The Feast!

My wonderful mum gave Rossana and I a great gift this year. Tickets to the Trinity Church Boars Head Feast. Trinity really is a lovely church. Situated downtown across from CSU. I used to go visit it during my brief time college experience. Not as large or grand as some of the Cathedrals I've had the pleasure to see abroad, but it has a great design. Clean lines and not tarted up. A place of peace.

The meal was very tasty, and served promptly. The entertainment was passable and the company was pleasant. When I was asked what I did no one seemed to believe me. I even met the head priest and the director of the church. I didn't push it by telling them that I'm married to a witch and live in a hobbit hole. Weird overload and all that.

If you have a chance to attend I highly recommend it. Costumes are optional but make it more fun. No utensils, hands only.

By the way, this was a few weeks ago not long after Rossana had undergone foot surgery. The weather was brutal that night. Ice everywhere and her foot bound up, just off of crutches. And she STILL looked good. Check out the few pics I managed to grab.

Spending money to ...save money....wait what?

Times is tough. Money is tight. So we're looking at ways to make our pathetic pieces of green paper go farther.

The first was changing our health insurance. Apparently the arrival of the new year is the signal for our insurer to tack on another $100 a month to our insurance bill. This we just can't take. It's gotten to the point of absurdity. But I don't want to have no insurance at all, so we make our deal with the devil. We lower our premiums by accepting more upfront costs. A LOT more. On the up side, when you tell doctors or hospitals you are paying cash, the bill is often lower. The plan is to save the insurance for the really bad stuff.

Car insurance will be next.

Then there's the phone. The local phone lines are so decrepit that we loose 50 - 80% of our service when is rains heavily here. I can't get cell signal in our home (being underground and all) and I don't want to try a call-repeater or change our number (which is tied to our business). The answer? Ooma. Ooma is a VOIP system, like Vonage. But unlike vonage, you buy the hardware once and that's it. Voice quality is also supposedly better. It looks like a pretty sweet system. I bought the base unit and one satalite unit. But I need to get a router working in my office to hook it up to. I also need to test the system with my wonky internet provider. But if it all works, I will be able to change over my landline to Ooma (something Vonage can't do here yet) and start saving an ASSLOAD of money. I'll let you know how it's working in a few days.

The Machine....it WORKS!!!!!!!

Swiss watch found in 400-year-old tomb

Archeologists in China are baffled after finding a tiny Swiss watch in a 400-year-old tomb.

The watch ring was discovered as archeologists were making a documentary with two journalists from Shangsi town.

"When we tried to remove the soil wrapped around the coffin, a piece of rock suddenly dropped off and hit the ground with a metallic sound,? said Jiang Yanyu, former curator of the Guangxi Autonomous Region Museum.

"We picked up the object, and found it was a ring. After removing the covering soil and examining it further, we were shocked to see it was a watch."

The time was stopped at 10:06am, and on the back was engraved the word "Swiss", reports the People's Daily.

Local experts say they are confused as they believe the tomb had been undisturbed since it was created during the Ming dynasty 400 years ago.

They have suspended the dig and are waiting for experts to arrive from Beijing and help them unravel the mystery.

Keen - Pics of shuttle Endeavor

A great set of pics documenting all the steps involved in a typical shuttle mission. Very keen.

Bread and Circuses

I've just heard that Rome intends to bring back the Gladiatorial games at the Colosseum (or more correctly at the Flavian Amphitheater) next year. Sure, they will be watered down. But still. Gladiator combat IN THE COLOSSEUM! If the Romans were smart they would contract with the UFC and turn this into a money making machine for the city.

I would truly dig getting to fight here even if it's a demo or with non-lethal weapons. To stand where so many stood before you, being cheered by the crazed citizens of a bloodthirsty expansionist empire. Of wait, we have that already with Monday night football. And for real violence catch a Manchester United game in Spain.

As an aside, there are some Christian fundies that I'd love to toss in for authenticity purposes...

Whale Wars

If you've not heard of this show I urge you to seek it out. It's pretty cool. The 7 part show follows the Sea Sheppard's as they attempt to locate and disrupt the Japanese whaling fleet in Antarctica. In short, the Japanese can hunt down and perform "research" on a limited number of whales every year and then sell off the 'specimens' for a whacking profit. There are laws protecting the whales, but there is a grey area that no country seems willing to deal with. Unlike Greenpeace, the Sea Shepperd's believe in direct action/confrontation. Take a look at this trailer. You have to admit, it looks pretty badass.




But watching this group of seasoned veterans and mostly young volunteers is a little painful. They SO remind me of the kids I met down in New Orleans in the 9th ward. These were people who were driven. They were 100% dedicated. They were willing to risk life and limb for what they believe in. But they are also terribly unprepared for the task. Most of the volunteers have almost no training and as a result their very lives are at serious risk as they ply the Antarctic. Several people are injured as a result of stupid mistakes. Simple safety procedures are not followed resulting in near disaster.

They are also media whores. Which is important because they want to bring attention to their cause. They actually have two people board a Japanese ship, and then tell the press that they have been 'kidnapped'. They throw stink bombs and deploy prop fouler lines. All in the name of their cause. Which they are very dedicated to. They aren't taking pictures or writing letters. They are taking the fight to the enemy. They are brave and they are foolish and I hope they make a difference.

An attack on the President

I haven't checked the tv to see how this is playing out, but today a journalist threw his shoes at Bush.

At first this might sound simply strange. Something for the "Wacky but true" section of the newspapers. But it is far more meaningful than that. The reporter was an Iraqi, and throwing a shoe at someone is really a VERY big sign of disrespect. You have to hate someone to throw your shoes at them.

Remember when the statue of Saddam was pulled down? Go back and look at the tape of it, you'll see Iraqi man beating the head of the statue with their shoes. Now Bush is getting the same treatment.   Heckava job Bush.

Doing something like this takes balls of fucking steel. Would YOU make any kind of aggressive move toward the President of the United States? The guy who basically destroyed your country? Hell no! But this guy did.

Bush did his best to spin this as "Freedom of Speech" though I doubt the journalist in question will be heard from much again, at least in a professional sense. Sure, adults and especially journalists should show more maturity and professionalism that this. Despite everything that Bush has done over the past 8 years we still treat him with civility. Reporters still dutufully write down his words and repeat them knowing full well most of them are either empty or at worst lies. So how angry did this guy have to be to actuall lash out the way he did?

Caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake!!!!

Those who know me know that I am a great lover...of pie. I am partial to Cherry Crumb but I am by no means limited to cherry. Apple, Boston Cream, Raspberry, Rhubarb even banana cream. My taste buds are open to all and I reject nothing out of hand.

But cake? Well cake is a different matter. I love cake, make no mistake. But I am a bit finicky. I prefer yellow cake with a chocolate butter cream frosting. None of the "Double-death by chocolate with extra slabs of chocolate wedged in it" nonsense. Cakes with the density of peat moss. When such items are wheeled around on the desert tray I trun up my nose. My philosphy is simple: Keep it light and moist.

However...

There are the so-called "Art" cakes. Cakes that aren't created to be eaten so much as to be admired for their artistic beauty. I confess to a fondness for these wonders. I admire the skill of these bakers in the same way I admire ice sculpture. The technical challenges of working in a suger or water based media are many.

But there are only so many great artists in the world. For every Keneth Branagh there is a Keanu Reeves. For every 'Gladiator' there is 'Dungeon Siege: In the name of the King'. So I present to you: Cake Wrecks. A wonderful compendium of awfullness. Enjoy.

Zombies!!!

I want to see this film. I MUST see this film. Zombie Nazi's? Squeeee!

A sad confession

I visited some friends in Michigan two weeks ago and came away shaken. Their place, despite having two big dogs, was spotless. It was organized. And while I've always been a bit of a pack rat, I wouldn't say my place is a pig sty.

But it is.

The main part of our house isn't too bad at all. Rossana keeps it pretty neat and clean. But my office? My fortress of solitude whose condition I am solely responsible for? It is, in a word, awful. So I've spent the past week cleaning up. Really cleaning. Throwing out old magazines and paperwork. Cleaning off my desk. Dusting. Filing things.

It's not sexy or exciting work. It does not involve travel to exotic lands or dangerous characters, but it was long overdue. I must admit that a few times I got distracted by looking at art or stories or ideas I was playing with 20 years ago or so. But here was planty of crap too. And it had to go. It's a process I recommend. Cathartic and yet meditative.

Then I looked around the house and I realized that we just hadn't had time during the season to do much more that keep up with the mess generated by our work/lives. Try to keep on top or it. Put stuff away, send off packages, sweep up a little. But in truth the place hadn't been thoroughly cleaned since June.

Since Rossana was having a client over for a past life regression I helped really clean up today. But after a good vacuuming the carpet still looked...unvacuumed. Being a man I new that the only answer was a tool. But I'm tired of renting the rug cleaner from the hardware store. The whole miserable process sucks. Instead, we went on the internets and did some research. In the end we bought a run cleaner at Walmart. In this craptastic economy we've tried to keen a lid on unneeded expenses. But this purchase was am absolute necessity. We called it an x-mas gift for the house.

I ran it over what appeared to be the mostly clean and freshly vacuumed living room carpet. It was not clean. Not by a long shot. The machine extracted buckets of pure evil. I was so excited by the results that I gleefully cleaned most of the carpets in the house. (I am sure the novelty of this task will soon wear off) I swear I will never go a year between carpet cleanings again. Hell maybe I'll do it once a month. You could eat off our carpet now. It's exciting, in a mundane and domestic kind of way.

Hobbity Goodness

Stumbled across this by sheer chance. If I'm ever in New Zealand I'll be sure to stop by this theme motel. (Click on Hobbit theme motel on left)

Street with a View

Have you ever wanted to know exactly when the google streetview guys were coming so you could be outside in a yetti costume juggling flaming hams? Sure you have. And so did some clever monkeys in Pittsburgh who worked with google to stage a kind of 360 degree art scene.

It's pretty cool. It includes a marching band, mad scientists, an escape from a window and even two Dagorhir fighters with boffer weapons. Wow.

Go check it out.

I weep for our future.

So, are you smarter than your average Elected Official? Go ahead and take this 33 question test.

The average for elected officials (which was slightly worse than the general populace) was 44 percent. Worse? Wow.

I did 77%. Post your score in the comments.

Hunkering down

Winter is upon us. And while living in an underground house provides some protection against the cold, we're not completely immune to the weather. Even with a sweater is can be a little chilly here unless we crank up the heaters. But our electric bills seem to skyrocket this time of year so we're doing something about it. We've bought two insulating drapes to put over the large windows in our living room. We close them at night to keep the heat in. We've also did the old plastic insulation over the kitchen door and used weather striping to keep out drafts.

I don't know if it will help keep the bills down, but it's something. When the house was built there were no energy efficient windows to speak of. I wonder how much replacing them would cost. Probably and arm and a leg. And another leg.

And a pinky.

A clever Man

One night, 22 years ago, Leonard Bernstein showed up at Harvard in a cape and said that if 15 students and 2 bottles of Scotch were present, he would speak.

He did, and you should read it.

It will take a little time, but it's fascinating and oddly prescient.