Kaiser The Great

Up To Date

2009-12-21T21:22:34Z

Once again, logged into Wordpress and there is another update. Just like last month. Six plugin updates too. Guess I should log into Wordpress more often, eh? Damn that Facebook. Seriously, it’s so much easier to write, “Man this month went by fast!” as a Facebook status update over writing five paragraphs about it on this journal. But then it’s a lot easier to look up my past adventures here than on Facebook, which doesn’t have an archive feature other than “Click Here for Older Posts.” But do I look at my past adventures? Not really. So maybe I’ll turn this journal into something else, but until I figure out what “else” is…

Here is the 2009 Year End Catchup, brought to you by iGoogle – helping me remember what I’ve done lately since 2006:

We celebrated Halloween much like we did last year, only with a few more kids and adults. I still find it funny that the adults outnumber the kids on this holiday. I don’t remember it being like that when I was a kid. Maybe my family needs to produce more children. (Working on it!) Anyway, here are the kids:

And here are the bored adults:

Good times. Next up, we had a faux-Thanksgiving at my parents house because my long-lost aunts were in town. That was the original plan anyway, but instead we just got some deli trays because visiting is more interesting than cooking. Here’s a picture of the original Kaiser clan where almost everyone is looking in the same direction:

Then my mother-in-law celebrated her 20th anniversary of her 21st birthday. I have pictures but I will not post them because she doesn’t like when I do that without her signing off on the picture first, and she’s not here right now.

Then at some point last month The Girl got The Dude’s side of the room complete. Isn’t she talented?

Wait, didn’t I already post that? Maybe it was on Facebook. Oh well, next! Still in November. My brother and his long time gal decided to get married. Shocker, I know. I thought they were going to do the whole “engaged forever” thing too. Most of us didn’t see the ceremony because they don’t like public displays of affection, I guess? But the dinner afterward was nice and everyone had a good time. Here’s a picture where they both look about as happy as they get.

Congrats little brother! Now we’re in December and The Girl gets the tree up ASAP because that’s how she rolls.

That’s right fellas, I did that too her! (High Five!) The Kid helped with the tree too, and I took pictures per usual. Then my Best Good Friend and I went to Star Trek: The Exhibit. It was fun, if not a bit small, and renewed my love of Trek for about three days. And of course, I bought a bunch of overly priced photos. Here’s one of them:

Season 3 Captain Kirk gut totally on purpose. (cough) Then The Kid had part one of her December spoilifercation process by celebrating turning six with a blow out at Chuck’s:

And that about covers October through December, not counting Christmas of course, which hasn’t happened yet. We’re having Christmas at our house this year, assuming The Girl doesn’t go into labor first. Should be fun. It feels like the last arc of this year has really flown by, and I guess I can see why now that I’ve lay it all out for myself. I’m a lot busier than I used to be, but it’s fun. The Girl and I have been ready for Christmas, gift-wise and decoration-wise, since November 30th. Not sure I’m feeling it yet though. Maybe because I’m more interested in this:

He’s not due until next year, and let’s hope that’s how it plays out but…stand by!

Originally published at kaiserthegreat.com. You can comment here or there.

I Say Thee Yay!

2009-11-24T20:36:52Z

I’m behind on posting stuff. But who cares, let’s look at the latest cast announcements for Thor!


Chris Hemsworth	Thor

Tom Hiddleston	Loki

Anthony Hopkins	Odin

Natalie Portman	Jane Foster

Stuart Townsend	Fandral

Tadanobu Asano	Hogun

Ray Stevenson	Volstagg
	???
Kat Dennings	???

Chris Hemsworth as Thor – He was cool as James Kirk’s daddy in Star Trek. Otherwise, don’t know much about him. Apparently he’s bigger in Australia or something. Might be on the young side, but it’s an origin story, so that’s probably a good thing. And Thor’s nigh-immortal, so why would he be old anyway? Thumbs up!

Tom Hiddelston as Loki – Never heard of him. Looks creepy. Thumbs up!

Anthony Hopkins as Odin – Ugh. I’m tired of him. He plays the same role in ever movie and the role he plays is nothing like how I perceive Odin. Thumbs down!

Natalie Portman as Jane Foster – Ugh again. I’m sure she can play a nurse pining for a god just fine, but I’m tired of her eeking into my geek movies. Especially since she never seems to appreciate the success she gets from being in them. Thumbs down!

Stuart Townsend as Fandral – All I know him from is Queen of the Damned but sure, why not? Thumbs up!

Tadanobu Asano as Hogun – Never heard of him, but he looks like he could be mean and stuff. Thumbs up!

Ray Stevenson as Volstagg – I liked him in Rome, but they better make him a lot fatter and hairier. He was also just in a Marvel movie that tanked, but it probably wasn’t his fault. Thumbs up!

Kat Dennings as ??? – Hard to say when you don’t know who she’s playing. Lady Sif? Actually, I don’t care who she’s playing, she always comes off as stoned. Thumbs down!

I have no idea how this movie is going to turn out. Kenneth Branagh at the helm is probably a plus. Not to say that I’m his biggest fan, but at least the movie won’t be silly or gimmicky. I’m curious how they will accomplish melding a heavily based magic film with the likes of Iron Man or Spider-Man. Hopefully well since all these people are supposed to join in Avengers, which will be the absolute coolest thing ever if Marvel can pull that off, especially before DC!

Oh and…!


Samuel L. Jackson	Nick Fury

Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury – Another guy I’m tired of, but you can’t argue with the likeness, and I love that he keeps popping in to tie all these movies together. Thumbs up!

Originally published at kaiserthegreat.com. You can comment here or there.

Everything’s Bigger and Junk

2009-10-26T19:09:32Z

Went to Austin, TX for work. Other than layovers in airports, don’t think I’ve ever been to Texas before. Can’t say I completely immersed myself in the experience. The problem with trade shows is that after the day is over, I’d rather find a quick and close place for dinner and then crash in my hotel room, rather than spend all my free time in tourist mode. But here are some things I learned about Austin without really trying:

That thing up there is what’s called a Great-Tailed Grackle. They plagued the block where my hotel was located. Like scary plagued. Only at night too, for whatever reason. Maybe that’s when they come out to get their breeding on or something. The first night we got there, we were dropped off at the wrong Hilton (because there are apparently three Hiltons in the downtown area located within five blocks of each other – it’s good to be Paris), and hoofing our way to the correct hotel in the dark and in the rain, we came across a tree that suddenly exploded with Grackles Gone Wild. Apparently we scared them! Every night after that, the sky and neighboring trees were filled with them. Every morning the street and parked cars were painted with their waste. I have no idea if Daphne du Maurier ever visited Austin, but I’m betting! Don’t believe me? Check this out!

Austin, TX loves their Texas Longhorns. Every building, every street, every time I turned my head, someone or something was sporting a longhorn symbol and colors. The sports dummy that I am, I didn’t realize the logo applies to multiple sports, so that helps explain its prevalence, but I still don’t see that sort of thing around here, and we have our colleges too. Texans are really into the pride thing.

Speaking of pride, the two times I was on the freeway I couldn’t’ help but notice that every car had a Texas bumper sticker. You’re right, I’m lying. It was more like 1 out of 3 cars, but dang! We get it people, Texas is the most awesomest toughest specialist place on earth!

There are all these big guitar statue things everywhere, painted differently, much like the cows in that other city that escapes me. I asked a waitress why and evidently Austin is know for its live music. I did not see or hear any, but it must be true because otherwise the big guitars all over the place wouldn’t make any sense.

This is where I am going to go to buy my bike. (As soon as I have money and learn how to ride.)

Originally published at kaiserthegreat.com. You can comment here or there.

Junk Drawer: Micro-Heroes – Old Template

2009-10-16T18:33:18Z

I got a folder on my server called “zzzfiles” which I use to store a bunch of junk I don’t know what to do with but don’t necessarily want to delete either. It occurred to me today I can just as easily store most of its content on my blog, thereby streamlining my file keeping and allowing the files themselves to (however briefly) see the light of day.

So let’s start with the Micro-Heroes directory. Back when sometime, I used to actively post at ComicBoards.com, and even moderated one or three of their boards. During that time, the Micro-Hero craze kicked in and I joined in along with everyone else. I won’t get into the whole history, but you can read about it here. I will mention that the part about storTroopers threatening a lawsuit was my fault, because I created a Webring for Micro-Heroes. I think all they were really asking for us to do was drop the Webring, but everyone freaked out and dropped the original template all together. Oh well.

The following are Micro-Heroes I created, that I managed to keep, in the old template style. I like the old template much better, way more cookie-cutter than the new stuff. I think there were a lot more of the old template that I lost, especially in the Green Lantern department. At one point I was trying to make a Micro-Hero for every known Green Lantern, but now I don’t have any! I wonder if someone out there saved them?

Captain America


Captain America	Nomad w/ Cape	Nomad	The Captain w/ Stark Shield	The Captain w/ T’Challa Shield	The Captain

Superia Stratagem	Ex-Patriot	Captain America w/ Plasma Shield	Super Patriot	Captain America Jr.	The Patriot

Wing Flappin’ Avatar

Star Trek


James T. Kirk	Spock	Leonard McCoy	Montgomery Scott	Hikaru Sulu	Uhura	Pavel Chekov

Command Uniforms

Engineering Uniforms

Medical Uniforms

Doctor Who - I meant to do all 10, but alas…


William Hartnell	Patrick Troughton

Miscellaneous


Iron Man	Nexus

Originally published at kaiserthegreat.com. You can comment here or there.

Galactic Surprise

2009-10-13T17:36:01Z

The Girl turned 30 this week. Or, as she puts it, she celebrated her first anniversary of being 29. We celebrated on her actual birthday with a little party at our house, so that The Kid could participate. My mom and in-laws were all in attendance. Then the plan was to go to Outback on Saturday, but (insert nefarious mustache twirling here) the REAL plan was for her mother and sister to take her out shopping so we could set up a surprise party at her sister’s house. Totally worked, and she got suckered. I was sure she was on to us, but I guess not, though now her hindsight is 20/20. Good thing I’m an excellent liar! (”Hi honey!”) And even though she has told me she doesn’t like surprises, none of us were maimed or killed, so I guess it worked out. This was my first planning of a surprise party, and while it was not my idea, and I did have help, gotta say it’s not all that fun! Found it to be a big source of stress, actually. Ultimately worth it of course, but I think on her 2nd anniversary of being 29 I’ll plan something out loud. The Girl handled turning 30 much better than I did. I had a real crisis of DC proportions, but she seems to have cruised through it. I guess it helps when you’re pregnant and have bigger things to worry about.

Next day, went to Star Wars: In Concert with my Best Good Friend at the San Jose Pavilion (home of the Sharks). The crowd was pretty good, though not sold out, which worked for us because we moved up a couple rows to give ourselves some elbow room. The music was, of course, amazing and it was great to hear it live. Sometimes the videos set to the music were equally amazing and moving, but sometimes it seemed like whoever made all those up was just mailing it in. But it’s hard to beat a stadium full of persecuted people all loving the same thing, cheering for all the same things that make you cheer. It’s very energizing! And unlike conventions, no discernible B.O. that I noticed! Aside from the concert itself, there were a bunch of Star Wars props in the lobby, but the crowd and lighting were too intense to score any decent pictures. What was really cool was, even though it was a 7-10 show on a Sunday night, many delinquent parents brought their kids anyway. It’s awesome to see that something I loved as a kid is still going strong for the next generation and it warms the heart to see a bunch of little dudes holding lightsabers and head banging to the Imperial March!

I created a site for myself called Desktop Geekery, so that I have somewhere to put the wallpapers I make for myself, instead of discarded them after I get bored. It’s also my first Wordpress theme. Even though it looks like the Default them (and essentially is from a style perspective), I learned all kinds of fun stuff about built in Wordpress functions to get it to automatically display the Wallpaper thumbnail and download links the same way for every post. Ginchy! Well I think so anyway…

Originally published at kaiserthegreat.com. You can comment here or there.

Awkward

2009-09-24T16:56:23Z

Was out deliverying a shipment to Hayward for work yesterday. On the way back, saw a Toys R’ Us and couldn’t resist. (Still working on that growing up thing.) I was actually looking for a “first toy” to get The Dude, but didn’t find anything that struck my fancy. There was, however, a huge Star Wars section right up front that pulled me in by its tractor beam, and amongst the fairly cool offerings, I saw about three of these:

Stormtroopers are cool. I get why, even though they are murdering foot soldiers, people want to own their toys and dress up like them. But this toy is a bit too weird for me. “Hey kids, now you too can question, torture and burn the Lars family alive!” Not that we ever saw this scene play out on screen, but we know the end result:

You can just hear Owen telling Beru to get back in the house. Shiver!

Originally published at kaiserthegreat.com. You can comment here or there.

Internet Explorer and Wordpress

2009-09-21T22:14:21Z

They both annoyed me today.

Internet Explorer

I don’t normally use it, but every so often Firefox is a big fat failure when it comes to printing (especially the transactions in my checking account) so I opened it today and decided to stick with it to see how IE 8 runs. Meh, about the same as what I remember. Every page I went to view caused some sort of installation request or gave me to Yellow Exclamation Point From Hell in the bottom left hand corner. The latter doesn’t seem to actually affect the page I’m looking at, but it’s still annoying to see the error, especially on my own site, which I decided to test while I had IE open, and yep, big fat failure. It also didn’t like the flashy social links I had in my sidebar. And you can’t right-click an image to view it! I must be wrong about this, it seems like such an obvious function, but heck if I could find that option anywhere.

Wordpress

I just wanted to swap out the images from my previous post. That’s all. Is there any easy way to do that? I couldn’t find one. I manually uploaded over top of the existing images, which works, except it doesn’t’ fix all the thumbnails Wordpress generates for each image too. So then I installed a plugin that is supposed to update all thumbnails, but it only updated some thumbnails, for whatever reason, so that didn’t work either. I ended up manually going through and reinserting all the images to that post (which I wouldn’t have bothered doing except I had broke all the thumbnails trying to swap out the images) and that of course wreaked havoc on Wordpress’s HTML Guessing Game program, so I pretty much redid the entire post, at least the table portion. Oh well. I decided to switch my theme to Default too, after encountering my site with IE, as mentioned above. No more Yellow Exclamation Point From Hell in the bottom left hand corner anymore, so that’s good. It manages to do ordered and unordered lists too. Kinda on the simple and generic side, but then so am I. It doesn’t appear to be W3C compliant, which makes me scratch my head (in confusion, not because I have lice), but I don’t think any of the other themes I was using complied either. Maybe I’ll keep shopping…

UPDATE: Actually now I’m trying the F2 theme. Whattya think?

Originally published at kaiserthegreat.com. You can comment here or there.

Name That Bot

2009-09-02T22:19:51Z

UPDATE: THE LIST IS COMPLETE! w00t!

Chop Shop has a great t-shirt called weRobot that features the silhouette of “51 celebrity robots pulled from popular culture references from literature, film, tv, cartoon, children’s literature, video games and even rock music.” Of course I want, but more importantly, I wanted to be able to name all 51 silhouettes. Alas…FAIL, but here’s what I did get:

(Numbers are clockwise from top)

Hal-9000
V.I.N.CENT
Conky 2000 *
Rusty the Boy Robot
Twiki
Robby the Robot
Gort
Giant Robo **
Techno Trousers *
Muffit *
Voltron
Maximilian
Optimus Prime
Dr. Theopolis
Tik-Tok
Jet Jaguar **
Cylon
B-9
Astro Boy
Marvin the Paranoid Android
K-9
Huey
Wall-E
Tom Servo
Robot from Robotron: 2084 *
Tin Woodman
Rosie
Mechani-Kong **
Robot Santa ***
ED-209
Bender Bending Rodriquez
Kryten **
Robot from Berzerk *
Crow T. Robot
Johnny 5
Mega Man
Mazinger Z *
Cylon Centurion
C-3PO
Robot from News of the World **
The Iron Giant
Maschinenmensch
The Terminator
Big Guy
Bomberman *
Mechagodzilla *
R2-D2
Bubo
Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robot
Tripod from War of the Worlds (how is that a robot?) *
Sentinel

* Those I didn’t get on first pass and had to research to figure out

** Submitted by commenter Joe Deeley.

*** Submitted via Facebook by Joel Gregor.

Originally published at kaiserthegreat.com. You can comment here or there.

He’s Got It!

2009-08-06T15:32:27Z

A buddy of mine sent me this. See? It’s not just a clever name, people! I speak the truth!

Originally published at kaiserthegreat.com. You can comment here or there.

"Mom's The Prez" - Coming to a Theater Near You

2008-09-26T21:22:34Z

New Campaign?

2008-09-19T16:32:08Z

Beards Are Evil

2008-09-18T18:20:15Z

Klingons
Originally uploaded by Elwyn

I wonder if the remake is going to go back to the original Klingon look, keep the new look, or avoid them completely. Sometimes I think I like the old look better, though they certainly look more alien today.

We've been watching the original Lonesome Dove mini-series at home as, without cable, The Girl and I have completely exhausted all the other movies we own. Finished it last night, and it wasn't too bad. At first, I wasn't digging it, but it ropes you in. Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones pretty much made the series, though so I am hesitant to continue on with the subsequent films and television series, as they have nothing to do with them (though their characters do), but we added it to the Netflix anyway. We'll see how it goes. I also added Thornbirds (The Girl's request - I'm not optimistic) and Roots, which I've always wanted to see but always put off. I guess we're doing a "made-for-TV-movies in the 80s" theme at the old household.

I want a MacBook independent of my regular HP, to play with and see if it's more fun than Microsoft. All I really do on computers is artsy stuff anyway (music, photos, etc.) and that's supposed to be their specialty. For now I shall stick with the HP though, as I have no funds to play with. (The HP hasn't been sounding too good lately though, which is making me wary.)

My good buddy jollyphatman is posting again, I encourage you all to read the latest exploit. Also, I love this guy's Bond reviews, a nice tide over while we wait for November 14th!

Quote #013

2008-09-16T16:40:27Z

"Life in San Francisco is still just life. Now if you want only one thing out of life too much, it's bound to be a disappointment. So, the only healthy way to live life, as I see it, is to enjoy all the little everyday things, like a sip of whiskey in the evening, a soft bed, or a glass of buttermilk, or say a fiesty gentleman like myself." ~ Gus McCrae, Lonesome Dove

Quantum of Kaiser

2008-09-15T17:10:15Z

Grandpa does not live. He died the first of this month with little to no suffering, from what I understand. First funeral I've gone to in, well maybe ever, I'm not sure. I don't remember any before this. It was nice as those go, and it was good to see everyone gathered together, despite the circumstances. I don't really know what else to say other than he was probably the most upstanding guy I knew, in terms of always doing the right thing by people, taking care of his family, being honest and hardworking, etc. A kind of guy this world doesn't make anymore, it seems like sometimes.

In other news, the wedding saga continues. Though I feel like everything is taken care of, The Girl's wedding planning book keeps getting bigger and bigger anyway. This is definitely a female sport. I hope all this planning pays off and everything comes out how she wants, because I think the world might be at stake. I think we have a cake appointment and engagement photos coming up, so that should be fun. (Did you see that last sentence I just typed? What has happened to me?)

Speaking of weddings and not being single, despite being ineligible, I would still like to plug a great holiday who's existence I did not get to celebrate more than once. Single Childless Adults Day is September 29th, so mark your calendar. Off the top of my head, I can't think of many in my life who qualify for this, but it's still worthy of consideration.

The Girl and I will probably join a gym here pretty soon. Actually it's more like a family rec center type thing, but it has work out stuff and free babysitting, so there you go. She wants to be in shape for the wedding, and I just want to get back on the wagon, period. To that end, I've made a pact with jollyphatman to run a 5K, 10K and 1/2 marathon by this time next year. (Or specifically, September 1st of next year.) So I guess I'd better start running, (though swimming is more appealing, and I think I will try and do both).

Me! Me! Me!

The Ballad of MTK

2008-08-27T20:51:21Z

Grandpa still lives. I've been visiting every Friday, and it's not as bad as I was originally dreading. As he isn't eating much, he's tired and drifts in and out constantly, and doesn't contribute much to conversation, but he knows we're there and he listens when he's awake, so I suppose that's enough. He was also watching the Olympics religiously, but now those are over, so we're trying books on tape, with mixed results. Strawberry flavored ice cream is his food of choice, which he can somehow eat while sleeping.

The Kid got a fever and started upchucking the other night. Everyone lost some sleep on that one, but I think we're about caught up now. Oddly, she's even cute when she pukes, though of course it sucked for her to have to suffer through all that. Hopefully the rest of us don't pick it up.

The Girl has been jobless for a few weeks now. Her last job was trying to pressure her into doing unethical things and, since she wanted a job closer to home anyway, we decided she should just quit so she'd be free to look full time. Not many bites so far, but one recently that looks promising, so we'll see how it goes. Either way though, we're currently not hurting for money, so no worries. Of course, with a wedding coming up, more money is better than less money, so hopefully she is successful soon.

I feel like Fat Elvis again, but am still unmotivated to really do much about it. Maybe The Girl should stop sleeping with me until I go back to the gym, that might work. Otherwise what is my motivation at this point, really? Being healthy? Feeling good? Living longer? Pfft! Speaking of exercise, I think I'm going to try and get The Kid into swimming lessons, since she's such a water addict, and we're also looking at maybe soccer, just because it seems kid friendly and active. (She was doing t-ball earlier this year - talk about boring!)

I am in a comic mood today and found a video for each universe.

The DC one is fan made video splicing set to the really cool song, "The Ballad of Barry Allen" by Jim's Big Ego, though oddly, the video does not actually FEATURE Barry Allen at all, but rather his protégé, Wally West. I suppose Wally has more footage, what with his appearances in Teen Titans and Justice League. Personally, I would have mixed video from the cruddy episodes of The Adventures of Aquaman featuring Flash circa 1976. I think the vintage visuals would have worked better with the song. (But then I do not have those videos and even if I did, I have yet to get around to learning how to splice together video and music, so I suppose the guy who made the video is indeed cooler than I.)

The Marvel one, as far as I know, was not altered or changed, and was an actual fight from the Spider-Man 1967 TV-Show. I loved this show as a kid. It does not hold up, but would probably be worth watching again just to Mystery Science Theater 3000 it.

Johnny Quest

2008-08-15T16:48:44Z

Been a while. I sport a shaved head now. I kept going shorter and shorter the last few haircut trips, and now it's short. I don't know if it's a good look for me, but I like it all the same. No more gel or fuss, and hot days seem easier to bear. Plus the older I get, the more ornery these two cowlicks sprouting from my forehead seem to get, so it was satisfying to exterminate them. (I heard little screams of protest as they were shaved off.) Plus The Girl likes it, and she's the one sleeping with me, so... The gray is still there though. Used to be, it would only show if I let my hair get too long, and a haircut would turn me back to a brunette. But now it doesn't matter how short I go, it's still there. In fact, I think it's more prominent than it was with longer hair. I look like Race Bannon, if you take out all the manliness.

After a month of battling, the doctors have decided to pronounced my grandpa terminal. Not really a shocker, as he's 80+, and in a way I'm glad they decided to call it quits, rather than making him fight painfully through tests and treatment until the bitter end. I plan to visit him tonight, though I must admit to not really wanting to. I would ultimately regret not seeing him one more time, I'm sure, but I feel like avoiding the whole thing for some reason. It's hard seeing him withering away (he's always been strong previous to this), and watch my grandma wigging out, and my mom exhausted from the strain of all this stress combined with her own cancer battle. I wish he would have stayed healthy and just died in his sleep, but then I suppose everyone wishes that end for everyone.

All alone in the office today, which means I have to work (boo) but it's also quiet (w00t). The Girl was asked to do unethical things at her last new job, so she is currently unemployed and going stir crazy. Financially we are okay I think, though. That said, it is good motivation to finally get around to selling the rest of my STUFF that's my slumbering in the garage for over a year now. eBay is the plan for Saturday.

I can't remember the last time I exercised. Last year, I think. The sloth was fun for a while, but now it's wearing on me again. I go through phases of inspiration, I guess. The Olympics have inspired me to maybe think about possibly caring again, but I still haven't done anything about it. Also, not that it's as much pressure for The Groom, being in shape for my wedding has also floating around in the back of my mind. But then I tell myself I have four and half months and eat another doughnut.

Quote #012

2008-08-15T16:11:03Z

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." ~ Jean-Luc Picard, "The Drumhead", Star Trek: The Next Generation

The Phelps Count

2008-08-11T16:48:25Z


08/16	Men's 4 x 100m Medley Relay Final	3:29.34
08/15	Men's 100m Butterfly Final	50.58
08/14	Men's 200m Medley Final	1:54.23
08/12	Men's 4 x 200m Free Final	6:58.56
08/12	Men's 200m Butterfly Final	1:52.03
08/11	Men's 200m Free Final	1:42.96
08/10	Men's 4 x 100m Free Final	3:08.24
08/09	Men's 400m Medley Final	4:03.84

Random Demand

2008-08-01T18:45:34Z

Mild Mannered

2008-07-30T18:28:53Z

Here's an oddity that occurs often, and recently just today. Someone sent me a link to this dumby dumb article, (I hate that superheroes and comics are in vogue now and Muggles get to read stuff like this and assume it somehow actually reflects real fans, but that's a gripe for another post), and then after sending it to me said, "So are you proud of being a Superman fan?"

Now...I am a Superman fan, so it's not like this person had it completely wrong, but in regards to this article, they were saying it as if, of the four options listed, Superman is my favorite. Not true, and big deal I guess, but this isn't the first time someone has assumed I'm all about Superman. In fact, it happens often. People at work think it, my parents think it, even the UPS driver tell me when he encounters a Superman clock or something at wherever I "need to go buy", as if I'm a big Superman collector.

Again, I like Superman. I have Superman movies and cartoons, I collected some of his comics back in the days when I did such things, I think his "S" couldn't be cooler or more iconic, and has far as power fantasies go, he can't be beat. But I like a lot of comic characters, and anyone that fights crime in spandex is okay in my book, so why am I often attached to Superman specifically? Here are my ideas:

A) Muggles find out I'm into comic books and immediately assume Superman because he's the biggest still. I like this theory, except I'm not sure he's the biggest anymore. Or, if he is, he certainly has competition with Spider-Man, X-Men and Batman these days, and yet I never get associated with any of them. The UPS driver never tells me about Spider-Man collectibles, and I assume he must come across them.

B) Superman is the boy scout, nice guy, generic dude, and so am I. I like this theory less for obvious reasons. Aside from the personal bashing, why is being a boy scout always associated with characters devoid of a dark side. You don't think Batman and James Bond weren't boy scouts? Where do you think they always learned to be prepared? ;)

Anyway, this post is fairly pointless, and I don't find any of it a big deal, other than a curiosity in general. Perhaps all open comic book fans get associated with Superman automatically, and I'm not unique. If so, that shows Superman's staying power, even if his comics and movies aren't doing so hot right now.

As for the dumby dum article, of those choices, I'd pick Batman, just so you know.

Stinking Roses

2008-07-30T17:47:54Z

The Girl's rents came down for a visit last weekend. I've met them twice before, once at Christmas, and once when we spent a week at their house in Arizona. This was probably the best visit so far, probably because it was on my turf, and I didn't feel like an out-of-place thumb twiddler. We had a good time, mostly just hanging out. At one point we went to the Garlic Festival, which I haven't done in years. Sadly, I can't say I've been missing anything. I used to love it, but this time I just felt the heat and crowd, and even the food didn't save it. Oh well, I'll go back in another five years. Her parents also finally met my parents, and everyone seemed to get along just fine, as I pretty much assumed, so that was cool too.

We went to go see my grandparents on Saturday, which wasn't so pretty. My grandpa has recently been diagnosed with stomach cancer and, though I don't think he's in any pain, is weak and not really eating, etc. Considering he's always been active and strong, it was weird to see him in a robe, pale and sleeping on the couch while we all visited. And of course my grandmother, who has always been somewhat prone to panicking and martyrdom, is losing it, so that just adds to the worry. On the plus side, apparently as of his last doctor's visit, his tumor is shrinking and he is now dressing himself and reading again (something he's always been passionate about), so we're not out of the woods, but there is some improvement. And on top of all that, my mother is still struggling with her cancer bout, having recently had to up her chemo dosage, so it's just cancer all around this year, for some reason.

On the wedding front, nothing really new to report, I don't think. We're pretty set until November, when all of it starts coming to a head. I still need a tux and a ring, and we just booked a photographer which, DAYUM is that expensive! I need to start taking more pictures, because that's a nice racket!

I finally painted the frickin' bathroom, so now all that's left is trim and doors and switching out light switches. It feels good to be done-ish, like finally doing a homework assignment I put off until the very last minute, even though there is no due date, in this case. We also still have to paint The Kid's room in Tinkerbell theme (we just found a bunch of figurines of Tink and her friends at a store going out of business that will fit nicely), but that's mostly The Girl's project.

After upgrading the SVCT website, someone from their group came along and said they had been working on a design, and would I mind implementing it. I didn't mind, because I didn't put a lot of work into design when I changed the site, I was mostly trying to clean it up and get it database driven, but I did find it funny that no one told the webmaster that someone working on a new look for the site. Good to know, eh? Anyway, the new look has been implemented, more or less, (still need some better images as the ones in the header are too fuzzy), and it came out pretty good, considering I had to translate a picture into code. I also figured out how to implement a real calendar, rather than just a list of events, so that was exciting. I think after this wedding stuff is over ("Hi honey!" *waves*), I might go back to school and get a more proper education about this web stuff. (Or maybe about networking and server stuff, I haven't decided yet.)

Magic Trick

2008-07-21T20:07:26Z

Went and saw the Dark Knight on Friday. I think dryponder's review is pretty much what I'm thinking about it, so I'll let him speak for me. (I am lazy.) To sum though, I have been looking forward to this film for some time, and it did not disappoint. It was different then I thought it would be, but holy bat-awesome nonetheless.

Also saw Hancock this Saturday. The first half was pretty fun and stuck to the story ideas presented to us in the trailer. The second half went in its own direction that I found arbitrary and somewhat boring, so darn. Ultimately, a good idea that went nowhere. Hey writers, if you don't have an ending to your story, maybe don't write it.

Worked on South Valley Civic Theater site with their designated designer. The ideas were cool, certainly better than I came up with, but now I have to implement them, which makes me tired just thinking about. I know once I start, I'll get addicted and finish pretty quickly, but it's the starting I can't seem to embrace.

On that note, I'm shooting to paint the spare bathroom tonight. Been putting this off for a long time, so I just want to get it over with. Every other room is done, but I somehow lost momentum right before finishing this last room. Let's hope I at least get a coat of primer up tonight.

Oh and Verizon sucks.

Da Future

2008-07-18T16:27:50Z

I went to see Hellboy II last night, and while waiting for vindicus to arrive, I hit Barnes N' Noble. (The theater was in a mall.) On my way to Barnes N' Noble, I saw a flashing advertisement on the floor, which reminded me of Minority Report in a way, and I was all excited about living in the future, even though projectors have existed since before Jesus.

Then we went to the movie and I bought my tickets through the touch screen computer they had stationed out there, and again, I was excited about living in the future.

Then the movie was over (it was okay, pretty much like the last one) and we decided to go to Barnes N' Noble again. On the way, we passed the projected advertisement and a little girl was putting her feet on it, and the mommy was commenting on how the little cars it was projecting were avoiding her foot. We laughed and wrote that off as coincidence and went looking at books. On the way back out, again there was that ad, and this time it was full of little monkey like things and a rolling ball going around hitting them. Having to truly know, I put my foot down, and sure enough, the monkeys dodged my feet, and furthermore, I could kick the projected ball and knock them over like bulling pins. It was awesome and I love living in the future.

Speaking of the future, a new poster is being released at Comic Con for the upcoming Trek film:

It's somewhat cool. I'm not sure I like "Kirk's" look of evil, (date rapist, or what?) and Bana is supposed to be a Romulan from what I've heard, so not sure what the round ears and face tattoo is about (are they revamping the Romulan look ala Klingons?), but it's still cool to see some actual faces for the promotion of this film finally.

And speaking of film, the Watchmen trailer has been released for the Dark Knight movie (OUT TODAY!) and so of course, you can find it on YouTube if you're quick enough. The videos keep getting taking off by YouTube, but if you search, you're bound to find one they haven't caught yet. The trailer didn't overwhelm me, but I'll still be in line to see it!

WWWedding

2008-07-17T16:20:16Z

Here's our official wedding site. More personalization, features, events and photos to come.

Fore!

2008-07-14T18:13:47Z

The Girl and I scouted a location on Thursday, and the place looked great and the package was practically all-inclusive (we take care of photos and clothes and that's it) so we went with it. So we're officially getting married at the Eagle Ridge Resort on December 27th. We're currently scheduled for an 11-4 ceremony, but if they don't book the evening of that day by August, they'll give us an evening slot, which I think we're kind of hoping for, though there are pros and cons to both, and either way works for me. "Why December?", I've heard about 50 times at this point - because that's the only time her family can be here. Besides which, apparently Christmas time weddings are popular, as this place had specific package options for them. And hey, we can get married by Santa Claus, so that's cool.

On Friday, I went to the Boardwalk with The Girl, The Kid, The Girl's niece (who's in town with her dad for a short stay and who we babysat for two days), my sister and her two children. Better than working, but I sure spent a lot of money considering I didn't go on a single ride. Welcome to family life, I guess. But the weather was good, and the corn dogs were yummy, and the kids were cute, and we all had a good time.

Saturday was spent at home, with The Girl having to finish up some dresses she's making for an upcoming wedding (not ours). The Kid was having some jealousy issues with her cousin, who needed more care and attention, as she's not even two yet. The Kid either wanted equal treatment with her cousin, (which didn't work as she's 4), or wanted to mother her cousin, so either way she wasn't winning, and getting in a lot of trouble for being pesky. It will be interesting to see what she'll be like if I make her a sister or brother.

Sunday we took both cars over the my parents and I washed them while the kids played, (my mom had my sister's kids). The Girl then dropped off her niece (whew!) and came back to make the family dinner. Then we went home, started watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, (I just finished the book Saturday), and then crashed. (I gotta say, I've never been a huge fan of Harry Potter films, but re-watching them after having read the book makes them even more lame to me. It's like they go out of their way to not include ridiculously important information.)

Seemed like a long weekend. I'm somewhat glad to be back at work for once, just to have a little down time. I just downed my second Doctor Pepper and it's not working. Boo. The Girl started her new job this morning. I haven't heard from her yet, but she's hopefully liking it. She looked hot this morning anyway, so that's important. Don't think it will last long, one way or the other, as the commute's a bitch.

On a geek note, I feel the need to turn in my Marvel Zombie card, as I've been on a DC kick lately. Not the first time obviously, as I find that world a refreshing escape whenever Marvel gets dumb, which is often. Found this cool site that has some cool content. Definitely needs a database makeover, but I like the Who's Who stuff that lets you click on a character and see their first appearance. Much more interesting to see the actual page rather than just talk about it. Good idea Bob!