Firefly!

I've been watching the DVD's of the 1st (and alas, only) season of the TV show "Firefly," thanks to a birthday gift from Mr. Paik. We were talking about this show over Christmas, at home in NJ, and it came up that I hadn't actually ever seen it. I didn't really actively avoid it, but there are times when I avoid the 1st season of science fiction television shows, as it generally takes a season or so to work the kinks out of a good show.

I won't bother summarizing the story of Firefly. If you're interested, I'm sure there are plenty of websites out there giving you all the information you need or want. Sue and I have watched the first 2 discs as of now, and out of those 7 episodes, they've all been pretty solid. There was one that was not as good as the others (where the Doctor character was kidnapped, along with his sister, by a town needing a doctor), but even that one wasn't horrible, there just wasn't that much special or interesting about it.

It was definitely a show ended before it's time, but really, what do you expect with an unknown like Joss Whedon at the helm? I mean, why would you give someone with an unproven track record time to actually develop characters, plot, and an audience. I mean, it's totally reasonable that Fox would not want to pour good money after bad? It's just like that show Arrested Development. Why bother with quality?

(For the sarcasm impaired, please refer to that last paragraph.)

I do have to say, I think I can add the "What, we're married!?!?" cliche to the list of SF plots that every science fiction show, by law, has to do. Fortunately, most pull it off with an interesting twist, but everyone has to do it...

Did Firefly ever have Space Nazis? Or is that just the Alliance?

NP: Steve Howe - Double Rondo

Sunny!

Is it as sunny and nice where you all are in the world? We're having temps in the high 50's/low 60's here. It's like an early spring. Groovy stuff...

It's been a fairly normal day here, nothing too exciting to write about. So, I end quickly!

NP: Peter Gabriel - Fourteen Black Paintings

Winner!

I'm glad to see my work idea has provoked such discussion. See the post below, and enjoy! I'll be posting my consultation rates soon.

I took the Jeopardy! online contestant test tonight, 50 trivia questions. I think I did well, but we'll see how it develops, if I get a contact from them. We shall see. Unfortunately, my mom couldn't get on the website, so she wasn't able to do it. I would have liked to see if she got the same questions (I'm 99% sure they would have been identical), and also to see if there were any that I just missed. Out of the 50, I think I got between 40-45 right, but I'm not sure, of course.

I had my first full staff meeting of the term tonight. I always enjoy staff meetings, my staff cracks me up in many ways. They work well, although sometimes I'd like a bit more conversation happening. I'll try to think of ways to develop more opportunities for people to contribute.

I'm still working on my old tape conversion. I did a lot of Yes tapes, and got down to my last 5 or so, and decided I needed a change, so now I'm working on the MP3 conversion of some of my Genesis tapes. That pile was almost as large as my Yes tapes, so if I knock this down a bit, it'll help reduce the overall volume of tapes I need to convert. It's one of those things I just have to keep plugging away at. Fortunately, I can read a book, or watch a bit of television while doing it.

Tomorrow morning, I have to go out and get some muffins and other snacks for our staff meeting, as we're doing our birthday celebrations for myself, CD Daniel, and Michele, our Admin Assistant. It's always good to snack a bit during these meetings.

Cheers!

Mike

Idea!

I've been looking for ways of making lots of money, but not really doing any true "work." I think I've stumbled upon the answer, finally!

I will be a Dating Consultant.

I've been talking to one of my friends, lets call him Joe, who has been re-entering the dating world. I get to hear about the women he has been meeting, or not, as the case may be, and with my world reknown experience with "the ladies," as we call them, I think I've given him some sage advice for his meetings and communications with his contactees.

But I'm not a one sex guy! I have also talked to single female friends about their experiences, and have also been the wise dispenser of sagacity on that front also. I'm a double threat, I believe the "kids" are calling it nowadays.

So, look out world, I'm starting my true calling with a vengance.

NP: David Sylvian - Home

Indy! Part 3

This is the 3rd, and probably last part of this update on my travels. I'll confirm if it's the last at the end of this post. If it is, we'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow, and I'm sure you can all barely wait!

When I came back to my room, after the first day of the conference, I found my toiletries put nicely on this towel by the cleaning staff. Thank you, Indy Marriott!

Blurry picture of me on the 2nd day (Sunday) of the conference. I looked snazzy, trust me...

Two of my Dartmouth co-workers, outside of the Dartmouth social on Monday evening. A good time was had by all...

Snowy Tuesday morning. There was about 2 inches, perhaps, on the ground. I guess the Indinapolis natives went a bit buggy over this, but up here in NH, 2 inches would be nothing!

Here's a photo of the main conference area, on Tuesday morning. Quite barren, isn't it?

This row of tables is where prospective job candidates would go to set up interviews with employers. Groovy stuff...

This is the area where candidates could sit down, take a load off, write thank you notes to employers, or do whatever they need to do to stay on top of their interview game. I like to think of it as "Where Hope Goes To Die."

Sadness is an empty candidate mailbox. Here's mine, empty. But no worries, I wasn't expecting any messages at this point of the conference. Really!

Here's the actual interview area. Employers sit on one side of the table, the candidate on the other, and there you have it! Again, being the last interview day, there's a lot of nothing happening here. It's not as bad as it looks, as a candidate, you're usually able to tune out any other conversations pretty well.

And Wednesday, on the way home! I got to sit by an engine! Yay! Surprisingly, it wasn't any louder than other places I've sat on planes.

Looking out the next window up. Goodbye, Indy! I hardly knew ya, but you seemed like an okay place.

In the air between Detroit and Manchester. Can you spot the UFO?

My flying needs. A book, a drink, and a cup. I'm a simple man.

So, that's all my photos. The conference overall was a good time. I got to interview for some possible future positions, and we'll see how that develops over the next month or two. I got to reconnect with some old grad school friends, hung out with co-workers outside of work (always fun), got to attend some decent sessions (and one or two that weren't so great), and did a session of my own (on living in residence halls as a professional when you're married or partnered) which someone told me was the best session they had attended at the conference.

Of course, I didn't ask how many other sessions the person had attended.

So, unless there are any questions from you all, my loyal readers, this will probably be the last chapter of the Indy saga. Unless Harrison Ford comes back for a 4th movie...

NP: Queen, It's Late

Indy! Part 2

Arriving on the 17th, here's the view out of my hotel window. The conference center roof is in the foreground, and the industry of America is in the background...

Looking left out of the window, there's the RCA dome, where some sport team plays. Don't ask me who...

Looking to the far right, a baseball park! Again, don't know who plays there...

A big pile of dirt by the RCA dome. Perhaps for a hockey/basketball arena, for another of Indy's nameless teams?

The bed where I would slumber, away from home... Was rather comfy, and I migrated towards the middle of the bed as the days went on... You have to take advantage of all that space when you can!

Let me know if you can see the funny/irony in this shot. I just had to take a photo of it. Perhaps the VP would have appreciated the humor also, if he ever changed the channel...

View out the window at night. Not quite a skyline, but pretty in an odd way...

Dressed for the first day of the conference on Satuday the 18th. Not the best photo in the world, I should have been a bit closer to the mirror... Ah well, live and learn.

NP: REM, Hope

Indy! Part 1

Here's the photo log of my trip out to Indianapolis for the ACPA conference. The conference lasted from Saturday, 18 March until Wednesday, 22 March. I left New Hampshire on Friday the 17th... This is the view out my window at Manchester Airport. Good flying weather...

I got to sit in the emergency exit row. Much better legroom. I should do this mor often. Also, I got to look at this cool diagram...

Window seats are fun! Look at that Earth!

A ski mountain, perhaps in Vermont? It was fairly early in the flight. Maybe it's Mount Snow?

We went from Manchester to Detroit, Michigan. A long terminal...

But you know, the family that s*its together, stays together!

That's the travel portion of this blog... Tomorrow, there will be more about Indianapolis itself...

NP: David Bowie, The Width of a Circle

Back!

Well, I'm back.

I'll write up a full report of the conference, with photos, tomorrow.

Generally, a good time. Interviews went well for some places, and blah for others. I won't get into names here now, as the processes are ongoing.

More later!

NP: The Zombies, The Way I Feel Inside

Car!

I dropped my car off this morning to have it inspected. I got a call around 10am, saying that the garage needed to put new brake pads and something else involving the brakes on the front wheels, in order to have it pass inspection. Since I had last done this about 4 years ago, it seemed like the timing was right to do it again.

However, it did run me $280. Yeech! Happy F*cking Birthday!

Not that $280 is out of my budget, I'll be able to pay it off as soon as I get paid on 1 April. But it is the unexpected nature of random repairs that is a pain. I'll live with it, but it's now $250 less that I can throw at my student loans this coming month. Ah well. Life goes on.

My birthday was fine today, nothing too exciting, which is fine with me. Sue got me the 4 disc set of the soundtrack to "Fellowship of the Ring," which I'll listen to in full once I get back from the conference this coming Wednesday.

I will bring my digital camera with me, so I can do a photolog of the conference upon my return. I probably won't have regular e-mail/internet access while out there, so if I'm slow in updating this, or with responding to any e-mail, no worries.

NP: Simple Minds - And The Band Played On

Gift!

I think these photos speak for themselves....

Feel the Force!

Cut my arm off? There goes your face!

Is that a sabre in your pocket?

Fear ME!

Thank you to Joe for fulfilling my life long dream to be a huge nerd... Photos taken by the lovely Sue!

Funk!

Ah, it's time for my annual birthday funk to begin. Not for the normal reasons, like getting older. That aspect of the birthday really doesn't bother me that much. Every day you're older than the last, so one more milestone on that road really isn't that big deal for me.

I think my conflict about birthdays rests in the fact that I like to acknowledge my birthday, and the birthday of others, but that I've had a lot of birthdays, specifically when I was younger, that really weren't that fun. What I always remember is having a party for my birthday, when I was in 2nd Grade, and only two friends from school showed up. And once they were there, they spent most of the time not playing with me, so it wasn't fun on most levels.

Of course, not every birthday was bad, and believe me, my childhood was fine. Compared to some people's stories, my life is fantastic! However, I do have this thing now where there are times when I just want to be alone on my birthday, or I want to be with people, but I can never tell how it's going to be until it actually hits. I think this year I'm leaning towards staying home, but you never know.

I think at heart, the funk comes from the want to do things with people, to be social, and the fear of finding that there's no one around who wants to do anything. I was thinking, a month or so ago, that it might have been fun to invite friends from Boston and elsewhere to come up this weekend, to hang out around my birthday, but not necessarily on it. However, with this conference I'm going to, leaving this Friday, that's pretty much out, at least for now.

What's nutty about this is that I know that I have good friends, good family, a good wife, who all like and love me, so it's not really a fear based on reality at this point. But, there are those things that we had happen as kids that stay with us for awhile. This birthday stuff is one of those very few negative things that I can recall.

On the good side, I remember a lot of good birthdays, with bowling parties, hanging out, doing stuff in college with friends, and being in Boston. Grad school, and living in Vermont pre-Sue was a bit rough, because I didn't really have many people to hang out with then, particularly in the 1st year of my Masters program, and when I first went to Vermont. Actually, during the 2nd year of my program, my birthday was at one of the conferences, and I had a good time going out with friends in St. Louis.

I do remember in Vermont, going to see "Analyze This" on my birthday, alone. The movie did cheer me up a bit, but it still was no fun.

So, this year, I'm playing things by ear. Maybe we'll go out and eat on Thursday, maybe not. I do have to get up way early on Friday, to catch a 9am flight out of Manchester NH to Indianapolis, so there's that excuse to stay in. But, it's also Dartmouth's closing day for the Winter term, so I'm sure that some co-workers may be going out, so that could be a pull out of the building later in the evening.

Maybe writing some of this stuff down will help get it out of my system, at least a bit. I'm really generally a happy person, but we all have our down moments...

NP: Steve Hackett; Sentimental Institution (live)

Radio!

For those of you who don't know, my friend Joe and I do an internet radio show called Pseudocertainty. Every few weeks, we record a show, sometimes about odd news events, random stuff, and our own habits. Compelling listening, for all of you I'm sure.

We are available through I-Tunes, I think, as a podcast. Our numbers of downloads have been going up in the last few months, so perhaps it's working.

Our goal is to not have to do "real" work, but that hasn't happened yet. When o when will we be discovered for our own greatness?

All this blabbing about the show is to point out that we have a new one up there, recorded this past Saturday evening. I've always thought that late night is the best time to record these shows, and I think it's been bourne out by our last few offerings.

For the "log" part of this entry, it's been a productive time at work, getting stuff done, and seeing what I have to do. I won't bore you with the details, but it has been fun. Tomorrow, I may have to leave campus for a bit to do some work elsewhere around the town, but nothing too bad.

I made my first e-bay mistake today. I sent the wrong DVD to one of my buyers. Fortunately, over e-mail, he's more than happy to forward the item I sent him to the proper person. It restores my faith in humanity, I tell you...

NP: King Crimson, Improv: Pforzheim

Horror!

On Friday, I went with a few people (Meg, Sarah, Brian, and Laura, to be precise) to see "The Hills Have Eyes" at one of the local theaters. I wanted to write up the evening when I got home, but there was a blogger issue, and it wouldn't let me write a post. So, here we are, a little delayed.

The movie itself was actually better than I thought it would be. It was much more about suspense than just blood and gore (although there was enough of that to satisfy the blood lust of the audience). The characters actually had a little bit of life to them, although my prediction for the first one to go ended up being the "hero" of the movie. I would like there to be a bit less "lets have one of our major characters in the shot, and have someone run between them and the camera to show they're being stalked" set ups in these kind of movies. There are plenty of other ways to show someone being watched, that I think are actually creepier. Like seeing a head poke up from a rock, watching someone, and then dropping out of sight. Stuff that you may not catch as a movie viewer the first time you see it...

All critiques aside about style, it was enjoyable, and I didn't think I wasted my money, like I did with "Hostel," which was *horrible!* I should see the original "The Hills Have Eyes," to see how similar this one is to the first one.

On Saturday, Sue and I went out to Margarita's for her birthday dinner. Margarita's is a chain of Mexican restaurants up here in New England, although I haven't seen anyone working there who actually looks Mexican. It's okay food, but for more authentic local Mexican, I'll stick with Guzano's, a new local place that just opened up a few months ago. I had my traditional Mexican fare of steak/chicken fajitas. Good, but not like The Border, in Harvard Square....

Today my excitement was going out to buy shoe polish.

See you later!

Birthday!

Today is happy birthday to my Sue! I think she'll like what I got her. I'll reveal it after it's opened... Don't want to give away any surprises.

We'll go out to eat this weekend in celebration, and have a tasty meal somewhere. I'm sure I'll give a full report once it's happened. Very exciting stuff!

First day of study days for students here at Dartmouth. At this time next week, they'll be off for spring break. And then I leave for Indianapolis the next day for a conference. What a destination location!

Not really, but hey, I have to psych myself up for it somehow...

I sent off today to Joe and JP the mp3's of our old band project from 1994. And of course, as soon as they're off, I discover two more old tapes. I'll have to make an addendum to the discs, once I get these converted to mp3's.

NP: Bill Nelson, Working Man

Tapes!

The dubbing of the old band project tapes has gone much faster than I expected, mainly because I have less tapes of the project than I thought I had initially. I'm on the last tape now, and may try to knock it out in the next evening or two, in order to be done with it.

The music still speaks to me at times, which is reassuring, that we were able to create some pieces with staying power. At least to my mind.

Exciting stuff on the genealogy front today. The Scotlands People website released their online version of the 1851 Scotland Census today, which means that I've been able to find some old records for a variety of relatives in a relatively fast period of time. I was even able to discover a record for a guy named Alexander Lindsay, who is my G5-GF. I was pretty sure he died before 1855, and I found an Alexander Lindsay in the census who was the right age, living with someone who could be one of his daughters. The birth location is the right place too, so all signs point to yes, as the saying goes.

Now, I just have to wait for the 1841 Census to come online, and all will be well.

Sue is being tempted by the big box sitting on our table, waiting to be opened on Thursday for her birthday. I think she'll be able to resist until then...

I got a CD of music from my old T.O.O.L.-mate Dan VanArsdale yesterday in the mail. I have to give it a listen in the next day or so. I'm very interested to see where his musical travels have taken him...

NP: Billy Squier - On Your Own (from the Metropolis album by Giorgio Moroder)

Weekend!

I've spent a good portion of this weekend converting old audio tapes of a band that Joe J., John S. and I were in back in 1994. We didn't have a name for it at the time, but I'm now calling it Nick's Eef & Be Ho. That's the name of a place in Cambridge (Nick's Beef and Beer House) that we used to go to, but there were some letters missing from the sign. With a few permutations, that's what we ended up calling the place.

Funnily enough, I was talking to Joe tonight on the phone about the band, and what went wrong with it. We only rehearsed for about 4 months, and while we produced some workable arrangements of songs, both written outside the band and developed through some improv, we never went any further. Like a lot of things, it came down to young guys not really being able to communicate with each other about what was going on. My perception was that Joe wanted it to be a band that played the songs that he wrote. I personally liked the stuff we were coming up with by jamming, and wanted to develop more along those lines. But of course, we never talked about it in a real way. We may have talked around the issue at the time, but never confronted it head on.

And JP was a good middle ground for both of us. An excellent drummer, he was willing to work on most anything musically, and had a good sense of humor about life, even while he was going through a pretty crappy year or two himself. JP and I actually worked at the same place, actually two different places (the Mass College of Pharmacy and Boston University) at the same time. Good times.

So, rehashing old band politics from 1994 aside, it's actually a lot of fun listening to these tapes, with the distance that time gives me. Good playing in general, all around. I actually don't think I play bass as well now as I did back then. Although, put me in a band setting with a drummer, and I'll be interested to see what happens.

Some of these tunes will get posted over on my website, perhaps as early as the end of this week.

In other weekend news, Sue and I watched some movies here at home, and I went out to see "Capote" on Saturday night with a friend from work and some other people I didn't know very well at all. Great movie, it really showed the complexity of Capote, as someone who is a great writer, but also self-absorbed, and willing to use people for his own ends. I haven't read any Capote to speak of, but the movie does make me want to go read "In Cold Blood" now.

Other than all that, a good relaxing weekend.

NP: The fan from the computer

Interviews!

This is a busy week of UGA interviews here in Res Life. Conveniently (for me, and it's all about me, isn't it?), all the interviews are done in Brace Commons, so I don't have far to travel. It does keep me from experiencing the outside world, so today I made sure to get out of the building and go to the office, mainly to pick up mail, but also to experience the outside world.

Tomorrow morning, I'll be traveling out to pay for my car registration for this year. Exciting stuff!

Talked to my grandmother today, as Sue and I got an anniversary card from her in the mail. She's 88 years old, and is doing fine, living in an assisted living home in New Jersey, near where my family lives. She moved out of her house after 53 years back in summer 2004, but then had to move to another assisted living location when the place that she was living was sold for some other purpose. The new owners were not interested in keeping the home going. Fortunately, she was able to find a place relatively easily, with the help of family in the area.

Tomorrow is the last day of interviews for this term. They haven't tired me out like the interview week has in the past. Perhaps I'm doing a better job of pacing myself, or I'm mis-remembering how tired I actually was in the past from these.

NP: Frank Zappa - The Mammy Anthem (12 July 1982)

Obvious!

Before on here, I've spoken of Joe and my conversations about his cucumber moments, AKA: Penetrating glimpses into the obvious. I had one of these the other day.

I was thinking about Chekhov in Star Trek II, and how he did a 1st Officer's Log for the Reliant. I then thought, "Hey, a captain's log is much like a web log! That's interesting..." Then, I realized it's actually not interesting at all, as pretty much everyone who ever thought about "weblog" probably realized that the idea of a Captain's Log is pretty much identical to the blogging idea.

Anyway, a glimpse into my mind. Joe's example of this is about pickles, and realizing that they're actually pickled cucumbers. Duh.

1st Day of March today. Happy new month!

Today's been a busy day of Dartmouth student staff interviews, and general work stuff. We're doing interviews till Friday, and then we're done till next term. Today was also payday for we "non-exempt" staff (or are we "exempt," I can never remember). We get paid once a month, which I actually like, as it makes it easy to budget. I paid off all my credit cards today, so again my credit card debt is down to zero. I still have about $8500 in student loan debt, but my plan is to knock as much of that down as quickly as possible this year, as I'm just sick of paying it off month by month.

It's possible that I could have it all paid off by December, but we'll see. If I don't do anything extra, it should all be done by April 2009, which still seems like a long way away, although it's only 3 years.

NP: Genesis - Duchess

Anniversary!

Today is Sue and my 2nd wedding anniversary! Happy us! Sue is great. I love her.

We went out to eat at a local Mexican place, our first time there. It was quite tasty, if I say so myself.

If you're looking for what D&D character you are, go here. I'm a True Neutral Half-Elf Druid Fighter. You know, the Druids built Stonehenge...

NP: David Bowie; Queen Bitch

Tapes!

Tonight, I may actually start converting the audio tapes I have of the Joe J./Mike L./John S. project from 1994 over to MP3's. Or, at the least, I'll get set up to do it. There's a lot of good improv music on those tapes, that perhaps I'll try to turn into something a bit more arranged... We shall see.

My friend Lou has a blog now too. Not much on it yet, but knowing Lou, there will be interesting stuff up there, even if it's just ramblings...

Today, I finished the latest book by Richard Dawkins I bought, called "The Blind Watchmaker," all about evolution and other science-y type stuff. As a frustrated scientist myself, it's always interesting to read about what smart people are doing with their time. I hope some of the smartness rubs off on me...

Now, I'm reading the 4th volume of Joe Straczynski's Babylon 5 script books. Sometime soon, I'm going to have to revisit watching the entire series. And, I haven't mentioned it on here recently, but Andreas Katsulas, who played G'Kar on the show, recently died of lung cancer. I'll have to pull out some episodes specifically to watch him, perhaps "The Long Twilight Struggle," or "Dust to Dust," although there are plenty more with great G'Kar moments in them.

NP: John Lennon; Woman (Home Recording)