7.30.2007

The Duuuuugaaaaannssss......

[cue music]

Da-dum-dum-da-daaa Dum-dum-dum-da-da-da-DA .....


OK, Chris did it first. I thought I'd seen some reference to this on TV, but as we don't watch commercials anymore, I hadn't really caught the jist of the promotion. Anyway, Simpsonize Me! is pretty nifty. It took some tweaking of each character. Dark objects in the background were frequently misinterpreted as very long hair. Joe's initial Simpsonization was by far the closest of the four of us. I let the kids pick their own outfits.

And ... although my cat is scrawny enough to work as a re-colored Snowball, it didn't seem fair to put Dottie in and leave Sasha out. Because, frankly, my hairball-spitz of a dog could hardly look less like Santa's Little Helper.

--End--

7.27.2007

Bloxorz

Wow! A clever and completely addictive game. Check out Bloxorz.

--End--

7.23.2007

Done!

Wow.

Now it's all over. Have to say I'm kind of sad. Not because of what's in the book, but because it's all over.

Extremely vague spoilers to follow ...
















OK ... on one big point, I'm feeling a big I-Told-You-So, which makes me so happy for one of my favorite actors.

The epilogue was a bit meh, but I kind of get it.

Overall well done with a good amount of references to the past six books, generally solid pacing. But a few chapters where the back of my mind was wondering when JK was just going to get on with it, already.

And, finally ... way to be, Neville!

--End--

Gone Fishin'

Well, not really ... but Joe has left for work and I've picked up Sasha from the vet ... fulfilling my only real obligations for the day (well, I mean, other than parenting the kids). So ... for the indefinite near future, I'll be reading (and probably crying) and reading some more.

Back in a couple of days.

--End--

7.21.2007

Furthest Yet

13 (!!!) miles this morning. In about 3 hours and 20 minutes.

Now I'm going to hop over to MapMyRun and figure out where I'm going to walk 7 miles in Cazenovia tomorrow morning.

--End--

ps. Our copy of Deathly Hallows is, according to the UPS site, "In transit to final destination." Woo!

7.17.2007

"Ooh Shiny"

This website is just chock-full of nifty merchandise, gadgets, clothing available on the 'Net. Some of my favorites, below:









Yes, it's a Darth Vader Popcorn Maker.
This RedShirt pretty much says it all.
Clocky: the alarm clock you can't lie in bed and ignore.
I really wish this weren't so expensive. Design your own monster!
And this is for the Truly Spoiled Wanna-Be Fashion Designer.
--End--

(and, no, I don't know why this is formatted so strangely and haven't been able to fix it)

7.15.2007

Breaks My Heart

Emily and Matthew are supposed to go home with my dad today for a week of "Gramma Camp." They and Joe have been up in the Poconos since Friday. I just happened to call this morning to see when they thought they'd all be heading out, and got to talk to Emily. She was crying her eyes out, begging to come home. I know she'll have a fantastic time at my folks' house, but hearing her like that nearly broke me down, too. It doesn't help that I called up there to talk to the kids. I am missing them this morning. And to hear her just so upset and pleading with me ... I'm pretty broken up about it right now.

--End--

7.10.2007

Something Completely Different

File this under: Things Not Seen Everyday ...


Thanks to Lisa for calling my attention to this story. Seems a wrecking ball broke loose during some work at our alma mater. Bizarre!

--End--

7.09.2007

Support the "Cause"

When we were last up at Chris & Kristin's house, they were watching DVDs of Firefly. Joe and I watched a couple of episodes with them and asked them about the show. It seems it had been broadcast on Fox for not even one full season and network execs had been more than a bit unkind with scheduling decisions, fating the show to an early cancellation. Joss Whedon, the series creator, did his best to resurrect the show, finally resulting in a full-length feature, Serenity released in 2005.

Anyway, long story short, Firefly/Serenity fans (typically called "Browncoats") have been working to get the show reinstated somewhere, anywhere. And I have to say I'm inclined to agree with them. The show is smart, funny, clever, well-thought-out won an Emmy for effects. Definitely done before its time.

Recently I've been browsing around various Browncoat websites and getting some background info on the show and its fanbase. They're reasonably active (particularly for a show which only had eleven of its fourteen episodes broadcast.

I read today that the SciFi channel is going to broadcast a "Firefly Marathon" on August 10. Set your DVRs, please. Who knows? Maybe this is SciFi's way of feeling out the actual viewership for the show. Maybe if they feel there's enough interest ... well, maybe something might happen.

If you're interested in the sci-fi genre AT ALL, give the show a try. I really do recommend it. And ... even if you don't intend to watch it, record it anyway. Or tell a friend who likes that sort of thing. Maybe the SciFi execs will actually notice.

--End--

7.07.2007

I Did It!

(rather ... we did it ... Sasha stayed alongside the whole time)

10 miles in 3 hours. Woooo!

--End--

7.05.2007

More Than Meets the Eye

Yeah, just saw the movie. The effects were very cool (but frequently too fast to follow). They had at least a couple of examples of the old "transforming" sound effect I always liked. There were gratuitous American car company logo placements. The plot had a few holes. And while this guy always kind of bugs me (granted, that is his role in the film), Jon Voight rocks as always. But, man! It rocked to hear the old names thrown around.

Jazz, Starscream, Bumblebee (to this day I still want to have a yellow VW Bug, though now he's a yellow Camaro), Bonecrusher, Ratchet, et al. And of course ... Optimus Prime and Megatron. Yeah!

For the record, Chris and I once catalogued nearly all the Autobots and Decepticons (and Dinobots, Constructicons, Insecticons, etc) on a journal we kept at our sides while watching the show. Yes, we actually are that geeky. Wonder how many of these we missed. Heh.

--End--

7.03.2007

Picnic Planning

We're having some friends over tomorrow for some grilling joy. We're going to eat, hang out, maybe play some bocce. The kids will spend half the afternoon in the pool, I'm sure. And Sasha will just be beside herself. As for me, I'll be cooking and then trying hard not to eat too much of the more fattening selections.

On the menu:

The weather's supposed to be fine, so we should have a great day. I'm not even sure if we're going to leave to try to catch any fireworks anywhere. It depends on how long folks want to hang out in my backyard.

--End--

Well ... woke up to a steady rain. It stopped around 9am, so things were mostly dry enough to at least occasionally be outside during the party. The food turned out fantastic, and I stayed on my diet (I plan to try the brats and ribs tomorrow after my morning weigh-in). Jen brought a delicious ricotta-creamy-vanilla-y mixture topped with fresh blueberries and strawberries. YUM! Altogether ... a great day! Not planning to go to any fireworks tonight.