Merry Christmas!

Just a Merry Christmas to all of our friends. May you all have a Merry Christmas, a Joyous New Year and may this year upcoming be better than the last.

What D&D Character Am I?

Now this is just dumb...but in a goofy, geeky fun way. Found this on The Mullet's livejournal and just had to do it myself.

I Am A: Lawful Neutral Human Wizard (4th Level)


Ability Scores:

Strength-13

Dexterity-13

Constitution-12

Intelligence-16

Wisdom-10

Charisma-13


Alignment:
Lawful Neutral A lawful neutral character acts as law, tradition, or a personal code directs him. Order and organization are paramount to him. He may believe in personal order and live by a code or standard, or he may believe in order for all and favor a strong, organized government. Lawful neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you are reliable and honorable without being a zealot. However, lawful neutral can be a dangerous alignment because it seeks to eliminate all freedom, choice, and diversity in society.


Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.


Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard's strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.


Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

The Holiday Season

It's exactly one week away from Christmas. Sure, the weather is cooperating as well as can be expected for SoCal. We've all the decorations up in the apartment. I've got the magic box making the outside lights dance. We've gone to Thoroughbred Lane to walk their streets to take in their nutty, over-the-top lights. We've gone Christmas shopping. We've seen the fake snow at Victoria Gardens.

But it just doesn't feel like the holidays yet. It still seems weeks away. I know part of that is the fact I have to work until Friday, the 21st. Then it's the weekend and suddenly it's Christmas. It sucks to have to work that late in the season. (Yes, yes, I know, working in education I'm lucky to have two weeks off for the holidays, paid, when no one in private industry does. Doesn't stop me from complaining sometimes.)

I think part of it too is that this is a weird holiday season. It's one in which Amanda and I and indeed our entire families are kinda waiting for the other shoe to drop. Amanda is 9 months in and could go into labor concievably at any point now. Her due date is January 11, and first time mothers are apparently typically late. So it's entirely likely little Lorelei Leigh will arrive somewhere around January 15 or so. But it doesn't stop us from having that thought in the back of the head that no matter what we are doing or where we are going, it might all have to come to a screeching halt to go to the hospital.

It's not a bah-humbug sort of mood; it's just kinda weird is all.

The tastes of the holiday season...

One of the best parts about the holiday season is the food, especially the sweets. One of the best parts about holidays sweets is getting to lick the spoon and/or the bowl...

Just 15 Minutes Can Save You...

Because I haven't posted one of these in a while...

My Christmas Madness Hits New Peaks (or lows...)

I love Christmas lights and decorations. Utterly love them. I suppose in some ways it's a guilty, no-longer secret pleasure. I started as a young man, helping my Dad do the outside lights. Eventually I got to trying to organize the lights, to figure out their placements, suggest new purchases, the whole thing.

Once I moved out, that was one thing that I really missed. The only way to satisfy that craving was to visit those wacky neighborhoods where everyone went crazy with lights, animatronics, inflatables, the whole business. But instead of laughing at them, I was jealous. I wanted to be those people with the house that can be seen from space on Christmas Eve.

For some reason or other, perhaps it's her pregnancy, Amanda has really let me go nuts with decorations this year. We now have five good sized plastic tubs filled with Halloween decorations thanks to her indulging me (and a lot of day-after bargain hunting on her part). This Christmas, well, as you can see, it's craziness with lights. A few weeks back, I saw a box of electronics that cam preloaded with 20 songs, a speaker, six power inputs and the ability to make those lights plugged in dance to the music. Like that house with the lights that are totally synched with that TransSiberian Orchestra song. And now, for only $120 suggested retail price, you too can do it too.

But at that price, it was too much. Until the day after Thanksgiving...where it came down to only $60. So like idiots, we woke up at 5:50 to hit Michael's to make sure I got the Lights And Sounds Of Christmas box at 50% off.

I've got a total of 8 strands of lights...the power load of this bad boy will let me do anywhere between 30-40 strings depending on their wattage...can you imagine what I could do with a real house and a proper yard? Amanda shudders at the thought...

Stole this from Frank's blog

Thievery is apparently acceptable in the post-modern digital world. At least this kind of thievery, in which postings and ideas from other blogs get taken and posted on your own. I know, I know, most of them are called "memes" but let's be honest, most of the time it's just a little digital pickpocketing.

And before I sound too grumpy (which I don't really mean to be), it's all good.

I found this on Frank's blog (see the link on the side, it's the #2 Lane one) and as an English teacher, I couldn't resist.

Out, damned offwhite knight! Out, I say!

Which work of Shakespeare was the original quote from?

Get your own quotes:

There are times...

There are times when I wish I had a PC and not my trusty Mac. This is one of those times; there's a new game called Hellgate: London that just looks awesome. I just finished reading the first novel for the game and it was really cool. Not great literature (they never are), but it was a cool, fun read.

But the game is only for the PC and the only PC I have is the one here at work...and it wouldn't really do to tell the kids to sit down and shut up so Mr. Jameson can play his videogame.

Anyone interested in donated a PC to me so I can play this game?

Didn't think so. Oh well. I'm used to suffering as a Mac-man.

A Suite RAW

Suites are sweet. I got tickets from one of my colleagues here at work to go see WWE's RAW last night. He gets them from a band booster or something to sell to us to get money for the band. So cool, it's a tax write-off also. But the best thing is that these tickets are for a suite at the Staples Center and sometimes they also include VIP parking.

Honestly, in some ways the VIP parking made it worth it right there. Parking is outrageous at Staples, with the decent, just across the street parking at $20. Just wrong. But the tickets I got came with the VIP parking pass, which meant we parked in the structure right behind the arena for free. No crossing streets, no dodgy attendants, no sketchy characters skulking about. Awesome.

The suite itself was also cool. No food was laid out and the refridgerator was locked, so we had to cough up for food, but even that was better. The suite levels have their own bars and food stands and I swear the food is better. Hell, the floor itself is carpeted! As dumb as that sounds, it just makes it that much more luxurious than the normal plain concrete.

Anyway, the suite seats up front were these sweet theatre style chairs with plenty of leg room. The view was awesome; totally unobstructed by anyone or anything.

About the only thing that was missing was the comaraderie between fans. Attending a live WWE event is a genuinely communal event in a lot of ways. In an isolated suite with a handful of other guys (half of whom hadn't seen wrestling in 10 years), that whole communal side of things is removed.

But all told? The show itself was really cool, very fun to watch. And it was freakin' awesome to actually sit in a suite at Staples instead of nosebleed seats or something.

We're gonna have to try again and see about maybe hockey or basketball tickets. I'm pretty sure the hook-up will have those a few times and it looks like the view would be even better.

It's like a funny Reese's...two loves combined!

As most of you know, I love me the wrasslin.' Been to a bunch of PPVs, TV tapings, even a house show. It's modern American vaudeville to me. Purely entertaining.

I also love the supernatural. Ghost Hunters is one of my favorite shows. The last two Halloweens, they've done a live investigation. And a wrestler from ECW goes along with them...last year was CM Punk, this year, Elijah Burke (he's the black dude in the little clip below). I haven't watched the DVRed episode yet, but saw this on a wrestling BBS I frequent, taken from the show...I can hardly wait to see the whole thing now!

The Calico Ghost Walk

Okay, first off, this was something that just honestly couldn't match expectations. I had built them up too high. That being said, it was still fun.

The Calico Ghost Walk had retired, but was brought back for the Halloween weekend. Small groups of around 25-30 people were led on a tour in which the real history of the town was explained, along with reported sightings/encounters of ghosts where they were actually reported. So we walked about town for about an hour and a half, listening to ghost stories. Pretty cool.

We weren't allowed to take flash photography, which really sucked. Maybe as many as half of my photos came out simply flat black. The rest just got the lights that were still on.

So did we see anything? Maybe.

Okay, so at the top of the town, across a bridge, is the school house. Supposedly one of the more haunted places in the town. A few kids (one little girl died there, hit her head on a rock) and even a teacher are supposed to be there. We were there for a bit and I looked back across the bridge to the top of town. There, at what turned out to be a drinking fountain but looked like a box, was the shape of a man, tall, well built, wearing a hat (something like a cowboy hat, but with a smaller brim, like a derby or something) and the distinct impression he was looking at me. My first thought was wow, I saw something! and get a picture. Then I began to think no, it's just a Halloween decoration, that's all. So after several long moments, I tried to get Amanda's attention to see what she could see. But it was gone.

The big problem? One of the dumbasses in our group decided to leave the group and walk back to the water fountain. He and his wife were so big and out of shape they literally couldn't stand for more than a few minutes at a time; they sat down everywhere we went. So it's probable that I actually saw this dumbass at the water fountain. I'm just not sure; what I saw was taller, thinnner and wearing a hat. The dumbass was average height, fat and not wearing a hat. No one in our group was wearing a hat. So I'm left conflicted.

Did Amanda experience anything? Perhaps. At one point walking back, she thought she saw a shadow pass across one of the windows in one of the buildings, but as soon as she tried to focus on it, someone in our group walked past her line of sight and it was gone. At the school house, she thought she saw shadows on the roof, but again, it might have been nothing. That was the location that did give her a bit of the creeps though. And finally, that's the only spot where baby Lorelai reacted. Quiet for hours before and quiet afterwards, she started kicking and whatnot only at the schoolhouse. Kinda strange.

Would I do it again, at Calico or another ghost walk? Sure. Do I want to hunt ghosts for real now? Hell yeah.

Philosophy of the supernatural

Tonight, in about an hour in fact, we leave to go for a Ghost Walk at the Calico Ghost Town. So I've been thinking about what are ghosts and do I really believe in them?

I love Ghost Hunters and various paranormal documentaries are fascinating to watch. But what exactly are they finding when they come across evidence that appears to indicate ghosts?

I've decided that what we call ghosts, spirits, demon, etc., are essentially an ignorant shorthand for something that we have no current way of explaining. Five hundred years ago, it was believed we were ruled by four humours and when they were out of wack, everything from moods to disease and death could be caused. Turns out to not be that far off the truth; when hormones are out of wack, it can create all sorts of issues. Core idea was right, it just needed more scientific evidence and explanation.

Same thing for ghosts I think. I'm not sold of them being the spirits of those that are still hanging around. It's possible, I suppose, for a being to potentially leave behind some kind of energy that might equate as a ghost. Hell, maybe it's a life form in a parallel dimension or some damn thing. I don't know.

I guess I'm an agnostic skeptic that wants to believe.

Nerd King!!!

Got this from the Mullet's livejournal and couldn't resist...I do partially disagree with it though...I fancy myself as a geek, not a nerd. But hey, at least it says I'm a king!

The SoCal Firestorm

Woah. As of the moment I write this, CNN is reporting that over half a million people have been evacuated from their homes because of the fires burning pretty much out of control across Southern California. Over a thousand homes destroyed and over a hundred other structures. Two dead, unknown numbers injured from flame or more likely, smoke.

It's a tragedy on a scale we haven't had in SoCal probably since the Northridge quake, and that was over a decade ago. I fell terrible for these people that have lost their homes, perhaps their jobs, perhaps everything but the clothes on their backs.

I'm pretty sure where I live is pretty safe for now. And really, given 30 minutes, I could get my computer, our important papers, our significant valuables, enough clothes to last us a while and our cats packed up and we could be gone. We'd lose a lot. Of course. But we'd have what is important. Maybe we need to get some kind of lock box to just store our important papers and other items. Don't know.

I'm going to have to see if there is something we can't do here at school, mobilize the community in some way.

Haven't done a LOLcat in a while...and this kitten is just too cute!

Bladerunner: Final Cut

Awesome.

First of all, it's always great to watch movies on the big screen. Even with bigger and better televisions, they still can't beat, let alone compare, to the granduer of the big screen. The silver screen is just so all-encompassing, so immersive. Then add in digital projection and digital sound? Wow. Even Amanda, who doesn't like Bladerunner much, was impressed with how it looked because of the digital projection.

So for the birthday, I took the day off work. I nearly always do that as my own present to myself. We then drove down to West L.A. to the Landmark theatre (very nice by the way) to see Bladerunner with about, oh, a dozen or so other people. Not packed at all on a Monday afternoon. Apparently showings are sold out or nearly sold out in both L.A. and New York on the weekends.

Anyway, the film itself isn't radically different from what you have probably seen anyway. Especially if you've seen the so-called Director's Cut (which Ridley Scott had really nothing to do with) that was released in I believe it was 1992. I own that version on DVD and saw it on the big screen too back in college.

There are some nice little additions and trims and basically it just runs a little better. The effects are cleaned up without being changed like another science fiction director has been known to do...*cough*lucas*cough*...

Really, this film is really only for the hardcore fans of the film, to give us one last chance to see our favorite movie on the big screen. So if Bladerunner is in your Top 10, you need to get down to West L.A. before the end of the month to see it. If not, well, you needn't worry right?

35th annual Knott's Scary Farm

The 35th Knott's Scary Farm showed again why they are the biggest and the best.

Things had been down the last couple of years, but they really picked it up this year. Given my wife's pregnancy (27th week right now, beginning of the third trimester), we knew we would have to take it slow and probably leave early, but we were just glad to go, perhaps, one last time for a while.

We began, as is our habit, with the annual stuffing of the gut at the Pre-Scare Buffet. Seriously, 12.95 to eat as much of their famed fried chicken and drink as much of their boysenberry punch? Yes, please! Several scare-actors wandered over to do their thing and we actually talked with them briefly, telling them we were haunt veterans and that we appreciated what they did. That seemed to go over really well, as they both saw us and recognized us later that night in the park. One of them also revealed that Saturday night was a sellout (40,000 people, or about) but tonight should be nice as only 16,000 were projected. It pays to go on a Sunday.

We walk into the park about 6:20 or so and they are just wide open. I'm feeling too stuffed to hit Ghostrider, but for some reason, Silver Bullet sounds okay...nearly paid for that one. By the time I got off the ride, Knott's had begun letting other people in, so we hustled over to the mine car ride...I mean, Black Widow's Cavern. I haven't been happy with the mine care for 3-4 years, but I was very impressed with the strong retheming this year. A number of animitronic spiders, the giant spider in the glory hole, it all worked. And I don't like spiders. So haunt began strongly and we had high hopes for the rest of the night.

Pyromaniax was something of a let down after Black Widows' Cavern. No theming in the line or the boarding station. Inside, some generic industrial music, some "mutant firefighters," flashing red lights and some animatronic crashed helicopters. Where's the fire? Even fake fire? It's called Pyromaniax, right? Serious let down and Amanda didn't miss anything by not being able to go on it.

From there it was onto mazes. First up was Killer Klown Kollege. First of all, the entrance looked like you were walking into the bathrooms next to the Xcellerator entrance. A bit odd. The maze itself wasn't bad, but I think this clown theme has sort of played out by now. Good scare-actors, good strong theme, most of the humor was actually funny, but it just seemed slightly tired. Not good for a "new" maze.

Okay, strong start, two not so quite amazing attractions, we aren't proving Knott's dominance in this Halloween game are we? It just so happened we hit probably the two most dissapointing attractions right off the bat. It was pretty much kick-ass from there.

Next was Lost Vegas in 3-D...where we suddenly realized that we had left our 3D glasses (all four pairs!) at home. Oh well. The show must go on. The maze had been reworked some from last year and it was an improvement. All the scare-actors really brought energy to their work and really took the maze up to the next level. Some of those undead dancers were kinda gruesomely hot...and that's the kind of creep they should be shooting for in this maze.

Up next was the maze that has been my favorite the last several years, 13 Axe Murder Manor. The detailing on this maze is just incredible. Combined with excellent work from the scare-actors and once again, it's at the top of my list. I just love the Lizzie Borden meets the Haunted Mansion sort of vibe in this maze. Really great theme combined with good scare-actors combined with amazing details makes for a great maze. I hope they not only continue with this maze, but continue to make small additions and changes every year so that it continues to improve.

We had high hopes for The Doll Factory and they were mostly met. The beginning really seemed to just be recycling all the industrial sets they've used over the years. I understand the "Factory" part of the equation, but it seemed forced to me. Once we got to the dolls however...wow, they were creepy. Major kudos to the female doll scare-actors. Fantastic work from them, perhaps the best in the park. The ending in particular was really creepy, with spooky variations on "now I lay me down to sleep" being played on the speakers. I'm hoping that next year they leave out some of the factory stuff and add more creepy dolls...maybe a warehouse full of life-sized dolls?

From there we saw the "Death of Dr. Cleaver," a comedy show that actually was somewhat amusing. More than anything though, it allowed Amanda to get off her feet for a while. After every couple of mazes she had to sit down to rest for a few minutes. She probably ought not to have gone, but she wanted to go and she wanted to go for me. Gotta love her.

We had time before it was time for The Hanging, so we went to Red Beard's Revenge. I love pirates and this maze has awesome potential...but it never has seemed to live up to it for some reason. I really don't know why. Solid design, good details, good scare-actors. But there's something to it that just hasn't let it go to "Maze of the Year" status. And that's just too bad.

After that was The Hanging. Not as good this year. Every year, there are a few jokes that we just don't get because we are too old essentially. Nothing different this year. Last year, they went away from the comedy somewhat and made the show darker and I liked it. Not so this year, back to the full force comedy. And it just wasn't as funny. I mean, the guy they hung deserved it and all, but he wasn't the most timely choice. Not to mention, the overall "Mad Max" theme for the show. Half the people in the audience weren't even born when any of those movies came out. Poor choice there, but for all that, the show wasn't bad.

Gotta mention while I can, the extra details scattered about. The extra ambience around the park was great this year. This illusion in the undertaker's office, the dead-guy rising in the Hearst, the "ghost rider" animatronic, the various decorations were spot on this year. Excellent work there. And while I'm at it, the wandering monsters were all doing great work from what we saw. More than I would have expected for a Sunday night and they had good energy for a Sunday night.

Anyway, after The Hanging, it was off to the new Beowulf maze. Awesome. As an English teacher and as someone eagerly awaiting the movie, I was really happy to see the maze follow the movie which is following the story. Awesome Grendel's, both animatronic and costumed, best of the night. The smoke belching dragon at the end was great too. Best of all? Best scares of the night. The scare-actors really did a great job and really provided the best scares of the night.

Not much left now. We hit the venerable Lore of the Vampire and were pleasantly suprised. The maze has been one of the lamer mazes the last few years, really, since they moved to their current location. But finally they updated and rearranged the maze and it was a very pleasant suprise.

By this point, Amanda was really starting to drag. We decided to skip Dark Realm-Laser Rage and when she saw the long line for The Gudge 2, we decided to skip that also. Neither of us has seen those movies and so half the creepiness (we went last year) is lost upon us. That really only left two mazes left.

Feary Tales in 3-D was good as usual. It seemed to lose something without the 3D glasses, but still cool. I think it mixes horror, humor and just flat-out bizareness quite well.

We did kinda end on a down note; The Asylum just wasn't up to par this year. It began with the facade; it was attached directly to a corrugated steel building. Um, no. Just didn't work and broke the illusion even before you walked in. The maze itself didn't seem to work either in it's new space. Previously, the jam packed nature of it really added to the claustrophobic elements of the maze. It was just too wide open now, stretched out, and it didn't seem to work.

With that, we were done. Amanda was tired and her feet hurt and we had done everything we really wanted to. Well, aside from the Sierra Sidewinder coaster, but that'll be better when Amanda can join me on the ride anyway.

All told, improved from last year. I'd also say that even those mazes that didn't quite live up to expectations aren't beyond redemption. If Lore of the Vampire can be redeemed, maybe even killer klowns can be too. I'm very pleased to have gone and if this is it for a while, it'll be a nice set of memories to hang onto until our children are old enough to either pawn off on grandparents or even join us.

GO!

Bon Voyage, Good Luck and Godspeed

Tomorrow is my birthday and tonight is Scary Farm. But I'm depressed right now.

Last night was the bon voyage party for Eric & Lalena Hutton and their house. By next Saturday, they will be driving off to their new place in Sacramento. And last night we found out that John & Soni Barrett are leaving within weeks for North Carolina.

Now, we've known John & Soni for a few years now, but it was only recently that we started getting close to them. Mainly, I think, because they have two kids and we have one of the way. They were pretty much our only friends that had children and so were the only ones that could really understand what it's like to have a child on the way. It was going to be nice to have another couple that we could talk to, hang out with, because they could understand what it's like to be a parent.

Eric & Lalena on the other hand, I've known them for something like 8 plus years. First working with Eric, then meeting Lalena because of gaming. Both of them were in our wedding. They are both irascible sorts at times, but the despite any grumpy exteriors, they both have hearts of gold. They were the social glue that kept so many of us in touch with each other, if for no other reason than because they so often offered up their house for parties. And now that glue is gone. We've known them in gaming and we've known them outside of gaming.

And now four friends are gone.

We understand the whys. We understand their reasons. And it's not like we can disagree with them, even if it was our place to do so.

But understanding the reasons why doesn't stop the sadness of seeing our friends leave us, not knowing if we'll ever see each other again. I'm just glad I was able to hold back the tears until I had already left.

Queen Mary Haunted Shipwreck

This will be our third year in a row attending Shipwreck. We're excited! Leaving work as soon as possible, going down to Long Beach, buying the tix, going to the Yardhouse for a happy hour dinner, then going back to the Shipwreck to enjoy their mazes and the haunted ship herself...I'll say more after we've gone!

Okay, it's now the Sunday afterwards...so how was it? Very cool. Much improved over last year. They opened a half hour late, then they were letting press in to a few mazes while temporarily stopping the public from going through; which sucked and made us a bit angry. But once things got started, things got rollin'. They rearranged the mazes this year, one of which was new (the Manor of Mayhem) and another was refurbed (don't know which one). We hit Revenge of the Reaper first; good, but not great. Nice and long, but without a consistent theme as near as I could tell, which hurt the overall feel for the maze. Next was Blood of the Buccaneers, which was good. It uses the 3D effect but isn't really a 3D maze. Excellent theme; the sort of nautical theming is something that they really should utilize more considering there location. Next up, the mazes in the ship. In the past, these have sometimes been questionable; they just didn't seem to utilize their excellent space. The interior passages are crammed with nooks and crannies they never seemed to really take advantage of. Until this year. Decks of the Doomed, Corridors of Carnage and Haunted Hull of Horrors are all inside the ship and were packed with scare-actors. Then it was back outside to the House of Hallucinations, an excellent 3D maze that really relies upon nothing more than the neon 3D effect and the scare-actors. The new maze, in the dome, the Manor of Mayhem in the Dome of Doom, was very well done. The maze itself felt like an actual maze and featured several "animatronic" effects.

Shipwreck did several things very well this year. It was well staffed with lots of scare-actors packed into all sorts of spaces, several of whom really knew what they were doing, taking unusual angles and approachs to get people like me off-guard. They also made excellent use of...wait for it...darkness. Who would of thought of that? Seriously, too often scare-actors rely upon the suprise of the corner; a lot of these guys and gals were just hiding in dark spots right in front of you. The mazes are all long and confusing; any number of times you think the maze is over, but it keeps going. Not to mention when you do reach the end, it's a suprise then too.

Maze of the year for Haunted Shipwreck? Manor of Mayhem.
Most in need of improvement? Revenge of the Reaper.

Overall, I'd recomend taking a trip down to Long Beach this year to check out the Haunted Shipwreck. It's much improved not only from last year, but also from the year before (2005) and it was good that year.

Just a wine connossieur...

Amanda and I can really relate to this...we don't actually drink wine all that often, but we love great wine and we love the whole business and art of wine tasting. It's one of our favorite things to do. The countryside, the people you meet, the different flavors and smells of the wine itself, the cuisine that is associated with wine, the whole thing.

It's Talk Like A Pirate Day!

One of my favorite holidays of the year...the day where it is proven, without a doubt in the eyes of my students, that I am not just odd, but freakin' weird.

So avast me hearties! Speakin' the pirate tongue for me!

I'm a moron

Or at least I pretended to be Sunday evening.

I was having a pretty decent weekend. Sleeping in, Amanda making breakfast, watching the Angels (even if it was them losing), going to Ben&Jerry's for free ice cream, checking out the Bass Pro Shop (holy hell, going to have to have a seperate blog entry for that alone!), great dinners, made my own blue cheese butter with Stilton, it was going great.

And then I realized that I have left my cell phone, a Motorola Razr, in my pants. Said pants had, by this time, gone through the wash cycle and were now thumping around in the dryer.

We are broke until the first and I just ruined a several hundred dollar phone because I frickin' forget to take it out of my shorts pocket.

I don't know what it worse, the feeling of being a goddamn moron, the feeling of being unconnected (first time without my phone in something like 10 years), or the feeling of knowing I'm going to have spend money we don't really have to just throw around.

Not cool.

Copy Cat!

Now that's just funny.

My little baby girl

I swear in this picture my baby girl has gotten tired of the ultrasound and all the picture taking and is had enough. No more paparazzi!


And here is her profile. Beautiful girl.

It's a GIRL!!!

It's a baby girl on the way!

We just had the ultrasound this morning and it's pretty definitive that we have a little Lorelei...or Loralei (we haven't decided upon spelling just yet) coming in January.

Perhaps the most comforting thing was that everything appears totally normal. All 10 fingers and toes, the brain and spine are developing just fine, the heart is pumping away perfectly, the little kidney and bladder and functioning, the whole bit. Everything is just fine. I sighed a massive sigh of relief when we were told that.

I have to admit I was kinda hoping for a boy; I was using the male pronoun and was really looking forward to explaining the advantage of the designated hitter rule in the American League and how it's better for baseball. I suppose I still can, but now I'm gonna have to learn how to play Barby and pretty pretty princess too.

It's a girl!!!

Benoit and concussions

I was right. It turns out to be very likely that I was right about the reason for Chris Benoit's murder/suicide. This article, http://www.wsbtv.com/news/14047066/detail.html, reveals that too many blows to the head, too many concussions, is what probably led to to his heinous crime.

In a way, I feel vindicated. In a way, I'm glad it wasn't steroids. Now it'll be interesting to see how many news media outlets pick this up.

3:10 to Yuma

Great movie. We saw it last night during the national "sneak preview." We went to get our tickets early, since this sort of thing does sell out. And while our theatre was probably 90-95% full, there were a few empty seats. BTW, the mall was so crowded it seemed almost as hot and was very much more humid than it was outside...where it was about 110 degrees.

Anyway, the movie itself. It's a traditional Western in nearly every way. It is a remake of the original 1960's version, but neither did they try to "modernize" it (which often means making it suck) nor did they do a Van Sant and just reshoot the movie, shot for shot (a reference to the Psycho remake if you aren't aware).

The film, especially in the first half to two-thirds, is really a character piece. It really seems to focus upon the Russell Crowe and Christian Bale characters, their motivations, their goals. The shoot-em-up at the end was incredible. And all the character work early on really pays off with the ending. It really does pull you in emotionally.

Go see it. A very good film and should be considered come award season.

Baby Ticker!

The heat is...

Oppressive. It really is. When it's climbing up to record temps of around 107 degrees, it's quite simply just not worth going outside unless you are going from one air-conditioned place to another. I can handle the 90's pretty easily. I attended the University of Arizona for five years, and while not there normally in the summers, it got damn hot. November and still in the 90s during the afternoon? Normal. When it got above about 102 or so, people just didn't go outside. I'm serious when I say that you could walk down the middle of the main streets back then when the temps got up to 107, 109, 113 and not need to worry about being hit by a car. Even if the car was air-conditioned, people just didn't go out. It was a part of how we adapted.

So 90's, yeah, it's warm and maybe even hot. I'll even take about 100, 101 or so. When it climbs to about 105 or above, forget it. Put the AC on full-chill, hand me an ice-cold beer, and let me sit in front of the fan.

Whut?

Back To Work & Baby Annoyances

Well, it's back to work. I know my friends that have regular 9 to 5 jobs won't sympathize, but it is a bit tough. I have just enough time off between the end of summer school and beginning of the regular school year to get used to sleeping in. And then it's back to getting up at 5:30 in the morning. It takes a couple of weeks to really adjust back to that routine. In the meantime, it really sucks.

I'm also starting to get really antsy about finding out about my baby. We thought we would have the ultrasound scheduled for last week and we'd know if it's a boy or a girl by the start of school. But for some reason, they made the appointment for next Thursday! Another week and a half of waiting! To be honest, part of the issue for me is that I have to wait that long to see my baby again. I got to see him/her at Week 11 and see it move and everything. I've heard the heartbeat twice now. But I want to see the baby again! That part of me doesn't care what the gender is, but just to see the baby and see it move and all that is all that I want.

Names? If it's a boy, William Vance. If it's a girl, Lorelei. I'm not sure on the spelling though, and we don't have a middle name yet. It was Irene for a while, but that got dropped for some reason.

And go read Amanda's blog! It's still new, but comment and encourage her!

The Wife Joins the Blogosphere

Whoah. I managed to get my wife, Amanda, to create her own blog. She's really not into the online diary sort of thing, it's just not her thing. But after eating at The Hat for dinner, I somehow managed to say the right words to convince her that writing a food review blog would be right up her alley. So once back home, I got her started and she took off and wrote her first entries! I'm so proud! Check her out at The Spork Report.

The Comic Con 07 Report

So Comic Con has been over for over a week now. Of course, we went to Rosarito, Mexico for five days afterwards and man, was it necessary. Sleeping in 'til 10am, hanging out on the beach, eating fish tacos, man, that was the life.

Anyway, Comic Con (the real info is in plenty of places better than this and you've already read it). We got in Thursday without a huge problem aside from the inane traffic getting into San Diego itself. We walked the floor for a bit, picked up a few freebies including two of the much-wanted Paramount t-shirts (one for Beowulf, one for Indiana Jones; they also had Star Trek and were chronically out of Ironman). Friday was pretty much Hall H. Some good stuff. The Star Wars panel was nearly a bust, but they did show just a bit for Indiana Jones 4. I did escape and get up to the Neil Gaiman spotlight panel and while he was cool and all, I attempted to ask him a question. But right when I got up to the mic, they ended the panel and I was left standing there.

Saturday was exclusively Hall H. Wall-E sounds really great, a near-silent movie aimed more at grown-ups, which is a slight shift from Pixar. The Ironman footage from the Marvel panel was really frikkin' cool and it looks like it'll be a great movie.

Sunday we walked the floor for a few hours, but it was frikkin' crowded. Apparently Friday, Saturday and Sunday were completely sold out.

What else? Um...the Blade Runner stuff for the DVD was awesome...Zach Snyder talked about Watchmen and unveiled a teaser poster.

Speaking of which, I managed to get a Watchmen poster (and apparently I wasn't supposed to, but I talked my way into it without really meaning to) and the exclusive Indy Jones 4 poster and the exclusive Hellboy 2 poster. Plus other stuff.

In general, Comic Con was fun, but I'm not sure about it's future direction. The free stuff wasn't as cool or as frequent and aside from the Narnia stuff (don't care) and the Ironman footage (and maybe Wall-E) there wasn't as much sneak preview type stuff as in the past. And I don't know if I can go next year, with a baby on the way and all...

How I feel today...

Not enough sleep this week, and in 30 minutes I'm off to Comic Con...not exactly a place that is conducive to sleep. I guess that's what Rosarito Beach is for afterwards...

Comic Con Frustration

It's nearly time for the massive San Diego Comic Con again. I think I've gone 7 out of the last nine years. It's undergone a massive change just in that amount of time, and thats just the convention center, let alone how it's treated by outsiders.

I'm finally beginning to really look forward to it. But it sucks that the panel I most desperately want to see, the Paramount presentation, is on Thursday, at 2pm I think. Summer school ends Thursday. At 1pm. There is no physical way that I can get from Walnut to the San Diego Convention Center without violating the laws of the road (or physics perhaps). Not only will JJ Abrahms be there to talk about (almost certainly) Project Cloverfield and Star Trek, but Neil Gaiman will be there to talk about Beowulf. I freakin' teach Beowulf, I need to see this! And there will be a screening of Beowulf on Wednesday night! ARGH!!!

So I'm really frustrated. The stuff I most desperately want to see is simply impossible. I hope that the rest of the weekend will make up for the disappointment.

Chillin' like a villian...

Ethan Haas/1-18-08

Just a quick thought about this...turns out that the majority of the Ethan Haas sites were flat out fakes, but oh boy, did the majority of people believe them. Apparently only a few were real and connected with that freaky movie trailer without a title in front of Transformers. The Slusho site is real, as is 1-18-08. Plus the trailer located at apple.com.

Rumors were everything from a Voltron movie (WTF? B,BQ!) to a Godzilla revisit to a Cthulhu movie. Turns out, none of it true, per se. It apparently will take some cues from Lovecraft, but it won't be a Cthulhu movie. It'll be shot Handi-cam style, much as Blair Witch was. And it'll apparently be some kind of giant monster movie. So if true, the still as yet untitled "Cloverfield Project" will be a sort of Gozilla/Cthulhu/Blair Witch hybrid.

Add in J.J. Abrahms involvement and it seems like it could be a hell of a cool movie. Possibly something that Joe Six-Pack in Podunck, Middle America won't get; after all, it's not Fantastic Four or the latest Generic Black Steretype Comedy. But it sure sounds cool to me.

The biggest drawbacks? One, JJ will talk about it at the San Diego Comic Con (according to rumor) and I won't be there in time. And two? My first child is due a week before the movie...

Woohoo!

First, Ratatouille. Very cute movie. Not as laugh out loud funny as perhaps past Pixar projects have been, but a quality film.

Second, I took first! Games Workshop has had painting competitions the last three months in honor of the 30th Anniversary of the White Dwarf magazine. The first month was for 40K and I entered a converted chaplain into the single category and came in second behind a potential Demon Winner. Second month was Lord of the Rings and I didn't enter. This past month was Warhammer Fantasy. Now, I don't really play WFB, but I do have a number of miniatures. So I finished off the Games Day Black Orc and last Monday, began a Brettonian Pegasus Knight.

I dropped them off on Saturday about 1:30 with the promise from the new redshirt that I'll get a call if either of them place. No call. So I wake up Sunday morning thinking I must have gotten edged out by some other models or the subtlety of the work (especially the Orc's armor) must have not been noticed in favor of something more eye-catching.

So on the way to my parent's house for my niece's second birthday we stop by and I ask the redshirt for my "guys." He asks me if that's all I want. I'm confused, thinking maybe he's trying to upsell me something. I say no, just my models. He asks if I'm sure and I just look confused by this point. He's now rustling through the desk and I gather that I've placed in at least one category.

Nope, turns out the Pegasus Knight, started last Monday (and no work on Tuesday) took third place in the Large Model category and the Black Orc took first in the Single Model category.

So woohoo! I've now taken a 1st, a 2nd and a 3rd. Is a Demon in my future? Probably not, let's be honest. But now I have proof that I can paint and paint well.

Pictures hopefully later today.

Rest in peace, Nancy and Daniel Benoit

I am still in shock, not quite two days later, about the news of what Chris Benoit did. What drives a man, or woman for that matter, to not only kill their spouse, themselves, but also their young children? There are any number of stories in the news about this so-called familicide and it's just unfathomable.

I'm also of a split-mind about him; does he retain any of my respect for what he did professionally? Does his last few hours invalidate the previous 40 years of his life?

I don't know. I don't have any answers. I'm just still stunned and shocked by it all.

Chris Benoit, Rest In Peace

I just spent the last few hours sitting on the couch with Amanda watching the Chris Benoit tribute show. My head hurts, my eyes are red and I'm confused as hell.

I tuned in thinking it would be the continuation of the horrible Vince McMahon fake death storyline. I change the channel to find that Chris Benoit is dead, along with his wife and young son. I was stunned.

While he was never one of my favorite characters, he was always someone I had immense respect for. He clearly was one of the most intense workers out there and clearly one of the most technically savvy. He may not have been good on the stick, but in the ring, he brought out the best in himself and whoever he was working with.

The worst part about watching those shows is watching these big tough guys, these guys that beat the hell out of each other for a living, these guys that play a$$holes and tough bastards, crying and unable to hold it together on camera.

Now I'm reading news that it may have been a double murder/suicide. I desperately hope this isn't true. I just cannot fathom it at all...

The Police Reunion at Dodger Stadium

It's always great to see musicians as artists, and that was what the Police were Satruday night. But let me begin at the beginning.

First, dinner at Philippe's a few blocks away. Great french dip sandwiches, but apparently my wife wasn't the only one with that idea. At one point, I went to the bathroom and some guy, breaking Man Law, asked if everyone was going to the Police concert. Everyone said yes. Some guy even asked me as I was washing my hands how to get from Philippe's to Dodger Stadium. Hundreds of people must have had the world-famous frensh dip sandwiches before going to the concert.

Second, parking and crowd control at Dodger Stadium. Crowd control was efficient, if a bit fascist. Parking though? $20 for general, $35 for preferred? A blight upon your souls, the lot of you. And how few bathrooms do you think are necessary? Finally then, getting out? Dear lord, it took nearly an hour to get from our car to a freeway, and that still wasn't the end of it. I'm glad I grew up watching the Angels; that way I don't have any urge to go the the accursed parking of Chavez Ravine.

The opener was Fictionplane (though it sounded like Futureplane at the time), a pretty cool band. But given that the singer is Sting's son, it's obvious how they got that coveted slot. Not bad, and the vocal similiarities between the two singers is obvious.

The second opener was the Foo Fighters. Wow. Does anyone enjoy rock'n'roll more than Dave Grohl? I've never really thought much of the Foo Fighters, except to think that Grohl makes suprisingly radio friendly music for a guy that was the drummer for Nirvana. But they put on a great show. At one point, Grohl ran out into the audience. I think he wanted to get to the fenced-off pitcher's mound, but he couldn't get there. And I'm pretty sure security hadn't been briefed on his unexpected jaunt onto the field. He eventually climbed some risers behind one of the control booths and played rock god for a bit.

Then were The Police. Great show. Good stage effects and lighting and all, but it was amazing to watch artists at work. Most, if not all, of the songs were reworked versions of what were originally on the album. Some of that was to trim the song down so that the three of them could perform on stage live without any DAT tracks or anything. Some of that was simply their creative urge to update, change, tinker, fiddle and just improve their own creations. So they didn't come screaming out the gates, but Sting was charismatic and in-control. Everything seemed in-synch and again, it was just cool to watch three very accomplished artists working their craft together in front of about 55,000 people. Notice, if you haven't caught it, I'm calling them artists, not musicians. It's one thing to play an instrument; it's another to create art.

All in all, a good show. Our view wasn't that hot, as the bad cellphone picture will attest to (taken during their performance of Synchronicity II), but the sound was great and we didn't miss a thing that any of the bands did.

Too good not to post

Re: Verizon commercials

The Police Reunion

Saturday night I get to see The Police in concert. Hell yeah!

I can't claim to be a really massive Police fan; I don't really like "Roxanne" for example. Really, I'm a huge fan of their Synchonicity album more than anything. Their other records, not Regatta de Blanc or Outlandos d'Amour? Before my time really. I know, I know. I like the Beatles and they were sure as hell before my time. But for some reason, it was only that one record that really struck a chord with me. One of my favorites really.

But the concert should be great. Three very talented musicians playing together and having fun together. Apparently, some of them have been reworked and "updated" since the last time they were performed live (if ever), especially so they are something that the three of them can play together without extra musicians.

Should be a hell of a show!

Go Angels! (and Happy Father's Day)

Some of you might know I'm a fan of the Angels. Or properly, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Now, before anyone gets the chance to level charges of being a bandwagon fan, I'm not. I grew up watching the Angels. Those were the games my father took me to as a child. I remember watching Fred Lynn, Bobby Grich, Nolan Ryan, Brian Downing, Rod Carew, even Reggie Jackson when he became an Angel for a few years. He taught me the game and how to keep score from up in the cheap seats, because that was usually the best we could afford. Sometimes my mom and younger brother would come, but they were more interested in eating ballpark food. I was happy with hot dogs and peanuts. I still am.

Like many American men, some of my best memories of my youth are connected with baseball. Playing catch, going to the game, whatever. For me, my father will always be intertwined with baseball. And it's something I always think of on this day.

So, Happy Father's Day and go Angels!

What the HunterCat is probably wishing

I'm getting too old for this sh!t

I really am. And what's worse, is that I can see it happening.

Okay, so I've not been sleeping well the past few weeks. Got something big on my mind that I'll be telling people about in person before I say anything here. I've also been stressing about getting the school year finished. Grading, filing reports, making final deposits, end of the year meetings, all that. Well, Thursday night is our graduation and it's also our Grad Night at Disneyland. Amanda loves the Maus Haus and if you chaperone, you get to go for free. The lines really aren't that bad, except for Splash Mountain and Space Mountain and they feed you, give you massages, show you movies and do free character sketches. As an aside, I had Eeyore drawn and Amanda had the Ariel, the Little Mermaid. Turns out the illustrator drew the Little Mermaid for 24 books, the paper dolls, and other stuff. So a veritable Disney expert drew Amanda's favorite character. How cool is that?

Anyway, this is the third time we've done Grad Night. Three years ago, we were running around until they were nearly kicking us out, at like 5:45 in the AM. Two years ago, we gave up at about 5. This year? I think we were toast about 3:30. We went on It's A Small World at about 4:15 and were nearly lulled to sleep in the boat, even with that song repeating ad nauseum. We had to just keep moving in order to not just collapse from fatigue.

We were back on the bus by 5:20 and had all the kids on board just before 6 am. We were back at school I think by 6:45, were Amanda and I went up the street to my parent's house to sleep. Unfortunately, I still had end of year meetings to attend, so I got about an hour of sleep before I had to go back to school. I didn't finish until noon and we didn't make it home until about 1pm. Let's make it tougher; we had to go to see Amanda's niece and nephew perform in their final band concert of the year, down at Biola, by 7:30...so up at 5:30 we were. Now, Amanda had about 9 hours of sleep. I had about 5.

In fact, as I write this (and I feel like like I'm babbling), Amanda has gone back to bed on a Saturday afternoon. Neither of us will be back to normal until Sunday/Monday.

I'm thinking that this will be the last Grad Night for us for a while.

Vampire Cat!

LARP at The Block

Well, that was interesting. The closest I've ever come to public LARPing was the GenCon SoCal game. And that wasn't very public. I have to admit I wasn't sure it was going to go well. Too many civilians, too many distractions, too open an area.

But it all came out pretty well. Yeah, people wandered off for food, beer, Starbucks. But I gotta be honest, some of the best persistent roleplaying went on that night that I've seen in a while. It was great how many people kept themselves in-character for so much of the night when it would have been so bloody easy to slip out of character so many times. Maybe some people weren't roleplaying their best, maybe, but they kept going at it, staying in-character for the vast majority of the night. Too often, I've seen people just start hanging out when the game goes away from them, when their interest flags, when they simply get distracted. But wow, so many people got into character and stayed that way.

It was also interesting to notice that we weren't even the strangest people at The Block. Okay, maybe we were, but we weren't the strangest looking ones. I was slightly worried that "Johnny Chang" would stand out, faux-hawk and all, but nope, he looked almost normal down there (which was exactly what I would have hoped for!). Even Taylor, gothed up as he was, didn't stand out any more than a tall, black goth ever stands out. By the way, I've only met him a few times but he seems like a cool dude. Strangely, the oddest looking one out of us all was probably Shawna and that was because of her white lab coat.

But good game. Christian, you missed out!

Movie Review - POTC: At World's End

Wow, does Disney know how to make an amusement park ride or what? Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End certainly isn't going to make anyone forget about true greats like Citizen Kane, but it's certainly one hell of a good time.

And you know what? There's nothing wrong with that. Let's be honest. For the $10.50 you are paying to see a film now, it had better capture your imagination and transport you to another place and/or time. Even a serious movie had better do that; it doesn't matter how important a film is or how valuable the message is, if it's boring then it's not worth my hard-earned dollars. I loved Children of Men and Pan's Labrinyth, two of the best films I've seen in years (that aren't LOTR). And both of them were pretty serious movies. But they both transport the audience to another world, another time. You forget that you've been sitting on your butt snarking popcorn and sucking soda for two hours because your mind is no longer in the theatre, it's in the world presented by the film makers.

POTC: At World's End did that for me. I know the film is over 2 hours and 40 minutes long, but it really didn't feel that way. I got on the ride and enjoyed it while it lasted. It's big, it's fun, it's loud, it's fantasy, it's the sort of pirate every little boy wishes they could be.

It's not a perfect movie. As pretty as she is, Kiera Knightly has never really been able to sell herself as Elizabeth Swan. She's just never been convincing. That awful line in The Curse of the Black Pearl, something like "he's not a blacksmith, he's a pirate" was the most painful part of that film. Her speech to rouse the troops before the big battle sounded rehearsed and too practiced and not enough convincing.

Which does go back to the script. It does have it's rough spots and it seems they cluster around the Swan character. It's like they need the strong female, but they don't really know how to write her. Add in elements left hanging by the script, such as what happened to Tia Dalma/Calypso after growing 100-ft and creating a massive whirlpool? Wasn't she bothered by what happened to Davy Jones?

But overall, this is a fitting conclusion to the trilogy. Geoffrey Rush, Johnny Depp and Bill Nighy all do an amazing job; sometimes perhaps too well for the rest of the cast. The effects are incredible and the film has a certain epic wierdness that I think Terry Gilliam would be almost jealous of.

Be warned; the film does have more than it's share of twists and turns. If you aren't paying attention, if you forget that all the characters have their own personal motivations, if you have an extra-long bathroom break, you may end up slightly confused. But if you are reading this, then that probably doesn't apply to you.

All told, I'd give this an A- just for much fun it is.

Friends in a digital age

Part of the reason for this blog is an attempt to make it easier to keep in touch with my friends.

And that's just stupid at some level. We live in an age of unparalleled communication, with cellular phones plugged directly into our ears via Bluetooth headsets, easy e-mail, old fashioned "snail" mail, cordless home phones, hands-free car phones, Blackberries, the lot of it. And yet it seems its harder and harder to maintain contact with our friends.

I know that some of us comes down to us, at a personal level. It requires an effort to email, to call, to even do this. Yet it seems like so many of us just don't find the time to put in that effort. I'm as guilty as the next guy, but at least it's not because I'm wasting my time on YouTube or something.

It just seemed a lot easier when we were younger, when we were in school. And I suppose that's ultimately what it comes down to. Pure geography. Not even in a larger sense, but in the sense that we just don't see each other on a daily basis. Far too often I think there's a sense of "out of sight, out of mind." We get so caught up in our daily lives that we don't always carve out time in our own heads for our friends.

I guess maybe this makes me something of a Luddite, longing for simpler days before digital friendships. Maybe it's inherently romantic at some level. But I do wish that I connected with my friends more often, and in person, than in some sort of digital-binary way.

Well, I've finally gotten on the blog bandwagon...oh, about 3 or 4 years too late perhaps, but anyway. I plan on using this space more for ranting and raving than anything else. I also figure it's a way to help keep in touch with friends.

It's become more difficult, as I get older, to keep in touch with friends. We are all busy, we all have busy jobs, we all have lives away from each other. Add on top of that the fact that we all have now moved a time or two each and it's essentially impossible to just pop down the street to your friends house like when you were a kid. Geography is an enemy of friendship.

So maybe as I vent about things I can also help keep those friendships alive that a full-time job and freeway traffic would conspire to kill.