Omphaloskepsis  -

+ 3 - 1 | § ¶Grab Bag

* Didn't have work last Friday, due to Good Friday.

* The sump pump went out Friday morning, and partially flooded the basement. At first I tried mopping the water into a bucket to take it out, but I quickly realized that it was much too deep for that to be at all efficient. So I sort of waded in and used a small bucket to fill a big bucket, which I took outside. This, too, was inefficent. I eventually started just bucketing water from the floor to the washing machine for temporary storage, but that filled up and the water was still just as deep as it had been.

* Went to get Joe to watch the Stargate season finales, but we got back to my place at about 7:05. So we decided to go out to Pizza Inn and get the buffet. Joe fixed the sump pump before we headed out... pretty simple, actually. Hooray!

* After supper, we came back and watched Atlantis, and thought that the first few minutes contained major spoilers for the season finale of SG-1. However, when we watched the repeat of SG-1, we found that it actually gave away very little of what actually happened, aside from one tiny fact (which was rather likely anyway).

* Went to Bloomington on Saturday for Dan's birthday. We were going to go to Grady's Pizza, but we discovered that their policy is that they do not allow any outside food or beverage, not even a birthday cake to be served after a party. Dad even talked to the owner, but he wouldn't make an exception. So Dan and Dad called all the people who had been invited and told them we were going to Godfather's Pizza instead. But since there were a few people who didn't have phones, we had to go to Grady's anyway, stand in their lobby, and direct anyone who hadn't heard the change of location over to the new pizza place. I think Grady's missed out on some nice profit by refusing to allow the cake in there, especially since we'll never go there again, but hey, it's their restaurant, and they can set whatever rules they want.

* Stopped over at Doug's for a bit, since he couldn't make it to the party. Had to stay outside for most of that time because he was smoking, though.

* Went by Kevin's afterward. He showed me Sith County Choppers, a highly amusing crossover spoof of Star Wars and American Chopper.

* I've been watching Invasion Iowa this week on Spike TV. Well, I saw the first and third episodes, but I missed the second episode. However, Joe has the second episode Tivoed (or generic-equivalented), so I should be able to see it.

* Big hailstorm on Wednesday, along with tornado warnings. The hail was only got pea-size, but it was coming down quickly and furiously. A close inspection revealed that my car did sustain a few little dings... not enough to really worry about, I think.

* Communications Officer Kristen was MIA at Wednesday's Psi Phi meeting, so for the third one in a row, I was Recorder for the meeting. For being unprepared for it this time, I think I did an alright job.

* Hung out with Joe again tonight. I had ordered a CD for him to give his brother for his brother's birthday... it arrived, and coincidentally, my car's "Service Engine Soon" light had recently come on. So, committing dual avian homicide with a single mineral projectile, I drove over to Washington. There, I delivered the CD, then Joe and I went over to Advance Auto Parts and got the car's "codes read". Or something like that. The code we got was rather vague... it indicated something about a small leak. According to Jarod, the guy at the store (not to be confused with Jared, the construction guy), that probably meant that the gas cap was loose, and air was getting in there. So we re-secured the gas cap. The light is still coming on, but according to Joe, the engine might simply be keeping that code until it's certain that the problem has been corrected. If it's doesn't go out in a couple days, I'll figure out something to do.

* Later, went to Pizza Hut and had supper. We talked about April Fools pranks. I was thinking of posting one here on my blog, but I think I've got a good enough one elsewhere that I didn't need two.

* Dropped Joe off at the Par·a·Dice riverboat casino, where he met up with his brother and gave him his gift. I didn't actually go on the boat, just... hmm... whatever the building that connects to it is called.

* This morning in the mail, I got a certificate thanking me for being a "Sustaining Member" of the Republican National Committee. The accompanying letter says "Your tireless hard work and commitment during the campaign was so important to our success [in the 2004 elections]." Though I consider myself to be a Republican, I don't remember joining the RNC, or doing any "tireless hard work" during the campaign. The entirety of my "work" was this blog post on October 30, and actually casting votes (some of which were for Republican candidates and some of which were not) on November 2. I've never given money to any campaigns; I haven't passed out flyers or made political phone calls. I wonder what list they got my name from.

* Got my taxes sent in late tonight. I would've done it sooner, but I had difficulty trying to fix my on-line TurboTax return. There was a form where I had initially filled in several rows with a label and a dollar amount, but I later found that some of those items belonged on a different screen. So I deleted the labels and made the amounts "0". What I should have done is deleted the labels and the amounts, because when it came time to check my return for errors, it said that I had to enter labels for those amounts. It wouldn't let me simply delete the "0" amounts from the error-detection screen, though, and I couldn't figure out where that screen was back in the regular part of the questionnaire so I could remove them myself. So now my return has a few rows with the label "n/a" and the amount "0". On the minus side, this may increase my chances of being audited. On the plus side, I filed my returns before the prices increased (on April 1), and I should be getting refunds from Uncles Sam and Abraham in the next couple weeks.

* I am now getting spam written in Thai. Does anybody know what "รับสมัคร พรีเซ็นเตอร์ ให้กับศูนย์สุขภาพ ฟรี" means? (I apologize if it's indecent, but the translation sites I know about don't do Thai.)

davidh

+ 0 - 4 | § ¶Quote of the evening

[Re: my haircut]
"It makes you look about ten years younger!"
"How old do I look now?"
"About thirty-five."
-- Becca M. and me, before tonight's Psi Phi meeting

If you'll excuse me, I need to go take out my teeth and read this month's issue of AARP Magazine.

davidh

+ 0 - 4 | § ¶Home construction, final update (for now)

The two small trees up near the front of the house were removed on Friday. An unexpected bonus is that the front of the house seems much brighter now. They had to be removed due to their proximity to the house, both because of the roots growing in and because their branches were doing something to the roof that kept excess moisture in there after rain (thus in part contributing to the state of the roof).

Also on Friday, the low-hanging branch on the tree in the back was removed. At some point (I'm not sure when), tar was applied to the crack to prevent further deterioration (such as from water), and I believe that it wasn't until Tuesday that the tree was bound to secure it together. Given the weather report that the next couple of days will likely hold thunderstorms with winds up to 35 mph, I'd say that was done just in time.

And on Friday, the basement flooded. I initially thought that the construction had something to do with it... it's happened before, but not since Aaron left last May. But it turned out that it was just a float in the sump pump getting stuck at an angle, or something like that. When Joe came over Friday night (see upcoming post), he waded through the lake, jiggled it a bit, which caused the waters to recede. For doing this, he is my hero. By telling me what the problem was, I can be my own hero next time. :-)

[Actually, I suppose it's possible that the construction did have some effect... the vibration from the roof, and there was quite a bit of vibration, may have caused the thingie to get stuck. But I would call that a very tangential connection at best, and I also have no proof that that's what actually caused it.]

The construction on the roof finished up on Saturday, while I was in Bloomington. When I saw it Sunday afternoon, I was quite pleased. It's a darker color than the tan-ish of the brick, but it still has some yellowishness to it.

Monday during the day, the bottom six feet of branches on the evergreen tree, which overhung the driveway and used to have a "bite" taken out of it so as to allow cars passage in and out without getting all scratched up, were removed. It does look a bit strange now, but I think that may simply be because I got used to seeing it the old way. Unexpected side effect of the trim: I can see down the street in both directions when backing out of the driveway now, so I no longer need to inch out a bit at a time to try to see around the tree.

All in all, I think this went rather well. Though now that that the roof and trees have been improved so much, I'm going to have to turn my attention to the gutters, the grass, and so on. *sigh*. A homeowner's work is never done.

davidh

+ 2 - 2 | § ¶Murray Baker Bridge Closing

Starting April 2, 2005, and going through October 2, 2005 (estimated), the Murray Baker Bridge will be closed. Taking I-74 across the Illinois River into and out of Peoria, Illinois, this bridge is crossed by an estimated sixty thousand cars every day.

I was working on creating a map to show alternate routes across the river, but I found that the Peoria Journal Star has created a much better map than I could. See their map, which is a Shockwave file. Note that you can zoom in and scroll around by using context menus (right-click in most Windows browsers).

It would be a good idea to try out one or two of the routes before the bridge closes, some day that you have time to spare, so that you can get used to the alternatives. When I came home from Bloomington Saturday night, I used the new "flyover ramp", exit 94 just before the bridge, to cross into downtown Peoria. But due to a lack of signage (or perhaps poorly-placed signage), I wasn't sure whether to take the left or the right fork when the ramp split, and I ended up guessing incorrectly. For future reference: Keep right to go to Peoria; keep left to go to East Peoria.

Now, a lot of the downtown entrances and exits will also be closing, so in order to get back on 74 headed West, you'll have to go all the way to University. Headed East, you will be able to stay on the road longer, but you will still have to exit by Glendale, as the Washington St. exit will also be closed.

For more information on the changes coming, see the Journal Star's special section, The Big Fix, or Upgrade74.com, the official site of the reconstruction project.

davidh

+ 10 - 7 | § ¶Blog Turns Two

On March 27, 2003, I began my blog. Happy Birthday to Blog!

davidh

+ 3 - 1 | § ¶My Upcoming Week, Mar. 28-Apr. 3

Monday

Work

Peoria Mayoral Debate on WEEK (7pm)

(perhaps) Whose Line is it Anyway?

24: "Day 4: 9:00 P.M.-10:00 P.M."

Medium: "A Priest, a Doctor, and a Medium Walk into an Execution Chamber"

Tuesday

Work

NCIS: "Bikini Wax"

Veronica Mars: "Betty and Veronica"

Wednesday

Work

The West Wing: "Things Fall Apart"

Psi Phi meeting

Thursday

Work

Tru Calling: "Perfect Storm" and "Grace" (season premiere) (tape delay)

Survivor

CSI: CSI: "Spark of Life"

Friday

Work

Joan of Arcadia: "Trial and Error"

JAG: "Death at the Mosque"

Battlestar Galactica: "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part 2" (season finale)

Numb3rs: "Identity Crisis" (tape delay)

Saturday

[Murray Baker Bridge, I-74 over the Illinois River, closes]

Hanging out with Joe

No television plans

Sunday

Church

Young Blades: "da Vinci's Notebook"

Kelsey Grammer Presents: The Sketch Show

davidh

+ 4 - 0 | § ¶Another day, another dream

Staged UFO landings, puzzling descents, and a mysterious trip to Africa in this, my latest dream. . . (more)

+ 1 - 3 | § ¶Daily update

Money recognition: At Ted's Barber Shop, Mike recognized and accepted golden dollars in payment for services rendered. At McDonald's, the cashier recognized and accepted golden dollars in payment for foods ordered, though she did seem temporarily distracted by them and thought I'd given her exact change when I actually needed to get twenty cents back. So one more success, and one success with distraction. I've only got three golden dollars left, so once they're used up, the experiment shall cease.

Construction: Apparently I misunderstood Joe... the two options were next Tuesday or this Thursday, not next Tuesday or next Thursday. Roofing work began this morning.

Barber shop: As implied above, I got a haircut and beard trim this morning. I'm going to get my picture taken tomorrow morning by a photographer from the Peoria Journal Star, and I wanted to look a little less like a caveman. I'm still bearded... it's just significantly shorter and less scraggly now. Last week, a reporter interviewed several Peoria-area bloggers, including me, and he wants to have at least one picture to go along with the story. I don't know if any of the other bloggers are being photographed as well. I don't know exactly when the story will be published... could be as early as Saturday. But I'll be sure to point it out when it does.

davidh

+ 1 - 3 | § ¶Money Four, Minutes Two, Construction Minus Six

Money experiment update: At Hardee's, I paid for a $5.45 with a $5 bill and a $1 coin. The cashier looked at the coin for a moment, then asked me, "You did know this is a dollar, right?" I politely replied, "Yes." Of course, for the amount I was charged, she couldn't've thought I thought it was a quarter, because that would've been less than the total. Then at Popeye's Chicken, I included a $1 coin in my payment, and the cashier seemed to accept it just fine. I couldn't see her face when she was at the cash register, due to the configuration of the drive-thru window, so she might have given it a funny look and then figured out what it was, but since I got my correct change back pretty quickly, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. Then, at McDonald's, I got paid for my breakfast with golden dollar coins, and they were accepted easily. So chalk 2 more up as successes, and 1 more as a possibly initially-confused success.

Kristen's not feeling well, so I'll be taking the minutes at tonight's meeting for the second time in a row.

Hmm, Constitutional issue... if, hypothetically speaking, nobody runs for Communications Officer next semester (since Kristen will be graduating), then "the restriction on holding multiple positions shall be lifted for this office, and nominations shall again be opened" (IV.Three.B). So in that case, I could run for Communications Officer. But would the restriction on holding multiple offices still apply to the position of Chief of Operations? When it came time to vote for that, would I be ineligible? It's an unlikely scenario, but I think the language should be disambiguated. This sounds like a job for the Constitution Reform Committee! :-)

Due to snow and rain, actual construction on the roof won't begin until next Tuesday. There's a chance the trees will be handled this weekend, but I don't know yet.

davidh

+ 0 - 4 | § ¶Construction update

This morning, I got up at 5:30. Not quite a record, but it sure felt like it.

Joe, Jared, and another guy (whose name I have forgotten) arrived right at 7:00. Joe came in and showed me shingle colors. I picked one that I believe was called "heather blend", which should be similar to, but a little darker than, the brick face of the house. Meanwhile, Jared and the other guy climbed up on the roof and measured it, then performed calculations for a few minutes to determine the official estimate for the roof.

The estimate also includes taking care of the trees (deleting two bushy trees that are right up next to the house; from the large tree in the back with the crack in it, removing a lower limb to relieve pressure, waterproofing the crack with tar, and binding the two main limbs together to keep it stable; and removing the lower six feet of branches from the evergreen tree in the front yard that overhangs the driveway, so that it doesn't look like somebody took a large bite out of the side of the tree (which has been done to allow cars to enter and exit the driveway without getting all scratched up by needles)). So that'll be done at the same time, and by folding that into the price, it makes things a little better mentally... writing one big check doesn't hurt as much as writing one nearly-as-big check and a rather-smaller-yet-still-significant check.

Combined, the estimate turned out to be lower than the rough estimate Jared had made for the roof based on an earlier visit, which is good. But it's still a rather large chunk of change. Though I've got enough money saved up to cover it, my reserves will be rather low after I make the payment, and I'll need time to recover. So I'm going to be cutting way back on stuff for a few months. Very few Amazon purchases (Enterprise season 1 will probably be my next purchase, and that won't be until May), eating at home more and getting take-out less, and so on.

davidh

+ 2 - 2 | § ¶Home Improvement

Tomorrow morning at 7, Joe and Jared are going to come out to the house to estimate the roof and begin re-building it. Their schedule opened up, so they'll be able to get to it a week earlier than expected. Joe said should take between 3 and 5 days.

Unfortunately, rain and even snow are predicted over the next few days. Let's hope it isn't that severe.

7am. I think that means I need to go to bed now.

Good night.

davidh

+ 3 - 1 | § ¶Saturday: Money III, Pepperoni³, and Wonderfalls 13

First, an experiment update. On Saturday, I picked up lunch at Arby's and paid for my $6.80 meal with a $5 bill and two $1 coins. The cashier looked at the coins with one of the most bewildered faces I've ever seen, and asked "Are these dollars??" I replied with a simple "Yes", and received my change. With supper, I paid for a 20 oz. bottle of Pepsi at Pizza Hut ($1.20) with a golden dollar and two dimes, and the cashier accepted it easily. Then, in the wee hours of Sunday morning, as I was driving Joe home, we stopped at a gas station. As I was filling up, Joe went to get a bottled water, and I gave him a golden dollar to use to pay for it. He reported that the clerk took the coin without hesitation. So tally another point for non-recognition, and two more for recognition.

And on with the regular entry...

I went over to Eric's a little after noon on Saturday, and watched most of the first episode of Wonderfalls with him. I left around 1:00, as Eric finished the first episode and started on the second, I went to go pick Joe up in Washington at his grandmother's house. While I was there, I got to meet Joe's brother James, and Joe's pastor (I forget her name). The pastor and I chatted for a bit about Wonderfalls, Picket Fences, Jack & Bobby, and Summerland. Then Joe and I returned to Eric's place to start in on the third episode. (Joe had already seen the first two episodes last weekend, thus the somewhat odd scheduling.)

I had expected that we would watch a few more episodes of the series, then when someone got tired of the show, we'd switch to something else. I brought along my The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King board game that I'd gotten for Christmas, which I hadn't yet played. However, as time went on, all three of us were quite interested in continuing, so we never moved on to anything else.

Anything else, of course, than food. We snacked from a tub of peanuts I'd brought over throughout the afternoon, and around 7 or so, we picked up a couple Pizza Hut pizzas: one large stuffed crust pizza with their new "Pepperoni Trio" topping (it's got their regular pepperoni, plus hickory-smoked and "southwestern" styles of pepperoni), and one medium Meat Lover's Pizza. I, naturally, ate only from the pepperoni pizza. :-)

Around 11:00, Eric asked how many episodes were left. Eleven episodes had been shown so far, so there were still two episodes left. Being so close to the end, especially with the Jaye/Eric2 storyline encountering some major roadbumps with Heidi re-entering the picture, we decided to press on. [Eric is whose house we were at; Eric2 is a character in the show.] We finished up a bit before 1am. We were rather concerned that the last episode might end with a cliffhanger that would never be resolved, and were greatly relieved to see that the producers had been able to wrap up the biggest storylines by the end of the series.

As a side note, in response to a possible development in one episode (I won't say what it is or whether it goes forward, so as to avoid much in the way of spoilers), Eric said that once you've been someone's friend for 24 hours, their siblings are off-limits for dating. Joe noticed that Eric was looking at him at the time, and inferred that Eric had been referring to his sister. I jokingly asked, "I guess James is off-limits too, then?" James, Joe's brother, is also gay. Based on stories Joe has told about his brother, though, there are actually a number of reasons I wouldn't be interested in him.

Fox aired Wonderfalls in March and April, 2004... they only showed the first four episodes before cancelling the series... they never even aired the other nine episodes they'd filmed. I'm guessing that the biggest obstable to Fox keeping the show on the air was another Joan of Arc television series on a competing network: CBS's Joan of Arcadia. Personally, I don't see, in a world where there are tons of doctor shows, tons of lawyer shows, and tons of police shows... not to mention (at the time) two CSI's and three Law & Order's, why there shouldn't be two Joan of Arc series on at the same time. But I guess the geniuses at Fox just didn't see it that way.

Anyway, I drove Joe back home, then stopped at Wal*Mart to pick up some badly-needed beverage supplies (Pepsi was finally on sale, so I got four 24-packs, and I got a couple different types of fruit juice) and some spur-of-the-moment Easter candies (yay, Cadbury Creme Eggs!).

Then I came home and went to bed.

davidh

+ 1 - 2 | § ¶My Upcoming Week, Mar. 21-27

Monday

Work

(perhaps) Whose Line is it Anyway?

24: "Day 4: 8:00 P.M.-9:00 P.M."

CSI: Miami: "Game Over"

Tuesday

Work

NCIS: "An Eye for an Eye"

House: "Mob Rules"

Wednesday

Work

Survivor (special night)

The West Wing: "In God We Trust"

CSI: NY: "The Dove Commission"

Psi Phi meeting

Thursday

Work

(perhaps) The Office (pilot episode; US version of UK show)

Friday

No work (Good Friday)

With Joe:

Stargate: SG-1: "Möbius, Part 2" (season finale)

Stargate: Atlantis: "The Siege, Part 2" (season finale)

Battlestar Galactica: "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part 1"

Saturday

Celebrating Dan's birthday (in Bloomington-Normal)

Star Wars: Clone Wars: Season 2 (Episodes 21-25 on Cartoon Network) (on tape)

Alien Apocalypse (TV movie on Sci-Fi Channel; starring Xena's Bruce Campbell and Renée O'Connor) (on tape)

Sunday

Church

Young Blades: "The Exile"

Kelsey Grammer Presents: The Sketch Show

davidh

+ 3 - 1 | § ¶Shore Leave Prep

[Edited 3/20 3:13am to move the guest list behind the cut, and to add a paragraph at the end.]

It looks like I'm going to be going to Shore Leave this year, after several years of "Maybe next year." Shore Leave is the annual convention in Hunt Valley, MD, which features lots and lots of Star Trek authors and editors.

The convention is from Friday, July 8 to Sunday, July 10. Monday, July 4, is a paid holiday at work. Now, I could have a two-day work week, and drive 12 hours straight on Thursday to be there Friday morning. But a better option might be to take that whole week off of work and visit some people along the route. Some possibilities that I've thought of so far include Erinn in Indianapolis, IN; Jon in Cincinnati, OH; and doogers and zach_kw in Ashtabula, OH. I'm thinking that there's somebody I know in Pittsburgh, PA, but I can't think of who it is at the moment. And I'll probably go with my family to the Bloomington-Normal fireworks display again.

The line-up includes:

(more)

+ 2 - 2 | § ¶Money experiment, part 2

* Paid for lunch in the cafeteria at work on Wednesday with four gold dollars. Cashier took them without blinking an eye and gave me 28 cents change (as expected).

* Went to Little Caesar's Wednesday night to get a $5 pepperoni pizza. With sales tax and the temporary civic center tax, that came to $5.50. I paid with a $10 bill and a $1 coin. The cashier rang this up as $10.50, then thought for a moment and asked me, "That's fifty cents, right?" "A dollar", I replied, and she gave me a $5 bill and two quarters in change. Fourth try's the charm... I found someone who didn't recognize the gold dollar! She did recognize that it was a valid coin of some sort, and she did take my word that it was worth a dollar, though, so I'll count it as a partial failure.

* Stopped by Acme Comics after work on Thursday. The total was $7.19; I paid with a $5 bill, two $1 coins, and 19 cents worth of other coins. Although it was a new guy working the register (and not just new to me... as I was perusing the shelves, one of the other regulars introduced himself), he seemed to have no problem with the Sacagawea coins.

* Went to Culver's for supper Thursday. I paid with a gift card I'd received for Christmas, but in thinking about it, I really should have paid with the coins because it looked like it was this girl's first day (there was an older woman standing nearby, showing her which buttons indicated which options). I think it's rather likely she would not have immediately recognized the gold coins, and by introducing them to her on her first day, she probably would have remembered them better than if she doesn't learn about them for a few weeks... after all, she was in a learning mode already. Ah well. Maybe I'll stop by there again tomorrow night and buy something else with cash.

Cumulative results: 4 successes, 1 partial failure.

17 gold dollars left to go. More updates later.

davidh

+ 2 - 2 | § ¶Sacagawean Experiment

It's been a while since one of my experiments, so this time I thought I'd do something with money. . . (more)

+ 2 - 1 | § ¶Happy Π Day

Today is 3.14. 3:49:52am is approximately 15.92653...% through the day. Yeah, I'm truncating instead of rounding. So sue me. :-)

davidh

+ 1 - 2 | § ¶My Upcoming Week, Mar. 14-20

Monday

Work

(perhaps) Whose Line is it Anyway?

24: "Day 4: 7:00 P.M.-8:00 P.M."

Medium: "The Other Side of the Tracks"

Tuesday

Work

Veronica Mars: "Silence of the Lamb" (repeat, but new to me)

Wednesday

Work

Survivor (special night)

The West Wing: "Ninety Miles Away"

Thursday

Work

No television plans

Friday

Work

Stargate: SG-1: "Möbius, Part 1"

Stargate: Atlantis: "The Siege, Part 1"

Battlestar Galactica: "Colonial Day"

Saturday

Hanging out with Joe

No television plans

Sunday

Church

Young Blades: "Secrets of the Father"

Kelsey Grammer Presents: The Sketch Show (episode after series premiere)

davidh

+ 2 - 2 | § ¶Tribble sues lottery winner

Okay, so the story isn't all that amusing, but it's a good concept for a Strange New Worlds story, eh?

Read about the Tribble going to court.

davidh

+ 2 - 2 | § ¶Psi Phi Minutes, 03/09/2005

With the Communications Officer absent, I acted as recorder for the March 9, 2005 Psi Phi meeting. I've posted the minutes for this meeting (minus quotes, which are still pending from Eric) at the club's website.

davidh

+ 0 - 3 | § ¶Psi Phi Founder's Decree

[Channel Open]
[Incoming Transmission from Psi Phi, Office of David]

I hereby rescind my bap-free zone status. The concept of a surrogate bap zone is therefore moot.

All other Founders continue to enjoy the protections of Bylaw 6.I.4.

David Henderson,
Founder, Psi Phi Sector 001

[Transmission Complete]
[Channel Closed]

+ 1 - 3 | § ¶Stargate Dream

Interesting dream last night... this one was as though I were watching Stargate: SG-1... as an actual episode, not in-universe. I only remember the last few minutes of the episode.

Samantha Carter and some random guy (he didn't have a name in the dream, but I'll call him Chris) had apparently had something happen to them offworld, and they were talking about how things had been since they got back. Sam mentioned to Chris how odd it was that she hadn't dreamt since she came back from that planet, and he confirmed that the same was true of himself.

They were walking outside somewhere (probably on Earth, since there was a paved road nearby), and as they were walking, the camera angle shifted and we saw that Samantha and Chris had actually been physically affected by whatever it was that happened on the planet... Sam's left arm was deformed, and I don't remember what had happened to Chris. But they didn't know this; the working arm was an illusion, and that's what was causing them not to dream. The music swelled on this revelation (to the audience, not the characters)/cliffhanger, and the credits started playing. I didn't recognize any of the names except for Manny Coto (executive producer and excellent writer for this season of Star Trek: Enterprise). Ah, I should've known Manny was behind a twist like this!, I thought.

And then I woke up.

davidh

+ 2 - 3 | § ¶Life in the Fast Lane

Monday night, as I was driving home from work, I ran a red light*.

It wasn't intentional. I was paying too much attention to the car that had shifted from my lane to the next lane over to the right, rather than the stop light. That car wasn't significantly slowing down as we approached the intersection, and my brain processed this fact by inferring that the light must, therefore, be green. It therefore rejected the red wavelengths of light coming from ahead as inconsistent data, and I didn't register that the light was, in fact, red, until after I was already a few feet past the stop line.

My first thought was that I should hit the brakes. My first action was to move my foot over to the brake and start pushing it down. My second thought was that hitting the brakes would leave me stopped in the middle of the intersection, which was a very bad place to be motionless. My second action was check for oncoming traffic (fortunately, it was a one-way street I was crossing, so I had only one direction to check, and there was nobody coming). My third thought was that I needed to get out of that intersection immediately. My third action was to move my foot back to the gas pedal and press it down. A lot.

This all took place in, oh, I'd estimate about a quarter of a second.

I am safe. I was not pulled over by the police. My erroneous action did not directly influence any other vehicle or person (to the best of my knowledge). But facing the possibility of serious bodily injury, even though there were at that time no cars coming from the other direction, shook me. And not just because of that moment.

I consider myself to be a fairly good driver. I obey the speed limits, even if people behind me are exerting peer pressure on me to do otherwise. I use my turn signal, even though it seems rather passé to do so. I try to always be observant of other vehicles' behavior so as to anticipate and prepare for potential problems. I've never gotten a ticket in four years of driving, though I have been in one minor collision. I know there are better drivers than me out there, but every day I see a lot who are much, much worse. And if someone like me can make such a significant error, how much more likely is it that others may do the same? I was a bit paranoid the rest of the drive home... first, that I would make another mistake; second, that someone else would.

Feeling "superior" to other drivers because I follow the rules is (a) giving in to pride, which isn't a good thing; (b) something I no longer have the right to do, because I just broke the rules in a major way; and (c) something that I shouldn't've been doing all along, anyway, because it had no beneficial value at all. Getting angry when other drivers do stupid things isn't beneficial, either, and I really need to work on that as well.

davidh

* - Note that this story should not be used as any sort of legal admission of guilt. I could very easily be making it all up.

+ 0 - 4 | § ¶Thursday through Weekend of Interestingness

After several days of not much interesting happening, rather a lot of interesting things happened the past few days...

[Updated 5:17pm]

(more)

+ 2 - 2 | § ¶My Upcoming Week, Mar. 7-13

Monday

Work

(perhaps) Whose Line is it Anyway?

24: "Day 4: 6:00 P.M.-7:00 P.M."

CSI: Miami: "Money Plane"

Tuesday

Work

Veronica Mars: "You Think You Know Somebody" (repeat, but new to me)

Wednesday

Work

The West Wing: "La Palabra"

CSI: NY: "American Dreamers"

Psi Phi meeting

Thursday

Work

Survivor

The O.C. (taped--mostly so I can see the trailer for Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith)

CSI: CSI: "Compulsion"

Friday

Work

NCIS: "Heart Break" (repeat, but possibly new to me)

JAG: "JAG: San Diego"

Numb3rs: "Counterfeit Reality"

Stargate: SG-1: "Threads" (90 minutes, 10:30-midnight)

Stargate: Atlantis: "The Gift" (midnight-1am)

Battlestar Galactica: "Hand of God" (1am-2am)

Saturday

Perhaps hanging out with Joe

No television plans

Sunday

(possibly) Church

Young Blades: "da Vinci's Notebook"

davidh

+ 4 - 0 | § ¶TV updates

Apparently, Spike TV has expressed an interest in picking up Enterprise for a fifth season. It seems that, although Viacom, which owns UPN, also owns Spike TV, the two networks are in different "branches" of the corporate hierarchy, and Les Moonves is not involved with that network. If Spike TV does buy the show, that could be Viacom's first step toward becoming a competitor to NBC's Sci-Fi Channel. Of course, there's a big step between expressing an interest and actually purchasing the show. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out, especially as the season finale finishes principal photography next Tuesday.

Next week's Stargate: SG-1 will be 90 minutes long. Well, no, it'll probably be about 60 minutes with 30 minutes of commercials, if the ratio stays about the same. Still, be on the lookout when you set your VCRs for SG-1, Atlantis, and/or Battlestar Galactica.

We're still a couple months away from the Upfronts, when the networks announce their fall line-ups, but a few shows have already been renewed. Of particular science fiction interest, all three of Sci-Fi Channel's Friday night shows are coming back for 20 episodes, as has NBC's Medium.

And in personal TV stuff...

I sampled Jonny Zero last night, since JAG was pre-empted. I found it to be a rather entertaining show. It took a while to figure out who people were and what their connections to each other were (I'm still not clear on a couple people), but one event toward the end of the episode by someone that I think is a series regular left me quite surprised. I'll try to catch another episode sometime.

I also watched Medium again this past Monday, since CSI: Miami was a repeat. This was my second episode of the show, and I'm finding it to be rather good. So this will be my new backup show for Mondays at 9pm.

Over the past few weeks, I've missed the new Monday episodes of Whose Line is it Anyway?. This comes from working late on Mondays, often getting home just in time to pop in the tape for 24 and start recording. Also, it's been a while since I've seen Lost, for similar reasons. At this point, I think I'm going to drop Lost, and just pick up the eventual DVD set. As for Whose Line, the new episodes will be shown over and over, so I'm sure I'll see them all eventually.

davidh

+ 2 - 2 | § ¶A Case of the Giggles

At Wednesday night's Psi Phi meeting, it seems nearly everybody came down with a case of the giggles. And it wasn't just from one thing... various comments throughout the meeting had us cracking up.

At one point in the Ancient Business Committee report, I got rather tongue-tied trying to say the word "anticipation" (it came out more like "antishipashun"), and I had to have Kristen take over (from my notes for a couple minutes) because I couldn't stop laughing. But then she got messed up trying to say something else, and had to give it back to me.

There were several other outbreaks throughout the evening, but I'll have to wait for the minutes to remember what they all were.

I suspect there was a nitrous oxide leak in the building somewhere.

davidh

+ 0 - 4 | § ¶Not much of interest...

No, I'm not dead. It's just that nothing all that interesting has happened recently. Which is not to say that nothing has happened... just nothing interesting.

But, just so I don't go a week without a non-My Upcoming Week post, here're some uninteresting things...

No new developments yet with the opportunity mentioned last week. Perhaps soon.

Saturday, watched a couple episodes of Futurama with Joe. Tried to get his Gamecube hooked up to the internet, but the game that has internet access has a lock so it can only go to certain URLs, so it couldn't be used as a general web browser. Didn't destroy the Psi Phi TV to Goodwill. Perhaps next week.

Saw Constantine on Sunday. Joe was unavailable, and Jim never called me, so it ended up that only Eric and I went. No real spoilers here (I don't think), just impressions. It was an okayish movie, I suppose. There seemed to be a lot of symbolism, particularly at the end, but it really helps when there's some hint as to what the symbols mean. And their accuracy in the Christian elements was about as accurate as Star Trek's depiction of DNA (actually, Trek may have the slight upper hand in this comparison). But for what it was, a fantasy/horror drama, it was decent.

Got sick on Sunday afternoon... major headache. Weird sleep cycle... laid down mid-afternoon, woke up around 11:30pm, went back to bed around 3am Monday morning, woke up around 6am. Felt much better then.

Started checking out The Neutral Zone at TrekBBS. I'd stayed away from there from horror stories I'd heard, but it's really not that bad. Sure, there are some people who can't tell a logical argument from a hole in the ground, but there are also some people, on various sides of issues, who can hold their own in an intelligent conversation.

Okay, I guess that's about it.

davidh
--
[Edit 3/2 11:45am] Oh, I also watched The Crow at Bradley early Sunday afternoon, as part of the movie marathon. For some reason, I had been under the mistaken impression that it was a martial arts movie (which is why I hadn't sought it out before). Turns out, it was a rather good film. I left after the first movie due to illness (see above).

davidh