Bamboo PC...

Some hi-tech company just came out with an eco-friendly PC, partly made out of Bamboo...

http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN1041987920071213?feedType=nl&feedName=ustechnology

... but just remember, don't leave it around your Panda Bear

Wii-hab

From commercial to real life, it seems people are using the Wii for physical therapy.

I can hear it now... "will you START playing that video game!"

Dexter or Serial Killer by Proxy?

Ok... I know I'm behind the curve on some things... the rise and fall of boy bands, SPAM, and now Dexter.

For the last few people who didn't know, it's a series about a serial killer who hunts people who escape the the law (like serial killers or serial drunk drivers).

It's a dark show. You see in detail as the lead character captures and tortures his victims, but since we already know the victims are, themselves, horrible killers, we can take a perverse pleasure in watching these monsters meet their vicious ends at the hand of another monster.

But the most interesting question... since we continue to watch the show, and viewers are what guarantee new episodes, aren't we just as responsible for the crimes Dexter gets to commit?

... A Little Scarier

This just in from the "World Just Got a Little Scarier" file:

all about a new strain of Ebola

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL2990582220071129?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true

No offense, but I think the four strains we have are more than enough...

<old guy voice> I remember when there were only three strains of Ebola </old guy voice>

This is starting to feel like an iPod, with a new version coming out every year!

Thanksgiving

Just got done the T'day meal and I'm taking a moment to reflect on what the day means to me...

A couple of years ago, Thanksgiving was a very different day for me. I've always had plenty to be thankful for and have always been aware of the blessings in my life, but for a couple years, Thanksgiving was always a personal day... I didn't go have a big meal with a bunch of friends or family, instead, I'd have a turkey hoagie by myself and just enjoy the day that way.

Now I don't want the image of me eating a sandwich alone to seem like a sad thing. It was the opposite, it was enjoyable not having to rush around here or there. It was my day, and spent in a very personal, reflective way...

Now adays things are different. I'm engaged and most years T'day is about rushing here and there, and all the other hectic commitments that I guess make up a life. This year Patty and I didn't go home for the holiday, we stayed local, and did Thanksgiving just by ourselves... and it was wonderful.

The Rise and Fall of a Dessert

I read this article recently about the recent awardee (is that even a word?) of Guiness Book of World's Record holder for Most Expensive Dessert.

It was created by a NY restaurant called Serendipity 3, and the recipe includes edible gold and chocolate that retails for $2600 a pound (yes, you read that right... that's about five times the cost of my first car, and about 2 times the cost of my second car, btw).

Here's a link to the article:
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN0753679220071107

but the real kicker to the story, is the follow up a week later:
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN1531592620071115

Seems maybe they should have cut back on the cost of the dessert and spent a little for fumigation!

A Geek Out Moment

Wow... here's how much of a geek I am... I ran across the following article about the new Star Trek movie (set during the early days of Kirk, Spock, etc):

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071108/film_nm/startrek_dc

I was way too happy to hear that the Pike character was in the film, and I'm sure I'm not the only Star Trek geek to feel that way.

Now to show my true geek-ness... any chance they may mention Robert April?

Two Great Tastes...

Much like the life altering development of the Reese's peanut butter cup, as seen in this historical document:



(BTW, what is this woman doing walking around town with an open crock of peanut butter? Is it BYOP to the deviant sex party?)

Back to topic... I have found the next great pairing of two things I love... I present Apple (as in the computer, not the food group or the record company) and Lego (as in those wonderful plastic bricks for kids of all ages!):

http://www.switched.com/photos/apple-podbrix-toys/

Enjoy :)

Great Weekend with Old Friends

I moved down here to VA about 7 years ago (around Aug of 1999) and I saw it as a chance of starting a new kind of life, moving in to a career I had wanted to be in since high school, even though I earned a college degree in a totally different area. It was also a chance to explore my life in a different direction than it had been.

In many ways I'm glad I did it. I know I'm a different and better person for the experience. The one way that still makes me sad is the friends I left behind. I didn't think it would bother me as much as it did at first, and though I eventually got used to the change, it's never been something I completely accepted.

That's why I was glad to go up to Philly this past weekend and see some of those people that I was closest to and just hang out BSing, playing a game and just enjoying each other's company (at least I hope everyone was feeling the love).

I miss you guys every week, sometimes daily, but it's good to know that I can still come home from time to time.

A Poem

I don't write poetry as much as I used to (this was the first one I've written in a year and a half), but I was writing a journal (ok, diary) entry and I used a phrase that immediately inspired me to write this poem. The poem has a title, but it's much to personal for me, so on here, it's untitled.

If only everything was different
and you were still here with us
Would you have remained in the circle
Or drifted away like a lost ballon

Would you visit on weekends and
Call each other during the week
Or would it be a card, an email
And empty promises to keep in touch

Sadly I would take any outcome
The good, the bad, the bright or the dark
Whatever you'd chose to offer
If only everything was different

Darth Vader vs Jesus

I just noticed an audio book at my local Borders the other day:

James Earl Jones Reads the Bible

let me repeat that... Darth Vader Reads the Bible

On the surface, I sure everyone thought it was a great idea. He's a well respected actor with a powerful commanding voice that would seem right for the material, but I'm sure I wasn't the only person to see that book and wondered... I don't recall, but is there any point in the scripture where God says, "Jesus, I am your father"... cause that would just seal the deal for me :-)

One Good Turn - The Temptation of Evil

Interesting thing happened at the gym the other day... and NO, I don't mean the fact that I was there. I found someone had forgotten a personal item after using a piece of equipment. It had been minutes since I'd seen anyone on that device so I picked it up.

Turned out to be an iPod, a little old, but one of the large video iPods. My first thought was to turn it in to the main desk. Then something inside me said keep it. Keeping it felt wrong, and not just because I already have an iPod (in fact I have two, a Nano and Shuffle), and not because I thought I was going to be found out. Something inside me said that if the tables were reversed, I would want someone to turn it in. I know it's not likely to happen (my sister-in-law lost a camera at the National Museum and no one there bothered to turn it in) but I don't want to live my live based on the philosophy of "that's what some people would do"... well guess what, some people eat other people, doesn't mean it's something I want to try.

Call it Christian upbring, call it karma, but in the end I had to turn in the lost item. It was the right thing to do; it was the right thing for me to do.

PA Ninjas

Hey, everyone knows about asian ninjas from all manner of tv, movies and books, but apparently Mr Miagi's been training more than just Daniel-son (and Julie -- bonus points if you know who Julie is)...

Apparently Richmond township (PA) lived through the onslaught of a horde of ninja recently. And by "horde" I mean 2, and by "ninja" I mean NINJA. In days of yore they would fight for coin and do the dark bidding of oriential lords (at least that's what we thought at the D&D table), but nowadays, it seems their goals are a bit more common... smokes, cash, and some scratchers. All I can say is... hum.

For more on the story... http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/25/ninja_blag/

Cupid Returns

In the last few years it's been more common for failed TV shows to come back after being canceled. Usually a successful write-in campaign from the show's most loyal fans can help sway a decision to cancel a show (such as Jericho, Touched by an Angel, and Cagney & Lacey -- to name a few). Others jumped networks to avoid cancellation (such as Taxi, Family Matters, and JAG). But rarely has a show been off the air for more than a decade before being revived... Star Trek (with the TNG series), and the new Doctor Who are the only two examples... that was until early Oct.

Now there's another one to add to the list, and in many ways stands above both ST and Who... Cupid.

What's Cupid? Well here's some info from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupid_%28TV_series%29

In short (if you didn't read the link)... it was about a "man" who claimed to be the Greek god Cupid bound to earth for not properly doing his job and forced to match 100 couples without the benefit of his magic bow and arrow.

He's locked up as a nut and convinces a psychiatrist that he is sane long enough to get out of the hospital, where he goes about trying to complete his mission. The doctor, tries to find out who he really is and uses him as the subject of her next book on relationships. Week in and week out, Trevor Hale (NOT his real name) tries putting together couples and is confronted with romance in the modern age. More often than not, he fails in getting his matches.

The show lasted 15 eps (only 14 shown in the US) and disappeared forever. It stared Jeremy Piven, who went on to STEAL the show on Entourage, as well as Paula Marshal, Jeffery Sams, and Paul Adelstein (Private Practice). Ever since cancellation, the show has been on several "Canceled Too Soon" lists and lamented about by numerous TV critics, but has never been shown in reruns or has had a DVD set released (unlike ST and Who, which have had both)

Now, word comes out that the show will be remade for the 2008 season, with all new actors in the key rolls... will it be the same? I don't know if lightening can strike twice... there was a special charm in the show (ask any fan of the show) and it came to help lift me up at a low point in my life personally. I'm rooting for Trevor and Clair, even if they look a little different from what I originally remember them... Here's to believing in a little magic...

Recycling

First off, I'm not one of those "green" folks who's all in to recycling everything from milk cartons to shoe laces, unless you make it convenient for me. It's not much effort for me to separate a few bottle, cans and paper from the rest of the trash. In fact I wish curb side recycling was expanded to include things like recyclable steel cans and those milk cartons I mentioned earlier. But one thing that really gets me is electronics.

I one had an old TV break down (as far as I could tell, it may have just needed a new picture tube) but the guy at the repair shop (and believe me, just finding a repair shop was the first hurdle) told me that it would be cheaper to replace it than repair it. Needless to say, I ended up getting ride of it, but it always bothered me that a very decent tv was trashed for no other reason than the economics of contemporary appliances valued disposability over longevity. And I know I'm not alone in this story.

Recently I was getting rid of some old computers, and I didn't want to have to just throw everything in the trash. I looked in to some of the reuse programs, where they refurbish them and donate them to schools or other places in need. I couldn't find anything in the area (plus they were older Mac computers). I looked into recycling on the Apple website and they WILL recycle an old computer with the purchase of a new one. While I don't need an excuse to buy a new Apple, I decided to look on.

I found some places that did recycle programs for free, but that was for a limited time and also a few years ago. The only place I found in the area doing a computer recycling program at the present time was Staples... yeap, your local office supply store had been doing a program where you can recycle old cell phones, pages, and rechargeable batteries for some time and has now expanded it to include computers.

The catch... there's a $10 dollar charge per computer (computer, keyboard, mouse), and a $10 charge for a monitor. It would be nice if it was free (like the rest of the program), but it was convenient, and I could believe that at least some of it was going to be reused, instead of the whole thing lying in a trash heap for a millennium. I paid the dough and dropped off the old equipment and I feel at least a little better for trying to do my part...

If you're interested in more info, here's the press release...
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=96244&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1004542

Geek Update

For more info on the story, here's an update:

http://forum.newsarama.com/showpost.php?p=4541443&postcount=1

Geeks with Spare Cash... Take Notice!

First off, no offense is meant by the use of the G-word. I'm one, so I'm allowed to use it... anyone else better step off or feel the fury of my pimp hand :)

If you or anyone you know has some spare cash hanging around, you might want to make a call and find out about getting your own copy of Detective Comics #27. If you didn't already know that it's the FIRST appearance of Batman, all I can say is... HEATHEN!!

Apparently there are a few (maybe as few as 5) copies of the book floating around in the world, and I think Nick Cage had a copy at one time (he's a big comic fan, taking his stage name "Cage" from the comic character Luke Cage and naming his some Jor-El, the kryptonian name for Superman... and I thought Kevin Smith was bad!!)

For more on the story, check out:
http://forum.newsarama.com/showpost.php?p=4540754&postcount=1

Afraid of the Dark

When I was little I used to be afraid of the dark. It's a common fear, since the dark seems to hold so much that we can't see, lurking outside the periphery of our vision, and everyone else seems otherwise unreachable (asleep) that there's a sense of loneliness that can add to the fear, but now as a grown up, I'm finding a new, different reason to be afraid of the dark...

I've always had problems sleeping, or more to the point, sleeping on a "normal"/regular schedule. As a very small child, my mother tells me, she would let me stay awake and sleep as I felt like. Later as a youngster I did have pretty strict curfews since I had school in the morning during most of the year.

As a young teen I still recall regular sleeping habits during the school year, but in the summer, I know I would stay up later and later and get myself all out of whack. And as an adult, that seems to be the norm and not the exception. In college I'd pull alnighters routinely and for no significant reason. After college I worked evening jobs that allowed me to have reason to be up late and sleep late into the morning or more often, the afternoon.

But the last year has been different, I'm still up late most nights, but I need to be up and at work early in the morning. No one's said anything to me about being late, I've been able to early almost as much as I'm late so I've stayed off some people's radar and I'm always willing to work late, so it seems to balance out. But I don't want that anymore... I want to go to bed at a reasonable hour, wake up refreshed, and not be tired at work. Or fall asleep while driving to (and sometimes from) work...

Things need to change and I've been trying... I've used OTC sleep aids (and I've been cautious not to use them too consistency for fear of developing a dependency) and have been able to start a regular schedule, or at least a different schedule. By different schedule, I mean that instead of staying up to 3am, I end up going to bed at 8 or 9pm for a few days. And once I get a few days going then I start getting worried about losing that momentum; the new fear of the dark begins, the fear that I won't get to bed early, that I'll be up late, late into the night and that the dark will have me once again...

Fakes on a Plane

Ok... so I finally got around to seeing Snakes on a Plane. What a dreadfully awful movie!

The specially effects were pretty bad (all the CGI snakes looked so fake) and the attack sequences were pretty ridiculous (everone one was bit in the most extreme places, including eyeball, breast, an penis).

About the only two things I liked in the move were Samuel's line... and this song (which also has his line). Warning, this is the uncensored version.

So Much for Consistency...

So much for writing this blog with anything bordering on consistency... but the other day I had a strange thought as I was getting a cup of coffee for myself in the morning.

I opened the cabinet and looked at all the coffee mugs I had to choose from for holding my hot bitter beverage and thought to myself... it's just the two of us in our apartment, why do we have over 20 coffee mugs? We could each use a different mug a day and still have enough to last us a fortnight--whatever that is :)

Insomnia

Don't know why I can't sleep...

It's not a new problem, I've been like this for a large part of my life. Something about the end of the day comes along and all I can see are the undone; the unachieved; the unfinished, and I find myself trying to squeeze out some sense of completion like wringing the last drop out of a damp rag. There's so much effort in the squeezing and so little result...

Maybe the solution is to put down the pen (or keyboard in this case), turn out the light and let tomorrow take care of it.

Goldilocks and the Three Stooges

I have a lot of interests. A lot of varied interests. Geek stuff like comics and D&D; "normal" stuff like jogging, mystery novels, and the Foo Fighters; and things just plain outside any realm of understanding (Barry Manilow and "Ace of Cakes").

I also like a certain soap opera, General Hospital. As I was growing up, after coming home from school, me and my older brother and sister had to share the living room TV. And somehow my sister got to watch General Hospital (I think it was because my mom also liked the show). Eventually I watched it. Now I come back to it like an old friend that I haven't seen in years.

Some of the faces are gone (Lila and Steve Hardy) as those actors passed on in real life, some faces are much older (Luke, Laura, Alan, Scotty, Robert, and Noah) and some are all together new (Lulu, Dillion, and Spinelli). And right now it's these new faces that have caught my interest.

Right now Lulu, a freshman college student, finds herself with several would-be suitors. Here's how the competition looks:

• Dillion is a young, good looking guy that Lulu had a crush on after she's put her feelings behind her, it seems he now has deeper feelings for her. These two have been friends (with tension) for a long time and the actor's have great chemistry together. He's probably the front runner.
• Milo is a goof (and I think the actor playing him isn't that good either). Nothing else I want to say about him (hey, I don't need to be objective here... no illusion of "fair and balanced reporting")
• Spinelli is a goofy looking, cyber-nerd. A combination of Spicolli from Fast Times and Willow (with a Y chromosome) from Buffy. He's hilariously written and is deeply smitten with "the blonde one" as he calls her (he typically refers to EVERYONE by these self-made descriptors as opposed to real names). He would be the "underdog" character and I know a lot of people on-line are rooting for him to win Lulu's heart.

I don't know who I'm rooting for (either Dillion or Spinelli) as either character is a "nice guy". I'm really enjoying the comical situations that they put all these characters in and I've always been a sucker for a love story. I know real life is never this cut and dry and happy endings really are sometimes just stories that haven't finished, so it's always nice to see one of these illusions played out on TV.

No matter what happens, as long as "love wins" I'll be happy with the outcome.

Comics and Captain America

I'm a geek... there's no denying that. One look at the "computer room" (read: my room) versus the "craft room" (read: her room) and you can see all manor of toys, D&D paraphernalia, and comic book strewn about. And while this is an accurate picture of me, it is not the complete picture (and therefore maybe not totally accurate).

But it's the comic books I'm thinking about right now. There's all this buzz in the mass media about the recent death of the comic book character Captain America and what a shocking thing this was (like a real person died). Anyone who doesn't think he'll be back ain't never watched a soap opera, read a comic book before or watched a TV show (Bobby Ewing, anyone?). He's as fictitious as Wily E. Coyote and just as likely to return.

Maybe it's important in a metaphysical sense, as Captain America is supposed to symbolize all that is good in America, that he is a symbol of a forgotten age (he was frozen in the 40s battling Nazi's and awoke to find a world no longer as black and white as it was back then). But in this day and age do those ideals still apply to America? Notice how in the recent Superman movie they humorously avoid the ending to the old motto "Truth, justice, and the American way".

Is there a place for Captain America in today's world? Is he an archaic reminder of the past, or could he be a beacon that might help in some small way to lead us out of the darkness that the modern age has cast about us.

I miss you Cap... and I hope to be around when you return, 'cause I think we really need you, now more than ever.

"October Road" Not Taken

Just watched 45 minutes of the first (1 hr) episode of a new show called October Road. It's been on for two weeks and I was planning on watching the first two eps in one sitting. Now, thanks to a really bad show, I just got 1:15 of my life back (and I'd still like the other 45 min).

I wanted to like the show, and I have no problem with the idea of man returns home to confront those left behind, but I didn't feel for any of the characters and as it progressed, I just got more and more upset with how disjointed everything seemed.

1) The music was ALL wrong. The opening takes place in 1997 but everyone is lip syncing to an old Boston song ("Don't Look Back"), which was a hit in the 70s (I think). And one of the guys is playing air guitar with a WOODEN tennis racket... quick, get that out of his hands and put it in a museum, 'cause it's gotta be the last wooden racket out there!
The music issues continue through out what I saw of the first ep. There's Gin Blossoms and early Collective Soul in what is supposed to be modern day. Please was the music budget so small they had to get rights to old one-hit wonder songs. I know the songs were lyrically relevant but it just disoriented the setting of the show.
I also didn't like the Kurt Cobain poster in 1997... seemed a little out of time as he died in 94 and a fifteen year old girl (in 94) may have moved on to someone else by the time she was 18 (in 97).

2) The dialog. Mostly sucked, but the stuff from the little kid was downright laughable... even Dawson and Joey would have done a double-take on this kid.

3) Plot... predictable. If the characters were more interesting, I might not have minded seeing them in these situations.

There were other issues, but I don't care anymore... one less show to watch, just leaves more time for writing this blog :)

Fragments of Life

Titles, names, tag, summations, are important to me. A way of trying to sum up everything in as neat and tidy a package as possible.

Titles can also be a guidance to the future.

The danger is in letting titles be limiting, instead of enabling...

So, why "Fragments of Life"... it seemed the best way to state that this is basically a diary (of my Life) but that it's also not inclusive of every detail (Fragments)

I've tried blogs before, never with much success... hopefully this will be different.