Spectacular time against my will.
Posted on December 28, 2008 at 11:56 pm.
Today I woke up and felt sick. Also I felt angry for no apparent reason. Every little thing made me increasingly more irritated.
Knowing myself I am well aware of the fact that I have a quick wit and a very sharp tongue. Since I recognized that there was absolutely no good reason for my mood, I decided to not take it out on others, and kept my mouth shut all morning. I also did my best to avoid having to speak to anyone.
In the afternoon, however, I had previously made plans to go downtown with my wife and my co-worker. Although, I could have stayed home on the account of feeling sick, I decided that I may as well go if only to see how long I can go without ridiculing, bullying and insulting others.
We drove to the friend's house, and he had a pleasant and thoughtful surprise for us. He put a present under his Christmas tree, with a large, yellow exclamation point hanging above it. This is a reference to World of Warcraft, a game we both play. Geek humor, true, but it was cute and funny, and helpful in beginning to chip away at my foul condition.
Then we took the 12:50 Metra train downtown, and upon arriving had a very nice dinner over at Italian Village. The food was magnificent, and so was the service. Did I mention that both the ride and the meal were my friend's treat? Even though money is not an issue, it is always nice when someone does that. Needless to say, by the time I walked out of the restaurant, I was much, much happier than I was in the morning.
Next we went walking around downtown. We looked at the windows at Macy's and went inside to look at the big Christmas tree. After that we stopped by the Chicago Cultural Center and listened to a very nice string quartet that happened to play there. We walked around the building and admired the architecture, mosaics and the displayed art. Then we walked up and down Michigan Avenue, enjoying the cold weather and looking at lights.
At the Chicago Tribune building we looked at every single stone and inscription and entered the foyer to read the quotes on the walls. Then we went to the American Girl store. It is the most annoying place on earth, but visiting it once is probably necessary. Just to know that such a place exists.
On our way back to the station we stopped by Starbucks, where they sell a magical potion that always improves my mood - a venti mocha with whipped cream.
A 6:35 train took us back to the Wilmette station and twenty minutes later we were home, where I realized that despite being a dreadful threat to myself and others earlier today, I managed to have a really good time, thanks to the generosity, thoughtfulness and the good holiday spirit of my friend David!
Thank you!
And of course a big thank you to my dear wife Yara, who also tried to make today fun for everyone, despite a couple of snide remarks of mine, which I just couldn't contain.
Comment on this post - 3 existing comments.
Free Playboy for me.
Posted on December 22, 2008 at 12:01 pm.
By sheer luck I just landed a box full 26 Playboy magazines including the 50th anniversary collector's edition. Brand new, unopened and untouched.
Although I personally like Internet porn much better, I'm gonna keep these. Maybe one day when I am old, gray and impotent, I will sell them on e-bay and buy myself a BMW, which is known to negate the effects of impotence.
Comment on this post - 12 existing comments.
Free money for me.
Posted on December 18, 2008 at 2:28 pm.
Starting in January, my employer is switching to a new retirement fund contribution plan.
Before, it worked like this: people contributed up to a certain percentage of their salary (depending on age and years of service) and the company matched 200% of it.
For example, I contributed 2% and they contributed 4% for a total of 6%.
Starting in two weeks, they will contribute 5% regardless of whether I give anything at all. And on top of that they will match 100% of any contributions I make.
So if I keep contributing my 2%, they will add another 2% and on top of that an extra 5%, for a total of 9%.
Of course I can go as high as 5% in my contribution, which will make the total 15%. Not too shabby.
Woot!
Comment on this post - 7 existing comments.
Movie - Wanted.
Posted on December 18, 2008 at 2:17 pm.
Watched it a few days ago.
The good:
1) Nicely filmed.
2) Allusions made to video games, particularly the boss fights.
3) Some neat writing.
4) Some OK acting.
The bad:
1) Some shitty writing.
2) Some shitty acting.
The ugly:
1) Pathetic, predictable "plot twist."
2) Out-of-context fantasy elements.
3) Heavy use of unobtanium.
Comment on this post - 0 existing comments.
Movie - I am Legend (cont.)
Posted on December 18, 2008 at 2:12 pm.
I watched the alternative ending last night. It is not all that much better than the theatrical version I wrote about here.
Comment on this post - 0 existing comments.
Disaster strikes me.
Posted on December 18, 2008 at 2:06 pm.
My $4000 gaming computer kicked off yesterday. Here's what happened:
Comp refused to power on while plugged into the UPS.
I plugged it into the wall, and it powered on for a few seconds and then died.
I unplugged everything but the mobo and it was making a horrible siren-like noise.
I plugged all the stuff back in and took memory sticks out one by one.
Finally I tried removing videocards one by one.
So far I am only able to reliably reproduce the following:
1) BIOS error code 68 - undocumented - occurs when both videocards are in.
2) BIOS error code 88 - undocumented - occurs when one videocard is in.
Looks like I will be out of the game for a while. Fortunately I have 2 laptops at home and another one at work.
I suspect this to be either the PSU or the MOBO. I hope they didn't take the rest of the components with them. I'd hate to have to build another one.
Comment on this post - 0 existing comments.
Legend of the Seeker.
Posted on December 16, 2008 at 1:01 pm.
So I'm in the process of watching the first episode of the Legend of the Seeker on Hulu. Even though I am only about 1/2 way through, I can't help but to ask the following:
WHY THE FUCK DOES EVERYONE HAVE TO COPY STAR WARS?
What is it about the following setup that is so fucking appealing? Why does everyone who is ever out to make a fantasy movie or a TV show have to stick to it?
An attractive young woman (witch/princess/prostitute/unemployed) is fleeing a lieutenant (lord/student/captain/bouncer) of a scary evil overlord (emperor/king/chief/pimp). Meanwhile, an attractive young man enjoys a wholesome life of a country bumpkin (farmer/forester/fisherman/nerd) and cares nothing about high politics. Eventually, those who hunt the woman end up killing his parental figure (uncle/father/employer/bartender) and so his old life ends.
Nearby there lives an old man. Suddenly it turns out that he is actually a former (wizard/knight/kung-fu master/scientist) who was a part of the big game until he went into hiding for one reason or another. Often it also turns out that it was him who entrusted the young boy to his parental figure years ago, and lived nearby ever since to keep tabs and borrow money.
Coincidentally it is discovered that the young man is possessive of special qualities (magic/mutation/strength/lactose intolerance) that allows him and only him to defeat the evil lieutenant and subsequently the evil overlord.
Occasionally, especially if the man's ancestry is not known at the beginning of the story, it turns out that the lieutenant whom he was battling for the duration of the narrative is his closest of kin (father/mother/brother/granny) which makes for a dramatic moment.
Now... please, please tell me what the fuck is so awesome about this???!!!
Comment on this post - 8 existing comments.
Today's WTF.
Posted on December 11, 2008 at 1:44 pm.
I'm sure by now everyone's heard about the riots in Greece. A cop shot a kid and the country has been in turmoil for a week. People riot, destroy other people's property etc.
Well, apparently people all over Europe are picking it up as well.
Source: this article.
What stuck me as a somewhat curious development was the fact that Russians joined in on the fun, throwing improvised bombs at the Greek embassy.
This reminds me of the Soviet years, when everything was so perfect in the USSR, that the only things that caused people to behave like that, were horrible abuses of human rights in the West.
Right now, once again, the situation in Russia is so blissful, that there is just nothing to be outraged about. Those who feel like rioting have to riot over the abuses by the Greek police. The Russian police (or government) has obviously never done anything of the like. Especially not in recent memory. I am so proud.
Comment on this post - 9 existing comments.
Now listening to:
Posted on December 11, 2008 at 1:09 pm.
I made myself a CD of my current favorite songs to play in my car. Here's what I got:
| 1 | Rasputin | Turisas |
| 2 | Bye Bye Beautiful | Nightwish |
| 3 | I Walk Alone | Tarja Turunen |
| 4 | The Kinslayer | Nightwish |
| 5 | Amaranth | Nightwish |
| 6 | Jillian | Within Temptation |
| 7 | It Won't Fade | Sonata Arctica |
| 8 | Wanderlust | Nightwish |
| 9 | The Vice | Sonata Arctica |
| 10 | While Your Lips Are Still Red | Marco Hietala, Tuomas Holopainen, Jukka Nevalainen |
| 11 | Die Alive | Tarja Turunen |
And just in case anyone is wondering, yes I did actually purchase all those songs. Amazon MP3 store FTW! =)
Comment on this post - 0 existing comments.
Movie - I am Legend.
Posted on December 9, 2008 at 11:22 pm.
Tonight I rented "I am Legend" with Will Smith. This was mostly to test out my Blue-Ray player.
Still, I found the movie disappointing. Not that I had high expectations, but the beginning and the middle were actually pretty impressive. The ending could have been spectacular, but came out as a fart as opposed to a canon blast.
Well, apparently there is another ending on this disk as well. I'll take a look tomorrow and see if it's any better.
As far as Blue-Ray though... WOW! Spectacular is probably the best word to describe the visual quality. I wonder if it looks even better on a screen that's 1.5 times bigger than mine.
Comment on this post - 1 existing comments.
I think, therefore I am an atheist.
Subscribe to RSS feed.