Personal – Page 17 – The Evil Eyebrow

Category: Personal

Sick as Proverbial Pooch

I have a nasty cold. It started on Friday last and by Saturday I was down for the count. The couch and I became very close friends. I didn’t sleep during the day much, so I watched a lot of movies and TV. Here’s the count, plus my evaluation.
The Guardian. Kevin Costner and Aashton Kutcher. Old-hand Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer teaches values to New Recruit. Entirely predictable and not worth your time, although it had cool rescue scenes.
Flyboys. James Franco. American Cowboy goes to Europe to fly against Germany in WWI. Really REALLY predicatvle and not worth your time.
Accepted. Justin Long. High School graduate who isn’t a slacker somehow is not accepted to any colleges (?) and through a series of unfortunate events, founds his own. Exactly what I expected, so it didn’t disappoint, but my expectations were low. The main character had an annoying tendency to pratfall every third scene or so. Why? I don’t know; it was unnecessary.

Still to be watched: A Scanner Darkly and Little Miss Sunshine.

TV Movies watched this weekend: Under Siege, the only Steven Seagal movie worth watching; Love Actually, a Christmas movie that drove me nuts in the theater, but wasn’t horrible on TV with Tivo at hand; Notting Hill, one of Jenn and My favorite movies; How to lose a guy in 10 Days, which while stupid, wasn’t so stupid I didn’t like it.

I also watched an excellent snake documentary on the Discovery Channel with that Nature Narrator Dude who does all sorts of shows (who’s name I cannot recall). They had snake-cameras and everything. Even a cute baby cobra.

Letter to Ireland

Grandad has written a Letter to America. I’ve responded in the comments with my take on his points.

However, I’d like to address a letter back to Ireland.

[Ahem]

Hmmmm…

Crap, I don’t know anything about Ireland. I know it’s the Emerald Isle and there’s no snakes and my friends John and Jeannette had a hell of a time climbing hills there and other pesky little things, but no real substance. In fact, now that I think about it, all I really know about Ireland is historical and filtered through the glass of anEnglishpoint of view. I know some little about Cromwell, and the Troubles. Annnnd, that’s about it.

I suck.

All right. The next non-fiction book I read will be some Irish history. Any suggestions?

LASIK Surgery

I had Laser-Assisted In-Situ Keratomileusis (LASIK) surgery on both of my eyes yesterday! I’ve been wandering around with the occasional ecstatic bout of euphoria whilst realizing that yes, I can see to the other end of the hallway without any glasses on! For anyone who doesn’t have poor vision, it is difficult to describe how uplifting this is. Trust me, it’s fantastic. If you don’t believe me, well, pictures don’t lie.
Pre-LASIK operation photo of Bill Post Operation photo of Bill looking happy!

Two Thumbs Up! Notice no glasses in the right hand photo.

The procedure was simple compared to other surgeries I’ve had. Although, let no one tell you that the operation doesn’t hurt. It might not be painful, but it is decidedly uncomfortable, and the little sponges that the doctor uses to wipe fluid from around your eyeball are ticklish to the point that it is difficult to stay motionless.

For an excellent description of the procedure, see the FDA website.

Grosser stuff below the fold (more…)

Winter Solstice

At 00:22 GMT on December 22nd, the world will celebrate once more its free annual trip around the sun. This equates to ~~18:22 (6:22 PM EDT)~~ 19:22 (7:22 PM EST) December 21st for those of us sitting on the east coast of the United States.

To commemorate this occasion, and its companion solstice during the summer, I usually provide my office mates with a few dozen Dunkin Donuts. This both let’s them know that the zenith of the sun will be rising again, and that I disdain their too-sweet Krispy Kremes.

Perhaps I will stand eggs on their ends inside the donuts to round out the occasion.

Whatever you do, even if it is a pale shadow of the Christmas and New Year’s holiday celebrations, make sure you remember the significance of this event. We are whizzing through space at a speed that is literally mindblowing, following a path ~942 million kilometers long every year. Standing on this big ball of rock coated in a skin of air, most of us have difficulty comprehending that it is a ball, and not a plane. Wrapping your mind around that is difficult, but doable with images from planes and spacecraft. Imagining the distances invovled within the solar system becomes much more abstract, and trying to encompass galactic or intergalactic scales is nearly impossible. The solstices (and equinoxes) are a good time to remember where we stand in the great scheme of things, “Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy…”* But despite our cosmic insignificance, we are here and equipped to wonder why we are so insignificant, and that’s something.

*Douglas Adams, The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Dvorak & Me!

Through a feat of excepional boredom, I’ve decided to learn how to use the Dvorak keyboard. The Dvorak layout is supposed to be more efficient, faster, and easier on the carpals. I won’t try to argue one way or another, I will merely point you to the google search.

I will point out, though, that switching from QWERTY to Dvorak after 20 years of typing is terribly annoying. I’m so slow!!! Why do I do things like this? Of course, it’s only day 2

Dragon*Con 2006

Wahhhhhh!!!!!!

As you may notice from the categories tags, Dragon*Con was a multi-threaded, awesomely spectacular, ravingly cool, devastatingly delicious weekend. There’s so much to talk about, I’m not sure where to start. This will probably end up being a multiple posting.

I’ll start by saying, I bought a new camera the week before Dragon*Con, and I’m still working with the settings. Unfortunately, I had the white balance set on tungsten all weekend, so my pictures are a bit blue. I’ll be photoshopping them to adjust the color balance before I post anything. ‘Til then, you’ll just have to deal with my descriptions.

I think I will leave this post as is. Dragon*Con 2006 was great! I’ve already made hotel reservations for next year.

[editorital addition] It seems this post is similar to last year’s post. That’s ok! I feel that this year was even better, but that is probably because of the bevey of friends that made the trip here for the Con.

I Hate Being a Cliche

“I’m getting old.”

I’ve heard that phrase. I’ve even used that phrase although I don’t really mean it. Not yet anyway.

However, last night, I managed to pull two or three muscles in my back while sitting on the couch. Yes, you heard it, I’m so out of shape that sitting on the couch is too much for me.

I need to get jogging again.