Omphaloskepsis  -

+ 5 - 0 | § ¶My Upcoming Week, May 30-June 5

Monday

No work (Memorial Day)

Moving furniture to storage (library, basement, living room)

Romy & Michelle: In the Beginning

Tuesday

Work

No television plans

Wednesday

Work

Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith with Jim

Thursday

Work

No television plans

Friday

Work

No television plans

Saturday

No television plans

Sunday

Church

Queer as Folk episode 504

davidh

+ 3 - 1 | § ¶Oh, those wacky parallels...

It's interesting looking back on this post from January 6, 2004, especially that whole "Were I in a similar situation" paragraph.

The parallels aren't exact, of course, but there are enough points of similarity to get me thinking.

davidh

+ 7 - 0 | § ¶Uncle Sam: "Eat Beef"

Interesting. I had no idea that "Beef: It's What's for Dinner" was a message from the US Government; like (I presume) many others, I thought it was a message from cow farmers. Not so, as I learned while reading the latest Supreme Court decisions. In the Court's split decision in Johanns v. Livestock Marketing Association, I found out that many cow farmers in fact object to the ads, because they tend to portray all beef as equal, which makes their own targeted messages of "Angus beef is better" or "grain-fed beef is better" more difficult to get across.

You can read the decision here: PDF file, 339kb, 39 pages.

davidh

+ 2 - 4 | § ¶Shore Leave, further plans

The precise details haven't been completely worked out yet, but here's how things are currently looking for Shore Leave. . . (more)

+ 1 - 5 | § ¶Psi Phi alumni's article on blogs

Psi Phi alumni member Chris Kaergard writes for the Rockford Register Star, and apparently has for some time now. He recently wrote an article on blogging. It doesn't mention this blog at all (I neither live in Rockford nor have posted on the main subject of his article), but it may be of interest to some of my readers.

davidh

+ 3 - 3 | § ¶Revenge of the Sith thoughts

[No spoilers.]

I didn't go to the midnight showing early Thursday morning, because I had an 8am meeting. Instead, I went to the 7:30pm showing that same day, with Josh and with several co-workers. On our way to the theater around 6:30, there was a brief but incredibly intense hailstorm... my car got a few dings, but nothing major.

As we were waiting in line, a guy in a General Grievous costume came up. Apparently this guy had also been at the midnight showings; it was a fan-made costume. We were eventually let in, and got nine adjacent seats up in the staduim seating area. We were about six rows up, right in the middle from left to right, which provided us a really nice view. Josh talked with some of my co-workers... I missed a lot of the conversation, because of the acoustics, but it sure sounded like they were having a good time.

After quite a while, the lights dimmed and previews started. There were promos for at least Fantastic 4 (Ooh!), Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Kinda interesting), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe (I'm very much looking forward to this one!), The Island (I don't remember much about this other than the title), and Batman Begins (Nifty), and maybe some other(s) I've forgotten. Then, at long last, up came the Fox fanfare, and the film began.

My overall impression of the movie was that it was very exciting, and definitely better than The Phantom Menace or Attack of the Clones. It was not perfect, though... for one thing, some of the dialogue, particularly from Palpatine and from Padmé, was painful to listen to. And the last few scenes seemed too obviously like setup for Star Wars... getting all of the pieces where they need to go in just a few minutes, when they'll be that way for the next 20 or so years. But despite a few flaws, I really liked it a lot.

Josh had to step out about 45 minutes before the end of the movie, and didn't come back in because he didn't want to bother people by stepping in front of them to get back to his seat, so he missed the climactic battles. So I guess we'll have to go see it again sometime. :-)

davidh

+ 6 - 11 | § ¶A Sign?

Found on a Chinese restaurant placemat...

(more)

+ 3 - 3 | § ¶My Upcoming Week, May 23-29

Monday

Work

24: "Day 4: 5:00 A.M.-7:00 A.M." (two-hour season finale)

CSI: Miami: "10-7"

Tuesday

Work

NCIS: "Twilight" (season finale)

Wednesday

Work

No television plans

Thursday

Work

No television plans

Friday

Work

No television plans

Saturday

(perhaps) Hanging out with Joe

No television plans

Sunday

Church

Queer as Folk episode 503

Can you tell sweeps is over?

davidh

+ 1 - 5 | § ¶Getting Lost, Watching Muppets, and Driving Stick

Friday after work, I'd intended to go over to Süd's (a car place) in Pekin, where Joe and Josh were looking at cars. The instructions looked pretty simple: From downtown Peoria, cross the river, get on IL-29, stay on 29, stay on 29, keep staying on 29, and you're there. I had a problem with step 2... checking the maps the day after, I see what the problem was: I crossed on the wrong bridge. Anyway, after getting lost in East Peoria, Joe and Josh came to get me.

Well, that little exercise took up quite a bit of time, so after looking at one more used car lot, we headed over to Joe's new place in Pekin to watch The Muppets' Wizard of Oz. Except that my car ran out of gas. Completely out. This is the first time that's happened. Fortunately, Joe was not too far ahead of Josh and me, so he came back, picked us up, took us to a nearby gas station, and borrowed a little one gallon gas can, which I filled up. We returned to the car, and had some difficulties starting it. I guess air got into the system when there was no gasoline left, so I had to give it a while to get it back out.

By the time we got it running and made it back to the gas station, where I filled up the rest of the way, it was about 7:15. But even going to have missed the first half hour of the show, I decided to go on to Joe's anyway. He led the way, and there were no difficulties the rest of the way there.

At Joe's, we were mobbed by their seven cats and several dogs. The dogs got put away shortly after our arrival, but the cats roamed free. There were Tigger and James (who looked similar to each other, though Tigger is much, much older), Kini (who's so named because a white patch of fur is somewhat in the shape of a bikini), Castle (a black and white cat... I'd guessed the name came from chess, with the black and white pieces, but apparently it came from White Castle), Willy (an orange cat), and two other orange cats (whose names I forget). The movie (or at least the last 90 minutes of it) was very funny. "Uh, would you mind, um... jumping? If you wouldn't mind." Joe and I had been discussing who would play whom in the story: I predicted Miss Piggy would be the Wicked Witch of the West; Joe thought she would be the Good Witch of the North. Turns out we were both right. :-)

Around 8:00, we ordered pizza from Papa John's. It arrived much sooner than we'd expected, which was good. Josh found something amusing on-line during the movie; Joe's roommate (whose name I cannot recall at the moment) joined him in looking at whatever it was. After the movie, Joe showed me the graphics from Gran Turismo 4, which were pretty cool. Then we went over to Kroger; before we went in, Joe taught me how to drive a manual transmission car. As I was about to pull forward from a stop, I killed the engine, and some local teenagers who were loitering in the parking lot shouted out "And he kills it!" I'm guessing they're applying to be John Madden's replacement as the "stating the obvious" commentator. Oh well.

After getting some bottled water at the store, we went over to the Pekin mall, where I had much more room to drive around, pick up speed, and get more experience getting the feel of the gears and when to shift. Joe had me go out into light traffic, and I guess I did well enough that I was able to make it all the way back to his place. I did get nervous a few times, and I made some mistakes, but I think with practice that'll diminish.

davidh

+ 2 - 4 | § ¶Network TV Sci-Fi, Fall 2005 (part two)

Second, the netlets: Fox, UPN, and the WB.

Fox:

• Animated series American Dad retains its current timeslot, Sunday at 8:30. Though technically not science fiction, animated series The Simpsons and Family Guy are of interest to many SF fans; they will also return in their current timeslots of 7pm and 8pm, respectively.

• 24 returns in January in its current timeslot of Monday at 8pm. Although it has not been announced as such, the series will most likely be scheduled pre-emption-free, airing all 24 episodes over 22 to 24 consecutive weeks (with a possible 2-hour premiere and/or finale).

• No new science fiction series have been announced for Fox.

UPN:

• With the cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise, UPN has no returning sci-fi series. There are also no new sci-fi shows scheduled for the 2005-2006 season.

The WB:

• Charmed remains in its 7pm Sunday timeslot.

• Supernatural is a new horror series. It will air Tuesday at 8pm. Here's the description from the WB:

  This fall, The WB will take viewers on a completely new kind of thrill ride; a journey into the dark world of the unexplained that will deliver the terror of films like The Ring and The Grudge. Sam Winchester has done his best to escape his family's eerie history, but, along with his older brother Dean, Sam is bound by tragedy and blood to a dangerous, other-worldly mission. Criss-crossing the mysterious back roads of the country in their '67 Chevy Impala, the Winchester brothers search for their missing father--and hunt down every evil supernatural force they encounter along the way.

  The stars of Supernatural are Jared Padalecki (House of Wax) as Sam and Jensen Ackles (Alec in Dark Angel, Jason in Smallville) as Dean. Joseph McGinty Nichol (aka "McG") (director of Charlie's Angels), Eric Kripke (writer of Boogeyman), and David Nutter (director of Superboy, The X-Files, Millennium, Space: Above and Beyond, Roswell, Smallville, and others) serve as executive producers on the series.

• Smallville moves from Wednesday to Thursday, keeping its 7pm timeslot.

davidh

+ 2 - 4 | § ¶Network TV Sci-Fi, Fall 2005 (part one)

The television networks have been announcing their fall schedules this week. I'm going to look at the state of science fiction (and related genres) on network TV in two posts. First, let's look at the big three networks, ABC, NBC, and CBS. (All times are Central and Mountain. For Eastern and Pacific, add one hour.)

ABC:

• Lost stays on Wednesday, but moves from 7pm to 8pm.

• Alias moves from Wednesday at 8pm to Thursday at 7pm.

• Invasion is a new SF drama, Wednesday at 9pm. Here's how ABC describes the show:

  For centuries man has searched the skies for signs of intelligent life... but to no avail.

  What if the explanation lay in the fact that aliens were already here... already among us? And what if all of the natural disasters we've been experiencing of late were smokescreens designed to mask something far more ominous?

  When yet another devastating hurricane threatens Florida, temporarily cutting off a small town at the edge of the Everglades, U.S. Park Ranger Russell Poole takes heroic measures to keep both the town's citizens and his family safe. In the middle of the violent storm, his young daughter is the only one to see small lights floating towards the water, seemingly unaffected by the vicious winds. At the time he thinks nothing of her claim, but begins to suspect that something may indeed be amiss when his missing ex-wife is found naked, with no memory of what happened during the storm.

  As the tiny town struggles to recover while his nemesis, the Sheriff, quarantines the entire area, Poole begins to investigate the strange goings on, unwittingly beginning a fight for the survival of the human race.

  Veteran writer/producer Shaun Cassidy and celebrated director Thomas Schlamme (The West Wing) bring you the suspenseful tale of a blended family that finds itself at the center of a conspiracy to mask an alien takeover that is happening one neighbor at a time.

  Starring in the show are William Fichtner (Col. Sharp from Armageddon) as the Sheriff, Eddie Cibrian as Ranger Poole, Kari Matchett (Siobhan Beckett in Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict, Beth in Wonderfalls, and Claudia in 5ive Days to Midnight) as Mariel, Lisa Sheridan (Chloe from FreakyLinks) as Larkin, Tyler Labine (minor roles in The X-Files, Millennium, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Night Man, First Wave, Dark Angel, Jake 2.0, and other SF shows) as Dave, Alexis Dziena (Bonnie in Joan of Arcadia) as Kira, Evan Peters (Seth in Phil of the Future) as Jesse, and Ariel Gade (Ceci in the upcoming Dark Water) as Rose. Shaun Cassidy, producer and writer for American Gothic and Roar, serves the same role on this series. Thomas Schlamme, a frequent director of non-SF The West Wing, directed the pilot episode and serves as executive producer.

• The Night Stalker is a remake of 1974's Kolchak: The Night Stalker. This new horror series airs Thursday at 8pm. ABC's description follows:

  There are things in the dark, things adults deny but children are right to fear...

  When a pregnant woman is snatched from her home, the shocked citizens of L.A. believe it's an act of domestic violence. But crime reporter Carl Kolchak suspects that the truth is far more complicated. That's because 18 months ago Kolchak's wife was killed in a bizarre fashion and he has been the FBI's no. 1 suspect ever since.

  Kolchak's determination to find the truth behind his wife's mysterious murder has led him to investigate other crimes that seem to have some kind of supernatural component. But he's trying to piece together a puzzle that keeps changing shape. Who or what is committing these crimes? How are they all related? And why do some victims end up with a strange red mark on their hands in the shape of a snake? With sidekick Perri Reed, a sexy if skeptical fellow reporter in tow, Kolchak will go to any lengths to answer these questions. But when he does discover the truth--will anyone believe him?

  Stuart Townsend (Dorian Gray from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) stars as Carl Kolchak. Also starring are Gabrielle Union (N'Garen in ST:DS9) as Perry Reed, Eric Jungmann (roles in Roswell; Sabrina, the Teenage Witch; and 3rd Rock from the Sun) as Jain McManus, and Cotter Smith (Richard Davies in Tru Calling, the president in X2: X-Men United) as Tony Vincenzo. Frank Spotnitz and Daniel Sackheim, both from The X-Files, are executive producers on the series. Spotnitz wrote the pilot episode, and Sackheim directed it.

CBS:

• CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, and CSI: CSI each remain in their current timeslots: Monday at 9pm, Wednesday at 9pm, and Thursday at 8pm. (These shows may not meet the classic definition of "science fiction", but they are very much "science, fiction".)

• Joan of Arcadia has been cancelled.

• Ghost Whisperer is a new paranormal drama on Friday at 7pm. Here's CBS's description:

  A drama, inspired by the work of famed medium James Van Praagh, about Melinda Gordon, a young newlywed with the unique ability to communicate with the earthbound spirits of people who have died and who seek her help. Melinda uses her gift to relay significant messages and important information to the living, but sometimes the messages she receives are intense and confusing. As a result, she is often met with questions and skepticism by the survivors. But when Melinda is able to help both the lost souls who contact her and those who are still alive, she knows that her unique talent is an asset and not a liability.

  Jennifer Love Hewitt (I [Still] Know What You Did Last Summer) stars as Melinda Gordon. David Conrad (Nasedo in Roswell) and Aisha Tyler (Mia in CSI: CSI, Marianne in 24) also star. The executive producers are John Gray, Ian Sander (Profiler and John Doe), and Kim Moses (Profiler).

• Threshold is a new SF drama on Friday at 8pm. CBS describes the show thusly:

  A suspenseful drama about a team of experts who are assembled when the U.S. Navy makes a chilling discovery: an extra-terrestrial craft has landed in the mid-Atlantic Ocean. Dr. Molly Anne Caffrey is a government contingency analyst whose job is to devise response plans for worst-case scenarios. When her plan called THRESHOLD is activated upon the news of the UFO, she and her hand-picked team of eclectic specialists get to work deciphering the intention of the craft and preparing for the possibility of a crisis situation--an alien invasion.

  The show stars Carla Gugino (Lucille in Sin City) as Dr. Caffrey, plus Charles S. Dutton (Gothika, Alien³, Stephen King's Cat's Eye), Brian Van Holt (House of Wax), Robert Patrick Benedict (Jape in two episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer), and Brent Spiner (Data, Lore, and Dr. Soong from ST:TNG; Dr. Soong (II) from Enterprise). Brannon Braga (co-creator, Enterprise), David Heyman (producer of the Harry Potter movies), and David Goyer (writer and/or director of the Blade movies, Mission to Mars, Batman Begins, The Crow: City of Angels, and more) are the show's executive producers.

• Numb3rs remains in its current timeslot, Friday at 9pm.

NBC

• Fathom is a new SF-ish series, airing Monday at 7pm. Here's NBC's description:

  Ever wonder what life would be like if a new form of sea life began to appear in locales all over the earth? In this expansive drama, those who are about to find out include some naval officers in the South Antarctic Sea, a family in San Diego, scientists from the Oceanographic Institute in Monterey, and fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico. The seemingly innocent creatures they find are beautiful and kids may even want to play with them--but is there something more to them? One thing's for sure--they're full of surprises as viewers can embark on this unfathomable journey to discover what might be lurking in the sea.

  Lake Bell stars as Daughtery Carstarphen; her co-stars are Jay R. Ferguson as Richard Owen, Rade Serbedzija (Space Cowboys, Batman Begins) as Dr. Aleksander Cirko, and Carter Jenkins as Miles. Josh & Jonas Pate, writers/directors of episodes of Battlestar Galactica (2005) and GvsE, created and executive produce the series.

• Medium remains in its current timeslot, Monday at 9pm.

• The Revelations mini-series is not being picked up for a regular series.

Updates for Fox, the WB, and UPN will follow.

davidh

+ 1 - 5 | § ¶Sleep cycle

Gonna get messed up again. Gotta be up really early Wednesday morning (i.e. today) to get over to Employer's office to pick up my ticket for Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Need to be up really early Thursday morning to get over to Client's office for a Six Sigma meeting (I'll be starting on the road to becoming a 6σ Green Belt). Probably going to stay up late Thursday night to watch the CSI: CSI finale on tape after SW:EIII:ROTS.

davidh

+ 2 - 4 | § ¶Extreme Makeover: My Home Edition

Over the past couple of weeks, my house has undergone a lot of changes. . . (more)

+ 2 - 4 | § ¶My Upcoming Week, May 16-22

Monday

Work

(perhaps) Whose Line is it Anyway?

24: "Day 4: 4:00 A.M.-5:00 A.M."

CSI: Miami: "Whacked"

Tuesday

Work

House: "Three Stories"

Wednesday

Work

CSI: NY: "What You See & What You See"

Thursday

Work -- in very early for meeting

CSI: CSI: "Grave Danger" (two hours) (season finale) (on tape)

Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (with folks from work)

Friday

Work

The Muppets' Wizard of Oz (ABC)

Saturday

(perhaps) Hanging out with Joe

No television plans

Sunday

Church

TBD

davidh

+ 4 - 1 | § ¶Beware of black cats...

...breaking mirrors under ladders, for today is Friday the 13th. Today is bad luck for Star Trek fans, because the final episodes of Enterprise and Star Trek will air tonight. Well, it's possible that Star Trek will return someday, but if it does, it'll probably be a few years.

Possible plans for the weekend currently include:
(a) cleaning bedroom
(b) having Eric mow the jungle
(c) investigating and pricing out new bedding (probably not yet purchasing, unless there's a good deal and I can get it on something like "90 days same as cash" or "no interest, no payments for x months"
(d) possibly hanging out with Joe (haven't done that in a while)
(e) church
(f) Survivor finale

davidh

+ 5 - 0 | § ¶One world, one notice, one new roommate

1. Ate at One World for the first time last night. You'd think that in my time at Bradley, I'd've gone there before, but I hadn't. I had a pepperoni pizza (surprise, surprise, surprise! </gomer-pyle>), which was very good.

2. Got a "Notice to Abate" from the City of Peoria. Apparently, they're going to declare my front yard to be a wild prairie and charge me x hundred dollars if I don't get the yard mowed by next Monday. Fortunately, I had already been planning to ask Eric from Psi Phi to mow this weekend, since Bradley's semester has ended this week. Unfortunately, I have a bright red thingie posted on my front door, which includes a notice that removing or defacing it would bring about a y-hundred-dollar fine, until next Monday.

3. Got Joel completely moved in last night. First load from the dorm to my place was with just Joel, Josh, and me, in two cars. Second load also included Erich (not Eric) from Psi Phi, with his car as well. We also got Joel's refrigerator moved over to the Psi Phi office. My back is now sore.

davidh

+ 3 - 2 | § ¶Found it...

We have always been at war with Eastasia.

In other news, Joel got some of his stuff moved in tonight. This will continue tomorrow night.

davidh

+ 2 - 3 | § ¶Movie spree

Yesterday evening, after I got to feeling better, I watched the first half of the Elvis mini-series with Josh. I've never been a major fan of Elvis... which is not to say that I didn't like him/his music, just that I didn't see him/it as anything overly special. But this first two-hour segment was both educational and entertaining.

Particularly delightful was The Practice's Camryn Manheim as Elvis's mother. She plays a very different character from lawyer Eleanor Frutt, and the make-up and hair folks did a good job in making her look older than she is.

I did feel that there was a directorial misstep in the tour montage... by placing a rather dry list of city names, many of which I'd never heard of, in a crawl at the bottom of the screen, I had to focus on reading that instead of paying attention to what was going on. Had the director (or, since it's a TV movie, the writer or producer) gone with a more traditional extending line on a map to show his travels, I think that would have gotten across the point a little better, and it wouldn't have distracted from the imagery as much.

Still, I'm now looking forward to part 2 (Wednesday) more than I had been.

After 24 (only three episodes left... one next week, then the two-hour season finale the following week), we moved on to The Grudge, which was a remake of a Japanese film trilogy. It was a very creepy movie... much more psychological than gorey (though there are a couple of scenes of the gross-out variety). I believe it is one of the movies my mom loaned Josh and me on Sunday. (That's part of the "blah blah" from the last post. :-) )

Starring Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Jason Behr (Roswell), Ted Raimi (Hercules/Xena), Bill Pullman (Independence Day), and Clea Duvall (Carnivalè), this movie actually had the same director as the original, Ju-on (The Grudge). When producers Sam Raimi and Robert H. Tapert saw the original, they decided that it was too good of a movie for American audiences to miss simply because it was in Japanese with Japanese actors, so they hired Takashi Shimizu to remake his own film in English with American actors, while still keeping the Japanese "flavor" of the original. Now I suppose I'll have to see the original.

davidh

+ 2 - 3 | § ¶A good day... and a bad one

Sunday was a pretty good day. Josh and I left for Normal around 3:30, though I got lost along the short detour back to I-74 (which is not marked, because it's not a designated truck route... the one that is marked would've taken me several miles out of the way, while the short route was much more direct). I found it eventually, and still probably saved time from the long detour.

When I got to town, I headed over to Mom's house. She was still out at Doug and Misty's apartment when I got there (she'd been babysitting while Misty was at work), so I gave Josh a bit of a tour. We looked at Mom's DVD collection, which rivals my own in terms of size (though I may have a bit of an advantage with the TV show boxed sets), and I showed him the above-ground pool in the back yard. When Mom got back, the three of us talked about a lot of things, including movies, decorating my house, and the fact (unbeknownst to me until now) that as a baby, I took my first unassisted step on the day that Elvis Presley died. I also brought some DVDs that Mom had ordered through Amazon.com, and a copy of the newspaper that contained my blog article and gigantic picture.

The plan had been that, since my brother Doug was to be working until 6pm, shortly before 6, Dad and my brother Dan would go to Outback Steakhouse and get our names on the list (for Mother's Day, they didn't offer call-ahead, so you had to actually be there to get in line), then the rest of us would join them around 6:30 or so. Well, it turned out that Doug was getting off work early, so plans got shuffled around a bit and I ended up picking Dad and Dan up and taking them to the restaurant. This gave the four of us a chance to talk for a while. I don't remember much of what we talked about, other than Dan's interview and Dad's new job. Since we had an expected 45 minutes to wait for a table, we wandered around the strip mall a bit. Either Dan or Josh found a penny that had been flattened and had the Ten Commandments engraved into it. We went looking for the place that was having a "giant book sale", because we wanted to buy some giant books, but just as we found it, they were closing. We did some window browsing, though. Amusing book title: The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Perfect Wedding. Dan suggested a follow-up book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Perfect Honeymoon, with illustrations. :-)

Mom arrived after a while, then Doug and Misty arrived, with their daughters Zoey (now nearly 15 months) and Alayna (about 5 months). We chatted in various small groups while we continued to wait. Finally, we saw a large party exit the restaurant. A few minutes later, the little buzzy thing buzzed, and we were shown to our table, which had probably been theirs. We got some cheesy fries with bacon bits as an appetizer... we ran through them pretty quickly, so it was a good thing we had two orders. When it came time to order, we discovered that Outback had run out of prime rib, French dressing, and one other thing that I don't recall now. But we made alternative selections, and had a good meal. We shared a lot of good stories and jokes throughout the meal. Mom, Dan, Josh, and I sort of formed one conversational group, while Dad, Doug, and Misty formed another. I think this was mostly due to the seating arrangement. Doug and Misty left early because Misty had to go back to work that night.

After dinner, we stood around outside the restaurant and continued chatting for a while. Dad stood apart from us because he was recording a business conference call on his cell phone, and he didn't want the microphone to pick up our conversation. One of the topics was furniture/decoration, particularly bedding. Patches had thrown up on the bed that morning, so I needed to wash the sheets, but I didn't have a backup sheet to use while that one was in the wash. And then there's the pillows, which are rather flat. And then...

Well, we decided to head over to Wal*Mart and look at some stuff. But as we were there longer and longer, we found more and more stuff: Pillows, sheets, a comforter, a new shower curtain and hooks, and so on. Well, I should say that Josh and my mom found the stuff; I mostly just voted yes or no on things. I kinda felt like I was on Queer Eye for the Gay Guy, starring Josh as Thom. But I was one of those reluctant guests, fine with what I had and not really seeing the need for my house to be color-coördinated and "stylish", as long as it was comfortable and useable. Also, I was really not used to spending so much on myself. Mom: "When you do for you, you feel better about yourself." Me: "When I do for others, I feel better about myself." Regardless, I bought over $200 worth of items for the house, some of which won't really be too useful until I purchase a new bed, for which my mother gave me a deadline of her birthday (in June) to buy.

blah, blah, other stuff, pie, movies, drive home, sleep.

Monday didn't start at all well. I'll put that behind the cut, though, for those who don't want to read about this (it is rather unpleasant). . . (more)

+ 3 - 2 | § ¶My Upcoming Week, May 9-15

Plus revised plans for today

Sunday (Mother's Day)

Church

Trip to Bloomington-Normal

Take Mom out to supper

Elvis (part 1 of 2) (on tape)

Monday

Work

(perhaps) Whose Line is it Anyway?

24: "Day 4: 3:00 A.M.-4:00 A.M."

CSI: Miami: "Vengeance"

Tuesday

Work

NCIS: "SWAK"

Veronica Mars: "Leave it to Beaver"

Joel starts moving stuff in

Wednesday

Work

Elvis (part 2 of 2)

CSI: NY: "The Closer"

Thursday

Work

Josh to appointment

Survivor (on tape)

CSI: CSI: "Iced" (on tape)

Friday

Work

Elvis by the Presleys (on at the same time but not taped)

Star Trek: Enterprise: "Terra Prime" (part 2 of 2) (Enterprise series finale) (possibly at the Grand Prairie 18)

Star Trek: Enterprise: "These Are the Voyages..." (Star Trek franchise finale) (possibly at the Grand Prairie 18)

Numb3rs: "Man Hunt"

Saturday

TBD

Sunday

Church

TBD

Family Guy

American Dad

davidh

+ 1 - 4 | § ¶♪ Wednesday, Wednesday ♪ (The Mamas and The Papas)

I had taken the day off Wednesday because I figured the party would go pretty late. But it pretty much shut down after the meeting, though, so I got home around, hmm, maybe 3am or so. I stayed up for a while, checking E-mail and the like, and got to bed somewhere around 4am. Probably didn't actually get to sleep until 5, though, what with all the caffeine from drinking much Pepsi.

Around 7:45am, though, (more)

+ 1 - 4 | § ¶Good party

The Psi Phi end of the semester party was pretty good. We had much, much pizza from Pizza Hut, a good supply of Pepsi, and assorted other tasty snack items.

Joan's senior pick was The Last Unicorn, which was an amusing animated film. Featuring such assorted characters as a pirate peg-leg cat and a skeleton who yearns for alcohol, this movie is rather "out there". It's often cheesy, yet occasionally touching.

Kristen's pick was a whole series of musical sci-fi clips, including "Tongue-tied" from Red Dwarf, "Going through the motions" and "I've got a theory"/"Bunnies"/"What can't we face?" from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a segment from Labyrinth, and a few others. She also showed an episode of The Muppet Show which featured C-3PO, R2-D2, Luke Skywalker, and Luke's cousin Mark Hamill... oh, and who can forget Angus McGonegul, the argyle gargoyle who gargles Gershwyn. :-) I did miss a good portion of her segment, though, when I went upstairs and got interested in a few discussions with Josh, Marisa, and some others.

Lyz and Landon popped in for the ever-so-briefest of moments an hour or two before the meeting.

The meeting started a little after midnight, and went until almost two. So I suppose it was actually slightly shorter than most final meetings. A minor fracas broke out between Joan and Eric. From my perspective, it appeared that Joan (who was functioning as acting Constable, since Jon wasn't there) had raised the bapper to bap Kristen for making a pun, Eric saw the bapper being raised out of the corner of his eye and instinctually responded by reaching out for it, Joan was startled by the sudden approach from Eric and instinctually responded by trying to defend herself, and things quickly escalated back and forth from there; within just a few seconds, they realized the feedback loop they'd created, and stopped it, but unfortuntely not before actual blows were exchanged. Whether my interpretation is accurate, I do not know, but it seems plausible to me.

The election results were covered in a previous post. I wish I could go back and make a little change to my candidacy speech for Chief of Operations, though. There were only two people running, Will and I, and Will wasn't in attendance at the meeting. My speech was, quite simply, "Vote for me." Amanda gave a proxy speech for Will, saying "Vote for Will, because he has a cute girlfriend." Had I given my speech second, I think I would have been slightly more verbose and said "Vote for me because I have a cute boyfriend." :-)

Speaking of whom, Josh really seemed to have a good time at the party. One of his comments that I found most interesting is that Psi Phi is among the most "real" groups he's ever been in... the members aren't afraid to tell each other what they really think, to disagree about things, and so on. Myself not being involved in very many social groups, I guess I'd never noticed that Psi Phi was so different in that regard, but I suppose it's true. I was glad to see that he felt comfortable enough in the group to offer to utilize a contact to get a special autograph for the club this summer. I was also very happy that my friends in Psi Phi made him feel welcome.

davidh

+ 4 - 1 | § ¶Psi Phi Elections for Fall 2005 (not yet with Instant Runoff Results)

Quickie version:
Joel O. is Captain (for the second non-consecutive time, and the fifth total semester)
Amanda is Comm. Officer (for the first time)
Elizabeth is Grand Nagus (for the second non-consecutive time, and the second total semester)
David (I) is (am) Chief of Operations (for the continuation of the second non-consecutive time, and the twenty-first-and-a-halfth total semester)
Monica V. is Constable (for the first time)

So five of the six offices will be changed between this semester and the next, though three of the incoming officers will have held their respective positions in prior semesters.

Nearly complete election results follow (all offices except Grand Nagus). . . (more)

+ 4 - 1 | § ¶Ramblings of the day

[Edited 4:15pm to add a few more details throughout the post.]

The Psi Phi party is tonight. I've got all the ballots printed out and cut... with a whopping nine eight* candidates for Constable, the election may end up taking a while. But in a case like this, I think the instant runoff ballot will end up helping quite a bit. I also think I'll do the distribution a little differently this time... I'll pass out one set of all five ballots at the beginning of the election, rather than passing out each race's ballot between races. This should save quite a bit of time and work, and should also cut down on "You missed me" syndrome. They'll still need to be collected individually, since several people are running for multiple offices, and in certain cases, I might still need to distribute a second ballot for a race, e.g. if we have an exact tie with some number of ballots eliminated. But collection is usually a lot easier than handing out, and eliminating four trips out will still help even if there are a couple remaining.
[* - Jon just rescinded his nomination, dropping the number of candidates.]

I'm taking the day off work tomorrow because I'll probably be exhausted from the party.

I've been selected to review a sneak preview of some program that a network is considering for next fall's schedule. It will most likely be a sitcom, given the estimated 20-25 minute length (no commercials). For those in Peoria, you can see it on Insight Communications channel 44 at 6:00pm. At about 6:30, someone from the research company is going to give me a call and ask me a bunch of focus group-type questions. I'll try to take notes on the questions they ask, and post my thoughts about the show after we're finished.

Star Trek says "There's no need for Orson Scott Card", in reply to this article from the Los Angeles Times. Here's a good reply from Jill Sherwin (production assistant on DS9).

Josh now has his own blog at LiveJournal. I helped him get that set up last night.

Ack, tight squeeze for money this month, in terms of timing of the income schedule and the outgo due dates. Gotta juggle accounts to get everything covered, most importantly the automatic withdrawals. I'll be glad when I have a financial cushion again.

A different Peoria Journal Star reporter, Mike Bailey, writes a horribly rambling column wherein he eventually gets to his point that bloggers don't know how to write well. I'm guessing this article's writing style is some sort of attempt at irony.

Are my experimential ways rubbing off on people? Fellow Peoria blogger Huts Erickson is considering an experiment to see how merchants respond to someone using someone else's credit/debit card. Hopefully this experiment will be conducted with the knowledge and approval of the card's actual owner. :-)

davidh

+ 4 - 1 | § ¶My Upcoming Week, May 2-8

Monday

Work

(perhaps) Whose Line is it Anyway?

24: "Day 4: 2:00 A.M.-3:00 A.M."

CSI: Miami: "Recoil"

Tuesday

Work

Pick up Josh (6:30)

Psi Phi party (7:00)

NCIS: "Hometown Hero" (on tape)

Veronica Mars: "A Trip to the Dentist" (on tape)

Wednesday

Psi Phi party (continued) (meeting at midnight)

No work (vacation/personal day)

Unknown sneak preview program (6:00-6:22pm, Insight Comm. cable channel 44)

Survey about previewed program

Alias: "Mirage"

CSI: NY: "On the Job"

Thursday

Work

Survivor

CSI: CSI: "Weeping Willows"

Friday

Work

Star Trek: Enterprise: "Demons" (part 1 of Enterprise finale)

Numb3rs: "Noisy Edge"

Saturday

TBD

Sunday

Church

TBD

Family Guy

American Dad

davidh

+ 3 - 2 | § ¶Actual Saturday and Sunday activity

[Warning: Potential subtle PG-13 implications, but nothing explicit -- and I'm not talking about the movie]

Here's how things actually went. . . (more)