Friday Miscellany

It's been kind of a long week, though not a bad one. Some highlights:

• I put in a few hours of OT, but really it's been pretty painless. (and we get time off here!)


• I ran into a co-worker from my previous job, and things have gone from bad to worse there: there's a new horrid manager, there's a lot more work, the IT guy I liked quit and management screwed him over for his vacation. I'm SO glad I'm here now!


• For the first time in ages I watched American Idol (the Boys' night). David Archuleta is a cutie-pie. I had a little too much wine though, ouch.


• I've been getting better about doing weights (and I saw that cutie SAT* for the first time in months. I need to remember to pack my little workout book so I can keep better track of how much weight I'm doing.


• I've been making pretty good progress on my writing project, though I really want to finish it this weekend. I challenge myself!


• There was an interesting topic on the The Diane Rehm Show (Public Radio talk) about a recent study that seemed to show that antidepressants were barely more effective than a placebo for people with mild to moderate depression. All I know is that exercise is working better for me than any of the drugs I tried. If I miss a couple of days of cardio, I get really cranky, irritable and down.


• I had another crazy dream Wednesday night about being late for spin class Thursday morning. I was living at the little seedy house on Stratford Court in Charlottesville and there were like 10 people there with me, and I was trying to get Billy to drive me to class... wild.

*Slutty Asian Twink, my nickname for him, though I don't know if he really is slutty, and he's maybe 30, a bit too old for a twink, but he dresses really provocatively (he does have a great body though).

Prince Harry!

Oh no! Hottie bad-boy Prince Harry is fighting in Afghanistan!

Games I never Played

(Warning! Nerd alert!)

I kinda miss gaming, and by 'gaming' I mean RPGs, as in Dungeons & Dragons® type dice games. I always enjoyed playing more than running a game, though being a GM had its rewards.

There were a couple of games (I own them both, one of those benefits of working for a game company, getting to go to GenCon and make trades) that I never got to play, but they seemed like fun concepts. One was Ringworld, based on Larry Niven's Ringworld novels, which I really enjoyed (well, at least the first couple in the series). While I never played that actual game, at least I got to play a Pierson's Puppeteer in another SF game.

The other game was Space: 1889, one of several "Steam-punk" genre games that came out at the time. I'd always been a fan of the turn-of the century sci-fi, like in the Jules Verne novels, and the Time Machine. This just seemed like a really fun concept, though who knows how it would really translate into a game.

Fat

I feel fat. Bloated. Tubby. I wasn't feeling well Sunday morning so I didn't ride for my spin class; I'm sure that didn't help. And I was oinky over the weekend. I wish I had a little more self-discipline. Like, I'm about to go out and get eggs and sausage along with coffee for my 'second breakfat' when I really could go without it. My worst vice is snacking at night though. If I could just cut that out I'd probably lose the 5 (or, ideally 10) pounds I'd like to.

Let's not Fight

I didn't watch the Hillary/Barack debate last night; there wasn't much point since I already voted in the primary, and there isn't much doubt which way I am going in the general election. But I heard that Hillary was gracious and didn't really go on the attack. I was glad to hear that, because I've been afraid that if they went after each other it would leave whoever won damaged. I would really would have preferred her, but I'm perfectly fine with him.

Actually, walking to the gym today I imagined each of them behind that desk in theoval office saying "My fellow Americans..." And I got a little chill of pleasure each time. I can't wait.

Go West (or North, or South)!

I really want to get out of here for awhile. I'd love to go back to San Francisco, but there's no point in going there till May or so, when the weather starts to get nice. I'd love to go on another cruise, but I can not really afford it, and I've pretty muched missed this 'season' of RSVP/Atlantis cruises anyway. My other option is New York for a few days, which is the best option for now. I can take the train up, and stay with my friend J. for a weekend. So that's my plan for now, maybe next month...

Sleepy

I just want to lie in bed, sip water and fade in and out while the Mythbusters marathon flickers across the TV.

No I'm not sick, or even hung over. I'm just tired. For no good reason, I've been up past midnight the last couple of nights (1 am on Saturday!) and for a guy who goes to bed at 9, it's a little discombobulating. the weather is being bizarre too. Just an hour or so it was 73° F, mostly sunny and breezy. I went grocery shopping with the windows down and sunroof open, yay! But the temp is falling and the cloud are rolling in. It will only be in the 40's tomorrow.

Anyway, I need to get back to work, so I have a nice cup of coffee here, along with a third tall glass of cool lemon water to get me going.

Oh and one more note, about Stargate hotties: Netan of the Lucian Allianace (played by part-Korean Eric D. Steinberg), and of course Ronan Dex (who cleans up real nice as Jason Momoa the model and former Baywatch Hawaii babe)

Ok back to work.

Brr! At 3:45 the temperature is now 56°F and it's raining. Quite a change

Anything but Neutral (It's time for a rant)

So apparently the whole Net Neutrality thing is rearing its ugly head. What with Comcast trying out charging people based on their usage and all. What upsets me even more is the idea that your ISP (e.g., Verizon) could slow down or even block your access to places they don't like such as competitors. They could (for instance) make an alliace with Yahoo! and slow down my Google searches. They could block me from going to certain sites... That is just wrong. And of course these telecoms make up these dot-org sites trying to make it look like there is grass-roots support for 'innovation.' They just want profits. Here's a new 3-part article in Macworld that talks about it. I went to Save the internet and sent messages to my representatives

In a somewhat-related front, Bush is stooping to childish threats about vetoes and delaying trips (What's next? He's going to hold his breath? We can only hope!) to try to bully the House into going along with the wiretapping law that grants immunity to these same telecoms who handed over information in violation of their privacy agreements. Without immunity, they would be open to lawsuits. Not automatically liable, just open to suits for breaking agreements. Seems fair to me. I wrote my representative about that too.

I really wish the Congress would stand up to Bush's veto threats, even if it means things will grind to a halt. Force the stupid bastard to negotiate!

How much longer will we have to suffer with this ass? 339 days (I have a widget that tells me).

Strong earthquake strikes Greece

Eek. Every time I hear about an earthquake in Greece I think about when I was there for the 1999 earthquake that killed 100 people (scroll down; they refer to it in the article). Ironically, I was in an airplane (an airplane where there actually a few people smoking, though smoking was forbidden on all flights long before 1999, but hey, it's Greece--everyone smokes) between Mykonos and Athens when it struck. When I got to the Athens airport, I noticed there was all this dust on the floor and people were acting strangely. I took a cab to downtown where I was to stay one more night after my cruise, and the whole area was chaos. I asked what was going on and the driver was like "Didn't you know, we just had an earthquake!?" The hotel was full of people checking out, the elevators were shut off. I wished I could have left but my flight was early the next morning. I walked around downtown, and most of the shops were closed, their merchandise shattered and strewn all over the floor. I could see structural damage on a lot of buildings too. It was eerie to see the change after having been away on an island for a couple of days. That night I kept waking up all through the night thinking that I had felt an aftershock. Maybe I did, but I never did feel one while I was awake. Fortunately I got out of there without any more incidents.

Hucka-whacko

From Newsweek:

"I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God."
--Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, calling for two new constitutional amendments banning abortion and same-sex marriage in order to bring U.S. law in line wiith "God's standards."

That really scares me. Yes I voted, for Hillary. I'm perfectly happy with Barack though.

That feeling...

I got a bug or something over the weekend, and in fact I called in sick yesterday. I'm back at work, but I've still got, as Kathy Griffin would say "You know how you get that pre-diarrhea feeling..." TMI?

Anyway I also couldn't really sleep last night so I was flipping back and forth between Attack of the Show and an Outer Limits from 2000 on Sci-fi. It was starring a very cute and (and awfully young-looking, though he was 19 a the time) Joseph Gordon-Levitt. There's something unusual about his look, but that makes him all the cuter. I loved him as the angry little Elder in Latter Days.

Blade the (dead) Series

So they've started showing repeats of Blade the Series on Spike. My TiVo is whirring. I was really disappointed when they announced that it wasn't coming back for another season. It was awfully violent (watching cute Shen get his fingernails ripped off was painful) but I enjoyed it. Maybe it was just too expensive to make; that was the supposed reason Sci-Fi Channel cancelled Stargate SG-1 and Farscape.

Helvetica

Here at work the web guys are talking about the movie Helvetica. One guy said "What is special about Helvetica? I mean, really... all typefaces kinda look the same to me..."

Oh. My. God. I could practically feel everyone over in the Print Design area flinching.

Happy New Year

Happy Lunar New Year everyone! It's the year of the rat...

Political Experience

Fareed Zakaria of Newsweek has a similar take on Hillary vs. Barack to mine, but in his mind it's more of a negative that she has more experience working in a more conservative world.

There was an article in the Washington Post today about how one little word changed not only Virginia's but the country's political landscape. When George Allen showed his true racist colors and called a young southeast asian man 'Macaca' he ruined his political career. It was soon all over the internet and old-guard media. He lost the U.S. Senate race to a Democrat, and any hopes for a presidential run were over. Hah! I always knew he was an ass.

And finally on a lighter note, my favorite CNN anchor Don L., (see older pic at left; sorry couldn't find one with him in his polo) yesterday afternoon reporting from a diner in a polo shirt. He looked so cute. Though I do think he's putting on some weight...

Later on CNN for the primary reporting, god that Wolf Blitzer gets annoying the way he repeats everything over and over...

Shopping Spree

I've been on a kind of an inexplicable shopping spree the last few weeks. Not a huge spree (maybe a few hundred dollars) but usually I'm pretty frugal. I bought a bunch of movies from Amazon, including Ethan Mao (which will probably just make me depressed) and a couple of Gaysian romantic comedies (who knew there were more?). I also bought some clothes from Old Navy, And a few other miscellaneous things online.

Work this morning was a bit stressful. The UPS on the file server died so I had to reboot the whole network, and the print server was acting up, and when I restarted it, it took forever to come back up. A bit scary; I was sweatting it. I think it's time to set up a full mirror backup for that little beast.

Hillary vs. Barack

I don't usually talk much about politics here, but on the eve of Super Tuesday I thought I'd share a little.

Barack or Hillary? Really, I'd be fine with either one at this point. Both together would be a dream ticket, but neither would be willing to play second fiddle.

I like Barack. He's certainly charismatic, and if anything I think he's more liberal than Hillary. I like her health care plan better though. And I think Obama is a little naive. Hillary has been in the trenches and she knows what it's like. Remember when Bill (and she) came to power, they had an ambitious agenda. They tried to revamp health care and got stopped. Bill tried to allow gays to serve openly in the military and he was shut down. And this was by a congress controlled by Democrats! I remember Sam Nunn put a stop to Bill's gay plan, and the result was this unsatisfactory 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy.

I think Hillary's experience makes her a better candidate. She's certainly tough enough. Now if she did win, what will she do with Bill? He need's something to keep him busy... Secretary of State? He'd love that I bet. I'd love to see Al Gore back as Secretary of the Environment or something.

Umm...

I don't remember 'Dino Boy.' I think I would have watched it...

Hmmm, Salty!

Actually that title doesn't have much to do with anything, except the fact that I think I consume a lot of salt. Still I sweat a fair amount in exercise every day, and my blood pressure is low.

So next Tuesday is Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday... naturally I think back at this time of year to when Andreas and I were in New Orleans for the event as part of a cruise (it was the year before Katrina). I was also scanning some cruise pictures this morning, which just makes me pine for another cruise. I haven't had a real vacation in years.

If you're good maybe I'll post the link to the Mardi Gras gallery (mostly-naked dancing boys!)

Long Day

It was a long day... went in to work early, had a dentist appt (good news: no cavities; bad news: I had to pay because my new insurance won't, even though he is 'in the network,' because they made me pick a preferred provider and I picked someone else at the time because he wasn't in the network then... god I hate health insurance companies.) Now I'm trying to write and my eyelids are closing... so. sleepy.

Tomorrow is gonna be tougher: I'm not only teaching my 6:30 am spin class, but I'm subbing my old 6:30 pm class. I used to do both all the time, so it shouldn't kill me...

I really need to do some new spin mixes too. Any suggestions for music?