These pretzels...are making me thirty!!

What a week I'm having.

Now, for your viewing pleasure, I shall give you the rundown.

Monday: Well, yeah, I blogged that day, so most of it is covered already. Yay! That means less typing for me! And less reading for you!
Everybody wins! Flawless victory.

But. There was more to Monday than just what I've already written. Hmm.
Maybe not a flawless victory, then.

Okay. So, here's the Previously Unseen on Monday stuff:

After leaving work around 4:30, I arrived at home shortly before 5. Got the girls in the car and packed up, and left the house around 5:20. The movie, as I believe I mentioned in that entry, was to begin at 7pm. The clock, it was a ticking.

We got onto the freeway - which!! I almost forgot to mention this! The on ramp that had been closed since, like, 1430BC, has FINALLY reopened!!
Hooray!! So, anyway, we got on the freeway and everything was going smoothly ..until the Spaghetti Bowl. (They actually call it that. The Spaghetti Bowl is the section of the two interstates that cross each other. It's also a breeding ground for traffic jams and mass
frustration. Monday was no different.)

We got off the freeway several exits earlier than we needed to, and long story short (Heh. I realized while typing the freeway stuff that I was breaking the "don't tell them every step" rule that soandso I discussed later this week. Everything relates.)...where was I? Oh. Right. So we
got to Steph's mom's house near 6ish. Got the girls set up with grandma, and then we left for the theater. Both of us were hungry by that time, and, as my better half mentioned in her blog, she tried to talk me out of going to the movie altogether. I must admit, I was tempted. The idea
of just hanging out with my wife, sans children, was highly appealing.
Next time, I swear. This time, we had a date with the Dark Knight to keep.

We arrived at the Orleans at 6:40. Went to the ticket counter - an elderly man standing in front of us was asking Steph all these questions
about the movies, "What's Madagascar?" "It's a cartoon." "Oh. Well,
forget that....Cinderella Man is that boxing one, right?" and so on. We
got our tickets - which read BATMAN BEGINS (PR), and I made a lame joke
about how the movie was going to be about Batman doing Public Relations.

We got into the theater at 6:50, and ...it was packed. There was a
gabillion people there, and the number of seats was a gabillion minus
three. There was a section of empty seats in a pretty good spot, but
they were marked off with tape, and labeled, "Media ID" or "Media ID
Required" or something. soandso asked me if I had a Media ID, and I
laughed and laughed until I realized that it was more sad than funny
that my station is so ...not professional enough to provide such a thing
for me. Or any of it's employees, really.

Anyway. I ran into Scott, who was working the event (he was handing out
the free posters and whatnot) and I asked him about the Media section.
He pointed me in the direction of a woman who appeared to be in charge.
I asked her about it, explaining that I "worked for the WB". She said
that she couldn't put me there, because there were a lot of people who
"worked for the WB, or for the other sponsors". Or a lot of people who
CLAIMED to work for the sponsors. I mean, really there was no way that I
could've proven that I actually am employed by them. Well, I mean, I
could've driven down to the station with her, punched in the security
code to the building and shown her my office. But I think we would've
missed the movie.

So instead, In Charge Lady did some searching, and somehow found two
empty seats next to each other - about the 4th or 5th row back, so we
were closer to the front than we normally like, but beggars can't be
choosers - and Steph and I sat down and waited.

The trailers started, and there was only one. It was for Dukes of
Hazard, which looks extremely skippable.

Then, Batman Begins ...began.

[Begin Spoiler for major f'in' spoilers for Batman Begins - Highlight to
view]
It was awesome.

The whole retelling of the Batman mythology, and the fact that the movie
focused on BATMAN instead of one of the villains. This definitely washed
out the bad taste that Batman and Robin left (and who thought that was
possible? I mean, Jesus Christ, that movie sucked).

It was awesome to see Bruce Wayne as a child, and to actually get to
know Bruce Wayne, both as a child and as the 20 something that he
becomes. It's great to actually see him learn how to fight - and it
fills me with geeky glee that Ra's Al Ghol (or however you spell it -
Racecar Cool is how Bizarro says it [/ubernerd]) is in this movie at
all, let alone that he has such a huge role in a) shaping Batman and b)
the plot of the movie.

Learning how Batman gets his weapons - also cool. It's like this was the
Episode 3 of Batman. It fills in the pieces on WHY Bruce Wayne is who he
is.Plus, you get to see him kick criminal ass. Heh.

Moments I got goosebumps: When Batman makes his first appearance, and is
kicking the crap out of Falcone's thugs, and scaring them half to death
in the process, and one of them says, "What the hell are you?!?" "I'm
Batman." = Goosebumps!! I think it's partly because of the homage given
to the Burton film, but also it's just an awesome scene. Especially
since, if memory serves, he's hanging upside down when he says it. Hee!

Other goosebump moment - when Joey Potter...er, I mean Mrs. Tom
Cruise...I mean Katie Holmes - was on top of the roof and she asks
Batman's name. He says, "It's not who I am underneath, but what I do." -
a quote that she delivered to Bruce earlier in the movie - oh, man. The
goosebumps were there. (Yeah. I know. Cheesy goodness. What are ya gonna
do?)

Rolleyes moment: The ending. Or, rather, the not quite ending, with
Katie Holmes and Bruce Wayne. She knows who he is, but gives this speech
about how Bruce Wayne isn't Bruce Wayne anymore, because being Batman
has changed him. So they can't be together...but she kisses him anyway.
There needs to be a word that combines "rolleyes" and "huh?" Once that
word is coined, apply it to that scene.

Laughy moments: "Keep them entertained. Tell them that joke you know."

"I need it for ...spelunking."

"Drunken Billionaire Burns Down Mansion"

There were others, but I need to see it again.

Oh! You know what I just realized? That this was a movie based on a
comic book that didn't rely [heavily] on CGI! I mean, yeah, there
probably were computer generated images in the movie, but there was no
Jar Jar Binks. Batman didn't have super stretchy arms or anything like
that. Cool.

They left the movie open for sequels, and I'm sure that there will be,
and right now I don't have a problem with that. I do worry that
eventually, though, the franchise will degenerate into unbearable crap
that the original had become. But let's just see what happens, shall we?
[end spoiler]

Overall, it was a really good time. It was worth the freeness that we
paid to see it.

After it was over, the Steph and I were STARVING. (Oddly, while watching
the movie, I got so absorbed into the story, that my hunger went
unnoticed) We drove to an ATM to get some cash so we could get some
food. Steph discovered that you can get into the bank with ANY card that has a magnetic stripe on it.

After getting the money, I had to pee. Well, actually, I had needed to
pee since leaving the movie theater. We were near my work, so I
suggested that we stop in the building so I could use the restroom. We
did so, but we stayed downstairs. I had the urge to go upstairs to my
cubicle, but we were hungry, and so we didn't. Interesting.(read on to
see why)

We ate at Taco Bell's parking lot, then picked up the girls. Got home
around 11:30, and I posted my blog entry. Then went to sleep and that
was that. The end of my 20s. *sniff*


Tuesday, June 14th, 2005
30!

Woke up, showered, dressed, got my lunch together, came to work. Arrived
around 7:15.

Walked upstairs, and on the door to the offices was a banner saying
"Happy Birthday". Turned the corner and came to my desk, only to
discover that it was completely covered in balloons and streamers and
two more Happy Birthday banners. Sitting on top of my computer monitor
was a plastic derby with Happy Birthday written on it, and a noise maker
attached to it with tape. I really do wish I had a camera to capture the
whole moment. The girls in accounting (who work near me) had apparently
decorated my desk Monday night after I had left. If Steph and I had come
upstairs Monday night, the surprise would've been ruined. Or, rather,
the surprise would've been ...surprised on me a lot sooner than expected.

Eventually my embarrassment at the whole situation subsided.

I did wear my Birthday hat for a bit, and got plenty of comments
throughout the day. I also got two birthday cards. Included in one was a
gift card to Target from Tina. Aww. I'm liked.

Around 10:30 there was a sales pitch from two guys from Buena Vista
Television regarding the show Scrubs. Tina, Rob, and I sat in on it. It
was my first presentation such as this to bear witness to. Parts of it
were boring - why must the business world be so...stuffy?? - but overall
it was kinda a cool experience. Plus, I got to see an 8 minute videotape
pitch of Scrubs. I love that show. I hope our station ends up getting it
when it goes into syndication next year. We're gonna make an offer, so
we'll see. There are two other stations in town also in the running. I
guess it depends on who pays the most money for it.

After the meeting, it was time for lunch. I had two PB&J sandwiches. (I
was told by Raynette to document that fact. So that (in her words) when
"I'm an old man, I can remember that on my 30th birthday, I had peanut
butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch." So, there. Documented.

The Frederick's Fact was something I knew. (Where did HAL from the movie
2001: A Space Odyssey obtain his name? [begin spoiler for the answer -
highlight to view] IBM. Take the letter of the alphabet before each
letter from IBM, and you get HAL. [end spoiler]

Around 2pm, while I was in Tina's office talking to her, a crowd of
about 10 coworkers came into her office carrying an ice cream cake with
candles in it, singing "Happy Birthday to You" By the time they were
done, I was bright red with embarasment. In fact, my birthday "wish" was
that the embarrassment would go away. (I didn't mention that to anyone
at the time. I do have SOME tact.) It kinda did, because after I blew
out the candles, everyone clapped and then immediately zoomed back to
their offices. A few people stuck around for pieces of cake (and it was
very yummy) but there was a lot left for me to take home at the end of
the day.

It was around 3:43pm, which is what time it is now, that I started to
work on this massive list of programming changes for the reminder of
June and all of July. I wanted to finish the changes up, and send out
the accompanying email before I left for the day. Unfortunately, it took
longer than expected. Long story short (ha!) I didn't get out of here
until 5:20.

I got home around six, and I still hadn't decided where to eat. (I
wasn't hungry. Cake and PB&Js being the reason)

The girls and Steph had half-melted cake, then we left. We wound up
eating at Applebee's. Because it is close to Target, and because it is
pretty yummy, and just because.

Then we went to Target, and looked around, but I didn't spend any of my
gift card. Still haven't. Although I discovered that Ben Folds and
Garbage both have new CDs out (Songs for Silverman and Bleed Like Me, respectively)! Too many choices!! Maybe if CDs were
cheaper, I'd've bought them both. (Of course, I also had American Idiot,
With Teeth, and In Your Honor [Green Day, Nine Inch Nails, and Foo
Fighters, respectively] to choose from. Lesson? CDs should cost under
six dollars.)

We went home and there were two messages on the machine. One from my
sister, and one from my dad. It was already 10pm, so I didn't call
either of them back. Also, because I am a horrible brother/son.

None of us were tired, so we opted to watch a movie.

Punch Drunk Love. Which I wound up giving 2 stars on Netflix, but after
watching the Special Futures (heh.) on the DVD, I want to give a 1. This
movie was bad. Because it was pointless, and didn't explain itself, and
had many many things that were there, apparently, just to be there. The
Special Features were worse, though. The deleted scenes? So. Stupid. The
thing called "Blossoms and Blood"? Made. Zero. Sense. I really liked the
song that was on there, but what the fuck, man? Why was it called
Blossoms and Blood? There were no flowers. I didn't see any blood. And
it just seemed to be a montage of the events of the movie. A whuh? This
movie could've used a director's commentary, because it just didn't make
sense. Or at least, I didn't get it. Steph hated it worse than I did,
and for other reasons, which she may go into on her blog, but I doubt
she will because the movie isn't worth talking about even as much as I
already have. Moving on.

Eventually, the girls fell asleep, and then Steph and I stayed up, and
then Steph went to bed, and then I stayed up longer because I just
couldn't sleep. At 4:55am, I called Tina's voicemail and informed her I
wouldn't be coming in tomorrow...today...which is now yesterday. Time! Ack!

Anyway, I went to sleep at five in the morning. Woke up around 8:45, and
couldn't go back to sleep. They say when you get older that you sleep
less. I guess I was finding this out the hard way.

So the 15th. Um. Aside from going to the DMV to get my license renewed
(finally), I dont' think there's much to report on that day. [oh - side note - apparently my vision, it is getting worse. My right eye is now 20/70. But they still passed me. I've noticed my eyesight worsening over the past ...year or so, and have considered making blog entries about it (tentative titles: Doctorb, my eyes! or I can see, I can see, I can see I'm going blind. Maybe someday (soon) I will.)
We watched Rabbit-Proof Fence, which was a pretty good flick, especially
considering how little there was to it. The girls and I went to the
grocery store and they helped me with the U-Scan thing. Um. I don't
know. Nothing too exciting (not that any of this has been, you know,
riveting, but I want to get as much down for the sake of prosperity [is
that the word I want? Bah. Words.]) Irina had trouble going to sleep -
again - but I was asleep by 1am, as was she.

Today, the 16th...Um. I don't know. I got a phone call from someone in
charge of the Homeschooling Convention that is taking place on the 24th
and 25th!!!! How freaky is it that he called (he was looking for our
station to do a community calendar mention type of thing - which, of
course, we don't have because our station sucks) - but how freaky is it
that he called, and got ME? Never underestimate the power of
coincidence, as I like to say. What else? I blogged hella long. Which,
while nothing great, has hopefully helped my word count some.
And there was something else, but I forget what. At lunch today, well,
first I drove to cash my check. When I got back, the ladies in the
lunchroom were watching tv, as usual. But instead of the Fucking News
(by the way, not our Fucking News. All news is (or can be) referred to
as Fucking News), anyway, instead of watching the Fucking News, they
were watching ESPN, or some shit, because on the TV was golf. Or should
I say Fucking Golf?
Golf!???!

One) I don't understand the appeal of playing golf. Hitting a ball into
a hole? Meh. I mean, yeah, mini golf is awesome. That sport is the shit,
but "real" golf? Don't get it.
b) I understand LESS the appeal of standing around watching people play
golf.
3) I REALLY don't get the appeal of watching golf on television.
And dont' get me started on the fact that there is such a thing as a
Professional Golfer. Those two words together...almost justification for
the extinction of the human race. Seriously.

Needless to say, I didn't stay in the lunchroom long.

What else can I bore everyone with? I think we'll go grocery shopping
tonight. Do a big trip, spend too much money, increase our imaginary
savings account at Smith's. And then maybe tonight I'll get to watch
Cube Zero. Of course, I doubt that anyone else in the family wants to
see that (Oreo??) so I may have to wait a bit to check it out.

I also learned today that the internet is not stupid. It's the people that populate
it. Heh.

In conclusion, you think you're tired from reading this? I had to type it!