I don’t really remember what I did on Friday night. I think I worked on the vest for my Wonka costume, but I don’t recall, which sort of implies that it was inconsequential seeing as how I wasn’t actually inebriated.

Saturday I took my car in for its 40,000 mile checkup. I was told when I scheduled the appointment that it’d take a couple of hours, so I scheduled it early (8:40a) and Jenn drove her car to the dealership to pick me up after I dropped my car off so we could cruise around that side of town, burn a couple of hours, and get my car when it was done.

We ended up going to probably three different malls, just wandering, and I picked up some Wonka TV Room Goggles, which fit over my glasses perfectly. I was wondering what I was going to do about my glasses, now I have an answer.

Long about 1:00p or so I was wondering what happened to my car, so I called the dealership and found out they’d “have it done by 4:00p, as scheduled.” What? Two hours suddenly turned into eight. That’s… that’s great.

Jenn and I ended up checking out Flightplan, which is a decent film, if a bit of a one-trick pony. By the time that finished, my car was ready, so we picked that up and headed home.

Saturday night was spent feverishly working on my Wonka vest. I got it very nearly done, but at 1:00a I had to go to bed.

Sunday Stu and Tif came over. Stu and I played bongos while Tif and Jenn washed their cars.

At one point, Stu and I went to the store and while I was parking I ran over a (new) package of diapers that someone kindly left behind in the parking space for me. Normally I’d not mention such a thing except that the plastic packaging from the diapers melted to some piece or other on the undercarriage of my car and now when I drive it smells like burning plastic. I’m going to have to get under there when I get home tonight and scrape that off.

Oh, and I came up with a new look for my site, so I’ll be implementing that soon. If you come in and something’s messed up, that’s probably why

• I don’t think it’s going to be an atomic commit.

I noticed a couple of envelopes from the Office of Homeland Security came in the mail today, which could mean only one thing: my pyrotechnician license finally arrived.

After a few years of working on shows for Western Display Fireworks (usually with Greg running the show), Jenn and I both took the pyro certification test, completed the prerequisites, and applied for our Oregon state pyro licenses. It took a while (notice the issue date is 8/4 but I just got it in the mail today), but it’s finally here.

Technically, that means we can legally buy professional fireworks and run our own show. Of course, there’s a heck of a lot more to it than just declaring you want to “have a show,” and I’m really not ready to take on that responsibility, so I don’t think that’ll be happening. But we’re could, and isn’t that what matters? (I think we’ll stick to working with Western. Heh.)

In my excitement for the upcoming Firefly movie, Serenity, I’ve signed up with their fan club deal so I can get the inside scoop on some of the stuff they have going on.

Part of that is sort of a link/referral program. I can get five “credits” per click per link, to a maximum of 300 total “credits” per day, which I can use to, like, get a t-shirt or something.

So, help me get a t-shirt, and learn about a cool movie while you’re doing it. Click the following links a bajillion times a day and rack me up some points. It doesn’t cost you anything and you don’t have to buy anything - just click ‘em. I promise I’ll be your best friend.

• Official Serenity movie site
• Test screener reviews of Serenity
• Another early review of Serenity
• Firefly forums
• FireflyFans.net - Official Firefly fan site

My Wonka jacket from Redballs arrived yesterday in size 2XL and it fits perfectly, so that part of the costume is now nailed down. I’ll take it in to the dry cleaners tonight to get it cleaned and pressed (it arrived folded in a box, so it’s got creases from that; it just needs to be freshened up a bit). If you’re in the market, check Redballs out - they really rock, and the service is awesome. Any question, just email ‘em and they will totally hook you up. Just note that the sizes, at least in the Wonka coat, run a little small - I normally fit nicely into an XL, but the 2XL is what I wear in the Wonka, and it’s still just ever so slightly tight in the shoulders (not enough to worry about, but I thought I’d mention it).

That gets that part of the costume out of the way. I also verified that my suit pants still fit (yay!), so the pants are taken care of. That leaves the vest, which I’ve been looking at the pattern for and will probably commence work on tonight. Once that’s done, I’ll have it all taken care of.

This is going to be so cool.

UPDATE 10/02/05: The costume came out well. Here are the details.

I noticed that the movie Serenity was coming out, and I had previously heard how good the show Firefly was (before it was cancelled), so when I saw Amazon was having a half-off sale on Joss Whedon DVDs, I picked up a copy.

Damn, it’s good.

That said, I can totally see why folks didn’t take to it. It’s a little… eclectic. When I heard people describe it as a “Western in space” I didn’t think it was so literal. I mean, they’ll ride horses then hop into their ship… or they’ll haul cattle in the spaceship… or they’ll pull a train heist on a mag-lev train using their ship… It’s very much, very literally, a “Western in space.”

But it’s so good. You really get to know and like the characters, which is something sorely missing from many television shows nowadays. And the eclectic nature of the show is itself a draw factor for me, though I can see that it would be more of a turn-off to the standard boob-tube-watching population.

Plus, Tim Minear worked on it, and he (as well as Joss Whedon) always seems to work on shows that I get to love then promptly get cancelled. There are only two redeeming factors - first, I get to watch the show nonstop without commercials; second, they’re coming out with a movie just in time.

If you get a chance, check it out. It’s like finding buried treasure.