was asleep.

Saturday late morning/early afternoon: beer festival. Some of the beer tastings were 10% alcohol (could be rated as barley wine). I tasted a lot of beer. The best was the "Sea Monster", a porter from... um... somewhere awesome. Only food to offset said beer was some garlic fries (mmm... garlic fries...) and some spicy wings. Not sure if I had dinner. I was a mess when I got home.

Sunday evening: surprise birthday dinner for VB. Dinner was much later than I'm used to so the two beers I had while waiting hit me a bit. I suspect I was already tired. By the time I got home, I was very ready to sleep.

I do believe my immune system took a hit from the weekend's liver-abuse.

I regret nothing.

Wow

What a gorgeous day!

Time to bust out the sunblock...

I thought I was playing "Go Fish"

I apparently don't have much of a poker face. Kind of funny given that I happen to know that I'm an outstanding liar when the situation calls for it.

Kind of interesting, I guess.

Certainly random.

Another one bites the dust

Friday has arrived, and with it comes the beginning of my spring allergies.

Ugh.

At least they're minor thus far. The sinus annoyance is offset by the euphoria of enjoying a good "Fringe" episode. It was mythology-heavy, just the way I like it. I'm glad they went the way they did with resolving the current plot issue.

Shapeshifting super-soldiers from an alternate universe win again. W00T!

The weather may spawn horrible, allergy-inducing things, but it's awfully nice. I took part of yesterday to hoof it into the Chrome store in San Francisco and acquire something for morning bike rides.

It'll be a full weekend. Drinks tonight (perhaps after class, if I get my lazy arse in there), beer-tasting festival tomorrow (that's gonna hurt), and Sundays always have something alcohol-related. It's some sort of rule.

Another week and we bid April adieu. This month just blurred on by.

100

Erik has a link to TIME's top 100 influential people poll.

Who the hell is "Lady Gaga"?

I'll be curious to see the results on the 29th, I guess.

Irrationalizing

Wet and windy weather does not inspire me to trek to class after work today. Dinner plans make me less-inclined as I'd feel rushed betwixt the two.

Oh, who am I kidding? I'm looking for excuses to slack, but at this point in my life, I don't need excuses.

They're handy, of course, but I don't need 'em.

Relief

Family responsibilities met.

Credit card drama well in-hand.

Finally sent promised photos to a friend.

Weird vibes from my neighbors, but I don't really care too much about that.

Time to open a beer.

Coasting the Rollers

What a day!

Ups-and-downs in all sorts of corners of my life.

Doesn't help that I've ingested more sugar than usual and it's making me a bit spazzy.

I'm glad I'm working an irregular schedule this week.

...um...

Don't get me wrong. The Eleventh Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver is very cool.

Just... um... doesn't it look kinda like something sold at a different kind of store?

Hm... maybe not with the claws. That's probably a very different market. Not going there.

La-la-la...

A Busy Saturday

Quite the day.

I moved friends to a new, nicer place.

I ate so much food that I think I may have trouble sleeping tonight.

I saw more police on the roads today than I've seen in total over the last three months.

I watched the Daleks return to "Doctor Who" and yawned.

I learned a secret today.

And now I think I'm going to turn in. G'night.

The last 2 seconds...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Tea America
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

yeah....

Friday has arrived. The happiness. It is here.

Last night's "Fringe" pleased me. Despite a deep love of "Doctor Who", I generally do not like time-travel stories. They tend to offend my continuity-obsessed nature.

"Fringe" did a good time-travel story.

Plus: Peter Weller.

Robocop + time-travel = awesome

It's in the laws of geekdom somewhere. I'm sure of it.

I'm looking forward to the weekend (no surprise... most of the world is, I expect). Will be nice to see some friends and their kid.

Sleeping in is always a bonus.

SWEET

Nike chase from ilovedust on Vimeo.

(via io9 via Brian Hill)

Carb Copy

In an effort to improve my diet, I've started "carb counting" (actually reading the "Nutrition Facts" on various food products).

Dang.

On my desk I've got a box of crunchy oats & honey bars. 28 grams in carbs for 2 bars. I've also got some blueberry cereal bars. 27 grams in carbs per bar.

And then there's the maple nut Cliff Bars. 42 grams in carbs per bar.

Wow.

I'm sure the carb count would be fine if I were super-active, but as a shlep at a desk? Probably not the best thing.

So that explains why I'm suddenly craving a cinnamon danish.

Good times

Well, I must say that my latest brush with being a victim of possible credit card fraud was much less traumatic this time around.

I managed to get the essential stuff fixed quickly and now have a better plan in place to lessen future disruptions.

Would be nice if I didn't have to learn lessons the hard way. Could always be worse, I suppose.

The silver linings are all coming into view:
- I didn't get stuck with any kind of horrible charges
- Nothing I actually paid for got messed with
- I now have circumstances making me stop my crazy purchase pattern

Even more interesting has been my phone time with various agencies (the fraud department of my credit card company and other companies I have linked to the compromised card). Every one of those customer service interactions has been really nice and helpful.

Oh yeah, customer service is supposed to be nice, but how often do we really talk to someone who seems pleasant and competent over the phone?

Good times.

Yet more of the interesting times

Well this was an interesting day.

Work aside, I had quite the ups-and-downs. The high point was probably getting my Saddleback Leather briefcase. 'Tis quite lovely and now holding all sorts of junk. I expect my shoulder to give out fairly quickly.

The low point was the phone message from my credit card company questioning some recent charges. I figured that might happen after ordering the Saddleback.

That wasn't it.

Nooo... there were entirely-unfamiliar, albeit small, charges on it. Apparently that's done to "test" the card.

Thank goodness for the fraud dept. with my credit card company. These guys are on their game.

The card is nuclear slag now. Rage fuels me again.

It certainly made martial arts class more interesting.

IM feeling random

Snippet of an IM conversation this morning:

Friend: Heh. Yeah, that's full of win.
Me: WIN!
Me: W00TY WIN!
Me: WINNY W00T!
Me: Hm... that sounds like a Bad Horse thing
Me: Bad Horse's cousin, Nerd Horse, does his WINNY W00T!
Me: Okay, I'll stop now

I have no idea where all that came from. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Lost and Found

Thank you "Lost" for getting weirder and more random. It's refreshing.

A few things:

1) If you kill Sun, Jin, Desmond, Penny, Hurley, or Miles, we're having words. Just sayin'.

2) You'd better answer every damn question you raised.

3) I'm totally fine with you killing off Jack, Kate, and Ben. Have at it.

That is all.

Kicking Arse

I'm slow to coming aboard the Kick-Ass train.

The other day, I finally picked up a hardcover copy of the story.

Wow. This is a pretty messed up book.

Needless to say, I loved every second of its wrongness. Can't wait to find time to see the movie. Probably next week sometime...

wait... what?

WRONGBADWRONG!

Jawa-tastic!

MOREWRONGBADWRONG!

(all via Nerd Approved)

*grumble* need coffee *grumble*

What a weekend.

Friday night was tiki drinks, classic Tom Baker-era "Doctor Who", and good friends to share both with.

Saturday was gaming and good friends to share that with. Not my best game ever. Indeed, I think the game was rather mediocre. I'm not sure where it fell apart, but such is life. Was nice to nerd out all the same.

Sunday it rained like hell. So of course I went to get comics then visit the family. It was a bit touch-and-go as to whether or not I was going to make it to either destination alive, thanks to the slick, often semi-flooded, roads and the IDIOTIC jackasses driving about, but fortune favored me.

And I got to see the second episode of Matt Smith's tenure as the Doctor. Thus far I am quite impressed with Matt Smith and Karen Gilan. I love Steven Moffatt's fairy-tale style of writing for "Doctor Who". The shows hold the atmosphere on repeat-viewings quite well. There's some problems with logical flow here and there, but nothing that really bothers me too much.

And now it's Monday. Bwah.

Oh yeah

Spare "Changes"

I finished "Changes".

When Butcher titles a book, he doesn't kid around.

This is the novel that pretty much takes everything in the Dresden Files and puts it on its ear.

A lot happened.

There were points where I felt Butcher was trying to do a little too much. There were a few too many appearances of characters that didn't really need to be included, but it didn't really bother me.

The ending bothered me.

I've got to hand it to the man, he sure knows how to keep my interest. I can't wait for the next novel.

High-handed Bullshit

I'm fairly easy to rile. Doesn't take much.

Eight years of BushCo arrogant bullshit shaved down my already short fuse pretty nicely.

I had a lot of high hopes for the future when Obama got elected. I still am of the opinion that things are somewhat better than under Bush, Cheney, and the balance of those socially-retarded morons.

That said, Obama's administration is not impressing me thus far.

* Assassination programs?

* Trying the terrorism suspects in military courts

* and an intended exective order to shove ACTA down our throats without public input or debate

This stuff is utterly ridiculous. That said, I don't approve of the more fringy-reactions ("Guardians of the Republic", "Oath-keepers", and the other dumbasses who are making death threats).

I'm thrilled the health care bill passed, but it was pretty watered-down and could have been much better.

Is it too much to expect better from the leaders of my country? No, I don't think so.

Good Times

It's only Wednesday.

So far I've:

- jammed my finger doing "ground work" in class

- helped someone who speaks very little English set up a printer... while the dialog windows for said PC displayed in Chinese (a language I neither speak nor read)

- made a purchase that's financially-unwise but otherwise satisfying

- got 100 pages into the latest Dresden Files book

- realized I am not prepared adequately for Saturday's game and have had to completely re-write the plot... for the third time

- started converting a 408 page MS Word document to HTML... by hand.

Good. Times.

Meet the New Boss...

Salon has an interesting op-ed piece on the Obama administration authorizing assassination.

I have to admit, I've been extremely disappointed (read: pissed off beyond words) at the Obama administration for retaining the more abusive policies of BushCo.

This stuff does not make me feel any better at all.

Changes

I got it yesterday.

After essentially flipping-out, I raced home with every intention of doing nothing but reading.

Alas for good intentions.

I managed about an hour and a half of reading. Didn't get very far but the intro was certainly hard-core.

Butcher isn't going to disappoint me. I can already tell.

It's so hard to focus on work and my other responsibilities right now.

Preparation

It's good to live in the 21st Century. There's a lot more options to prepare for a zombie apocalypse.

Irony

So apparently George Lucas gave a green light to a Star Wars sitcom.

Didn't anyone see The Phantom Menace?

Seriously, watching Hayden Christiansen have mommy-dreams in Attack of the Clow... um... Clones didn't offer enough comedy for the series?

At least it's the "Robot Chicken" guys doing the proposed sitcom. These guys are pure gold.

Who's on Eleventh

I've watched the "Doctor Who" opener for the new series' season five, called "The Eleventh Hour" a good four times now.

It's written by the executive producer for this season, Steven Moffatt (the writer of the brilliant episodes "Blink", "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances", and "Silence in the Library").

After four times, I'm still in awe of Moffatt's writing.

He's quickly established a "fairy-tale" feel to the series that I think is a brilliant addition. I was initially dubious of the casting of Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, but his premiere dispelled every doubt I might have had.

And his companion, Amy Pond (played by the beautiful Karen Gilan) seems a good match for Smith's Doctor. A nice mix of wide-eyed surprise (necessary in the Doctor's companions) and competence (also necessary in the Doctor's companions).

The writing in this first episode is a bit more magical and clever than the more heavy-handed premieres of the previous four seasons. I hope they can keep this up in this season 'cause David Tennant's time as the Doctor is a tough act to follow.

I love this show so very, very much...

Whodunnit

I didn't stick around WonderCon long enough to see the premiere of "Doctor Who". I went to pizza and Forbidden Island instead.

I regret nothing.

The Internet allowed me to view the episode later (I just finished watching it).

I'm sold on Matt Smith.

I'm sold on Karen Gilan (and I may be a little bit in love now... and I'm not all that partial to redheads, so this is kind of big news for me).

I'm in awe of Steven Moffatt. Okay, that bit isn't news.

Great, great, GREAT premiere!

It's gonna be a loooong wait for the DVD set to come out here in the States. As soon as it's out, it's mine.

Fringing to the Max

"Fringe" is back.

The '80's intro was brilliant. Simply brilliant.

The '80's mop on Walter? Also brilliant.

And then it started to give answers.

Peter's illness.

Nina's arm.

Why the Observer helped Walter.

Just... wow.

Why can't "Lost" give answers like this?

Lessons

Some days seem to have some kind of karmic "theme" running through them.

The other day I narrowly avoided a speeding ticket and swore to myself that I needed to slow the hell down. Later that day I consciously took my time going home. I'm convinced I avoided a very ugly potential-collision.

Today's theme seems to be: Don't ask questions unless you're prepared for the answers.

It's gone both ways for me today. Fortunately, I've been ready for all the answers ("It's in the mail" is an annoying answer, btw) I've gotten. I don't think the same has been true of others ("No, I really can't speak Klingon. Sorry to disappoint.").

Oh, and today's xkcd is brilliant beyond nerdy words.

I PITY THE FOOL!

As a general rule, I hate remakes.

I really, really do.

That said...



I want to see this.

I really, really want to see this.

Maybe there is a market for remaking crappy '80's TV shows.

Though I shudder to think what would happen if Hollywood remade "The Master".

Just sayin'

FOOLS! BWAHAHAHAHA!

The problem with being something of a practiced liar is that it's nearly impossible to deliver good April Fool's pranks on April 1.

Alas.