I went to lunch today with my friend Colin. He introduced me to a local joint called "Reo's Ribs." I guess the place used to be one of those traveling roach coaches and now it's expanding to be more of a full-size restaurant. It's this guy named Reo who has this huge oil-drum-style grill and cooks up pork, chicken, and beef products on it, dowsing it generously in his special BBQ sauce.

I had the BBQ beef sandwich, and let me tell you - it was the best BBQ beef sandwich I've ever had.

I mean, this is the Krispy Kreme of barbecue. Dollar for dollar, you can't go wrong with this place. I ate the sandwich and the side of red beans and rice (even the side dishes rule), then went for a slice of sweet potato pie. I could have eaten more until I got sick and still wanted it. It was that good.

I actually got to meet Reo while I was there. Nice guy.

Anyway, you have to go. Maybe I'll see you there.

Side note: I am still trying to find a place to exchange my Buffy season 2 DVD set. I've tried all the local Fred Meyer stores, but none of them ever seem to have it in stock. I tried Best Buy last night, but they were jerks about the whole thing, so I left.

This got me frustrated, so I called my mom. (Mom works in the main office at Fred Meyer so I figured she'd know what to do.) Mom gave me the number for the DVD buyer at the main office, who I called and found that the closest store to me that has it in stock is in Salem. (Incidentally, they also have it at the Juneau, AK, store, but I'm not ready to make the drive.) Anyway, since they don't have it, they're going to set one aside for me in the next shipment so I can swap out the next time some come in.

Thank goodness. I really don't know what I'd do if Mom didn't work in the main office of Freddy's. I guess I'd be a frustrated consumer just like everyone else out there. It's good to be me.

Well, I can't say I'm terribly surprised by the outcome of last night's American Idol show. Nikki's been voted out of the competition. I say I'm not surprised because she was so outclassed vocally by the two other contestants that if it hadn't happened, I'd wonder what was wrong with America.

So Nikki's gone, but not forgotten. I hope she continues to pursue her career, because I'd buy a Nikki McKibbin album. She has that rocker edge to her that makes her entertaining.

I still hope Kelly wins, though. Justin's good, but I like Kelly better.

I am glad that we got to hear Nikki sing Stevie Nicks's Edge of Seventeen. I think that was a great song for her. It doesn't hurt that I like that song a lot, either.

Speaking of Edge of Seventeen and songs I like... I was listening to Mark and Brian the other morning and after they played whatever bumper music they were playing, Brian said something about that bumper music being "the perfect song." I don't remember what the song was, but the idea of "the perfect song" stuck in my head. I don't think there is any one "perfect song," but there are certain songs I feel are "perfect." Edge of Seventeen is one of those. I'm not even sure really why. Maybe it's the little background guitar riff thing going on. Maybe it's the harmony. Maybe it's just Stevie. Who knows. But it's one of those songs that sounds better the louder you play it, and you can listen to it over and over without really getting tired of it. Sometimes I wish there were like 20 minute long mixes of some of these "perfect songs."

What else would I consider a "perfect song?" Let's see... a list of some of them (that I thought up in the car this morning) include:

• Stevie Nicks: Edge of Seventeen
  
• Any Fleetwood Mac song featuring Christine McVie (i.e., Little Lies)
  
• The Weather Girls: It's Raining Men
  
• Robert Miles: Fable
  
• Sarah Brightman: Deliver Me

There are lots of others, I just happen to think of these today.

I read somewhere (or maybe I heard it?) that music is completely mathematically related. The vibrations of the strings on the instruments and the meter the song is carried out in, etc. I wonder what the mathematic commonalities between the songs are? If someone could figure that out, it would follow that you could potentially reverse-engineer what makes a "perfect song" and come up with a mathematical formula that you could plug a couple of numbers into and generate a "perfect song" every time. Would that take the artistry out of the song, or would the generation of the song itself be the art?

It's amazing the stupid shit I find funny.

For example, a long time ago (okay, it was around three years ago, but it seems a lot longer) I saw a skit on Saturday Night Live called "Celebrity Jeopardy" (here's the transcript) where Norm MacDonald played Burt Reynolds during a Celebrity Jeopardy tournament. Right in the middle of it, he changes the name on his name tag from "Burt Reynolds" to "Turd Ferguson."

I laughed my ass off. Every time I hear it or even think about it, I can't stop laughing. I don't know why - it's totally random, but it just cracks me up.

Another one that gets me - "Carl the Big Mean Bagpipe Eater" from the John Goodman episode of Muppets Tonight. Right in the middle of the show, this monster comes out, says, "Hi! My name is Carl, and now I'm gonna eat these bagpipes," stuffs some bagpipes in his mouth, and burps. It's random. It's stupid.

I watched that and rewound the video tape and watched it again probably 30 times in a row the night that aired. It just doesn't get old.

I sort of think it's the randomness of the thing that cracks me up. But I hate slapstick comedy (the Naked Gun movies are the height of all that is wrong with American cinema) and those are the most random things I can think of. Hmmmm. I suppose I'll have to puzzle on that and get back to you.

This weekend was made interesting by a trip to the Oregon State Fair. I usually go every year with my friend Torin, but we didn't make it last year because it was raining. Luckily, the rain didn't show up this year and the fair was attended.

Lots of cool things at the fair, and a lot of stuff I really wanted but didn't buy for lack of funding and/or space. For example, I really wanted a Shopsmith Mark V 5-in-1 woodworking tool. It was so cool. In one machine, it's a lathe, a table saw, a sander, a drill press, and a horizontal boring machine. It took the guy demonstrating the machine about six seconds to make this really cool table leg that had a sort of ring "trapped" around a section of it and then bore out a hole for a dowel to join it to a table. It was so amazing. If I had the money and the room for it, I'd have bought it. I've always been interested in building stuff, and they'll even train you on how to use it and give you all sorts of self-study material to take home. Not bad, eh?

I also saw the Bernina Artista 180E, and wanted it really bad. Actually, looking at the Artista 200E, I want that one even more. These are sewing machines where you can scan in a picture and it'll automatically figure out how to cross-stitch or embroider that picture (any size!) on whatever fabric you give it. Want a button hole? Stick the button up to the touch screen and the machine measures the button and makes the hole the right size. It threads the needle for you. Lots of cool stuff like that. Anyway, the 200E, which I'm looking at right now on the web site, actually has more stuff than the 180E, and it's even got a color screen and runs Windows, right on the machine. How messed up is that? Not that I'm a huge tailor or anything, but I could get into the whole "sewing thing" if I had a machine running like that. A little on the expensive side, though, at nearly $4000 for the 180E. I can only imagine how much the 200E costs.

We also saw a pretty cool cheese grating gizmo that will grate both soft and hard cheeses for you. It'll also shred unpeeled garlic and separate the peels from the garlic. I actually nearly bought one of those, but I didn't because it would have taken away from my food money. They apparently carry these at Lechters Housewares, so I'll have to go there and find one. I haven't found it online yet, but I haven't looked very hard, either.

So the fair was cool. I had my funnel cake, I had my BBQ beef sandwich... I'm a happy camper. That's the fair.

On a whole separate note, I found out that Kristy Swanson is going to be in Playboy next month. Hell, yeah! I've had her on my top 10 list since the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie. Woohoo!

Speaking of Buffy, I have the second season DVD set and the second disc is bad. So I've been trying to find a Fred Meyer locally to exchange it, but no Freddy's in the Portland metro area has it. Unbelievable. So I'm still looking. Guess I'll have to try again this weekend.

It's Friday, August 23, but this probably won't get posted until Monday. I'm in the second day of .NET developer training, bored as hell, disconnected from the Internet, and totally unable to blog, so I'll write this now and post it later.

I'm working on an art project where I'm separating a Mucha piece into layers and then I'm going to print it on transparency to give it dimension. I've been working on it for around three months now, and I've finally finished cleaning up the scanned image and separating it into layers. Now I just have to print it out and figure out how to frame it. I think the hard part is done. (I finished that while sitting here in training. Took about 10 hours, for a total of around 100 hours of working on this thing. Not easy, but it looks really good now.)

I'm noticing there are several classes of people in this training. I'm not sure which class I fit in, but let's see if you know what I'm talking about:

• The Managers: The Managers don't know how to code and they'll probably never actually do anything in the development environment. They'll watch, ask stupid questions, and "assess," but for all intents and purposes, they shouldn't be here. Most likely, they're just here to see if the developers that work under them are lying when they say something is technologically impossible.
  
• The Over-Participants: An Over-Participant wants so badly to be the teacher's pet that they'll ask questions that were just answered or just simply restate what was just said by prepending it with "So, let me get this straight..." For example, the teacher will say, "If you add two and two, you get four." The Over-Participant will then raise his/her hand and, when called on, say, "So, let me get this straight - if you add two and two, you get four."
  
• The Talkers: Talkers don't care if you're trying to listen. They don't care how loud they are, and they sure as hell don't realize their voices are very nasal and carry throughout the room. All they care about is the fact that they have something to say during the lecture. The Talkers always sit right behind me. I'm not sure why. Usually the Talkers are talking to the Over-Participants.
  
• The Dirty Programmers: I'm talking actually, physically dirty. These are the people who program so much that they forget about hygiene. Greasy hair, strong body odor, and clothing requiring a good laundering are all required. I think my favorite example of this from the training is this guy, probably 5' 10", 300 pounds, who never combed his hair and wore oil-stained "Big Dog" t-shirts and faded cargo pants both days. Yow. Usually poor social skills accompany the Dirty Programmer.
  
• The Non-Technical Programmers: These are the people who are hired to program commercial products but can't figure out how to change their own screen resolution in Windows. You usually see the Non-Technical Programmer listening intently to the lecturer and nodding at intervals to indicate their apparent understanding of the concept being discussed.
  
• The Too-Technical Programmers: These people already know all about what's being lectured on. They're bored, but they do want to learn, so they ask questions that go way beyond the scope of the lecture, stuff the lecturer would have no way of knowing or even finding out.

I think I probably fit in the "Too-Technical Programmer" category, if anywhere, but who knows? I'd like to think I don't fit anywhere, but there's probably another category... The Attention-Deficit Attendee: This person can't pay attention to the lecture regardless of what they do because there's not enough going on. Rather than pay attention, they find anything else to do (like write posts for their blog) and listen through their periphery.

I am the Attention-Deficit Attendee.

I've played more Solitaire, Freecell, and Minesweeper than I care to think about. I've done all I can on my art project. I've even come up with a logo for a company event we're having soon. Bored, bored, bored.

I was going to write about this one yesterday but forgot. I remembered yesterday evening on the way home.

It rained yesterday. The weather report had called for rain ("chance of showers" usually indicates "it's gonna pour") for a week.

On the way to work, I saw this guy driving a convertible Mazda Miata with the top down. It was totally raining, as the weather report said it would. That got me thinking. Either that guy was a frickin' moron and decided to ignore the fact that the sky was all clouding that morning, or he was utterly dedicated to having his top down that day, come hell or high water.

I vote "moron."

Another thing I thought about last night on the way home: hip-hop music.

I hate hip-hop. There's something about the way they can't decide on a tempo or the way everything is so utterly ebonic that just turns me off.

However, I like hip-hop that features clarinets. Like Blu Cantrell's Hit 'Em Up Style and Dani Stevenson's Yo, Yo, Yo. I'm not sure why I figure those songs are better, they just seem to be more catchy or something. Almost like there's some implicit amount of class in the song if they can squeeze a clarinet into the mix. Maybe I just like clarinets.

American Idol last night rocked. I've been waiting for them to get a little more contemporary with the tunes, and they finally did. Nikki also finally found her niche, which is good, because based on last week's performance I'd have voted her off. Now I'm thinking Justin needs to go. The best is still Kelly.

Jenn and I were talking last night about, well, nothing in particular, and I took one of my random sidetracks as usual and she wondered why I had said something I did and how my train of thought had reached it. Stopping to think about it, I realize that I have very quick, very divergent trains of thought when it comes to conversations, and most of the time it has to do with a pop culture reference.

For example, this morning in the car I was listening to Kylie Minogue's Fever album, to the song Love at First Sight, and I suddenly wondered what ever happened to Crazy Daisy Ed...

How did I get there? It went something like this:

• Heard lyrics to Kylie Minogue song: "I thought that I was going crazy / Just having one of those days, yeah..."
  
• I wonder why she used "days, yeah" to rhyme with "crazy." That doesn't really work. What rhymes with "crazy?" "Daisy" works...
  
• Crazy / Daisy...
  
• Hey, I wonder what happened to Crazy Daisy Ed?

See how that works? That one was pretty simple. It's sort of like "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" - any thought can be connected to any other thought. Just like that.

I framed my Bières de la Meuse print last night using a frame I had been trying to find a use for. The frame was 18" x 25" and the print is 18" x 24", so I had to do a little trimming. The frame is metal, but I have this keen little saw and mitre box that worked just as well on metal as it does on wood. Yay, me! I didn't quite make the cleanest cut on one of the frame pieces, so I had to Dremel it down... but I think I either used the wrong bit or maybe just went a little too hard on it because now there's melted metal all over the bit and I've gotta get a new one. Oh, well. It was something to do that wasn't watching television, so I can't really complain. Plus, the picture looks really good in the frame, so all's well that ends well or something like that.

I was watching Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back last night and started to realize that movies totally shape the way I speak. I'm not sure if I actively try to change to speak like movies, or if I just sort of pick up on little phrases, but I know that there are phrases and patterns I pick up from watching these things. Now that I think about it, it's usually more phrases than anything. For example, if someone has a collection of items and asks me which one's mine, I'm hard pressed not to answer, "Mine's the one that says 'bad mother fucker' on it." Describing a chaotic scene? "Dogs and cats living together..."

I'm not sure I can control it. Maybe I don't even want to. I guess I assume it makes me a more interesting person to talk to (especially if you know which movie I'm referencing) but maybe it just makes me annoying.

The new season of Alias starts on September 29. I'm so looking forward to it. Honestly, more than any other show I watch, I'm waiting for Alias. Those bastards know how to keep you on the edge of your seat. Plus, Jennifer Garner. Yow.

And they have Alias trading cards coming out. Gotta be gettin' these.

Oh! Jenn and I saw Signs this weekend. I thought it was pretty good. I can't say it's my favorite M. Night Shyamalan movie, but it was good. If aliens really were to invade, I think it would happen a lot like that, rather than the more commercial-yet-action-oriented Independence Day. I'd recommend seeing it, but don't look for the traditional M. Night twist-at-the-end. It was just a straight-up, good film. I don't know that I'll be getting it on DVD, though. It was good, but I'm not sure that I'd watch it over and over. Give it a run, see what you think.

Watching my Buffy Season 2 DVDs this weekend I noticed that on disc 2, title 3 ("Lie To Me"), starting at chapter 5, 1:52 into it until chapter 6, 0:16 into it, the disc won't play. I'm not sure why. It isn't dirty or scratched. I tried it in my PS2 and the same problem occurred. So it's not the player, it's something wrong with the disc.

I went to Fred Meyer to exchange it, but after finding that they didn't have it and then calling several other locations, I am going to have to wait until Tuesday when they get a new shipment in. I even tried the Freddy's by work, but no luck.

I did, however, exercise my distinct lack of self control and purchased a Mucha print (Bières de la Meuse) that I've been wanting for a month or so now. Couldn't stand it any longer. I don't think we have any room for it at home, but we'll see. If not, it'll go up at work. Love the Mucha.

I also bought a ratcheting screwdriver with a set of bits because we have tools around work but... no one can ever find them. It cost me all of $6 for the thing, so I can't really complain. Now I'll have my own screwdriver, so I'll always know where it is.

No, you can't borrow it. It's mine.

Jenn and I went out to dinner last night with Jenn's friend Derek. During the conversation that ensued, I realized my life is pretty pathetic. It went something like this:

Jenn: Man, tomorrow's Friday. Do we have any plans?

Travis: Not really. It'll be nice to rest, though. I don't feel like I get enough rest.

Derek: I know what you mean. What do you think you'll want to do?

Travis: I dunno. Probably sit on my ass.

Derek: I love sitting on my ass.

Travis: Exactly. But... you know, I sit on my ass all day long, too.

Derek: Right. A hard day of sitting on my ass prompts me to hurry home...

Jenn: ...so you can sit on your ass some more.

Travis: Wow. You know, I never realized it, but I'm really pathetic.

And it's true. I sit all day long. Why do I feel so tired when I get home? I suppose you could chalk it up to stress and mental exercise, but you come tell that to this donut-like non-ab that I have surrounding my waist.

I borrowed my dad's Ab Slide specifically for this reason - I need to remove the non-ab that has fastened itself to my frontal region. I've been using it fairly regularly (which is more than Dad could say), but I still have quite the lack of any muscle definition going on.

See, I have a problem with exercise: IT'S BORING.

Not just a little boring, a lot boring. Boring like watching the movie Gandhi. Plus I have flat feet and reasonably bad allergies, all of which point to not being able to really do much outside. I like swimming, but there's no pool very close and I refuse to pay monthly to join a gym for such things.

Basically, I've come up with very few methods of physical activity that provide any feelings of positivity within me. I like swimming, bowling, roller skating, and riding bikes. That's about it. So... Ab Slide.

Maybe liposuction.

I really wish those stupid electronic muscle stimulation machines worked. I'm so lazy.

I saw a little guy in an orange robe just burst into flame. It's that hot!

Yesterday it was record heat in Portland. I guess it's the first time in years it got over 100°F. It was also a record energy usage day. All I know is it was hot, and it's gonna be hot today, too.

I went in this morning to get allergy tested so I can start up on the shots. As well as the medications work, I don't want to be reliant on them. Jenn scared me by saying they were going to prick my back a bazillion times and it'd itch so bad I couldn't stand it. That's not actually what happened. What they did was they pricked my right arm a few times with the major stuff - dust, grass, various pollens - and left that for 15 minutes. Then they looked at the results for those and put a more specific set of allergens on my left arm based on the results from the right arm.

Turns out I'm allergic to dust and most pollens. Big surprise there.

It wasn't so bad, though. I can ignore my arm itching; my back would have been a problem. Plus, the ones that reacted really quickly, before the 15 minutes were up, got treated with some anti-itch lotion immediately. No problem.

Now I go in again next week to get tested one last time. They're going to mix up a couple of possible shot treatments and I'll get tested to see if I react badly to them. If not, I'm good to go and I can start taking the shots weekly at a clinic much closer to my work. Excellent.

I watched American Idol last night and I must admit my opinion has changed as to who my favorite is. Up until fairly recently, I was a huge Nikki McKibbin fan. As time has gone by, though, and I've seen more of what the various contestants can do, I have to say that, while Nikki is fun and has a great attitude and is original, she just doesn't meet the talent shown by some of the other contestants. She's good, but not that good. (I'm sorry Nikki, but it's true.)

My new favorite is Kelly Clarkson. She seems sort of next-door-girl-ish and is really, really good. After her performance during the "Big Band" show, singing "Stuff Like That There," I was converted. That girl can sing.

I've also changed my opinion of the stupid hosts on the show. Not only do I really hate them, I hate them so much that I am starting to hate myself for putting up with them. I can't imagine, right now, anyone I really hate more than them. Maybe Bin Laden. Maybe.

My sister Tai got married this weekend. Friday the 9th, actually. The ceremony was in the Portland Mormon temple. I, being the inactive churchgoer I am, was not allowed to actually witness the ceremony proper. I did, however, get the distinct pleasure of wandering about the grounds in my suit in the 90 degree heat and having my picture taken.

That night was the reception. Maybe 1500 square feet of space and like 200 people. You do the math. It was crowded, hot, and vastly disorganized. We had cheesecake, veggie trays, and lemon-flavored water. For being on such a budget, I have to congratulate Mom for pulling it off; it could have been way worse.

I was the Designated Cinematographer. That is, I got to film the process of getting the pictures taken as well as the reception afterwards. So I kept busy, but it was also sort of a pain. I didn't really get to see anything because I was always behind the camera.

I guess several people showed up the next night to the house we held the reception at. I don't remember seeing it, but from what I hear, the invitations read something like "Reception the evening following the ceremony." So people read that as "the following evening" and showed up a day late. That sucks, 'cause the house the reception was at is way out in Gresham and is actually pretty hard to find. It took Jenn and I almost an hour to get there.

So now Tai's married. Good for her. Do I like the groom (Dan)? Honestly, I don't know him. I never really hung out with them, and only really saw him in passing most of the time. I can't say I dislike him; he seems nice enough. I just don't know him. I look forward to getting to know him, though. I think it'll be good.

Going through this whole ordeal gave me sort of an epiphany, though: My sister has a whole life, a whole separate side of her, that I know absolutely nothing about. I guess I used to feel in tune with what she was up to and where she was in life... but I realize now that I haven't a clue. She's got her own thing she's doing, and while I think that's great, I can't help but think we either used to be much closer or maybe neither of us had much going on before. Maybe it's my inherent need to control my surroundings and now she's not within "my control." Whatever. Life moves on.

Walking through Target the other day, Jenn and I saw they have these new "snack bars" out: "Cookies & <insert name of candy here>". They had all different types... "Cookies & Milky Way"... "Cookies & M&Ms"... Basically, a cookie bar on the bottom with a topping made out of whatever candy. So I say, "Hey, Jenn, check this out - it's like Twix, but with other candies." Then Jenn promptly points at the box of "Cookies & Twix." What? Cookies & Twix? Isn't that what Twix is?

The logic befuddles me.

Saw this Jet Li movie, Contract Killer, the other day. It was pretty good. It was a tiny bit disappointing after seeing something as big as xXx, but it was still a lot of fun.

If James Bond is the epitome of British intelligence, then Xander Cage is the US reply.

xXx is cool. That's all there is to it.

Vin Diesel plays Xander Cage, an extreme sports star / adrenaline junkie who likes to go just a little too far with his political statements. Samuel L. Jackson plays NSA Agent Gibbons, a man trying to stop a rebel group in Prague that wants to unleash biological weapons on the world.

The problem is, standard NSA field agents can't seem to penetrate this "underground culture" that the anarchists seem to be a part of. They stick out like sore thumbs and get killed. So what's the obvious answer? That's right, fight fire with fire. Recruit someone already on the inside of this underground culture.

But how? Easy - kidnap a bunch of known criminals and other miscreants, throw them unwillingly into a bunch of scenarios, and the last man standing will get sent on the mission.

Okay, so the recruitment part of things leaves a few plot holes. So does the rest. That's not the point here - it's an action movie.

The point is, everything they do in this movie is cool. Stunts are done bigger, better, faster. There are avalanches, car chases, skydivers... everything you hoped for is here.

Plus, Vin Diesel was made to be an action star. This guy rocks. He's just got a certain badass presence, sort of like The Rock, Bruce Willis, and Clint Eastwood. There's something about the guy that screams "Don't fuck with me." He was great in this movie, and I honestly can't wait to see the next movie he's in. (Note: I was not a big fan of The Fast and the Furious but admit that there was a certain amount of entertainment value there.)

Asia Argento played Yelena, a sort of love interest for Vin Diesel, but aside from looking really good, I don't know what to say about her. She was the equivalent of a Bond girl - there, but not terribly prominent.

Anyway, I highly recommend this one. I'll definitely get it when it comes out on DVD. I did buy the soundtrack this weekend - a two-disc set - and it's cool, too.

I am a huge James Bond fan. I love all of those movies (except the ones with Timothy Dalton). I can only hope that they go where I think they're going with this movie and make it into an ongoing spy-action series. Not just lame sequels, but decent, entertaining, standalone films. If they do it right, it'll rock.

After watching the Fox show 30 Seconds to Fame last night, my interest was rekindled in an art called "Contact Juggling."

What is it? Well, unless you've seen it, it's hard to describe. Better to explain why I'm interested and let you figure it out for yourself.

I first got sucked in by it while watching Labyrinth, one of my favorite movies (with an awesome soundtrack, too). You know the part where David Bowie's character has the crystal ball and is rolling it around on his arms in one fluid motion? That's contact juggling.

And, just for the record, that wasn't David Bowie doing it. It was actually a guy named Michael Moschen, who seems to be the foremost authority on it.

Anyway, I am just thoroughly impressed every time I see it done, and I've admittedly screwed around trying to imitate it, but not having much luck and usually hurting myself in the process.

Well, last night's 30 Seconds to Fame (which has to be one of the dumber shows out there overall) had a guy named Owen doing this contact juggling thing, so I once again got the bug up my ass and decided I needed to see if the art was a little more accessible than it was before.

Lucky for me, it is.

Now there are web sites on the thing. ContactJuggling.org and ContactJuggling.com are the two I've found to be most helpful. They've got resources and step by step guides - even videos - that show you the beginning steps. It looks to me like the best place to start is with a lacrosse ball. Guess I'm going to the sporting goods store sometime soon.

There's a book out, too, but it looks like it's sort of hard to get ahold of. I can't recommend it one way or the other 'cause I've never seen it. I'll probably end up getting it, though.

In other news...

My Winter Hawks jersey came back, professionally lettered and looking crisp. Love it. Can't wait for an occasion to wear it.

My Ottawa Senators jersey is also at my house, waiting to be unleashed from the box it was shipped in. I'd wear it tomorrow to my sister's wedding, but I think she'd be pissed.

Oh, and I added a link to buy Mucha art from AllPosters.com. In the event you're looking for some cool stuff to hang up (or stuff to buy me), there you go.

Finally, I took out the "Karma voting" feature of the blog because, frankly, no one was using it and it just cluttered stuff up. If it sounds like it'll be a good idea at a later time, I can always re-enable it. Comments will still be allowed (and encouraged), so no change there.

Or not, as I'm finding out. A little background...

Every Tuesday, my department of seven people gets together for a staff meeting. About half of the meeting is comprised of eating donuts, while the other half is an attempt to explain to the group what you've been doing.

(I don't do too well with the explaining portion of things because nobody really understands what I do anyway.)

When we first started these meetings, they were scheduled for 8:00a. I thought that was pretty good, since you get in and go right to the donuts. Besides which, that forces the people who saunter in at 9:00a or later to be here early for once.

People didn't like that. The meeting moved to 9:00a because the latecomers insisted on their rights to show up late. Fine.

Then a round of layoffs happened and my boss, previously only a web-related guy, became the CIT manager. With the vastly reduced staff, he also got to take up a bunch of other staff meetings and sit in on things that only peripherally relate to CIT. Due to those exciting and oh-so-necessary meetings, our meeting moved to 10:00a. Not as good, but acceptable.

Just yesterday he emailed us that, "due to schedule conflicts," the meeting has to be rescheduled for today... to 11:00a.

What the fuck is all that about? 11:00? Why don't we make it a frickin' lunch meeting if it's going to be that late? I'm gonna eat a donut at 11, not be hungry for lunch, then have a sugar crash around 2:00p and be sick for the rest of the day. What sort of a lame idea is that?

Irritating. We might have to have a pre-meeting meeting just to eat the donuts, then get back together for an abbreviated discussion where everyone gives me blank looks as I try to explain the memory leak issues I'm working on with the Microsoft developer support team.

Yet another frickin' typical Monday morning.

I tried to add my blog entry around 9:00a to find that the scripts that I use for administration of the blog are now getting "Internal Server Error #500" when you try to run them. So are all of my other scripts. Looking at the error log for the web server, it's saying something about "premature end of headers" (now doesn't that sound dirty). Interesting that this would work on Friday and not work today. I sent a note to the support people at PSU to see if they did anything. By the time this becomes readable for folks on the web site, I'll have (hopefully) fixed the problem (or gotten them to fix it).

The weekend was action packed. Friday night Jenn and I went to an "Escaping Party" for a friend of mine from Lattice Semiconductor. Apparently she's going to Guatemala for five weeks to volunteer and go to school simultaneously. It was good to see her again, but I've been out of that loop for quite some time now so I knew probaby five of the 40 people there. That got a little tiresome. I'm not really a mingler so small talk with strangers doesn't do much for me. At least I got out, which is something I promise myself I'll do but never quite get around to.

Saturday we washed my car (ooooooo) and watched part of So I Married An Axe Murderer at my parents' house (aaaaaaaah). For the most part it was a kick-back day and I enjoyed that portion of it because I like days when I don't have to do anything. I can do stuff if I want to, but I don't have to do anything.

Oh, we also rented Resident Evil, Shallow Hal, and Amélie.

Resident Evil, for a video-game-based movie, was decent. Don't look for a real deep plot or anything, but it was entertaining and, might I add, better than most of the other video game movies out there. Milla Jovovich did a good job as an amnesiac soldier attempting to stop the spread of a virus that turns people into zombies. Of course, they left it totally open for the sequel, which I expected and will probably see when it's out on video, too.

Shallow Hal was funny, but I guess I expected it to be funnier. The idea was there, the material was good to go, but I found this one to be more of a light romantic comedy than a rolling-in-the-aisles sort of thing. Jack Black always cracks me up with his Chris Farley-esque comedy (though you really can't beat Chris) and Jason Alexander is pretty funny as his friend. But other than that, nothing too spectacular here. If you're bored and just want something light, this was pretty decent.

Amélie is another story entirely.

I loved Amélie. Maybe it's my recently reinstilled love of French art. Maybe it's the way the camera angles and the dialogue was so much different (and much more fresh) than the other movies I go see. Maybe it's the story with its lovable, idiosyncratic characters. Probably all three. But it was darn good, and I'd recommend it to anyone willing to give it a chance.

Audrey Tautou as the title character was perfect. She has a very cute, pert, French look about her that just makes her totally adorable and lends itself to the character.

Anyway, I could go on and on about the weird stuff that was there or how cute certain scenes were or whatever, but I'll just leave it with this - it's one you don't want to miss.

Sunday Jenn and I went to Oak's Park for the company picnic. (Actually, it was just the picnic for the group I work for, not the whole company.) It was odd weather, raining for a few minutes then sunny for a while and raining again. It was fun to ride the bumper cars and go-carts, though. Since a lot of people said they were coming but didn't show up, there were extra go-cart tickets so Jenn and I got to go twice. Can't complain about that.

Mom got a Tori Amos CD for me at a Fred Meyer sample sale, so I was listening to that this morning. The CD in question is the one titled Strange Little Girls.

Let it be known now that Tori Amos is fucked up.

I used to love her stuff. I bought Little Earthquakes when it came out. I thought that, not only did it display well the talent she has, but it also made some good statements about who she is. It made you feel what she was feeling and sort of, for me, embodied how the youth of the time were feeling - a little confused with just a bit of that gothic sort of darkness going on.

I also bought Under The Pink, though, admittedly, that one had to grow on me a bit. She was starting into this bitter hate phase of hers and I'm more of a "subtle pain" than a "bitter hate" person. But I still dug her. I went to see her live for her Under The Pink tour.

Then came Boys For Pele and From The Choirgirl Hotel and the hate was on. Admittedly, I didn't get much past Pele since I just couldn't stand the whole hate thing, so I can't give an entirely informed opinion on Choirgirl. But the hate-on was a-happenin', and I wasn't into it. I did, however, see her live again when she came around for Pele. She put on a good show and, while I wasn't as into it this time as I was the first, it was still a good show.

I saw her a third time in concert after Choirgirl, though I can't really remember exactly when. This time, though, the show had lost its magic. She didn't have the repoire with the audience she had with Under The Pink and, honestly, I was bored because the songs all started to sound the same. I promised myself I wouldn't go see her again because it was a waste of $40. But I didn't give up on her music; I thought she still had some promise.

Then I get Strange Little Girls. This should have been called Bad Cover Songs becuase it seems that most of the songs are covers of songs from other bands. When I heard her butcher the Depeche Mode song "Enjoy The Silence," I got mad and started listening to the first few bars of each track. Seems to me the edge is lost, or at least dulled, for her. She used to have this way of getting all the music to work together, to provide a rich tapestry of music that, coupled with her unique voice, helped you feel what she felt. Every once in a while, you'd get a sort of "haunting" track that was more like a cappella or spoken word where you'd feel that song, in stark contrast to the rest of the album, and the powerful emotion that went along with it.

Now she abuses that "stark contrast" thing so there's no contrast at all anymore. She tries too hard to get the hate and the pain in there and forgets that it's music she's making and not some lame performance art.

So that's that. The close of another chapter of my musical life.

Okay, then.

Friday Mom sort of sideswiped me this weekend with the fact she wants me to film my sister Tai's wedding reception this coming Friday. (Yeah, that's a week's notice.) So I got the video camera from her and took it home to play with it.

While filming my cats doing basically nothing (figures that they'd be wired when I didn't have the camera out, but when I pull it out they instantly become lethargic; maybe I should have a camera out all the time), I realized something:

I hate it when people making home movies offer commentary during the movie.

How many times have you watched someone's video of, say, a birthday party, where the person filming is watching someone blow out candles on the cake, and the person filming offers some flimsy commentary like, "Okay, the cake is here... now they're setting it down... and she's going to blow out the candles... There we go! The candles are out!"

What, like I can't see that? Is that commentary for the blind people trying to watch your home movie? Somehow I think the blind people are the lucky ones in that regard since they don't have to watch some video they don't care about, but that's another issue.

I think that's also why I hate Bob Saget. Shut the fuck up, buddy. I'm trying to watch some of America's Funniest Home Videos. I so don't need to listen to you while I do it.

The point here is that since I discovered that, I believe that I'm going to do my best to refrain from talking while I'm filming since that can only lead me to being a hypocritical dumbass.

Well, I just got an email from the support people at PSU CS and apparently something's hosed with their server configuration. They've found a temporary fix, though, and hopefully they'll root out the whole problem shortly. In the meantime, I'd best post this before things go down again.

I've been a little lax this week on the blog, this being the first entry since Tuesday, and I'm really not sure why that is except that I may be just sort of... blanking... on things due to work.

I'm getting to a point where there's so much to do and so little time, and most of the stuff is not stimulating at all, it's just busywork (formatting servers and installing Windows 2000, etc.) that doesn't really require any brains but lots of time. So my mind is wandering a lot more and I'm getting sidetracked by things much easier because whatever I'm doing at any given time usually isn't engaging enough to keep my interest.

So I think about blogging, but I never actually get to it because I get so damned sidetracked on things.

The good part of that is, I've had lots of time to catch up on reading. I finished The Bourne Identity while formatting servers, and now I'm reading the sequel, The Bourne Supremacy.

I was worried with this one that the action wouldn't be as good. I mean, at the end of The Bourne Identity, there's closure. The story's over. How is the author going to get the main character back into the action?

Don't worry - it works. I'm loving it so far just as much as the first one.

I finally got all of my Amazon.com gift certificates cashed in and pre-ordered my copies of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and the James Bond Collection, Vol. 1. Those should be coming sometime at the end of October. That'll be good.

GTA: VC looks like it's going to have some cool music and great graphics if the fake web site is any indication. The sports page shows someone driving a golf cart - I really hope you can snake golf carts. That'd rock.

My friend Heidi is, apparently, quitting her job and leaving the country. I think she said she was going to Guatemala, though I can't imagine really why anyone would just up and go to Guatemala of all places. Anyway, she's got a party tonight for that so Jenn and I will be going. If anything, it'll be good to see her again. Haven't seen her for quite some time.

Sunday is the company picnic at Oak's Park. Free rides for everyone, so Jenn and I are totally going. If anything, it'll be fun to play "corners" on the Scrambler. I think Jenn came out pretty bruised last time we went there. Loads of fun to be had by all.

I think this weekend I'm going to see about renting Resident Evil since I never saw it in theaters and wanted to. I heard it was actually pretty decent. We'll see.

The last issue from our soot incident is that they still owe us $348.39 for expenses (food to be replaced, damaged lampshades to be replaced, etc.) and they won't answer my phone calls. I've called once a day, every day for a week now and I always seem to get voicemail. My irritation level is building rapidly.