Cookies!

Today, I made some of the Lord (although it may be Partridge or Nixon, I think Nixon family) traditional Christmas holiday cookies, merengue cookies. Very tasty stuff. And quite easy to make, although everyone thinks they're hard to make. It's just three egg whites, a ton of sugar, a bit of baking powder, some vanilla extract, and stick 'em in the oven. Easy peasy.

Well, there's a bit more to the prep than that, but I can't give all my baking secrets away, can I?

This is also about the 5 year mark of me doing research into my genealogy. Here's a status report, a "now" versus "then" (or actually, "then" vs. "now") list of how I've pushed the generations back in those years:

• Lord: Before, I only knew to John Lord, my G3-GF. Now, I know to Robert Lord, my G4-GF. Not a great push, but oddly enough, the Lord line has been a tough nut to crack. Also, I know more about the Lang family, Jane Lang married John Lord

• Sanecki: I was topping out at my great-grandfather, Josef Sanecki before, now I know to my G3-GF, Marcin Sanecki, from Poland.

• Partridge: I knew to William Partridge, my G2-GF, and now I know to Thomas Partridge, my G5-GF. It's a bit of guesswork when it gets that far back in Ireland, but it's not bad.

• Moskwa: I knew to Wojciech "George" Moskwa, my great-grandfather, and now I know his father's name, Anton Moskwa, and his wife, Annie Furgas. I'm not 100% on that last name spelling of Furgas, but that's what I'm going with for now, until I can get some real info from Poland on the Moskwa's.

• Nixon: No direct relation to the President, thankfully! I knew to my G2-GF, Robert Nixon, and now I know to my G4-GF, Robert Nixon. There's a lot of repeat of names in those old families.

So, you get the picture. I also know of a whole bunch more last names in my direct genealogy that I didn't even know about when I started, including: Fegan, Smith, Zimna, Kawa, Flaga, Maslak, Drozd, Stachura, Dziki, Obuch, Zlotek, Ruszala, Kluska, Blackwood, Houston, Crawford, Lindsay, Dyer, Barr, Kirkwood, Gibb, Laird, Taylor, Fleming, Love, Rodger, Scott, Cunningham, McLeod, Rosebotham, Alderdice, Marcker, Hafner, and Shield.

I also know so much more about the offshoots of the family, I've gotten in touch with some great distant relations who are into genealogy, and have been happy to share info. I'm hoping in the new year to find some more connections, I'd really like to crack open some stuff on the Polish side, and get a bit further with the Lord name itself...

We shall see what the future holds.

NP: Bill Bruford's Earthworks - Forget Me Not

Mail!

Today, I had to go to the Post Office, to send off about 20 packages.

I had a very good e-bay weekend.

However, when about the 16th package was weighed and postage printed, my postal worker's computer crashed.

I've never had this happen at the Post Office before, so I figured the computer would reboot, there might be some inputting of old postage that had been printed already, and we'd continue on our merry way.

Not so.

What happened was this: The computer took at least 5 minutes to reboot. Then, the Postal Worker had to rip off all the old postage that was already done, and reweigh/reprint all the postage that had already been done.

I'm actually amazed that there is no way that the old postage can't be scanned or input back into the system in a case like this.

The Postal Worker was a real trooper through all of this. I would have been drop-kicking the computer out the door, but she just plugged away at it. I made a comment to her about the situation, I can't remember exactly what, that gave her a big smile, and that made me feel better for her about it.

On the second round of scanning, I thought of asking about halfway through if she wanted me to pay for what had been scanned already, in case her computer went south again, but I didn't want to tempt the Postal Computer Gods.

Needless to say, we had no further problems, and the mail was successfully posted. However, that ate up most of my lunch hour, so I had to grab some quick pizza at a local pizza place, and head right back to work. Not the most restful lunch ever, but it was okay.

I sold a bunch of my old Yes Magazines, a fan magazine from the late 80's through the 1990's. I was hoping to get a bit more than I got for them, but that's life. I have a bunch of old Babylon 5 magazines I was looking to sell, but they're big, and there's not a lot of buyers for them, from what I saw on e-bay. So, I was going to chuck them out today, but when push came to shove, I couldn't do it. I'm going to try again later, but they may end up back in a trunk for a period of time. Perhaps they'll go up in value? Maybe?

Sue and I are both going to do some serious weeding of stuff during the winter break from work. It'll be good to do a big purge. I'll continue to weed through CDs I have, I'm getting ruthless at culling stuff now, especially since I can have the music without the actual disc, if you get my drift.

Memories, I'm talking about memories here! I'd *never* illegally copy music.

NP: John Williams - City in the Clouds (Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back)

Libary!

Yes, I misspelled it on purpose.

Tomorrow, I'll be heading to the Elizabeth Library to do some more genealogy research. For those of you who don't know, genealogy is one of my big hobbies, that I got into in late 2001, and have been addicted to ever since. On my dad's side, I've pushed various lines back into the mid-1700's, in Scotland. On my mom's side, I've pushed the dates back to the mid-early 1800's, which is impressive since I didn't know *anything* past my great-grandparents on that side at all when I started this.

My mission for tomorrow is to start going through the 1895 NJ Census, most likely in Jersey City, looking for direct ancestors with the last name of Coulson, and some side ancestors with the names of Jameson, Sutcliffe, and Graves. I'll also do some quick checks of newspapers in Elizabeth for some relatives on my mom's side, and some old city directory information.

It truly is an addiction, this work. I'll think of some side line of research to do, and just find a way of trying to track it down. If I could get paid regularly to do this, I'd probably seriously consider it as an option. But, genealogists generally aren't professional, although there are some certifying boards out there that allow you to be "professional." Perhaps some day I'll do that for fun...

Once I get my library fix done, probably between 12pm and 2pm tomorrow, Sue and I will figure out what to do with our time. We'll probably hit the movies at some point, and food shopping is in the future. Whatever else we do, it'll be fun and relaxing.

If any of you out there would like me to take a look at your background, let me know. I'm happy to do some preliminary digging, to see what's out there. It'll also get me thinking about how to track down leads of people that I don't know the family background of. I've learned a lot about my family since doing this, so I generally know which leads are more likely to pan out (although it's never a guarantee). With others, I'd have to figure out what questions to ask, what are the gaps that I'd need to fill, etc.

Could be fun...

NP: Nick's Eef & Be Ho - Jam on But Not Yours

PS-Nick's Eef & Be Ho was a band I was in post-college.

Wrapping!

I wrapped a grand total of one gift today. It was one for Sue. I'll be wrapping more over the weekend. I'm waiting for a box or two to arrive from Amazon, but I should be all done with stuff by early next week. Shopping is all done, right on time for payday tomorrow, so I can pay it all off...

We're getting closer and closer to the end of the semester here, and all the students leaving for vacation. I always enjoy it when no one is around, as it gets quite quiet in the building and on campus. We also get the week between Christmas and New Years off from work, without having to take vacation, which is kind of nice...

I still haven't started a book yet, but, I do have a new one to read, if I feel like it. It's "World War Z," by Max Brooks, author of "The Zombie Survival Guide," a gripping read. WWZ chronicles the recent Zombie War. Perhaps you remember it? In any case, I'm looking forward to reading people's gripping tales of survival during this recent altercation between us and the undead. Sue got it for me for Christmas, we usually do one gift before the holidays really begin.

I'm also enjoying watching my e-bay sales continue to go up. I have 44 items listed, and 32 are selling. And of the 12 not selling, only 5 do not have at least one watcher monitoring their progress.

If anything doesn't sell, I'm not going to relist the item right away, as if I did, it would sell right before, on, or after Christmas. And no one is really going to be doing e-bay that much around then. People will be on holiday, and while there may be some people trolling e-bay, there won't be as many possible bidders. So, I'll wait until early in the new year before listing anything.

Is anyone else besides me shocked that we're at 2007 already?

NP: Pat Boone - Enter Sandman

Cards!

I'm almost done with writing my Christmas/holiday/New Years/whatever cards for this year. Sue and I have some cute photos on the card for this year. There's actually three photos in one card, for all of you parents out there looking for ways to work yourself into your kid's shots.

I know you're out there! And I know you're thinking about it...

I was reminded by Jen in a comment on yesterday's blog that as a kid, in my house in Wanamassa, NJ, that we always taped up our cards on the stair bannister. Maybe that's why I like taping cards up nowadays in different locations. We have no bannister here, but there are plenty of doorframes or other places to tape up cards. Once we get a critical mass, I'll take a photo and post it up here.

The labels I was using for the cards, my computer printer messed up some of them, so if you get a handwritten envelope, it just means your extra special. Really.

I have a bunch of stuff I'm selling on e-bay now. It seems that a lot of it is going, which is great! Keep looking, buy early and buy often! I'm continuing to try to weed things out of my life that I don't really need anymore. Some old magazines, CD's I'm getting remastered versions of, some DVD's, and other random things.

I will also attempt to complete my Christmas shopping tonight. We'll see how that goes...

I feel all over the place, blogging tonight. I did just finish exercising, maybe that's affecting my brain. Who knows...

NP: Pete Townshend - Behind Blue Eyes (demo)

Holidays!

Today, Sue and I put up a bunch of our Christmas decorations. For some reason, I always (for the past few years at least) get depressed putting up the decorations. I don't recall if this happened when I was younger, but it happens in spades now.

There's nothing tangible causing the depression, and once they're up, I'm glad they're there. I just get very down when they're actually going up. It's strange, I know...

In general, I do enjoy the Christmas holidays. I like seeing family, friends, and just having the time off. There's no great religious piece for the holidays to me, but I do look at this time as a period of reflection on the year gone by, and the upcoming year/years. I *don't* do new years resolutions or anything like that. I actually think of New Years as a pretty fake holiday. If friends are doing a party or getting together, or hanging out, I'm happy to do that, but I'm not really that into the whole New Years idea.

It's been hard this year to get into the whole Christmas gift giving spirit, as I'm not really sure what to get people. I also tend to get people things that I think they'd like, or that I think they *should* like. That's one reason why I like to actually spend time with people around the holidays, versus having to do the whole gift exchange thing, I'd rather build experiences and friendships/relationships with people, versus just handing over a gift.

Also, I haven't been able to think up some really good gifts this year. I think I've been kind of consumed with the move down here and the new job, so it's been hard to get out of my own head, and into a space to think about others as much as I'd like to at this time of year.

As a kid, I think it was Christmas of 1974, we were on a family vacation down to Florida/DisneyWorld. (It may have been Christmas of 1975, I'm not exactly sure, but if I had to bet money, I'd bet on '74). I remember coming back to the hotel room, and there were two wrapped gifts on the bed, one for me and one for my brother. I remember being so surprised that Santa knew where to come down to deliver our gifts to us. I got a Lego set, your basic building blocks to build a small house. I had those for quite a long time, and I remember that as a very fun, happy Christmas.

For being so young, I actually do remember bits and pieces of that vacation. I also remember getting chicken-pox in the January after getting back. My brother got them first, then I got them. I vaguely remember him getting them, but I have no real memory of me having them. I've probably blocked that out!

So, for this holiday, I hope I get to see a lot of people. It'll be nice to actually be in NJ, and not have to do the big drive from New Hampshire down here.

I'm not quite sure if this entry is what Queenie was looking for in her blog, but it's what I came up with...

Enjoy! More to come...

NP: Bill Bruford's Earthworks - Original Sin (23/24 June 2001)

Maniacs!

So, I use Windows Media Player to play my mp3's on my computer, often when I'm on this computer. Typing up blogs, working on genealogy, whatever I happen to be doing.

I like WMP, because it's very easy to track what has been playing, and how many times a song has been played. I have about 1501 hours of music on here, and I have it on random play. I like that anything can come up at any time. Music, comedy, opera, talk, whatever.

However, for some reason, one song comes up more often than any other. My number one played song at random is "What's the Matter Here?" by 10,000 Maniacs.

A good song, but not one I would choose to listen to 12 times. That's how many times it's come up on WMP since I've been using this for music. The next closest high number is 5 times (for numerous songs). I mean, I do like the song (it's from before 10K Maniacs became a bit too precious for my tastes), but it comes up first a lot of times. Computer error?

Weird, I know, and does it deserve a blog? Well, it just happened, so I had to write about it.

Coming up tomorrow: My thoughts on Christmas/Holiday spirit.

NP: Lewis Black - Leave a Tip

Link!

You know, I'm a fairly open, friendly person. Sometimes though, someone just rubs me the wrong way, and I never really get close to people who are friends of friends, or people I see on a semi-regular basis. Sometimes it's just personality differences, or generally, I don't see a need to try to get to know someone.

I have some friends from college who I'm close to, and in that circle, there's one or two people who I never really initiate any contact with. However, one of those people, over time, has gotten to be not as annoying as they were when I first met them.

That sounds like they're still annoying now, but they're really not. I'm just operating on residual annoyance when I say that. The last few times I've seen this person, he actually hasn't been annoying at all. In fact, we've had some decent conversations, which is good. I like to like the people I hang out with, even if they're still not someone I'd initiate contact with on my own.

So, where is this all going? A few days ago, I noticed a link to this person's blog type site on one of my friend's blogs. I clicked on it, just to see what was up. After reviewing some of his writing, I noticed that this little blog was actually listed amongst the 4 or 5 other blogs of friends he had listed.

I was oddly touched by this. Here's someone who honestly, over the 12 years or so I've known him, I've barely given the time of day to (in my own way, never being actively nasty, just not really engaging in anything), who made the effort to put me on his blog. It may seem like a minor thing, but it did, again, make me rethink how I've been towards this person over the last years. I have been having better conversations with him over time, and this has made me think about how I do interact with people who I have tended to write off at different times of my life.

Granted, I'm honest enough with myself that I know we're not going to be best buddies or something, but I can approach our meetings with a different view now. So, in some way, perhaps me knowing this person who I thought I had no use for, has made me in a small way, a better person for having my own faults and assumptions reflected back on me.

So, there's your deepness for today. Enjoy!

In other news, I got my first photo Christmas card of this season in the mail today. I'll repeat my rant from last year, where I find it annoying that my friends who have kids, only send out photos of their kids in their cards, never of themselves! I enjoy that my friends have kids, but I want to see the kids *with* their parents! I know the parents better than I know the kids, and I want to see them all together. The one I got today was of the two kids outside, hanging out on a beach. It'd be easy enough to get the parents in the shot! Heck, just Photoshop them into the picture, it doesn't even have to be real!

I miss seeing my friends, and I'd at least like to see them in a photo, if not in real life!

So, parents, I plead with you! Include yourself in your photos! Your kids are great, I'm sure, but I want to see you all in one photo! Or, it's easy enough with these photo cards nowadays to have multiple shots on the card. That's what Sue and I did (watch your mailboxes, folks!), and it's great! Have a big shot of the kids, make it the main one, and put a little one of the parents on the side. If it's small enough, it'll hide the bags under your eyes from losing all that sleep from "the kids" keeping you up!

NP: Genesis - Your Own Special Way

Books!

I'm glad to see my book blog from yesterday getting a good reaction. Jen, I'll take a look at that book that you mention, and Queenie, Stephen King is usually worth a good re-read.

I've read The Stand numerous times, and have really enjoyed it. I did read "Everything's Eventual" earlier this year, as I went through one of my King kicks I go through every 10 years or so... I tend to burn out on King, and then save up a bunch of his stuff to read, and then get into reading them all at once. This most recent kick started out after finishing The Dark Tower series (made me cry, by the way). I picked up "Insomnia," and even though I recall it getting some poor reviews, I actually really liked it.

Lou, one of my college friends, tends to think that many of King's books don't have really good endings, and I can agree with him on that. Some do have the whole "deus ex machina," let's pull a rabbit out of the hat conclusions. The Stand is actually kind of like that, but since the subject of the book is all about good, evil, God, and mystical forces, I can see where it comes from there.

I also enjoyed Desperation/The Regulators when I read them both in a row. Desperation was the better novel, but having the same cast of characters in two very different novels was an intriguing experiement. Bag of Bones, I read a few years ago, and thought it was a good return to form for King. Next time I'm in a bookstore, I may have to pick up some of his newer paperbacks that I haven't read, to finish off the tail end of my 10 year kick.

I do have to give honorable mention to King's short story, "The Boogeyman," in the Night Shift collection. If you haven't ever read this story, I recommend you to go out and find the book in your local bookstore/library, and read it. I believe it's the second story in the book, and when I first read it as a youth, it really got me. I mean, it got me good. I mean, I was frightened to sleep. I mean, I couldn't not think about the story for quite a long time. I mean, it freaked me out, MAN!!!!

Sorry, a bit of a flashback there...

The Harry Potter books were also suggested as a possible re-read. I could definintely do that at some point, but I really just started reading them all late last year, so it's a bit too soon for a re-read. Looking through my bookshelves today, I noted Kim Stanley Robinson's "Mars" trilogy of books. They're worth a re-read, but I last re-read them (for the first time) right before I got married back in 2004, so like with Potter, it's a bit too soon to jump into them again.

I got strange looks at lunch today when I mentioned that I had re-read the Lord of the Rings trilogy perhaps 10 times in my life. Perhaps it's more like 8 or so, but I don't think, for work that good, that that's too many times... Although if I go the Tolkien route with my next read, I very well might pull out The Simirillion instead of LOTR. It's a tougher read, but I think I'm still getting more content out of reading that at this point. It's dense, like reading a novel with no dialogue, but very rewarding for the depth of the story. And it sets up all the sadness that happens in LOTR, giving the entire world of Middle Earth the context of what happens in the Third Age (when LOTR happens). The Simirillion details the First Age of Middle Earth.

Have I lost the non-geeks out there yet?

With all this being said, I still haven't decided what to re-read yet. King is coming up fast (hrm, perhaps the "Four Past Midnight" collection, I recall enjoying that on the first read...), but there still might be some SF dark horses out there. And, of course, the Tolkien is always a strong option.

NP: Camper Van Beethoven - Shut Us Down

Chapter!

I finished the Richard Dawkins book "The God Delusion" on Sunday. It's a good read, again, recommended for all regular (and irregular) readers of this blog. However, I have a thing with most non-fiction books.

I have real trouble reading the last chapters of non-fiction books. I don't know what causes it. It's with science books, history books, pretty much any subject that I read non-fiction in.

Sometimes, it feels that the author is just restating what they already made clear in the rest of the book. Other times, they're trying to reach some grandiose conclusion, when I'm not really interested in hearing about it. Other times, I might just be tired of the subject, even if I'm interested in the book itself. I figure that nothing much new is going to be brought up in the last chapter, so I can safely skim or ignore it.

With the Dawkins book, I'll probably try to read the last chapter in a month or so, when I'm a bit more distant from the material.

But, in the meantime, I am now TOTALLY without an unread book in my "to read" pile. This is rare for me. So, I have to decide what I may want to re-read. Here are some options:

• I may jump into a re-reading of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Or the Simirillion. Always worth an extra read.
• The Gunslinger books of Stephen King. Granted, it's a 7 book series, that I just finished reading about a year ago, but it could be interesting to re-read at least the first novel.
• Asimov, Clarke, or Heinlein short stories: I really enjoy the short story as a format, and I cut my teeth reading some of these science fiction master's shorter works in my youth. I'd be interested to see what still stands up, and what doesn't quite cut the mustard anymore.
• I could re-read some of my books from grad school... Oh wait, that sounds like work. Scratch that.
• A variety of my favorite SF authors have books I could re-read. Those authors include David Brin, Gordon Dickson, Gregory Benford, the aforementioned Asimov, Clarke, and Heinlein, or a variety of others...

So, any opinions? LOTR is an old favorite, which I actually haven't re-read for a few years, so it might be nice to take this opportunity to jump into that world again, but it may also be nice to revisit some other works I haven't thought about in awhile.

Opinions are welcome in the comments section...

NP: Mike Keneally - Dyin' Day

Day!

Today was one of those general "good days" I hear so much about...

Work was generally a positive experience. I met with some students about minor issues, which was fairly straightforward, I did some good work in getting our RA selection process ready for next semester (January-February timeframe), had some good work related conversations, and in general, accomplished what I wanted to do.

And, it's Wednesday already! Only two more days of work until the weekend. I'm not quite sure what's on our agenda yet. Possibly trying out some new restaurants, maybe I'll do some genealogy stuff, and I may have to go on my own to start my Christmas shopping in force. I'd go with Sue, but I may be getting her stuff, and having her around for that generally isn't a good idea if we're going for "surprise." And, we'll probably hit the movies at some point.

One thing that I've realized about myself (I don't know if this is a new realization, or a repeat of an old one), is that I really am a creature of routine. I tend to always blog after exercizing, then I check out some websites, and go to bed by midnight-ish (on weekdays). Sue and I watch the same shows after work (we do like them!) on most days, and our weekends are generally the same. Dinner, movies, finding something to do out of the apartment. Granted, what we do tends to change, but the general pattern is the same.

And, I generally like that. I do like to mix it up a bit, but I also don't go in for a lot of advance planning either. Maybe I should change that... Who knows....

Sue and I may go searching for a particular pancake house this weekend, about half an hour from her. Sue found it on the web, once I get the link, I'll post it up here.

NP: David Bowie - Look Back in Anger (1988 version)

Gift!

So, I bought Sue's first Christmas gift tonight... I have to think of some more stuff soon. I have some ideas, but I'm finding it hard this year to get into the Christmas spirit. It's not that I'm being a Scrooge (Bah Humbug and all that), but I'm drawing a blank on a lot of gift thoughts. I'm sure I'll hit the groove soon, but it just hasn't happened yet.

I got my car back today from AAMCO again. On Thanksgiving, driving back from Monmouth County, the check engine light went on again. In their work on it, the mechanics discovered that one of the sensors they installed was defective. So, there was no real issue with the engine, it just enjoyed lighting up for no real reason. Good to know, and the additional checkups didn't cost me anything, as the company guarantees their work. So, life is good on that front.

NP: Steve Hackett - Firth of Fifth (30 June 2002)

Dream!

I had an odd dream last night.

I was on the storage sets/offices for the old show "The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.," which aired on Fox back in 1993-1994. Of course, it starred Bruce Campbell, actor extrodinare. I was walking around, and I ran into Joe Straczynski, the creator of Babylon 5, another great TV show from the mid-90's, who, in my dream, was one of the writers on Brisco (he wasn't writing for the show in real life).

I was wandering around, because I might have been a writer on the show, but there was some material on the wall about what the second season of Brisco would have been about. I had to get that info to someone, but I don't know who.

Straczynski wasn't a big part of the dream, he was more like an overseer of the office. I thought it was strange that Brisco still had an extant office, as the show hadn't been produced for 13 years, but Straczynski said that was normal (it's not).

I was outside for a bit of time in the dream, but I forget why. There's more that I'm not remembering (isn't there always?), but that's the basic jist of the story. I did sleep very well last night, maybe that caused my memory of the dream to last a bit longer than normal.

In other news, what am I reading right now? It's called "The God Delusion," by Richard Dawkins. It examines religion from a scientific/Darwinistic viewpoint, and is an interesting read. Dawkins is a great writer, and always entertaining, even if I wouldn't necessarily phrase some of what he writes in the same way. He is direct, that's for sure. I recommend the book for all thinking people.

NP: Adrian Belew - Tango Zebra

Wedding!

Sue and I attended a wedding at the Hotel Pierre in NYC last night. Quite a nice hotel, I can see why it's one of my mom's favorite places, although we did not get to see the entire place. The wedding setup was on the 2nd floor, in a few large banquet hall rooms. The wedding was a good time, Sue and I met some nice people, although you can never really have a deep conversation with people you don't know already at these things. The food was decent, although I do sometimes think that the more swanky a place is, the smaller the dinner portions actually are.

All in all, a good time, and the bride (Sue's friend) and groom look very happy together!

The wedding ran a bit late, so we didn't get home until a little after 2am. It's very easy to drive out of NYC at that time of night, as there's no wait at all at the Lincoln Tunnel! So, today was a sleepy day. Tomorrow's back to work, but it's now less than a month until the next big vacation break. Good times...

NP: Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (24 Jan 1975)

Correction!

As Brian points out in the comment for last night's entry, I *have* been to a wedding in NYC, his sister's back in November 2001. My apologies to her for forgetting that one! When I was thinking of NYC weddings, I was more thinking of the big hotel weddings, of which this upcoming one is going to be. Brian's sister got married in the Columbia University chapel (a very nice place!), and the reception was in a church hall, which also was a neat setting.

So, consider me corrected!

Turkey!

Ah, the joys of a few days off of work. Heading home to have a meal, see family, and do all that fun stuff. Yes, it's Thanksgiving. Sue and I are going to my mom's for dinner tomorrow. It'll just be the three of us, a nice small meal. I like holidays, but I also like not making a *huge* deal of them. It's a good time to reconnect with family and friends, which is a good life affirming process.

Reflective? Perhaps. I like the small gatherings better than larger ones, although I guess everything has its time and place. I don't dislike large groups, it's just that I have to be in the mood for it. But even then, I generally prefer to hang out with no more than 5-6 people at once, it gives everyone a chance to contribute something.

Both Sue and I got off of work early today. I'm on call for work, so we really couldn't go out and do stuff, but we did order Chinese for dinner, which is always tasty. I went with the Sesame Chicken, and Sue did spicy szchewan (gross misspelling, right!) tofu. And, there's plenty for leftovers...

I'm thinking the drive down to Asbury Park for dinner shouldn't be too bad tomorrow. And if the Turnpike/Parkway are crowded, we can always hop off of there and go on the "back" roads. We'll probably pop into my Dad's after eating at my mom's, to see people over there also. It'll be a fun day.

On Saturday, Sue and I are going to a wedding in NYC for one of her friends from High School. That's a big event that I can usually get into. I've never been to a wedding in NYC, so this will be a good time. The place is up around 61st Street, I believe, and it starts late (7pm or so) on Saturday.

That's about it for now, nothing too deep tonight...

NP: King Crimson - The Letters (16 October 1971)

Hose!

I brought my car to AAMCO this morning, and they fixed it right up for me. There was some sort of hose that was loose, and some transmission fluid had leaked out. They waved the magic car fixing wand over my auto, and all is now well. It's actually driving better than it was on Saturday, I believe. I'll have to bring it back late next week for a quick check, to make sure all is well, but I'm fairly confident it'll be fine. No charge for this morning's work either, since it was their issue with whatever hose had to be replaced that caused it.

In other news, those of you who know me know of my musical tastes, and recent news has been made public that one of my favorite bands, Genesis, will be touring next year. I know Genesis gets kind of a bad rap, being not very fashionable, due mainly to the presence of Phil Collins, but that's okay. Genesis has always been a band that's more than their radio hits, and I'm looking forward to seeing them next year when they tour in the US. I just hope it doesn't conflict with any work committments, but I'm sure the odds of that are small.

The tour initially was supposed to be a "Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" show, with Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett rejoining the band, but Gabriel is still a bit hesitant to commit to such a venture. Give it another year or two, and I think it'll go forward. Genesis, back in the day, was a very "arty" band, and even their more modern albums (released 12 years ago!) weren't just three minute singles. And, you look at the older albums, and there are three minute songs on there also. From their first album of worth, "Trespass," from 1970, to "We Can't Dance" from 1992, there are songs of value on each album. Yeah, "Invisible Touch" was a bit over overkill, but that album was almost an accident of the 1980's. A conjunction of decent songs, with Collins's popularity just propelled the band to another level. There are songs I love on each Genesis album, and there are songs I can live without. Hopefully this upcoming tour (in late summer 2007 in the US) will give me more of the ones I enjoy. All signs are looking good, for now...

NP: George Gershwin - An American In Paris

Comedy!

Something very funny happened today. Sue and I were driving to the supermarket in my car (yes, it's back, more on that later), and on the back of a car in front of us, there was a deer that someone had obviously hunted and killed, strapped on the trunk hood.

Sue doesn't like looking at those types of things (dead animals, etc), so looked away. Unfortunately, the car was in front of us for a few minutes, so it was hard to avoid the gaze of the deceased deer. What made me laugh so much was Sue's line: "Well, she looks like she's just resting on the back of the car, so that's okay."

Of course, I had to point out that few deers would rest on the back of a car in the first place, let alone tied up with their head hanging down the side of the car, but what do I know about wildlife?

But in other non-dead-animal related news, I do have my car back, after it being at AAMCO for a bit of time. It's driving well, the brakes are good, and I'm getting used to the new transmission. However, on the way back from the supermarket this afternoon, the yellow check engine light went on. Yellow is not too bad, if it was red, I'd be really worried. But, I'll have to bring the car back to the mechanic on Monday, to have them check out what's up. It's probably just a loose something or other, but I still want it checked out.

This light has only gone on once before, when I first moved to Vermont back in 1998. At that point, there was an issue with the air filter in the car, so it was replaced very quickly. I think this will be something as minor, but it's still a pain to have to have it taken care of, when I just got the car back.

In other news, what have I been reading recently? I finished, about a week ago, Joseph Ellis's book on Thomas Jefferson, "American Sphinx." It was a good read, but fairly light, compared to other books that I've read on Jefferson. He also skipped over some of the more touchy subjects of Jefferson's life, such as his response to the Aaron Burr affair, and the slavery issue. Ellis did do well with Jefferson's ability to basically say one thing, and believe another. Self deception and Jefferson go hand in hand, and Ellis, perhaps wisely, stayed away from conjecture about Jefferson's interior world. But, that is what makes Jefferson so fascinating. It certainly wasn't a bad read, but I was hoping for a bit better.

Then, I read "Star Wars on Trial," edited by David Brin and some other guy. Brin is one of my favorite SF authors, and he does have a bee in his bonnet about the Star Wars movies. Generally, he feels that public perception of Star Wars=The Entirety of Good Science Fiction is a bit off the mark. I don't necessarily disagree with him about it, but sometimes I felt that the "Prosecution" essays in the book were taking it all a bit too seriously. The "Defense" essays weren't that much better, although all were generally entertaining. I don't know what I was hoping for from this book, but I don't really feel that I got it.

Now, I'm reading Richard Dawkins's "The God Delusion." More reports on that one as I get into it, I'm only about 5 pages in right now.

NP: Phil Collins - I've Forgotten Everything

Car!

Ah, it finally happened. I have had to put a rather large amount of money into my car.

Recently, when stopped at a traffic light or stop sign, I've noticed that when I go to accelerate, sometimes the car would not immediately go after pressing the gas. It'd rev' a bit, and then go, like the gear wasn't catching right away. I've never driven a stick shift, but I imagine it's like when a gear would slip or something like that.

So, I brought it to a national chain repair place, (Beep-Beep), and they diagnosed the trouble as the transmission, which is what I expected. And as you may or may not know, transmissions are fairly expensive to fix.

Now, the car I have is 9 years old, and in those years, I've probably only put about $1200 into it, outside of oil changes and other minor maintenance. So, spending the bucks that we're spending now, over the life of the car, doesn't hurt too much. But, this is the last major money I'm putting into the car. If this can help it last for 2-3 more years, then it'll be worth it.

The car should be ready tomorrow. I'll either pick it up during or after work.

Some people get very emotional about their cars. I'm not one of them. I tried to name the car when I first got it (G'Kar, pretty clever for you B5 nerds out there), but it just felt kinda stupid naming it. So, it's just my car. 97 Chevy Cavalier, I got it while in grad school, and it has served me well.

Yesterday, I took Sue's car down home to see my stepsister's new baby. It was good to see the little guy, and it's fun to be able to make casual visits home, without it being a major production. Both the drive down and the drive back took a little over an hour. Both mother and baby are doing well, although mom is tired from baby, which is to be expected...

NP: Pink Floyd - One Slip (9 Sept 1987)

Cups!

Sue and I went to the movies today, saw "Stranger Than Fiction." Quite good, and more on that later.

While waiting for the movie to start, and drinking my large Cherry-Coke, I was reminded of an idea that Brian had awhile back. It's a brilliant one, and it came to my mind today while reading the vapid, banal blatherings up on the screen from half unknown celebrites in the "E!" series of quotes. Something from Carmen Electra along the lines of "Life's not worth living if there's not a camera around," or some such thing.

Brian's idea was to have McDonalds and other fast food places, instead of just having "YAY MCDONALDS" or whatever they put on their cups or other packaging, have historical facts, interesting educational stuff on their materials. It would be good PR for the companies, and good for the populace who might actually learn something, instead of either being unengaged with the items in their hands, or looking at the latest M logo on the cups. When the companies would do their promotions, sure, they could still make Darth Vader cups, or whatever they wanted, but at other times, they'd be educating the public. It would be cheap, and fun! They're already paying someone to design the logos on their packages, just have a historian or someone on staff also, to bring up interesting facts from the past.

I thought today that another interesting place to do this, with a captive audience, was in movie theaters. I don't truly care what Carmen Electra, Matt Damon, or others have to say about their fleeting fame, why not put some quotes from Jefferson, Washington, Martin Luther King, and others up there? Or, do "History of the Movies," with Charlie Chaplin, or even go back further, get quotes from Edwin Booth up there... Granted, no films were made in the 1800's, but he *was* an actor.

Rant mode off now...

But, one other quick thing. One of the ads before the movie was for a car repair place in Jersey City, and their tag line was "We take the Dents out of Accidents." Clever, and it got me thinking if "dents" is actually derived from "accidents." I'll have to look that up. An answer to this in a future blog.

As for the movie itself, I really enjoyed it. Will Ferrell was understated, which is when I think he's actually at his most funny. The story was fun, although parts did feel a bit underdeveloped, such as Ferrell's relationship with the female lead (Maggie Glynnenhall, or however it's spelled). It would have been nice to see Buster Bluth (Tony Hale) get more screen time too, but I was just happy to see him with two hands. Overall, a good solid recommendation from Sue and myself for the movie.

The idea of a fictional character realizing they're in a fiction isn't original to this movie. I think I first ran across it in novels by Robert Heinlein, specifically in "The Number of the Beast" and "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls." Any other examples out there that you, gentle readers, can think of?

On Friday night, I watched the new Battlestar Galactica. I enjoyed the episode, but thought that the resolution was a bit anti-climatic. However, in the big picture, I am wondering the following about the show:

• It seems like the Galactica, along with the Cylons, are really on the trail of Earth. I think at some point, they will find the lost 13th colony, but when in the show will it happen? Not this season, I predict. Probably not even in the 4th season, should one happen. Also, what era will they find Earth? There's no guarantee that they'll find it during our "present" history. It'd be fun if they stumble upon Earth, and we're still in medieval times, or something like that.
• Will the Cylons kill Baltar? So far, the show hasn't killed off any major characters (Billy doesn't count), so may the B-man be the first to go? I personally don't think so, he's too fun to be around...
• Will Sharon/Athena and Hilo conceive again? I don't see why not. Sooner or later, she'll have to find out that her baby is alive. What are the Cylons doing with the baby anyway?

I think that's all for now... Coming up soon, what is Mike reading?

NP: Genesis - Back In N.Y.C. (15 Apr 1975)