Omphaloskepsis  -

+ 1 - 3 | § ¶Umm... blue?

As I was walking to my car from work this evening, a couple of girls drove by. The passenger said out her open window, "Hey, Blue!", as they drove past. I can't be certain she was talking to me, but there were no other pedestrians around, and she seemed to be looking in my general direction.

This was a confusing event for a couple reasons.

First, I was not wearing anything blue, so if she meant me, why would she have called me "Blue"? The only blue thing I had with me was an empty Pepsi can, which I was taking home to recycle, but it seems very unlikely that that's what she was referring to. I considered the possibility that this may be some new slang term of which I had been previously unaware, but a quick search of Google doesn't reveal anything particularly insightful.

Second, I couldn't even figure out the intent of the call. There were no associated sound effects (e.g. mocking laughter or a wolf whistle); there were no gestures (e.g. a blown kiss or a raised finger); even her tone of voice provided no clues.

Oh well. Just a random weird thing that happened today.

davidh

+ 1 - 3 | § ¶Quaking in my boots

Apparently there was a minor earthquake in northern Illinois this morning, just northeast of Ottawa (which is roughly halfway between Peoria and Aurora). Measuring a 4.5 on the Richter scale, it was the largest earthquake in Illinois since 1968.

I was still up at 1:10:51am, and I don't recall feeling anything here in Peoria. Still, it's interesting to hear about an earthquake occurring so relatively close.

davidh

--
Update 11am: Now that I think about it a bit more, I do remember hearing something around that time. I probably just figured it was a truck going by or something. But I'm still fairly certain I didn't feel anything.

davidh

+ 1 - 3 | § ¶My Upcoming Week, June 28-July 4

Monday

Work

No specific TV plans

Tuesday

Work

Last Comic Standing

Wednesday

Work

The Drew Carey Show -- two new episodes

Thursday

Work

Whose Line is it Anyway? -- one new episode, one repeat (the latter of which includes David Hasselhoff)

Friday

Work

(Perhaps) Goldeneye on Showtime

Saturday

Spider-Man 2 matinee with Jim

Sunday

Church

(Perhaps) Solstrom on Bravo -- Cirque du Soliel.

Fireworks -- plans TBD (friends? family? solo?)

The Dead Zone: "Total Awareness" (possibly tape-delayed, depending on what plans are D)

As expected, I do not include going to bed, sleeping, or waking up in this list (though I expect to do each an average of once per day).

davidh

+ 1 - 3 | § ¶IMSA Class of 1994 Reunion

Here's a look at the past 27 hours. . . (more)

+ 2 - 2 | § ¶Back to school...

Well, I'm headed up to Aurora, Illinois to spend the day at the Illinois Math & Science Academy, which I attended in 10th grade. This will be my first time back in just over twelve years. I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of old classmates, and a few old friends. And perhaps meeting many fellow Imsans (or Titans, though I tend to think of that as referring to the sporting teams more than the students in general) that I've gotten to know on-line, in person for the first time.

Early day today... Got up at 5:30 in order to be ready to leave Peoria by 7:00, in order to arrive at IMSA by around 10:00. This being my first drive to IMSA, I've allowed a bit of extra time in case I get lost, though hopefully MapQuest will not fail me.

This evening, I'll be headed into Chicago proper for the Class of 1994 Reunion. IIRC, over 75% of the class is expected to be there, including a few "non-grads" (as people who left the Academy before graduation are called), such as myself.

I probably won't get back until pretty late tonight.

[Side note: The timestamp has finally been adjusted back to Central Daylight Time, but the entries for the past few weeks (the ones between the upgrade and today) are still on GMT until I fix them. So it actually is just before 7am here, not just before 2am.]

davidh

+ 1 - 2 | § ¶Today and the Day after Tomorrow

Today at work, I found out that they have removed Pepsi Vanilla from the kiosk, and replaced it with something called "Pepsi Edge", which seems to essentially be "Half-Diet Pepsi", just with a better name. I don't know if this is a decision by Pepsi, or if it's just this particular outlet which has decided to stop carrying Pepsi Vanilla. I guess I'd better stock up at the grocery store, just in case, because I rather like the vanilla variety.

After work, I went to see The Day After Tomorrow with Jim. No spoilers here, just a quickie opinion on the movie: When TDAT was being preachy, it was very preachy, but when it was a sci-fi action-adventure disaster movie, it was a pretty good sci-fi action-adventure disaster movie.

davidh

+ 2 - 2 | § ¶Weekend recap: Connecting, Visiting, Passing, Treating, Enjoying, Recapping

The main events from this past weekend. . . (more)

+ 4 - 0 | § ¶My Upcoming Week, June 21-27

Since I'll be out much of the weekend, I'm posting next week's calendar a little early. And I'm posting updated weekend plans. As always, "The upcoming schedule is tentative and subject to change." :-)

Saturday (June 19)

Renaissance Faire at Jubilee College -- my first renfaire

Sunday (June 20)

Church

Eric mows lawn

Dinner with Dad (for Father's Day), Mom (for her birthday), Doug (for Father's Day), and additional family members (since they'll be there)

Quintuplets (tape-delayed)

The Dead Zone: "Collision" (possibly tape-delayed)

Monday

Work

(possibly) Dinner with Jim

No specific TV plans

Tuesday

Work

Last Comic Standing on NBC

Wednesday

Work

The Drew Carey Show, two new episodes

Thursday

Work

Whose Line is it Anyway? -- on ABC?! And here I thought they had cancelled it.

Friday

Work

(possibly) Biography: "Colonel Sanders: America's Chicken King", "Dave Thomas: Made to Order", and "Ray [A.] Kroc: Fast-Food Millionaire" on A&E

Saturday

IMSA Class of 1994 Reunion in Chicago

No specific TV plans

Sunday

Church

Quintuplets (if I like the pilot episode)

The Dead Zone: "Cold Hard Truth"

As is my wont, omitted from this schedule are such things as buying gas, writing blog entries, and paying bills.

davidh

+ 1 - 3 | § ¶Hey, weight a minute...

A few weeks ago, when Dave was in town getting Aaron packed up, he said that it looked like I'd lost some weight since the last time I'd seen him. I've been pretty much the same weight for the past couple years (give or take 5-10 pounds), so I sort of figured he'd simply remembered me being bigger than I actually was (it'd been, hmm, at least a year since the last time I'd seen him, so memory may start to get a little fuzzy over time).

However, today at lunch, one of the cashiers (who I see nearly every day) asked if I had lost some weight recently. I said, "Maybe a little." But that got me thinking (and thus, typing)...

I've noticed that, although my weight hasn't changed in a couple years, I am able to buckle my belt tighter now than I used to. So maybe what is happening is that I'm losing fat, and gaining muscle. Muscle is denser than fat, so the same total weight takes up less room.

Now, I haven't significantly altered my diet in the past few years (I didn't go on the Atkins diet when it became all the craze in people's New Year's resolutions, for example). And I haven't really increased or altered my exercise habits, other than doing a lot of lifting and carrying to move Aaron's stuff out, Joel F.'s stuff to storage, and Joel O.'s stuff in. (Still, those were only a day or two each, and are unlikely to have had any noticeable long-lasting effect.) So I'm not sure why this is happening... but apparently it is.

Anyway, my lunch break is over, and I should get back to work.

davidh

+ 4 - 0 | § ¶My weekend

So, here's how my weekend has gone so far. . . (more)

+ 3 - 1 | § ¶My Upcoming Week, June 14-20

Monday

Work

(Possibly) North Shore on Fox -- it's from the creators of The O.C., so I'll give the pilot episode a chance, and see if this is of any interest. But since my enjoyment of The O.C. is due much less to the soap opera-ish plots (which North Shore is likely to have) than to the geekiness of two of the main characters (which it's not likely to have), quite possibly the new show won't be as interesting to me.

Tuesday

Work

Last Comic Standing on NBC

Wednesday

Work

The Drew Carey Show, two new episodes

Thursday

Work

No specific TV plans

Friday

Work

No specific TV plans

Saturday

(Possibly) Renaissance Faire at Jubilee College -- A friend invited me, so I may go. I've never been to one before.

No specific TV plans

Sunday

Church

Eric mows yard

Quintuplets on Fox. I like Andy Richter, so I'll sample the pilot episode of his new series.

Following tradition, playing solitaire, playing with my pet, and playing with my neopet are not included in the list.

davidh

+ 2 - 2 | § ¶One day to new roomie

In less than 24 hours, my current time of living alone (well, with a cat) will come to an end. I've put quite a bit of work in this week to cleaning up the place... washing couch covers, vacuuming the floors, scrubbing various surfaces, organizing boxes of my stuff to take up less room, getting some of Aaron's remaining non-furniture items packed up, etc. And there's still a bit more to do.

In other news, Lyz and Landon will also be in town for a while, so it'll be like a mini Psi Phi Reunion*.

Also, on Saturday, I'll probably be going to the Tremont Turkey Festival. This is a 3-day event held each year, where the specialty is turkey sandwiches (and they are very good--I always get a few extra to take home and eat over the next few days). There's also a carnival, a bunch of vendors peddling their wares, a strawberry shortcake-eating contest, and bed races. I hope to meet up with former co-worker Susan and her family there, as well as current co-worker Deepa.

If you've never seen a bed race, there are five members on each team, along with one bed on wheels. Four of the team members stand at the four corners of the bed and push; the fifth person rides on top of the bed and steers. Halfway down the track, there is an area where the rider has to jump off, all five members run around the bed a full 360°, and the rider jumps back on. (This is sometimes called a "Chinese fire drill", though I don't really understand the etymology of the term.) Two beds at a time race in head-to-head competition, with the fastest teams advancing to the next round. The beds themselves are usually decorated in different ways--for example, one of the beds last year was actually a hospital cart, and I think (but perhaps I'm just making up) that the team was dressed in scrubs, except for the rider, who was dressed as a patient. It's certainly an odd sight to behold, but it's a lot of fun.

* - Speaking of the Reunion, I really need to get the T-shirt ideas out to the mailing list (and the alumni who aren't on the list) so we can figure out what the Reunion shirt will look like, and put out an official request for photos and stories for the scrapbook. I'll try to do that Saturday. (Psi Phi members: if you see me on AIM Saturday evening, and you haven't received an E-mail message from me about the shirts and scrapbook, please pester me about it. And if you have photos or stories, you can go ahead and send them to me before I mail the list.)

davidh

+ 2 - 2 | § ¶Work happiness

Since I posted a complaint about work last week, it's only fair that I post about good things, too.

Tomorrow morning, I may be giving a presentation on the application I work with to a group of new users. Now, I'm usually a bit nervous talking in front of people, but when I'm talking about things I like and know a lot about, it's not so bad. And I'll probably have to get up earlier in the morning to get there in time, which means going to bed earlier tonight, but that shouldn't really be a problem.

It'll definitely be nice to have a change of pace.

davidh

----
Update, 6:45pm: Well, it turns out that I won't be giving the presentation tomorrow (the scheduling conflict which would have prevented the regularly-scheduled presenter from attending was resolved). But I did talk with my supervisor today, and we discussed some plans for the near future which look pretty exciting. Part of that is going to be more new development, which is very happy news. Another part is going to be training on new technologies, which is always good. So the net effect of today is a much more positive David at work. :-)

+ 1 - 3 | § ¶My Upcoming Week, June 7-13

Monday

Work

Cleaning

Five Days to Midnight, parts 1 and 2 (Sci-Fi Channel)

Tuesday

Work

Cleaning

Last Comic Standing

Five Days to Midnight, part 3 (Sci-Fi Channel)

Wednesday

Work

Cleaning

The Drew Carey Show, two new episodes

Five Days to Midnight, part 4 (Sci-Fi Channel)

Thursday

Work

Cleaning

Five Days to Midnight, part 5 (Sci-Fi Channel)

Friday

Work

Joel arrives

Saturday

Tremont Turkey Festival

Sunday

Church

Tremont Turkey Festival

(Possibly) Five Days to Midnight, parts 1-5, in case I missed any of the others

The Dead Zone: "Finding Rachel, Part 2"

In typical fashion, collecting the mail, doing the laundry, and cooking dinner are not listed.

davidh

+ 14 - 4 | § ¶My 100th Blog Entry

It's my One Hundredth Blog Post. Time for a celebration!

(more)

+ 3 - 1 | § ¶RIP, Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan, February 6, 1911-April 5, 2004

+ 2 - 2 | § ¶Harry Potter thoughts

On Saturday, I went to go see "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban". My thoughts follow the break.

Also, enjoy this story from Peter David about a surreal moment in the theater. PLEASE NOTE: That story does reveal information about the film, but there's nothing in it that isn't also in the book.

Read on (note: spoilers about both the book and changes for the movie). . . (more)

+ 1 - 3 | § ¶Work annoyances

Frustration has really been setting in at work recently. . . (more)

+ 2 - 2 | § ¶Grab bag

[Error in peterdavid.net trackback: it was this other story that commented.]

A variety of items:

Skinned my knee falling down a stair this morning. (Not a flight of stairs, fortunately, just the bottom one.) Still a bit sore.

Took Joel to the airport. Departures are always sad, but I'm sure we'll keep in touch.

Got a box of matzah from Joel before he left. It was supposed to go to the club, but since nearly everybody's out of town all summer, I might as well put them to good use. And by "to good use", I mean "in my stomach". :-)

Had my yard mowed, and my gutters gutted. There were apparently dozens of tiny trees beginning to grow in the gutters at the back of the house. Approximate quote from Joe: "I've never known someone who knew so little about his house." When Aaron was taking care of these things, I didn't have to know about them. Now that he's gone, though, there are a lot of things I'm going to have to find out about home maintenance.

Amusing story from cnn.com: "Scrambled eggs shut down highway".

davidh