Three-Letter Acronyms & Four-Letter Words

Gina has made it home.

Unfortunately I was late getting to the airport, which has also unfortunately become the norm.

I vow that next time I will be there waiting for her down in the baggage area.

I won't get into the various reasons on why I was late to the airport, ultimately they stem from me not planning the morning out right.

However, it was lucky for me that Gina's flight was about 30 minutes late, so I got there before she got her bags.

We then proceeded over to Chuy's and had a good lunch.

Originally we had been planning on breakfast and then bowling. However, it turned into lunch and a movie.

Gina was not sure what we should watch, so she let me pick.

I selected 'Run Fatboy Run', which was FSCKING hilarious.

I don't want to put words in Gina's mouth, but given the amount of laughing that she did, I think it is fair to say that she enjoyed the movie. Which is a good thing, as she often doesn't like the movies that I pick.

She managed to stay awake until about 7:00 pm.

I took a nap from then until about 9:30 or so. I wanted to make sure to put away the pot roast that I had put into the crock earlier today.

I am watched 'Sunshine' a strange movie, reminiscent of the movie 'Event Horizon' and it seems like an episode of 'The Outer limits'.

I would give it a 7.5 or so on a scale of 1-10.

I think I might try to go bowling in the morning, which means I really should get to bed.

Laterz

After having spent two fabulous days in the sun at the end of the dock Gina and I are ready for a break from sun worship and are going to be heading out for a little adventure. We are going to find out what Charlevoix has to offer.



Last night we had dinner at Pearl's, a very tasty Cajun joint that happens to be hidden away up here in Elk Rapids. I had the Etouffette with the crawfish and blackened shrimp, it was excellent. We shared the red bean cake appetizer. Gina had the sirloin and a side of cheese grits. Their cornbread was spicy and excellent.

We rented a couple of movies from 'The Corner Store' that is over near (or in) Central Lake. The first movie we watched 'The Fountain' was horrible. I mean seriously, I sort of knew what the movie was supposed to be about given that I had seen the previews before, but I figured the previews were so disconnected because of the fact that they were previews. By which I mean, the storyline in the previews jumps around, I thought they did that to keep you interested in the story.

Nope, the whole movie is that way. In my opinion it was a beautifully shot movie, good cast, but the storyline presented in the movie was horrible and extremely hard to follow. Both Gina and I agreed that the movie was bad.

The second movie was excellent, Miss Potter. Which was about the author who wrote Peter Rabbit and a variety of other children's books.

I popped popcorn on the stove, it turned out OK, but not as good as usual. Not sure if that is because of the popcorn, or if it was because maybe I put too much in. I am sure that I will be doing more popcorn before we leave, so I will figure it out, by putting in 1/4 less the next time. Not to mention that we had plenty of extra popcorn.

It appears that one of the neighbors up here has finally gotten broadband with wifi, there is a network up here called HagoodNet. It is open, but our connection is low. I am sticking with dial-up to complete my blogging for today, but tomorrow I might try out the connection.

I will be grilling pork loin tonight and corn, not sure what else we are going to be having for dinner. Gina's dad bought a brisket for me and while we were at Meijer's in Traverse I found some Mesquite chunks. So sometime before the week is out, I will be smoking a brisket.

We will need to pickup some sausages and I think I would like to smoke some chicken while I am at it. No pork this time. Next year.

Laterz

The lawn mowing will have to wait until tomorrow morning.

We are off to see "The Zodiac" @ the Alamo Drafthouse.

If I am not feeling too old (and tired) tonight, I might go see a late night showing of Dogma there too. Always a sucker for a Kevin Smith movie.

Laterz.

Well, I'm feeling way better than I have in the last week.

However, I am still not 100%. I'm guessing that will come tomorrow or Monday morning. I still have some nasal congestion and a bit of a sinus headache.

Gina has been doing laundry all day. I on the other hand have been sleeping a good portion of the day away, but being sick and all that is probably a good thing.

She still has a wicked cough. However, I think that is mostly related to the dry air and her being allergic to Texas. Yes, I said it the whole state of Texas.

I have to get a couple of hours of work done tonight before I retire back to bed. To help me accomplish this I have put in one of my favorite DVDs, High Fidelity.

I know what some of you might be asking. "How can he work and watch a DVD?"

I can't. However, I am not actually watching the movie. I'm more or less just listening to it. Normally, I have my headphones on and listen to music while I work (at work). At home, I crank up the speakers and listen to MP3s off the computer. However, right now I feel more like listening to a movie that I already know.

I have found that if I am listening to new music or trying to listen to a movie I don't know, I end up getting distracted. If I listen to music or movies that I have heard or watched enough to know it almost completely by heart, then I can ignore it.

I don't like silence. Unless it is out in the country, you know like camping, that is different. But silence in the home, it is just unnerving.

I picked High Fidelity because I wanted to watch it the other day and Gina wasn't feeling like it. For some reason I have had "Top 5 Lists" on my mind lately.

Well, I best get back to working, so that I can get a good night's sleep tonight.

Laterz

Maybe I have been reading too many marketing books and reading too many magazine articles.

Web 2.0 is everywhere. They say that it was originally coined as a way to describe the 'second wind' that has sprung up with this new wave of Internet focused companies. Some say that it is all about social and community web vs the 1.0 sites that were digital version of brick & mortar commerce. Then there are a few (myself included, when I first heard about Web 2.0) that believe it is more technology related, the use of AJAX, RSS, etc = Web 2.0.

I personally think that it is human nature to want to classify things, people, eras, movements, etc.

I mean look at how we typically refer to decades. Take the 60s for instance, the decade of "Peace and Free Love" or at least that is what I typically associate with the 60s. Course, there was plenty else that happened in the 60s.

When it comes to people. There are the personality types, Type A, Type B. In movies and what not you see flight attendants discuss the different types of folks, again classifying them in to categories.

I guess, my point is. While I think just about everyone can agree with the idea that stereotypes and putting people or things into a generalized container is not a good thing to do. A sort of "Don't judge a book by it's cover." mantra.

However, I think everyone can admit to using stereotypes or classifying things and people into generalized container categories.

I mean I think about all of the descriptions that I have heard or read about how one describes what a new company does. "Well it is like company X, but for industry Y."

I mean who out there has heard something sort of like this "It is like Google, but you know for travel." Or maybe "She is like Shannyn Sossamon, but in that sort of Shannon Elizabeth way."

My point is, I think it is human nature to try and use categories and stereotypes to be able to get a generalized picture of what to expect without having to really go into full detail about a thing. I mean, take the definition of a Mammal.

By stating that an animal is a Mammal, that instantly tells you a fair amount about the animal. Not all of it, but you end up having a good idea.

The same goes with 1.0 vs 2.0 vs 3.0. It is human nature to classify things. I also believe it is human nature to want to be unique, to be special, thus rebel against being easily classified.

I know from reading articles and attending some speaking sessions at conferences that many of the folks that are thrown into the Web 2.0 space, don't enjoy the fact that there is a name or classification. Part of this rebellion I think comes from not wanting to be easily classified.

You might be wondering what has me thinking about all of this?

Two things. Discussions at Jaduka, in terms of trying to define ourselves (uniquely). And the other was a movie on TV today.

The movie was Duplex. Which had a lot of the same feel (to me) as another movie, Money Pit.

General premise of both movies.

1. Young couple buys a home.
2. Home needs a little work, but is otherwise everything they have ever wanted.
3. Home has some quirks to it that were not known to the couple at time of purchase.
4. Couple must over come adversity and keep it together.
5. Couple ends up winning in the end. (sort of)

When I was finished watching the movie, I felt like saying "Duplex is Money Pit 2.0".

There have been a few other movies that I have thought about how they reminded me of a different movie. I mean in the end "There is nothing new under the sun." or as the aptly named South Park episode says "Simpsons already did it."

Just remember that no one likes being stereotyped, particularly if it is has negative connotations. But at the same time recognize that it does seem to be part of human nature to classify people, places and things.

Time to go make dinner,
Laterz.

Of course, the rumors about the rumors of my demise are also probably grossly exaggerated.

I wanted to get a quick post in as I wrap up lunch here at the office. Mmmmm... frozen fully cooked chicken breast from HEB. Not that bad actually, I need to keep a bag of salad mix at the office too.

Back to the rumors. Having seen the fact that I didn't post the rest of my birthday weekend. I could just imagine the folks that had asked me about my plans and I replied "Not sure, but it involves drinking." might have gotten the idea that I had drunk myself into a stupor, or worse.

My birthday did involve drinking and just maybe one beer too many. I felt a wee bit hungover the next day. Which is odd, since the hangover tends to skip a day. Regardless, the feeling bad on Sunday was because of two things.

1. Cleaning the garage out. Gina put up with my crabby attitude while I did some manual labor. In the end I am glad she got us to finally do that. Because she can finally put her car in the garage. But also, because it brings us one step closer for me to be able to bring my car in the garage too.

2. Michigan State LOST to Notre Dame. I mean come on guys. You had be very excited for the first quarter. It looked like we were going to sweep the Fighting Irish out with the rest of the trash. Nope. I mean once MSU started messing up, I lost the excitement and the beer started to take over, making me sleepy. I passed out and missed the rest of the game. At least MSU did me the favor of keeping it a close game. A shut out on my birthday would just be entirely unbearable. 40-37.

You might be wondering what we did on my birthday. Right?

First, I had fallen asleep on the couch on Friday night. It was about 1:30 in the morning before I passed out watching DS9. So when I woke up around like 2:30, I figured it would be better to just sleep on the couch than wake Gina (and the dogs). This means I woke up on the couch. Which, also means that as usual when sleeping on the couch I woke up early. It used to be a comfortable couch, but it has seen better days, and the remaining days are numbered.

I woke up early (8:30 or so) finished watching the remaining DS9 disc that I had. Afterwards, I went to get the mail. Two reasons there. Gina told me that her parents sent me a package (ie birthday gift) and I had another DS9 disc waiting for me.) That was probably close to 10:30am.

I received a snazzy looking orange tie, a little bit of a retro feel to it. When I wear it I will post a pic. And some dress socks. Now, of course dress socks at first mention sound like a bad gift. But for me they are not. I am not sure what happens to all of the dress socks I buy. But I know that I am always in short supply. Personally I think the dogs are eating them or dragging them into the backyard.

I should mention that my pops got me a very good and again practical gift. A gift certificate for Northwest Airlines. It should pay for a flight home and part of a flight for Gina. This means that we can fly home for x-mas and not break the bank. (Remember, when we fly we have to pay to have someone watch the petting zoo. New pet sitter is going to be around $35/day.)

Back to the festivities. Gina brought in my gifts and asked me. "Do you want them wrapped?". To which I replied "Nah, just a waste of paper. But make sure you wrap the x-mas gifts."

Gina got me a subscription to The Economist. I love that magazine, it appeals to the "Amateur Economist" in me, more on that later.

She also got me a DVD player for my home office. That way I can watch DS9 in there and not hog the whole living room. She also got me a little carrying case for my MP3 player that can also hold my headphones and some other stuff.

We went to Enchiladas y Mas (Enchildas & More) for breakfast. I had potatoes (papas), refried beans (frijoles refritos), egg & chorizo taco (huevos y chorizo taquito) and a barbacoa taco (usually cows head, not sure but it was beef). When we had the barbacoa at Arrandas it was very, very good. The barbacoa at Enchiladas y Mas was not as good. Everything else was great.

We decided that we wanted to go to a movie. I had wanted to see Invincible that came out a week or so ago. The gateway had one at around 12:20. We headed over there. Popcorn is a vice for me, luckily they had burned the popcorn and that burned popcorn smell is just not enticing. Not that I needed popcorn, seeing as we just had a very filling brunch.

Invincible was a GREAT movie. I was never into sports, probably for the same reasons I don't like manual labor. However, movies like Invicible, Any Given Sunday and Mystery Alaska make me wish I had gotten into sports as a kid. My boss has joked around with me joining his hockey team, in the off season. Who knows, who knows. But Invincible made me wish I had played some football in high school.

While, as a former AMC Usher I do not condone the act of theatre hopping. I cannot say that I have never done it. I would have to say that if the theatr was truly looking to prevent this they can. I mean at theatres like the Gateway Regal, they open themselves up to this when they rip tickets at the front door. Rather than down by the two main halls they have.

While, ripping the tickets at the front door does help to ensure that everyone that is in the building has a ticket. It means that your staff isn't conistently in those hallways making sure that no one is coming out and going back in without a ticket to the individual theatres.

At the AMC Elmwood Plaza 8, we ripped tickets at the door. But we only have 8 theatres these guys have around 24. I think there are like 12 in each wing.

Anyway, I just want to say that The Last Kiss was also a good movie. I bought a Soda and some Nerd's rope, again the popcorn didn't smell good enough to buy. The Last Kiss was a movie I wanted to see because of the actors in it, I had no idea what the premise of the movie was.

After, the movies we headed home. We stopped at Cavenders and I bought a new wallet. I will keep the old one as a keepsake, but it was time to retire it. The new one is similar to the old one, but different. Pics will come later.

We then headed over to Fry's. Gina had to return some headphones she bought. I had to pick up an RCA-RF/Coax converter, for my DVD player to connect to the little TV I have in the office. Oh yeah, a monsoon decided to spring up as we were leaving. Gina got DRENCHED. I would have been the one to get wet, but we took her car and well she still won't let me drive it. Even if she was bleeding and on the way to the emergancy room she would probably want to drive.

We picked up a pizza on the way home and rented some DVDs. We had just started eating when her phone rang. It was Anthony, calling to let us know that the MSU - Notre Dame game was on. An event that had completely slipped my mind.

The rest of the story you know.

Laterz

So the movie Pulse came out last Friday. The trailers on TV made the movie look very, very scary. Ghosts coming out of computers and printers, that has to be bound to scare me, I am on a computer about 12 hours a day (should I be proud or sad?).

Jeremy and I had talked about scary movies recently. I mean I have been watching scary movies for as long as I can remember, the first one to really scare the fsck out of me was Poltergeist. I was frightened for years to come, at the house we lived in I had a room that had a tree branch that hit the window at night. The street light would come in through the window casting scary shadows. (Mind you I was about 5 or 6 when i saw the movie on TV.)

Point being I am no stranger to horror movies. But there are a few movies that make me not want to watch them, usually these contain lots of realistic gore, take Hostel. The stuff they show on TV make me twinge, I don't like watching surgery shows on TV, so a movie where they apparently take of people's toes doesn't really interest me, unless it is on HBO at like 2 in the morning. Let's get back to Pulse.

It SUCKED. And to do it justice, here is why I feel it sucked.

1. Not enough suspense. Not enough scenes that pop out and frighten you. The ghosts that did pop out at you looked like a bad tv broadcast (black and white and out of focus.), mind you I believe that is the effect they were going for.

2. Not enough gore. I don't need to see a person's toe getting cut off, but some gore helps, makes you squirm a litttle. There was some ghost, zombie type stuff going on. But it just isn't the same unless it bleeds red.

[Spoiler part a head]
3. It was preachy. The 'ghosts' which is what they effectively are, but never truly outright declared as such, drawn to our word because of technology. The computers, cell phones, PDAs, WiFi, 3G, the have doomed us all. Some colleged kid was working on "a telecom project" he was trying to make "Ultra Wide Band" but tapped into this set of frequencies that man was just not meant to enter into. The world was forever changed (in a bad way) due to man's need to be connected.

4. Plot flaws. So the 'ghosts' apparently require some form of wireless broadcast system (WiFi, cellular, etc) to 'invade' our world. But somehow a hacker "let them loose". He hacked the 'telecom project' guy's server and downloaded the ghosts, i guess. So he figured out that something bad was happening to him, and he had to use his haxxor skillz to fix it. Unfortunately his virus only causes the 'telecom project' server to crash, it then reboots, and the ghosts are back.

Ummm, so couple of issues, #1. If they travel via the wireless network, how did they stay contained until he haxxor, Josh let them out? Then there is the issue about the virus he programmed to crash the telecom project, yeah ok good, why not code it to break it more permantly. Not to mention the character, Dexter who was miraculousy saved by the virus (it crashed the server just as a ghost was about to reap him). Umm, he had a good minute or so there to pull out the god damn power cord. This has to be one of the HUGE issues that I had with the movie, this Dexter cat has the skillset necessary to reclaim data off a "fried" harddrive but doesn't think to unplug the god damn server after finally making it to the server room alive #1 fsck up. #2, after it 'crashed' and saved his life, he still didn't pull the plug.

Sure they may be dead, and stealing people's will to live (ie soul) but they obviously need the wireless infrastructure, which is powered by electricity. Not souls, electricity.

Then there is that red tape. Apparently the red tape 'blocks a part of the spectrum that they need to transmit'. Ummm, its fscking tape. So do they travel via wirless network, or via light waves? Because the whole 'spectrum' thing is portrayed as more of a visual spectrum and not a radio frequency when it comes to the tape. The red utility tape would need to have metal in it to disrupt the radio waves the ghosts are hitch hiking with.

So regardless of that, what about red light. If they can't 'transmit' through the red tape, shouldn't red light be somewhat fatal to these guys? The fscking army is called out in the movie, and apparently can only setup refuggee camps. Come on, someone somewhere must have said "Red tape = no ghosts, so red light = dead ghosts". And what about nukes. No freaking movie President is going to just sit there while ghosts take over all the towns, nuke them bastards.

But here is really my big issue. At the end the Army is using the emergancy broadcast system to inform survivors that they must ditch their cell phone and any form of wireless tech. So let's see the Army knows that the 'invasion' is powered by the wireless network.

So maybe the movie President said "We can't nuke every major city, because there are ghosts living there", but some movie General had to say "So let's shutdown the eletric grid."

Take some tanks and fighter planes and start knocking out the electric power. Because, while the nuclear plants might be able to keep producing eletricity with little to no human intervention (until it starts to meltdown), the coal and oil plants need people to ship in the coal, and operate the machines to move the coal.

Which means the invasion couldn't last longer than the power does. And if the surviving humans go and say "Let's see, electricity = ghosts, ghosts = death. let's keep the lights off for a few months guys. Good for the environment too I guess."

It was just crap. I mean Houst of 1000 Corpses was fscked up, way fscked up. Suspense and Gore.

Pulse was a lot of hype but in the end was just crap.

After this, I might just have to rent Hostel.

Wait, wait, what is that noise.

Oh no their here, nope not ghosts. The dogs, they are telling me it is time to go to bed.

Laterz.