Saw Catch Me if You Can the other day. Little did I know at the time that there are local ties to Mr. Abegnale. Good flick. Interesting character. I used some of those same techniques to get backstage at several concerts back in the day. It's all about walking with confidence and avoiding eye contact.

What's with all the house fires? My dad has been called to three since I've been home. (One was in my friend's backyard, and we watched from the upstairs window. Arson.) And now I just found out that one of my favorite people I deal with at work lost his house on Christmas eve. So sad. :(

I, the anti-shopper, went shopping in Omaha with my mom today. We had a good time. I found lots of books which were amazing bargains due to a going-out-of-business sale. Yay. I also bought a chair with some of my birthday money. A chair. Yes. It was the best encounter my behind has had with a piece of furniture in a long time. I am excited.

Be sure to check out the new New Year's song video "Thank God It's Over" by Jim's Big Ego. They are so great and so funny... and so you should send that to all of your friends for New Years.

And then in the Also Funny But Much More Disturbing department, be sure to check out the Carol of the Bells as done by a Burger King Employee. Scary. Who comes up with this stuff again? (That one was courtesy of Ern.)

One step closer to 30. Spent today with my parents watching Ocean's 11, which I found to be a pretty entertaining flick. Angela's family gave me a ring with my birthstone in it, Greg's installing my stereo, and my parents gave me a bunch of cool little things with the theme of "A Perfect Afternoon with Coffee"... including a new carafe, some coffee, and the Amelie soundtrack. Yay.

Now we're off to Grandma's for another Christmas party.

'Tis the season to be jolly...

I had a horrible scare yesterday. I was at my dad's shop, and he cracked his head on a skid loader. He fell to the ground, and when he tried to stand, he fell against another table to catch himself. He had blood everywhere, but he kept acting like he was fine. I insisted that he go and get stitches, but he thought he was fine. (Turns out that he went and got four stitches after I left.) Parents aren't supposed to get hurt. That was scary.

We're getting ready to do our family Christmas party tonight. It took me forever to wrap my presents, since they are more works of art than just gift-wrapping... but at least they looked pretty for one day.

Last night I saw a video of the navy's Heli-stat which crashed several years ago not far from where the Hindenberg went down. It was four helicopters attached to a blimp. It just seemed like not such a bright idea to begin with, if you ask me.

Anyway, I wish you and yours a very merry Christmas!
               

A joke from my brother. (Probably best appreciated by the Midwesterners out there.)

Two boys are playing hockey on a frozen pond in a Des Moines park when one of the boys is suddenly attacked by a crazed pit bull. Thinking quickly, the other boy takes his hockey stick, shoves it under the dog's collar, twists it, and breaks the dog's neck, saving his friend.

A reporter is strolling by, sees the incident, and rushes over to interview the boy. "Young Cyclones Fan Saves Friend from Vicious Animal," he starts writing in his notebook.

"But I'm not a Cyclones fan," the little hero replies.

"Sorry, since we're in Iowa, I just assumed you were," says the reporter and he starts writing again. "Hawkeye Fan Rescues Friend from Horrific Attack" he writes in his notebook.

"I'm not a Hawkeye fan either," the boy says.

"Oh, I assumed everyone in Iowa was either for the Cyclones or the Hawkeyes. What team do you root for?" the reporter asks.

"I'M A HUSKERS FAN," the boy replies.

The reporter starts a new sheet in his notebook and writes: "Little Bastard From Nebraska Kills Beloved Family Pet."

New server being set up today. Probably won't be online much. I'm going home-home one of these days. Updating may be sporadic until I get back to town... something about having the option of playing with nieces and nephews makes computers less attractive.

Chivalry is not dead.

Thanks to Jeff, the songwriter/producer from Mississippi, who walked me from the post office to my car with his umbrella during the monsoon that occurred here this afternoon.

In case you haven't picked up on it, I have been attracted to art of all different kinds here lately. I have a greater appreciation for it all of a sudden. This lady makes beautiful porcelain items. I'm particularly fond of the vase with the flowers on it for some reason.

Theme Thursday: Holidays


Our decorating was light this year,but just the
pretty balls add a little cheer to our ceiling fan.

I love Linda Eder. This love started in college when Trevin (the only person I know who is still infatuated with Debbie Gibson) introduced me to the world of Jekyll & Hyde. This musical became a bit of an obsession for us... we listened to it non-stop. (One night during stressful studying for finals, I called for a study break, stood on my desk and lip-sync'd the first act to my four roommates...complete with actions.)

I loved Linda more after my J-term class that year went to Chicago for four days. One of the shows we happened to catch was the pre-Broadway edition of Jekyll & Hyde. I was amazed by her. Less than amazed by Robert Cuccioli who didn't even hold a candle to Anthony Warlow's performance on the concept cast album from 1994. (Not to mention that they cut one of my favourite songs -- "Bitch, Bitch, Bitch".)

So anyway, last night I watched her Christmas concert on Bravo, and she was so beautiful. Really nice program.

Came across this place (via this place), and I am so thrilled to see that I am not alone in my disgust for the Wil Wheaton blog. If you'll note, I blogged about the Cult of Wil back in May, and my feelings remain true to this day.

Thanks to YES.net, I figured out my...

Song for the Day:
Dance Hall Days - Wang Chung
I never ever knew what they were saying in this song... so when I heard it this morning, I decided it was time to find out.

I've never asked you for anything before... so will you please go here and give this beautiful girl a 5 rating? That's my Manda, and she's "auditioning" for this show thing. You can vote once a day. I guess they are going to quit taking ratings at the end of this year, so that leaves us about a week to make sure that she gets to be considered for "Julie" on this Revengers program.

Interesting art by Joanne Lefrak. They are essentially giant paper gobos. Interesting.

I'm working, working, working. (For the most part.)

Happy Birthday to Jay! (And also to Jack and Hans on Sunday, but I already told them.)

Ouchie. A day without Advil suggests that I might have bruised my sternum. Home to drugs now. New computer came today... that makes everything better.

***My Almost Completely Fabulous Weekend***
Short Version
• Flew to Orlando on Friday night and got to stay with two of my best friends.
• Another friend got us free passes to Universal Studios on Saturday, so we spent the day there. It was great!
• Celebrated the one friend's birthday yesterday playing xbox on the big projector screen.
• Got into a minor accident on the way to pick up my suitcase so we could go back to the airport. May have a touch of whiplash, but I think I'll get over it once I can turn my neck again.

Long Version
My flight was delayed, which ended up being fine. I got to Orlando at 11:45 Friday night. Happy reunions with Jack & Manda.

Saturday the three of us plus our friend Brandon (who Jack & I toured with) and his wife and their friend Erik went to Universal Studios. Brandon works there and got us free passes... plus we were able to use his 45% employee discount for anything we had to purchase. Woohoo. I had never been there before, and I was so amazed. It felt like the happiest place on Earth -- yes, I know that is Disney's line, but even this article suggests that this place outdoes Disney. (And what I love most about themeparks like that is the feeling of walking down the middle of the street and not having to worry about getting hit by cars. Call me crazy, but I think that is great.)

The first thing we went to was the new Men in Black Alien Attack ride. It's actually a ride/laser tag game. You get to shoot the aliens and get points and compete against the other car and stuff. Thanks to Brandon's employee pass, we rode it three times in a row. Fun fun fun!

I got them to go on the Jaws ride... even though we feared getting wet so early in the day. We watched The Blues Brothers perform their Christmas carols. (And they had the coolest little machines that spit out suds that made it look like it was snowing.) We had lunch at Louie's. And we went to the Twister attraction... which was okay, but a little bit of a let down after the wait.

Before we left, we went to the Earthquake special effects demonstration thingy. At the beginning the guy said he needed volunteers to show how the special effects work and that needed a strong person for the first volunteer. We were close to the front, so we all stepped aside and left Erik in full view. (He does weight training and is pretty buff.) So he got picked. Then he said he needed three more volunteers. Everybody in our group pointed at me... so I got chosen. And he said to get even with them, he would make Jack & Manda be volunteers too. We got to be on top of this submarine thing in front of a blue screen to show how they made U-571... Brandon said that I got the acting award for believability. It was fun.

Brandon & Heather left at that point. The rest of us headed to Islands of Adventure.

The first thing we went on was the new Spiderman ride. We had 3-D glasses, and it really felt like these bad guys were hopping on our car and at other times we were falling to our death only to be saved in the nick of time by Spidey. It was great!

We waited and waited to be in the first row for The Dueling Dragons. We rode Ice. I love those hanging rollercoasters, and this one was really intense because it felt like we were going to run right into the other "dragon" coming right at us. Two enthusiastic thumbs up.

We had express passes for The Incredible Hulk coaster, so we barely had to wait in line. We were in the very last row for that one. I have to say that this was the smoothest and quietest rollercoaster I have ever been on. No whipping around. No jostling. It was perfect... and it was over way too soon.

Manda and I made the boys go through Seuss Landing and ride the Caro-Seuss-El.

That night we just laid low. When Jack got home after his Christmas party, we watched Blade II. (We promised each other that we weren't going to see it until the other person was with us, so this was our first chance. Yay!)

After church yesterday, we went out for lunch with Erik & Brandon for Jack's birthday. Then in the afternoon, Jack, Brandon and I hooked the xbox up to the projector at the church and played on the big screen. There was much Tony Hawk and Ghost Recon played by all.

Then for the grand finale of the afternoon... Manda and I were headed back to the house to get my suitcase so I would get to the airport in time. It's a bit of a blur, but the cars in front of us slammed on their brakes, we slammed on our brakes (though her brakes have been causing problems lately), and then we slammed into the car in front of us who then slammed into the car in front of them... which happened to be a Jaguar, incidentally. Manda freaked. Jack came. I comforted. We still made it to the airport in time. My neck is sore, and I'm sure I must have a diagonal bruise across my front where the seatbelt was... I just can't tip my head down far enough to see. :)

Song for the Day:
Whiplash - Beanbag
Ouchie.

Made it to Florida safe and sound... though I've never had such pain in my ears when landing ever before. It's all I can do to keep from poking a blunt object in there. Being with my old friends is worth the discomfort though. Even my godpuppy Maddie remembered me.

Jack has these cute little figurines from the Gnomy's diaries series by Annekabouke. I think they are adorable, and normally I'm not into cutesy collectibles.

Must sleep now. Big day tomorrow. Woohoo. It pays to have friends who work for themeparks.

Around here, I am considered the unofficial IT Helpdesk. It is no secret that the other gentlemen in the office are getting quite frustrated with their computers these days. More than once, I have heard them reminding themselves to bring a sledgehammer in to "fix" their problems.
    I had been listening to one of them grumbling at his machine for quite some time this morning when he yells to me, "Now my stupid tab button won't tab between fields in my Quickbooks program."
    "Try pushing the Alt button," I yelled back. (Gotta love our "intercom" system.)
    "Hey, it works!" he yelled with a hint of amazement. (Why do they ask me questions if they doubt I can answer?)

I dare say that nearly everyone has made a mixed tape at some point. I had dozens of them back before I had a cd player in my car. I just had not realized that some people were so hardcore about developing the perfect song sequence... making it into an artform, if you will.

Take Art of the Mix, for instance. I don't know if I actually get it, but these people upload the song titles and their artwork for their "albums" with catchy titles like Watching Sheep Watch You or Happy Baking Mixy Time or one of the more unique titles, songs stolen from mixes stolen from my car by some williamsburgh thugs when they stole my car. So then people leave comments about how these lists inspired them or something. ("Wow, I never thought listening to 'My Sherona' followed by 'Bohemian Rhapsody' and 'Livin' La Vida Loca' would stir up so much emotion in my soul. Next time you might consider 'Stairway to Heaven' or 'Freebird', because people like those songs." Okay, I just made that up, but people leave comments.) It's kind of weird.

First Class is kind of along the same lines, but not so much. I like this place better for some reason. It seems a little more informational. (And if you like that place, be sure to check out videos.antville.org. They post links to places that you can find music videos online.)

Of course, some might argue that I, of all people, should not be promoting this artform, because, as you can see, the RIAA specifically says that "mixed tapes and compilation cds featuring one or more artists" is piracy. And we all know that we shouldn't mess with the RIAA... with proof in this article about them busting a music piracy ring this week. I guess part of me wants to register and put up my track list for the Refrigerator Magnets pre-show music Michael and I put together last year. (Though Volume 2 was way more amazing.)

If you are on the planet Earth, you are invited to leave your message to the future with the KEO Project. It's a bird-like satellite they are going to launch into orbit that will supposedly return to Earth in 50,000 years. They want us, you and me, to leave messages for the future to tell about life here and now. The deadline for submissions is December 31st, so get to it! (A sick little part of me wants to fabricate some completely far-fetched scenario of what life is like... sort of a Jetsons-like image of the world. Bad.)

I think I just got recruited to sew costumes for some parade thing starting in January. A guy just stopped by the office, and Karl somehow got to telling him how I sewed my tie skirt. The guy sticks his head in my office and says hopefully, "You sew?" He apparently has 300 costumes that need to be made in the next six months and said it would be a great way to make extra money. Sweet. Count me in.

Merry Christmas to me. I just got one of these Combination Television/Radio/Flashlight/ Lantern/Sirens from a certain booking agency which shall remain nameless. Just in time for my drive to Iowa. Sweet as!

There's an article at penny-arcade.com by one of the developers of the new Treasure Planet game. I found this bit particularly amusing:

What's it like working for Disney?

Couldn't have been easier. I'll admit, we'd never worked with Disney before, so we, like you, weren't sure what to expect. Would it be design pressure from above? How much nit-picking would we get from the movie producers? Would we get anything from them at all? Why did they shut down Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disneyland?

If you needed a reason to brave the heat and stink of Cornerstone next summer, let me provide one for you. You may have heard it here first.

Happy Birthday, Dan, the magnificent light/monitor man. My, you've come a long way, baby.

Sometimes it is all about the little joys in life. Yay for unexpected phonecalls from dear friends in other hemispheres. Yay for unexpected lunch dates. Yay for clean light fixtures. (I had to change the lightbulb in the hallway this morning risking life and limb in the process. I decided to clean the glass fixture while I had it down anyway, and now it glimmers and shines like it never had before.)

Okay... enough happiness. I would like to take this opportunity to share....

Top Five Things That Annoy Me About Christmas (besides the gross commercialization... that's just a given.)
5. The Song "Santa Baby". I could live a long and happy life if I never heard that whiney, pouty, betty-boopy song ever again.
4. Tacky Yard Art. Not a big fan of yard art to begin with, people take things to extremes during the Christmas season. The phenomenon is much greater in the south. In the North, you build a snowman and throw a scarf around him. Down South, you buy a giant plastic snowman and set him up next to the giant plastic reindeer followed by the giant plastic Santa.
3. Running Lights. Tasteful lights make for a nice evening drive through the neighborhood. It's out of control when you feel like you are driving through Little Vegas.
2. Shopping. This one may not be fair, because I hate shopping anyway. But I would just rather stay at home when going to the store for toothpaste means getting pushed around by Over-eager Shopper Lady who is elbowing people as she grabs the prepackaged potpourri/candle set for little Bobby's school teacher.
1. Poinsettias. Whoever decided to designate this plant as the official mascot for December needs a beating as far as I'm concerned. I just really really hate them. I don't like the red ones. I don't like the pink ones. I really don't like the white ones. And I'm bothered by people who try to nurse them along until mid-March before they chuck them in the garbage. (Mother!) :)

In case you were wondering, here is how to be cool. That guy's Adventures of Freudy & Slip is pretty cool too.

Just when I was starting to miss The Bachelor, FOX comes out with Joe Millionaire... a reality series where the girls think they are trying to win the love of this nouveau-riche construction worker, who turns out to be just a construction worker. No million-dollar inheritance. Should be interesting.

Song of the Day:
Head Over Heels - Tears for Fears
This is my "yeah" song. My favorite part is the "yeah" after the line "I made a fire and watchin' it burn." That "yeah" makes me happy. Yeah.

I signed an email today as "The Misfit"... and as I looked at it, I asked myself, "Self, what is the actual definition of 'misfit' anyway?"

Thanks to the folks at dictionary.com, we can all be better informed:

mis·fit n.
1. Something of the wrong size or shape for its purpose.
2. One who is unable to adjust to one's environment or circumstances or is considered to be disturbingly different from others. :)

Be sure to check out LEGO Lord of the Rings.

Happy Birthday to Jusup, Randy, & Selim whose birthdays were today, yesterday, and the day before, respectively. So what if I haven't heard from you in four years, six months, and one year, respectively. I still thought about you.

Lines from Star Wars that Can be Improved if You Substitute the Word "Pants" --- "I cannot teach him. The boy has no pants."

Disturbing Auctions: "After all, as the saying goes, one person's trash is another's treasure. But sometimes, trash is just trash. This site is dedicated to the research and study of the most bizarre items found for sale on internet auction sites."

I knew I was afraid of butterflies for a reason! (via Tuvai)

Song for the Day:
You Are My Joy- The Reindeer Section
This is such a perfectly sweet song.
~I won't be there to break your sweet heart
But not being there might break your sweet heart
You are my joy~

This site saved me some trouble today: Pantone to HEX color chart.

Make Trade Fair - something to consider this holiday season while there is a soft spot in your heart and a desire to do something good in this world... choose Fair Trade coffee and make a difference. (Even Starbucks has the option.)

Song of the Day:
"C" Is For "Cookie" - Cookie Monster
In honor of Christmas cookie bakers all around the world.

I watched Ice Age with two of my favourite little boys in Tennessee this afternoon. Then we had group nap time, when I had another weird, bizarro dream involving being back on the road. The third weird, bizarro dream in the last week.

How do you search for a website when you don't know the name of the company and don't really know what products they have? Very carefully. I was looking at a catalog at Karl & Sandra's this afternoon, and I thought they might have some nice online specials. I forgot the name of the catalog.

So I searched. And I came across some other interesting online stores. Since there are only 17 shopping days left until my birthday, I thought I would share them with you:
• Stacks & Stacks - okay, I already knew about that one... but they have some cool, albeit overpriced, home goodies.
• Yevshan - the largest Ukrainian online catelog in the world -- bet you wouldn't have found that one on your own.
• BingoShop.com - I could hardly believe it myself.
• Wild Ties - for Dad or Uncle Bob. (if Bob's your uncle.) ;)
• Kitsch Shop - not the fanciest, but it still has some neat items.
• Van Dyke's Restorers - this one is a mental note for me, because I'm helping my mom restore our 100+ year old house back home.
• Pisces Catalog - one of the more... umm... interesting stores.
• Retro Buttons - I quit collecting pins, but these are unique.
• Hippy Gift - my personal favourite... I mean, look at these lamps.

So I thought I was out of luck... until I found Google Catalogs. I remembered one of the items in the catalog was a Lomo camera.... and Ta-Da! They found my catalog. Restoration Hardware. Yay.

I watched the first part of James Cameron's Bismarck. I love watching those deep-sea discovery programs for some reason. What made me smile the most is their little camera machines were named Jake & Elwood.

Song for the Day:
Send Me on My Way - Rusted Root
Because that Ice Age movie is so cute... and I haven't listened to this cd in forever.

Last night Michael and I cruised down to Chattanooga to see The Benjamin Gate. We were a little late leaving town (nevermind the one hour time change), but due to his bat-out-of-hell driving philosophy, we got there just as they were starting the first song. Good times. They rocked. Adrienne said, "Yeah, I knew it was 'Danielle plus one', and I thought, 'hmm, is she taking a boy?'" My response, "No boy. Just Michael." :)

Afterwards we went to dinner with QuietE and 15 other random people who showed up at Steak'n'Shake.... so we didn't get back home until 3:30. I didn't go to sleep until 4:15.

So imagine my dismay when Manda called at 8:22 this morning to tell me that she, Jack & Brandon were all awake and wanted me to be awake too. They went to some clearance sale at Universal Studios. The whole conversation was foggy -- I remember talking to Brandon briefly, until Jack took the phone to sing to me, and then I told Manda I was going to kill her. Revenge will be sweet. She goes to bed by 10:00 at the latest... I go to bed at 1:00 at the earliest. She is one hour later than I am. Muahahaha.

I made blueberry muffins and okra today. And now I have to get ready to go to Karl's for an office Christmas party thing. Bah humbug.

We Didn't Start the Fire flash thingy.

Song for the Day:
Cherubs - Arab Strap
If my life had a soundtrack, I'd want this song to be playing at some point.

Merry Christmas to me. :) There was a little stress around here when I found out that the boss (self-admittedly not the most computer literate in the group here) announced that he was setting up a new network at our office. He's getting new notebooks for all of us, among other things... and this is much better than the solution proposed the other day, so I am relieved. Now to set up DSL at my house, and much Age of Myth will be played. Oh yes, much Age of Myth will be played.

I love that Worst Case Scenario show. I am so prepared for life's diasters now. If you're going to die, you could just as well go out in a blaze of glory. ("Poor Danielle... who would have guessed the volcano would actually erupt?" "Yes, but they say the evidence showed she was actually using her laptop to try and paddle out of the lava flow.")

Okay, so I just came across the most fascinating site. The Free Fall Research Page. "A few people have survived a fall of thousands of feet without a working parachute. This research page is dedicated to recording their stories." There is a very helpful and somewhat comical article "Unplanned Freefall? Some Survival Tips" that might come in handy if you should ever find yourself falling from airplane cruising altitude. (Should I be dwelling on this when I am flying next weekend?)

Along that same line, but decidedly more morbid, is a book I just came across -- Last Breath. "Through 11 fictional 'scenarios,' magazine writer Peter Stark depicts lethal or near-lethal encounters with pulmonary edema, hyperthermia, avalanche, drowning, malaria, scurvy, dehydration and other dangers encountered by adventurers in remote locales and extreme situations." The excerpts are pretty grim, but yet I'm curious.

Happy Birthday, Krystal! (If you ever see this, I miss talking to you. I still tell people about our adventures in Michigan and Indiana -- the sitcom, pabelo, the drive back from Holland without turning left, cheese fest, and all the other good times.)

Song of the Day:
Crazy - Seal
I woke up with this song in my head. Maybe it had to do with my weird, weird dream last night.
~And through a fractal on a breaking wall,
I see you my friend, and touch your face again.~

I love seeing the businessmen downtown in their double-breasted winter trench coats and felt hats. There is something so distinguished about a man in a nice hat. My grandpa wore one.

The whole scene this morning reminded me of Aesop's great fable about the contest between the sun and the wind. They were arguing about who was stronger, and they decided whoever could get the coat off a man who was walking below them would be the winner. So the wind blew with all his might, but the shivering man just held his coat tighter around him. Then the sun's turn came, and he gradually shone brighter and brighter until the man was so warm he took off the jacket. Quite a lesson to be learned from that one.

Weird. I just ran across The Banner. There's a story there... the "Things Hope For" one... I was in The Music Man with Dr. Schaap's kids thirteen years ago. It was just a name I wasn't expecting to come across.

Today I had a client call me just to ask how to spell "recoupment". I hope that is how you spell it.

I found Inkblot Magazine while looking for downloads for my Song Du Jour. Kind of a nice place they've got there.

Song for the Day:
Polyesterday - Gus Gus

Hehehe... How to save money this Christmas.... :) Thanks, Tash.

I was thinking about my old apartment in Michigan yesterday. This was by far the coolest place I have lived in the recent past. My old roommate Krystal and I had the third floor of the old Weeks mansion. (The picture to the right was taken out of the windows at the front shown in the picture on that website.) That place was oozing with character. Hardwood floors. Arched ceilings. Beautiful windows. That was fun. I miss that apartment.

Found: Super cool retro t-shirts. Located at backwardglances.com. They've got Ralph Macchio, Jem, Michael Jackson, and Thundercats. I mean, come on. Those are totally rad!

After a little bit of searching, I found that I met this Guy (pun intended) at the airport the other day. We were both freezing on the bench outside baggage claim waiting for our rides. He said he was a writer who is in town working on a book. He was an extremely nice gentleman, and therefore if curling interests you, I suggest puchasing his last book.



I'm not coordinated enough to play guitar, but if I was, I would get one of those daisy guitars! :)

Ugh... beautiful, beautiful photography by Steve Szabo.

Here's a site for Star Wars costumes and props with instructions on how to make some of the key items.

Song for the Day:
Don't You (Forget About Me) - Simple Minds
~Don't you forget about me
I'll be alone, dancing you know it baby
Going to take you apart
I'll put us back together at heart, baby~

Frequent Flyer Tip of the Day:
The metallic threads in your Hello Kitty socks WILL set off the metal detectors.

One little happy-happy-joy-joy thing I discovered when I got home was that a new coffee house opened in the new Campus Center at the college which happens to be a convenient two blocks from my parents' house. Yay. Nate and I sat there on Friday night. Nice atmosphere. Cushy chairs. Good music. Excellent coffee. This is a very good thing.

Props to Jesse and company on the funny song they got on homestarrunner.com.

I am not a big fan of having commercials instead of previews at the movies these days, but I must say that seeing the ad for Warcraft 3 on the big screen was pretty amazing. I'm going to have to have Jack hook the Playstation up to the projector at the church when I go down in a couple weeks so I can play big games again.

On that note, I think Nate and I decided we needed to see every single movie that was previewed for one reason or another...
• Gangs of New York - It's Daniel Day-Lewis.
• The Life of David Gale - It's Kevin Spacey.
• Catch Me if You Can - It's Tom Hanks.
Okay, I can't remember the others.

And if I may mention one more thing about a movie preview... has anyone seen the previews for The Two Towers? Nate pointed out that showing Gandalf walking around again pretty much spoils that element of surprise for those who weren't expecting it. I suggested that maybe people would think it was just a dream sequence or hologram... kind of like Yoda and Obi-Wan in the later Star Wars flicks. Somehow he didn't think so.



I thought Die Another Day was pretty good, by the way. I grew up on Bond though, so maybe I am biased. Interesting camera work. Loved the opening credits sequence. It did feel a little long... but they had The Clash playing in the background, so that made up for it.

Song for the Day:
Die Another Day - Madonna
Even though I find that effect somewhat annoying, I like the song better after having seen the film.
~For every sin, I'll have to pay
A time to work, a time to play
I think I'll find another way
It's not my time to go~

Flying can be scary. Not entirely because you can plummet to your death... although there is that factor. No, what I am really talking about is the scariness of traveling alone and not knowing who will end up being your traveling companions.

In Minneapolis, I had to go from the furthest gate in Concourse A to the middle of Concourse F... which was essentially as far as one could have to go. The plane was boarding by the time I got there.

I got to my row. I was to be seated at the window. There was a lady, who was on the larger side, seated in the middle. As I was stowing my carry-on in the overhead compartment, I mentioned to her that I had the seat by the window. She just stared at me with this blank gaze and made no indication that she was going to make it any easier on me by standing to let me by or anything.

She scooched back a little bit in her seat, leaving me a good inch and a half between her chubby legs and the seat in front of her. I could not go over her, as she was holding a very large bag protectively on her lap. Oh, what to do? Climbing over from the seat behind was somewhat appealing, but I just mashed my way through as best I could.

I settled into my seat. Coat used for blanket. Book at hand -- and I prayed that, not unlike the widow's neverending jar of oil, I could somehow stretch the last seven pages of my book into two-hours' worth of reading material.

Only after a few moments did I realize what was really seated next to me. This lady was like a gurgling cauldron of mucus. Her breathing was labored and raspy. Every couple minutes a cough bubbled forth from the deep. She was sniveling and blowing and wiping and sniffing constantly. Not normally a hypochondriac, I could actually feel her savage germs encroaching on my space. I tried not to breathe. It was the longest flight of my life.

I did make it back safely, however. I think I am breathing a little clearer now. More tomorrow. Now I sleep.

So much seen and done. More to write later. Leaving again tomorrow.

Having a time. Wish you were wonderful.